Qin Huaiyin hugged the pipa in her arms as she left the cave.
Her expressionless eyes held no stirring of emotion, as if she was not surprised by the expected answer.
Lin Xinyi slowly took out the extraordinary bone and the Dao seed from her spatial ring—items that did not originally belong to her.
Looking at these two supreme treasures, a sly smile curled at the corner of Lin Xinyi’s lips.
“If I refine these two, then I too will possess the bearing of a celestial immortal~”
[Supreme Bone]
[When the Supreme Bone appears, it signifies a True Immortal’s physique, a born sovereign. When the sovereign appears, all beings bow down.]
[Three Thousand Dao Seeds]
[Contains three thousand great paths of cultivation. Any cultivation technique or manual related to these three thousand Daos, upon practice, can be instantly comprehended, eliminating any future bottlenecks in cultivation.]
Lin Xinyi looked at these two treasures.
She had plundered them from the very beginning, yet in the end, they were always taken back by the other party.
That mere, lowly mortal actually possessed such wonderful things.
“Ingrate disciple, blame yourself for being blessed with great fortune but lacking the strength to protect it~”
Lin Xinyi hesitated no longer.
Her cultivation base radiated out as she grabbed the Supreme Bone and began refining it instantly.
Vast spiritual energy surged straight through her limbs and meridians, flushing away the impurities within her body.
All the wrong turns she had taken in her previous cultivation were corrected in this moment.
“Success, I’ve succeeded~!”
Only at this moment did Lin Xinyi truly feel worthy of her title, True Man Changqing.
Compared to this, the spiritual root within her originally seemed utterly worthless.
For the first time, Lin Xinyi felt that even geniuses were nothing special.
“All spiritual energy revolves around me as its master, ceaselessly nourishing my entire body. At this rate, I can not only break through to the Nascent Soul stage, but even that next realm might be within easy reach~!”
The smile on Lin Xinyi’s lips had long since become irrepressible.
Although she had obtained these two treasures in her previous life, before she could fully refine them, that rebellious disciple had come back to kill her, leading to her own extremely gruesome death in the end.
“With this experience as a foundation, the speed of refinement is also much faster~”
Lin Xinyi glanced around the cave dwelling, then raised her hand to arrange layers of protective arrays around her.
The heavy stone door closed once more.
Lin Xinyi would focus on refining these two treasures; when she emerged from seclusion, it would be the day she attained immortality.
“Bai Qianqian, no matter how monstrous your talent may be, having lived three lives, in the end you’ll still become my nourishment~”
Lin Xinyi devoted herself wholeheartedly to refining and absorbing.
Meanwhile, outside the cave dwelling, Qin Huaiyin held her pipa, playing the Yulin tune—a melody from her homeland.
She had long forgotten the faces of her parents, forgotten the appearance of her hometown, remembering only this song she used to hum back home.
“Little river bends~ little fish swim round♪ ~ May I journey thousands of miles, finding poetry in distant lands~…”
This heavenly voice echoed enchantingly within the cave paradise, yet such beautiful singing could be heard by no one.
Qin Huaiyin carried her pipa to the stream.
She had lost count of how many days and nights had passed; from beginning to end, she had never wished to embark on this path of cultivation.
She only wanted to be an ordinary person, to experience the cycle of life and death and savor that brief human existence.
“Mortals live shorter lives than grass and trees, cultivators scheme against one another, and some can’t even call their freedom their own…”
Qin Huaiyin embraced her jade pipa.
Though she had cultivation to sustain her lifespan, she couldn’t even earn the right to step outside this cave paradise.
She could only be a caged bird, playing tunes daily for others’ entertainment.
“What meaning is there in such a life…”
Qin Huaiyin looked back at the tightly array-sealed cave dwelling, then gazed at the bottomless spiritual stream before her.
Suddenly, water splashed as a black-scaled fierce flood dragon dozens of feet long burst forth from the stream.
Watching this spiritual beast, also kept as a pet here just like herself, Qin Huaiyin momentarily felt a kinship with it.
“How ridiculous, I don’t even have the courage to die…”
Holding the pipa in her arms, Qin Huaiyin could only turn back toward her gilded cage.
She slowly opened the array at the entrance, walked into the prison prepared for her, sat on the bed, and waited for the next summons from her master.
At the Foundation Establishment stage, she no longer needed food, only the absorption of heavenly spiritual energy to survive.
Having cultivated no techniques, her body built solely on accumulated pills—she was the most convenient kind of pet.
“So tired… I don’t want to continue anymore… I miss home so much…”
Qin Huaiyin curled up on the bed, tears slowly flowing from the corners of her eyes.
Only like this could she return to her remembered home.
And at that moment, a ball of light drifted gently into her brow.
Qin Huaiyin only felt that on this night, she inexplicably had a wonderful dream.
In that dream, an endless sea of flowers stretched boundlessly before her, with everyone singing joyfully, and she could run freely.
“Senior Sister, there’s no need to suffer any longer~”
“Who are you…”
In the dream, Qin Huaiyin looked at a little girl standing before her.
The little girl had a beautiful face, with silver hair like frost cascading over her shoulders.
When she turned her head and smiled, her light silver eyes held the captivating beauty that could topple nations.
“Senior Sister has worked hard. From now on, you can leave our master to me~”
Qin Huaiyin watched the unfamiliar little girl slowly walk toward her, but strangely, she felt no fear toward her at all.
It was only when the girl gently embraced her that she experienced an unprecedented sense of relaxation.
Qin Huaiyin, who had been curled up on the bed, slowly sat up.
Reaching out, she pulled away the silk blindfold covering her eyes, revealing beautiful eyes that shimmered with different colors.
