Chapter 51: Thanks to Junior Sister Lin for the Gift

Such a rare opportunity.
There is definitely a treasure inside.
Ling Xi pulled Suian along, dashing inside like a bolt of lightning.
If she remembered correctly, what was inside should be one of the female protagonist's natal spiritual instruments, the Flowing Frost Qin.
According to the original text, there was once a time when Bing Cang achieved another great feat, and the female protagonist played the qin for him continuously for seven days until the residual poison in his body was completely purged.
The instrument used was precisely this qin.
The crucial point was that this qin was different from other spiritual instruments; its tier could ascend along with the enhancement of its master's cultivation level.
Although it was currently at the Earth tier, it might eventually upgrade into a Divine tier artifact in the future.
Since she possessed mixed spiritual roots, she could use almost any spiritual instrument, so she wanted to test its feel first.
The female protagonist's belongings were simply wonderful.

After a brief moment of darkness, Ling Xi and Suian followed Lin Rou into the mountain cave.
Thick, arm-like icicles hung upside down against the stone walls, and three feet of bitter ice covered the entire immortal cave, presenting a vast expanse of white to the eyes.
In the center of the ice cave stood an ice platform shaped like a Taiji Yin-Yang fish, with two round eyes protruding half a meter high from the platform.
The left side brimmed with flowing light and vibrant spiritual Qi, and so did the right side, except that both were sealed within the layers of ice, making it impossible to discern what they were.
Carved on the left side was the character "Chu" (Decide), followed by the character "Jue" (Choose) further along.
An ultimate choice between two options?!
This was not her style.

Ling Xi stared at the two ice pillar platforms, her smiling eyebrows and eyes clear and bright, a mysterious purple light flowing in the depths of her eyes, expanding outward from her pupils.
Through her gaze, the ice platforms ceased to be mere ice platforms.
Golden silk threads linked the two ice pillar platforms, with complex runes flowing between them, among which a string of runes felt inexplicably familiar to Ling Xi.
They were the runes for an explosion talisman.
So that was how it was.
The two platforms were separated by at least three meters.
While one person broke the formation, another person had to simultaneously grab both items, otherwise they would be blasted by an explosion and thus eliminated.
It was a bit tricky, but with Lin Rou around, she wouldn't need to do the heavy lifting of breaking the formation herself.

Ling Xi suppressed the urge to sneeze, shoved a Spring Sun Pill into her mouth, and popped another one into Suian's.
"Senior Brother, you go crouch by the stone pillar on the left, and I'll crouch by the one on the right. When I count to one, you grab the item without a shred of hesitation," Ling Xi instructed Suian.
Suian nodded, and belatedly asked with a tentative tone, "Should I run away immediately after grabbing the thing?"
Ling Xi smiled sweetly, "If you have the strength to run, you can choose to run toward the cave entrance."

Suian felt that her words sounded rather odd.
As a grown man, neither lame nor sick, how could he possibly lack the ability to run?!

Lin Rou rummaged through her Qiankun pouch to find the corresponding talismans, taking light steps as she measured the exact placement spots for the paper talismans.
A single wrong step would not only lose her the treasure, but she would also undoubtedly be eliminated from the competition.
By then, that old fogey Gu Jiuyuan would surely be deeply disappointed in her, and consequently deduct her trust points.
If Ling Xi hadn't ruined her plans last time, she wouldn't have needed to go searching for the Ice Soul Flower and the Flowing Frost Qin now.
The Ice Soul Flower not only possessed the marvelous ability to repair spiritual roots and dantians, but it could also purge impurities from the body, yielding even better effects than the Nine-Aperture Exquisite Fruit.
The Flowing Frost Qin was a water-attribute instrument, currently at the Earth tier, and nurturing meridians or reversing damage to spiritual roots would be a breeze for it.
She could not miss the Grand Competition, and she needed to shine brilliantly during it in order to attract more destiny-holders, win their trust, plunder their destiny, and thereby ascend to divinity.
After this round would come the formal sword tournament, and only the victors would be qualified to represent the sect in the Grand Competition.

Having arranged the positions of the talismans, Lin Rou pulled a yellow paper cutout human figure from her Qiankun pouch.
She bit her finger, dotted the yellow paper figure with her blood, and simultaneously activated the talismans to break the formation.
The paper figure rapidly expanded and grew taller, forming a human shape. Although it was only a rough outline, every single finger was distinct, its movements accelerated, and it pinched the exact same hand seals as Lin Rou.

