Ink-Clad Creator

The abandoned Taoist temple is hidden deep in the mountains near Peach Blossom Valley. Its three hundred stone steps are overgrown with weeds, and the plaque above the mountain gate is long gone, leaving only two rusted iron rings. The statues of the Three Pure Ones in the main hall are missing their heads, and the prayer flags have turned into spider webs. Only a small alchemy room in the side hall remains relatively intact.

Peng Shitao stayed here for three days and three nights.

In the center of the alchemy room, dry grass was laid out, and Bingwei lay on it, her face as pale as paper. The wound on her left arm was wrapped in layers of burlap, and what seeped from the burlap was no longer blood, but a dark green viscous liquid that emitted a faint metallic smell. Every two hours, Peng Shitao would change her dressing, mixing new "Clearing Miasma Powder" with the last drop of holy water and applying it to the edges of the wound.

The sound of the pestle striking the mortar was monotonous yet resolute.

"Three qian of rhinoceros horn powder, two qian of borneol, and the roots of Ganoderma lucidum..." Peng Shitao murmured to herself as she crushed the medicinal herbs one by one. Her hands were steady, and her eyes were focused, as if this was the only thing left in the world.

Footsteps came from outside the Taoist temple, very light, but she could tell it was Xiao Lingshan.

"Shitao, take a break." Xiao Lingshan walked in carrying a half-bowl of thin porridge, with a few wild vegetable leaves floating in it.

"Sister Lingshan, I'm not hungry." Peng Shitao didn't even look up, continuing to grind the medicine. On the stone platform in front of her, the holy water crystal was carefully placed in a copper plate, emitting a soft, pale golden halo in the dim alchemy room.

Xiao Lingshan squatted down and looked at her: "You haven't slept much for three days. If this continues, you'll collapse before Bingwei gets better."

"I won't give up." Peng Shitao stopped what she was doing, raised her head, her eyes were bloodshot but her gaze was surprisingly bright. "Brother Li said that a doctor's greatest enemy is not disease, but giving up. Sister Bingwei's injury is radiation eroding her life force. As long as life force remains, there is hope."

She pointed to the holy water crystal: "Look at it, the energy inside is still circulating, like a heartbeat. What does this mean? It means that what Brother Li taught me is correct—life energy can be encoded, stored, and...transmitted."

Xiao Lingshan looked at her and suddenly asked, "You've always believed he's still alive, haven't you?"

"It's not about believing," Peng Shitao corrected, "it's about knowing."

She took out a thin booklet from her bosom. The booklet was bound with rough hemp paper, and the cover was titled "Energy Observation Notes." Inside, it was filled with densely packed small print and simple diagrams: a diagram of the aura trajectory of the holy water crystals, a record of the energy resonance frequency of the small pine tree, and even a sketch of the fluctuations of free energy in the air when Li Xian made the holy water that day...

"This is what I've compiled over the past few days," Peng Shitao said softly. "Brother Li taught me that everything has energy, and energy follows certain rules. The energy residue on that charred corpse... is too 'clean.' If it were a true energy burst that caused death, it should have left behind violent, chaotic residual fluctuations. But I had Superman scan it secretly, and the residual energy is very weak, and... it shows a 'converged' state."

She pointed to a waveform in the booklet: "It's like a person holding their breath and sinking to the bottom of the water. This isn't death, it's... hibernation."

Xiao Lingshan stared blankly at the complex charts. She couldn't understand them all, but she understood the light in Peng Shitao's eyes—it wasn't blind optimism, but a doctor's inference based on evidence.

"So what we need to do," Peng Shitao closed the booklet, "is not to wait here, nor to search aimlessly. We need to create the conditions that allow him to 'float up'."

"What are the conditions?"

"A more powerful and stable energy source." Peng Shitao's eyes brightened even more. "Brother Li needs his mental focus, life energy, and cosmic resonance to synchronize in creating holy water. If he is truly in some kind of deep dormancy, he might need external energy resonance to awaken him. We only had the Wood-type Green Wood Token before, but what if... what if we could find a pure energy source of fire, metal, or other attributes?"

These words shocked Xiao Lingshan.

