After stepping off the plane, Du Yanran rushed straight to the Shennongjia Scenic Reserve, her anxiety rising with every kilometer she crossed.
She didn't know why, but she knew she had to get there as fast as possible. "Faster, even faster!" Under her incessant urging, the driver had already pushed the car to its limit, muttering under his breath:
"Young lady, there's no need to rush. If you miss it today, there's always tomorrow! The scenic area isn't closing after just one day."
But Du Yanran couldn't listen. She nodded absently, brushing off his words as unease settled deeper in her chest. She had no time to spare—she needed to reach her destination now.
She had come here for one thing: to reclaim an opportunity from her previous life—the Verdant Flame. It was a rare fire-element spiritual object rooted in wood, a perfect match for her wood spiritual root, and the ideal remedy for her cleansed fire root.
In the past, it had been an insignificant thing to her. But now, it was crucial. Yet, as fate would have it, the more she feared losing it, the more it seemed to slip away. And this time… her instincts screamed that something was wrong.
Once inside the scenic area, she concealed herself and sprinted inward. Near the central zone, she spotted Zheng Da pacing in circles at the periphery. Her pupils shrank.
"In my past life, I had obtained a map from this very man, leading me to the Verdant Flame's location."
But this time, he had arrived first. Fortunately, something seemed to be blocking him—he kept circling near the center, always returning to the same spot.
Du Yanran narrowed her eyes. It was a simple maze formation, designed to deter intruders rather than harm them. "This formation hadn't existed in my past life." It was as if everything had derailed from its original course.
She extended her divine sense inward—and froze.
There was someone inside.
A cultivator.
One far stronger than her at present.
Jian Dan had sensed Du Yanran the moment she entered Shennongjia's outskirts. "What an amusing twist of fate". This spontaneous trip of hers had somehow led to stealing Du Yanran's opportunity.
Jian Dan found it curious. People like Du Yanran, who lived by the motto "no profit, no action", would never go through the trouble of traveling so far without cause. Therefore to travel so far could only mean one thing: this place held something priceless to her.
Watching Du Yanran rush straight toward her, Jian Dan rubbed her chin thoughtfully. With a mischievous grin, she stepped into her personal space and re-emerged moments later in full disguise:
She now wore a fitted white robe, layered with a leaf-green gossamer overcoat, cinched at the waist with a white jade belt. A matching magnolia-white jade crown rested on her head. Every piece she wore was a high-grade spiritual treasure. Something even a Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn't scoff at.
Jian Dan had dressed to intimidate. She was playing the role of a reclusive expert today.
As Du Yanran's divine sense reached out, Jian Dan didn't hesitate. She twisted her own divine sense into a whip and snapped it hard across the intruding presence.
"Hmph!"
A sharp, icy snort echoed as Du Yanran's divine sense was brutally struck. The pain was so intense that she bit through her lip.
All she managed to glimpse was a male cultivator clad in spiritual treasures. Compared to his strength, her mid-stage Qi Refining cultivation was nothing but an ant's. And she had dared to scan him so brazenly? No wonder she was punished.
Her head splitting, Du Yanran collapsed to her knees, clutching her skull.
"Esteemed Senior, this lowly one begs forgiveness! I was reckless—please spare me!"
Her words were laced with suppressed fury, but she had no choice. She wasn't the all-powerful cultivator she had once been. Right now, she was weak. And weakness meant enduring humiliation.
Jian Dan's voice dripped with mockery.
"Oh? You seem… quite unwilling."
Du Yanran kept her head bowed. "Senior, have mercy!"
"So you're the little rat my master foresaw," Jian Dan mused, her tone light but edged with threat. "He predicted you'd try to steal from our family's garden. I came out of curiosity, but to think it was just a Qi Refining rogue cultivator… Tell me, what gave you the courage?"
Du Yanran's mind reeled. The implications were staggering.
—This person was far stronger than her.
—He had a master and a sect.
—Shennongjia was merely their backyard.
—The Verdant Flame, a treasure she had once deemed priceless, was so casually guarded—just a simple maze to keep mortals out.
And most damning of all—
"He called me a rogue cultivator."
That meant he belonged to a sect.
"How?"
Du Yanran's heart twisted. So the cultivation world hadn't vanished in this Dharma Ending Era. She wasn't the only one left. She wasn't unique. Why hadn't she encountered people like this in her past life?
Her mind spiraled. Even her spiritual energy began to lose control.
Jian Dan smirked. "Perfect."
Placing a hand on the banyan tree, she channeled wood-attributed spiritual energy, and the vines coiled around the tree sprang to life. With a flick of her wrist, a lash of green light whipped toward Du Yanran.
The strike seemed effortless—yet Du Yanran couldn't dodge.
CRACK!
The vine struck like a scorching brand, sending her flying out of the central zone. At the same time, a wisp of green flame shot from Jian Dan's fingertip, burrowing into Du Yanran's meridians.
"AHHH—!"
Du Yanran convulsed in the grass, her skin reddening as if boiled alive. The Verdant Flame's energy ravaged her from within, pain unlike anything she had ever endured.
And in that moment of agony—
A hair-thin strand of blue light, lurking in her meridians, seized the chance to invade her sea of consciousness. As her mind quaked, the blue light drifted deeper, embedding itself before fading… as if it had always been part of her.
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