A Fortuitous Opportunity by Chance
Cold drops of water fell one by one onto Sang Ying's face. By the time she fully regained consciousness, the pain throughout her body tormented her, giving her not a moment's peace.
Sang Ying struggled to take a mid-grade Rejuvenation Pill out of her Storage Bag. This rare mid-grade pill was one her parents had left her.
After swallowing it, Sang Ying felt a warm current surge from her abdomen through her entire body. Though the pain remained, it had at least eased considerably, and she could just manage to move her limbs.
Sang Ying slowly crawled out of the underground river. She wiped the water from her face, finally able to look at where she was.
This was probably an underground cavern. After Sang Ying fell into the river, the current had carried her all the way here. She looked around but saw no way out. Fortunately, crystals scattered about gave off a faint light, allowing her to see her surroundings clearly.
She had only ten mid-grade Rejuvenation Pills on her. With the situation still unclear, Sang Ying dared not take them indiscriminately, even though her injuries had yet to heal.
She rummaged through her Storage Bag and brought out a luminous pearl and a walking stick. The stick counted as a Law Artifact too. Though it was a lower grade than her Ice Soul Sword, it could still serve as a weapon for self-defense.
At the thought, Sang Ying searched around and finally found the hilt of the Ice Soul Sword on the riverbank where she had been lying.
It was her first sword and had accompanied her for many years. Sang Ying ran her fingers over the two characters spelling "Sang Ying" on it, then sighed and put it in her Storage Bag.
Before setting off, Sang Ying suddenly remembered that Su Fuyun seemed to have said she had given her the Ice Lotus.
After searching herself from head to toe, Sang Ying finally felt a Storage Bag at the small of her back.
She raised an eyebrow, surprised that Su Fuyun really had been willing to part with the Ice Lotus. If so, she had not suffered all this for nothing.
But after Sang Ying erased Su Fuyun's mark and opened the Storage Bag, she realized she had still underestimated Su Fuyun's greed. There was no Ice Lotus in the bag at all, only a tiny Raising Beast Ring.
It was a Law Artifact cultivators used specifically to raise beast pets. It was not a high-grade Law Artifact and could be bought for a few Spirit Stones.
The Raising Beast Ring was flashing, presumably because the Demon Beast inside was eager to come out.
Sang Ying thought little of it and opened the Beast Ring to let it out.
A dark shape darted past her, and a fluffy little puppy appeared before her, baring its teeth.
The Demon Beast lowered its front half, letting out a babyish growl from its young throat, as though trying to frighten Sang Ying away.
She looked closer and saw that it was the Gale Hound pup she had lent Su Fuyun money to buy a few days earlier. She did not know whether Su Fuyun had taken the wrong Storage Bag in her panic or abandoned the Demon Beast for the Ice Lotus.
Either way, it was obvious that the spirit beast hated her.
Fortunately, Sang Ying did not like it much either, so she was not particularly upset. It only seemed to her that everyone and every Demon Beast who had come into contact with Su Fuyun treated her poorly.
She had already released the Gale Hound from the Beast Ring. Whether it lived or died from here on had nothing to do with her.
Sang Ying tossed the Beast Ring in front of it, then turned and walked slowly away, leaning on her stick as she followed the flow of the underground river.
Seeing this, the little Demon Beast behind her tilted its head, seemingly not expecting Sang Ying to leave so decisively without so much as another glance at it.
It hurried forward and seized its Beast Ring in its mouth, but it had no idea where to put it. After puzzling over it for a long while, it dropped the ring and quietly followed Sang Ying.
Sang Ying had noticed, but the Demon Beast was only a pup and posed no threat to her, so she paid it little mind.
The woman and the beast walked for who knew how long before the space around them finally opened up.
Looking out toward the light streaming in, Sang Ying saw Spirit Plants and spirit herbs as far as the eye could see, all things she had only ever seen in books! In a daze, she stepped out, and surging Spiritual Qi instantly filled her entire body, bringing new life even to her depleted Dantian!
Was this some kind of formation?
For a moment, Sang Ying could hardly believe she could be so lucky. But when she saw the Demon Beast pup that had followed her frolicking happily in the herb garden, she realized she was not dreaming.
Three-thousand-year-old Jade Spirit Grass, five-thousand-year-old Frost Condensation Flowers, eight-thousand-year-old Soul Condensation Grass... Sang Ying's gaze fell on the tall golden tea tree nearby. It was a ten-thousand-year-old Dao Enlightenment Tea Tree!
It was said that drinking tea made from its leaves could help a person achieve sudden enlightenment!
Sang Ying hurriedly suppressed the excitement welling uncontrollably in her heart. She took out the jade boxes she had prepared long ago and selectively dug up several of the precious Spirit Plants in the garden.
She had no intention of stripping the entire garden bare. Only Su Fuyun would pluck every feather from a passing goose.
Sang Ying chose the oldest Spirit Plants to dig up. Where there were many, she took more; where there were few, she left several more behind. Only when she reached the patch of Frost Condensation Flowers did she breathe a small sigh of relief.
Even if the Frost Condensation Flowers were not as effective as the Ice Lotus, flowers this old were worth as much as that Ice Lotus.
While she was busy gathering herbs, the Demon Beast pup naturally had not been idle either. Though the Gale Hound's intelligence was only that of a child a few years old, as a Demon Beast, it was born knowing what was good.
When Sang Ying noticed it, it was biting down on a stalk of Life Spirit Grass and refusing to let go.
The herb was exceptionally effective at nourishing the soul, but surely the Gale Hound needed spirit herbs that strengthened its flesh and blood. Why, then, was the little pup so determined to get the Life Spirit Grass?
Though Sang Ying did not understand, she saw how much trouble the little black fluffball was having and kindly gave it a hand, pulling up the herb and tossing it over.
She also pulled up several more for it, thinking that if it did not want them, she could take them herself.
The Gale Hound probably had not expected Sang Ying to help. When it saw her reach over, it jumped sharply away and growled at her several times.
The sounds were hardly imposing, but its resistance was clear. Only after Sang Ying tossed the spirit herb to it did the creature slowly put away its "fierce look."
At first, it refused to eat. Later, when it saw that Sang Ying ignored it after pulling up the herbs, it cautiously gnawed its way through them all.
Sang Ying glanced at it a few times and found the Demon Beast quite clever. It knew that the roots of Life Spirit Grass were the most potent part, and it did not leave a single dirt-covered root uneaten.
Seeing this, Sang Ying shook her head in amusement.
In the end, Sang Ying did not dare take the Dao Enlightenment Tea Tree with her. The tree was simply too valuable. Picking some leaves could be put down to good luck, but taking the whole tree would likely bring her trouble.
It was not that Sang Ying had never considered taking it back and planting it in the sect. But she had a feeling she might leave the sect someday, and taking so many things back now would only make it harder to disentangle herself later. In the end, she simply picked some extra tea leaves and broke off a few branches before stopping.
After spending some time in the herb garden, Sang Ying did not forget to chew a few healing spirit herbs. Though they were not as effective as pills, they still eased her pain somewhat.
Once she had put everything away, Sang Ying continued onward.
This was a small underground world, and Sang Ying did not know what lay ahead. But she knew that if she stopped moving forward, she would have even less chance of finding a way out.
Before she had gone far, a chill struck Sang Ying like blades and swords. She looked up and saw a world of pure white ice and frost not far away. And blooming in the very center of the icy pool was none other than an Ice Lotus!