Heaven's Chosen Daughter

Beneath Blackwater Pool.

Pang Jian rode the giant python as it plunged downward, thinking that he needed to leave this place as quickly as possible.

As they neared the bottom of the pool, he saw a patch of silver light, like shards of bright crystal scattered across the ground.

Looking closer, he realized it was the Silver Net spread across the ground.

Aside from that, the Bamboo Flute in the hand of the man pierced by the Golden Mask also glimmered faintly.

Pang Jian looked up. Seeing no sign of Hong Tai, he directed the python with a thought.

The "Dark Giant Python," understanding his intent, carried him around the bottom of the pool in search of anything worth his attention.

First, he went to the Silver Silk Giant Net and lifted it. He discovered that the net was very light underwater, and though the Humanoid Monster had struggled against it for a long time, not a single strand had snapped.

After bundling up the net and putting it away, he picked up the arm-length Bamboo Flute, then searched around the corpses of the three Pulse-Opening Realm cultivators.

He found some broken silver pieces and a few low-quality spirit stones, storing them in the leather pouch beside Jin Yang's corpse.

The jade pendant carved with a Chi Dragon was visibly cracked. He pulled it off, intending to take it with him as well.

Perhaps he used too much force, because the badly damaged Chi Dragon Jade Pendant shattered on the spot.

Pang Jian casually tossed it aside.

He glanced at the Cicada Wing Swords scattered across the bottom of the pool and saw that most of them were bent out of shape. They didn't seem to be worth much.

He sighed inwardly. If only he'd known he could loot the spoils, he should have held back earlier.

Having decided to leave Blackwater Pool, he made another circuit of the bottom, but found nothing else of value.

A little disappointed, he had no choice but to ride the python back to the stone door, which stood slightly ajar. Seeing that Hong Tai still hadn't appeared, he finally felt at ease enough to open it.

Once inside,

he put the bag of spirit stones he had gotten from Ning Yao, along with everything else he had collected, into the Bamboo Basket.

He slung the heavy Bamboo Basket onto his back again, carefully closed the lid, and checked that everything was secure. Then he stood before the stone door and looked at the python that had fought alongside him.

As he watched the python, the "Dark Giant Python" inside it gazed back at him with its shadowy pupils.

After hesitating for a moment, Pang Jian reached out and gently patted the python's head beside the stone door, asking it in his mind, "Do you want to leave Blackwater Pool with me?"

The python stared blankly at him, seemingly unsure how to respond.

He smiled and said in his mind, "The stone passage is narrow, but if you separate your beast soul from your body, you should be able to pass through without trouble."

He knew that the python raised by Hong Tai was now inhabited by the true master of Blackwater Pool—the creature responsible for the many beast bones and hunters' skeletons at the bottom of the pool.

The giant python slain by the Phoenix Bone had certainly been no harmless creature. Over the years, no one knew how many living beings it had corroded with its venom.

And yet, Pang Jian had truly relied on this python to kill so many Dark Ghost cultivators on this trip.

—Though to this day, he still didn't know why the giant python had been willing to help him.

Thinking of how the python's true body had been killed by the Phoenix Bone and only its remnant soul remained, he felt that it had received the punishment it deserved.

So he wanted to take the python, now bereft of its true body, away from this living hell that was Blackwater Pool.

But the "Dark Giant Python" did not accept his kind offer.

After sensing his thoughts, the "Dark Giant Python" turned its obsidian-like eyes toward the Bronze Gate Pendant on his chest.

Having spent its time at the bottom of the pool following his thoughts and gathering its scattered remnants of soul, the "Dark Giant Python" now recalled many things.

Complex emotions flickered in its eyes.

Through the boy's warm palm, it could sense his thoughts and feelings. It knew his invitation was utterly sincere.

The boy had forgiven the wicked things it had done at Blackwater Pool. He genuinely wanted to take it away, and had even developed a strange... sense of dependence on it.

But for now, it could not accept.

Its gaze returned to the boy's face. It gently shook its head at him, then swam away from the stone door.

Pang Jian sighed inwardly, staring blankly as it swam away from the door and toward its own corpse.

It circled its enormous dead skeleton, which lay coiled beside the Phoenix Bone, swimming around and around.

