Saint Emperor Devourer of Heaven

Once Mu Yunxi's injuries had stabilized somewhat, Jun Wuxie withdrew his hand.

He endured the intense pain in his body and glanced around the stone hall, noticing what seemed to be an inner chamber nearby.

Now, it was certain that the stone hall posed no danger, truly a temporary safe haven for them.

He walked to the center of the stone hall, took out two beast hides from his storage ring, folded them and laid them on the ground, thick, soft, and very warm.

"Focus on healing. Once you've recovered, I'll use the Bone-Growing Flower and Flesh Spirit Mushroom to help you regenerate your right arm."

He carried Mu Yunxi to the beast hides, then sat down cross-legged beside her. Vital essence flowed through his limbs, a vast life force overflowing from his body, rising like a green, shimmering mist.

Mu Yunxi looked at him, her red lips trembling slightly, hesitant, as if she wanted to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

At that moment, Jun Wuxie's nose twitched slightly. He seemed to detect a faint fragrance.

"What's that smell?"

He opened his eyes and turned to look at the inner chamber. The fragrant scent seemed to emanate from within.

The scent was very subtle; it could easily be missed without careful attention.

He couldn't help but rise and walk towards the inner chamber.

Upon entering, he saw a pool, about a meter in diameter…

No, it was more like a well!

The fragrant scent came from within the well.

Outside, only a faint scent could be detected, but within the inner chamber, the fragrance was exceptionally rich.

Clearly, there was a force within the inner chamber preventing the fragrance from escaping.

The ancient well was quite unique. The wellhead was carved with exquisite patterns. Upon closer inspection, they resembled elves dancing gracefully in the drawings.

"There's actually an ancient well here…"

He approached the well and looked down, his pupils suddenly contracting slightly, then bursting with brilliant light, joy appearing on his face.

The ancient well was filled with a milky white liquid. The color wasn't particularly intense, but it contained pure life force and exceptionally pure energy.

"What is this?"

He activated his Primordial True Eyes and saw that the liquid in the well wasn't a single rare elixir, but a fusion of two liquids.

One of them… resembled the Spring of Life?

"Is it really the Spring of Life?"

Jun Wuxie was somewhat surprised. How could there be a Spring of Life here?

Generally, the Spring of Life only existed in places with exceptionally rich vitality, yet this place was located within ruins.

He began to examine the carvings around the wellhead, hoping to find the origin of the ancient well.

He looked at each carving, one by one.

The carvings seemed to record a special race, depicting scenes of their sacrifices, their coming-of-age transformations, and their worship of the ancient well.

"Could it be… the legendary Elven race?"

He searched his mind for information about the Elven race from obscure historical records.

He had previously seen records of the Elven race in unknown unofficial histories.

The Elven race was also known as the Spirit race, a race that particularly loved peace, naturally close to nature, and cultivated the Dao of Nature.

It was said that each member of the Elven race subsisted on honey and dew. The place where they lived had particularly rich vitality, and that vitality came from the Elven Spring inherited within the race.

The Elven Spring, also known as the Spring of Life, was a pure spring water.

"So, the Elven race really exists in the world, but they seem to have been destroyed in a certain era. This should be one of their ancestral lands. This ancient well should be the Elven Spring. It's a pity that the Elven Spring has a problem…"

Jun Wuxie was almost certain of the origin of the ancient well. This ruin was once the territory of the Elven race.

He didn't know what kind of changes had occurred in a certain era, leading to the destruction of the Elven race's land. What about those Elven people of that year? Could they all have perished?

"The spiritual liquid in the well should be a fusion of Earth Core Spiritual Milk and the Spring of Life…"

He took some out and carefully studied it, drawing such a conclusion.

"Unfortunately, even if the Spring of Life inside is stripped out, its purity can only reach about 80 to 90 percent, which cannot meet the requirements for saving Uncle Bird…"

He could feel the rich vitality coming from the Spring of Life inside, as well as a pure earth spiritual energy coming from the Earth Core Spiritual Milk. One could be used to heal injuries and restore physical strength, and the other could be used to restore true energy or break through realms.

Unable to use it to save Uncle Bird, he felt slightly disappointed, but he quickly let it go, replaced by excitement.

Whether it was Earth Core Spiritual Milk or the Spring of Life with a purity close to 90 percent, those were all semi-sacred level resources, hard to come by. There was such a huge amount here!

