Chapter 51: Fire Fusion Cave – Direct Purple Sand

Being assigned to sweep Qianling Peak in the middle of the night gave her a fleeting sense of déjà vu, as if she had returned to the days five years ago when she swept the Three Thousand Immortal Steps. This time, however, Guan Shize was trailing behind her.

After some negotiation, Guan Shize spent five hundred spirit stones to buy her broom and take it back for practice.

He and Lian Mu arrived at Qianling Peak together. The peak already had few people, and at night, it was even more eerie—completely shrouded in darkness.

Guan Shize stuck close to Lian Mu, his fingers trembling slightly.

Lian Mu noticed. “Are you afraid of the dark?”

“No, I just… feel a little cold,” Guan Shize stubbornly denied. “Let’s hurry up and go.”

Qianling Peak was indeed scarier at night than other peaks. The mountain was full of strange pine trees that, when viewed in the darkness, resembled eerie human figures.

Guan Shize wasn’t afraid of the dark; he was afraid of being in silent, empty places.

Lian Mu held his hand and led him forward. He was clinging so closely that she was forced to shiver along with him, all while feeling the chill against her neck.

A pair of green eyes shifted in the darkness—Lvdou was perched on her shoulder, its glossy black shell pressed tightly against her nape.

When she had returned to Qingzhu Courtyard to put away her things, the creature had insisted on following her, refusing to be shaken off. Normally, when idle, it would either run off to play or curl up beside the fluorite to sleep. But tonight, perhaps it had smelled the scent of magical beast materials and had clung to her persistently.

Lian Mu certainly didn’t feed it magical beast materials every day. Though it was just a palm-sized scorpion, it could gnaw through an entire magical beast’s leg bone in one go. If she fed it daily, she’d be bankrupt in no time.

Because she often neglected to feed it, the starving black scorpion had to catch bugs to eat. It clacked its pincers the entire way, protesting in vain, while Lian Mu ignored it completely.

As they walked, Guan Shize observed the scorpion’s aggressive stance with curiosity. “Where did you find this thing? It looks… ugly.”

And rather fierce, too.

“Someone forced it on me,” Lian Mu said. “It insists on following me, and I can’t do anything about it.”

Guan Shize asked, “Is it hungry? It looks really angry. Be careful, or it’ll sting you.”

“It doesn’t sting people,” Lian Mu replied.

This scorpion had been well-trained by Ji Mingyue, or maybe it was just naturally gentle. It had never attacked anyone while with her.

Lian Mu suspected it might be a type of earth beast—just smaller in size and lacking strong magical beast energy. Its aura was so faint that even when touching the protective barrier of the Gui Xian Sect, it triggered no reaction.

“If you care so much about it, why don’t I give it to you to raise?”

Guan Shize immediately refused. “No thanks, I don’t like this kind of thing.”

Since she couldn’t get rid of it, Lian Mu had no choice but to carry it along. When they reached their designated spot, several senior brothers were already waiting.

The leader among them was someone Lian Mu recognized at a glance. He also recognized her.

“You…” Xu Wangxuan turned around, surprised. “You passed the sect’s re-entry test?”

He was the same senior brother who had supervised their oath-taking beneath the Spirit Tower after the initial entrance exam. Judging by his attire, he was an Artifact Refiner.

“Yeah.” Lian Mu smiled. “Senior Brother, why didn’t you go to Yuqing Mountain?”

“I was away from Qianling Peak for a while. Their trip to Yuqing Mountain has nothing to do with me,” Xu Wangxuan replied while scrutinizing her. “You chose sword cultivation again? How did you defeat the other sword cultivators?”

Lian Mu suddenly fell silent.

It seemed this senior brother remembered her and even knew a few things about her past.

Guan Shize looked puzzled. “What do you mean by ‘again’?”

Xu Wangxuan mused, “If I remember correctly… she had crippled spiritual roots, right?”

“Of course, I got in fair and square. The past is the past, and the present is the present.” Lian Mu swiftly cut him off. “Senior Brother, let’s not talk about this. Where do we need to sweep?”

Xu Wangxuan hesitated for a moment before realization struck. “You’re the one who flew around on a broom at night and got caught by the elders?”

“Why else would I be on Qianling Peak?” Lian Mu grinned.

Xu Wangxuan: “…”

Twice she had entered the sect, yet she still couldn’t shake her troublemaking tendencies.

“Fine,” Xu Wangxuan said. “Start by cleaning up the area around the Giant Spirit Tree.”

Hearing this familiar name, Lian Mu looked up and saw the massive tree nearby, glowing faintly blue in the dark.

So, it wasn’t just the Three Thousand Immortal Steps—Qianling Peak also had a Giant Spirit Tree.

After giving instructions, Xu Wangxuan left. Lian Mu and Guan Shize rounded a corner and entered the tree’s shaded area. As expected, a thick layer of fallen leaves covered the ground, glowing blue.

Guan Shize stepped on the leaves. “I remember there are two of these at the sect entrance too. Big sects are really something—having such rare spiritual trees.”

Lian Mu immediately picked up on the key point. “Giant Spirit Trees are rare?”

“Yeah. They’re extremely rare natural spiritual entities, different from ordinary spiritual plants. A Giant Spirit Tree is formed from the crystal core of a high-rank spiritual beast after its death. The tree itself is a condensed manifestation of spiritual energy, so it doesn’t absorb energy from the world. Instead, it passively releases it.”

As she listened, Lian Mu continued sweeping. She was quick—after all, she had spent five years sweeping before officially joining the sect. When it came to sweeping skills, no one in the entire sect could surpass her.

