Chapter 174: One Person Once Stood Against a Million-Strong Army

"Ever since the day the Xian Tai collapsed, I should have died in the Guixuzhidi, leaving the seed on Tianxin Island; that way, I could have preserved that sliver of Dao Rhyme and the Path to Heaven. But I never expected... my true body would actually be stolen out of the Return to Ruins Land by two cultivators.

I drift between wakefulness and slumber, yet my body's instincts constantly absorb the fortune they send, and I cannot even refuse. They want to make me grow again, using my power to conduct all sorts of experiments, but it is all useless. Under the Heavenly Dao, my fortune is exhausted; even if I barely sustain my life using this fortune raised in the Acquired Realm, I still cannot prop up the Xian Tai again or rebuild the Path to Heaven.

I suppose that for these past few thousand years, no one in the world of Cultivation has been able to ascend, right?"

There was a hint of bitterness in the Boundary Tree's voice.

Ruan Xing lowered her eyes. After that battle at the Xian Tai, a vast number of high-level cultivators in the world of Cultivation perished, and many sects vanished into the long river of time. For a very long time afterward, aside from sealing off the news to recuperate, the world of Cultivation hardly saw any figures like Xianjun.

The only one relatively close to the present time was Guangyou Xianjun of the Xuanbing Sect.

It was just that in the eyes of outsiders, he had ascended to the Spirit Realm.

But in the eyes of those who knew the inside story, he had returned to the void.

It was not because his lifespan had ended, so the fact that the world of Cultivation had lost the Path to Heaven and could not ascend could still be kept hidden.

And the implication of the Boundary Tree's words was that the seed must be helped to sprout; otherwise, no one in this realm would ever be able to ascend, because it had already lost that ability itself.

Ruan Xing said softly, "I can believe what you say, but shouldn't you also show some sincerity by lifting the restrictions on me?"

"I cannot," the Boundary Tree admitted frankly. "To tell you the truth, even the barrier outside this National Teacher Palace is not something I can control now. When I am awake, I can occasionally make some small changes, but I cannot control it. Even my root system extends thousands of miles away, but they do not act according to my will. I tell you this because I do not want you to be accidentally harmed by me. There is a way to solve it, which is that after I die completely, everything I just mentioned will lose its function."

"I can even tell you that if I do not die, in at most a dozen years, I will suffer Evil Corruption. My memory contains so many techniques that I could use, yet I happened to throw away a Demon Cultivator's technique... This proves that subconsciously, I yearn for the person who saves me to slaughter everyone and turn this place into a state of misery. This is a sign of my falling into the demonic path. I have absorbed too much of people's fortune, memories, and their chaotic thoughts, which has influenced me to a great extent."

Therefore, the Boundary Tree's Evil Corruption in fourteen years was also one of the catalysts for the Demon Cultivators to occupy Nanzhou.

This was tricky.

Ruan Xing frowned, "What do you want me to do?"

"It is very simple. The sprouting of the seed takes time, but it is very fragile before it grows up, and who knows... someone else might come to destroy its growth. In the initial stage, I will turn all my power into nutrients for it; this can speed up its growth process, but it will take at least several years. As for when it will be able to rebuild the Path to Heaven after it grows up, I do not know."

Ruan Xing was surprised, "So, you don't need the fortune of those mortals for the seed to absorb?"

"Of course not," the Boundary Tree smiled. "I have already suffered from it myself and am about to fall into the demonic path; how could I let the seed follow my old path? It is just that those mortals have been suffering unprovoked disasters here for thousands of years because of me. I hope you can protect them after this matter is over. At the very least, let them live like normal people. If all these people were just thrown into the world of Cultivation like this, I fear that in a few years, there would not be one in ten left."

After pondering for a long while, Ruan Xing finally made up her mind, "Fine, I agree."

The Boundary Tree heaved a sigh of relief.

It was just that Ruan Xing still had several things to carefully plan regarding dealing with the Six Suns Study, so she discussed it with the Boundary Tree for a while.

The seed needed several years to absorb nutrients, so the Boundary Tree would not die completely within a few years, and Ruan Xing was unwilling to wait that long.

The Boundary Tree had to reluctantly tell her that she could temporarily control the tree roots growing in the back mountain of the Six Suns Study at critical moments so they would not perform any attacks, but it was powerless against the barrier of the Xumi Realm and the barrier of the Six Suns Study.

"Or you could take a section of my true body's root and make it into a defensive Spirit Tool," the Boundary Tree sighed.

"That's a good idea," Ruan Xing lowered her head, "but what I need most right now is something that can break through barriers."

Otherwise, the situation she faced would always be very passive.

Eh, wait.

What was her most powerful offensive method currently? It was the Self-destruct Puppet! The materials for the Self-destruct Puppet required corpses...

