110. Helplessness

Lingyu sat cross-legged in the stone cave, meditating to regulate her breath. A persistent, light tapping sound echoed in her ears, preventing her from finding peace, so she simply stopped.

"Senior Brother Qian, are you still not giving up?"

Qian Jiale was crouching in a corner, feeling along the stone wall. Hearing her voice, he gave a dry laugh. "Idle hands are the devil's workshop..."

Lingyu looked at him, then at the pile of feathers in the corner, and sighed. "I understand your worry. While we have hunger-suppression pills, they will eventually run out. If we don't get out, we will die sooner or later, unless..."

"Unless we can reach Foundation Establishment right here." Qian Jiale sighed along with her, sitting dejectedly opposite her.

They had been trapped for two months. Initially, they had actively searched for a way out, but the surroundings were solid rock, making it impossible to carve a passage. This was Mount Zhurong, where the rocks had been scorched by celestial fire for ages yet remained intact; how could Qi Refining cultivators like them possibly break through? They couldn't even leave a scratch.

The stone tunnel they had entered through was blocked by rubble. They could have dug it out, but after working for three to five days, they realized the outside was filled with celestial fire. Once they broke through, they would be burned to ashes.

With no other choice, the two had to crouch here, cultivating and passing the time. Surprisingly, by focusing their minds and staying close to the feathers, Lingyu felt she had gained much, catching faint glimpses of sword intent. She owed this progress to the feathers; she didn't know what the frost on them was, but it coexisted with the flames on the feathers to form a unique substance that resonated with her techniques, helping her easily grasp the essence of sword intent.

She should thank Abi—if not for her love of shiny things and her daily habit of scooping up fire crystals in the Earth-Fissure Spring, they never would have found this cave, let alone this pile of feathers... No, if they hadn't found the feathers, they wouldn't be trapped here now, with no way to heaven and no door to the earth. Lingyu wondered, should she thank Abi or curse her?

Lingyu stared at the feathers for a while and suddenly said, "Senior Brother Qian, there is something I don't know if you've noticed."

"What?" Qian Jiale asked listlessly. He was a quintessential sword cultivator, combative by nature; he wouldn't hesitate to fight, and this feeling of having nowhere to exert his strength was what he hated most.

"If the cave is sealed, why haven't we suffocated after being trapped here for so long?"

This question made Qian Jiale pause. Then his eyes lit up. "You mean, this place is connected to the outside?"

Lingyu shook her head, staring at the feathers. "I mean, perhaps our survival depends on this."

Qian Jiale looked at Lingyu, then at the feathers, confused. "So what?"

"..." Lingyu looked at him speechlessly for a moment. With a deadpan expression, she said, "The spiritual energy is so abundant. Do you think it's possible for us to use it to reach Foundation Establishment directly?"

"This..." Qian Jiale was shocked, but the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. "If we reach Foundation Establishment, at the very least, we won't starve to death. Even if there is celestial fire outside, we could muster our strength and rush out. Even if we're severely injured, there would be a path to survival... Great idea!" The more he spoke, the more excited he became, and he slapped his thigh hard.

Foundation Establishment meant reaching the perfection of the Qi Refining realm and using a massive amount of spiritual energy to冲击 (impact/surge) the body's meridians to achieve a qualitative change. The methods to obtain such energy are to use a spiritual eye or consume a Foundation Establishment pill.

There is another, less common method: cultivators at the Golden Core stage or higher use their own true essence to forcibly assist a Qi Refining cultivator in reaching Foundation Establishment. However, this method is difficult because it requires the two people's physical states to be perfectly aligned, with minimal rejection of true essence; otherwise, it would be counterproductive. Everyone’s true essence has unique characteristics—a "true essence imprint"—and meridians and the dantian naturally reject foreign energy. Excessive rejection causes self-damage. Moreover, the success rate of this method is not high, and failure leads to damaged meridians that take time to recover. Thus, unless there is a blood relation, few people use this method.

The pile of feathers possessed abundant spiritual energy, not inferior to a spiritual eye. The energy was definitely sufficient. Unlike the pure energy of a spiritual eye, however, these feathers carried a strong aura, more like the true essence of a high-level cultivator, making it more dangerous than using a spiritual eye.

But for Lingyu and Qian Jiale, what was a little more danger? Their hunger-suppression pills would only last for another half-year. Initially, they had hoped for a rescue from the sect, but after so long, no one had come. Waiting any longer only diminished their chances. Since that was the case, they might as well gamble. If rescue came, they could escape; if not, they would at least have a slim chance.

The two acted immediately. First, Lingyu released Abi and gave her the frozen jade she had borrowed from Xu Jibo; if any accidents occurred during the process, they would need her care. Next, they prepared arrays and pills; fortunately, they had made thorough preparations before coming to Mount Zhurong, even if things were a bit crude. Then, they divided their territory to ensure they wouldn't interfere with each other.

