Chapter 65: Escape (An extra chapter for the patron 'There is a mortal cultivating immortality')

"Woo... woo..."

The demon lotus struggled and hissed desperately amidst the vortex of blue light, a terrifying aura permeating the entire cavern.

Xu Chen felt as if his flesh and blood were being continuously drained away by the jade bottle, his meridians already on the verge of collapse.

But he absolutely could not give up now, otherwise all his efforts would be wasted; once the demon lotus broke free, it would certainly be his death.

The refining speed of the Great Origin Pill could not keep up with the consumption of the jade bottle.

Because of the demon lotus's frantic struggling, the jade bottle had even begun to tremble violently.

Although a magical treasure is powerful, it still requires the cultivator's own strong cultivation base to support it.

It was like a mayfly trying to shake a giant tree; without the necessary strength, one would only end up burying oneself.

Relying on his last shred of clarity, Xu Chen fished a thumb-sized jade bottle from his Storage Bag, crushed it in his hand, and swallowed a mass of green Spirit Liquid.

This was one-third of that original bottle of Spirit Liquid, which the three senior and junior siblings had divided among themselves on the road.

It was originally kept as a last resort to save his life, but Xu Chen could no longer hold onto it.

The Spirit Liquid entered his throat and transformed into a surging torrent, instantly rushing into his internal organs before flowing into his Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

Sensing this powerful Spirit Qi, the Blue Jade Bead erupted with an even more brilliant radiance, acting like a pump; the vortex suddenly expanded to over a zhang in size, resembling a black hole. With a violent, explosive roar, the struggling and hissing Mysterious Water Nether Lotus was instantly swallowed into the vortex as a mass of black light, and the jade bottle's radiance suddenly retracted, hiding into the center of Xu Chen's brow and disappearing.

Xu Chen fell straight down into the cavern with a thud.

"Crack, crack, crack, crack~"

With the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus gone, the cavern walls began to collapse in all directions, cracks splitting open with popping sounds. Then, accompanied by the shattering of a colorful array of light, the entire space seemed to turn upside down. Xu Chen tumbled and fell, instantly being enveloped by the bubbling, churning Black Water.

Amidst the spinning world, Xu Chen choked on several mouthfuls of cold water, his consciousness clearing significantly. He struggled hard within the rising Black Water, and after a dozen breaths, he felt his body lighten, floating to the surface of the water while a faint white light appeared in his eyes.

"Woo-ya... woo-ya..."

The sad and familiar sound of Xiao Huli rang in his ears.

Xu Chen reached out and grabbed blindly in all directions, finally touching the hard stone wall, and clung to the rock for dear life. After a few breaths, his emotions finally stabilized, and he realized he was still in the same water pit in the mine shaft where he had started.

At this moment, the Black Water beneath him was rapidly receding, dropping two feet in the blink of an eye.

Xu Chen quickly took a deep breath, used all his remaining strength to climb onto the pit wall, and rolled over to lie on the dark, cold, solid ground.

"Woo-ya..."

Xiao Huli jumped onto him, using its head to nudge his chest hard.

Xu Chen dared not delay, knowing this place was too eerie; if another monster or Soul Beast appeared, the chance for survival he had fought so hard for would be squandered.

So, after lying there for only a few breaths, Xu Chen struggled to climb up, tucked Xiao Huli into his robes, picked up the Dust-Avoiding Bead that had fallen less than a foot from the edge of the pit, and limped into the tunnel he had entered through. Relying on his memory and the light from the Dust-Avoiding Bead, he hurried toward the exit of the mine.

At this time, the Black Water in the mine pit where he had been dragged down by the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus had completely vanished, revealing a pitch-black, bottomless hole. A cold Black Wind blew out from the bottom of the pit, instantly filling the entire mine with black mist, which then roared along the narrow tunnel.

Although Xu Chen did not know what had happened behind him, he could clearly hear the rumbling.

Therefore, he dared not look back and could only bury his head and run wildly.

