Within Spring Return Valley, the peaks had been severed, the rivers cut off, and the lakes completely dried up. Every medicinal field had been stripped clean, not a single blade of herb left behind. Countless pill furnaces, large and small, had been moved away by great magical power, leaving only devastation in their wake. Spring Return Valley, stretching over a hundred miles, was now a flat field of rubble, with nothing of value remaining. Even the water from the cold pool behind the mountains had been carried away in containers, taken as material for refining yin-baleful magical treasures.
The demonic cultivators had scoured Spring Return Valley three hundred zhang into the ground, plundering clean the scant old foundations accumulated by the Great Luo Pill Dao over hundreds of generations.
When Lin Xiao awoke, he found himself lying on a flat bluestone slab about a zhang wide. A layer of soft long grass cushioned him beneath, two azure Daoist Robes covered him, and a faint, tranquil pill qi still lingered in his mouth. To either side sat a young man and woman in moon-green Daoist Robes, cross-legged beside him and watching him without blinking.
The young man was handsome and heroic, his eyes like lightning. Yet each eye held double pupils, with faint clouds curling between them. Clearly, his cultivation was extraordinarily profound, and he had cultivated some wondrous technique in his eyes. The young woman, meanwhile, was as elegant as a lotus touched by dew. A visible wisp of clear qi coiled around her, and not a speck of dust stained her from head to toe. Her faint smile was like water. At the sight of her, even Lin Xiao, whose heart was now like withered wood, could not help blanking out for a moment. What a woman one could not help but wish to draw close to.
Seeing Lin Xiao open his eyes, the male cultivator nodded slightly and smiled at him. But when he saw that Lin Xiao's gaze paused only briefly on the female Daoist before returning expressionlessly to his own face, the male cultivator froze slightly. His lips twitched, and he secretly grinned at the female cultivator.
The female cultivator shot the male cultivator a glare, then said in a clear, warbling voice, "Young Friend Lin Xiao, this poor Daoist is Yi Xin of the Origin Sect. This is my senior brother, Yi Xing. This place is Spring Return Valley."
Lin Xiao stiffly propped himself up and stared blankly at the ruined Spring Return Valley, now leveled to the ground in every direction. White rubble and shattered tiles covered the earth, without a trace of green. Not only had the spiritual herbs in the medicinal fields been looted clean by the demonic cultivators, even flowers and trees of slightly greater age had been taken away. Even the somewhat valuable jade tiles and golden bricks within Pill Qi Lingxiao Hall had been scraped away until nothing remained.
Looking at the unbearable scene before him, Lin Xiao's numb face twitched. Yi Xin and Yi Xing raised their brows, about to say something, but Lin Xiao slowly lifted his hands and asked faintly, "My senior sister... Yao'er... where is she?" Lin Xiao looked blankly at Yi Xin. The corners of his eyes, which had only just healed, split open again, and another string of bloody tears dripped down.
Yi Xin's expression darkened. She cast Yi Xing a somewhat resentful glance.
Yi Xing gave Yi Xin an indifferent look, then turned back and nodded to Lin Xiao. "That little girl was Yao'er, correct? Her body had been contaminated by the demonic path's Thousand Gu Evil Poison. Within three double-hours, she would have turned into a hundred-poison zombie. Therefore, this poor Daoist had someone refine that little girl with true fire just now." Yi Xing looked at Lin Xiao with some concern, consoling him in a gentle tone. "Young Friend, there is no need for sorrow. When we arrived, we happened to encounter the Blood God Ancestor leading a group of demonic disciples away. We heard him say that the souls of everyone in your sect had been preserved. That is a great fortune amid misfortune."
"Souls!" A faint glimmer returned to Lin Xiao's eyes. He stared fixedly at Yi Xing and asked in a deep voice, "Their souls remain—what does that mean?"
The vast sea of information within the Great Luo Pill Scripture flashed rapidly through Lin Xiao's mind. He gazed foolishly at Yi Xing and asked, "If their souls still exist, that means they can still be reincarnated, doesn't it?"
"Yes!" Yi Xing remained silent, but Yi Xin answered, "And cultivators' souls are stable. After reincarnation, they may very well retain a little of their memories from their previous lives."
"They don't need memories of their previous lives!" A trace of happy laughter appeared on Lin Xiao's face. Lowering his head, he began to chuckle. "As long as they can still be reincarnated, it doesn't matter. Use the Reincarnation Pill to awaken their memories of their former lives, use the Dream Return Pill to stabilize the cultivation of their minds in this life, then use all manner of pills to advance their cultivation. As long as I can find those reincarnated people, I can bring them back to life. I can bring them back to life!" Lin Xiao suddenly leaped up like a madman, waving his arms as he roared at the heavens, "Heavens! I can bring them back to life!"
Yi Xing and Yi Xin exchanged an exceedingly worried look.
They had heard of the Reincarnation Pill and Dream Return Pill as well, but those were things mentioned only briefly in the highest scriptures of their Origin Sect. They were true Immortal Pills, even more precious than the legendary Heaven Grade spirit pills! Leaving aside whether Lin Xiao remembered the pill formulas and spirit arts required to refine such Immortal Pills, even if he knew them, how could the current cultivation world possibly gather the materials needed to refine them? Those rare materials—even during the cultivation world's golden age thousands of years ago—were sights seen once in ten thousand years!
