Chapter 384: Well Guardian

After the Vermilion Bird Army encountered the suspected ghost tribe and demon tribe attacks, Nanxiang County became noticeably more lively. During her patrol, Hua Changxi saw more and more cultivators pouring in.

The more people, the more unstable the situation.

As matters stood, the Vermilion Bird Army was still far from strong enough to suppress every disturbance, and she herself was not mentally prepared to command tens of thousands of troops to defend Nanxiang City.

Hua Changxi was used to fighting alone, but now, no matter what she did, she had to think about Nanxiang City and the Vermilion Bird Army.

With the Nanxiang City Lord absent and all the blessed caves and paradises still sealed, she, as the master of Lingguang Hall, was the highest authority in Nanxiang City. This made it impossible for her to ignore what was happening in Nanxiang City.

Yet, doing so gave her a strong sense of being bound hand and foot.

Looking inward, she had a mountain of problems she urgently needed to solve: her cultivation stuck and unable to break through, alchemy skills stagnant, no suitable place for body refinement…

Looking outward, the situation in Nanxiang City was chaotic, with the demon tribe and the imperial family lurking in the shadows, and the Vermilion Bird Army short on both strength and equipment…

Truly, one could call it a crisis at home and trouble abroad.

Hua Changxi, who had always believed that taking care of herself was enough, suddenly faced this heavy pressure and, for a time, found herself at a complete loss.

A bitter smile appeared on Hua Changxi's face. She had dodged the heavy burden of reviving the Alchemy Saint Hall, but she could not avoid the responsibility of defending Nanxiang City.

"It seems I really am a person of destiny!"

Hua Changxi laughed at herself. He who wears the crown must bear its weight. Being a person of destiny was no easy job—the burden was heavy. She would actually rather be an ordinary cultivator, carefree as clouds and cranes, but ordinary cultivators did not have so many opportunities…

Truly, no matter which path, pros and cons always go hand in hand.

Suppressing the restless thoughts in her heart, Hua Changxi went to Lihuo Cliff, obtained another batch of Vermilion Bird Orders, and on her way back to Lingguang Hall, noticed that Lihuo Cliff was not far from Ghostfire Well. She once again set foot in the funeral home where the Ghost-Eye Boy stayed.

The first time she came, the Ghost-Eye Boy was grinding rice in the yard; this time, he was in the funeral home's backyard, kneeling motionless in front of a stone tablet.

As always, he showed no reaction to Hua Changxi's arrival.

Hua Changxi walked over. When she was five meters away from the stone tablet, she felt an invisible force blocking her.

Indeed, the fact that the Ghost-Eye Boy could stay alive meant he did have some means of self-protection.

The next moment, the pupils of Hua Changxi's eyes contracted.

She sensed that the Karmic Fire Platform Seal, the Nine Heavens Fire Springs Order, and the Lihuo Cliff Order in her sea of consciousness had all emitted light simultaneously, and then the invisible force of obstruction vanished.

Hua Changxi's heart trembled. She looked at the Ghost-Eye Boy, then at the stone tablet. She was not sure who had created that invisible force just now.

Then, without making a sound, Hua Changxi walked behind the Ghost-Eye Boy.

The Ghost-Eye Boy was facing the stone tablet. Although she could not see his expression, the slight turn of his head betrayed his shock and surprise at her approach.

Hua Changxi found that the stone tablet was blank, with nothing on it, and could not help asking, "Why are there no inscriptions?"

Hearing this, the Ghost-Eye Boy frowned and cast her a sideways glance of "displeasure."

Hua Changxi suddenly understood—the Ghost-Eye Boy was blind, so normal inscriptions were useless to him. "Are the inscriptions meant to be read with divine sense?"

The Ghost-Eye Boy did not respond.

Hua Changxi asked again, "Can I take a 'look' with my divine sense?"

The Ghost-Eye Boy hesitated for a moment, his eyes dropping. After waiting a while and seeing that Hua Changxi had not released her divine sense, he finally gave a reaction and nodded.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi immediately released her divine sense and probed it into the stone tablet.

"Boom~"

Inside the stone tablet was a surging sea of blood, and an extremely pure and dense qi-and-blood force came rushing at her face.

In that instant, Hua Changxi felt as if she had become a single drop of blood in that blood sea—warmed by being enveloped in it, yet also losing control as she was forced into the blood sea's surges.

The feeling of losing control was so intense that panic rose in Hua Changxi's heart. Just when she wanted to withdraw her divine sense, her right hand turned cold.

