novelraw Chapter 598 - 597: Obsession
Chapter 598 - 597: Obsession
She was found trembling slightly, Yun Shu quickly handed her a steaming cup of Spirit Tea, "Senior Bai, Miss Hu is awake!"
"Finally awake! How is the situation now?"
"Are you alright?"
"Congratulations to Senior Hu on advancing to the Body Forging Realm!"
Hu Zhile looked at the young Bluebird hopping over barefoot, Senior Bai with a face full of concern while fanning himself, and the tall and sturdy Yun Mo with a sincere smile, and felt warmth in her heart. She hadn’t shed a tear even in the desperate dream, but now her eyes couldn’t hold back and became warm.
She wiped her tears while drinking tea, smiling gently, "Sorry for causing trouble, I feel fine now. Maybe the Thunder Tribulation was too harsh, barely managing to endure it left me exhausted, embarrassing everyone."
"It’s alright, I feel like you successfully advanced, but your Spiritual Power waves seem increasingly weak, probably too tired, have a good rest for a few days to stabilize your realm," Bai Yunqi still felt her aura was significantly off, then comforted, "When the Venerable Family returns, see if there are any Qi Nourishing and Root Strengthening Elixirs, taking a couple should help."
Hu Zhile’s Tribulation Crossing and advancement were supposed to be a happy event, but given her special situation, no one dared to say much.
To avoid any abnormal situations, Bai Yunqi decided to stay in the small courtyard for quiet cultivation, postponing the hunts in Carefree City; Bluebird also didn’t head into the Misty Ridge instance, staying behind to cultivate while waiting for her brother’s return.
"Phew! I’m exhausted!"
Jiang Yuan felt that the past twenty-four hours were a race against life and death, really pushing himself to use the automatic sprinkler as soon as possible—putting on the exoskeleton equipment to clear monsters and clean the cave.
The benefit was the long Physical Strength Bar and high Attack Power, sharply improving efficiency;
The drawback was the noticeable physical feeling when wearing the exoskeleton, getting hit hurt, and working too much was tiring.
This led to frantically scoring 200,000 points just in time to redeem items two minutes before midnight, leaving him breathless and nearly fainting.
[Redemption Successful!]
The points account quickly dropped to only 8 points left, with a cloud-like sprinkler floating into the Storage Bag from the item bar, Jiang Yuan sighed in relief and finally clicked to remove the equipment.
"I haven’t felt this tired in a long time." He plopped down on the floor, drank a cup of hot tea to refill his Physical Strength Bar, and the aching muscles gradually felt relief like a receding tide.
When he first entered the Wilderness, the Physical Strength Bar was pitifully short, often running out with no means of replenishment, leading to hunger and exhaustion, requiring a return to the real world to eat and drink for recovery.
Later, as foundational Skill Levels improved and various equipment increased strength, once exhausted, there were ample means to replenish, and he wasn’t this tired anymore.
Lying on the cold ground, Jiang Yuan recalled his childhood when the family grew cotton. Back then, cotton prices were high, and the land was all planted with it.
Spreading film, making holes, breaking off branches, catching pests, picking rotten peaches, collecting cotton... finally pulling out the cotton stalks and towing them home on a flatbed, even having to pick rotten peaches at night, it was like an endless nightmare of exhaustion.
Now, everything’s better. After binding with the system, at least he achieved financial freedom, his parents no longer had to toil under the sun and scrape by in the fields.
"The land at home doesn’t need to be farmed, but I still have to farm!" He didn’t waste much time, after catching his breath, he exited the Mysterious Cave and couldn’t wait to take out the automatic sprinkler from the Storage Bag.
A small white, soft cloud about thirty centimeters long and twenty centimeters wide lay lightly in his hand with a slight dampness.
Click to place.
The courtyard appeared in a thumbnail, Jiang Yuan dragged the "cloud" on the screen, showing a 10*10 dashed frame centered on it, indicating its effective range.
Dragging the automatic sprinkler over the herb garden, covering the entire area, then clicked to confirm and save.
Automatically exiting the thumbnail state, he saw a cute little cloud floating above the herb garden, ready to see the sprinkler’s effect at six in the morning!
"Venerable Family, you’ve returned." Bai Yunqi sensed his presence and flashed over to greet, "Miss Hu passed the Thunder Tribulation smoothly this morning, but I still feel her condition isn’t quite right."
Hu Zhile advanced to the Body Forging Realm?!
Jiang Yuan was reminded of her withered Spirit Root and thought, it’s definitely a problem with the Spirit Root!
[Triggered Side Quest: Hu Zhile’s Obsession]
[Due to world collapse leading to displacement, the once noble Snow Mountain Fox Demon has endured many hardships, with an unwavering obsession in her heart. Please complete the quest to find the cause of Hu Zhile’s Dantian exhaustion and Spirit Root wilting and help solve it for a generous reward]
[Quest 1: Guide Hu Zhile to reveal the hidden truths of the past. Reward: Disposable Void Teleportation Talisman +1]
Just as he stepped into the mushroom house, the system popped up a side quest, and he saw that Hu Zhile’s Spirit Root looked even more withered, and her Dantian appeared pitifully dry.
For a cultivator, the Elixir Field Spirit Root is the lifeblood. If it’s withered to such a state, how could one be in good condition?
"The Venerable Family is back." Hu Zhile was just about to get up when Jiang Yuan stopped him.
