I flew on a sword at the magic academy

Jiang Yue held the Qingfeng sword horizontally in front of her. She didn't think she could defeat this stunningly beautiful woman. If they really faced off, even if she used the full power of the "True Meaning of Wumu," she would surely die.

"I'll risk it all!" Jiang Yue gritted her teeth, summoned all the spiritual weapons and magical artifacts she carried, and charged towards the stunningly beautiful woman.

She didn't seek to trap and kill him, but only to stall him for a moment and buy herself a chance to escape.

Her life force was almost completely depleted; she didn't have much time left to waste.

"when!"

The stunningly beautiful woman flicked her jade-like finger lightly, striking a magical artifact that had attacked from afar, producing a crisp yet heavy metallic tremor that sent a ringing, stinging sensation through the eardrums.

Jiang Yue dragged her weak and heavy body forward, but the stunningly beautiful woman quickly caught up and reached out a slender hand towards her forehead and heart.

"You!" Jiang Yue felt a chill run down her spine. She instinctively tried to back away, but her body seemed to be frozen in place, and she couldn't move her feet at all.

That delicate, flawless hand, as clear as jade, gently rested on her brow.

Jiang Yue closed her eyes tightly, already imagining the scene of her mind shattering and her dying on the spot, her heart filled with resentment and helplessness.

The cold touch pressed against her forehead, but after a long while, the scene she had imagined did not happen.

Extremely hesitant, Jiang Yue quietly opened her eyes and found that the beautiful woman had withdrawn her jade hand and stepped back three steps, watching her calmly.

"Bound by fate, unable to sever the ties of cause and effect, how pitiful, how pathetic..." The stunningly beautiful woman looked at Jiang Yue and spoke calmly, her voice like heavenly music, yet devoid of any emotion.

"What do you mean?" Jiang Yue asked, forcing herself to stay weak and tired. The other party didn't seem to have any ill intentions towards her, which made her feel much more relaxed.

The stunningly beautiful woman's eyes seemed to see through everything. She gazed at Jiang Yue for a long while before finally turning into a wisp of smoke and disappearing without a trace, as if she had never existed.

"Who are you?!" Jiang Yue shouted.

"Shennong Nine Pools, Dragon Pool Master—Su He, a great calamity is coming, but we will meet again."

A voice as beautiful as heavenly music entered Jiang Yue's heart from the endless void.

"Shennong's Nine Pools, where does the Dragon Pool rest?" Jiang Yue murmured, as if she had heard of this name before, but she didn't have time to think about it now. She dragged her tired body forward.

Suddenly, a refreshing fragrance wafted over, and not far ahead, a clear spring was bubbling forth.

She staggered forward, and as she completely lost consciousness, she collapsed into the spring with a "plop".

……

Blood... Everywhere you look, there's blood...

Snowflakes filled the sky, creating a pristine white expanse, while the vibrant blood resembled blooming plum blossoms.

The purple-clad girl had bloodstains on her face. She was tall and graceful, with an ethereal and otherworldly aura, yet she could unleash boundless carnage with a mere wave of her hand.

The excruciating pain eroded my fading consciousness...

……

"The innate Dao embryo bears the responsibility and destiny of protecting all races in the heavens. Is this how you protect all living beings?!" A fierce shout shook the sky.

"Protecting all races and beings? Protecting all living beings?? Hahaha..." The girl in purple laughed loudly, her snow-white neck and wrists bearing deep, bone-revealing bloodstains, and blood dripped from the longsword in her hand.

"You want to kill me, yet you expect me to protect all the races of the heavens? Is there any joke more ridiculous than this?!"

"If you dare to do the first day of the month, I dare to do the fifteenth! When calamity comes, I will be the greatest purgator! All of you will stay here and be buried with me!" Blood tears streamed from the girl's eyes as she stood in the snow, screaming almost madly.

……

Blood stained everything around them a deep crimson.

The Great Road wailed, and blood rained down.

"Blood Rain... Are you pitying me, or are you pitying your so-called masses?" The girl looked up at the sky.

……

"The ceremony for the Lord of Mount Tai is now complete. I'm sorry, Cold and Beautiful Ghost... This time... I'm leaving without saying goodbye again. Hate me if you want."

"I won't let you die, trust me."

