308: Heading to the Spirit Spring

At the summit of the Solitary Peak, the White-robed Nascent Soul Cultivator sighed softly after sensing the aura emanating from Situ Jun.

He sheathed his longsword, a flicker of complexity crossing his eyes before finally turning into a sense of relief.

He understood that the struggle for the Opportunity had come to an end; facing a Soul Transformation powerhouse, all his persistence and schemes had lost their meaning.

He slowly turned around and continued to search for the exit of this Secret Realm.

The most terrified was Mo Chenggui, who was still lurking in the shadows, observing everything.

When Situ Jun truly broke through to the Soul Transformation Realm, the composure on Mo Chenggui's face hidden in the shadows vanished for the first time, his pupils constricting:

"Soul Transformation... He actually broke through... Also... how did this person manage to evade the detection of the Heavenly Dragon Dynasty's Imperial Astronomical Bureau? Is he not from the Heavenly Dragon Dynasty or the various Dynasties? What a Soul Transformation Stage! After all this planning, it turns out I was just doing the hard work for him!"

...Inside the Immortal Cave, Situ Jun slowly withdrew his released aura, but the divine light in his eyes became even deeper and more intimidating.

He glanced at Luo Yu, who was still adjusting her breathing and looking pale. Just as he was about to set up several stronger protective Restrictions so he could go out and refine the core of the space pearl, he noticed that Luo Yu seemed to sense something; her eyelashes trembled slightly, and she slowly opened her beautiful eyes.

Their gazes met in the air, and for a moment, the Immortal Cave fell into silence.

Having just experienced the deepest fusion and resonance on the level of the Divine Soul, an indescribable and complex emotion sprouted in each other's eyes.

They were not just allies in cooperation, but more like a unique bond that had undergone the test of life and death and shared the greatest secret.

Embarrassment, shyness, gratitude, admiration... various emotions intertwined, leaving both of them somewhat at a loss.

Luo Yu was the first to react. She quickly lowered her head and hurriedly tidied her slightly disheveled clothes.

Her cheeks were as red as the sunset clouds, and she no longer showed any of the dignity of a Nascent Soul Elder from the past; instead, she looked like a young girl experiencing her first awakening of love and feeling overwhelmed.

Situ Jun looked at her reddened earlobes, and a strange ripple also rose in his heart.

He didn't say much, only raising his hand to tuck back a strand of hair that had been ruffled by the water vapor in the cave.

His fingertips accidentally brushed against her earlobe, and when he felt the burning temperature, Situ Jun's own ears quietly turned red as well.

Situ Jun also gave a light cough, suppressing the strange feeling in his heart, and took the lead in breaking the silence:

"Elder Luo... how do you feel?"

"...Very good."

Luo Yu's voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, almost inaudible.

She paused and then added:

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Situ."

This word of thanks contained too many indescribable emotions—gratitude for Situ Jun helping her reach the Peak of the Early Stage Nascent Soul Bottleneck, shyness about the previous Dual Cultivation, and a hint of confusion about the future.

Situ Jun nodded slightly and said no more.

He knew that saying more at this moment would be useless, and it was better to let Luo Yu adjust her breathing properly.

He turned and walked to the entrance of the cave, his gaze looking toward the area in the distance shrouded by the gray sky, a sharp light flashing in his eyes.

The wind of the Cold Mist Mountain Range, carrying ice shards, slammed violently against the Restriction outside the Immortal Cave, stirring up fine ripples of spiritual light... A short while later, Situ Jun returned to the Immortal Cave.

As soon as he stepped into the Immortal Cave, his gaze fell upon the woman sitting quietly on the prayer mat.

Luo Yu wore a moon-white gauze dress, her neck and shoulder lines slender. At this moment, she was surrounded by a layer of pale green spiritual light, but that light was quite unstable, sometimes solidifying like colored glaze and sometimes dispersing like thin mist. As she operated her Cultivation Technique, there were even faint fluctuations of stagnation within her Meridians.

The Spiritual Qi seemed to be blocked by something, leaking out from her body.

Situ Jun understood instantly.

