I made the entire cultivation world cry

Chapter 132 Plastic Sibling Relationship (Bonus Chapter 2 for Cumulative Donations)

Under the cover of night, the herb garden was no longer as tranquil as before. The traces of magic were shocking, and the air was filled with a stench and a burning spiritual energy.

The ground was torn open with countless deep trenches, the soil was churning, and the fragments of the blood-striped centipede's armor and slime gleamed with a dark red luster under the moonlight.

Amidst the rubble, several remains of blood ginseng babies lay scattered, their roots withered and curled, their crimson skin corroded and ulcerated by venom.

The stone puppet guarding the garden was shattered into pieces, the core of the runes was dull and lifeless, and the blood seeping from the cracks had long since congealed.

The two blood-striped centipedes were petrified and smashed to pieces, their shell fragments deeply embedded in the soil, their venomous jaws still gaping menacingly, as if they still wanted to tear something apart before they died.

Qin Yunze knelt on the ground, a hideous piercing wound on his chest, blood soaking through his robes. The talisman 'Mystic Ice Mirror' he held tightly in his hand barely managed to block a fatal blow for him at the last moment.

His face was deathly pale, and even his breathing was trembling. His spiritual energy was exhausted to the limit, and the Xuan Shui snake at his feet was also on the verge of death. At this moment, instead of caring about Qin Yunyan, who was also seriously injured, he questioned her sharply.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a 'Fire and Thunder Talisman' hidden away? Tell me!"

Qin Yunyan leaned against a charred tree stump, while the Flame-Tailed Fox lay curled up at her feet, its fur ulcerated from the centipede venom.

Blood streamed down Qin Yunyan's red sleeves, and blood seeped from the corners of her eyes beneath her floral hairpin, yet she still forced a bright, tragic smile.

“Brother, haven’t you taken enough of my things from the clan? What’s wrong with me hiding some? Besides, this talisman requires fire-elemental true essence, which you can’t use.”

Jiang Yi, who had used up half of his true essence, pretended to be completely exhausted and unable to support himself, holding a spirit stone and lying in the scorched earth, panting heavily.

Unlike the confrontation between Qin Yunze and Qin Yunyan, Zhang Jincheng, in order to save his sister Zhang Jinling, used the Stone Armor Beast's earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a technique used in Chinese fantasy novels) to switch places and stuff his arm into the mouth of the Blood-Patterned Centipede.

At this moment, his right arm was corroded by the centipede venom, the flesh was ulcerated to the bone, and the toxin was still spreading. Jiang Yi's detoxification spell had no effect on it.

"Brother, are you alright? Brother, don't scare me!"

Zhang Jinling was already crying her eyes out, completely ignoring the bleeding wound on her back.

"You're fine... just fine..."

Zhang Jincheng's face contorted in pain, his body drenched in cold sweat, and he let out a hoarse groan as the toxin rushed along the meridians in his arm toward his heart. The stone-armored beast paced anxiously in circles beside him.

Seeing this, Zhang Jinling's eyes flashed with ruthlessness. She raised her hand and brought down her knife, severing Zhang Jincheng's entire rotten arm!

In the instant blood splattered, Zhang Jinling only glanced at Qin Yunyan before Qin Yunyan took out the 'Nine Heart Fruit' she had picked and threw it over.

This scene made Jiang Yi narrow her eyes slightly, giving her a new understanding of the relationship between these four people.

Zhang Jinling's golden-feathered eagle caught the Nine-Heart Fruit and flew over to hand it to her.

Zhang Jinling quickly took one and put it into Zhang Jincheng's mouth, then thought for a moment and took another one and fed it to him.

The process of flesh and blood regeneration was bizarre and painful. Zhang Jincheng screamed in agony as the flesh and blood at the severed arm writhed, the bones grew wildly like vines, and the muscles and blood vessels intertwined and wrapped around each other. In just a few breaths, a pale new arm was reshaped.

He collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, his eyes still filled with the fear of surviving a near-death experience.

Although Jiang Yi's clothes were stained with blood, her injuries were the least severe. Hong Li lay beside her, her hair disheveled, watching the distance warily.

The four blood ginseng dolls were imprisoned by the demon-controlling copper rings thrown by the four people. Their roots lashed wildly at the surroundings, making sharp squeaking sounds, and their eyes were filled with hatred and despair.

Besides the four that died and were imprisoned, five others escaped in the chaos after the guardian stone golem shattered and their whereabouts are unknown.

This battle nearly cost the four their lives, and forced them to use their most secret skills, such as the talismans that Qin Yunze and Qin Yunyan had hidden.

There's also Zhang Jincheng. In previous battles, he only used 70% of his strength. Besides the top-grade magic weapon Earth Soul Seal in his hand, his own strength, fist techniques, and defense are also quite good. Moreover, he made the Stone Armor Beast lie in ambush underground and then switched positions at the critical moment. That move was absolutely brilliant!
Zhang Jinling was also hiding her true abilities and pretended to look down on Qin Yunyan. Along the way, Zhang Jinling pressed her and became suspicious of her, while Qin Yunyan approached her with good intentions.

Are you kidding me with this charade?

Fortunately, the battle had been broadcast live to the combat team led by Shang Shixu in the rear. I believe that after watching it, they will be able to write a two-thousand-word reflection.

