Chapter 137: Cultivators Are Here

There was still some time before Gu Duo and the others arrived, so Ruan Xing was in no rush to transform into the appearance of Qintai He; instead, she detoured to the city market to buy a few things.

Because the items she bought were not precious materials—mostly mundane goods or Yellow-tier items—they cost less than one hundred Spirit Stones in total. Using simple refining techniques to modify them, she placed them all into a large wooden chest half a person's height, and carved a Formation on the chest to isolate Divine Sense.

Then, she found a teahouse not far from the Teleportation Array station to drink tea. Estimating that the time was about right, she activated the Real-scene Simulation.

It was strange to say; she didn't know why, but after her cultivation level increased this time, the Simulator hadn't upgraded to add new functions or install any patches. Instead, it had quietly and silently increased the number of points required for a simulation.

As expected, it was a tenfold increase again. Having had a premonition, Ruan Xing didn't feel too disappointed; rather, she felt glad that it hadn't delayed her new simulation. Otherwise, she would have had to wait a day to sneak in or use the key to enter. There were three Nascent Soul Stage True Monarchs guarding the entrance, which was not easy to break through. Moreover, she wanted to use Qintai He's identity to see if she could extract some information from others.

Transforming into Qintai He via the Illusion Technique, Ruan Xing carried the chest and stood before the entrance of the Teleportation Array station.

Three cultivators wearing the robes of the Xuanbing Sect walked out from inside. Gu Duo, who was in the lead, saw Ruan Xing and couldn't help but call out, "Qintai He?"

"It's me." Ruan Xing lifted her chin with a touch of arrogance and explained according to her original story.

"Is that really true? Then why are you carrying such a strange chest... why not put it in your Storage Bag?" Qian Changyue questioned.

Ruan Xing said coldly, "That's none of your business."

"You!" Qian Changyue stopped speaking, feeling somewhat indignant, until Wei Ke gave her sleeve a subtle tug, signaling her not to clash with Qintai He.

Of course, they didn't suspect that the Qintai He before them wasn't the real person, but rather wondered why Qintai He would come back after having already run away and committed the offense. After all, Dharma Artifacts and Magic Arts capable of perfectly imitating another person were things that existed almost exclusively in legends for people of their cultivation level. The only thing that could even come close was a simple blinding technique, but a blinding technique capable of deceiving all three of them could only be used by someone at the Nascent Soul Stage. Why would a Nascent Soul Stage True Monarch disguise themselves as Qintai He to participate in a Sect mission?

This was even more inconceivable than the fact that Qintai He had returned on her own after running away.

The three were half-doubting. Gu Duo frowned, wanting to say something but holding back, but now was not the time to dwell on these issues; people from the other two sects were still waiting for them at the entrance of the space-time rift.

Thus, the four of them rushed to the entrance of the space-time rift again. Gu Duo asked Ruan Xing who would be entering the rift, and Ruan Xing insisted on going herself. Gu Duo said nothing more, spoke a few words to the Sect Leader of the Nanzhou Xuanbing Sect to explain the situation, and Ruan Xing successfully entered the space-time rift.

Before being sucked in by the rift's suction force, Ruan Xing had already taken a small cloth bag out of the chest and slung it over her body. After entering, she opened her eyes and felt a sense of weightlessness.

Sure enough, she was still in the sky.

Sighing inwardly, Ruan Xing gripped her wooden chest with one hand and pulled the cloth bag on her body with the other. When she could see the collapsed ruins with her naked eye, she pulled hard.

The cloth bag opened, and like a fluffy little bun, it was instantly puffed up by the wind, and Ruan Xing's falling speed slowly decreased.

This was a simplified parachute she had made. Although her Golden Core Stage physical constitution wouldn't die from a fall, she didn't want to experience the powerlessness of having multiple fractures again. With a parachute, she could avoid such a situation.

After landing safely, Ruan Xing rolled on the ground with the momentum, then packed the parachute away and stuffed it back into the chest.

Then she released Sword Lai from the wooden chest. That's right, the main purpose of buying such a large chest wasn't to hold those odds and ends, but to fit Sword Lai inside.

In the last simulation, her Illusion Technique had failed an hour after entering the rift, and because she couldn't use Spiritual Power, she couldn't use a second Illusion Technique. Sword Lai had been in her Storage Bag, which she couldn't open, so he couldn't come out.

The pure white youth blinked his strange black-and-white eyes, waiting for Ruan Xing's next instruction.

"Try it, can you still use the Ghost Escape Technique?"

Sword Lai lowered his head, seemingly mobilizing the Yin energy within his body. After a few seconds, he shook his head.

Sure enough, Yin energy couldn't be used either. But Ruan Xing had said that last sentence through their mental link, not out loud. It seemed... just like Divine Sense, the mental link could still be used normally, though there was a distance limit; if they were too far apart, they couldn't hear what was being said through the mental link.

She looked around but didn't find those luxurious Spirit Stone brick walls. It seemed the landing spot wasn't the same this time, and she didn't know if it was because of the parachute's influence.

Moreover, because there was no change of sun or moon in this place, she couldn't even tell east from west or north from south; she only knew that it was just past the time of the Horse when they entered.

Right, and her Sword. At that time, both her hands were occupied, and the Flying Sword under her feet couldn't be retrieved in time. Later, because of the parachute, she had drifted a distance, so she was far from where the sword had fallen.

"How about this." Ruan Xing pointed straight ahead, then pointed to her right. "I will continue to move forward to find my sword. You go this way. If you encounter mortals or cultivators, hide first, then tell me. If there are other strange places, describe them to me as well."

Sword Lai nodded obediently. Ruan Xing felt a bit of relief and stood on tiptoe to pat his shoulder. "Go."

With Sword Lai's help, scouting this area would be twice as effective with half the effort. Perhaps they could find the inheritance of Guangyou Xianjun and bring it out sooner.

If she could get it for free through the Simulator, she really didn't want to enter the space-time rift in person. She still didn't know if that key could bring her back out.

Ruan Xing dragged the chest for a while, found her Flying Sword, picked it up, sheathed it, and continued walking in that direction.

The scenery became increasingly desolate. There were fewer and fewer abandoned houses; it wasn't like the city before where there was nowhere to step. The ground was no longer paved with stone bricks, but gradually turned into gravel paths and gray dirt, mixed with thick dust that formed a small pit with every step, like snow.

"Strange... I've walked for so long, and I haven't even seen a single footprint from anyone else. Besides the fifteen cultivators in our group who entered, weren't there many mortals who went missing here before?" Ruan Xing wondered.

After all, the place where the space-time rift appeared was a large expanse of mortal farmland.

Just as she was thinking, there was suddenly movement in the mental link. Ruan Xing immediately perked up, identifying the vague message Sword Lai was transmitting.

"There are... cultivators... over here..."

Thanks to sissid for the monthly ticket~(End of chapter)