A gentle voice echoed in the girl's heart, a very familiar voice, but she couldn't quite recall the person's face...

"This is how my life is going to be. From the moment I was born, I've lived under the schemes of others. But luckily, I managed to bring you back. Heh, pretty impressive, right?"

"I don't know if you'll retain your previous memories after being reborn. I really hope you can remember me. This is selfish of me, but if you were reborn with those memories, you'd definitely be searching the world for a way to revive me, right? I don't want to see you like that..."

……

While still unconscious, Jiang Yue could feel her heart pound violently, and a piercing pain spread throughout her body...

"Cough cough..."

She didn't know how much time had passed, but Jiang Yue gradually regained consciousness. A suffocating feeling from choking on water suddenly struck her, causing her to cough violently.

She knew she was out of danger. At this moment, she fell face down into the gushing spring. Not only did her life essence stop being lost, but it was also completely replenished.

She didn't know how long she had been unconscious; she was only awakened by choking after her mouth was blocked.

She struggled to climb out of the spring and lay on her back on the grass beside it, panting heavily.

Looking at the cloudless sky, she had an indescribable feeling.

A dull ache throbbed in her chest. She felt as if she had lost something important, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. There were even tear stains on her face.

"I think I just had a dream, a very long and strange dream."

Jiang Yue clutched her chest and murmured to herself, "It was a very painful dream."

In her dream, she transformed into a demon god of slaughter, wreaking havoc in a vast snowfield. Her clothes were soaked with blood, turning the once pristine white snow a bloody crimson.

Jiang Yue rubbed her temples, trying to stop thinking about what happened in the dream. She sat up from the ground and began to look around at her surroundings.

The spring in Yang is about one meter in diameter, and there is a locust tree next to it that is five or six meters tall, as if it were carved from jade.

This old locust tree is not particularly tall, but its trunk is vigorous and powerful, winding and stretching out. The layers of cracked old bark are like open dragon scales, clearly indicating that it is an ancient tree that has been around for many years.

"Huh, is that a fruit?"

Jiang Yue exclaimed in surprise, discovering that among the branches and leaves of the old locust tree, there were many gleaming fruits, as clear and translucent as jade, which was quite mysterious.

The fragrance is intoxicating.

Will the locust tree still bear fruit?

Jiang Yue muttered to herself. She had rarely seen a locust tree, nor had she ever heard anyone mention whether a locust tree bore fruit.

Perhaps because they weren't ripe yet, these fruits were very small, only the size of beans. Jiang Yue came closer, reached out and picked some fruits, put them directly into her mouth, and chewed them gently.

She wasn't worried about whether the fruits were poisonous, because the fairy spring was right next to her, so even if they were poisonous, they wouldn't be in any danger to her life.

"Hmm...it's quite crunchy."

Its sweet taste and fragrant aroma make one feel as if they are bathed in the warm spring sunshine, feeling completely refreshed.

Without even thinking, it was clear that this was a spiritual fruit. Jiang Yue reached out and picked a large handful, then sat down cross-legged and began circulating her internal energy to refine the remaining medicinal essence from the immortal spring within her body.

Although she had drunk the spring water and her life essence had been replenished, she still had a full head of white hair, and wrinkles and freckles on her skin had not yet faded.

As time passed, her flesh and blood were nourished and cleansed, radiating a divine glow from within. Her skin, which had been as wrinkled as waste paper, became firm again, and became even whiter and more delicate. Her full head of silver hair was also visibly fading back to deep black.

As the old saying goes, "There's always a way out," and the ancients were right.

Jiang Yue couldn't help but sigh. Although the Valley of the Dead possessed a strange power that could devour the life essence, it was not one of the ten most dangerous places. It had nine immortal springs and various spiritual fruits that could offset the loss of life essence, leaving people with a glimmer of hope.

Of course, one must have the ability to fight for this glimmer of hope. Jiang Yue's success in reaching the mountaintop and arriving at the Immortal Spring was truly just a stroke of luck.

If it weren't for that stunningly beautiful woman who called herself Longtan Suhe letting her pass, she wouldn't have been able to get here at all.

Half an hour later, she had fully refined and absorbed the medicinal properties of the immortal spring. She intended to pick some more spiritual fruits, but just as she passed by the spring, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the water out of the corner of her eye and was immediately startled.

