A Guide to Self-Rescue in the Cultivation World - Chapter 3

Zhou Suyao quickly glanced around, her fingers swiftly performing a hand seal. A soundless “Evil Spirit Repel” spell was cast, instantly concealing her living aura—this was a life-saving technique her Eldest Senior Brother had hastily crammed into her mind, allowing the ghost army to temporarily ignore her.

She turned back only to find that the other three were all wearing almost-transparent, thin silk robes that were hard to spot unless you looked closely.

“What is this?” Suyao curiously poked the thin robe on Mingluo.

“It’s an ‘Yin Armor’ woven from Yin Worm silk,” Qi Jie glanced at her, his voice carrying a hint of barely concealed scrutiny. “It not only conceals our presence but also defends against ghost soldier attacks. The Yin Realm is a mandatory trial scenario; didn’t your Master prepare one for you?”

“Haha, nope,” Suyao replied with a forced, cheerful grin. “I’m a self-reliant kid from a poor sect. I don’t even have a storage pouch—where would I stash precious treasures like this?”

Meanwhile, her mind was frantically ranting: That stingy old man! He won’t even give me life-saving gear! If I don’t fleece you for ten or eight boxes of Osmanthus cake after this exam, I’m changing my name!

Seeing her forced smile and the subtle grinding of her teeth, Qi Jie sighed almost imperceptibly. He moved his finger slightly, and an extremely subtle protective spell quietly landed on her body.

Suyao suddenly felt a warm current envelope her. She looked up and met Mingluo’s concerned gaze, instantly understood, and hugged Mingluo’s arm gratefully. “You’re the best, Sis! I knew you cared about me the most. Let’s hurry! If we waste any more time, those old fossils outside are going to flunk us!”

Outside the Examination Hall

At the same time, outside the examination grounds, Eldest Senior Brother Zhou Shanyuan’s wrist pulsed with sudden heat. He looked down to find that the mother bead on his usually warm string of pearls had turned completely pitch black.

Suyao… how is she in the Underworld?

Zhou Shanyuan was bewildered. Logically, the examination scenarios were merely illusions within the Spirit Stone. Even if the scene depicted the Underworld, the students shouldn’t actually travel there.

The string of pearls he had bound to Suyao’s wrist and the spiritual stone bracelet on his own were interconnected “mother-and-child strings,” sharing and linking spiritual power. When the child string was in the human world, the mother string looked normal. If the child string went outside the human world, the mother string would glow gold or turn black. Gold meant the Celestial Realm, and black, naturally, meant the Underworld.

Could it be that today’s Spirit Stone is so powerful that the illusion it created is capable of confusing a magical artifact that I personally crafted from ancient spirit pearls?.

Deep in the Yin Realm

The Eldest Senior Brother had told her that the Yin Realm trial scenarios basically came down to two choices. In modern parlance, they were “template questions.” As Suyao walked, she recalled the fixed scenarios her Senior Brother had briefed her on a few days prior.

First, go to the three pawn shops of the Ox-Head and Horse-Face officials and look for a ragged old woman. She was likely wronged, and her daughter was unjustly killed. She was beaten to death by the yamen while seeking justice for her daughter. She now wanders here, begging the officials to let her return to the mortal world to ensure the wicked receive their retribution.

If the old woman wasn’t in the pawn shops, they could walk further and follow the ghost soldiers. At the end of the line, they would find a man with a piercing wound across his face. He died defending his country and never got to see his family one last time. His greatest wish was to behead as many enemies as possible, return to the Emperor to claim his reward, and ensure his loved ones lived a good life.

Their task was to use their spiritual arts to help the person they encountered fulfill their deepest wish, allowing their soul to find peace and safely enter the cycle of reincarnation.

It didn’t sound too difficult.

Thinking this, her steps grew noticeably lighter.

But Qi Jie, who was walking at the rear, looked increasingly terrible.

He possessed a naturally Extreme Yang Holy Body, making him acutely sensitive to Yin energy. In past simulated exams, the Yin energy was heavy, but never like this—it was like a maggot in his bone, greedily and furiously sucking away his pure Yang essence. This feeling… it was exactly like being in the actual Underworld.