“Immortal Master… this is truly delightful~”
Lin Xinyi slowly opened her eyes, feeling the sharp fluctuations within her body.
She could clearly sense that she had, at this moment, reached her peak.
She now even had the confidence to touch that boundary line.
“How wonderful, this is what it means to be a prodigy, to be blessed by treasures favored by Heaven’s Dao~”
A trace of fervor appeared in Lin Xinyi’s eyes.
She even wanted to break through to the Nascent Soul stage right now, but she forcefully suppressed her inner excitement.
She need not worry about the limits or advancement of her cultivation base, nor fear bottlenecks or comprehension issues with techniques.
“With just these two treasures, I can already be this monstrous. That Bai Qianqian, after I dug out her extraordinary bone and took her Dao seed, how could she still be so strong…”
Whenever Lin Xinyi thought of that figure, her heart grew increasingly restless.
Fortunately, she had long since ground that person’s bones to dust and scattered her ashes, and even the mysterious Divine Sovereign soul attached to her had been utterly annihilated by her.
This time, Lin Xinyi had personally watched as the other’s body was burned to ashes before her eyes, not even allowing her soul to escape.
She refused to believe that this time, the other could come back to life.
“However, how much time has passed since I refined the Supreme Bone…”
Lin Xinyi checked the technique manual in her hand.
To her surprise, only half a year had passed—much faster than she had anticipated.
Feeling elated after completing the refinement, she had just stood up to stretch when the Three Thousand Dao Seeds floated over to her.
“What’s this, my treasure? Could it be that you can’t wait for me to refine you~”
She held it in her palm, feeling the Dao resonance contained within.
Just a wisp of it escaping caused her comprehension of techniques to nearly achieve a breakthrough.
“Rather than letting such a fine treasure lie neglected for several years before being discovered, it’s better for me to make use of it now~”
Though delighted, Lin Xinyi was not in a hurry to refine it.
When she had refined the Supreme Bone earlier, she had clearly sensed that although the process was not particularly difficult, that strange feeling had still not disappeared.
“Although I very much want to completely absorb and refine this and achieve my path to immortality, that rebellious disciple, even dead, leaves me unsettled…”
Lin Xinyi gazed coldly at the Three Thousand Dao Seeds in her hand.
No matter how she inspected it, there was no problem, but the name Bai Qianqian alone made her feel uneasy—even though she had killed the girl with her own hands.
“Could it be that rebellious disciple has a remnant soul attached to this, trying to possess me?”
Lin Xinyi spoke these words with some confusion.
If outsiders heard this, they would surely laugh their heads off—a Nascent Soul cultivator worrying about being possessed by a mortal with no cultivation base at all, just because she had extracted treasures from her.
“Though excessive caution can be exhausting, that rebellious disciple cannot be judged by common sense. Better to be careful…”
After saying this, Lin Xinyi finally walked out of the cave dwelling, intending to find some protective treasures, and also to apply for several top-grade pills from the Dan Peak to stabilize her physical condition and cultivation base.
“The moon is curved~ ♪”
As soon as Lin Xinyi stepped out of the cave, beautiful singing drifted over from afar, soothing most of her inner unease.
Although Qin Huaiyin had never practiced any techniques, her attainments in melody were beyond ordinary reach.
“To be accompanied by music right after concluding my cultivation—how wonderfully delightful. This disciple of mine is truly endearing~”
Lin Xinyi walked forward along the long pavilion on the lake’s surface, and soon saw Qin Huaiyin by the lakeside, gently strumming her pipa and singing softly.
Qin Huaiyin still held the jade pipa in her arms, sitting in the central pavilion by the lake.
The silk blindfold over her eyes fluttered in the wind, and her purple hair seemed all the more extraordinary amidst the blooming white lotuses.
“My heart felt somewhat unsettled, but hearing your song has calmed me considerably~”
Lin Xinyi slowly approached until she stood before her, gazing at this delicate figure.
The disciple she had raised since childhood had become a peerless beauty—a pleasing sight no matter how she looked at it.
As Lin Xinyi strolled closer, Qin Huaiyin, who had been playing leisurely, heard those footsteps like a devil’s whisper.
Clutching her pipa, she immediately stood up, a trace of panic in her eyes, as if wanting to turn and flee.
“What’s this? Your master has just arrived and you already wish to leave? Are you that unwilling to see me~”
Qin Huaiyin had only taken a single step back when that figure moved like a wall, instantly appearing beside her and blocking her escape.
Seeing that flight was impossible, Qin Huaiyin could only bow in greeting.
“Qin Huaiyin greets Master…”
Lin Xinyi was quite satisfied with this feeling—the other party fleeing from her yet forced to maintain a facade of welcome.
She extended a fingertip to gently lift Qin Huaiyin’s chin, admiring that exquisite face.
This twisted pleasure brought her immense enjoyment.
“My good disciple, don’t forget—in this sect, by my side is your only refuge~”
Lin Xinyi whispered these threatening words softly in her ear, thoroughly enjoying this feeling of holding another’s fate in her hands.
At the same time, her hand restlessly roamed over that slender willow-like waist.
The reason she had lured Qin Huaiyin here was not merely for that beautiful singing voice, but also for this lovely face.
“Let me think… the Heavenly Sound Technique you’ve been cultivating all this time—have you reached the ninth layer yet~”
“Mn…”
Lin Xinyi’s fingertip gently kneaded that delicate cheek, the greed in her eyes unmistakable.
Qin Huaiyin opened her mouth to respond softly, but her voice was barely audible, and her body couldn’t help trembling with fear.
“Ah, yes—it’s been so long, I nearly forgot. The fruit is ready for harvest~”
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