The contract pet’s health bar was down to half, the situation was very urgent, and it wasn’t about outsiders, so he got straight to the point: "Zhile, have you felt that something is wrong with your Spirit Root?"
"Spirit Root?!" Hu Zhile’s face turned pale, suddenly realizing, he nodded: "Now that you mention it, I’ve recently felt that cultivation is somewhat beyond my reach.
I can’t quite explain it, it’s like even though surrounded by dense Spiritual Energy, I can’t seem to absorb it. When I reached a new realm earlier, I found my Spiritual Power a bit out of control, so it was the Spirit Root... what should I do?"
Bluebird immediately widened her eyes after hearing it, "Brother, you can actually sense the state of the Spirit Root? That’s amazing! Do you have a way to heal it?"
She thought to herself I was right, brother must be Celestial Fire incarnate!
I’ve never heard of anyone in the cultivation realm being able to directly sense the state of the Spirit Root, not even after reaching the peak of the Tribulation Crossing Realm; such means are certainly Immortal Techniques!
"Was your Spirit Root ever injured?" Yun Shu asked with concern: "Injury to the Elixir Field Spirit Root is a big deal, you must find the cause to solve it."
Hu Zhile shook his head blankly, "I’ve never experienced any injury to the Spirit Root. For a cultivator, the Spirit Root is the lifeblood, how could I let it get hurt?"
Jiang Yuan was pondering how to guide her to talk about past events, and the best assist, Little White, mused, "Since there’s no clue, I once heard a rumor during my travels, not sure if it’s true, but everyone might as well listen, maybe it’ll give some inspiration.
It’s said that for a cultivator to successfully ascend, they must step on their birthplace and borrow the Heaven and Earth Origin Energy, to nourish the Spirit Field to transform and absorb the Immortal Energy.
In other words, the Elixir Field Spirit Root has some sort of connection to the birthplace, could the collapse of Miss Hu’s birth world have had an impact? I also went through...
He was about to say that he himself had gone through the collapse of heaven and earth, as both of his previous avatars perished that way, but since they were avatars, it had no significant impact on the main body.
Upon second thought, revealing this would disclose his secret of being an avatar to the public, so he awkwardly changed the subject: "I’ve endured many storms, but I’ve never known a cultivator whose original world collapsed, so it’s hard to judge."
Jiang Yuan looked at the contract pet with satisfaction, praising inwardly for Little White, thinking now he could pursue the line of questioning.
"There’s some logic to it, Zhile, could you recall if anything unusual happened while you were drifting in the void?" he pondered, what secret does the system want Hu Zhile to share?
Since the world you were born in collapsed, it shouldn’t be closely related to the Spirit Root, otherwise how to heal it? You can’t just go to the void to find a piece of the world to keep around.
So "hidden facts" are crucial, surely there are details from back then that she hasn’t spoken of, Jiang Yuan patiently guided, "Since it’s never been injured causing Spirit Root issues, it must either be related to the birthplace or possibly your family?"
Hearing the word "family", Hu Zhile recalled vague dreams and became hesitant.
It’s been many years since she dreamt of despairing experiences, why would she dream of her difficult childhood after crossing tribulation, when she should be rejoicing?
"Unusual events..." She looked up at her friends around, all worried and offering advice, a sudden warmth turned into supportive strength, she fell into memory, saying: "I clearly remember, the day the sky and earth collapsed was the sixth brother’s birthday.
The eldest brother and sister were traveling with the fourth sister and couldn’t make it back, we were preparing for the evening banquet when suddenly, without warning, the ground began to tremble. Amidst the panic, I looked up to see the blue sky split open, revealing a darker starry night sky beyond..."
The fear of world collapse, the despairing hunger, and the endless battles to survive, she recounted the catastrophe engraved deepest in her memory in detail once more.
Yet the system remained unresponsive.
When Jiang Yuan heard her mention being disregarded along with her little sister, he suddenly recalled that Hu Zhile had briefly mentioned this ordeal before. Now the situation was depicted more intricately, but in both accounts, she barely mentioned the parents’ detachment.
From an outsider’s perspective, after suffering greatly to protect the little sister and somehow surviving, she then saw the parents take away the other siblings without hesitation while abandoning her and her little sister. Given her fiery nature, she certainly wouldn’t have just watched.
Could this be the "hidden past"?
Facing parental betrayal must be an unhealable scar for her, likely forming an obsession. It’s normal she didn’t want to mention it, but now, if it’s not thoroughly investigated, the Spirit Root will wither and die!
"Seeing the parents protecting the four siblings without any grievance, as they embarked on the New Continent, while you and your little sister were abandoned, did any conflict arise?"
Jiang Yuan patiently explained, "I have no intention to reopen wounds or pry into secrets you don’t wish to talk about. But your current situation is very dangerous, the Spirit Root could wither at any moment, leading to death and annihilation.
So as a good friend you can trust with your back, I want to know if it’s possible that some conflict occurred that damaged your Spirit Root unknowingly?"
"I must think carefully, it’s not that I don’t want to mention it, but at the time it really was..." Hu Zhile could clearly feel her state, becoming ever weaker with each progression to the Body Forging Realm, absorbing vast amounts of Spiritual Power.
The Venerable Family genuinely wanted to help her solve the issue, but the memory seemed to always want to be avoided within her mind, she had to immerse herself deeply to recall.