Chapter 17: Emerging Together

After drifting in and out of consciousness for several days, it was on the seventh day that Hansu finally awoke, only to discover a creature atop her head still feeding on her blood. She hesitated for a long while, uncertain whether she should remove it—would she die from blood loss if it continued, or would it perish if she took it away? Just then, a faint voice whispered in her mind, “Let me feed for a few more days, just another seven. After that, you can infuse me with spiritual energy each day as before, just a bit every day, and in two years I’ll be able to break out of my shell.” Whether from excessive blood loss or the eeriness of this unexpected voice, Hansu promptly fainted once again.

When she next awoke, the reality finally dawned on her: it had been the spirit beast egg speaking to her. She hurriedly asked, “You’re really still alive? Not fossilized? Why couldn’t that stingy sect master hatch you after hundreds of years?” After a long pause, the faint voice replied, “He didn’t have your luck—dual roots of ice and fire.” Hansu wanted to inquire further, but at that moment, a jade talisman clattered against her barrier, and she suddenly remembered that her senior brother had instructed her to send a message every ten days to confirm her safety. She quickly complied, then ate some high-level spiritual fruit to stave off hunger and replenish her lost blood and spiritual energy. As for the wounds to her spiritual consciousness, she currently had no restorative pills and could only let them heal on their own.

Through their exchanges, Hansu gradually came to understand the egg’s mysterious nature. It was, in fact, an Arcane Fire Spirit Beast, capable of swallowing and exhaling arcane fire for cultivation. But what was arcane fire? Of the hundreds of rare flames in the world, arcane fire was the most unique, for it could absorb and emit all other fires—provided it had first consumed them. Thus, its hatching conditions were exceedingly demanding: it required nourishment from fire spiritual energy, and the rarer the fire, the better. However, being akin to a colossal exchange device, it lacked the ability to store energy on its own before hatching. Any energy it absorbed would be transferred to whatever it touched—the earth, the air. But ice spiritual energy was extraordinary in its isolating power. Therefore, when Hansu used ice to insulate and fire to channel energy into it, the egg was finally able to absorb the energy and had, quite naturally, drained her dry. Yet, as a rare beast, Hansu’s meager energy was far from enough, but it couldn’t bear to part with the first person in centuries able to infuse it with energy. Thus, it decisively recognized her as its master and chose to be nourished by her blood and spiritual energy, hoping to fulfill its dream of breaking free from its shell.

Hansu was exasperated, but since the bond had formed, she felt obliged to help it hatch, enduring several more days with the awkward image of an egg on her head.

At last, when the egg had drunk its fill and detached itself, Hansu spent several more days recuperating. When her seclusion officially ended, she didn’t wait for her senior brother to fetch her—she rushed out on her own. She dashed straight into the council hall, only to realize something was amiss—her parents had already finished their own seclusions!

Hansu threw herself into her mother’s arms, clutching her hand and anxiously asking, “Mother, have you advanced? Are you at Golden Core Perfection now?”

Her parents had, in fact, emerged several days earlier. After hearing Linqing’s report on Hansu’s various exploits, they had specifically waited for her to return from seclusion. After a heartfelt reunion, Hansu suddenly remembered the items in her storage ring and hurriedly took them out to show her parents.

When Master Hengbo took the pearl in hand, tears began to stream down her face, to the astonishment of everyone present. She finally smiled through her tears, pulling Hansu close and asking, “Susu, do you know what this is?” Hansu shuffled one foot against the other and lowered her head, “I’m not sure…I just guessed it was water-aligned, so I brought it to you.” Seeing the confusion on everyone’s faces, Master Hengbo’s eyes brightened as she began to explain, “Over two hundred years ago, I saw something like this. Back then, I was just a novice cultivator, accompanying my grandmother to our ancestral clan’s grand ceremony for a Nascent Soul elder in the Jingxiang Realm…”

Her gaze grew distant, lost in memories of that grand occasion. No one interrupted her; all three found themselves swept up in reverie. In today’s world, reaching the Spirit Severing stage was already rare—let alone Ascension or Integration. Legend had it that after Grandmaster Ningyuan reached Spirit Severing, he achieved Integration and then journeyed to other realms seeking opportunities to reach the Unity stage. No one knew whether he had ultimately succeeded or already ascended. For cultivators like them, such tales were distant dreams; most barely reached Nascent Soul, if at all. Thus, hearing Master Hengbo recount a story from two centuries past, when an ancestor achieved Integration, was enough to inspire every cultivator’s heart. Immersed in this tale, each felt a new clarity, and for Master Hengbo, who had witnessed it herself, Nascent Soul seemed just a step closer.

When the three finally emerged from their insights, Master Hengbo continued, “The Jingxiang Realm is a land of water, filled with countless spiritual springs and wells, unlike anywhere else. People often say ‘viewing the sky from a well’ mocks a frog’s narrow vision, but in Jingxiang, gazing at the sky from a well is not only encouraged—it’s the very foundation of beholding the vast cosmos. These spiritual wells, with their enchanted water and walls, provide ten times the spiritual energy of the outside world, and meditating within them greatly benefits one’s state of mind.

But however abundant the wells, cultivators always outnumber them. Later, a great ancestor of our clan crafted a space treasure using shifting sands, with a starmap as the sky and a jade disc as the well, filled with Azure Spring water. Its effects rivaled the finest well in Jingxiang, and because of the starmap above, it was even more effective for cultivating the mind. The Azure Spring water itself, one of the top ten spiritual springs, offers unique enlightenment to those attuned to water. This treasure was named Azure Water Heaven. The pearl you hold is, in fact, an Azure Water Heaven. To outsiders, it looks unremarkable; even if blood-refined, it would remain so, for it requires a set of techniques known only to our family. While many know the technique, to encounter such a pearl is rare. I saw one at that grand ceremony, being casually tossed by a guest. I later heard that guest was a cultivator from another realm who had found it in a secret place, but, unable to activate it, tried to expose it at the ceremony, hoping someone would reveal its secret—but to no avail. Our clan later tried to exchange for the pearl but failed. Never did I expect, Susu, that you would find one.”

Hansu thought to herself, that outsider must have been the Spirit Severing ancestor. Who would have imagined such a storied origin for this object? And what of the jade token he had pressed upon her?

After receiving the Azure Water Heaven, Master Hengbo returned to seclusion to form her Nascent Soul. Linqing, finally relieved of his responsibilities, reported to his master and also hurried off to cultivate, as if afraid he’d be stopped. This left only Hansu and Daoist Lord Lanhe to examine the lotus seed.

They stared at each other fruitlessly. In the end, Daoist Lord Lanhe put the lotus seed away, intending to try all means to nurture it. Meanwhile, Hansu, advancing too rapidly in cultivation, was promptly tasked by her father with assisting in the management of the estate.