She recalled a story mentioned in her mother's notes: Sixty years ago, in the "Flame Valley," seven hundred miles north of Tonghai Prefecture, a torrent of fire fell from the sky, and a red spring gushed from the ground. The vegetation in the valley was reduced to charcoal, but a "Fire Phoenix Tree" grew in the flames for a hundred years without dying out. The locals called it the "Earth's Core Fire Vein."

"Flame Valley..." Xiao Lingshan murmured.

"Sister Lingshan, do you know where there is such a place?" Peng Shitao asked eagerly.

Just as Xiao Lingshan was about to answer, a commotion suddenly arose outside the Taoist temple.

The commotion came from the front hall.

Miss Chunmeng returned, bringing with her five people and a stench of blood. They had just finished harassing Eunuch Zhao's convoy—they didn't kill anyone, but used a modified "Illusory Sound Array" to simulate the sounds of a large-scale bandit attack, then took advantage of the chaos to shoot down all the horses in Eunuch Zhao's carriage and nailed a warning letter to his carriage shaft.

The letter contained only eight characters: "If Peach Blossom Spring is burned, the capital will be in turmoil."

"How was the result?" Binglan came forward and handed over a bowl of water.

Miss Chunmeng downed her drink in one gulp and sneered, "That eunuch was so scared he wet his pants, and the caravan retreated back to the city. But the Qingying Guard's search team has already left the city and will find this area in two days at most."

She glanced around at the dozen or so Holy Gate women gathered in the hall and said in a deep voice, "We have to move again."

"Transfer? Where to?" a woman asked timidly. "The sisters are either injured or exhausted, and Bingwei is still unconscious..."

"We can't just sit here and wait to die!" Chunmeng shouted sharply. "Li Xian is gone, the administrators have fallen silent. If we don't pull ourselves together, the Holy Gate will truly be finished!"

"Miss Chunmeng!" Xiao Lingshan came out of the alchemy room, her face full of anger. "Could you please keep your voice down? Bingwei needs to rest!"

"Rest in peace?" Chunmeng turned to look at her, her eyes sharp. "Xiao Lingshan, I know you're upset, but the reality is—the pursuers won't wait for her to recover! The imperial court wants to wipe us out, the Daoist Kingdom is looking for us, the Black Feather Guards, the remnants of Linghan Palace—everyone wants to tear a piece of flesh from the Holy Gate! Now is not the time for tears!"

"I wasn't crying and whining!" Xiao Lingshan clenched her fists. "I was trying to save Bingwei and find Brother Li! Not like you, just leading your sisters on dangerous missions to their deaths!"

"Sending ourselves to our deaths?" Chunmeng laughed angrily. "If we hadn't risked our lives to warn Eunuch Zhao, the Azure Eagle Guards would have burned down Peach Blossom Valley by now! All of Li Xian's research manuscripts and the foundation of the Holy Gate are there! Xiao Lingshan, do you think you can protect the Holy Gate by guarding the Azure Wood Token and clinging to that sliver of hope?!"

"Stop arguing!"

Binglan's voice wasn't loud, but it silenced both of them. She stepped between them, her face etched with deep weariness: "If Young Master Li were here, would he want to see us like this? Sister Chunmeng, Sister Lingshan, what we need most right now isn't blaming each other, but... recognizing reality and finding a way out."

She looked at Chunmeng: "Sister Chunmeng, you said you want to relocate, do you have a specific direction?"

Chunmeng was silent for a moment, then shook her head: "Not for now. Peach Blossom Valley is big enough, but if the Green Eagle Guards spread their net, we won't be able to hide for long."

Binglan then looked at Xiao Lingshan: "Lingshan, you said you were trying to find a solution, do you have any clues?"

Xiao Lingshan took a deep breath, suppressing her emotions: "Shi Tao believes that Brother Li may be in a deep dormancy and needs external energy resonance to awaken him. She mentioned... that we need to find pure energy sources of other attributes."

"Other attributes?" Chunmeng frowned.

"For example, the fire element," Xiao Lingshan said. "My mother mentioned a place in her notes called 'Flame Valley,' which is 700 miles north of Tonghai Prefecture. It is said to have a fire vein in the earth's core, where the Fire Phoenix Tree once grew."

"Flame Valley..." Chunmeng mused. "I've heard of it. It's hot there year-round, with frequent eruptions of subterranean fire; ordinary people wouldn't dare approach. But if someone cultivates fire-based techniques..."

