Chapter 183 (Part 2): We’ve All Grown Up

Hua Jian began venting her anger on the sturdy fruit core.

“I can’t take it anymore. Xinrui, you keep serving her. I’m leaving!”

One drill was already unbearable for Huaxinhu. Now with this many at once, she chose to flee directly.

As soon as Huaxinhu fled, Huaxinyuan followed closely behind. In an instant, only a bitterly smiling Hua Xinrui remained in Hua Jian’s room.

Compared to those two bad women who had tricked her, Hua Jian still looked favorably on this good woman she had tricked, so she didn’t add any more drills.

“I feel like Miss Hua Jian chose the wrong way to break the shell.” Covering her ears, Hua Xinrui muttered over the noise.

“I think it’s fine. Isn’t this how you break a shell?” Having already drilled several holes in the shell, Hua Jian swapped her vine tool for a saw-shaped one and continued working on it.

She looked exactly like a carpenter doing woodwork.

Well, a fruit core could indeed be considered wood, huh.

“You should use your brain and find a method to naturally break out of the shell using the knowledge you have, just like a real seed.” Hua Xinrui’s eyebrows drooped as she replied with a sullen expression.

That wasn’t what the books described! The Saintess should have pondered for a moment, then had a flash of inspiration, using one of the countless secret techniques she mastered to easily soften and break the shell, instead of torturing the shell and the listeners’ ears so crudely.

Fortunately, Hua Xinrui wasn’t so book-brained that she would blurt out something weird like “I don’t accept this.”

And Hua Jian thought, why so many complications? As long as she could get out, wasn’t that enough?

Who cared about the method?

Sawing the shell open was still a solution. What was the biggest difference between humans and animals? Humans used tools.

If she didn’t use clever little tools, why even bother being human?

After struggling with the fruit core for half a day, Hua Jian finally cut open a half-height door in it.

Pushing aside the piece of shell she had sawed off, she once again touched the outside air.

Taking a deep breath, Hua Jian, who hadn’t breathed for four years, couldn’t help sighing that the outside air was really sweet.

Stretching her limbs to let her body, which hadn’t moved in years, get used to the sensation of moving again, Hua Jian began to examine the difference between her current body and her previous one.

Looking left and right, she found that she was no different from four years ago—except that her cultivation had risen to the Ling Wang Realm, there was no change.

She hadn’t grown taller, hadn’t grown up. It was as if her time had been frozen at sixteen, never moving forward.

“‘Oh no, my Storage Pouch is gone.’” She reached around her waist, feeling a huge crisis. Her Storage Pouch had flown off somewhere.

All her belongings were in there!

When that fruit core sealed her inside, it seemed to have thrown many of her things away, including her Storage Pouch.

Now, she could only hope that Hua Xinhu, who had still been at the scene, had brought her Storage Pouch back.

The disappearance of the Storage Pouch also brought a big problem: Hua Jian had no clothes to change into.

She couldn’t walk around Wanhuagu in tattered clothes, could she? She knew something about Wanhuagu’s reputation—there were countless lechers here.

A girl as beautiful and tempting as her, barely dressed on the street, would be stared at by perverts ten times in one minute!

While she was worrying about clothes, light footsteps came from outside the door.

With a knock, a woman in a magenta dress entered Hua Jian’s room carrying a tray of clothes.

Seeing the fruit core with the opening Hua Jian had made, the woman’s expression was like seeing someone from Tiandao Sect flirting with someone from Jian Sect—full of doubt about her life.

“I was wondering how you managed to get out so quickly. Turns out you used this method…” She lifted her hand, and the clothes on the tray floated toward Hua Jian without any wind.

From her tone, Hua Jian guessed that her method of breaking out might not have been very orthodox.

Who was this woman? Hua Xinhu had introduced her before—she was also present during the Sage War.

She was Yanghong Zunzhe of Wanhuagu.

“Go bathe and change. The Valley Lord wants to see you.” Yanghong Zunzhe glanced at the sky outside and added, “Don’t keep the Valley Lord waiting too long.”

“Hua Xinrui, go help her out. The Saintess isn’t familiar with our Wanhuagu yet.”

“Oh, okay!” Hua Xinrui quickly nodded.