The spring water gurgled and flowed, reflecting her image. She was a girl who looked to be only six or seven or eight years old, with a delicate and pretty face and clear, bright eyes.

"What the hell?! I overdid it?!"

Jiang Yue rubbed her eyes in disbelief. She hadn't used the "Formless Technique" to change her appearance; this was her true form.

Besides becoming "younger," even his cultivation level has regressed.

The path to enlightenment is like the rings of a tree; these are the marks left by the power of time, which cannot be changed or controlled by human beings.

Jiang Yue originally had nineteen years of cultivation, but now she only has six years left, truly returning to the age of six.

"Holy crap..."

Jiang Yue slumped to the ground, questioning her existence. Luckily, she hadn't overeaten, otherwise, if she had reverted to her infant state, it would have been a huge joke.

"Well, at least I gained more than ten years of lifespan, so it's not a bad deal." Jiang Yue comforted herself like this, and then took out all the spatial magic artifacts on her body to store the water from the Immortal Spring. After that, she also picked all the spiritual fruits from the old locust tree and put them into a brocade box.

These are all good things; they not only greatly help cultivation, but also have the medicinal effects of replenishing life essence and restoring flesh and bones.

If they could be brought to the outside world, they would be priceless treasures, enough to drive those old monsters mad.

If conditions allowed, Jiang Yue even considered digging up the spring and the old locust tree together, but it was just a thought. With her current cultivation level, if someone found out, she would not only lose her life, but might also bring about her own death.

"Now that we have the water from the immortal spring, it's time to leave."

At this moment, the bottomless abyss was still teeming with an endless army of corpses climbing up, but it did not continue to spread towards the sacred mountain where Jiang Yue was, as if it was wary of something.

Moreover, even after leaving the spring to a certain distance, her life essence continued to dissipate, as if she had become immune to that strange power after drinking the spring water.

After discovering this, Jiang Yue wanted to take this opportunity to search again, since there were nine mountains in total, and what she had explored so far was only the tip of the iceberg.

According to Xiao Taotie, there are nine immortal springs in the Valley of the Dead. Jiang Yue speculates that each of the sacred mountains has an immortal spring and is accompanied by a special spiritual herb of saintly quality.

"It's not easy to come here, so if I can't bring back some local specialties, this trip would be a real waste."

"No, no, we can't be sure what dangers the other sacred mountains hold. With my current cultivation level, it's already a miracle that I've made it this far. Lord Nangong is still waiting for me to bring back the Immortal Spring water to save his life. We really can't afford to take any more risks."

Thinking of this, Jiang Yue didn't delay any longer and started to descend the mountain. Because she had consumed the Immortal Spring Spirit Fruit, she was now immune to the strange power lingering in the Valley of the Dead. She used her magic power to fly through the air without any scruples and arrived at the foot of the mountain in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Suddenly, Jiang Yue's expression froze.

"Those are... three coffins?!"

She rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Near that black abyss, there were three enormous coffins. From a distance, they looked like three hundred-meter-high mountains, shrouded in wisps of black mist, giving off an immense sense of oppression even from a great distance.

Jiang Yue was shocked. Who were buried in those three coffins? Facing those three coffins was like facing three supreme saints, and she even had an urge to kneel down and worship.

"Could it really be the coffin of a saint?"

Jiang Yue shivered and turned away without looking back. She sped all the way and finally managed to escape the Valley of the Dead two hours later without any major incident.

She raised her hand and threw out a piece of black jade stone, which had array patterns pre-constructed by the little Taotie, capable of quickly generating a temporary magic array that could traverse the void.

"I will return to the Valley of the Dead when I have achieved sufficient cultivation." Jiang Yue glanced back in the direction of the Valley of the Dead, then stepped onto the teleportation array and disappeared in the blink of an eye. When she reappeared, she was back in the mansion she had purchased in Tai'an City.

"Huh? You actually made it out alive?"

As soon as Jiang Yue emerged from the void, the little Taotie instantly darted to her side, looking as if it had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

During the time Jiang Yue was on her way to the Valley of the Dead, it stayed in this mansion, already preparing to run away back to Zhenmo Mountain.

"How dare you talk like that? Are you just hoping I die?" Jiang Yue laughed and kicked it.