Shen He swallowed dryly at his master's words and the horrors that might await the girl if the Liu family never discovered her existence.
To better understand what they were dealing with, he decided to ask Little Brick, pretending curiosity, while the latter looked at him in confusion for staying silent and dazed for so long.
"Ahem!" Shen He quickly coughed into his fist, feigning embarrassment. "Sorry, Brother Brick, I was just surprised to hear that name. Once, I thought of trying to join the Infinite Dao Sect, but due to certain circumstances I couldn't take the test. But I heard that the Infinite Dao Sect had left this domain, so I was surprised to hear that name again."
He explained, looking a little helpless, and glanced curiously at Brick.
"Oh?" Little Brick raised a brow, though he didn't look particularly interested. "Well, the Bamboo Sword Sect is a vassal of my Infinite Dao Sect, so it's only natural for us to carry out some missions in this domain." He shrugged, revealing the information with casual indifference.
What he said was no secret at all.
"Ah! So that's how it is. I understand…" Though a little surprised by the news that the Bamboo Sword Sect was vassal to another sect, Shen He quickly calmed down and nodded.
But inside, he wasn't calm at all.
Before meeting his master, to him the Bamboo Sword Sect was nearly an unreachable deity. Now, hearing that such power had become a vassal of another force left him incredulous for a moment.
["Uhmm… it's not normal at all for a newly arisen sect in this continent to turn a Golden Core sect into a vassal. They must be receiving support, and they're not without ties to greater forces, as we had considered might be the case. But I'm confused, what kind of game are those guys from the central continent playing? Even if they don't want to take the girl to the central continent to avoid alerting my grandson, they could just hide her here. They wouldn't need to create a small sect."]
Inside the ring, the old man was growing more and more puzzled.
'Maybe they're muddying the waters? If master's grandson finds something, he'll just think they're creating a sect, and won't look toward the girl?' Shen He guessed, a little awkwardly.
He only understood part of what was happening, so he was just making a wild guess.
["Impossible! Those guys from the central continent would never do that in the current situation. It would be too obvious, and my grandson would easily uncover the problem if he sensed their strangeness. Maybe there's something else involved that we don't know about… Xiao He, perhaps it's time to step into enemy territory to clearly understand the situation."]
Old Liu shook his head, his heart heavy. He had made his decision.
'That… master, isn't it too dangerous? According to you, the protector has already noticed something in me and knows my face. You said you could kill him, but you'd fall into deep sleep. With my current realm, I wouldn't be able to escape or take the girl with me if that happened.'
The boy felt deeply uneasy as he spoke with his master. He still had aspirations, he didn't want to die early, nor did he want his master to harm himself like that.
But the old man shook his head inside the pendant, letting out a bitter sigh.
["Xiao He, I'm just an old man clinging to a life I already lost. If those selfish fools get their hands on the girl and the herb, and manage to accomplish what they want… everyone in this world will be doomed. That's why, if danger comes, I'll burn my soul and restore my peak strength for a few seconds, kill the protector, and tear open space with all my strength, sending you and the girl directly to the Liu family."]
He spoke firmly.
His words terrified Shen He, making the boy's heart race and fill with sadness at the possibility laid before him, while also horrifying him to think that girl might be tied to the fate of the entire world.
What Old Liu omitted was that the world was already doomed, and this would only accelerate its end. But he didn't want to place such weight and despair on his disciple's young heart.
Cruel as it was, he thought it better to let him live and die in ignorance.
Even though he was sad and disheartened, knowing what was at stake, Shen He could only follow his master's wishes.
"Brother Brick, is your sect still accepting disciples?"
…
Time passed quickly, and on the 14th day after the avatars' return to the sect, Aotian, who was in his private cave, suddenly opened his eyes.
From Bao Wuji's perspective, he saw Rihai open her beautiful blue eyes with a hazy, emotional shine.
She confirmed that her body refinement had reached perfection at the Foundation Establishment stage, and that her roots were just a few fragments away from becoming whole again, with many of the old patterns of her divine physique, once erased or nearly vanished, now radiantly reemerging.
Slowly regaining focus, she lifted her head and saw Ancestor Bao watching her with a warm and gentle gaze, still holding the golden dew in his hand.
She quickly stood up, ready to bow deeply and give heartfelt thanks, but before she could do so, the cave door was shattered into pieces by a kick, leaving her stunned. Without understanding what was happening, she suddenly felt her hand being grabbed.