“Then, do the fruits of the Giant Spirit Tree have any special effects?”

She had eaten quite a few before coming up the mountain.

“None. The truly valuable part of the tree is its roots. Because its spiritual energy—”

“It’s dense and can nourish many things.”

Ever since Guan Shize entered the sect, he had been learning about the Gui Xian Sect, so he was well-informed in this regard. “The Fire-Melting Cave on Qianling Peak is sustained by the roots of the Giant Spirit Tree, which is why its karmic fire never wanes. It’s said that a Giant Spirit Tree over three hundred years old can foresee danger and summon wandering souls, but that’s just a legend—no guarantee it’s true.”

Lian Mu asked, “What is the Fire-Melting Cave?”

Guan Shize replied, “I heard from an artifact refiner friend that it’s a place where refiners dispose of discarded spiritual artifacts. It’s very close to the Giant Spirit Tree.”

“Oh, I see.”

She had heard Baili Que mention before that Qianling Peak was currently destroying a large number of spiritual artifacts from the Spirit Tower—likely throwing them into the Fire-Melting Cave.

If that was the case, then there might be some leftover scraps near the cave.

For a moment, Lian Mu felt a strong urge to scavenge for treasures, but she was still a thorn in the side of her superiors. If she got caught slacking off instead of sweeping, she would definitely be punished again.

After reconsidering, Lian Mu temporarily gave up on the idea and obediently continued sweeping.

The area wasn’t large, so she and Guan Shize split it in two and worked separately.

Being an expert sweeper, Lian Mu finished in less than fifteen minutes. She gathered the crystal-blue leaves into a basket and left them under the tree to be collected later. The leaves of the Giant Spirit Tree had specific uses and wouldn’t be discarded directly, though she didn’t know exactly what they were used for. If she had known, she would have plucked the two Giant Spirit Trees in front of the Three Thousand Immortal Steps bald long ago.

Guan Shize hadn’t finished yet, so Lian Mu sat down under the tree to rest.

The moment she sat down, she suddenly felt like something was missing. She reached toward her neck—Green Bean was gone.

Lian Mu: “…”

That little thing always got lively at the worst possible times.

Qianling Peak was surrounded by a barrier, which was only temporarily opened at certain times for specific purposes. If Green Bean didn’t leave with her, it would be stuck inside.

A scorpion-like creature resembling an Earth Beast, roaming around a peak full of artifact refiners, was extremely dangerous. If caught, it would surely be dissected.

Lian Mu immediately got up and retraced her steps, searching the areas she had cleaned earlier. Not finding it, she directly used spiritual power to establish a link.

Green Bean had only been partially refined into a puppet by Ji Mingyue, so it still had its own consciousness. However, Ji Mingyue had taught her how to create a spiritual connection with it, allowing her to locate it at any time.

Soon enough, she sensed its location and followed the spiritual energy’s guidance.

Pushing through some trees, she saw Green Bean crouched on a crimson rock. A few people were nearby, one of whom was Xu Wangxuan, who had just left earlier.

“It’s all dumped in. Finally done.”

The refiners didn’t notice Green Bean on the rock or Lian Mu hiding in the shadows.

“What a pity—so many fine spiritual artifacts, some even crafted by masters… We just returned to the sect and ran into something like this.”

“This is the Peak Master’s decision. Just follow orders. Let’s go.”

Xu Wangxuan led the refiners toward the Spirit Tower. From their conversation, Lian Mu deduced that this must be the Fire-Melting Cave.

As she approached, a wave of intense heat washed over her, a stark contrast to the snowstorm-ridden Cold Arrival Peak.

Lian Mu sensed something was off. The moment Xu Wangxuan and the others left, she rushed forward to grab Green Bean.

Green Bean also noticed her. However, it completely ignored the spiritual connection, waved its pincers, and turned to crawl toward the well-like cave entrance.

Then, it leaped.

Lian Mu’s fingertips barely brushed its black shell before she watched, helplessly, as it jumped into the Fire-Melting Cave.

A burst of scorching flames erupted, burning her fingers. Just then, someone grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.

“Junior Sister, what are you doing?!” Xu Wangxuan had returned upon hearing footsteps. “This place is dangerous!”

Lian Mu blinked. The left side of her hand was already burned. She quickly hid it behind her back. “Senior Brother, my… thing fell in.”

Xu Wangxuan glanced at the Fire-Melting Cave and frowned. “Why did you come here for no reason? Anything that falls into the Fire-Melting Cave is gone forever. Hurry back—this place isn’t somewhere you should be.”

The refiners immediately sealed the cave entrance, suppressing the flames that were about to flare up again.

The moment the entrance was sealed, Lian Mu distinctly felt her spiritual connection with Green Bean break.

She fell silent, exasperated and speechless.

Was that really necessary?

Just a few days without feeding it magical beast materials, and it decided to jump into the fire to kill itself?

And it specifically chose this place—committing suicide right in front of her.

No wonder it had insisted on following her today. It was trying to use death to force her hand.

Unfortunately, she had already grown immune to such tactics in her past life.

Brushing the dust off her clothes, Lian Mu said, “It wasn’t anything important, really. If it’s gone, it’s gone. Sorry for the trouble, Senior Brother.”

Xu Wangxuan said sternly, “If there’s nothing else, leave quickly. You’re just the same as before—reckless, even after entering the sect twice. Remember, don’t come near the Fire-Melting Cave again.”

“Understood, Senior Brother.”