It could not let go of its true serpent body, as though it still couldn't leave itself behind and hadn't understood its current predicament.

Pang Jian was suddenly moved. You're already dead.

The departing "Dark Giant Python" was no longer in physical contact with him, and they were too far apart for it to hear his thoughts.

"Forget it."

Pang Jian sighed to himself.

He understood that when the giant python shook its head, it had formally rejected his kindness. Once it swam away, it would not come back.

The disappointed boy did not wait any longer. He shut the stone door tightly and turned toward the deep, shadowy passage.

The stone door closed completely.

After Pang Jian had vanished from sight,

the "Dark Giant Python," which had just settled beside the skull of its true body, quietly swam back.

Its pair of mysterious, pitch-black eyes remained fixed on the stone door, which was indistinguishable from the surrounding rocks.

For a long, long time, neither the python body it had possessed nor its black eyes moved at all.

The boy who had set aside its past offenses, despite knowing nothing of what it had been through, had disappeared into the passage beyond the stone door. Perhaps they would never meet again.

But the boy's kindness, and his heartfelt invitation, had become an indelible mark deep within its beast soul.

In the dim stone passage,

when Pang Jian passed the stone chamber, he could no longer make out the stone table, stone chairs, or stone bed inside. The stone door had shut completely.

Holding the Dragon-Patterned Spear, he pointed it ahead, probing the way forward.

—He traveled this way through the stone passage, with no idea how deep it went.

At that moment, he couldn't help thinking of when he had ridden with Shangguan Qin, and the sudden heat that had flared from his chest.

Taking the events at Blackwater Pool into account, he was sure that when Ning Yao had gone to the Indeterminate Ferry to search for the Blood Moon's remains, a drop of Phoenix Marrow had attacked him in front of that Phoenix Bone.

He had come through unharmed because the Bronze Tablet his father had left him had absorbed the drop of Phoenix Marrow that should have turned him into a monster!

Just as it had earlier!

Not long after that incident, he had developed a raging fever and eventually passed out on his warhorse.

"This time, the Phoenix Marrow, and the blood-red phoenix that burst out of the monster, will only be more violent. I hope it takes longer to act this time. I hope I can endure it."

As he walked through the passage, he wondered about the origins of the Bronze Tablet. Had his father known how miraculous it was when he gave it to him?

And where had his father gotten this Bronze Tablet?

His mind wandered with countless thoughts as he continued to feel his way forward with the spear, pressing on through the narrow, deep passage.

Time flew by.

He felt as though he had been in the passage for a very long time, yet he still hadn't seen the slightest glimmer of light. The long, dark passage seemed to stretch on without end.

After an unknown length of time, Pang Jian finally felt the itching and heat in his chest once more!

Having been prepared for it, Pang Jian clearly felt wave after wave of strange energy pour out of the Bronze Pendant against his skin.

The strange energy instantly seeped into his breastbone, then spread from there toward his waist and abdomen!

The agonizing numbness and pain of a thousand ants gnawing at his bones returned. His body temperature rose steadily, and his head felt as if it would split open!

He knew at once that he probably wouldn't be able to endure it for long this time either. Just as before, he would soon pass out.

But he had no idea whether he would wake up again.

Uneasy, he tried to reassure himself. Since the skin on his chest and arms could breathe on its own, he wouldn't drown if he passed out. And no living creature should be able to enter this hidden passage deep beneath the mountains.

So he should be safe if he lost consciousness.

"Ugh!"

The boy, who had prepared for the worst, suddenly felt a coolness over his heart. He reached out and touched it, finding the lotus leaf that looked like green jade.

The lotus leaf was cool to the touch. A faint icy-green glow spread from it, illuminating the dark passage and lowering his body temperature by several degrees.

His eyes lit up with delight.

He hadn't expected the lotus leaf that Jin Yang had treasured to actually come in handy at a crucial moment. It kept him from fainting right away, allowing him to feel the changes in his body.

Gradually, he sensed the streams of mysterious power flowing out of the Bronze Tablet coursing through all the bones in his body.

It was as if countless flaming phoenixes were soaring inside his bones, hammering them mercilessly and sending sparks flying within.