And there were countless corpses at the roots of the Boundary Tree! These corpses had only had their fortune absorbed by the Boundary Tree; their own cultivation levels were still at the Golden Core Stage.

It was just that most of them certainly could not have their souls summoned due to the long passage of time.

But that was not a big problem; if she could succeed with a few hundred, it would be a huge improvement for her.

The only difficulty was... she could not refine so many puppets in one day.

And she could only stay in the Xumi Realm for one day, otherwise she would not be able to maintain this identity and could not take the Black Eagle back to the Six Suns Study.

Thinking of this, Ruan Xing hurriedly asked, "Since that Nether Ghost Record is a technique that flowed out from you, can you refine puppets on my behalf?"

The Boundary Tree understood her idea at once, "You want to utilize these corpses?"

It seemed somewhat reluctant; although these people all died here, it was not its original intention, but in the end, it was all because of it that these people followed one after another toward the same path of death under the guidance of those two cultivators.

However, it soon realized that as long as the Six Suns Study could be destroyed, no more cultivators with fortune would be sent into this bubble under the water.

So it said without hesitation, "I can help you draw the Runes on these corpses, but the essence of the puppet still has to be done by you."

"That is enough," Ruan Xing said joyfully.

Every time she refined puppets, drawing the Runes took the most time.

As for the essence of the puppet, she still had two large pieces of Soul Nourishing Wood in her Storage Bag that she hadn't used. If they were all cut into thumb-sized wooden blocks, she could get at least several hundred pieces, which would be enough.

These puppets could help her avoid falling into a disadvantage even if she faced the Study Master, the Whisk, and the Golden Ring—three Nascent Soul cultivators—all at once.

Quantity could also make up for quality.

Ruan Xing simply decided not to return during this simulation and sat down directly with the Boundary Tree to start refining puppets, to see exactly how much time it would take.

Half were refined into normal puppets, and half were refined into Self-destruct Puppets.

Ruan Xing taught the Boundary Tree the Rune patterns for the Self-destruct Puppet a few times, and the Boundary Tree understood how to do it.

The Boundary Tree was very fast; all its roots moved, dipped into the blood ink Ruan Xing brought, and began to draw in unison.

And Ruan Xing began to cut the Soul Nourishing Wood to make the puppet essences.

At first, she made them one by one, but sometimes a failure in the Soul Summoning Incantation meant wasting a lot of time all at once.

She simply stopped caring about the success rate; after becoming proficient, she refined multiple ones at once and kept the successful ones.

After working for nearly six hours, the production was finally finished. A rough count showed over a hundred successful puppets.

They didn't even fill one Storage Bag; Ruan Xing divided them into two to store them separately.

Glancing at Sun Xian, who was huddled in the corner having a mental breakdown, Ruan Xing let out a soft breath and ended this simulation.

Opening her eyes on the Shuttle Spirit Boat, Ruan Xing reminisced about her puppet army with a sense of lingering excitement.

After thinking for a while, she still let out a long sigh.

Unable to break the barrier, even if Ruan Xing led the puppet army into the Six Suns Study through disguise, the puppets' self-destruction was not immune to damage... unable to cut the Binding God Rope, the Nether Ghost Fire of divine weapons like Cui Yurong's would be of no use...

It was truly a headache. The other two on the Shuttle Spirit Boat saw her frowning to herself one moment and sighing the next, and were very puzzled.

Ruan Xing did not hide it from them and explained casually, "I need a very, very powerful weapon to destroy a very, very hard shield, but I don't have such a weapon right now..."

Sword Lai listened, then suddenly plucked out one of his own eyeballs and handed it to Ruan Xing.

Ruan Xing was stunned for a moment.

It was Hanshan Snow Marrow.

That's right... this thing had served as eyes for Sword Lai for so long that she had almost forgotten it was a material for refining a Spirit Tool! However... Ruan Xing gave a bitter smile, "My refining technique hasn't reached the level to refine a Spirit Tool..."

And even if she urgently used points to learn how to refine one now, she had no available source to utilize.

Before Xu Shengping died, he had indeed contributed a method for refining a Spirit Tool to her, but that method required a willing soul.

The souls of most mortals and low-level Cultivators dissipate immediately after death; only vengeful ghosts carrying deep resentment and obsession might remain, and they also need to be willing—what a difficult thing that is.

Unless one finds a Cultivator at the Nascent Soul Stage or above who possesses a Divine Soul, but what conditions would such a person need to be offered to become willing?

No... Ruan Xing suddenly thought of Cui Yurong.

She is a Ghost Cultivator, her yin energy and soul are naturally strong, and she also carries an obsession; plus, she herself is her benefactor—would it work to let her willingly become a tool spirit?