His vital energy was now exhausted, his meridians were severely damaged, and he could not use his Divine Sense; he could only rely on his memory and the terrain to run upward.

Half an hour later, Xu Chen finally saw the light at the mine exit. His heart felt a moment of relief, but after rushing out, he still dared not stop, grabbing the basket he had left at the entrance and fleeing in a panic.

Not long after he escaped, a gust of Black Wind erupted from the mine entrance, whistling and swirling into a thick smoke that submerged all the trees for hundreds of zhang in front of the mine. It then rose rapidly into the high sky like steaming black mist, its ink-like color appearing exceptionally clear and striking against the lush mountains and the vast, clear sky.

After running wildly for two quarters of an hour, Xu Chen could no longer hold on. He stopped in a disheveled state, his body soaked and his face pale. Looking back and seeing that pillar of black smoke rising, an ominous premonition arose in his heart.

Perhaps the Linghu Mine had already become a second Black Wind Ridge.

What made him particularly uneasy was that this place was too close to the Taiyuan Sect, only a little over a hundred miles away in a straight line. If Soul Beasts appeared in large numbers, he feared the sect itself would be under great threat.

Linking this to the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus beneath the mine and the array light that shattered during the final collapse, he felt this matter was not simple at all; perhaps the destruction of the Taiyuan Sect was related to this event.

But for now, these were not things he should be worrying about.

He had to hurry back to the sect to recuperate, otherwise his path of cultivation would be in jeopardy.

An hour later, Xu Chen arrived near the sect riding his Flying Sword, swaying unsteadily.

Subduing the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus had consumed too much of his vital energy and caused severe damage to his Soul and meridians. Fortunately, he had that last bit of Spirit Liquid to replenish himself, otherwise, whether he could have escaped alive was a question.

However, just as he was about to fly near his small wooden hut, a sudden sharp pain in his dantian caused his vision to go black, and he plummeted from the sky.

"Junior Brother..."

In his final moments of consciousness, he seemed to vaguely hear the exclamation of Thirteenth Senior Sister Zhao Xuan, and then he completely passed out.

When he woke up again, it was dim before his eyes, but everything was familiar; it was his own small wooden hut.

Turning his head, he saw Thirteenth Senior Sister Zhao Xuan sitting by the bed, and on the floor, Jiu Shixiong was sitting cross-legged in meditation.

"Woo-ya woo-ya!"

Xiao Huli, lying on Xu Chen's chest, felt the movement and immediately stood up, letting out a joyful cry.

Zhao Xuan said with a face full of joy: "Junior Brother, you're awake!"

"Senior Sister!"

Xu Chen struggled to sit up, finding himself dizzy and weak, his whole body feeling as if it had been crushed by a giant rock, every inch aching. He hurriedly performed internal observation of his meridians and dantian, finding them severely damaged but not yet at the point of collapse, which made him let out a long sigh of relief.

Jiu Shixiong was also awakened, stood up, and looked at him with a face full of anger, saying: "Why did you run down the mountain? How did you get so severely injured?"

Zhao Xuan pushed Jiu Shixiong away and said angrily: "Junior Brother just woke up, what are you shouting about?"

Xu Chen hurriedly gave a bitter smile: "Don't argue yet, the mine at the Spirit Fox Nest has a problem; it has become just like Black Wind Ridge."

The two were shocked upon hearing this, and Jiu Shixiong asked urgently: "You went to the Linghu Mine?"

"Yes!" Xu Chen briefly recounted his investigation of the mine, though he omitted the matter of the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus, saying instead that he had entered the deepest part of the mine, was swept up by a Soul Beast in the Black Water, and a fight had caused a hidden array to collapse, which was how the Black Wind emerged.

The two looked at each other in dismay after hearing this, and finally, Jiu Shixiong said: "This matter is of great importance; I must go report it to the Third Elder immediately."

