16: The Lament of Fate and the Wedding Dress of Herbs

Despair.

Bone-chilling despair instantly engulfed Su Qingxue's entire body.

The Spiritual Qi in her body circulated wildly, and streams of green wood-element Spells were cast in an instant, forming shields of vines in an attempt to block the black storm of death.

However, it was useless.

Ghost Face Bees were known for their fearlessness and potent venom.

Their stingers could even penetrate the defenses of Low Grade Magical Artifacts.

The vine shields, under the impact of the swarm, were torn to shreds in an instant, like paper.

"Master!"

At the brink of life and death, Su Qingxue let out a shrill scream.

An ancient jade pendant hanging around her neck shattered with a bang!

A gentle green light barrier instantly enveloped her!

This was the "Heart of Azurewood," a protective Magic Treasure personally refined for her by her Master, the Valley Master of Hundred Herb Valley, with a full-power defense Seal inside, enough to withstand a single blow from a Golden Core Cultivator!

Buzz buzz buzz!

The swarm slammed violently against the light barrier, emitting a series of dense, teeth-grinding sounds.

The light barrier shook violently, its glow dimming at a visible rate.

But, it ultimately held!

Su Qingxue collapsed into the quicksand, gasping for breath, her face filled with the relief of surviving a catastrophe.

As long as she held out until the light barrier disappeared and escaped the quicksand Formation... she would have a chance to flee!

A glimmer of hope reignited in her eyes.

However, this glimmer of hope was completely crushed in the next moment.

A figure, like a ghost, appeared silently by the Crescent Spring.

He didn't look at the trapped Su Qingxue, nor did he look at the swarm furiously attacking the light barrier.

His gaze fell upon the "nine revolutions soul restoration grass."

It was Jiang Chen.

Su Qingxue's pupils suddenly constricted.

She didn't know this person.

But she could feel that the malicious presence that had followed her like a shadow since she entered the forest came from him!

It was him!

He had orchestrated all of this!

"What do you want to do?! This Spiritual Plant is my Opportunity!" Su Qingxue shrieked, her voice betraying her inner fear.

Jiang Chen seemed not to hear.

He simply gazed quietly at the Spiritual Plant and the "Water Illusion Formation" guarding it.

In his vision, that Formation was slowly operating at a fixed frequency.

And the position of the nine revolutions soul restoration grass was drifting very slightly with it.

He was waiting.

Waiting for a node.

A node where the Formation's operation was at its most "relaxed."

A moment that only the "Array Dao Heavenly Heart" could capture.

Now!

Jiang Chen moved.

His movements were not fast, in fact, they were quite slow.

His arm extended into the spring water at a strange, counter-intuitive angle.

His fingers didn't stir a single ripple.

It was like a feather, gently landing on the water's surface.

His fingertip precisely touched the root of the nine revolutions soul restoration grass.

At that moment, the originally deadly "Water Illusion Formation" seemed to be paused.

All the undercurrents, all the water pressure, eerily stilled.

Jiang Chen's hand gently plucked it.

That peerless Spiritual Plant, which the chosen daughter of destiny would have to expend all her effort and endure "trials" to obtain, was so casually picked by him.

"No—!!!"

Upon seeing this, Su Qingxue let out a scream more desperate than any before.

It was a kind of... plunder... that terrified her more than death!

That should have been hers!

It was a part of her destiny!

The violent emotional fluctuations caused her Qi and blood to rush to her heart, and the Spiritual Qi in her body instantly became chaotic.

And the green light barrier enveloping her, losing the support of her Spiritual Qi, suddenly dimmed!

Crack!

The light barrier shattered!

Having lost her last barrier, the endless Ghost Face Bees instantly engulfed her!

"Ah ah ah ah—!"

The tragic screams lasted less than three breaths before abruptly ceasing.

It wasn't that she had died.

It was that the potent venom had already paralyzed her vocal cords.

Her body, under the gnawing of the swarm, quickly turned purple and swollen.

Her life force was rapidly draining away.