"Eh?!" She could only let out this sound before being pulled at full speed outside.
The tears of happiness and gratitude that had welled up in her eyes were left behind in the wind as she was dragged and shaken like a piece of cloth.
When she came to, she was already in another chamber of the cave, standing before Aotian, who was beginning to remove her clothes.
"A-Aotian!!" She was left stunned by the anxious husband in front of her.
Still stunned, she felt him connect to her with that thing, making her eyes widen as she was left speechless.
Soon, his energy coursed through her body via dual cultivation, and she finally understood—it wasn't hunger or desire that moved her husband, but his eagerness to help her.
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the situation.
"Why do I feel like you're more anxious than I am to restore my roots?!" she said, amused yet helpless, pressing her hands against his chest.
"It's because I am. I can't stand even a second more watching my beloved wife suffer," he spoke with extreme seriousness, while moving his hips back and forth.
Rihai's mouth twitched at the contrast between his words and his actions.
But despite her helplessness, in her heart she was very happy with the affection and love her husband had for her. With each passing day, she felt more and more that she had chosen the right man, and that she was very lucky to have him.
Pushing aside those distracting thoughts at such an important moment, she closed her eyes and surrendered to her husband, while turning her focus inward.
Through the connection of dual cultivation, she saw Aotian's energy patterns migrate from his body to hers. The special energy he emitted wrapped around her cells, making them once again willing to devour energy and grow stronger.
Slowly, the thin film separating her perfected Foundation Establishment realm from the Golden Core realm shattered.
Her roots, nearly complete, under the effect of that energy began to fit the tiny remaining fragments of dust into their proper places, until they formed the image of a whole system of branching channels throughout her body, full of cracks, like a broken mirror—but complete, with no shard missing.
But as the last fragments aligned, the mysterious patterns in her roots, now whole, began to emit a blinding light, and the cracks, under their effect, also lit up.
The cracks began to close, and the spiritual energy of the entire environment started to automatically rush into her body like a vortex, completely restoring her roots as it passed.
At that moment, feeling the purity and intensity of the incoming energy, along with a strange delicacy and softness within it, Aotian couldn't help but think, for a second, that the world itself seemed to sing and rejoice at Rihai's recovering talent, as if it were actively trying to help in this final stage.
Seeing this, Aotian disconnected from her and watched attentively from a slight distance so as not to disturb her, while throwing all the elemental and spiritual stones he had in his storage ring onto the ground.
And again, it seemed as if the world—or the laws, or whatever it was—was helping, for the stones tossed to the ground, without any action from Rihai, began to emit energy and channel it into her body.
'No! Maybe it's not the world, but the patterns in Rihai's roots.' Aotian's mind lit up with the thought, recalling those mysterious and powerful patterns, and he felt they were the cause of the current effect.
Aotian saw that, as the energy gathered, besides restoring Rihai's roots, it was also increasing her aura.
'She's going to break through! That means her roots have been repaired!' Aotian's eyes widened, filled with happiness. 'Fortunately, I already passed the Golden Core technique to her beforehand.'
He watched with expectation, keeping his gaze fixed on his beloved, ready for any sign that she might need help.
Slowly, her cultivation rose, until suddenly, a powerful aura burst forth from her body.
'Golden Core!' he thought, excited.
After that, her aura kept growing stronger and stronger, until it reached its peak—and then stopped.
'Good! She formed a very powerful Supreme Golden Core! Though not as good as mine, it's still a bit better than Lei Yun's, which is already wonderful! It seems that dual cultivation and my guidance helped greatly.'
Aotian thought with relief and joy.
Rihai, standing there, slowly opened her beautiful blue eyes.
The first thing she saw was her naked husband gazing at her with a loving and happy smile.
Immediately, Rihai felt her vision blur, and a great wave of happiness and gratitude surged in her heart.
She had finally, after more than ten years, regained her roots and reached a new realm. Before, she had only been recovering her cultivation, but this time, she had truly achieved a breakthrough.
And it was all thanks to her husband, who loved and cherished her so much.
Rihai took a step forward, ready to run into his arms and shower him with kisses, but at that moment, she froze.
Her eyes widened in fear, and a terrible pain, as if her soul were splitting apart, consumed her senses.
With despair in her gaze, she clutched her chest and opened her mouth, as if in a muffled scream—but no sound came out.
In her perception, amid that unspeakable agony, with horror, she saw her newly formed Supreme Golden Core crack from top to bottom, perfectly down the middle.