As the third highest-grade spirit stone crystal came into her hand, Li Nanzhu took a deep breath, simultaneously guiding two streams of spiritual energy into the stone pillar.
This time, she deliberately slowed her pace, allowing the spiritual energy from the crystals to fuse perfectly with her own.
Wonderfully, these crystals seemed to sense her state, maintaining an output of spiritual energy at the most optimal intensity.
When the final rune lit up, the entire stone hall suddenly fell silent.
The array patterns on the nine stone pillars began to flow like living creatures, weaving into a brilliant golden net of light in the void. The floor of the stone hall began to vibrate rhythmically, and a soft green light seeped from the cracks, restabilizing the crumbling dome above.
"The array has been repaired..." the old man murmured to himself, his wrinkled hands trembling involuntarily. "I have lived for two hundred years, yet this is the first time I have ever seen someone reverse-engineer and repair an ancient array..."
Zhao Wuya and the other rogue cultivators instinctively stepped back, their eyes filled with a newfound sense of awe as they looked at Li Nanzhu.
They exchanged glances, but no one dared to speak aloud. Who could be an ordinary cultivator if they could produce three highest-grade spirit stone crystals right under the nose of the Sword Heart Sect?
Even if she was only at the Qi Condensation stage, being able to achieve this and travel with the young sect master of the Water Moon Sect made her someone they had to be wary of, even without those crystals.
Li Nanzhu slid to the ground, exhausted and gasping for air, while Suisui watched her with concern from the side.
Her arms were covered in tiny beads of blood, marks where her skin had ruptured under the surge of spiritual energy. However, upon internal inspection, her meridians were not only intact but had become wider and more resilient from the ordeal.
"Little Junior Sister!" Duan Xianxing rushed over with reddened eyes to support her. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"
Li Nanzhu gave a weak smile and raised a trembling hand to wipe away her cold sweat. "Didn't... didn't I make it? No one else was more suited for this than me, and I certainly didn't want to die here." Feeling the spiritual energy slowly flowing through her body, she added softly, "Besides... it was worth it."
Zhu Yinxi was unusually serious, pursing his lips. "Don't be so reckless next time, Little Junior Sister."
Li Nanzhu didn't answer, simply closing her eyes gently.
She could feel that after this extreme spellcasting, her three spiritual roots seemed to have undergone a subtle change. The barrier between her water and fire spiritual roots had thinned, and her wood spiritual root had grown more robust.
In the distance, the members of the Sword Heart Sect watched the scene in a daze. The sword in Le Changxi's hand hit the ground with a clang. He had never imagined someone could forcibly harmonize clashing spiritual energies in such a manner and actually succeed—and even more absurdly, use that method to repair the array!
Li Nanzhu let out a long breath and opened her eyes again, looking at Duan Xianxing with a hint of pity. "It's just a shame about Seventh Senior Brother's three highest-grade spirit stone crystals. He's going to be a pauper again."
"It's not a shame," Duan Xianxing's eyes were still slightly red. "They were put to their best use. As long as you're alright, that's all that matters."
Seeing that everyone's attention was not on the three of them, Liu Qingyang winked and mouthed a message: 'We each have three more, there's plenty left. We'll redistribute them once we're out.'
As soon as Liu Qingyang finished his silent message, Duan Xianxing couldn't help but burst into a soft laugh, and the tense atmosphere lightened significantly.
Li Nanzhu also couldn't help but curl her lips into a smile, though she immediately winced as the movement pulled at her injuries.
Seeing this, Suisui's skeletal claw gently patted her shoulder. The skeleton then began to circle around Li Nanzhu, pointing at her storage bag. Understanding the gesture, Li Nanzhu reached into the bag and took out a pill. As soon as she swallowed it, the discomfort throughout her body eased considerably.
"Are you at ease now?" Li Nanzhu smiled and patted Suisui's skull. "I really owe you one this time, Suisui."
The fire in Suisui's eye sockets flickered, seemingly very happy.
Just then, the bronze platform fully ascended, revealing nine deep entrances. Each entrance emitted similar spiritual energy fluctuations, with none standing out as special.
"This..." Duan Xianxing scratched his head. "Why isn't there even a single hint?"
Zhu Yinxi tapped his jade flute lightly against the ground, sensing carefully. "The spiritual energy fluctuations from all nine entrances are almost identical. It seems repairing the array has hidden the path to life instead."
Liu Qingyang stroked his chin in thought. "Then this has actually become more complicated. How are we supposed to determine which road is the correct one?"
Li Nanzhu frowned slightly, her gaze scanning back and forth between the nine entrances.
In the original story, after Cang Dongqing and the others forcibly broke the array, only one obvious path remained. But now that the array was fully repaired, all nine entrances were perfectly intact. This completely diverged from the original plot, meaning the information from the book was now useless.
"Little Junior Sister?" Duan Xianxing called out softly, seeing her lost in thought.
Li Nanzhu snapped back to reality and shook her head slightly, indicating she was fine. In this situation, she could no longer jump to conclusions easily.
"Go this way!" Cang Dongqing suddenly pointed to the third passage on the right, her hand over her heart. Her intuition told her to choose that path.
Confidence flickered in her eyes. "My intuition is never wrong."
Watching Cang Dongqing's confident display, Li Nanzhu recalled that the heroine indeed relied on her intuition to escape many crises in the Forest of Demonic Beasts. But now that the array had changed and the plot had been altered, would that intuition still be correct?
"Oh?" She lightly stroked Suisui's skull. "Then back in the stone hall, why didn't your intuition tell you that forcibly breaking the array would cause a cave-in?"
Cang Dongqing's face instantly flushed crimson. "You!"
