Yu Ying wasn't a very patient person. After waiting a few moments and seeing that no one emerged, she turned and retraced her steps.
As for the Cliff of Contemplation—those in the know understood. They called it a cave, but it was really just a randomly dug hollow with no door, fully exposed to the elements.
Earlier, Yu Ying had noticed a long-faced young man in a nearby cave, someone who bore a slight resemblance to Senior Brother Chang Jianhong.
Isn't this be fate?
Without hesitation, she approached the entrance of the other cave and greeted him warmly.
"Good morning, Senior Brother. Have you eaten yet? Do you need a token?"
The young man wore a lake-blue robe that shimmered subtly, and a top-quality Qiankun bag hung from his waistband. Yu Ying nodded—definitely a fat sheep's bag. Her strategy of being polite first, then "extorting" a little money, seemed perfectly reasonable.
Chang Jianhai came from a modest cultivation family in the Cloud Mist Realm and was an inner disciple of the Heavenly Artifact Peak.
He possessed Class B aptitude with three spiritual roots. Were it not for Uncle Chang's managerial position at Tianqi Peak, he likely would have been assigned to the outer sect.
From a young age, his elders had warned him with the example of Chang Jianhong's grandfather, who had been demoted to a mortal world for being unworthy, urging him never to slack off for even a moment.
After entering the Yaoguang Sect, his uncle would often use Chang Jianhong's cultivation level, so similar to his own, to provoke him. Chang Jianhai particularly disliked that persistent cousin.
Hearing that Chang Jianhong had been pushed to the brink of collapse and had cried over the Red Cloud Goose, Chang Jianhai was so delighted that he jumped up in the weapon-refining room—and accidentally collided with a disciple he didn't get along with.
As expected, relying on the unpredictable tendencies inherited from the Chang family, Chang Jianhai ended up in a fight with the other disciple. The fire in the weapon-refining room spiraled out of control, destroying a high-grade spiritual weapon forged by a senior uncle. Both of them were punished by the Law Pavilion and sent to the Cliff of Repentance for six months.
Only a month had passed, and Chang Jianhai's spiritual energy was already stretched thin.
Once he ran out of elixirs and spirit stones, he would probably lose the newly acquired sixth-level Qi Refining cultivation, which was causing him considerable stress.
Seeing someone enter his cave without greeting him and barely listening to what Yu Ying was saying, he snapped impatiently
"Roll!".
"Okay!" Yu Ying agreed immediately. Adaptability was the key to the art of staged accidents.
She expertly chose a relatively clear spot, lay down, and with a thud, rolled out, screaming all the way
"Aaaaah! Senior Brother, can't you just talk things out? Why are you attacking me?!"
Chang Jianhai looked up in disbelief. Wait… was this junior sister seriously ill?
He stood up, anger flaring. "You!"
"I know you want my token!" Yu Ying shouted, cutting him off.
"Just admit it! We're from the same sect, i never said I wouldn't give it to you! But after humiliating me like this, I'd rather toss it off the cliff than hand it over!"
Immediately, heads began popping out from the ninety-eighth floor.
Not only that, several spiritual senses quickly awakened from the caves on the floors above and below.
In a place like the Cliff of Contemplation, where torment was the only constant, any sign of liveliness drew attention—and no one wanted to miss it.
Chang Jianhai, his face dark with anger, stepped toward Yu Ying, exuding menace.
"Shut up! When did I ever say I wanted your token?"
"You dare swear you don't want it?" Yu Ying shouted even more enthusiastically as she noticed eyes peeking out from nearby caves.
Chang Jianhai's anger boiled. Of course he wanted the token!
After all, an extra hour of cultivation could reduce the risk of his cultivation level dropping.
But he had only said "get lost," and Yu Ying had never made her point clear. When had he ever attacked her?
Yu Ying raised her chin defiantly. "Isn't a verbal attack still an attack? How many people in history have actually died from words?"
She got up 'delicately' from the ground, her expression brimming with defiance.
"You want it, but I won't give it to you!"
After that, she clasped her hands in a fist salute toward the heads peeking out from both sides of the roundabout.
"Dear senior brothers and sisters, I know I can't keep the token, so I'm putting it up for auction today. We must never let the sect develop a habit of bullying others!"
"Of course, I'm not the type to greedily covet rare treasures or spirit stones. All you need to do is contribute something to make my cave more comfortable!"
Everyone who heard her believed it.
In truth, everyone was watching closely to see what the newcomer, Yu Ying, would do.
Aside from her, the lowest cultivation level among the ninety-eighth floor disciples was at least fourth-level Qi Refining. If they wished, they could easily snatch the token while she wasn't paying attention.
