Chapter 179: A Grateful Heart

Another full three seconds passed before Zhao Qingxie finally suppressed her inner demon.

She was four seconds slower than Li Si. Although it was still a very brief moment, it was enough to prove how much of an advantage the Soul Cultivation system held within the Illusory Realm.

Of course, this wasn’t universal. If they went to the Mortal Realm, the True Cultivation system would utterly defeat the Soul Cultivation system.

“Don’t worry. It’s fine,” Li Si reassured her. It was his turn to take the lead. He gave Zhao Qingxie ten more Dream-Passing Spirit Pills, instructing her to take them as needed to prevent being pulled into another Daydream. Those things were truly inescapable, and it seemed even the Fate Forge currently lacked a good way to counter them.

“Should we retreat?”

Zhao Qingxie was worried. She knew she was holding him back now. Visiting a Daydream just once had spawned an inner demon, and a powerful one at that.

But Li Si didn’t answer. Instead, he hurled his Wish-Fulfilling Pearl out. Its combat power was off the charts, continuously unleashing Soul Fire and Soul Lightning to demolish Peach Hill’s foundations. From start to finish, Zhao Qingxie didn’t even get a chance to act.

After killing another thirty-six thousand Peach Saint Sages in succession, amidst the endless flashes of lightning, a faint gray shadow suddenly dropped from the sky. It was incredibly fast and almost impossible to detect.

This time was different though. The Wish-Fulfilling Pearl spotted it first and was struck before it could send back the final image. It lost contact.

But Li Si, prepared for this, grabbed Zhao Qingxie and instantly shot out several thousand miles away, successfully dodging this Daydream ambush.

Three seconds later, Li Si shot back to the spot with Zhao Qingxie. The gray shadow there had already dissipated. Only a stark white, stupid Wish-Fulfilling Pearl remained. It wasn’t contaminated this time but had turned into a simpleton.

Li Si didn’t dare touch it; the white frost coating its surface was absolutely dangerous.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a big problem.

The Fate Forge was actually quite interested in the substance composing the Daydream.

Li Si glanced at Zhao Qingxie, then decisively activated the Fate Forge right in front of her. The Fate Forge manifested as the heavens and the earth, capturing the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl with an immense commotion.

Zhao Qingxie was utterly unaware of the entire process.

Sigh. Had he known earlier.

Inside the Fate Forge, mysterious symbols, unseen before, lit up, treating the matter as a great threat. It took a full 1.3 seconds to thoroughly cleanse and purify the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl, making it lively again.

“Acquired a portion of Nether River substance. Please make a choice.”

“One: Completely smelt it to obtain 10 portions of Purple Qi Luck.”

“Two: Preserve it to craft one genuine single page from the Book of Life and Death. Effect: Can mark a location visited before. Reusable three times.”

“Wow!” Li Si was stunned. It was so valuable? What was Nether River substance?

He didn’t hesitate. He chose Option Two immediately. He instantly thought of the world he had punted to last time; there was a Void Demon Corpse there, and he really wanted to make friends with that guy.

“I just never expected you, Peach Blossom Ancestor, with your simple-looking face, to have such a final, ultimate move up your sleeve,” Li Si murmured.

He retrieved his now-clean Wish-Fulfilling Pearl and tossed it out again to scout the area.

My good friend, Ruyi.

Li Si’s simple resolution of the Daydream didn’t concern him in the slightest. He was almost looking forward to more. But for the Peach Blossom Ancestor, it truly signalled utter ruin. Its mood was complex. It wanted to escape, but after stealing a glance at the humanoid figure standing silently in the distance amidst the darkness, it could only sob in despair and activate its final hidden card—an Immortal Artifact it had stolen from the Seven Emotions Medicine Field.

This Immortal Artifact was immensely powerful, but the price for using it was equally immense.

Boom!