"Junior Sister's intuition did help us avoid the demonic beast riot," Le Changxi immediately interjected to defend her.
"Then that truly is remarkable," Li Nanzhu said unhurriedly. "Then please, after you."
Infuriated by her attitude, Cang Dongqing snapped, "What do you mean by that?"
"I don't mean anything," Li Nanzhu replied calmly. "I just find it interesting that someone who couldn't even repair an array is now so confident in finding the way?"
This comment struck a nerve. Cang Dongqing's face turned even redder. "I..."
Interrupted by Li Nanzhu, Cang Dongqing herself began to feel uncertain. Although her intuition urged her toward that path, she felt as if something wasn't quite right.
There was another path that also vaguely attracted her, yet a voice deep inside kept saying to choose this one and ignore the other. This was why she didn't directly argue back; even she wasn't entirely sure of her choice anymore.
"Enough," Qu Chen suddenly spoke up, his deep gaze turning toward Li Nanzhu. "Does Fellow Daoist Li have any insights?"
Li Nanzhu's lips curled into a half-smile. "Fellow Daoist Qu, you flatter me." Her voice was soft but every word was sharp. "I am merely a rogue cultivator with no power or influence. How could I dare speak of insights before the esteemed disciples of the Sword Heart Sect?"
Qu Chen's brow twitched imperceptibly.
Li Nanzhu was outwardly humble but inwardly mocking him for his earlier defense of Cang Dongqing, showing that he would support her even when he knew she was wrong just to preserve the sect's face.
"Fellow Daoist Li is joking," Qu Chen's voice dropped an octave. "How could someone who stepped forward at a critical moment to repair an ancient array as its array eye be an ordinary rogue cultivator?"
"Oh, I wouldn't dare take credit," Li Nanzhu feigned surprise, covering her mouth. "Didn't someone just say I was only at the Qi Condensation stage?" Her eyes swept over Cang Dongqing's livid face. "My memory isn't great, but I do recall some people couldn't even understand the array patterns, yet they trust their intuition implicitly."
Liu Qingyang suddenly coughed, his fingers hidden in his sleeve showing a 'five'—the number of stone pillars the Sword Heart Sect had destroyed earlier.
Duan Xianxing caught on immediately and chimed in with feigned innocence, "Speaking of which, if someone hadn't recklessly tried to break the array, we wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble..."
"That's enough!" Cang Dongqing stomped her foot. "Fourth Senior Brother, let's go!" She gritted her teeth, ignoring her inner doubts, and dragged Le Changxi toward the passage she had initially chosen.
As they passed Li Nanzhu's group, Le Changxi suddenly spoke. "Fellow Daoist Li..."
Li Nanzhu looked up at him.
"Thank you." His tone was complex, yet he still shielded Cang Dongqing behind him.
Cang Dongqing tugged at his sleeve in disbelief. "Fourth Senior Brother!"
Le Changxi did not respond to her dissatisfaction; he only gave Li Nanzhu a deep look before being pulled away again.
Qu Chen stood his ground, looking at Li Nanzhu with a complicated expression. "Since Fellow Daoist Li is unwilling to speak plainly, I will not force you." He paused, reached into his storage bag, and tossed something to her.
Li Nanzhu caught it. It was a peace charm, only the size of a thumb and made of translucent white jade. Its surface was carved with fine cloud patterns, and it felt warm and soothing in her palm.
"This is?"
"Spirit jade from the bottom of the cold pool in the Sword Heart Sect," Qu Chen's voice remained low. "Wearing it will nourish your meridians. It is especially suitable for..." He paused. "Regulating one's breath after spiritual energy exhaustion."
Liu Qingyang took the peace charm and inspected it carefully before nodding. "It's genuine."
Li Nanzhu raised an eyebrow. This was indeed what she needed most. Though her meridians were fine after the forced harmonization, her internal spiritual energy was in disarray and needed slow regulation.
It was quite unexpected that Qu Chen would give her such a thing.
"Fellow Daoist Qu is quite observant," she said pointedly.
Qu Chen turned toward the passage. "Consider it... thanks for saving everyone."
With that, he turned and left. Lin Shuang, who was at the back of the group, smiled and nodded at Li Nanzhu, who returned the gesture.
Once the Sword Heart Sect members were gone, Duan Xianxing leaned in and whispered, "What's his deal?"
"It means..." Li Nanzhu watched Qu Chen's retreating back. "He isn't actually as foolish as he seems."
Meanwhile, the nearby rogue cultivators began to gather in small groups to deliberate.
Zhao Wuya wiped the sweat from his forehead and whispered to the old man, "Old brother, which way are we going?"
The old man squinted his cloudy eyes, carefully examining the nine entrances. "I see that second passage on the left... I can faintly smell the fragrance of medicinal herbs..."
"Medicinal herbs?" Zhao Wuya took a deep sniff. "How come I don't smell anything?"
"What do you know?" The old man snorted disdainfully. "I've been gathering herbs for sixty years. This nose of mine..." He suddenly stopped, looking hesitantly at Li Nanzhu's group nearby, before lowering his voice further. "Anyway, choosing this path definitely won't be wrong."
Other rogue cultivators immediately crowded around. "Boss Zhao, take us with you!"
However, one cultivator looked at Li Nanzhu and her companions with hesitation. "Should we... follow them or the Sword Heart Sect?"
"Forget it," a female cultivator shook her head. "We shouldn't get involved with those big sect disciples. If danger strikes, we'll probably be the first ones used as shields."
This conversation reached Li Nanzhu's ears clearly.
Her lips curled upward. She thought to herself that these rogue cultivators certainly had a poor opinion of big sect disciples—though, in a way, they weren't wrong.
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