Amid the stabbing pain as his bones were tempered again and again, he had not passed out. It was entirely thanks to the lotus leaf.

He suddenly felt a little grateful to Jin Yang. That fellow was dead, but he had left me a treasure after all.

He hadn't had long to celebrate before he saw the icy-green glow from the lotus leaf covering his heart grow fainter and fainter.

The wondrous lotus leaf could not hold back the transformation within him forever, nor keep him conscious for long.

Before long, the strange power inside the lotus leaf was exhausted. When it no longer gave off any light, it suddenly shattered into countless pieces underwater.

As the lotus leaf broke apart, Pang Jian realized that Jin Yang's plan had never been viable.

This somewhat mystical lotus leaf could not withstand the power of a single drop of Phoenix Marrow. If Jin Yang had truly absorbed a drop of Phoenix Marrow, sooner or later he would have become another monster.

Soon, the heat rising from within Pang Jian grew more and more intense.

Pang Jian passed out again.

Second Realm.

Utterly exhausted, Sun Bin teleported once more with Pang Lin, then sprawled on his back across a floating Lonely Island.

The sky was a clear blue, without a cloud in sight.

Four enormous landmasses floated in the sky, one in each of the four directions. They were dazzling and unmistakable.

Gazing at the familiar sky, Sun Bin let out a weary sigh. "Girl, I really did everything I could."

On this fair-weather day, the despairing Sun Bin had resigned himself to death, and so he gazed at the blue sky with reluctance.

"I used every escape artifact and spell I could, including my own blood essence and soul essence. I used everything I was supposed to, and even things I wasn't! There really was nothing I could do. I couldn't contact anyone else, and I don't have a shred of strength left."

Sun Bin looked up at the sky as he explained himself, as if speaking to someone in the Upper Realm, trying to prove that he hadn't failed in his duty.

"Senior Sun, I don't blame you. I just can't bear to leave my brother behind. Once I'm gone too, he'll have no family left in this world."

Pang Lin's delicate, lovely face was now full of reluctance. All she could think about was her brother, alone in the lower realm, and what he would do from then on.

"My brother never even got the chance to come up here and see this blue sky."

"I'd been planning to work hard at cultivating so I could go back and bring him here..."

Pang Lin murmured, tears shimmering in the corners of her eyes. Like Sun Bin, she felt utterly hopeless.

It turned out that in the world above, the sun could sometimes be seen, the bright moon lingered in the night sky, and countless stars glittered overhead.

Everything was so beautiful.

The days and nights above were so radiant and colorful. It was a shame her brother would never get the chance to see them.

She regretted that Pang Jian had not been able to come.

"Whoosh!"

The bone that had been pursuing her and Sun Bin for so long appeared once more, swift as a bolt of cold lightning.

This time, Sun Bin no longer had the strength to take her with him and escape using those miraculous abilities.

The Phoenix Bone glowed with crystalline light. Countless tiny runes within it shone like diamonds as it came to a quiet stop right in front of her.

The symbols, like stars and scattered diamonds, flew away from the Phoenix Bone and whistled past her eyes, as if showing her boundless wonder and mystery.

The Phoenix Bone not only made no move to attack or kill her, but slowly drew near her chest, sending her a thought that it wanted her to touch it.

Pang Lin stared blankly for a long while.

Under Sun Bin's dazed gaze, she curiously touched the Phoenix Bone with the pad of her right index finger.

At once, knowledge vast as the sea flowed through her fingertip and into her body.

Within the bone, countless tiny points of light, like diamond-bright stars, vanished one by one.

Sun Bin stared in shock. Only after a very long while did he finally come to his senses and murmur, "So it wasn't trying to hunt us down. It had chosen this girl."

The readers these days are incredible. When Old Ni wrote the second chapter, many of you guessed that the Azure Vulture was just an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire, and that Pang Lin was the lucky one.

Well, there was never any fairness in this world. While the older brother fought tooth and nail, the younger sister sat back and waited for blessings to chase her down.

Just like the Purgatory World in the story, layered one level atop another, where people born in the upper and lower levels were different from the start. It's just like "social class" in our world—there has never been any fairness.