Even if she had decorated her cave like a fairyland, there wouldn't be the energy or mindset to enjoy it here.
So she asked them to trade seemingly useless items for tokens… This junior sister was clearly sharp-minded and indifferent to fame or wealth.
Everyone admired her greatly and quickly seized the opportunity to participate.
"I'll provide a large rosewood bed and a dining table and chairs set!"
"I'll offer a bamboo couch for calming the mind, along with a set of tea utensils and a low table!"
"I'll provide a comfortable, warm chaise lounge where you can sleep soundly, a dining table and chairs, a crystal curtain, and a box of storybooks!"
Yu Ying's eyes sparkled in surprise. She suppressed a smile and raised her voice
"A chaise lounge, dining table and chairs, crystal curtains, and a storybook—any other senior brothers or sisters wishing to bid?"
"All right, the chaise lounge… twice! Three times! Deal!"
After saying that, Yu Ying abandoned the young man who had been making her so angry she looked like a pufferfish and strode straight toward the tall senior sister who had made the offer.
Girls really do understand girls!
She couldn't wait to hand the token into the senior sister's hands and happily entered the cave she had chosen, clutching the Qiankun bag that had been given to her.
Ah, she wants to earn a retirement pension! Sigh, Yu Ying wasn't foolish.
Asking for spirit stones or rare treasures in the Cliff of Contemplation was risky,.what if someone reported her and they were confiscated? She'd be completely helpless.
She wanted her retirement pension, to buy things that would make her more comfortable while lying down.
Bartering had now become the new norm.
The chaise lounge, adorned with jade and exuding a gentle fragrance, was a low-grade spiritual artifact.
The crystal curtain, jingling as if singing, was also a low-grade spiritual artifact.
Not to mention the melodramatic stories—of little value to others, yet priceless to Yu Ying, something even spirit stones couldn't buy.
As for the token… the moment she entered the archway on the ninety-eighth floor, she immediately felt the pressure and activated a spiritual energy shield to resist it.
In a short while, the shield began to waver.
Yu Ying remained composed. After six months of training under Yu Ling and Chen Ji, her cultivation level might not have been the highest, but her mastery of magic was exceptional.
Strangely, when Yu Ying first began cultivating, she relied on the conditioned reflexes left by her original body, and her control over spiritual energy felt awkward and unfamiliar.
Yet at some point, she discovered that when she channeled spiritual energy, the flow of her cultivation technique became as smooth as the supernatural abilities she had used in her previous life.
For instance, at this very moment, a single breath allowed her to raise three additional layers of spiritual energy shields, squeezing every last drop of energy from her body.
Pushing a little further could activate a supernatural ability, releasing a ball of white light that made the dim, simple cave feel warm and inviting.
Her dantian throbbed from being squeezed, but the previous swelling, the sensation as if it were about to burst had completely vanished.
Yu Ying leaned back comfortably on the chaise lounge, then took out two sets of spirit food and two jugs of plum wine, placing them neatly on the table.
Perfect timing for lunch, hehe~
The guard at Cliff of Repentance held the Qiankun Mirror, clicking his tongue as he watched Yu Ying feast inside.
His senior colleague, on duty with him, frowned and hissed, "What are you doing? Shouldn't you be focusing on your duty?!"
"Senior brother, look at this girl. She's quite interesting. She came to the Cliff of Contemplation to eat and drink, and she's even more skilled with her spiritual energy shield than someone at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining," the guard said, holding the Qiankun Mirror up for his senior brother to see.
"Since it wasn't the Law Pavilion that punished her, shouldn't Gu Qing, in charge of the outer sect at Tiandao Peak, be cultivating righteousness? I've never seen him so harsh with his disciples before."
"Maybe she was sent here to temper her mind and help her break through," the guard said calmly.
As a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the Great Perfection stage, he had noticed as soon as Yu Ying arrived that her spiritual energy was unstable, surging and abundant yet there were no signs of a breakthrough.
He concluded that her mental state was holding her back.
For this reason, he didn't let Yu Ying proceed to the ninety-ninth floor, where she was supposed to go, because the pressure there wouldn't have been enough to temper her mind.
The guard nodded in understanding. "No wonder. This girl never wanted the token in the first place—she was deliberately trying to trick the Heavenly Weapon Peak disciple. Funny, but naïve…"
At present, the Cliff of Repentance only radiated a sense of oppression, but it wouldn't stay that simple for long. Otherwise, why would the sect bother creating protective tokens?
After finishing her double lunch, Yu Ying felt utterly full. She raised several layers of spiritual energy shields, then leaned back comfortably on the chaise lounge. She dimmed the cave by putting away her light-elemental spiritual energy and prepared for her afternoon nap.
She also regretted not asking Fengshanlou to add some fruit for dessert.
