Anli Had Yun Jing's Divine Power Within Her

"Yuan Tuo." The god's voice seemed a little more pleased.

"Yes." Yuan Tuo lifted her, and in an instant, flew above the North Sea.

Meng Anli lowered her head. In the pitch-black seawater, she could see schools of enormous black fish gathered below, every one of them sharp-toothed and vicious-mouthed, their bloody maws gaping wide.

If she fell, she would certainly die.

"Miss, play with my beloved pets first." Yuan Tuo let go.

Meng Anli suddenly plummeted. In a desperate, frantic scramble, she grabbed his lower leg.

Yuan Tuo's face flushed crimson. "Y-you-you... let go!"

"Don't let my soul scatter and my spirit dissipate!"

Meng Anli shifted her grip and wrapped both arms tightly around his leg instead.

"Let go, and I'll grant your request." Yuan Tuo raised a hand, about to point at Anli.

But Meng Anli let go first and jumped downward.

Facing those bloody maws, she calmly went to her death.

Yet just as she was about to fall into the black fish's mouths, a force suddenly supported the soles of her feet and carried her to the shore.

Before her appeared a pair of long boots embroidered with cloud-and-dragon patterns.

Meng Anli's heart finally settled back into place. She heavily kowtowed to him. "Thank you, Great Deity, for saving my life."

Yun Jing's dark eyes were filled with scrutiny, along with a trace of puzzlement.

"How many centuries old are you?"

Meng Anli answered truthfully, "Eighteen."

Yun Jing's confusion deepened. Eighteen?

He had played chess with Great Emperor Dongyue for a hundred days. A hundred years should have passed in the Heavenly Realm.

He had never met her before, so why did this child carry a strand of his divine power?

When he had approached her, he had noticed it, which was why he had sent Yuan Tuo to test her.

Just now, when she had nearly been eaten by the black fish, that power had carried her to shore.

His divine power could even protect people?

Interesting.

But since she had his divine power protecting her, "Who dug out your inner core?"

"My second brother."

Yuan Tuo cried out, "Your biological second brother?"

"He is."

The young girl lowered her eyes. Icy beads clung to her long lashes, her face was bluish-purple, and the sorrow and deathly stillness surrounding her nearly overflowed.

Yet not a single tear fell from her stubborn eyes.

Meng Shiwan wanted to attend Xuantian Academy, but she would not be able to form an inner core anytime soon.

So Meng Zhao had searched the mortal realm for eighty-one women, intending to use the blood from their hearts to create an inner core.

Anli had released those eighty-one women.

They resented her for ruining Meng Shiwan's plans, so they dug out her inner core and gave it to Meng Shiwan.

Yun Jing said, "Give it to her."

"Yes."

Yuan Tuo raised his hand, and a stalk of emerald-green grass appeared before Meng Anli.

Without the slightest hesitation, Meng Anli accepted it and stuffed it into her mouth.

"Huh?" Yuan Tuo said anxiously, "How could you eat it directly? It'll hurt you to death."

Meng Anli smiled bitterly.

Because she did not want to make wedding clothes for Meng Shiwan again.

In her previous life, she had begged for the Huan Dan Grass and returned home, only for her third brother to snatch it away. He said that her inner core had not completely fused with Meng Shiwan's, and the Huan Dan Grass could promote their fusion.

Not only had the Huan Dan Grass helped their fusion, it had also caused another inner core to grow.

On the day Meng Shiwan enrolled, she had been tested and found to possess twin cores, instantly becoming a genius girl who shocked the Three Realms.

She could not fight her three brothers and father now.

So she ate it first.

But it hurt terribly.

When Meng Shiwan took medicine, her three brothers had prepared a medicinal spring for her and guarded her while she recovered.

Meng Shiwan had still suffered for a full day and night.

Her father had paced anxiously outside, heartbroken.

When her brothers emerged, their eyes were red. They had sworn that they would never let Meng Shiwan suffer even the slightest harm again.

Clearly, she too had once been the treasure her father and brothers held in their palms.

Until Meng Shiwan had gone alone to Chongwu Mountain with a token, claiming that she was the daughter of her father and a mortal.

She had emerged like a lotus rising from the water, gentle yet resolute. Her words were fresh and strange, and in merely half a year, her father and three brothers' hearts had tilted toward her.

From then on, everything Anli did was wrong. Every day, they beat and cursed her, saying how vicious she was and how she bullied their new younger sister.

Digging out her inner core had not been enough.

They loathed her so much that they locked her in a dark prison and tortured her every day.

Her second brother had kept her alive with life-extending pills.

Not because he cherished her, but because he wanted to torment her for longer.

Now, she no longer had a father or brothers. She could only eat it this way.

She definitely would not die from the pain.

A force had already begun rampaging through her body.

She knelt before Yun Jing and arduously kowtowed three times. "Thank you, Divine One, for bestowing this medicine."

