Chapter 90: Desperate Situation
It was dark when Wang Xue’er woke up.
She couldn’t see far, but she was a cultivator after all.
Even at the origin forging realm, her eyesight was good enough to let her see her immediate surroundings.
"Where am I?" She wondered as she looked around her.
Beside her was another female cultivator, but the woman was still asleep.
Across the cave room, she could see five other women.
However, something felt wrong with those female cultivators, and Wang Xue’er shivered lightly.
"I remember I was still looking for fellow Taoist Yu..."
At this moment, the images of what happened finally floated in her mind.
After Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue escaped from the Clear Water Lake, Wang Xue’er tried to locate them.
However, the other had used a non-directional teleportation talisman, and she couldn’t track where they would land.
With no choice, Wang Xue’er went to the trade valley.
She expected they would eventually arrive there and was determined to wait for them.
During the first month, she stayed within the valley to wait.
On each day, she would cultivate and then walk around the valley to search for the two and look through the available merchandise.
In the second month, she began to make occasional forays into areas around the trade valley.
She figured that when the two arrived, they wouldn’t leave right away and would at least stay for a few days.
With that thought in mind, she always made sure to return within three days on every trip.
In this way, she reduced the chance of missing them.
However, she did not leave everything to chance.
At the trade valley, some cultivators traded information, and Wang Xue’er had paid one of them to keep a look out for Yu Nianzhen.
However, there was still no news after the second month.
This made Wang Xue’er begin to doubt her reasoning.
She began to wonder if she should give up her quest for the time being and look for the other when the inner region was about to open.
However, waiting for the inner region was also a risk.
She had heard that there was only one entrance to the inner region, but she couldn’t guarantee that Yu Nianzhen would be there.
After these considerations, she decided to wait for a little longer at the trade valley.
Her forays in the surrounding regions also ceased because all the herbs had been harvested.
Instead, she found a vacant area and settled down to consolidate her cultivation.
It was during this time that everything began to change.
At first, it was only a change in the atmosphere.
For some reason, the heaven and earth qi felt a little aggressive, but Wang Xue’er thought it was because of all the fighting in the thousand herbs garden.
At that time, she sighed, but didn’t think too much about it
However, she should have.
In the middle of the third month, random people began to die.
Normally, death wouldn’t raise any eyebrows, but...
’Their foundation was taken away...’ Wang Xue’er thought as she looked around.
The theft wasn’t as simple as having their qi stolen, it was a total theft of origin, dantian, and meridians.
Although she didn’t know much, Wang Xue’er knew that such a situation was not normal.
Even the evil cultivators who practised through stealing the cultivation of others weren’t so thorough.
At most, they would steal qi or transplant other people’s meridians into themselves.
This was the first time Wang Xue’er heard that an origin could be stolen.
When she thought of the implications, she couldn’t help but shiver in dread.
"What’s going on?" A voice said from Wang Xue’er’s side.
She turned and saw that the female cultivator beside her had woken up.
"Where am I?" The girl continued, and Wang Xue’er sighed.
"We seem to be abducted."
"Abducted?"
The woman sat up and looked around.
When she saw the five on the other side, her face paled, and a chill ran up her spine.
Although she couldn’t see much, she could see they were dead.
"It’s likely a cultivator from the Corpse Yin sect."
Both females went silent when Wang Xue’er said that.
For male cultivators, the Heavenly Flower Cult, which plundered yang to nourish yin was a source of fear.
On the part of female cultivators, two sects inspired terror even beyond that of the Heavenly Flower Cult to male cultivators.
These sects were the Evil Yin sect and the Corpse Yin sect.
The Evil Yin sect was the male version of the Heavenly Flower Cult.
Its disciples cultivated by plundering yin to nurture yang and were equally aggressive as their female counterparts.
However, neither the Heavenly Flower Cult nor the Evil Yin sect could compare to the Corpse Yin sect.
Among all the evil sects in the Cangxing world, the Corpse Yin sect was in the top three with regard to cruelty and evil practice.
"Corpse Yin sect..." The female beside Wang Xue’er muttered and turned her attention across the room.
Now that she had an idea, she could clearly make out what was happening, and nausea crept up from her stomach.
"No..., I would rather die."
Wang Xue’er sighed and agreed with the other woman.
Unlike other evil cultivators who would simply kill or commit some other atrocities to increase their cultivation, the Corpse Yin sect went a little further.
From what she knew, cultivators from the Corpse Yin sect targeted pregnant women.
They would kill the pregnant woman, but use a secret method to keep the baby alive.
For the remaining term of the pregnancy, the baby would be raised in their mother’s dead body, which allowed them to absorb a lot of corpse qi.
When the baby came to term, the cultivator would refine it to increase their cultivation.
Although Wang Xue’er didn’t know all the details, what she knew made her very afraid.
She was strong, but some things were so terrifying that even someone like her couldn’t help but tremble in fear.
"Wait, I am not pregnant." The neighbour female suddenly said.
Her voice was filled with hope, but that hope was quickly dashed by a burst of harsh laughter.
The laughter came from the cave’s mouth, and a man followed it into the cave.
"You are not, but you will soon be."
There was no need to explain what that meant.
Wang Xue’er and the other female looked at each other and despaired.
When they woke up, they realised their qi had somehow been bound.
Even if they wanted to defend against the cultivator from the Corpse Yin sect, they could only use their physical strength.
However, physical strength was closely tied to cultivation.
Without their qi, their physical strength had also been greatly affected, and they couldn’t exert half their usual strength
"Do you think you can get away with this?" The female screamed.
However, all she got was harsh laughter in answer.
In such a secret realm, they all came from different regions.
As long as one avoided killing cultivators from their own region, it was difficult for them to be found for revenge.
It was only in rare cases where the killed party was the heir of a large family or a key disciple of a sect that their factions would go out of their way to get revenge for them.
’Will I die here.’
Wang Xue’er was also in despair.
Although she wasn’t as talented as her master, she was one of the top talents in the Ice Palace and the Cangxing world.
In the future, there was hope she would cultivate to the peak of the nascent soul realm and become a pillar for the Ice Palace.
However, luck was also a skill.
She entered the thousand herbs garden to harvest a fortune and deliver a message.
Instead, she failed to deliver the message and encountered an evil cultivator from the Corpse Yin sect.
With the way things were going, she wouldn’t be able to live, let alone deliver her master’s message.
When she thought of her failure, Wang Xue’er felt more despair.
Her master was so good to her, and Wang Xue’er had never had a chance to repay her kindness.
That her master asked her to deliver the message showed that her master trusted her a lot.
However, Wang Xue’er was about to fail.
As she thought of this, her eyes reddened, and her heart was filled with anger.
Her constrained qi erupted out of her dantian and flooded her meridians.
However, this was all she was able to do.
Before she could circulate for a complete cycle, a sudden force pushed back the qi into her dantian.
"You..." Wang Xue’er shouted, but she couldn’t go on.
She felt a stream of rusty water, climb up her throat and fill her mouth.
When she couldn’t help it anymore, she vomited, and blood pooled around her.
"Be patient little girl. It will be your turn soon." The evil cultivator smirked and walked toward the two.
