Chapter 183 (Part 1): We’ve All Grown Up

Hua Jian’s life in Wanhuagu began with cultivation.

Who would have thought that the first thing she’d do upon entering the Demonic Sect was actually cultivate?

And it was all done without contact, relying only on listening!

But as she studied, Hua Jian also discovered that Wanhuagu hadn’t deceived her earlier.

The cultivation method Wanhuagu had given her was directly connected to the one she originally practiced—the two were completely inclusive.

The method she originally cultivated was incomplete, while the one she was learning now was whole, even making her feel she could use this method to cultivate all the way to immortality.

Because she was trapped inside the fruit core, Hua Jian had completely lost any time for rest.

Every day, it was cultivation and only cultivation. When she grew tired, she’d close her eyes and sleep for a while.

When she woke up, she wouldn’t even change her position before starting to circulate her energy again.

Although her personal freedom was entirely restricted, the environment inside the fruit core was incredibly suited for her cultivation.

If the cultivation chamber in Ascension City had made Hua Jian feel the gap between the Saint Sect and ordinary places, then the difference between this fruit core and that chamber was even greater.

The thick liquid inside the core, which made it impossible for her to move, was pure spiritual power compressed to the extreme and perfectly suited for her absorption.

The moment she started circulating her energy, that spiritual power would surge into her body uncontrollably, like a child finding its mother.

In this cultivation environment, Hua Jian’s progress couldn’t even be described as “a thousand miles a day.” It was like a rocket, shooting upward.

In a very short time—Hua Jian didn’t even know how long—she reached the bottleneck of the Spirit Master Realm, and this hadn’t even consumed one percent of the fruit core’s power.

But thinking carefully, it actually made sense. Don’t forget how this fruit core had been condensed.

It was the fruit of a terrifying plant that could fight a Sage’s Doppelgänger for three hundred rounds without losing, after devouring an entire Secret Realm.

Using it to advance a little Spiritualist like Hua Jian was overkill.

Hua Jian didn’t know why Wanhuagu would go to such lengths, but she definitely didn’t want to be trapped inside a fruit core as a prisoner in a bottle for life.

So the only thing she could do was cultivate hard and get out of this fruit core as soon as possible.

After discovering that Hua Jian had entered a bottleneck period, Wanhuagu moved her to another place.

It was a huge pool of surging blood. They placed Hua Jian in the center of the pool, inside a blood-red flower that grew there.

As the blood-colored aura from the pool seeped into the fruit core, Hua Jian felt her body begin to grow stronger.

Was this another form of body refinement? While enjoying the enhancement, she couldn’t help but think.

But this blood pool didn’t look like something good. She didn’t dare to think too deeply about how it was constructed.

Once she did, she’d realize that Wanhuagu being classified as a Demonic Sect wasn’t discrimination—they truly deserved that title.

Don’t look at the Heavenly Dao Sect—they prey on the weak and are wicked, but their wickedness is acceptable. They don’t actually do truly evil things.

But Wanhuagu was different. They really did the kind of things a demonic path would do.

They just maintained good appearances and did those things discreetly.

As time slowly passed, Hua Jian gradually completed the condensation and transformation of her spiritual power inside the fruit core, which meant she had successfully advanced from a Spirit Master to a Spirit King.

This took a very long time, but since arriving at Wanhuagu, she had never seen the sun rise or set, so she couldn’t give an accurate time for her breakthrough.

After breaking through, her absorption of the fruit core’s energy sped up considerably.

However, correspondingly, the energy inside the core could no longer advance her cultivation as quickly as it had back in the Spirit Master Realm.

It took several times longer than the breakthrough itself, but Hua Jian finally reached the end. She absorbed all the energy inside the fruit core into her body.

But this only pushed her from the early stage of Spirit King to the boundary between early and mid-stage Spirit King.

This puzzled her. Logically, if she had devoured an entire Secret Realm, she should have gained much more power, right?

Even if she didn’t jump straight to Spirit Lord, she should at least have been pushed to Spirit Emperor.

But instead, she only reached early Spirit King. That was unacceptable.