"Perhaps it's not just about cultivation." Peng Shitao walked out of the alchemy room, holding the "Energy Observation Notes" in her hands. "Brother Li taught me that energy has frequency and attributes. If we can find a natural place rich in fire attribute energy, perhaps we can use it for our own purposes, or even... help Brother Li awaken."

Her words made everyone fall into deep thought.

Going to Flame Valley means a long journey, crossing areas where there may be pursuers, and heading to a harsh environment full of unknowns.

But staying here is equally dangerous.

"I agree to go," Binglan was the first to speak. "My sister's injuries require a special environment to suppress the radiation. Perhaps the high temperature of the subterranean fire can neutralize the cold radiation in her body. Moreover... we need a goal, a hope."

She looked at Chunmeng and Xiao Lingshan: "Arguing won't solve anything, but a shared goal can."

Chunmeng and Xiao Lingshan exchanged a glance, both seeing compromise in each other's eyes.

"Okay." Chunmeng nodded. "Let's go to Flame Valley. But the route, supplies, and security must be carefully planned."

"I'll plan the route," Xiao Lingshan said. "The Green Wood Token can sense the life force of the earth's veins and can help us avoid dead zones and dangerous areas."

"I'll be in charge of vigilance and reconnaissance," Binglan said. "The Ice Soul Mystic Art will be suppressed in high-temperature environments, but its sensory abilities will remain."

"I..." Peng Shitao raised her hand, "I'll be in charge of medical care and... continuing the research on holy water crystals. If we can find earth fire energy, maybe I can try..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood what she meant—perhaps she could try to create the first drop of "sacred fire".

With the decision made, the Taoist temple bustled with activity.

The women began to pack up their meager supplies: dry food, medicine, a few changes of clothes, and the important items they had salvaged from Peach Blossom Valley—Li Xian's manuscript and some parts of the Star Chariot wreckage.

While tidying up the first-aid kit, Peng Shitao found a metal box in the corner. Opening it, she found the wreckage of Batman and the Dark Knight—the wings were broken, the outer shell charred, but the core processing unit appeared intact.

She carefully took them out, wrapped them in a soft cloth, and placed them at the bottom of the medicine box.

"Shi Tao." Superman's voice came from outside the hall. It hovered outside the threshold—the interior of the Taoist temple was too low for it to enter. "My energy is only 18% left, and I need to recharge. But the wood-elemental energy here is too thin."

"Hang in there a little longer," Peng Shitao said softly. "Once we get to Flame Valley, where there is earth fire energy, perhaps... we can think of a way."

The Superman indicator light flashed once, as a response.

As night fell, everyone took turns resting. Chunmeng was on the first shift. She sat on the broken wall of the Taoist temple, watching the long line of torches faintly visible below the mountain—that was the Qingying Guard's search team.

"Sister Chunmeng." A voice came from behind.

It was Xiaoman, the round-faced girl, one of the three from the Creation Department. She was holding a simple "crystal radio"-like device in her hand—the first small device that Li Xian taught them to make, capable of receiving energy fluctuations at specific frequencies.

"What's wrong?" Chunmeng asked.

"I...I was just testing this receiver, and it seems to have picked up a very weak signal," Xiaoman said timidly. "The frequency is strange; it's not the usual energy fluctuation, nor is it a drone signal. It...it appears every fifteen minutes, lasting three breaths each time, like a heartbeat."

Chunmeng's pupils contracted: "Where is the signal source?"

"It's too faint to tell. But it's roughly... in the northwest direction."

Northwest is the direction of Flame Valley.

Chunmeng took the receiver, and a very faint "beep...beep..." sound came from the earphone, regular and steady, with a strange sense of familiarity.

Was it a location signal from the biochip inside Li Xian's body? Or was it a contingency plan left behind by the administrators before they went silent?

She didn't know. But she knew that this might be the first definite glimmer of light in the darkness.

"Xiaoman," Chunmeng said solemnly, "Don't tell anyone about this for now. We'll study it carefully once we're safe."

"Yes!" Xiaoman nodded vigorously.

At midnight, Xiao Lingshan sat in the alchemy room, holding the Azure Wood Token in her hand. The token gleamed with a warm green light in her palm, reflecting the holy water crystals in the copper plate.