He tried to circulate his Complete Yang Art to dispel the cold, but the moment the spiritual energy condensed at his fingertips.

“Ugh!”

A mouthful of black, congealed bl00d violently shot out! Qi Jie’s vision went black, and he stumbled. Gritting his teeth, he forced out a strained shout: “Stop! Don’t go any further!”

The three turned back in shock.

Suyao reacted fastest, instantly darting behind him, her palm pressed against his back with unwavering spiritual energy, attempting to force the accumulated Yin coldness out of his body. Qi Shuobei immediately supported his brother, his face grim. “What’s wrong? Your Yang Body…”

“This place… is not right!” Qi Jie wiped the bl00d from his mouth, gently pushing Suyao’s hand away. His voice was weak but held an undeniable certainty. “Miss Zhou… save your strength… this place is dangerous. Don’t waste your spiritual power on me…”

He took a deep breath, forced himself to stand straight, and a look of resolution flashed in his eyes. With a grasp into the void, a pure white flute—its holes trimmed with bamboo green, its tail inlaid with a solid gold Qilin—materialized in his hand.

Suyao’s eyes instantly widened—The Qilin Divine Artifact? The Qi family’s supreme treasure that Second Senior Brother gossiped about! A supreme Yang treasure! A supreme Yang treasure! And the Qi family brought this thing in as “exam stationery”?

She thought of her cheap Master… Forget it, comparing yourself to others is just asking for a heart attack.

Before she could finish her internal rant, a sudden, chillingly sharp flute melody, piercing to the soul, erupted!

“Woo—!”

Suyao and Mingluo were caught off guard, their eardrums ringing painfully, and they instinctively covered their ears. By the time they barely adapted to the maddening sound, they looked up, and the bl00d in their veins practically froze—

Before them, packed shoulder-to-shoulder! Countless ferocious-looking Vengeful Spirits, shrouded in a thick, ink-black aura, were right in their faces, clawing wildly! A thin, golden barrier was their only defense! Those sharp, black talons were less than an inch from Suyao’s eyeball!

“Holy crap!!” Suyao’s scalp crawled, and she let out an involuntary scream.

“The Qilin Flute… it can reveal illusions.” Qi Jie’s voice was tight with suppressed gasps. “We… we were surrounded long ago!”

“Wha-what do we do?!” Mingluo’s voice was shaking uncontrollably.

No one answered. Despair, like an icy tide, instantly drowned the four of them.

Screeeech!

A Vengeful Spirit’s sharp claw raked viciously across the barrier! A faint but terrifying sound of splintering echoed, and a hideous crack appeared in the shield!

Yin energy poured in through the rift like a venomous snake! Qi Jie groaned, as if an invisible giant hand was squeezing his throat. His face turned paper-white, and the malign Yin energy quickly made him feel an uncontrollable malice rising within his heart.

“We can’t wait!” Suyao’s voice trembled. “If the barrier shatters, we’re all done for!”

“Are you saying we should rush out? But it’s full of Vengeful Spirits out there. Rushing out is a dead end, too!” Cold sweat beaded on Qi Shuobei’s forehead.

Crack… crackle… crackle-crack—

In the next moment, the sound of breaking was no longer singular, but a continuous noise like ice shattering. Cracks spread across the entire golden barrier like a spiderweb.

Even though they still believed this was only an examination, the fear of death simultaneously gripped all four of them.

However, just as the golden barrier completely shattered and countless Vengeful Spirits shrieked and lunged forward—in the nick of time—

The unassuming string of pearls on Suyao’s wrist suddenly erupted with a searing warmth, and a vast, colossal torrent of spiritual energy exploded forth.

VWOOM—!!!

Like an invisible giant hammer smashing down, the Vengeful Spirits at the front didn’t even have time to scream before they were instantly shaken into dust. The spirits slightly further away were violently flung backward by the terrifying force.

Suyao felt herself instinctively take advantage of this massive, undispelled spiritual energy. Her hands flew into a series of seals, and she crisply shouted:

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust—Gate of Rebirth, Open!”

Outside the Examination Hall (Part 2)

Zhou Shanyuan felt a piercing pain in his wrist! The spiritual stone bracelet, which served as the mother chain, instantly turned black and scorching hot, emitting a pungent, burnt smell!