Wanhuagu, which had been monitoring Hua Jian’s cultivation progress, also noticed that the fruit core’s energy had been depleted.

So they sent someone to move Hua Jian to a relatively spacious room and told her that this would be her residence from now on.

“Heave-ho, it’s not heavy at all.”

A girl in a floral dress gently placed the fruit core on a cushion, wiped her forehead, and curiously looked at Hua Jian, who was imprisoned inside.

“Hua Jian, do you still remember me?”

The girl pointed at her own face.

Only then did Hua Jian observe the girl closely. Following a familiar feeling, she quickly pulled a name from her memories.

“Han Rui?”

“Hehe, I’m called Hua Xinrui now!” The girl, still a bit immature a few years ago, placed her hands on her hips and laughed heartily.

Seeing how energetic she was now, she must have been doing well in Wanhuagu all these years.

Formally recruited by Wanhuagu? Hua Jian wasn’t too surprised.

Han Rui had been heading to Wanhuagu before, and she had done a meritorious deed on the way. Becoming a Flower Surname disciple was normal.

Compared to Han Rui—no, now she should be called Hua Xinrui—Hua Jian was more interested in how long she had been cultivating.

Then, she got a shocking number.

Four years.

She had been inside that fruit core for four whole years!

“I returned to the main sect three years ago. By then, Miss Hua Jian’s name had already spread across the entire Central Continent!” Hua Xinrui’s eyes sparkled with little hearts.

Like a fan seeing an idol, she excitedly began telling Hua Jian about everything that had happened over the years.

Four years ago, the Ascension Gathering held by the Saint Sect was ambushed by the demonic path.

Although only a few people were injured or killed, the entire training Secret Realm was completely destroyed.

Though the Saint Sect tried to suppress the news, they couldn’t hide it from those who were looking.

Soon, people heard about what had happened during that Ascension Gathering.

The Wanhua Saintess had infiltrated the Secret Realm, gained the trust of the other cultivators there, and after a series of schemes and plots, succeeded in destroying the entire Secret Realm.

There were many different versions of the story circulating in the Central Continent, but one thing everyone agreed on: this Wanhua Saintess was extremely strong!

“You’re a big star in Wanhuagu now. Actually, calling you Miss Hua Jian is presumptuous. I should properly address you as Saintess Daren.” Hua Xinrui said a bit sheepishly.

So I’ve been cultivating for four years, and in those four years, I’ve become a great demoness who commits all kinds of evil?

Hua Jian was momentarily lost, but not for long. She accepted this reality.

Demoness or not, it wasn’t like she couldn’t live.

Compared to the fact that she’d inexplicably been saddled with this huge pot, she was more looking forward to reuniting with Linglong a year from now.

Originally, she thought she’d have to endure a long, long time before seeing Linglong again. But now, being told she only had to wait another year made her suddenly excited.

Cultivation is great, it’s stolen away my time.

“Oh, right, your little follower has been living with me all this time. She’s been pining for you all these years. Saintess Daren, should I bring her over?”

Little follower?

Hua Jian was stunned again. When did she have a little follower?

“Xia Hui, that little follower!”

“Ah! Her…” Hua Jian pressed her forehead and sighed. Well, that girl was indeed her little follower.

She was even a poor girl who had been tricked by her.

If she hadn’t been targeted by Wanhuagu, Xia Hui wouldn’t have been impersonated by Huaxinhu in the Secret Realm. By now, Xia Hui would at least be an outer disciple at some Saint Sect.

“You’d better call me Hua Jian.” ‘Saintess Daren’ sounds weird… As for seeing Xia Hui or not, Hua Jian thought she could see her. But her current appearance didn’t seem suitable for meeting people.

She had been sealed in the fruit core for four years without changing clothes. Even though she hadn’t grown an inch in height, the holes in her clothes couldn’t heal naturally.

Those were wounds from the final battle, made by the Heavenly Dao Sect cultivators, and some were tears where vines had grown from her body.

In short, her clothes were almost like rags. The only thing preventing her from showing skin was the white spiritual garment she wore.

But that form-fitting spiritual garment wasn’t the kind you could wear out in public either. Hua Jian felt she should get out of the fruit core and change clothes before meeting anyone.