Earlier during the Dual Cultivation, he had triggered the Opportunity for the Soul Transformation Breakthrough, and the Laws of Heaven and Earth resonated with it. At that moment, a wisp of Law fragments that had dissipated—originally formless and substanceless—happened to seep into Luo Yu's Meridians along the spiritual power connection.

Although this fragment helped loosen her Early Stage Nascent Soul Bottleneck, her Foundation had been damaged previously and her primordial yin had not recovered. It was like having a warehouse full of grain but no sturdy granary; she simply couldn't completely digest this Opportunity, and instead, it caused the spiritual power to become a chaotic mess within her body.

"Your Nascent Soul has already touched the Middle Stage barrier."

Situ Jun's voice was steady as his gaze swept across the thin ice condensed on the walls of the Immortal Cave—caused by the cold Qi leaking out when Luo Yu's spiritual power went out of control.

He pondered for a moment, looked at Luo Yu, and said:

"Right now, your spiritual power is surging but difficult to gather at a single point. If you forcibly charge at the Bottleneck, I fear it will damage your Foundation or even cause your Cultivation to regress."

Hearing this, Luo Yu's long eyelashes trembled slightly, and she slowly raised her eyes.

A trace of shyness after the Dual Cultivation still remained in the depths of her eyes, her pupils like obsidian soaked in warm water, but now they held a bit more surprise because of his words.

She had thought that after Situ Jun broke through to the Soul Transformation Realm, his first priority would be to search for the exit of this Secret Realm, or to investigate the mysterious Mingya Inheritance, or at the very least, to deal with those Loose Cultivators who had been startled by the Breakthrough phenomena.

She didn't expect that he would still be concerned about her Cultivation being stuck at a Bottleneck.

Her fingertips subconsciously gripped the corner of her moon-white gauze dress. That bit of humiliation arising from losing her virginity quietly faded a bit like melting snow in the face of this unexpected thoughtfulness.

"When I came here, I discovered a Spiritual Spring Immortal Cave deep within the mountain range."

Situ Jun's tone carried an unquestionable certainty as he continued:

"The spring eye contains Innate Water Spiritual Qi, which is most compatible with the Profound Yin True Art you Cultivate. It will help you stabilize your Realm and refine that wisp of Law fragments."

Luo Yu slowly stood up and raised her hand to tidy her slightly messy hair. Although her face was still pale and weak, she had managed to recover some of the dignity of a Sect Elder.

She glanced at Situ Jun, and remembering the intimacy of the Dual Cultivation just now, her cheeks instantly flushed. She quickly lowered her eyes and nodded, her voice as light as a feather falling on snow:

"In that case, I will trouble Fellow Daoist Situ to lead the way."

Seeing this, a very faint smile flickered in the depths of Situ Jun's eyes, but he said nothing more.

With a slight movement of his fingertips, a wisp of pale golden spiritual power overflowed from his palm, circled once in the air, and transformed into a semi-transparent shield, gently enveloping Luo Yu.

That shield shimmered with fine light, with the Power of Law faintly swirling around it—this was a technique unique to a Soul Transformation Stage Cultivator. It could not only block the bone-chilling cold from the outside but also resist the turbulence within the Secret Realm's space and the prying eyes of other Cultivators.

"That Spiritual Spring has already been placed under a concealment Restriction by me; ordinary Cultivators wouldn't find it even if they passed by. Follow me."

The two walked out of the Immortal Cave one after the other. The cold wind of the Cold Mist Mountain Range, carrying ice shards, blew against their faces. Luo Yu subconsciously wrapped her clothes tighter, only to see the golden shield in front of her suddenly brighten, having already steadily enveloped her as well.

The bone-chilling wind was blocked out, and it was warm inside the shield; she could even smell the faint scent of Spiritual Plants on Situ Jun.

She lowered her eyes to look at the snow illuminated by the spiritual light, her steps unconsciously quickening as she closely followed the tall figure ahead.

At this moment, within the Secret Realm space, people were already in a state of panic due to the phenomena triggered when Situ Jun broke through to the Soul Transformation Realm.

Several major Cultivators were either hiding or searching everywhere for the source of the phenomena. Only this area deep within the Cold Mist Mountain Range was rarely visited, as it was perpetually shrouded by Extremely Cold Astral Winds, with thin Spiritual Qi and dangers lurking everywhere.