Jiu Shixiong left in a hurry, while Zhao Xuan, with a somewhat annoyed expression, glared at him and huffed: "Do you think that just because you went down the mountain and picked up a little profit, you're something special? You actually dared to go explore the Spirit Fox Nest alone. Do you know there is a powerful fox inside that is almost Second-Tier?"

Xu Chen immediately looked dejected and gave a sheepish smile: "Senior Sister, that nest of Spirit Foxes had long since died out; Xiao Huli is one I picked up from that mine."

Zhao Xuan was stunned upon hearing this, and after a long while, she grabbed his ear and said fiercely: "Didn't you say you picked up Xiao Huli near the Medicine Garden?"

"Hehe!" Xu Chen gave a dry laugh, but immediately gasped as he felt a sharp, spasmodic pain in his dantian and meridians, his face instantly turning pale and twisted.

Zhao Xuan hurriedly let go, but she did not continue to ask about the Spirit Fox Nest, instead taking out a Spirit Pill and stuffing it into his mouth, then urged:

"Alright, no matter what happened, you are not allowed to speak now, nor do you need to get up; hurry and circulate your energy to heal your wounds. Your meridians and dantian are severely damaged; if you don't repair them as soon as possible, I fear you will end up like me in the future."

Xu Chen endured the pain and smiled: "That would be just right; then I can accompany Senior Sister as a good-for-nothing, supported entirely by the sect. I think, given our contributions, the Great Elder certainly won't drive us down the mountain."

Zhao Xuan was both angry and anxious, and at the same time, her eyes turned red as she turned her head to wipe away a tear, then lightly punched him and said: "If you talk nonsense again, see if I don't beat you to death. Hurry up and circulate your energy to refine the Spirit Pill; I'm going to get you something to eat."

Very soon, the clanging sounds of pots and pans rang out from the kitchen outside.

Although Xu Chen was shivering from the pain, he still hurriedly sat cross-legged, took out the Dust-Avoiding Bead and placed it to the side, then closed his eyes and began to circulate his energy.

However, he did not rush to refine the Spirit Pill, but instead sank his consciousness into his Sea of Consciousness to carefully observe the Blue Light Jade Bottle.

After the battle with the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus, the jade bottle seemed to have undergone some changes again; it was no longer that kind of illusory light and shadow, but its edges had become much clearer. Moreover, besides the Jade Bead emitting blue light that could be seen inside the bottle, there was now a layer of misty Black Water at the bottom of the bottle, constantly vibrating, and a black lotus was tossing and struggling within the Black Water, yet it could not shake the precious bottle in the slightest, seemingly completely trapped within it.

The heart that Xu Chen had been holding up finally settled down at this moment.

Additionally, what both surprised and delighted him was that the mouth of the jade bottle was constantly emitting wisps of white mist. This mist not only calmed his Soul, but he could even feel these white mists continuously merging into his body, allowing his bones, flesh, and meridians to slowly repair themselves.

It seems this is another huge, miraculous effect brought about after the Jade Bead transformed into a precious bottle.

In reality, he did not know that last time in the rift of Black Wind Ridge, when he was almost disemboweled by a Third-Tier Demon Wolf, it was the Jade Bead that absorbed the black mist and released white energy to quickly repair his injuries.

However, that seemed to be an instinctive help to the host when the Jade Bead was activated.

But right now, although this repair was much slower in speed, for Xu Chen, it was a long-term life-saving skill. As long as he did not die and had enough time, it seemed any injury could slowly recover, and even his Soul and meridians could be repaired.

Such a rare treasure was not only something Xu Chen had never heard of, but basically, such a miraculous Magic Treasure had never existed in the Immortal World.

Therefore, Xu Chen was even more convinced that this Blue Jade Bead he had obtained must be a True Immortal Magic Treasure.

And that pile of excrement of unknown origin should naturally be an incomparably powerful Immortal Beast.

To be able to eat an immortal artifact and then excrete it—what kind of powerful existence must that be? Even a True Immortal might not necessarily be its match.