Leaving the Secret Realm
With Cang Lian's help, Sang Ying had a much more peaceful time over the next few days.
They timed their journey carefully, arriving near the teleportation array on the day the secret realm opened.
Cang Lian could not yet take human form and did not dare show himself before others. Thus, rather than escort Sang Ying all the way to her destination, he bid her farewell at a spot some distance from the teleportation array.
Over the days they had spent together, Cang Lian's attitude toward Sang Ying had grown gentler and gentler. Sang Ying was not one to hold grudges, and she would share some of her ordinary food with Cang Lian.
Sharing food brought Cang Lian even closer to Sang Ying, for in the eyes of spirit beasts and Demon Beasts like him, anyone willing to share food with them regarded them as family.
Cang Lian was happy about this, but at the same time, he was terribly sad that he would soon have to part from Sang Ying.
"My heavenly tribulation will soon be upon me. Once I pass it and become an eighth-rank spirit beast, I will surely come out and find you!" Cang Lian promised Sang Ying solemnly.
Sang Ying neither agreed nor refused. After all, no one could say for certain what would happen later. She gave an ambiguous reply: "Let's talk about it when you can take human form!"
Cang Lian lifted his head and gave a soft huff. "I will surely take human form soon!"
As everyone knew, only spirit beasts and Demon Beasts of the eighth rank or higher could take human form. Cang Lian was clearly telling Sang Ying that he would make it through his heavenly tribulation safely.
Before Sang Ying left, Cang Lian called her back and used his sharp claws to tear a scale from his own body.
The scale was as large as Sang Ying's palm and looked utterly pure. Rather than a scale, it resembled a piece of exquisite porcelain.
"You and I have made an agreement, so you may be considered my friend. But your cultivation is too low. If you die before I fulfill the other two things, would I not have broken my word?" Secretly pleased with himself for finding such a good excuse, Cang Lian instructed her, "Take this scale. If you encounter danger, it can block a fatal blow for you."
Cang Lian spoke the latter part in earnest. If he could, he would have liked nothing more than to hang the scale around Sang Ying's neck with a cord himself.
Sang Ying naturally understood Cang Lian's kindness. Holding the scale, which still retained some warmth, she was filled with emotion.
She had never expected that, after all the years she had lived, the first friend she made would be a spirit beast. Perhaps she had shut herself off too much in the past?
Those thoughts only flashed through Sang Ying's mind. She soon bid Cang Lian farewell and made her way toward the teleportation array, one step at a time.
Everyone knew where the teleportation array was, so many cultivators had already left the Qishan Secret Realm through it before Sang Ying arrived.
Su Fuyun and her companions were among them. Although they had encountered the ice flood dragon earlier, they were fortunate afterward and found quite a few good things. But because of what had happened to Sang Ying, they had all grown more cautious. When the secret realm opened, they had already been waiting nearby.
Thus, Sang Ying did not run into them; the group had already left ahead of her.
Outside the secret realm, the elders of the various sects stood guard near the flying boats, waiting for their disciples to return.
Elder Yanhua wore an old set of dharma robes, making him especially conspicuous among the sumptuously dressed high-level cultivators. The disciples soon found him.
"You're back?" Elder Yanhua's ordinary greeting made everyone's hearts ache.
What they had experienced over the past month had taught these young disciples, who had weathered few storms, the cruelty of the cultivation world.
The others merely felt a pang of sorrow, unlike Su Fuyun, who burst into tears on the spot.
"Elder, Junior Sister Sang Ying is gone!" Su Fuyun cried mournfully, looking utterly stricken with grief.
The people behind her silently lowered their heads as well, as though they had already accepted the truth of Sang Ying's death.
As the leader of the group, Mu Xuan frowned and immediately pressed for answers. "What happened? Why did something happen to Junior Sister Sang Ying, and how do you know?"
Mu Xuan had asked his questions, but Su Fuyun seemed unable to pull herself free of her grief. She kept choking on her sobs, unable to say a word.
Someone behind her had no choice but to step forward and explain. "We found a thousand-year ice lotus, but we accidentally provoked the seventh-rank spirit beast guarding it. The spirit beast chased us all the way, and in the end, it knocked Junior Sister Sang Ying into a fissure and went after her..."
Although he had not stated Sang Ying's fate outright, everyone present could tell that, under those circumstances, she could not possibly have survived.
The person who had spoken was named Lin Shu, a disciple of the Flowing Light Sword Sect's third elder. He had always been on good terms with Su Fuyun, and on this trip into the secret realm, he had volunteered to protect her.
Moreover, before they met Jun Heng, Lin Shu had been the leader of their group. Once he stepped forward to speak, the others naturally would not contradict him.
As soon as Lin Shu finished explaining what had happened, Su Fuyun wept even harder. "It's all my fault, all my fault. If I hadn't let Junior Sister enter the secret realm, she wouldn't have faced these dangers."
Seeing how upset and self-reproachful Su Fuyun was, someone beside her could not help comforting her. "It's not your fault. Entering a secret realm is dangerous to begin with. If you stop in your tracks because you're afraid of danger, what's the point of cultivating immortality? Junior Sister Sang Ying met with this disaster because she was unlucky, that's all."
Otherwise, why had everyone else come out unharmed, while she alone had died? That was the rest of what the person left unsaid.
Everyone accepted this explanation, believing that it was all Sang Ying's fate.
But Mu Xuan raised a question. "A seventh-rank spirit beast is not to be trifled with. You encountered such a formidable beast, so why was Junior Sister Sang Ying the only one who came to harm? What happened at the time? Tell me in detail."
Lin Shu was taken aback by the question. He glanced at Su Fuyun instinctively. After all, everyone involved in the matter of the ice lotus knew that Su Fuyun was not unconnected to what had happened to Sang Ying. Lin Shu's earlier explanation had left Su Fuyun entirely out of it.
But if Mu Xuan kept asking questions, what Su Fuyun had done would surely come to light.
Mu Xuan immediately noticed Lin Shu's moment of hesitation. Without waiting for him to speak again, he pointed directly at someone else and asked, "You, tell me what happened. Start from when you first encountered the ice lotus!"
Caught off guard by Mu Xuan's question, the person was so nervous that he could only obediently lay everything out. "We did encounter an ice lotus and disturb that seventh-rank ice flood dragon. After Fellow Daoist Jun Heng of the Purple Firmament Sect found out, he told us to retreat at once and give up on the ice lotus, but we were still a step too late. Junior Sister Fuyun had already picked the ice lotus and angered the ice flood dragon..."
"It was all my fault!" Su Fuyun suddenly threw herself in front of Mu Xuan, cutting off the disciple's account. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have accidentally picked the ice lotus and angered the ice flood dragon. And after it caught up to us, I shouldn't have obediently listened to Junior Sister and handed the ice lotus to her. I thought she had come up with a way to deal with the ice flood dragon, but to my surprise, as soon as I handed it over, the ice flood dragon knocked her into the underground river in the fissure."
So Sang Ying had deliberately asked Su Fuyun to hand her the ice lotus! Everyone sighed inwardly. In that case, Junior Sister Fuyun could not be blamed for Sang Ying's death!
To put it bluntly, Sang Ying had brought this disaster upon herself!