The spiritual plants were restored, resolving the crisis, and the recluse rose to triumph, his reputation echoing throughout the halls.

Moonlight cast distorted, crooked shadows upon the bluestone pavement as Shen Yi turned into a dark alley, his footsteps following the scaly claw prints left behind by a sugar-sculpture rabbit.

The jagged stones inside the Qiankun pouch at his waist vibrated with increasing intensity, aching his molars. "The resonance of the Blood Pool boundary marker..." He flicked his finger against the eyes of the Spirit-Devouring Vine curled at his cuff. The vine instantly straightened, pointing southwest like an arrow—aligning perfectly with the astral position warned of by Elder Lingfeng.

The clamor of the marketplace was blocked off behind a barrier.

As Shen Yi stepped into the grove of withered trees, a sticky, viscous sensation pressed against the soles of his boots. He looked down to see the fallen leaves oozing scaly patterns resembling syrup, shimmering with a ghostly, purplish light in the moonlight. "System, scan." He gritted his teeth, muttering the command. A bright red warning exploded in his sea of consciousness: [Mutated Lichen: Paralytic toxins infiltrating.]

The Spirit-Devouring Vine suddenly erupted, its barbed tendrils shredding the rotting leaves within a three-zhang radius. As Shen Yi vaulted into the air, he caught a glimpse of countless white skeletal claws protruding from the cracks in the ground—these were no withered branches, but the remains of cultivators consumed by the lichen!

"Get lost!" He swung his hoe, infused with spiritual energy, cleaving through the lunging bone claws. Dark red liquid splashed onto his lapel, hissing like a living creature.

Shen Yi rolled behind a boulder, the Spirit-Devouring Vine instantly weaving itself into a cage of thorns around him. Cold sweat slid down his throat into his collar. He stared at the [Spiritual Energy: 58% remaining] notification on his system panel and sneered, "That swindler Xuanyue left three traps off the map he sold me."

The blood-pool stone in his pocket suddenly grew scorching hot. Shen Yi squinted at the back of the boulder; the mottled moss was reorganizing in time with the stone's vibrations—it was the array pattern of an ancient battlefield! He slammed the stone into the array’s core, and a scarlet fissure instantly cracked open in the earth.

Amidst the boiling blood mist, a pitch-black, nine-petaled flower burst from the soil, each petal curled around an infant-shaped spirit.

[Heaven-tier spirit plant 'Reincarnation Infant Lotus' detected. Host's spiritual energy insufficient for collection.]

The system’s cold prompt and the shrill shriek of the Spirit-Devouring Vine sounded simultaneously. Shen Yi threw himself backward just as a foul-smelling, clawed limb grazed his nose—a scaly beast two men tall emerged from the blood mist, its spine infested with purple fungal hyphae sharing the same origin as the lichen.

"Knew it wouldn't be this cheap..." He spat out a mouthful of blood-flecked foam. The Spirit-Devouring Vine split into nine strands, binding the beast's joints. He swung his hoe, wrapped in his last three Explosive Flame Talismans, toward the beast’s eyes, only to be blocked by a wall of fungal hyphae that sprouted instantly.

The blast wave tore away Shen Yi’s hair tie. He retreated rapidly, using the rubble as cover, the taste of copper rising in his throat. The beast’s roar shook down withered branches. Shen Yi leaned against a fragment of the boundary marker, gasping for air. His spiritual energy had dropped below 30%, and the little finger of his left hand was corroded down to the bone by the hyphae.

Worse still, the petals of the Reincarnation Infant Lotus began to close—once the plant sank completely into the blood pool, it would be at least thirty years before it could be found again.

"Gao Yao..." He fingered the lingering warmth of the golden tassel on his sword hilt, the sound of chains from the Immortal Sect’s interrogation hall echoing in his ears. Elder Lingfeng’s hawk-like gaze made his temples throb; that old man was desperate to pin him with the charge of colluding with evil cultivators to steal spirit plants.

If he didn't retrieve enough of the Reincarnation Infant Lotus tonight...

