Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Improving Spiritual Root Aptitude

As the exercises circulate through the meridians, time quietly slips away.

Before we knew it, the night had deepened, and it was already midnight.

Wu Fan's magical power in his dantian was finally fully restored. He slowly finished his practice, and after exhaling a long breath, his tense nerves finally relaxed a little.

Just as I was about to lean against the stone wall for a short rest, suddenly, a soft rustling sound came from the distant mountains and forests. The sound was like something was quickly moving among the grass and trees, and the sound of the branches and leaves being rustled was getting closer and closer.

"Is anyone there?"

Wu Fan was suddenly startled. The weariness that had just struck him vanished without a trace in an instant, and the hairs on his body stood on end. His vigilance was raised to the extreme.

He immediately held his breath, concealed his presence, and listened carefully. The noise was clearly coming from the cave.

"This place is so remote, could it be that the band of thieves from the market have caught up with us?"

Wu Fan frowned, a series of questions flashing through his mind. "But I'm just an unknown rogue cultivator in Yunxi Market. Why are they chasing me so relentlessly? Or are they other cultivators who escaped from Yunxi Market?"

Although he felt that the possibility of him being hunted down by a Jie Xiu was extremely low, he dared not take any chances and immediately prepared for the worst.

With a flick of his wrist, the Blazing Sun Sword suddenly appeared, and at the same time, the Fiery Cloud Shield also materialized.

Next, he took out the exploding bead from his storage bag and held it in his palm, gripping it tightly with his fingertips, ready to throw it out and detonate it at any moment.

Then, crouching low and moving very quietly, he slowly made his way towards the cave entrance, trying to see who it was.

As soon as he reached the cave exit, he quickly hid behind a huge, thick tree in front of the cave. His gaze pierced through the darkness of the forest and he saw a white figure stumbling and running towards him.

"It was her?"

Wu Fan's pupils contracted slightly as he looked at the familiar figure.

The person who arrived was none other than Bai Ruanyu, the manager of Baidan Hall and the eldest daughter of the Bai family.

She looked far more disheveled than she had been at Bai Dan Tang during the day. Her hair was disheveled, her skirt was torn in several places, and her hair was sticking messily to both sides of her face. Her beautiful eyes were filled with panic as she frequently looked back, clearly indicating that pursuers were closing in on her.

Just then, a streak of dark blue light suddenly shot straight from behind her, aiming for her back!

Bai Ruanyu reacted extremely quickly; the Guardian Ring on her wrist lit up instantly, and a layer of pale golden light shield unfolded, enveloping her entire body.

With a crisp clang, the dark blue dagger was violently bounced back, and the light shield trembled violently a few times, ultimately blocking the fatal blow.

The moment the light shield dissipated, Bai Ruanyu immediately turned around, a light blue soft sword that had appeared in her hand without her noticing. The tip of the sword pointed diagonally at the ground, and her beautiful eyes coldly stared in the direction of the attacker.

"Young Miss, how much magic power do you have left? Is it enough for you to activate the Guardian Ring again?"

A sinister voice followed her gaze, and Liu Xi slowly emerged from the shadows of the trees.

He held the cyan dagger that had just been deflected back in his hand. Now, the dagger was wriggling and deforming in his palm, transforming in the blink of an eye into a short-handled broadsword. The blade was surrounded by a rich cyan color, and its aura was several times stronger than before.

Wu Fan watched in alarm from a distance. He quickly focused his attention and surveyed his surroundings, only breathing a sigh of relief after confirming that there were only the two people facing off within a hundred feet.

But at the same time, a huge question arose in his mind.

Liu Xi is a senior retainer of Bai Dan Tang, so why would he suddenly chase after Bai Ruan Yu?

Could it be that he had already sided with those cultivators who had fallen into the trap?

But why was he the only one who chased after us?

"Liu Xi... no, I should call you Deng Xi."

