Chen Jinshu listened in silence, the stillness of the room only broken by the soft, rhythmic hiss of the clay teapot. It was only a few short sentences, yet she could already feel the crushing despair and the utter helplessness that lived behind them. Her chest tightened, a heavy weight of silent understanding settling deep in her heart as she looked at the broken woman before her.
"Later, I barely managed to escape back to the southern region, but my foundation was completely ruined," Zhou Wanning said softly, her voice thin and brittle. "The violent backlash from the Blood Escape secret art shattered my Dao base. There was no hope of ever advancing even a single step further after that.
The poison injuries lingered for a hundred years, festering. I exhausted my family's entire wealth just to suppress them, but they had already damaged my origin and cut deep into my remaining lifespan…"
She suddenly lifted her head, and a near manic obsession burned in her cloudy eyes, a fire that had not been quenched by time.
"I hate him. I hate that I can not eat his flesh and sleep on his skin. But I know I can't kill him. With this broken, crumbling body, I would be crushed to death the moment I even got close to his residence. And I couldn't drag my already declining clan down into the abyss with me."
Her voice weakened as she spoke, filled with a hollow, crushing helplessness.
"So I came back. Dragging this ruined, pathetic shell of a body, I returned to the very place where the nightmare began. With the little formation knowledge I had left, I rented this small stone house at the very edge of the waste slag ground, right under his nose where he would never think to look for me.
I scraped by, taking every small job I could find, earning enough spirit stones to survive. It wasn't to extend my life, but to maintain that isolation formation you see there. So I could watch him.
I wanted to watch him. Watch him repeat the same cruel tricks. Watch him lure young women who were just like I once was—full of hope, ignorant, and far too trusting.
Every time a strange female cultivator entered that 'Cold Dwelling Room' of his, my heart felt like it was being carved out with a rusted blade. I knew another one was going to suffer the same fate I did. But I couldn't rush in and save them."
Her voice caught in her throat. Something powerful surged in her eyes, a mix of old rage and new grief, but she forced it down into the depths of her soul.
"Chen Daoyou, you know it. I didn't have that ability. All I could do was try everything I could to warn them before they ever went in through that door.
I pretended to run into them by chance on the street, and I hinted indirectly about Lin Xiao's reputation. I deliberately talked loudly outside his door about how 'dangerous' the waste slag ground was, mentioning the female cultivators who had gone missing in the area.
But how many women in this world, blinded by his sweet words and those so called 'opportunities' he offered, would listen to the ramblings of a crazy, disfigured old woman like me?"
She let out a bitter, hollow laugh, as if she had long ago stopped expecting perfect endings to the stories she witnessed. By then, her emotions had calmed somewhat, and she continued speaking more steadily, her breathing evening out.
"Some listened, got scared, and hurried off with whatever excuses they could find. They escaped disaster. But more of them looked at me like I was a madwoman jealous of their 'opportunity,' a vicious old hag trying to stir up trouble. They still walked through that door."
She shook her head slightly, her face full of a deep, biting self-mockery.
"Last month there was a young girl at peak Foundation Establishment. She had a water spirit root. She came from a small, struggling sect in the eastern region, saying she wanted to buy Clear Heart Jade Dew Pills to save her dying Master.
That beast Lin Xiao tricked her inside with a fragmentary ancient pill formula he had gotten from who knows where.
I stopped her. I even grabbed her arm at the alley entrance and told her Lin Xiao wasn't a good person. She shook my hand off, said I was meddling in her business, and looked at me with nothing but wariness and disgust. After she went in, she never came out again."
Zhou Wanning's hunched body trembled violently as she spoke. The sudden surge of emotion shattered the fragile calm she had barely managed to maintain. She broke into a harsh, rattling cough, and the hand holding the jade box shook so badly she could barely keep her hold of it.
Chen Jinshu's dark eyes shimmered with moisture, reddening at the edges. Without any hesitation, she reached out and firmly supported Zhou Wanning's trembling arm. She allowed a stream of pure, gentle wood-aligned spiritual energy to flow into the woman's body to calm her churning qi and the heat in her blood.
Only after a long while did the coughing finally subside. Her breathing grew weaker, and her face became as ashen as the dust on the floor. She looked down at the green jade box holding the Life Creation Pills, then up at Chen Jinshu, whose eyes were red like a rabbit's, and she spoke softly, her voice a whisper meant to comfort her.