The Spirit-Devouring Vine suddenly plunged into his wrist with savage intent, forcibly injecting spiritual energy that turned his vision black. As Shen Yi stumbled to his feet, he saw the scaly beast tear through the last layer of fungal armor, its blood-drenched maw inches away.

"All or nothing!" He snapped off half the vine and shoved it into his mouth, swallowing it whole along with a system-produced Spirit-Recovery Pill. Amidst the sudden, agonizing explosion in his sea of consciousness, the weary sigh of the Blood Pool boundary marker and the lullaby Gao Yao used to hum overlapped in a bizarre, haunting dissonance.

Shen Yi’s pupils glowed with an eerie golden light; his hoe ignited with ghostly blue flames as he cleaved at the beast’s skull. The creature howled, dissolving into a pool of blood, but the recoil sent Shen Yi flying into the boundary marker.

The crisp sound of breaking ribs pierced his ears, accompanied by the system alarm: [Forced overdraft triggered spiritual energy backlash! Please meditate to recover immediately!]

Only two petals of the Reincarnation Infant Lotus remained floating on the surface of the blood pool. Shen Yi wiped the blood obscuring his vision, his trembling fingers hovering over his healing potion. If he meditated now, the plant would sink; if he pushed on, he would likely collapse from blood loss before reaching the stem.

The communication jade in his pocket suddenly grew hot, projecting a phantom image of Gao Yao restrained by chains—a precursor to the Immortal Sect’s Soul-Detention Art!

A low growl, like that of a trapped beast, rumbled in Shen Yi’s throat. Sensing its master's turmoil, the Spirit-Devouring Vine dove frantically into the blood pool to seize the plant. Amidst the hissing of the pool water corroding the vine, he caught a fleeting memory of the day he entered the Immortal Sect, and the flushed tips of Gao Yao’s ears as she tied the sword tassel onto his hoe handle.

"You said you'd grow a field of flowers more beautiful than the Jade Pool..." Her fingertips had brushed over the calluses on his palms. "I'll be waiting."

The blood pool suddenly surged with a massive wave, and the last petals began to sink. Shen Yi stood up, swaying as he leaned on his hoe; his broken ribs pierced his flesh, staining his moon-white robes like blooming red plum blossoms. The system panel flickered frantically before his eyes, a web of red [Fatal Warning] alerts intertwining with the ghostly light of the Infant Lotus.

Five zhang, three zhang, one zhang...

The remnant hyphae of the scaly beast suddenly coiled around his ankles, and Shen Yi crashed onto the edge of the blood pool. His fingertips were half an inch from the nearest petal, but the boiling blood was already beginning to swallow the boundary marker. Watching the lotus close at the bottom of the pool, he suddenly remembered the tune the old sugar-sculpture artist hummed while boiling syrup: "...Nine deaths to find the gate of life, plant flowers in blood and never look back."

All the eyes on the Spirit-Devouring Vine burst simultaneously, turning into blood-red arrows that pierced the fungal restraints.

Shen Yi bared his blood-stained teeth in agony, pressing his crimson-slicked palm onto the last intact array pattern on the pool’s edge—

The pattern erupted in blinding golden light. The moment the blood from his palm seeped into the runes, the entire ancient battlefield array roared like a primordial beast awakening. The remains of the Spirit-Devouring Vine and the filth of the blood pool evaporated into mist under the golden glow. Taking advantage of the recoil, Shen Yi lunged, his fingertips barely hooking onto the closing petals of the Infant Lotus.

"Collect!"

Shen Yi roared, tearing off the last two petals. The system notification sounded ethereal amidst his ringing ears: [Heaven-tier spirit plant successfully collected, reward 'Nine-Turn Rejuvenation Art'...] He had no time to check the rewards; he grabbed his potion bottle and swallowed three Spirit-Recovery Pills whole, crushing the celadon bottle until it spider-webbed with cracks.

The scaly beast’s remnant hyphae were still twisting madly. Shen Yi stumbled through the foul-smelling blood, and the jade in his waist suddenly carried Gao Yao’s tearful cry: "A-Yi! The Soul-Reflecting Mirror at the interrogation hall..."

He wiped the blood from his eyes, the remaining roots of the Spirit-Devouring Vine automatically winding around his wrist like a tourniquet. "Be good, count to thirty."