Bai Ruanyu's face was pale, and her breathing was somewhat disordered, clearly indicating that she was in extremely poor condition. However, she still forced herself to stand firm and coldly questioned, "How did you manage to track me down?"

"Since the young lady is already trapped, there's no harm in telling you."

A confident smile appeared on Liu Xi's face. Instead of making a move, he explained slowly, "The Azure Shadow Blade that injured you in the tunnel was already coated with a colorless and odorless tracking liquid. Even though I destroyed the array's core first, which took up a lot of time, I was still able to find you by following the scent of the liquid."

"Destroy the core of the formation?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Fan was shocked, as if struck by lightning.

The protective formation of Yunxi Market was broken, and it was actually Liu Xi who did it!

Bai Ruanyu just called him Deng Xi, and his original surname is Deng... Could he be a member of the Deng family?

The news was so shocking that Wu Fan felt a chill run down his spine.

Liu Xi served in Baidan Hall for a full thirty years. Could it be that the Deng family had laid out a decades-long plan to destroy Yunxi Market?

Such patient and calculating tactics are truly terrifying.

Wu Fan's heart was instantly stirred up by a thousand waves.

Upon hearing this, Bai Ruanyu frowned, about to speak, when suddenly a surge of blood rushed to her chest, and she could no longer hold back, a mouthful of blood slowly spilling from the corner of her mouth.

She secretly groaned inwardly.

Previously, in the market, she had been ambushed by Deng Xi and poisoned; she barely managed to detoxify herself, leaving her body in an extremely weak state.

When the formation was broken, Sixth Uncle was beheaded by the masked man in black while covering everyone's retreat; afterwards, in order to allow her cousin Ruan Qiu to break through and go back to get reinforcements, she single-handedly blocked Liu Xi's attacks several times.

Even though he was protected by the Guardian Ring and other protective magical artifacts and did not suffer any external injuries, his spiritual energy had already been almost completely depleted, and his internal organs had been severely injured by the shock.

Having fled all the way here, she was already at her last gasp, barely holding on by sheer willpower.

"Don't get cocky!"

Bai Ruanyu wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, her eyes still defiant. "Don't forget, my cousin Ruanqiu has already gone back to report. The Bai family's reinforcements will arrive soon! Aren't you afraid..."

"Hehe! Young lady, why do you think I've been wasting so much time talking to you?"

Liu Xi interrupted her, his smile growing even more mocking. "Whether your cousin can even return to the Bai family alive is another matter entirely. Even if she manages to bring reinforcements, do you think you can hold out until then?"

His gaze lingered on Bai Ruanyu's pale face, filled with undisguised greed: "Tsk tsk, Miss, you are so beautiful. If it weren't for the fact that the Bai family wanted to use you as a bargaining chip to contact the Zhao family of Xiaoyang Mountain, and that the family had given a death order to kill you, I really wouldn't have the heart to destroy such a beautiful flower."

As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes suddenly turned fierce. With a flick of his wrist, a yellow array flag flew out and "nailed" to a spot five or six feet behind Bai Ruanyu. The moment the array flag landed, a yellow light screen suddenly rose up, effectively blocking her retreat.

The flags fell precisely in front of the cave entrance where Wu Fan was hiding!

The tree where he was hiding was only five or six zhang away.

Wu Fan's heart tightened, and he immediately concealed all his presence, even slowing his breathing to a very slow pace.

Fortunately, the spiritual sense of cultivators in the mid-to-late stages of Qi Refining can only cover a range of several feet around their body, and is mostly used to assist in controlling magical artifacts, making it impossible to conduct large-scale investigations.

Liu Xi and Bai Ruanyu were completely focused on each other and didn't notice that there was someone hiding behind the shadow of the tree.

The moment the array flags landed, Liu Xi glanced at the direction behind them, then said no more. With a low shout, the dark blue short-bladed broadsword in his hand suddenly flew out of his grasp, accompanied by a piercing whistling sound, heading straight for Bai Ruanyu's face.