Peach Hill exploded. The Peach Blossom Ancestor’s roots, trunk, and canopy were instantly swept over by a radiant rosy glow. Everything rapidly shrank, reduced to mere specks of dust. Where the gigantic Peach Blossom Ancestor stood, only a massive cauldron with five legs remained. Limitless rays of rosy light pulsed from the cauldron, sweeping across the surroundings. Li Si’s Soul Fire and Soul Lightning were touched and instantly swallowed.

“Disaster! That’s a Great Luo Immortal Artifact! Run!” Zhao Qingxie screamed urgently.

Li Si also felt a jolt of fear. The moment the cauldron appeared, he sensed an unmistakable feeling—the feeling of being in the Mortal Realm. In other words, this thing was powerful enough to be like a stone forcibly wedged into the Illusory Realm; it brought its own rules with it.

So, Li Si, the proud Heavenly Eye Spirit Cultivator who had been supremely arrogant just moments before, faced with this artifact straddling the Mortal Realm, was truly like an insignificant ant with absolutely no power to resist.

He wanted to flee, but it was too late. Only Zhao Qingxie reacted in time, activating her own Immortal Artifact to whisk him away five thousand miles in an instant. And then… there was no ‘then’. The pursuing rosy light swept over them. Zhao Qingxie froze too. It was like a black hole. Merely seconds later, both Li Si and Zhao Qingxie were swallowed into the massive cauldron.

As for the Phantom Bride, Xia Xiaowan, she had fled far away even before giving the Peach Blossom Ancestor its final command.

For the next several seconds, the cauldron’s rosy glow continued sweeping out, gathering every Void Monster within several tens of thousands of miles.

Only then did the vast area finally fall silent.

Well, not quite. Although the light no longer pulsed, any Void Monster entering the region around the cauldron would instantly be swallowed.

A deadly black hole extended a hundred thousand miles in all directions.

Tens of thousands of miles away, the Phantom Bride, Xia Xiaowan, watched silently before drifting away towards the Five-Tone Ruins.

Here, Jiuxuanzi was still making his final struggle. After all, he was a Great Luotian Immortal. Even targeted by the hatred of the entire Mortal Realm, even with his body seized by an inner demon, he wasn’t so easily finished.

Surrounding Jiuxuanzi, whose form was now unrecognisable, were tens of thousands of Phantom Brides. They drifted silently, piling Wishing Stones around him. Each Wishing Stone represented a living being still surviving in the Mortal Realm.

“You wretched slave! How dare you harm me!” Jiuxuanzi roared in fury, utterly enraged, but he had lost any ability to counterattack.

All the Phantom Brides remained silent. They drifted densely, like countless worker bees.

Until Xia Xiaowan herself drifted near.

“Who are you, truly?” Jiuxuanzi choked out.

Xia Xiaowan didn’t answer. Beneath the red bridal veil, her lips were blood red, her face paper white, like a corpse.

—

“It’s all my fault.”

As soon as Li Si regained consciousness, he heard Zhao Qingxie’s voice full of self-recrimination. He was being held, which felt quite comfortable… for about a second. Then, pain exploded through him, sharp and agonising, “Aaaargh!” It felt like his entire soul had been thrown into a vat of boiling oil, frying until wisps of green smoke rose.

He looked at himself. His soul form had shrunk to the size of a baby, which was why Zhao Qingxie was holding him. Outside, there was nothing but raging fire. The terrifying high heat tortured him every second.

Strangely, Zhao Qingxie, though also in an Immortal Spirit state, wasn’t affected nearly as much. She was using her Immortal Artifact to resist the flames.

“Where are we? Where’s my pearl?”

“Save your soul energy. Don’t speak. We’ve been captured by a Great Luo Immortal Artifact. I suspect this must be what Jiuxuanzi uses to refine immortal medicines. That Peach Blossom Ancestor was probably a major component stolen from the Seven Emotions Medicine Field. Somehow it stole this artifact, provoked beyond reason by your assault, it activated this treasure, choosing mutual destruction.”