He crushed a teleportation talisman, his figure turning into a streak of light toward the marketplace barrier.

At the hour of the Tiger, the spirit plant market still held flickering lamps. Xuanyue was leaning against the counter, clicking his abacus, while Iron Bull wiped a blood-stained mace. Suddenly, the crisp sound of shattering glass erupted at the barrier entrance. The blood-drenched youth fell like a meteor, the ghostly light of the Infant Lotus in his arms causing ripples on the bluestone path.

"This is impossible!"

Xuanyue overturned his cinnabar inkstone, the black ink staining the ledger in hideous streaks. Iron Bull raised his mace to advance, but was pinned to a pillar by a severed branch of the Spirit-Devouring Vine thrown from Shen Yi’s sleeve—the charred vine still carried the distinct smell of sulfur from the blood pool.

Shen Yi slammed the Infant Lotus onto the counter, cracks spreading along the rosewood grain. "Boss Xu, care to verify the goods?"

His blood-stained hand pressed down on a page of the ledger, the very page that had been marked half a month ago as "Blood Pool Forbidden Zone, no spirit plants."

The shadow-reflecting lamps hanging from the market eaves suddenly blazed bright. The Immortal Sect’s custom-made authentication array triggered automatically, and golden authentication runes floated on the surface of the Infant Lotus. The crowd surged in from all directions like a tide; someone shouted "The Reincarnation Infant Lotus has appeared," and the entire street erupted.

Listening to the rising tide of bids, Shen Yi leaned against the counter, sprinkling powder onto his wounds. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Yun He leaping down from the pavilion, clutching a projection stone.

"Fellow Daoist Shen, could you..."

Yun He was interrupted by a flower petal thrown his way. Shen Yi flexed his aching wrist and raised an eyebrow. "Trouble the Immortal Envoy to convey this to Elder Lingfeng—tell him thanks for his guidance with the astral map."

The petals of the Infant Lotus projected an image of the ancient battlefield array within the authentication circle, perfectly clearing Shen Yi of the theft that had occurred three days prior by a two-hour margin.

The sound of clashing chains came from the east end of the market. Gao Yao knocked through the crowd, her skirt hem stained with blood. Her jade hairpin was crooked, and the bruises from the spirit-locking shackles were still visible on her wrists, yet the moment she saw Shen Yi, she broke into a tearful smile. "You said you'd grow flowers more beautiful than the Jade Pool..."

Her sob melted into the wind as she pressed against him; her breath against his neck brushed over his scabbing wounds, tickling him until his throat moved.

"Didn't I save the seeds?"

He produced a pearly-white lotus seed from behind his ear as if by magic, the blood still on his fingertips leaving red plum prints on Gao Yao’s moon-white dress. The onlookers let out good-natured laughter. Iron Bull struggled to say something, but was trussed up like a dumpling by the market steward using a Spirit-Binding Rope.

When the Infant Lotus was finally sold for three thousand high-grade spirit stones, the morning sun was just climbing over the eaves. Shen Yi tossed the bulging Qiankun pouch and turned away, the sound of Xuanyue’s wailing perfectly overlapping with the steward reading the penalty decree: "...Permanent revocation of spirit plant business license!"

He whistled, kicking aside the abacus beads blocking his path, and flicked one of the rolling beads into a beggar’s clay bowl.

"Drinks at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion tonight, my treat."

Shen Yi walked toward the apothecary with his arm around Gao Yao. By the roadside, the old sugar-sculpture artist gave his syrup ladle a sharp tap. The crystal-clear syrup wound into strange patterns on the bluestone, bearing a seventy-percent resemblance to the array patterns from the blood pool the night before.

In the distance, the earth trembled slightly, and several treasure-seeking rats squeaked as they burrowed toward the mass grave on the outskirts of the city.

Yun He put away his finished record, watching Shen Yi’s retreating figure with a thoughtful expression. The communication compass in his pocket suddenly grew hot, displaying rare words of praise from Elder Lingfeng, while in the northeastern sky, ancient runes faintly flickered between the clouds—looking remarkably like the sign of an ancient cultivator’s cave dwelling appearing in the world.