She closed her eyes and concentrated, slowly circulating her wood-based cultivation technique, attempting to sense the earth's veins in the northwest direction through the Azure Wood Token. At first, everything was blurry, but as she focused her mind, she vaguely "saw" a path—not an official road, not a mountain path, but a winding but relatively safe and hidden route that followed the flow of life energy along the earth's veins.

At the end of the route, there was a blazing red.

That red wasn't flame, but rather a fire-attribute energy so dense it was almost tangible, surging and roaring underground, occasionally overflowing from cracks and turning everything on the surface into scorched earth.

Flame Valley.

She opened her eyes, her forehead covered in sweat. The Qingmu Token's sensory input had been severely depleted, but it was worth it.

She took out a charcoal pencil and hemp paper and began to draw a map. The map was marked with points: where to get water, where to avoid certain areas, where there might be dangerous wild animals or energy turbulence…

This is not a map for escape.

This is a map of hope.

The next morning, before dawn, the group quietly left the Taoist temple.

Bingwei was placed on a makeshift stretcher, carried in turns by two women from the Martial Arts Department. Peng Shitao carried a medicine box on her back, which contained not only medicinal herbs but also the two bags of drone wreckage and holy water crystals. Xiao Lingshan led the way, holding the Green Wood Token, while Chunmeng followed behind, with Binglan on guard at the flanks.

They traversed the misty mountains and forests, crossed streams, and navigated narrow passes where ambushes might lurk. Along the way, everyone performed their assigned tasks without argument, only brief exchanges and tacit cooperation.

At noon, the group took a break in a cave.

When Peng Shitao changed Bingwei's dressing, she noticed that the dark green oozing from her left arm had decreased, and a trace of color had returned to her pale face.

"The earth's vitality is beneficial to her injuries," Xiao Lingshan said softly. "Qingmu Ling sensed that the earth's veins in this area tend to have a gentle wood-fire affinity."

Peng Shitao nodded, then took out the holy water crystal to observe it. The flow of light within the crystal seemed... to have accelerated slightly. It was very subtle, but she noticed it.

She placed the crystal close to Bingwei's wound, and the crystal's light intensified slightly, while the dark green color of the wound faded a little more.

"It worked..." Tears welled up in Peng Shitao's eyes. "What Brother Li taught me really worked..."

Just then, Binglan, who was on guard at the cave entrance, suddenly shouted, "Someone's there!"

Everyone immediately went on alert.

But it wasn't pursuers who came.

They are two battered pink drones—DaYa and ErYa!

Their fuselages were covered in scratches and scorch marks; one was missing a rotor, and the other had a crack in its belly, but the indicator lights were still flashing stubbornly. They flew unsteadily into the cave and hovered in front of the crowd.

"This machine...this machine is back..." Daya's voice trailed off, "It almost...was melted..."

"Er Ya too..." the other voice said weaker, "but we... found something good..."

Their storage compartments popped open, each containing several dark red, high-temperature ore pieces, as well as a palm-sized, crystal-clear red gemstone.

The temperature in the entire cave rose the moment the crystal appeared.

"This is..." Chunmeng's pupils contracted.

"Found it at the edge of Flame Valley..." Daya's indicator light flickered. "It's so hot there... but with this... Boss Li... might need it..."

After saying that, the indicator lights on both drones went completely dark, and they crashed onto the cave floor without a sound.

Peng Shitao rushed over and carefully inspected their core units. Fortunately, they were only out of energy; the chips seemed intact.

She looked up at the red crystal.

Inside the crystal, liquid-like flames flowed.

That was pure fire energy, their goal for this trip, and also... the hope to awaken someone.

Xiao Lingshan walked to her side and said softly, "We're on the right track."

Peng Shitao nodded vigorously, carefully wrapped the red crystal, and placed it in her bosom. The crystal pressed against her chest, sending a warm sensation through her, like a faint but steady heartbeat.

The team set off again.

This time, everyone's eyes shone with light.

Meanwhile, seven hundred miles to their northwest, deep within an ancient cave in the Flame Valley, a body enveloped in earth fire energy twitched its fingertips once more.

This time, it was even more obvious.

(End of Chapter 48)