“Are you okay? Are you really okay?” Li Si was examining his own Soul Power, which had plummeted to single digits. No wonder he was suffering.

He cautiously started replenishing his Soul Power while shifting for a slightly more comfortable position in her arms.

“I’m fine,” Zhao Qingxie answered. “This artifact is clearly designed for trapping and refining major illusory components. My cultivation is True Immortal Spirit, fundamentally different from a Spirit Cultivator’s soul, so I can withstand it. If your Nascent Soul could achieve Divine Transformation, it wouldn’t be this severe either.”

“Can we get out?”

“Not for now. The artifact is active. A million thoughts wouldn’t have foretold Peach Blossom Ancestor holding such a trump card. I suspect it stayed hidden within Peach Hill all this time specifically to conceal this Great Luo Immortal Artifact, even hoping to refine it itself.”

“But don’t worry too much,” she offered some hope. “Because it’s constantly used to refine medicinal energy, the ambient energy here is unimaginably rich. These flames also possess the principle of rebirth and reconstruction of the cosmos. Cultivating here, I might even regain my Dao Foundation Immortal Body. So, if you can just endure for three to five years, I should definitely be able to take control of this artifact.”

“What about your inner demon?” Li Si suddenly remembered. His own inner demon had vanished somewhere, out of the picture for now.

“Chopped off!” Zhao Qingxie answered crisply and decisively. Li Si looked at her skeptically. Are you sure it wasn’t the demon that got you? Or perhaps you became it?

“What are you looking at?” she asked, noticing his dubious stare. “I am a True Immortal, with an Immortal Artifact defending me. Earlier, within the Illusory Realm’s constraints, I could barely wield two or three tenths of my power here. But once caught by this artifact… strangely, it became my ground. Especially these flames—they are supremely Yang, supremely pure, and exceptionally lethal to inner demons. I faked an opening, lured it out, and severed it decisively. Along the way, I even gained a solid insight into my Dao Heart.”

“Doesn’t that require Magic Power? You’re running low too, aren’t you?”

“Severely depleted in Magic Power, yes,” she conceded, “but there’s no lack of energy here, and it’s pure, top-grade Immortal Spirit Energy. I suspect it originates solely from the Land of Infinite Vastness.” Seeing Li Si slowly stabilizing, Zhao Qingxie relaxed, her tone hinting she had truly stumbled upon a hidden opportunity.

“Well then, good to know. I guess I can leave alone then.”

“You mean the Mist Punt? It cannot take you back to the Mortal Realm. It will only randomly send you somewhere within the Mist. And when you finally return here… you would just reappear exactly right here,” Zhao Qingxie explained her own understanding of the Punt.

Li Si was about to continue his explanation when a voice filled with excruciating pain echoed from the distance.

“Save me! Save me, Master! I was wrong!”

“That’s the Peach Blossom Ancestor,” Zhao Qingxie murmured. “It overestimated itself. This Great Luo Immortal Artifact was probably originally used as a smelting pot. By activating it, it trapped us, but itself is being refined into medicine first.”

Li Si sighed. Such a twist of fate directed at an enemy.

The Peach Blossom Ancestor’s agonized screams didn’t last long, falling silent. Rising walls of flame separated everything, making sight impossible.

But soon, a notification silently appeared:

“Peach Blossom Ancestor smelted. Acquired one portion of Flawed Immortal Medicine. Acquired 10,000 portions of Purple Firewood.”

—

This… this isn’t really appropriate, is it?

Li Si was stunned. His opinion of this Great Luo Immortal Artifact skyrocketed. He gained an even deeper appreciation for the priority level of his Fate Forge.

Damn, the Fate Forge literally snatched this prize from the tiger’s mouth.

Grateful to Peach Blossom Ancestor. Grateful to the Great Luo Immortal Artifact. Grateful to my own inner demon.