"Yunxi, come quickly!"

He took a deep breath, restrained his excitement, and called out to Mu Yunxi in the outer hall.

Mu Yunxi dragged her injured body to the inner hall. Seeing Jun Wuxie in front of an ancient well, she immediately stepped forward to take a look and was stunned.

"This is?"

"Spiritual Milk formed by the fusion of Earth Core Spiritual Milk and the Spring of Life with a purity close to 90 percent!"

"What?"

Mu Yunxi couldn't believe it. Two kinds of heaven and earth treasures, either of which was a rare find in the world, actually had so much mixed together to form Spiritual Milk here!

An ancient well with a diameter of one meter, half the well was filled with it. How many kilograms would that be?

"Come!"

Jun Wuxie picked her up and jumped directly into the well.

Mu Yunxi exclaimed, "What are you doing? You're going to get all this spiritual liquid dirty. What a waste!"

She couldn't help but feel annoyed. This was a semi-sacred level resource, and he was actually dragging her to take a bath in it!

"What dirty or not dirty? This kind of emulsion has many uses, such as taking it orally, refining it, refining pills, and so on. Unless it's taken orally, how can it be dirty?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he groaned comfortably.

The vigorous life energy entered his body, causing his injured body to recover at an alarming rate.

Mu Yunxi was the same. The wound on her back healed in an instant, without even leaving the slightest scar.

"The effect of this spiritual milk is too strong. Our hope of leaving alive has increased again!"

Jun Wuxie's excitement was evident.

These spiritual liquids were not only for daily recovery and cultivation for him, but most importantly, its powerful recovery ability would allow him to have stronger endurance in the process of fighting against the doppelganger.

Of course, the premise was that the doppelganger would not replicate this resource, otherwise it would still be in vain.

But he felt that this possibility was relatively low.

After all, the doppelganger was particularly afraid of the stone hall and dared not cross the line.

Then, the doppelganger would probably not replicate the things in the hall, that stone tablet.

"Do you want to leave that much?"

Mu Yunxi looked at him with some complexity, her heart both contradictory and tangled.

"We must leave. We can't hide here as deserters, and neither can you." Jun Wuxie stared at her complicated eyes and said, "You have a lot on your mind. I really want to know, what are you afraid of? Can you tell me?"

"I'm not running away, and I'm not afraid. I just feel sorry for the sect and the path of cultivation I've been adhering to all these years…"

Mu Yunxi said softly.

Seeing that she refused to say, Jun Wuxie didn't ask any further. He took a deep look at her, then closed his eyes and focused on healing.

The ancient well quieted down, with only the even breathing of the two.

In this situation, Mu Yunxi couldn't help but think of the scene when they were trapped in the medicine furnace.

They were so similar to what they were now. In a narrow space, they were also immersed in liquid, their bodies almost touching each other.

His breath, his heartbeat, the temperature of his body were all so clear, passing to her body, passing to her heart, causing the lake in her heart, which she had managed to calm down, to stir up ripples again.

She just looked at him like this, quietly looking at him, her complex eyes with a hint of sadness.

She didn't know how long it had been when she suddenly said quietly, "Do you think the moral constraints of the world are important to us cultivators?"

Jun Wuxie was stunned. He was still closing his eyes and thought for a while and said, "Whether it's important or not, there doesn't seem to be a clear definition. If it's for the general environment, it's certainly important, and there should be a general standard line. But for individuals, it can't be measured by importance."

"Isn't cultivation about breaking all kinds of rules and pursuing the true self? Living in the world, cultivating one's heart, understanding the true self, and acting according to one's heart, being worthy of the truest heart, and daring to face the truest self, is the real cultivation, at least that's what I think."

"The true heart, the truest self…" Mu Yunxi's eyes lit up slightly, then dimmed again, and said, "But the human heart has many emotions. If you want to satisfy them all, is there a way to have both?"

"Life may face choices at many times. Temporary gains and losses are not eternal gains and losses. If you can only choose one when choosing, then you must choose what you want most in your heart, but does choosing mean giving up the others? I don't think so. It's just that you can't ask for more at the same time. Things have to be done one by one, and problems have to be solved one by one, right?"

"Some things, you may think at the time that they may be what you don't want to see in your heart, but in fact you are not sure whether it is or not. You are just worried, just afraid. Just like the moon in the night sky, when clouds cover it, you may think it is a waning moon, but after clearing the clouds, what you see may be a full moon?"