She knocked twice on the outer shell of the fruit core. She wasn’t sure if it was time for her to come out.

As if guessing Hua Jian’s doubt, an old acquaintance soon arrived to answer her questions.

When the light pink fox tail pushed open the door, Hua Jian’s gaze instantly sharpened.

This was her first time seeing Huaxinhu’s true form in the real world.

Compared to the Huaxinhu in the Godsoul Space, the real one was much more alluring, and her clothes were even more… shameless.

Woman, pull your neckline up, okay? No one here is going to be seduced by you!

“Xinhu Shijie!” Hua Xinrui obediently greeted Huaxinhu and then stepped respectfully aside.

Among the Flower Surname disciples, there was naturally a hierarchy.

Someone as junior as Hua Xinrui, who had just become a Flower Surname disciple, had to act humble in front of an old-timer like Huaxinhu.

Huaxinhu nodded somewhat coldly, walked up to Hua Jian, and a meaningful faint smile appeared on her face.

“Has the Saintess Daren been comfortable?”

“If you mean being locked in a fruit core, unable to move for four whole years, then yes, very comfortable.”

“Well, I have good news for you. You can come out now. All you have to do is break the fruit core.” Huaxinhu gestured at the core with her hand.

“That Contract Spirit Beast of yours has almost eaten me out of house and home. Better take it back soon.”

Hua Jian’s mouth twitched slightly. So her Contract Spirit Beast had been raised by Huaxinhu?

But thinking about it, it made sense. After entering this fruit core, she had lost contact with A Meng. It seemed A Meng had been picked up by Huaxinhu.

Or rather, Huaxinhu had been latched onto by A Meng.

As for the Spiritual Civet, before the final battle began, she had entrusted it to Linglong. By rights, that little one should be with Linglong…

She hoped Linglong would think of her when she saw it and take good care of the little civet.

The contract in Hua Jian’s divine soul was still intact, which meant nothing had happened to the Spiritual Civet. That was good news.

“Alright, I’ll try to get out of here.”

Reaching out and pressing on the fruit core, a sprout with a rapidly spinning tip emerged from Hua Jian’s palm.

It began drilling into the core at an incredible speed, producing a piercing noise that made the two girls in the room grimace.

Especially Huaxinhu. She was a fox spirit with four ears on her head, making her far better at picking up sound than Hua Xinrui.

In the assault of noise, she also took far more damage than Hua Xinrui.

“My Saintess little sister, stop for a moment. Can’t you use a quieter method?” Huaxinhu wished she had four hands to cover all four of her ears.

But she was a fox spirit, not a spider or centipede spirit.

She could only use her hands to press down on her fox ears; there was no way to cover her human ears.

Using a soundproofing spell would naturally work, but this was just ordinary noise. Using a spell might be overkill and would make her a laughingstock.

Sure enough, the moment she had that thought, another Flower Surname disciple was attracted by the noise.

“What are you doing? Can’t you let people have some peace?” A head poked in from outside the door. Seeing the combination of people in the room, the girl was also taken aback. “Oh? Has the Saintess moved back from that hellhole?”

Hua Jian reacted even more strongly. How could she ever forget that face!

When she was little, that face had taught her so many things. The formation of some of her personality traits couldn’t escape that face’s influence.

So, Sister Flower Queen, you were also from Wanhuagu?!

I’ve been surrounded by Wanhuagu my whole life!

“Sister Flower Queen, why are you here too…” Hua Jian stared at the older sister blankly, momentarily at a loss for words.

“I’ve always been from Wanhuagu. Ahem, let me introduce myself. My name is Huaxinyuan.” Huaxinyuan wasn’t embarrassed at all.

“I was ordered by my elders to protect you while you were growing up. I wonder if you’re satisfied with my performance?”

“I was satisfied before, but not anymore.” Hua Jian’s gaze went hollow. She felt like her life was a tragedy.

So the big sister who she thought was good to her was also a villain, and had approached her with ulterior motives!

This world without sincerity should just be destroyed!

Drills, identical to the one in her hand, grew out of her back.