Yet Yi Xing and Yi Xin tacitly refrained from speaking, unwilling to disturb the somewhat crazed Lin Xiao.
Yi Xing stared blankly at several sword lights streaking across the distant sky, while Yi Xin gazed blankly at Yi Xing and murmured to herself, "With something to hope for, enduring the days is always a little easier than having no hope at all, isn't it? No matter how faint that hope may be, having it is better than not having it, right?"
Yi Xing seemed not to hear Yi Xin's soft muttering. Three golden sword lights, each more than ten zhang long and carrying faint peals of thunder, shot swiftly in from afar. Three middle-aged Daoists in moon-blue Daoist Robes landed three zhang before Yi Xing and saluted him with clasped hands. "Senior Brother Sect Master, we searched all of Spring Return Valley. Apart from Young Friend Lin Xiao, every other Daoist of the Great Luo Pill Dao has perished."
One middle-aged Daoist stepped forward and placed a partially burned book and several broken wooden tablets before Yi Xing. Yi Xing picked up the book and boards, leafed through them, and sighed softly. Then he said gently to Lin Xiao, "Young Friend Lin Xiao, take a look. Are these your family genealogy and... the memorial tablets of your father and relatives?"
Lin Xiao went blank. He lunged before Yi Xing and wrapped his arms around the damaged genealogy and spirit tablets. He could not even cry anymore. He only clutched those things tightly as great drops of bloody tears rolled from the corners of his eyes, dripping scarlet specks across the genealogy and tablets.
Yi Xing and the other Daoists quietly watched Lin Xiao. Not one of them spoke.
After a long while, Lin Xiao slowly tucked the genealogy and spirit tablets into his bracelet, then asked hoarsely, "How did Senior know this junior's name?" Only then did Lin Xiao react slightly. Yi Xing and Yi Xin were both from the Origin Sect, while those Daoists had called Yi Xing Senior Brother Sect Master. Did that not mean Yi Xing was the current Sect Master of the Origin Sect? By seniority, Yi Xing was a figure of Lin Xiao's great-grandmaster's generation.
Yi Xing said calmly, "A few days ago, Daoist Dan Ling sent an order letter to our Origin Sect through a formation. He said that an evil demon had been executed by heavenly lightning within the territory of the Great Luo Pill Dao and asked us to investigate. The letter also contained your portrait and an introduction. It said you were a genius rare in the Great Luo Pill Dao for a thousand years, having formed your golden core at eighteen, and praised you highly."
"So that was it." Lin Xiao said blankly, "But Martial Uncle Dan Ling, he..."
Yi Xing lowered his head and said softly, "If nothing unexpected occurred, then the entire Great Luo Pill Dao... has likely been left with only Young Friend."
Lin Xiao fell silent. He stood there blankly, utterly motionless. That small burst of excitement and agitation from moments ago had long since been flung beyond the clouds. Recalling the records of the Reincarnation Pill and Dream Return Pill in the Great Luo Pill Scripture, he finally realized how immensely difficult it would be to refine such pills! And finding those reincarnated disciples of the Great Luo Pill Dao in the boundless cultivation world—how many times harder was that than fishing a needle from the sea?
It was like a traveler on the verge of dying of thirst in the desert suddenly discovering a crystal-clear lake less than a hundred meters ahead. Just as he rejoiced wildly and wished to rush toward it, he discovered in horror that a bottomless chasm dozens of meters wide lay between him and the lake!
Hope had appeared, only for despair to descend once more.
It was another heavy blow. Lin Xiao opened his mouth and spat out a stream of blood.
Yi Xing frowned, while Yi Xin's expression darkened. She hurriedly persuaded him, "Young Friend, having hope is always better than total despair. Spring Return Valley is no longer fit to live in. If Young Friend agrees, would you be willing to become an Attendant of our Origin Sect? Young Friend need only refine some pills for our Origin Sect each year. In return, our Origin Sect can provide Young Friend with all kinds of medicinal ingredients, even help Young Friend seek the whereabouts of your reincarnated fellow disciples. Would Young Friend be willing?"
The Origin Sect! The Origin Sect, one of the three strongest sects among the righteous factions of the cultivation world! The Origin Sect whose sect grounds covered nearly all of Qi Yuan Star!
A faint gleam flashed in the depths of Lin Xiao's eyes. He slowly, stiffly raised his hand and saluted Yi Xin with clasped hands. "If so, this junior is naturally willing. From this day onward, I will have to trouble you all greatly!"
Yi Xing raised his head, looked at Lin Xiao with some pity, and nodded softly. Then he glared at Yi Xin with a touch of irritation, as if blaming her for making a decision on his behalf without authorization.
Yi Xin raised her long brows and nearly provocatively glared back at Yi Xing.
Yi Xing fell silent and lowered his head again.
Thus was born the youngest Attendant of the Origin Sect on Qi Yuan Star.
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