Volume 1, Chapter 28 – The Strong-Willed Girl

While Gu Han was leisurely drinking wine and listening to music in the Drunken Spring House,

on a rugged mountain path at the outskirts of the Wanjue Mountain Range,

Gu Luoli was trudging step by difficult step toward Linyuan City.

Her face was as pale as paper, and fine beads of sweat covered her forehead. After walking a short distance, she had to stop and catch her breath.

The damage to her Dao foundation clung to her like a disease rooted in the bones. It had not only caused her cultivation to fall, but was also constantly eroding her vitality and spiritual power.

Even using the slightest amount of spiritual power to travel would trigger excruciating pain and worsen her injuries.

Thus, she could only journey on foot like an ordinary mortal, relying on her own two legs.

Her plain white dress was covered in dust and bits of grass. Several places had been torn by thorns, leaving her looking rather bedraggled.

Even so, her back remained perfectly straight.

Although her Innate Double Pupils were dim at the moment, an unyielding flame still burned deep within them.

“Senior Yun… how much farther is it?”

Gu Luoli asked the remnant soul within the ring.

“Not far now. Once we cross the hill ahead, we should be able to see the outline of the city.”

Yun Miaoyi’s gentle voice sounded in her mind.

“Luoli, once we enter the city, we will first find somewhere to settle down and gather information.”

“Remember, be careful in everything you do. Do not get into conflict with anyone.”

“Mm, I understand.”

Gu Luoli nodded softly, took a deep breath, and continued onward.

Yun Miaoyi’s earlier words circled repeatedly through her mind.

The image of that silver-haired Palace Master, and the way she had calmed the sea of flowers with a mere gesture, had been deeply branded into Gu Luoli’s heart.

It was a level of power and attainment she had never encountered before, one far beyond the limits of her understanding.

Rеaⅾ οn ΚαtReаⅾіոɡCafе

“Would someone like that… really take me in?”

Gu Luoli felt uneasy.

Her foundation was now shattered, leaving her little different from a cripple. Even her only valuable trait, her Innate Double Pupils, had nearly fallen dormant because her cultivation technique was incompatible with them.

Why would someone like that Palace Master take an interest in a burden like her?

The ring grew slightly warm. Seemingly sensing her unease, Yun Miaoyi comforted her in a gentle voice.

“Luoli, do not belittle yourself.”

“Your double pupils are a blessing wrought by heaven and earth. As long as you find the right method, your future will be limitless.”

“As for Palace Master Gu Han…”

“What we need is an opportunity, a chance for her to see your value.”

Yun Miaoyi paused, as though she had made some kind of decision.

“If there truly is no other way… I will offer the alchemical knowledge I accumulated over my lifetime as a bargaining chip and beg her to take you in and heal your injuries.”

“Senior Yun!”

Gu Luoli’s heart tightened. “You cannot! You…”

“It is fine.”

Yun Miaoyi interrupted her, her voice calm yet resolute.

“I am already dead. I am only a remnant soul clinging to existence. If I can fight for a future for you and find a home for my own legacy, then it will be worth it.”

Her words were half true and half false.

Yun Miaoyi truly did want to help Gu Luoli, and she genuinely valued the talent of her double pupils.

More importantly, however, she herself also longed to be “reborn.”

By attaching herself to Gu Luoli, she could certainly continue existing for the time being, but she was ultimately like rootless duckweed and could disperse completely at any moment.

Rеаԁ οn KаtRеαdіոɡCαfе

But if she could attach herself to a force such as Yaochi Immortal Palace,

then with the aid of its resources, she might truly have a chance to reconstruct her divine soul and even obtain a new life!

This was an enormous gamble.

She was betting that Palace Master Gu Han needed her alchemical abilities.

She was betting that Yaochi Immortal Palace possessed a way to repair Gu Luoli’s Dao injury, and that the two of them were worth investing in.

Gu Luoli did not know everything Yun Miaoyi was thinking. Believing that the senior intended to sacrifice herself for her sake, she felt both moved and heartsore.

She clenched her fists, her fingernails digging deeply into her palms.

“I… I will definitely not disappoint you, Senior!”

Just then…

“Hey! Brothers, look! There’s a girl all by herself over here!”

