Players: All NPCs in the Sect Are Moles

Although Lin Qingfeng had forcibly siphoned off and packed away most of the baleful, bloody resentment, the portion her Senior Brother had deliberately left behind was more than enough to cause an earth-shattering transformation in her body.

Su Ling'er stood up and inspected her body from within.

Within her meridians, one stream was the Spiritual Power she had just refined herself. The other was a torrent of Spiritual Qi that had poured into her out of thin air the moment they walked out of Nabo Garden!

The latter felt like the result of many years of her own arduous cultivation—no, it was even more solid and stable than that. It instantly diluted the unstable feeling brought on by the former.

After all, a realm attained through sheer hard work was already unstable to begin with, let alone one forcibly built by absorbing baleful, bloody resentment. That was like building a tower on sand. How could it compare to the steady, step-by-step progress granted by the Spiritual Qi given directly after the system's settlement?

But as the two forces merged, they still pushed her aura higher and higher, easily shattering the barrier to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment.

However, even as her Spiritual Power surged, it still couldn't break through the formless barrier leading to the Fake Core Realm.

Because of the limitations of her aptitude, even the game-like infusion of Spiritual Qi could not budge this shackle.

That shackle, that innate fetter known as a "Pseudo Spirit Root," did not move an inch.

All her rampaging Spiritual Power was smashed to pieces against this great chasm before settling into tranquility.

Foundation Establishment Great Perfection.

Her Cultivation stopped there.

In the past, Su Ling'er would have been devastated. For an outer disciple with a Pseudo Spirit Root, even reaching Foundation Establishment was a once-in-a-lifetime miracle. To dream of Core Formation? That was pure delusion.

But now, Su Ling'er's heart was completely calm. She knew what she needed.

At a time like this, only by going to that one place might she have a chance to advance her strength even further.

Nevertheless, this was a realm she had never even dared to dream of reaching in the past.

It seemed the Fake Core Realm was only a paper-thin barrier away.

Lin Qingfeng stood before her, his hands clasped behind his back. He could also see that Su Ling'er seemed to be stuck at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection.

'Tsk. She might be... well-endowed in other areas, but this aptitude of hers is truly pitiful.'

'She devoured so many experience packs and is still stuck in the Foundation Establishment Stage.'

'So, what does she need right now?'

'This is when she needs a good hammering at the Artifact Refining Pavilion using the Sword Refining Skill!'

'Sigh. It's a good thing I, her Senior Brother, am so thoughtful!'

"Duckweed without roots cannot float for long."

"Though your Cultivation has greatly advanced today, it is like a castle in the air. It may seem lofty, but it will topple with a single push."

"True gold is refined by fire, and steel is forged a hundred times. Your Dao Foundation, in the end, is still too impure. It must be thoroughly tempered to separate the wheat from the chaff and make its power your own."

"In a moment, you will go to the Artifact Refining Pavilion."

The fear Su Ling'er once had for the Artifact Refining Pavilion was long gone from her eyes.

If this had been when she first joined the sect, just hearing those three words would have made her legs cramp up. That was no place for a person to be. You went in to get smashed by hammers and came out on a stretcher.

But now...

'In this demonic sect, I can't help Senior Brother at all. In this man-eating sect, weakness is the original sin.'

'What am I without Senior Brother's protection?'

'I'm still that useless undercover agent from Qingxu Temple, treated as a disposable pawn, who could only struggle and wait for death when her own master tried to silence her.'

'I'm still that burden who can only hide in a corner and watch Senior Brother bear the darkness alone as he moves forward.'

'I refuse to be so weak that, on some future day when the entire world becomes his enemy, I won't even be qualified to hand him his sword.'

'If the price of getting stronger is having my bones shattered, then so be it.'

'As long as I can reforge an unyielding iron body that can keep up with his pace, I would gladly endure it, even if it meant being thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil.'

"Disciple... obeys!"

Su Ling'er's mind flashed back to the scenes on the battlefield.

'If Senior Brother hadn't protected me with his supreme might and blocked every attack, I would have been turned to ash long ago.'

'If Senior Brother hadn't used the "Wait a Moment" sword as a medium to personally teach me that "Green Lotus Sword" technique, how could I have fought a Nascent Soul expert with my mere Foundation Establishment body?'

Unfortunately...

After Senior Brother took back the "Wait a Moment" sword, the profound feeling of that Sword Technique faded from her mind. No matter how hard she tried to recall it, she couldn't perform it again.

'It's all my fault for being too stupid to grasp its true meaning.'

Just as Su Ling'er was berating herself, Lin Qingfeng's voice sounded again.

"On the day you succeed, I will grant you another great fortune."

Lin Qingfeng's voice echoed in Su Ling'er's heart.

'A great fortune?'

Su Ling'er felt her breath quicken, her heart filled with anticipation for what kind of fortune her Senior Brother would bestow upon her.

"Yes, yes, thank you, Senior Brother! Disciple... I will not fail to live up to your high expectations!"

She was about to express her resolve further, but she found that the figure before her had already vanished.

Only an old bamboo stalk, rustling in the night wind, stood there alone.

"..."

Su Ling'er pouted, helplessly swallowing the rest of her words.

'Senior Brother left just like that?'

'Waaah, does this mean I still can't keep up with Senior Brother's pace?! He moves so fast!'

She sighed. 'Senior Brother is always like this, coming and going without a trace.'