The blood-striped centipedes around the herb garden should have been mostly wiped out. If any were left, Shang Shixu and his group shouldn't have too much trouble dealing with them.

The four Blood Ginseng Dolls ultimately failed to break free from the Demon-Controlling Copper Rings and were marked, falling into a coma.

Qin Yunze, disregarding his own injuries, rushed over and took away the two. Qin Yunyan merely sneered at this and continued to sit and heal herself and the Flame-Tailed Fox. Qin Yunze then collected the remaining corpses of the Blood Ginseng Doll and the Blood-Patterned Centipede. After the Guardian Stone Puppet shattered, it seemed to be stuck to the ground, impossible to move, so Qin Yunze had no choice but to give up.

He also took some five-colored spiritual soil with him.

Zhang Jinling helped Zhang Jincheng to sit down and rest in the small building before coming out to collect the remaining two blood ginseng dolls. She didn't argue with Qin Yunze about the gains and losses of the other corpses, but instead took a deep look at the storage ring on Qin Yunze's hand.

After Jiang Yi had recovered to a near-complete state, she began her treatment.

In the latter half of the night, the phantom of alchemy appeared again in the small building, but it was just a phantom. Apart from Hong Li squatting there watching with great interest, no one else or the demon spirits were interested in it.

The group rested until noon the next day, consuming many pills to restore their depleted true energy to 90%.

Zhang Jincheng's regrown arm was exactly the same as before. All four of them had fasted, changed their clothes, and set off again to explore other places.

Left with no other choice, Jiang Yi had to eat the fasting pills. On the way back, she tugged at Hong Li's ear and said, "When you get back this time, you have to develop fasting pills in all sorts of flavors. You'll definitely make a fortune!"

At the mention of making a fortune, Hongli's eyes lit up. Last night, it watched that shadow refine pills and had some things it wanted to try, but it needed to spend money to buy materials!
Returning to the Jade Bamboo Forest, the four of them walked along the winding path leading to the 'lake'. Not far along, they came to another fork in the road. This time, there was no stone marker. The fork led to the very center of the bamboo forest, while the original path continued to the 'lake'.

After discussing it, the four decided to go to the center of the bamboo forest first. This bamboo forest was eerie, and perhaps there was something special in the center of the bamboo forest.

Deep in the bamboo forest, the winding path gradually narrows, and the surrounding bamboo shadows become increasingly dense.

The sunlight was fragmented by the bamboo leaves, casting dappled shadows.

Suddenly, the bamboo forest opened up, and a circular clearing appeared abruptly before them.

At the edge of the open space, rows of green-gold bamboo stood like silent guards, their dark green eyes at the nodes all turning toward the center, their pupils contracting to slits, revealing a look of awe.

In the center of the open space, a bamboo stalk, only as thick as an arm and entirely black, stands proudly. Its body is like cast iron, gleaming with a cold, hard metallic luster.

At the bamboo joints, clusters of shimmering golden leaves sprout, each as thin as a cicada's wing with sharp edges like a sword blade, emitting a faint ringing sound when moving without wind.

A person was standing under the bamboo.

A tattered blue Taoist robe hung on a body made of thin blue bamboo, and bamboo strips hanging from the edge of a straw hat covered the upper half of his face, revealing only the lower half of a blue bamboo mask.

Its exposed neck and arms are also made of twisted and coiled green bamboo. Its right hand holds a three-foot bamboo sword with natural gold patterns on the blade and the tip pointing diagonally to the ground.

He stood motionless beneath the black bamboo, an invisible sword intent flowing around him, like withered bamboo in death, yet also like new bamboo shoots bursting forth.

Decay and vitality intertwined strangely on him, as if he had stood there for millions of years, witnessing the vicissitudes of life.

Opposite the bamboo swordsman, another identical bamboo sword was stuck diagonally in the soil, its hilt trembling slightly, as if waiting for someone to pull it out.

"You go!"

Qin Yunze spoke, but this time not to Jiang Yi, but with a punitive tone, he ordered Qin Yunyan.

"Alright, brother, even if you tell me to die, I'll go!"

Because of the talisman, Qin Yunyan abandoned her feigned respect for Qin Yunze, rudely pushed aside Jiang Yi, and walked straight into the open space in the center of the bamboo forest.

She froze on the spot as soon as she entered, exclaiming, "My true essence has been sealed!"

Qin Yunyan retreated, and after leaving the open area, her true essence returned to normal.

Zhang Jinling looked at the bamboo swordsman, then at the bamboo swords stuck in the open ground, and slowly said, "Do you remember those peach wood sword puppets in Xuandu Temple? They were all proficient in swordsmanship. In ancient times, most Qi cultivators used a magic sword in one hand and a talisman in the other. Swordsmanship was a basic skill."

"If I'm not mistaken, this must be the training ground for the disciples of Xuandu Temple. The bamboo swordsman is a master swordsman. You need to pick up the bamboo sword on the ground and defeat the bamboo swordsman with your swordsmanship without using your true energy in order to get the corresponding reward."

The others nodded slightly, and Jiang Yi narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

Qin Yunyan chuckled, "That's interesting. Although I don't know swordsmanship, I can leave here at any time, so I might as well give it a try."

　I've updated over 10,000 words today; I'll continue to catch up tomorrow.

　　See you tomorrow~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)