No, no! Thinking about turning the female lead into a tool spirit is one thing, but if she actually managed to do it, the Heavenly Dao might just descend eighteen hundred heavenly lightning bolts to strike her dead.

She could not gamble on such a low-probability event.

Furthermore, wanting to refine a Spirit Tool requires opening the chains on Cui Yurong, and wanting to open the chains requires refining a Spirit Tool first.

It was an unsolvable loop.

She shook her head and changed to a more comfortable position to lie down, "Forget it, I can't think of it now, I'll talk about it later."

She should just do a Simulation first.

She first used Text Simulation, chose random items, and brought out a section of root given to her by the Boundary Tree; her luck wasn't bad, as she obtained the root in just two tries.

She needed this root to enter and exit the Xumi Realm and the National Teacher Palace freely.

This could also be considered a small back door opened for her by the Boundary Tree.

Afterward, she used Real-scene Simulation to start evolving how to take down the Six Suns Study with the most suitable route.

But every single time, she failed at that barrier.

Tricking the Golden Ring and the Whisk away, she killed the Study Master, but the barrier wouldn't open; the Boundary Tree root in the back mountain was beyond its reach and could only barely control it for about an hour. Once the Whisk and the Golden Ring returned, plus the root in the back mountain, she was left with nothing but dregs.

Tricking the Golden Ring and the Whisk away, she also went out to kill them; with the help of an army of hundreds of Puppets, she finally achieved victory after great hardship, but upon returning to the Six Suns Study, she was blocked by the barrier and couldn't get in. Even if she turned into the Golden Ring duo, she couldn't trick the Study Master, because the Study Master said that if it were the real people, they could open the barrier and enter themselves; no matter what she said, he refused to open the barrier.

In the end, Ruan Xing got tired of killing and just had all three of them fight to the death inside the barrier, yet this choice almost invariably resulted in mutual destruction.

Dozens of Simulation attempts were thrown at it, with almost no progress.

In other words, she was stuck.

Stuck by the barrier.

"What is to be done..." Ruan Xing rubbed her brow helplessly.

Nearly one hundred thousand points had been used up, and she now only had over ninety thousand points left.

Suddenly, a cold hand rested on Ruan Xing's forehead.

She looked over blankly.

Sword Lai pursed his lips, and his slightly flustered voice came through the soul link.

"Master... don't be troubled... I am willing..."

Ruan Xing reacted for a moment before she understood what Sword Lai was saying.

He knew what the method Xu Shengping gave her was, and he also knew his own soul was in the Ink Marrow, and after being nourished by the Soul Nourishing Wood, Sword Lai's intelligence was now almost indistinguishable from a normal twelve or thirteen-year-old boy, except for his speech still being clumsy.

It's just that...

"No!"

Ruan Xing refused decisively.

"I would rather not go to the Six Suns Study and escape Nanzhou with Sister and Hu San and the others than let you die."

Sword Lai was her reliable backing who had been by her side from her mortal days until now.

Sometimes, only when Sword Lai was by her side did she feel at ease.

She didn't know what a person's soul had to go through to become a tool spirit, and she knew even less if he would still be him after becoming a tool spirit.

Anyway, she had the Simulator, and there was still plenty of time ahead; perhaps when she reached Spirit Severing or Return to Void, the barrier problem could be easily solved.

There was no need to let Sword Lai take the risk.

Even if finding a place to settle in the world of Cultivation with so many people was a double-difficulty mode, she would not abandon Sword Lai.

It was just that if she chose to give up this opportunity, the previous investment of one hundred thousand points would be for nothing.

And Cai Wen would also likely be sacrificed.

The female lead Cui Yurong might suffer a lot of unnecessary torture in the Six Suns Study, eventually transforming into the paranoid and cruel Ghost Cultivator from the book.

Sword Lai squatted down to look Ruan Xing in the eye; with only one pure black eye left, he looked somewhat ferocious, and the other empty eye socket was eerily sunken.

One could still see his somewhat stubborn expression.

"As long as I can protect Master... I am willing... to become anything..."

Ruan Xing turned her head away and closed her eyes, "... No."

The sky has fallen!! I've been writing for almost half a year and only today did I learn that other authors get extra points for monthly ticket comments! Wuwu, I'm sorry my babies QAQ babies who want extra points for their comments, tell me and I'll make up for it!

Thanks to book friend 20220918175316618 for the monthly ticket~ Thanks to An Yue Zhi Shi for the monthly ticket~ Thanks to Ru Meng_CD for the monthly ticket~ Thanks to Ai Zhi Zhi 12345 for the monthly ticket~ Thanks to book friend 20221023004510870 for the monthly ticket~ Thanks to book friend 20210408112748130 for the monthly ticket~ Thanks to book friend 20211220005339940 for the monthly ticket~(End of this chapter)