She walked over to Hua Jian in small steps, took the colorful dress floating beside Hua Jian with both hands, and gently said,

“Miss Hua Jian, let’s go to the bathroom.”

Hua Jian didn’t want to leave just yet. She wanted to ask about the situation first.

But Yanghong Zunzhe didn’t give her the chance. After giving the order, she disappeared directly from the room, seeming a bit out of sorts.

Helpless, Hua Jian could only follow Hua Xinrui upstairs to the bathroom.

Then she realized her residence was a two-story small building, equipped with everything necessary.

She could even see a kitchen—which was meaningless for cultivators.

And the place where she had just been was actually the living room.

This place looked more like a wealthy mortal’s home than the residence of cultivators aiming for immortality.

When Hua Jian asked about this in confusion, Hua Xinrui’s answer made her laugh helplessly.

Wanhuagu’s training method didn’t seek detachment from the world; they were considered the immortal sect closest to mortal life.

It was normal for the disciples’ residences to have a strong flavor of everyday life.

Besides, a large number of Wanhuagu disciples liked to hold wild parties—how could they do that if the place was too small?

“Heave-ho, here’s the bathroom. Miss Hua Jian knows how to use these things, right?”

Hua Jian looked inside the bathroom. Although it wasn’t as luxurious as where she had stayed with Linglong before, it was still spacious and grand.

There were some things she didn’t recognize…

“What’s this?” She pointed at a complex device made of multiple rings.

“It’s an all-angle water sprayer made by senior brothers and sisters before. It can wash every corner from top to bottom.”

Hua Xinrui introduced everything in the bathroom to Hua Jian, which made Hua Jian feel as if a lifetime had passed.

The things here were even more advanced than those in her previous life.

“There’s also soap and fragrant powder. If you use them while bathing, you’ll smell even better.”

Speaking of which, Hua Xinrui secretly glanced at Hua Jian and added in a low voice, “But Miss Hua Jian probably doesn’t need these.”

Having experienced it herself, she knew how irresistible Hua Jian’s natural fragrance was; it couldn’t be compared to these cosmetics.

However, she had now mastered her cultivation and would no longer be dazzled by Hua Jian’s scent like before!

She was no longer the former Han Rui, but the powerful Hua Xinrui!

A few minutes later, Hua Xinrui, who was supposed to help Hua Jian wash, ended up being supported by Hua Jian to sit aside.

A little sister was still a little sister; changing to a cool name didn’t change that.

Facing Hua Jian’s scent attack, Hua Xinrui performed a bit better than her former self, but only a bit.

Fortunately, Hua Jian was a girl who had always taken care of herself since childhood, or else they would have been staring at each other helplessly.

Self-reliance meant abundant food and clothing. Not needing Hua Xinrui’s help, Hua Jian quickly cleaned herself.

Now, she could summon many more vines than when she was at the Ling Shi Realm, and they were much more flexible. Using them to replace hands was no problem.

She could create a situation where several people served her at once, though the image might be a bit weird.

Not everyone could accept slender flower vines twisting in the air, right?

After washing, she picked up the clothes sent by Yanghong Zunzhe.

She hadn’t looked carefully before, but now that she held them, she realized they were exactly the same as her outfit in the Godsoul Space!

It was practically a one-to-one replica, even with a special opening at the chest for her to grow out her flower.

Hua Jian immediately suspected Hua Xinhu as the culprit. Among the Wanhuagu personnel who had seen her soul form, only that fox seemed to fit.

Resigned, she put on the skirt, but didn’t actually let the vines and flowers appear—that would be too inhuman.

However, as soon as the clothes went on, she realized how highly Wanhuagu regarded her.

When she dressed neatly, it was as if a switch had been triggered.

The colorful skirt immediately surged with a lively aura, condensing blooming colorful flowers all over the fabric.

Not only that, but the spiritual power also flowed up along Hua Jian’s spine, weaving her scattered hair into a neat style, and the spiritual power that fixed her hair then turned into small colorful flower wreaths.

“Wow…” Hua Xinrui, still dizzy from the scent, couldn’t help but exclaim.

Now she understood why Hua Jian was the Saintess. With such stunning beauty, how could she not be the Saintess!

