How to Be the Perfect Junior Sister to a Reborn Villain - Chapter 16.1

Chapter 16.1

After coming out of seclusion, Li Xi went straight to see her master. Having inherited a legacy, she had advanced through three entire cultivation stages and was now at the sixth layer of Qi Refining.

Lin Shanlai was deeply gratified. He earnestly reminded her not to grow arrogant or complacent and to keep working hard. Then he sent her to learn spells from Senior Sister Lin Ruo.

Li Xi was practically bursting with enthusiasm for cultivation and happily dashed off to find her senior sister.

She practiced swordsmanship, memorized scriptures, and studied spell techniques, her days were packed and fulfilling.

Meanwhile, Lin Shanlai gathered Elder Gao and Yan Jiuzhi to discuss something far more exciting: how to unearth the treasure.

After the previous Snow Soul Fox attack, all the disciples had been training diligently in the rear courtyard. To keep things quiet, Lin Shanlai sealed off the front yard with a restriction barrier. Ordinary mortal disciples didn’t need to know too much better to keep them out entirely.

The three men stood beneath the osmanthus tree in the courtyard, studying its thick trunk and lush branches.

It did seem a little larger than a normal Osmanthus tree.

Lin Shanlai examined the terrain thoughtfully. This tree has been here for many years. We’ll try not to harm its roots. Let’s start digging beside it. 

They grabbed tools, measured the area carefully, and began to dig with utmost caution.

On the first day, they found nothing but sand, stones, and the tree’s tangled roots.

Yet, if one paid close attention, there was a faint but distinct vitality mingled with spiritual energy drifting up from below.

They had lived here for years how had they never noticed this before?

After dinner, Lin Ruo, Tao Wen, and Li Xi came out to see a giant pit in the courtyard. It was quite the sight.

They’re digging for treasure?! Li Xi’s eyes instantly sparkled.

Master, how do we dig? I want to help too.

She was very interested in treasure hunting.

With three more people pitching in, their progress sped up significantly.

Soon, piles of soil and stones were heaped across half the courtyard.

At last, their efforts paid off, and they uncovered something entangled tightly within the osmanthus roots.

They couldn’t see what it was, but the vitality radiating from it was unmistakable.

Everyone’s eyes lit up.

“Whoa, there really is a treasure! No wonder I always feel extra attuned when I cultivate under this tree,” Li Xi exclaimed, stars shining in her eyes.

Her first-ever successful treasure dig, what a glorious moment!

The others finally understood.

So that’s why she liked to lie on the lounge chair beneath the osmanthus tree to cultivate.

No wonder she felt so comfortable while they had sensed nothing at all.

Lin Shanlai worked gently, peeling the roots away layer by layer.

The others watched closely, eyes gleaming with anticipation, hearts pounding faster and faster.

As the roots loosened, the hidden object gradually came into view  a deep brown lump, slightly larger than an adult’s palm.

Its surface was wrinkled and uneven, shaped vaguely like a fleshy mass.

It wasn’t exactly pretty, but the vitality it emanated was overwhelming.

Elder Gao leaned in for a closer look, then broke into sheer delight. “This… this is a Wood-type Rou Kui Zhi! (Flesh Ganoderma!)”

His wrinkled face seemed to come alive with joy.

Li Xi recalled reading about it. Legend had it that the Flesh Ganoderma could revive the dead and regrow flesh from bone, an incredibly rare treasure.

And this one was of the Wood attribute, making its vitality even richer and more precious.

Lin Shanlai was ecstatic. His Golden Core was damaged, and this was exactly what he needed to restore it.

Elder Gao, whose lifespan was nearing its end, also found it priceless.

Lin Shanlai carefully placed the Ganoderma into a jade box and sealed it with a talisman.

Everyone was grinning from ear to ear.

“So this was why the Snow Soul Fox tried to break in?”

“Must be. It was badly wounded of course, it sensed the vitality of the Flesh Ganoderma.”

“If it had actually gotten in, our whole sect would’ve been doomed.”

Indeed utterly wiped out.

Lin Shanlai and Elder Gao both glanced at Yan Jiuzhi with heartfelt gratitude. If not for his earlier warning, they never would have prepared in time.

Yan Jiuzhi, however, was thinking about something else entirely.

The Flesh Ganoderma might have lured the Snow Soul Fox here but it couldn’t be what caused Second Senior Brother’s past-life transformation into a ghost cultivator.

And with such a potent source of life energy here, they should have sensed it long ago.

How could they only discover it after digging it up?

Let’s keep going,” Yan Jiuzhi said. “There may be more treasures buried deeper.”

He felt that perhaps, soon, he might uncover the truth of his previous life.

Everyone was fired up, digging with boundless energy.

Li Xi even gathered the smaller roots that broke off accidentally they brimmed with life energy, excellent material for alchemy.

Yet as she held them, she sensed something else mixed in not just vitality, but another faint, strange aura.

Whatever it was, she was confident she could purify the life force now that she had reached the sixth layer of Qi Refining.

If she used it to make pills, the results would surely be extraordinary.

They dug deeper and deeper. Li Xi worried the osmanthus tree might topple, but Lin Shanlai assured her he had reinforced it with talisman seals it wouldn’t fall.

After another half day, a black stone the size of a fist emerged, buried among the roots.

The osmanthus roots were coiled tightly around it.

But the stone gave off an unsettling aura an ominous, suffocating chill.

And strangely, despite that dark presence, faint streams of spiritual energy leaked from its cracks.

The group hesitated, uncertain whether to continue.

Yan Jiuzhi recognized it at once this was the true reason Second Senior Brother had turned into a ghost cultivator in his past life.

And also why they had failed to sense the Flesh Ganoderma until now.

“This is a Chaotic Netherstone,” he explained gravely. “It’s extremely beneficial to ghost cultivators. Unlike ordinary Netherstones, it can also suppress spiritual energy and conceal auras.

The osmanthus roots absorbed both vitality and the Chaotic Netherstone’s yin energy. Without digging it out, we’d never have detected anything beneath.”

As he lifted the stone away, a surge of pure, vigorous spiritual energy burst out from below.

Everyone instinctively began circulating their cultivation techniques.

Their pores opened, their bodies relaxed it felt wonderfully refreshing.

Digging a bit deeper, a faint glimmer appeared beneath the soil.

Embedded among the rocks and sand was a ribbon of luminous, snow-white crystal.

Its texture was soft and jelly-like, semi-transparent with a gentle inner glow.

Li Xi, curious as ever, reached out and touched it.

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