Suian almost let out a cry of exclamation, "The legendary paper-cutting-into-a-person technique? Although it's just a rough outline, how did she manage that?"
Ling Xi, however, wasn't surprised at all and simply gave a perfunctory acknowledgment.
After all, they were all female protagonists in a Xianxia novel; they had to know a couple of extraordinary tricks, otherwise winning too easily would feel a bit fake.

The light in Suian's eyes grew even brighter as his gaze remained unmoving, staring fixedly at Lin Rou.
A sense of crisis instantly arose within Ling Xi, prompting her to remind Suian, "Senior Brother, you must listen to my instructions. You mustn't get distracted by other sights, got it?"
Suian nodded, his eyes still glued to the paper figure, "Don't worry, young master here always maintains his vigilance.
Junior Sister, do you want one?"
Ling Xi: "??? Want what?"
"A paper cutout person! Let me tell you, if you make a few paper figures like her, the probability of you escaping when facing danger will increase by a lot." Suian stroked his chin, looking rather excited.

Eyeballing the paper figure that looked like a lump of white mist, Ling Xi remained silent for a long while, "You'd better not. I don't want to turn into a half-human, half-ghost monstrosity."
Suian chimed in effortlessly, "Don't be afraid. With Second Senior Brother around, if we let him research it for a few decades, there shouldn't be any major problems."
Ling Xi: "..."

The mist inside the cave grew even denser, rendering ordinary human eyes practically useless.
Lin Rou's slender figure swayed, her emerald green gauze dress dancing with the wind. Talismans flew from her fingertips, and the two ice platforms on the Yin-Yang fish burst open, radiating a dazzling light.
The paper figure and Lin Rou struck simultaneously, each lunging for a treasure.

The golden light was only half a hand's span away, yet it flew toward the opposite side.

The moment spiritual power was used, Ling Xi's figure became visible. She glanced at the jade box, tossed it into her ring, and grabbed Suian as she ran.
"Thanks for the gift, Junior Sister Lin~ I'll miss you~"
Amidst the swirling smoke and mist, one red and one cyan figure flashed by, their movements accelerated into afterimages under the enhancement of the [Netherworld Othershore] technique.
Giggling laughter lingered and echoed within the immortal cave.

Lin Rou's pretty face turned livid, her silver teeth nearly biting through as she pulled out a handful of talismans from her Qiankun pouch and threw them indiscriminately.
If she couldn't get what she wanted, the other party shouldn't dream of getting it either.

Ling Xi caught the qin from Suian's hand, having no time to inspect it closely, and shoved it straight into her ring.
As Lin Rou hurled talismans, she dragged Suian and ran ahead.
While running, the view ahead suddenly darkened, and a vague figure blocked her path. She focused her eyes to take a closer look.
A horde of wild horses stampeded across the grasslands of her mind.
Shen Zimo!!!
She truly couldn't beat him this time.
She couldn't absorb her senior brothers' spiritual power either, as their situations were equally dramatic.
To rashly absorb Baili Ze's spiritual power would definitely lower her trust value.
As for Luo Chen, his rule was that unless she was facing death, he wouldn't make a rash move, under the noble pretext of allowing her to develop self-preservation abilities.

She slammed on the brakes immediately, darted behind Shen Zimo, and shoved outward with both palms, "Senior Brother, look out for Junior Sister Lin!"
Shen Zimo was caught off guard and sent flying forward; had he not reacted quickly, he surely would have collided with Lin Rou.
"Ling! Xi!"
"I'm here." Ling Xi stopped running, looking at the two of them with a beaming smile and answering lazily.

The ice encasing the exterior of the Flowing Frost Qin shattered into pieces, and spiritual radiance flowed across the instrument's body.
The instant a finger brushed against the strings, frost and snow danced with the wind beneath the blazing sun, a fierce northern gale howled, and the scorching earth plummeted in temperature by dozens of degrees in an instant.

Ling Xi didn't rush to pluck the strings, the smile on her face growing even more radiant.
"You two mustn't come over~ My hands are shaking a bit.
If I accidentally hurt someone while trying to protect myself, don't blame me."