Previously, Yu Ying had mastered the technique of "capturing the void." If there had been fruit, she could have stayed lying down and commanded her spiritual energy to feed it into her mouth—utterly satisfying!
She made a mental note to improve this next time and closed her eyes contentedly.
But before sleep could claim her, the oppressive aura that had been consuming her spiritual energy shield vanished for a moment, only to return much weaker—about one-third of its original strength.
This unexpected change immediately shattered Yu Ying's drowsiness.
Curious, she rose and walked to the cave entrance to look out. Just as Chen Ji had said, the simulation of the evil-suppressing formation was now in a damaged state.
On the cylindrical open space of Siguo Cliff, surrounded by countless caves, a massive Bagua diagram appeared. Its mottled, hazy surface stood upright and rotated slowly.
Countless streams of spiritual energy shot from the surrounding caves, striking the array and gradually illuminating the dim formation.
This must be the work that cultivators assigned to the mortal world were supposed to perform.
Yu Ying seemed deep in thought but didn't act immediately. With so many people channeling spiritual energy into the array, her contribution wasn't urgent. It wouldn't hurt to start after her afternoon nap.
She yawned, then turned and walked back unsteadily.
Chang Jianhai had just been mocked by the rival who had accompanied him as punishment, and his anger was so intense he felt like he might vomit blood. He kept his spiritual sense trained on Yu Ying, waiting for a chance to take revenge.
Seeing her leisurely demeanor, he guessed her thoughts and a cold smile curved his lips.
Ha… Does this brat really think everyone on the Cliff of Contemplation is a fool, and that she alone is clever?
The magic circle may be fake, but the evil energy it suppressed was very real. She would get her turn to suffer soon enough!
The other disciples guarding the entrance were also watching Yu Ying carefully through the Qiankun Mirror, planning to teach her a lesson while waiting for the right moment to rescue her.
After countless streams of spiritual energy and power lit up the Bagua diagram, the dim light within it thickened into a dense black orb, which darted rapidly through the formation.
In the blink of an eye, the black light found an opening, broke free from the array, and shot straight toward Yu Ying's cave.
Just as she lay down, Yu Ying keenly sensed something rushing at her. Before she could react, a thick, malevolent black mist enveloped her.
The guard, observing through the Qiankun Mirror, exclaimed, "No wonder Gu Qing values her; her composure is truly remarkable."
It was indeed impressive that she remained calm even while surrounded by hostile energy.
In reality, anyone who had spent over a decade facing zombies, walking the fine line between life and death every day, wouldn't panic at a sudden crisis.
Whether confronting zombies or mutated beasts, they were always acutely sensitive to sound and smell.
This didn't mean Yu Ying wasn't startled. She reflexively unleashed her supernatural power, and her palms glowed with energy orbs.
She froze for a moment, then realized—damn it, first-order light energy was completely useless!
Before she could adjust her spell, the black mist surged as if injected with adrenaline, shattering the multiple layers of spiritual energy shields she had set up in an instant. It drilled into her palms alongside the white light.
"Hiss…" Yu Ying gritted her teeth in pain, veins on both wrists bulging and darkening to a purplish-black.
She was intimately familiar with this sensation.
When she reached the third level of her superpowers, Yu Ying experienced an extreme cold disaster all on her own.
At that time, her special ability couldn't generate heat, and she had nothing to keep herself warm, she nearly froze to death.
Before succumbing completely, she swallowed a fifth-tier zombie crystal core she had picked up by chance. The pain that coursed through her body was the same as when she had felt like she was about to burst.
She didn't long for immortality, but she certainly didn't want to die now.
Her will to survive sharpened her unusually fierce and ruthless nature. Yu Ying activated the crystal core in her spiritual sea, drawing the evil energy into it.
She wasn't acting recklessly, she immediately recognized that the evil energy was similar to the demonic essence of the Red Cloud Goose.
If the demonic essence was like a low-tier crystal core, then this evil energy was like a high-tier zombie crystal core sprinkled with wasabi: dangerous, but still absorbable.
"Then… take it away," she thought. She hadn't even experienced the thrill of being the Monkey King yet!
As soon as she activated the crystal core, the rampaging evil energy that had been tearing through her body and damaging her meridians surged into her spiritual sea, finally finding a home along her meridians.
Ying gritted her teeth and focused inward. Where there had once been only a void crystal core, irregularly shaped transparent crystals began to form rapidly.
As she absorbed the evil energy, the crystals gradually stabilized and solidified into a proper shape.
With a faint pop, the transparent crystal core emitted a soft white light, like a lighthouse guiding through turbulent waves, slowly illuminating her misty spiritual sea.
Her supernatural power had broken through to the second level.