Clang! Several spiritual stones couldn’t take the strain and directly burst apart.

Zhou Shanyuan stared intently at the shattered bracelet, his face pale, his fingers icy. The spiritual power in the mother chain’s child beads had been instantly drained. What exactly is Suyao experiencing in there?

He closed his eyes, his heart seized by an invisible hand. A feeling of panic, the terror of losing something vital, had never been so clear.

In the Yin Realm (Part 2)

At the same time, in the Underworld, the Gate of Rebirth, bathed in golden light, burst open with a crash.

The Vengeful Spirits that had been flung back, as if drawn by a summons, slowly and stiffly got up, surging toward the gate that symbolized salvation. Even the shattered bone fragments and bloody flesh on the ground writhed and pieced themselves into rough human forms, struggling to crawl toward the golden light.

The leading Vengeful Spirit was just about to step through the Gate of Rebirth.

“STOP!!!”

A high-pitched, venomous shriek, like an ice pick tearing through space, pierced the air.

Behind the four, a woman wreathed in a black-and-crimson miasma ten times thicker and stickier than that of the ordinary Vengeful Spirits, materialized in an instant. Her hair flew wildly, her eyes were bl00d-red, and two trails of bloody tears streamed down her face as she glared fiercely at the Gate of Rebirth.

The Vengeful Spirits surging toward the gate abruptly froze. Like marionettes, they slowly turned around, their bl00d-red eyes focusing collectively on the four students. The towering resentment was a hundred times fiercer than before.

“Oh no!” Suyao’s heart nearly failed. She quickly held her mind steady to maintain the hand seals.

But it was too late!

The nearest Vengeful Spirit, controlled by the woman, shot forward like a streak of black light. Its sharp claw viciously tore through the hasty protective barrier Suyao had thrown up, striking her shoulder with terrifying accuracy.

“Tear—!”

Excruciating pain struck! Suyao’s hand flinched, and her spiritual energy output was abruptly cut off.

BOOM!

The Gate of Rebirth, without spiritual energy to support it, slammed shut! The immense backlash of power hit Suyao’s chest like a heavy hammer!

“Pugh—!” A mouthful of hot heart-bl00d sprayed out.

In the face of death, the survival instinct overpowered everything else. Suyao suppressed the sharp pain and dizziness. As the bl00d mist sprayed, her hands immediately formed another seal. A faint but resilient spiritual barrier instantly expanded, barely managing to enclose the four of them!

Her expression was firm, the seriousness in her eyes commanding respect.

Yet, only she knew that her inner monologue was screaming: Awesome! Zhou Suyao, you are utterly awesome! That reaction time! That will to survive! Are you a genius?!

Looking at the mass of Vengeful Spirits outside the barrier, now controlled by the bl00d-teared female spirit and surging toward them again, Suyao, still sporting a streak of bl00d on her lip, forced out a deadly serious expression and harshly demanded:

“Who are you?! Why are you trying to kill us?!”

“Me…?” The female spirit tilted her head, bloody tears tracing paths down her pale cheeks. Her voice was ghostly and shifting, carrying a kind of innocent cruelty. “I wasn’t… trying to kill you…”

“Then what are you doing right now?!” Qi Shuobei roared angrily.

“A good question…” The female spirit suddenly cackled, the laughter sharp and jarring, the bloody tears flowing faster. “But… I really… wasn’t trying to kill you…”

Her voice suddenly rose, becoming hysterical and filled with endless venom:

“I wasn’t trying to kill you—! But you—!! Why did you try to utterly destroy us—!!!“

As the last word dropped, the black-and-crimson miasma around her exploded, like the gaping maw of a colossal beast eager to devour. It swept up the countless controlled Vengeful Spirits, sending them charging madly toward the four people’s final barrier!

The shadow of despair completely enveloped the quartet!

Suyao stared at the bl00d-teared face, distorted and magnified in the miasma, and only a flat, helpless, and mournful thought remained in her mind:

“Listen, lady! Be reasonable! How did this huge blame—this whole black pot—manage to land squarely on my head?!”