Hua Jian also wanted to say “wow.” This dress was definitely valuable. Just the shape-changing feature alone made it at least a high-grade Spiritual Garment.

And a high-grade Spiritual Garment that was priceless!

What kind of surprise had Wanhuagu prepared for her? What had she done to deserve such treatment?

‘Calm down, Hua Jian. You have to believe in your own worth…’ Hua Jian cheered herself up internally.

Wanhuagu must be trying to dazzle her with sugar-coated bullets. She must not fall for it.

Snapping out of her shock, Hua Jian looked down to find matching shoes and socks. After searching around, she was horrified to find that the outfit seemed to have no shoes or socks.

Seriously, did they have to replicate even that?

She wanted to ask someone, but the only person in the bathroom was Hua Xinrui, who was still dazed. Asking her would be useless.

Helpless, Hua Jian temporarily used the Spiritual Garment to wrap her feet—at least it was cleaner.

Once again, thank you to Bai Hua Zunzhe for the Spiritual Garment. It was really practical.

Going from barefoot to wearing a pair of white socks was an improvement, right?

‘Do they want me to float? No matter what, not giving me shoes and socks is too much…’ Hua Jian couldn’t help thinking.

She had tried walking without anything on her feet before. That feeling was… memorable, and she never wanted to experience it again.

Some things were only good to look at from a distance, not to experience personally. They looked beautiful on others, but on yourself, they were pure torture.

Luckily, as a newly promoted Ling Wang, she could float briefly without much trouble, so walking wasn’t an immediate concern.

Leading Hua Xinrui out of the bathroom, she reached the stairs from the second to the first floor and found that the first floor seemed quite lively.

Peeking down, sure enough, all three she had just met were waiting in the living room.

When Yanghong Zunzhe saw that Hua Jian had changed clothes, she flashed beside her in an instant. “Ready? Let’s go.”

Before Hua Jian could reply, the Zunzhe grabbed her arm, and in the next moment, the scene before her changed drastically.

This time, Hua Jian clearly felt the sensation of a spatial leap. She seemed to have entered a deeper, more profound area.

The Valley Lord of Wanhuagu was waiting for her here.

“Valley Lord, I’ve brought her.” Yanghong Zunzhe said without politeness, cupping her hands toward the Valley Lord. “I’ll take my leave now.”

Without waiting for a reply, she vanished from the space, leaving only Hua Jian and the Valley Lord, who was not far away, facing each other in silence.

The Valley Lord waited for Hua Jian to speak, while Hua Jian observed the things behind the Valley Lord.

It seemed to be a completely withered flower sea. In the very center of the sea grew a giant plant.

Hua Jian couldn’t describe its exact appearance, because its form seemed to change every moment.

One blink it was like this, the next blink it had changed, completely indescribable.

But… she felt a very special connection, as if there was a metaphysical link between her and that plant.

Finally, she spoke, asking the first question.

“What is this?”

This question made the still-aged Valley Lord let out a satisfied laugh.

“This is you. Or rather, the you of the past.”

‘This is me?’

Hua Jian looked at the withered giant plant and couldn’t help swallowing her saliva.

Although she had already expected that she wasn’t human, knowing the truth for real gave her a shock.

Wait, if she was this plant, then what about the “mother” the Valley Lord had mentioned a few years ago?

Did she mean this plant?

‘I am actually my own mother?’

“Then is the mother you mentioned also her?”

She saw the Valley Lord shake her head.

Huh?!

But the Valley Lord didn’t answer directly. Instead, she spoke of something seemingly unrelated.

“Do you still remember the white flower in the Spirit Beast Mountain Range?”

Of course, Hua Jian wouldn’t forget. She was still using the things Bai Hua Zunzhe had given her.

“Her Human Transformation Art was given by us.”

The Valley Lord said something astonishing in a very calm tone.

Bai Hua Zunzhe’s Human Transformation Art came from Wanhuagu. Then how did Wanhuagu know this art was feasible?

There must have been a successful case before that. Who would have been that successful case?

The answer was obvious—Hua Jian.

“This art comes from the Central Continent. Speaking of which, you have some connection to it. That Saint-Grade Elixir took human form using this method. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”