Fellow Daoist! That scoundrel has written a new book again.

Chapter 178 Seclusion?

The bladeless sword was sheathed and placed neatly beside the pillow. With its brilliance subdued, it became even more inconspicuous.

What's more, they're by each other's side day and night.

Things that are too convenient are often subconsciously overlooked.

The fog before Zhu Wuyao's eyes seemed to be split open by lightning, and her thoughts gradually became clear. In a flash, she understood the cause and effect.

The teacup in his hand was slammed heavily onto the table.

She got up, walked forward, and took the bladeless sword in her hand.

Because of Yue Sugong, the Wufeng Sword is connected to its energy channels, and the spiritual power attached to it also comes from the same source.

It can be said that we are all in the same boat, whether we prosper or suffer.

The words spoken by the monk Konghui and the young monk echoed in his ears:

"This is the consequence of your own actions."

"Unless... you have your own permission."

Although she has experienced many things these past few days, during the period from last night until now, when her condition of being possessed by a ghost suddenly worsened, she only did one thing—

Use those stones of unknown origin to refine the bladeless sword.

Having received the benefits, one should accept the consequences.

She took the initiative to use that magical stone to refine the Unsharp Sword, and the Unsharp Sword, in a sense, was equivalent to half of her body.

However, he always carried the sword without a blade, so he never suspected anything.

After those seven stones fell last night, she estimated she wouldn't last another year.

It's true what they say, you reap what you sow.

Moreover, at the time, she was in a mass grave and, worried about being trapped in the ghost realm for too long and encountering danger, she made a promise with the mindset that she was not afraid of troubles because she had too much debt.

Could it be that... the reason the Sword Without Edge has no special abilities is because the promise was not kept?

Zhu Wuyao frowned slightly and tossed the sword back to her pillow. She felt that her temperament had indeed been affected.

For a fleeting moment, she was actually contemplating whether destroying the sword could end the matter.

Absolutely ridiculous.

She shares spiritual power with the Sword Without Edge, almost as one. If the sword is destroyed, her foundation will be shaken. If it is useful, she would be willing to sacrifice herself.

But now it's not just the tributaries that are being polluted; the pollution has spread from the tributaries to the source of the water.

Zhu Wuyao sighed softly.

She opened the window; the morning mist had thinned somewhat, and porters and vendors were beginning to work to make a living, creating a sense of everyday life.

"We can't keep wandering around like this, or I'll die..."

When the moment came, even Zhu Wuyao couldn't relax.

Unlike before when he was so nonchalant when he heard "there's still a year left."

She estimated that after those seven stones fell into the mass grave last night, she probably had less than two months left to live.

Or even less.

If someone can lose consciousness in broad daylight, they might just fall into a ditch tomorrow when they go out, perhaps without even needing a cultivator to confront them.

It's hard to tell whether her neck or a mortal's blade is harder.

She didn't want to know at all.

They underestimated the dangers within the cultivation world.

I thought I had done a great job. Although I had gotten involved in a lot of other people's business along the way, I was careful and cautious and always managed to get away unscathed.

Who knew that he would stumble over a few stones and the blunt sword that was always by his side.

The most urgent task is to find out the origin of this stone.

The thought of this gave Zhu Wuyao an even bigger headache.

This Ganxiao City is clearly a deep and complex place. How high can a little grasshopper in the Foundation Establishment stage jump?

Even so, one cannot simply lie down and wait to die.

We still need to find a way to find out where this stone came from.

Zhu Wuyao stayed at the inn for two more days to test the intervals during which he lost consciousness.

This experiment turned out to be quite interesting. She discovered that this thing had no fixed pattern; it depended entirely on when she cleared her mind or frequently used her spiritual energy.

So the way to delay it seems quite simple—be a mortal who is prone to overthinking.

Before the ghostly energy completely erodes his consciousness, he will first become a madman.

How wonderful!

After deriving this logic, Zhu Wuyao almost laughed at himself.

She is generally a positive and optimistic person, but after living for so many years, her way of thinking has long been fixed. It's really hard to believe she's suddenly diagnosed with a mental illness.

Rather than trying to fix his own brain, Zhu Wuyao chose to take a risk and improve his own abilities.

With more security, we can then wade into the murky waters of Ganxiao City.

This place is neither too far nor too close to the Star-Picking Tower, but given Zhu Wuyao's current situation, the journey back to the Star-Picking Tower is fraught with danger.

With this in mind, she found a fast horse.

The secluded place he chose for seclusion was none other than the cave near the mass grave, which had been carved out to refine the Bladeless Sword.

What should have been a half-day journey took her a whole day on horseback.

His mind was also quite active. Zhu Wuyao cursed heaven and earth and Ganxiao City, devised the plot for the next chapter of the story, and also thought about Ye Xiaozhou's behavior for a long time along the way.

Seeing the cave that had been opened up a few days ago, Zhu Wuyao was filled with mixed emotions.

Before I went in last time, I had a year to slowly save myself.

Upon his return, thanks to his own reckless actions, he successfully shortened the deadline to less than two months.

Hide the opening.

Zhu Wuyao sat down cross-legged and couldn't help but ponder: if he lost consciousness due to being possessed by a ghost at a crucial moment in his breakthrough, would he suffer a qi deviation?

It should be noted that she had suppressed her Foundation Establishment Great Perfection for a long time and almost broke through the realm several times.

Therefore, as soon as he entered the Foundation Establishment stage, his cultivation level jumped forward by a large margin.

In addition, I have traveled for a long time and accumulated a lot of experience.

If she hadn't repeatedly shared her spiritual power with the Wufeng Sword, she might have already been able to break through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

But who would have thought——

She herself was reluctant to advance her own rank, but she still wanted to raise the rank of the Sword of No Edge, and this is how the Sword of No Edge repaid her.

It seems I forgot to curse something along the way; I was so focused on complaining about everything that I forgot to curse it.

Although he knew it was useless, Zhu Wuyao still threw the Wufeng sword far away in order to gain some psychological comfort.

She didn't want to risk advancing her cultivation level.

However, those "four or five Golden Core stage cultivators" still gave Zhu Wuyao a sense of crisis.

Perhaps it was the intuition of a divination practitioner, or perhaps it was simply a coincidence that he had come to this point along the way, but Zhu Wuyao always felt that he was destined to encounter one of the Golden Core stage cultivators.

This sense of impending storm brought her a strong feeling of urgency.

Putting everything else aside, with increased strength, at least the escape speed will be faster.

Zhu Wuyao had already sensed the erosion of her mind by the ghostly energy; her thinking ability seemed somewhat sluggish and no longer as sharp as before.

She should have realized the connection between the ghostly aura surrounding her and the bladeless sword much sooner.

While she was still relatively lucid, she thought of many things.

Including improving strength, being wary of Gan Xiaocheng, trusting Ye Xiaozhou, revisiting the mass grave... she didn't know whether many things were right or wrong.

Rather than a conclusion reached through careful consideration, it was more like taking things for granted and acting on intuition.

She slowly closed her eyes and fell into darkness.

Through her inner vision, she saw the familiar dantian and the calligraphy brush that, as always, hung above it.

Zhu Wuyao suddenly felt a little lost.

What was I thinking? Why did I choose to go into seclusion at this critical juncture?