"Chen Daoyou, you are different. You are strong enough, and you are clear-headed enough to see the truth. You believed me and avoided that beast's trap. You even brought Elder Liu to finally drive him away.
My two hundred years of clinging to life, and my two hundred years of torment—it was all worth it.
Thank you, Chen Daoyou. Thank you for removing this scourge, and for giving me such precious pills…"
A sour ache surged in Chen Jinshu's heart as she listened. To carry that heavy hatred for centuries, to endure that kind of mental torment day after day in this desolate corner—how had the woman lived through all those long years?
"Zhou Daoyou, you weren't useless," she said quietly, her voice thick. "Your warning saved me, and it may have saved many others who would have come here in the future. Lin Xiao escaped with his life for now, but the Heavenly Dao's cycle is never wrong. His Dao heart is flawed. After committing such evil, he will face his retribution sooner or later."
"Please accept these two Life Creation Pills and focus all your strength on recovering."
She paused for a moment, her gaze sweeping over the dusty piles of formation manuals scattered around the room.
"Your attainment in the formation arts is profound. If you need any spirit materials or any assistance, as long as it's within Jinshu's ability, I won't refuse you."
Zhou Wanning heard this and struggled to pull a relieved smile through her tear-streaked face.
"With these pills, it's enough, Chen Daoyou. I am content."
She let out a long, long breath, as if she were finally releasing two hundred years of crushing weight from her shoulders.
"I have guarded this polluted place for far too long. I have seen enough of it. Now that Lin Xiao is gone, my wish is finally fulfilled."
She raised her eyes and looked out the small window at the gray, murky sky, as if she were making an important decision deep in her heart.
"It's time for me to leave. I will find a truly quiet place far from here. Maybe I can use these last few years to organize what little insight I have gained in the formation arts, so it won't be completely buried in the filth."
Chen Jinshu nodded silently in the dim light. She understood the need for a new beginning.
Leaving this place of pain, seeking a measure of peace in the final stretch of her life, and organizing what she had learned—for Zhou Wanning now, it was a good choice.
"Take care," Chen Jinshu said solemnly, cupping her hands in a deep gesture of respect.
…
A short while later, back at Meiyun Residence.
When Chen Jinshu returned to her quiet courtyard, the lingering gloom of the waste slag grounds followed her back.
As she pushed open the heavy gate, the Yinshan Sparrow had already turned into a streak of blue-red light and shot toward the old plum tree in the corner. It hopped among the sparse, dark shadows of the branches, letting out its crisp clang-clang cries as it joyfully returned to its nest.
But her mind was still full of Zhou Wanning's past suffering, as vivid as if she had lived through it herself. Her heart ached with the weight of it.
"I need to do something to calm myself."
She sighed softly, her breath a white mist in the air. She formed a hand seal, and her figure blurred like rippling water in a pond. In the next instant, she was already standing inside her spiritual planting space.
She looked around the vibrant area, and a hint of satisfaction rose in her heart. The sharp tension between her brows finally eased into a faint smile.
Spirit fields crisscrossed the space, most of them already covered with spiritual plants of various ages and exceptionally fine quality.
Soul Calming Flowers stretched their pale gold stamens toward the light, releasing a faint glow that nourished the Primordial Soul. The Purple Pattern He Shou Wu vines were thick and knotted, with dark violet markings faintly visible beneath the waxy leaves.
The rarer Jade Marrow Ganoderma looked like it had been carved from fine mutton fat jade, quietly emitting a gentle, steady glow.
Farther off in the distance, there were even a few precious third-tier spirit wood saplings, their branches fresh and green, straining upward toward the ceiling with vitality.
In one corner of the space lay a reserved patch of dark land, about half a mu in size.
The rich soil had just been turned over, giving off the heavy, earthy, and slightly metallic scent of fresh dirt. She had prepared it specifically to plant the spiritual herbs she would soon obtain from Medicine King Valley.
She crouched down on the soft ground and carefully placed the small Qingming Grass seeds into the furrows, one by one.
After finishing the sowing, she turned her palm upward, drew in the dense, swirling spiritual energy of the space, gathered it at her fingertips, and transformed it into cool drops of vibrant green dew full of life, evenly sprinkling them over the freshly planted soil.