Mu Yunxi thought about what he said, and after a while, she said angrily, "Sophistry!"

“Facing the truest self, acting in accordance with one's heart, that is the essence of cultivation, not some twisted heresy.” Jun Wuxie opened his eyes and looked at her earnestly, saying, “Seeing mountains not as mountains, seeing water not as water, that's just people's minds being too complex, thinking too much, self-restraint, self-confusion. In fact, sometimes the truth is very simple, the great Dao is simple, why should we focus on those winding paths in the middle? Isn't it better to directly see the essence? Going around and around only increases trouble, and in the end, the essence and the truth are right there, never changing.”

“Then according to you, those vicious and evil people who bring disaster to the world, are they also following their own hearts, are they also correct?”

Jun Wuxie shook his head and said, “What I'm talking about is how to walk your own path in cultivation. Those people you're talking about, doing what they do can strengthen their Dao hearts, there's no doubt about that, but it doesn't mean their behavior is right, because they build their own happiness on the suffering of the common people.”

“People's thoughts are different. People with a bottom line, even if they act in accordance with their hearts, will always act above that bottom line. Those without a bottom line, no matter how much you oppose or condemn them, you can't change their inner thoughts. The constraints of rules usually only apply to the mortal world. What rules exist in the cultivation world? Everyone believes in the law of the jungle, except that there are always some people who stick to their bottom line.”

Mu Yunxi was silent.

After a long time, she finally said, “Years ago, when I went out to train, I heard a story about a love triangle. A woman and a man fell in love, but soon after, the man met a young girl, and the girl fell in love with him, but he didn't know that the girl was the woman's daughter.”

“Later, the girl found out about the relationship between the person she loved and her mother, and she fell into entanglement and pain. Regarding such a matter that violates ethics and morality, what do you think the girl should do? If the man knew the truth, what should he do?”

The muscles on Jun Wuxie's face twitched slightly.

He couldn't help but look at Mu Yunxi with a strange expression.

“Answer me, what do you think they should do? What do you think about this matter?”

Mu Yunxi lowered her head slightly, her tone as light as a cloud.

At this moment, Jun Wuxie's mind was buzzing.

He was shocked, astonished, and incredulous…

All kinds of emotions surged into his heart.

At this moment, he seemed to understand Mu Yunxi's knot, understood why she wanted to escape.

Mu Yunxi is the Holy Maiden of Bingyun Tower. She had hardly ever walked in the world before, and had always been “snowed” within the sect. Did she really go out to train a few years ago?

Even if she did come out to train, she must have only come into contact with relatively upper-level people or events in the cultivation world. How could she have heard such a story?

“Mother and daughter serving one husband, there have been many such things in history.”

He said shamelessly.

Mu Yunxi's face flushed red, and she looked at him with some shame and anger, saying, “Why are you so bad!”

“Well, it still depends on what the girl herself thinks. In the end, this kind of thing is still between the three of them. As long as all three are willing, what's the problem?”

“But, don't you need to care about other people's opinions? What will the world think at that time? What will others say?”

“People live according to their own will, not according to the will of others. Why bother with what others think?”

“Then you don't want fame or reputation?”

“Isn't it enough to be happy? Before, didn't some people form an alliance to punish me, saying that I was of sinful blood? Did you see me care? If you really find it annoying, just kill those who jump out. In the end, strength is still paramount. If you are strong enough, you can kill until the world is silent!”

“But…”

“But what, you weren't the one who carried her for ten months to give birth to her, but just a drop of her blood nurtured in the Bingyun Flower. There is only a blood relationship, but no actual birth.”

“You…” Mu Yunxi's face suddenly turned red enough to drip blood, and she said with shame and anger, “You…you you you… So you already knew about my relationship with the Tower Master! You bastard, you're too bad, you…”

Jun Wuxie's old face flushed red, and he said, “I really didn't know. If you hadn't told that story just now, I wouldn't have thought about it in that way…”

“Jun Wuxie, here, I can disregard everything, but once we leave here, we will no longer have any contact, nor any relationship!”

“Okay, you decide.”

Jun Wuxie smiled wryly. He was not as indifferent as he seemed on the surface, not so calm.

Xuelan probably doesn't know about his relationship with Mu Yunxi. If she knew, I wonder what her reaction would be.

What a karmic entanglement.

…