And even more terrifying than the collapse of her Physical Body was the collapse of her "destiny."

Jiang Chen watched all of this indifferently.

He "saw" Su Qingxue's golden thread of destiny let out a wail the moment the nine revolutions soul restoration grass was plucked.

And now, with the fading of her life, this thread completely snapped!

Boom!!!

A vast and mighty golden torrent, yet carrying an aura of destruction, burst forth from Su Qingxue's body with a roar!

Destiny's backlash!

This was all the "investment" the Heavenly Dao had accumulated in her, now being "settled" in the most tragic way!

Her cultivation instantly regressed.

Qi Refining ninth layer, eighth layer, seventh layer... plummeting all the way down to a Mortal with no cultivation whatsoever!

Her Spiritual Root was breaking inch by inch.

Her Soul was torn and crushed in agony!

That exquisitely beautiful face rapidly lost all its radiance, becoming like withered tree bark.

And the scattered golden torrent that erupted from the backlash, as if drawn by some fatal attraction, surged wildly in one direction!

Jiang Chen!

He spread his arms, his expression calm, even with a hint of enjoyment.

It was like embracing a fireworks display, blooming only for him.

An indescribable sense of comfort spread through his limbs.

Countless insights into plants, pharmacology, and vitality surged into the depths of his Soul like a tide.

His body was undergoing a wondrous transformation.

He could feel his blood flowing more powerfully.

He could feel his skin actively "breathing" with the plant Spiritual Qi in the air.

He could even "hear" every little blade of grass beneath his feet emitting a joyful cry of closeness and submission to him.

"Talent is fusing..."

"Detecting that host's Soul strength far exceeds that of ordinary people, Fusion efficiency greatly increased..."

"Congratulations to host, successfully stripped the core talent of the chosen daughter of destiny, Su Qingxue — 'Hundred Herb Spirit Body (Complete)'!"

"Formless Life Essence has received a massive replenishment and is undergoing purification..."

The System's notification sound was like celestial music.

Jiang Chen slowly opened his eyes.

He looked at his hand.

With a thought.

A grass seed he had hidden in his sleeve sprouted, grew, bloomed, and bore fruit in his palm at a visible speed.

The entire process took but an instant.

This was the "Hundred Herb Spirit Body."

What he said became law, controlling the vitality of all things!

This was truly the means of an immortal!

He looked again at the body, already disfigured by the swarm's gnawing, yet still clinging to a breath of life.

The swarm had dispersed.

Because they too had discovered that this invader had lost all her Spiritual Qi and had become a "useless body" even worse than a Mortal.

Su Qingxue wasn't dead yet.

But all the light in her eyes had vanished.

Only endless emptiness, fear, and confusion remained.

Like Shi Lei, she had lost something more important than life itself.

Jiang Chen walked slowly toward her.

He didn't kill her.

He merely bent down and picked up a fallen, ordinary wooden hairpin from beside her disheveled hair.

Then, in front of her, he gently squeezed it.

The wooden hairpin, in his fingertips, revived with vitality, sprouting a tender green bud.

Su Qingxue's empty eyes stared fixedly at the green bud.

From her throat came a hoarse, wheezing sound, like a broken bellows.

She remembered when she was a child, the first time she awakened her Hundred Herb Spirit Body, it was also like this, making a withered branch sprout new shoots.

At that moment, everyone said she was the darling of heaven and earth.

And now.

That "miracle" that once belonged to her was being performed in another person's hand.

And she had become a pathetic spectator, stripped of everything.

This spiritual torture was ten thousand times more cruel than killing her.

Jiang Chen put away the wooden hairpin, turned and left, not looking at her again.

A living, mad "Formation Grandmaster."

A "Hundred Herb Saintess" who had fallen to the Mortal world and lost everything.

These two living tombstones would be the best, and most vicious, footnotes Jiang Chen would give to this "Heavenly Dao" script.

His figure quickly disappeared into the dense fog.

Leaving behind only the leveled Crescent Spring, and the... empty shell... lying in the mud, silently twitching.