The Ghost-Eye Boy's icy hand grabbed Hua Changxi!

The next moment, a guiding technique—the Zhurong Meridian Expansion Technique—appeared in Hua Changxi's mind.

Hua Changxi was extremely surprised by the Ghost-Eye Boy's action. Recalling that the tokens of the three blessed caves and paradises had all trembled when she approached the stone tablet, she hesitated for a moment, then tried to cultivate the Zhurong Meridian Expansion Technique.

Upon this attempt, she discovered with delight that the Zhurong Meridian Expansion Technique used divine sense to draw upon the qi-and-blood force within the stone tablet, nourishing the body and helping to expand the meridians.

After the Zhurong Meridian Expansion Technique began to flow smoothly, a faint layer of blood-red light appeared around Hua Changxi's body.

There are eighty-one nodes along the human body's meridians. After the Zhurong Meridian Expanding Art had cycled for nine rounds, Hua Changxi sensed that the first node had been lit up.

"Hmph!"

A displeased snort sounded by her ear, and only then did Hua Changxi reluctantly withdraw her divine sense from the stone tablet.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw the sullen-faced Eyes of the Underworld boy.

The Eyes of the Underworld boy wasn't looking at Hua Changxi; he was only 'looking' at the stone tablet, which now bore a crack running from top to bottom.

Hua Changxi stared, swallowed, and said, "This… I didn't do this, did I?"

The Eyes of the Underworld boy finally 'looked' at Hua Changxi, his expression extremely aggrieved. "Grandfather left this especially for me to practice with."

Having damaged someone else's possession, Hua Changxi felt very guilty. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect it to turn out like this."

The Eyes of the Underworld boy pouted angrily. "If I had known you needed so much qi and blood, I would never have told you about the Zhurong Meridian Expanding Art."

Hua Changxi gave an embarrassed smile and asked with concern, "With that crack, can you still use this stone tablet?"

The Eyes of the Underworld boy nodded.

Seeing that it was still usable, Hua Changxi immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at the Eyes of the Underworld boy. "Why did you tell me about the Zhurong Meridian Expanding Art?"

The Eyes of the Underworld boy said, "Grandfather said that anyone who can pass through the mini-realm barrier is one of us."

After hearing this, Hua Changxi fell into thought, then asked again, "Who is your grandfather?"

The Eyes of the Underworld boy: "A Well Keeper."

Hua Changxi's eyes flickered. "Then you are also a Well Keeper?"

The Eyes of the Underworld boy nodded at first, then a look of sorrow appeared on his face. "But unfortunately, the Ghostfire Well was snatched away by bad people, and Grandfather was beaten to death by them."

Hearing this, Hua Changxi more or less understood the boy's identity. Seeing his low spirits, she patted him on the shoulder. Not knowing how to comfort him, she could only change the subject.

"What kind of stone tablet is this? Where did your grandfather get it?"

The Eyes of the Underworld boy: "Grandfather said it's a Zhurong Stone, which can help strengthen my body and soul. I don't know where Grandfather got it."

Hua Changxi activated her Truth-Seeing Eye again and indeed 'saw' that the bloodline power inside the Eyes of the Underworld boy seemed a little stronger than when she first saw him, and the blood-red chains also appeared thicker.

"Zhurong Stone…"

"Zhurong…"

This reminded Hua Changxi of the Zhurong Tomb. Now she knew which blessed land and cave heaven she should explore next.

Hua Changxi smiled at the Eyes of the Underworld boy. "Maybe I can give you a new stone tablet."

The Eyes of the Underworld boy shook his head. "I don't want a stone tablet. Can you help me take back the Ghostfire Well?"

Hua Changxi's expression grew serious. "I will drive away the people currently occupying the Ghostfire Well, but I cannot guarantee that the Ghostfire Well will be yours." She hadn't found any token of the Ghostfire Well's owner on the Eyes of the Underworld boy.

The Eyes of the Underworld boy tilted his head, seeming a little confused.

Hua Changxi didn't know much about the Ghostfire Well's situation and didn't know how to explain it to the boy, so she didn't say anything more. "I have to go. By the way, what's your name?"

The Eyes of the Underworld boy: "Jingsheng."

Seeing that the Eyes of the Underworld boy was terribly thin, Hua Changxi left some blood lingzhi for him to nourish and stabilize his fleshly body, then departed.

Only after coming out of the funeral home did she realize she had stayed inside for three whole days.