But on second thought, Su Ling'er couldn't help but clench her fists.

'It must be because Senior Brother has such high hopes for me that he's so strict, right?'

'If he wasn't training me to be a future pillar of the sect, why would he go to all this trouble?'

'As long as I can get stronger, as long as I can keep up with Senior Brother, what is there to fear, even if I have to have my bones broken and reset!'

She took a deep breath, turned around, her red dress like a flame, and strode toward the Artifact Refining Pavilion, which radiated a scorching heat in the darkness of the night.

Her retreating figure, however, had the tragic grandeur of a hero marching to their execution, giving off a feeling of "the hero leaves, never to return."

...

「Artifact Refining Pavilion.」

That familiar wave of scorching heat washed over her again, mixed with a pungent smell.

Su Ling'er arrived at the giant anvil that had starred in countless of her nightmares.

Shi Gandang was holding a heavy hammer.

"I just got back recently. Senior Brother already gave the orders, told me all about your situation!"

Behind him, more than a dozen disciples of the Artifact Refining Pavilion stood in a line, each holding various heavy hammers, Magical Artifacts for cultivation, and medicinal cauldrons.

"Don't worry, you're a fellow practitioner of the Sword Refining Skill. This time, we're cranking up the intensity right from the start!"

Shi Gandang casually wiped his hand on the anvil.

Su Ling'er stared at the anvil, her eyelid twitching uncontrollably. Although she had already made up her mind, the brand of past agony still triggered an instinctive physical reaction.

"Then... I'll be in your care, Senior Brother."

Su Ling'er gritted her teeth, walked over on her own, and expertly lay down on the anvil.

KLANG!

Her limbs were locked down by heavy iron shackles. Runes lit up, instantly sealing her movements.

Shi Gandang grinned, but in the flickering light of the forge, his smile looked particularly ferocious.

'Waaah, this is still so terrifying!!!'

"Junior Sister, brace yourself. This time, we're not just smashing your flesh; we're going to rattle your very bones!"

"Senior Brother even gave us a portion of that blood pill to mix into your medicinal herbs. We have to hammer it deep into your bone marrow, or it won't work!"

Before his words had even faded, the giant hammer was already raised high.

WHOOSH—

The wind tore through the air.

THUD!!!

A dull thud exploded within the Artifact Refining Pavilion, immediately followed by Su Ling'er's heart-wrenching scream.

"AHHH—!!!"

The shrill cry pierced through the thick stone walls of the Artifact Refining Pavilion, echoing in the silent night sky.

"AAAAAHHHH—!!!"

This wasn't just physical pain; it was a tremor that shook her very soul.

With that one blow, the baleful, bloody qi was forcibly hammered into her entire body.

"Put some more muscle into it! Junior Sister, circulate your Cultivation Technique! Don't just scream!"

Shi Gandang mentally turned down the volume. 'This Junior Sister sure has a loud voice,' he thought, before roaring again. His arm muscles bulged as he brought the hammer down once more.

"AHH—! I feel like I'm breaking!"

"Breaking is good! Only by breaking can you grow back stronger!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH—!"

Su Ling'er screamed and cried while desperately circulating the Sword Refining Skill and the True Understanding of Ten Thousand Transformations Returning to the Origin, guiding the bloody qi to repair her damaged bones.

Her red dress was long since soaked through with cold sweat, clinging tightly to her body and outlining the curves of her frame as it convulsed in agony.

But no matter how pitifully she screamed, no matter how much her body instinctively tried to escape, she never once begged for mercy or asked them to stop. She just grit her teeth and, amidst the inhuman torture, solidified her foundation bit by bit.

...

「Meanwhile.」

On a small path on the other side of the sect, a group of people were helping each other along, stumbling back one unsteady step at a time.

It was the group of undercover disciples who had just finished another "egg-hatching" mission.

Although every one of them was pale and unsteady on their feet, their eyes shone with an unusual excitement.

'This demonic sect really has something to it,' they thought.

Although Wang grimaced in pain as the movement aggravated an injury on his chest, the smile on his face didn't fade in the slightest.

'A whole month of cultivation might not have had this kind of effect. Today, I only died a few times... oh, no, hatched a few times, and my meridians already feel so much clearer!'

"That Lu Ping is a real level-eighty expert. We've already been back for another round, and he's still not out. Maybe he's trying to break through by destruction!"

Another person sighed. "Sigh, it's just too painful. Isn't there an easier shortcut to getting stronger...?"

The group chattered away, the relief of having survived another ordeal mixing with the thrill of their increased strength, creating a bizarre sense of satisfaction.

Just then, an utterly bloodcurdling scream drifted over on the night wind.

"AAAAAHHHH—!!!"

The sound was sharp and miserable. Even from a great distance, they could tell that its owner was suffering some kind of inhuman torture.

The once-lively path fell instantly silent.

Everyone looked at each other, the smiles frozen on their faces.

"That sound..." Wang swallowed, his voice trembling a little. "How does that sound even more miserable than what we go through?"

"And... it sounds kind of familiar."

"That voice... why does it sound like Miss Su?"

"Miss Su's voice is that loud?"

The group froze.

She was their guide into the sect, the one who had received them. On the way back, they had even heard she was the sect's Holy Daughter. Why would she be letting out such a scream?

Had she been attacked? Or had she suffered a cultivation deviation?