The force within her gradually intensified, as though it intended to tear her five viscera and six bowels to pieces.

Compared with her previous life, this was not pain at all.

She kowtowed to Yun Jing three more times. "If the Divine One does not find me unworthy, I hope you can offer me some guidance, or permit Great Deity Yuan Tuo to offer me some guidance."

Yun Jing scoffed softly. "You push your luck after gaining an inch."

Meng Anli kowtowed again. "If that is not possible, then please do not have Yuan Tuo send me back yet. Let me remain here until I have fully absorbed the Huan Dan Grass."

Otherwise, her second brother would certainly refine the medicinal power out of her.

Yuan Tuo asked in surprise, "How did you know Master wanted me to send you away?"

Yun Jing's brow lifted slightly. This child was strange in every way.

Meng Anli's thoughts returned to her previous life.

In her previous life, she had knelt for ten days and nights until she could endure no longer and fainted. When she awoke, she was clutching the Huan Dan Grass and lying in a small boat. After the boat had traveled dozens of li, it reached the Heavenly Realm. She had never met the god of the North Sea.

Now she understood. It had certainly been this god who had ordered Yuan Tuo to send her back.

They would not kill her.

Reassured, Anli's consciousness gradually faded away.

Yuan Tuo saw that she had not answered for quite some time and was still holding the posture of kowtowing.

He poked her. "Hey~"

She toppled stiffly to one side, her face terrifyingly pale and blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.

Whoosh~

Yuan Tuo withdrew his hand and explained to Yun Jing, "Master, I didn't use any force."

Han Chuan advised, "Master, this woman is strange in every way. There is calculation in her eyes. She may very well be pretending to faint now. You..."

"You go attend to your business first."

With a single sentence, Yun Jing dismissed him. He raised a hand, gently lifting Meng Anli with a stream of power, and flew with her across the North Sea.

"What is wrong with you? If you had sent her away earlier, Master would not have run into her today." Han Chuan moved to grab Yuan Tuo.

Yuan Tuo shouted, "Master told you to go attend to your business." Then he slipped away in a puff of smoke.

"Anli, you were born into riches and honor. I thought you were merely somewhat spoiled, but I never imagined you were vicious. You actually pushed Wanwan into the freezing spring water."

"You have lived alone in this courtyard for seventeen years. What is wrong with sharing it with Shiwan? You even put scorpions on her bed. How could you be so vicious?"

"You have so many exquisite gowns. I only bought Wanwan three sets, yet you cut every one of them to shreds. How could I have such a jealous daughter?"

"It is merely a worthless inner core and a stalk of Huan Dan Grass. Wanwan went to such pains to refine pills for you that she even burned her hand, yet you still refuse to let the matter go and keep opposing Wanwan. Reflect on yourself properly in the dark prison."

Mist drifted from the golden goblet-shaped glazed dragon-lotus incense burner. The breeze carried floral fragrance, stirring the cloud brocade curtains as it soothingly patted the chest of the girl on the bed.

Yet she still murmured in agony.

"Brother, it wasn't me."

"Father, I didn't."

"We... have a duty to protect... mortals."

"Eldest Brother, don't!"

Yuan Tuo sighed. "It's been two days. Even after calming her spirit like this, she is still so panicked and weeping bitter tears. Just how great a grievance did she suffer?"

Two little lions slept soundly at Yun Jing's feet. He adjusted the calming incense. "Call the Magpie God."

"Yes." Yuan Tuo withdrew.

Before long, the Magpie God arrived riding the clouds, laughing heartily. "I heard a little girl has come to your place?"

Yun Jing's cool gaze swept over Yuan Tuo.

Yuan Tuo shrank his neck. "If they mistake it for you being ill, wouldn't we never have any peace again?"

"Yes, yes. The fairies in my medicine manor alone are enough to vex you."

The Magpie God peered into the inner room. "Ah, what a pitiful and adorable little girl."

He raised his hand, tying a silver thread around Meng Anli's wrist. He immediately smiled. "One of our own?"

Then he clicked his tongue. "She ate Huan Dan Grass raw?"

Afterward, he stroked his beard, his expression turning grave. He poured a thread of Spiritual Power into the silver string. The instant the Spiritual Power entered Meng Anli's wrist, it abruptly snapped.

He froze for a moment.

Yuan Tuo asked anxiously, "What is it? What is it? Is it serious?"

The Magpie God looked at Yun Jing, his expression somewhat strange.

Yun Jing gave a faint, cold laugh. "I am wondering the same."

The Magpie God looked at the ghastly pale little girl. "Her inner core was forcibly dug out. Her body was already frail, and before she could fully recover, she drifted from place to place. Her wound never healed, festering and suppurating. Then cold invaded her marrow. She was already a spent arrow, yet she ate Huan Dan Grass raw. If not for that strand of your divine power, she should be in the Underworld by now."