Sitting opposite each other, they chose positions where they could smoothly channel the spiritual energy without being burned.

Qian Jiale looked at Lingyu and smiled. "If Old Guo and the others knew we were attempting Foundation Establishment like this, their jaws would surely drop."

Which Qi Refining disciple wouldn't be extremely cautious when attempting Foundation Establishment? The pills went without saying, the arrays were always the highest grade, and those with wealth would hire Foundation Establishment cultivators to guard them. They were nothing like this, just sitting down casually and planning to break through.

They knew the success rate wouldn't be high, and that failure could lead to meridian backlash, but so what? Waiting meant death; it was better to give it their all and have a chance at life.

Lingyu said, "If we succeed, that will really shock them!"

Qian Jiale laughed. "True, then let's shock them!"

The two looked at each other and smiled, extending their right palms for a light strike.

"Good luck!"

"Definitely!"

Both closed their eyes and entered a state of cultivation.

...

Amidst the celestial fires of Mount Zhurong, the figures of six or seven Golden Core cultivators flickered in and out of sight, finally meeting near a giant rock.

"Fellow Daoist Huang Yu, how did it go?" The last to arrive was True Person Huang Yu of the Chixia Sect. She was a beautiful young woman, but her demeanor was cold—a "cold beauty."

"Nothing found," she said in a flat tone.

Qin Huifang frowned slightly. "How could this be..."

"Why, did none of you find anything unusual?" True Person Huang Yu asked.

Lan Muyang gave a bitter smile. "Is it possible that we are overthinking?"

The group fell silent. There must be a reason for the earth fissures, especially since they happened twice, but they had searched the entire Earth-Fissure Spring and found nothing unusual.

After a while, Qin Huifang asked, "Fellow Daoists, what are your thoughts?"

They looked at each other, and finally, True Person Taicang said, "Let Fellow Daoist Qin speak."

Qin Huifang thought for a moment and said, "We will search one more time. This time, we will search every inch of Mount Zhurong. If we don't find anything in three days, we will give up."

The others agreed, feeling relieved. None of them wanted to spend too much effort on Mount Zhurong; this wasn't their territory. Even if something went wrong, it would be the Lisheng Temple and the Seven Kills Valley that suffered, and the Yiqing City branch wasn't worth such an investment.

Lan Muyang casually chose a direction and left on a cloud. A faint smile appeared on his face, devoid of the earlier gloom. The reason? He knew it was impossible to find anything, because the cause was with him.

After Xu Jibo presented that jade, he had used a ten-thousand-mile communication talisman to inform the Sect Leader. Within half a day, the Sect Leader replied, telling him not to draw attention, finish the job, and quietly bring it back.

Lan Muyang was knowledgeable; as soon as he saw that jade, he recognized it. There is a treasure in heaven and earth born from spiritual essence. For example, the spiritual eye of a spiritual vein has a very low chance of producing a spirit bead. Such a spirit bead is essentially a mobile spiritual vein, constantly releasing spiritual energy. If buried in a certain place, it can create a small spiritual vein. That jade was a water-attribute spirit bead, born somewhere unknown and fallen here. The Earth-Fissure Spring was created because of it. The disaster two months ago must have been caused by the water spirit bead being triggered again.

Now, the water spirit bead was in his hands. Even if the other cultivators searched all of Mount Zhurong, they would never find the cause.

Thinking of this, Lan Muyang couldn't help but smile. He had thought this trip to Mount Zhurong would be a boring mission; he hadn't expected such a gain. Spirit beads were incredibly rare. The Taibai Sect's spiritual veins had thousands of spiritual eyes, and it was rumored that one had appeared a few thousand years ago. The Lingcang realm was vast, but spirit beads were rare, and a single-attribute one like this was the rarest of the rare!

Upon returning, a great merit was guaranteed. Perhaps, if the masters and uncles were happy, they would let him borrow the spirit bead for a while, allowing him to enter a small retreat and perhaps advance further.

As for that disciple who presented the treasure... as long as she was smart enough not to leak the matter, there would be a great reward. Foundation Establishment pills went without saying; even becoming the disciple of a True Person would be a matter of a single word from the Nascent Soul ancestors—an instant rise to the heavens.

But it was worth it. A spirit bead, especially a single water-attribute one, had enough value to become the treasure of a major sect. What was the future of a mere Qi Refining disciple compared to that?

This thought flashed through his mind, and Lan Muyang didn't dwell on it. A Qi Refining disciple wasn't worth his effort, though he had a decent impression of her.

With this mood, he planned to take a cursory look and kill three days. He had no idea that beneath a pile of rubble he had just walked over, two surviving disciples of the Taibai Sect were buried.