“Heh! She’s quite pretty too! Her complexion is a little poor, though. She looks like a sickly beauty!”

“Who cares whether she’s sick? Out here in the middle of nowhere, isn’t this a bit of fun sent to us by the heavens?”

Several lecherous jeers came from the woods ahead.

Immediately afterward, four or five men wearing mismatched martial attire and carrying weapons stepped out. With obscene smiles on their faces, they blocked Gu Luoli’s path.

Judging from their clothing and auras, they were merely unaffiliated cultivators at the Foundation Establishment realm. They usually made a living by robbing lone travelers and bullying the weak.

Gu Luoli’s heart sank. She knew she was in trouble.

Under normal circumstances, she could have destroyed trash like them with a flick of her finger.

But now, she had less than a tenth of her former strength. She might barely be able to handle one or two of them, but there were five!

“Miss, where are you headed all by yourself? Would you like us to escort you?”

The man in the lead rubbed his hands together. His lecherous gaze swept over Gu Luoli’s body as he slowly approached.

Rеaԁ oո ΚαtReαⅾіոɡСаfе

The others fanned out around her, cutting off her retreat.

Gu Luoli forced herself to remain calm. Her right hand quietly rested on the hilt of the sword at her waist as she spoke coldly.

“Move.”

“Heh! Quite the temper!”

“Brothers, looks like we need to teach her some manners!”

Before he had even finished speaking, the man suddenly lunged forward. His five fingers curled into claws as he reached straight for Gu Luoli’s shoulder.

The other four attacked at the same time, raising sabers and swords to seal off every direction she could dodge.

Their coordination was practiced. Clearly, this was not their first time doing something like this.

Gu Luoli’s pupils contracted. Her double pupils instinctively tried to activate, but doing so triggered a burst of intense pain, and her vision blurred instantly.

Gritting her teeth, she barely managed to twist aside.

Her longsword slid from its sheath with a metallic ring. Carrying a faint spiritual glow, it slashed toward a saber coming at her from the side.

Clang!

The sound of metal striking metal rang out.

A violent tremor ran through Gu Luoli’s wrist. Her longsword nearly flew from her hand, and she staggered several steps backward.

A metallic sweetness rose in her throat as a mouthful of blood surged upward, but she forcibly swallowed it back down.

Her already pale face became deathly white.

“She really is a sickly weakling! Brothers, put some effort into it and take her down!”

Seeing this, the scar-faced man grew even more brazen, and his attacks became fiercer.

Gu Luoli struggled to hold on. Although her swordsmanship was exquisite, her spiritual power was insufficient and her movements were sluggish. She was soon overwhelmed, with danger closing in from every side.

Her dress was torn in several more places, revealing skin marked with bloody cuts.

Rеaԁ оո KаtRеαⅾіngCαfе

“Could it be… that I, Gu Luoli, will die here today? That I will fall at the hands of petty villains like these?”

A powerful wave of unwillingness and despair rose within her.

She had not yet found Yaochi Immortal Palace! She had not yet healed her Dao injury!

She had not yet proven herself to those in the Qingyun Sacred Land who had watched her downfall with cold eyes!

Within the ring, Yun Miaoyi was also beside herself with anxiety, but she could do nothing.

She was only a remnant soul and could not wield any power. At this moment, all she could do was worry helplessly.

At the same time, inside a private room at the Drunken Spring House,

the notes of a pipa chimed like flowing spring water, accompanied by the young woman’s melodious singing.

Gu Han reclined beside the window, but the hand holding his wine cup suddenly paused.

His gaze turned toward a certain direction outside the window, as though it had pierced through layers of pavilions, streets, and alleys to see the scene on the mountain path.

“As expected of someone with a female protagonist’s template. She runs into trouble wherever she goes…”

He murmured softly to himself and shook his head with an amused smile.

Then, without any visible movement, he merely raised a finger and casually flicked it through empty space in that direction.

No spiritual light flashed.

No force tore through the air.

Not even the faintest breeze was stirred.

Inside the private room, the young musician merely felt that the extraordinarily handsome young master before her had made an extremely casual gesture.

The movement was elegant and pleasing to the eye, though she had no idea what it meant.

She blinked, then continued focusing on the strings beneath her fingers.