A Pond Full of Spirit Crystals

After returning to her cave abode, Sang Ying activated the restrictions in her room to keep anyone from disturbing her.

Once everything was settled, Sang Ying finally had time to take out and sort through everything she had gained in the secret realm.

Worried that the Spiritual Qi from the medicines would leak out and bring unnecessary trouble, Sang Ying organized the jade boxes containing the spirit medicines without opening them.

Sorting through them left her somewhat surprised. She had not expected to have gathered over a hundred spirit medicines. They were all valuable; even if she did not use them herself, she could send them to an auction house and earn a sum of Spirit Stones.

After all, any one of the spirit medicines in those jade boxes was enough to move a high-level Alchemist.

Unfortunately, her cultivation was insufficient for now, and she could not bring any of them out.

Sang Ying tucked all the jade boxes into the deepest part of her Storage Bag. As for the inheritance soul pearl, she kept it close to her body, waiting until she met a talented cultivator who could receive Immortal Lord Fusheng's inheritance.

Finally, Sang Ying took out the Realm Pearl. It held the pond full of Ice Lotuses that Immortal Lord Fusheng had given her.

A Realm Pearl was a rare treasure. It could seal an entire landscape inside, allowing it to be carried around without harming any living thing within. What was more, a Realm Pearl was said not to remain forever unchanged. If properly tended, it had a chance of growing into a Mustard Seed Space!

Although Sang Ying did not think herself capable of that, it did not stop her from taking good care of the Realm Pearl. After all, it held a whole pond of Ice Lotuses!

Remembering that Immortal Lord Fusheng had said there were several pieces of Ice Spirit Crystal in the pond, Sang Ying decided to go inside and see for herself.

In the cultivation world, Spirit Stones could be used not only as currency, but also for cultivation and setting up formations. The higher a Spirit Stone's quality, the more abundant and pure the Spiritual Qi it contained, with Supreme-Grade Spirit Stones being the finest of all.

Spirit Crystals, however, were even more precious than Supreme-Grade Spirit Stones. Even finding a few pieces of Spirit Crystal in an entire Spirit Vein was exceedingly rare.

Spirit Crystals also had different attributes. If someone obtained a Spirit Crystal that did not match their Spirit Root, they could not use it to cultivate.

Generally speaking, Spirit Crystals with the attributes of the five elements were more common. Ice-attribute Spirit Crystals, like the ones suited to Sang Ying, were rare even among rarities.

So, after reinforcing the formations around her cave abode once more, Sang Ying could hardly wait to enter the Realm Pearl.

The bone-piercing chill struck again, but Sang Ying had prepared herself and did not find it uncomfortable.

A thin mist dispersed, and the pond full of Ice Lotuses soon appeared before Sang Ying once more. She dared not delay, immediately placing the Water-Avoidance Pearl in her mouth and sinking to the bottom.

The moment she entered the pond, she could not help widening her eyes.

How was this just a few pieces of Ice Spirit Crystal? The pond floor was densely covered with them. They were all Ice Spirit Crystals!

Sang Ying picked one up at random and left the Realm Pearl. Paying no heed to her dripping hair, she sent her spiritual power into the ice-blue, crystal-like object. Sure enough, a stream of pure ice-attribute Spiritual Qi surged into the meridians throughout her body.

Even Sang Ying could not help clicking her tongue at Immortal Lord Fusheng's extravagant generosity. He had given her a whole pond full of Ice Spirit Crystals just like that. She had gotten a truly enormous bargain.

Sang Ying had never liked owing favors, and now she was suddenly troubled. She had originally planned to wait until she formed her Golden Core before going out to find a successor for Immortal Lord Fusheng. Now that she had received such a great benefit from him, she could hardly put it off any longer.

Besides, because of Su Fuyun, she no longer wanted to stay in the sect and listen to those people stand up for her. She might as well take this opportunity to go out and temper herself, and form her core while she was away.

Having made up her mind, Sang Ying absorbed the entire piece of Ice Spirit Crystal. The pure Spiritual Qi inside it was more than she could process in a short time.

She hurriedly sat down to meditate, intending to find Gu Huaiwei and tell him about her plans to leave the mountain for training as soon as she woke from cultivation.

On the same peak as Sang Ying, Su Fuyun knew nothing of her impending departure and was still racking her brains for a way to make Sang Ying pay for the loss she had suffered this time.

As it happened, Zhou Heng'an was worried about her and had come especially to visit. Su Fuyun knew her junior brother treated her exceptionally well and, unlike Lin Shu, was not scheming, so she was happy to associate with him.

The moment Zhou Heng'an saw Su Fuyun's troubled expression, he flew into an angry rage. "Senior sister Fuyun, I told you long ago that junior sister of yours was no good. You cared about her so much before, even worrying that she might be upset because the Immortal Venerable didn't favor her. And now she's used such a vicious scheme to frame you and make Immortal Venerable Yanchen despise you. I've never seen anyone so malicious!"

Su Fuyun opened her mouth, as though she wanted to speak but hesitated.

Seeing this, Zhou Heng'an hurriedly pressed her. "Senior sister Fuyun, you can tell me anything. If there's any way I can help, I won't refuse!"

Su Fuyun sighed. "This isn't really junior sister's fault. We just had some misunderstandings. It's only that the sect master awarded her the Ice Lotus I went to such trouble to bring back. That Ice Lotus would have been a great help to me. My aptitude is poor, and I need spiritual treasures like it to improve my cultivation. Now the Ice Lotus is gone, and I have to spend half a year in the quiet room. Once I come out, I don't even know if I'll be able to reach Foundation Establishment in this lifetime."

Su Fuyun was deeply troubled by this, and Zhou Heng'an naturally would not stand by and watch.

He said at once, "I'll go plead with the sect master and ask him to spare you the punishment. Or I'll ask him to give the Ice Lotus back to you. You risked your life to get it in the first place, so it should be yours. Sang Ying didn't lift a finger, so why should she get the Ice Lotus?"

Zhou Heng'an tried hard not to recall Sang Ying's otherworldly, breathtaking face. As he spoke, he thought resentfully, She has such a beautiful face, yet such a wretched heart. No amount of beauty can make up for that!

After spending some time speaking up for Su Fuyun, he made to leave for the main peak where the sect master resided.

But before he could go, Su Fuyun called him back. "How could the sect master's decision be so easily changed? Besides, my junior sister is terribly clever. She already gave the Ice Lotus to the sect master, saying it should be used as a resource for the sect. Even if you went, you couldn't get it back."

"Clever? She's nothing but deeply scheming!" Zhou Heng'an scoffed.

Su Fuyun merely sighed and made no reply.

Zhou Heng'an asked again, "Then how can I help you, senior sister Fuyun?"

Su Fuyun's eyelashes flickered, concealing the strange look in her eyes. She said softly, "The Ice Lotus isn't irreplaceable. If I had an ice- or water-attribute spiritual treasure, preferably one that had grown for a long time, it could also help me reach Foundation Establishment. But such treasures are extremely rare. How could I find one so easily?"

Where she could not see him, Zhou Heng'an's expression slowly changed. He remembered that his father had a box of Water Spirit Crystals tucked away in his storeroom.

Those should count as spiritual treasures too, shouldn't they?