Unexpectedly

The Jingguan Mansion had the same solitude as Ningjing Mansion. Just like Huan Xue's smile, Zhou Qiaolian had also a small curl on her lips as she sat down inside her room.

Two cultivators in different places shared the same delighted look on their faces.

While Huan Xue's consciousness was controlling the circulation of his aura inside the Ningjing Mansion, Qiaolian's consciousness just stood infront silently inside her own elixir field, observing the changes therein.

Incredibly, the aura of her father's Scarlet Martial Elixir Field within her had turned into a fiery red. It appeared to be cubes of vibrant flames blazing continuously.

But, every time the red aura tried to extend and spread in the space, a striking bright wisp of silver light would appear to pull it back, completely encapsulating the blaze. It was as if the bright light aura from her mother's Silver Celestial Elixir Field is taming the vibrant flames.

After the seal within her inner core was gone, the aura of these two elixir fields occupied the entire upper atmosphere within the space. And her own Immortal Jade Elixir Field's faint green aura was at the bottom.

The formation of these three elixir fields may not be extensive but they were massive. The figure of Qiaolian's consciousness looks like it was standing in front of a huge mountain pyramid, burning with flaming cubes.

After observing the intricate formation of these three elixir fields, Qiaolian walked closer to the red aura and noticed that the sides of the cubes facing her had dots like that of a dice. But, these dots were not limited to six.

Qiaolian slowly extended her right hand and touched the center of one cube. Several characters suddenly floated in the air.

She stared at it for a few seconds before it gradually formed into words:

SELF-CONTROL

SELFLESSNESS

SERVICE

"Ohh--- The fundamental---" Qiaolian subconsciously bit the bottom of her lips while reading the words. Years had passed but the words gave too much familiarity to her. Such virtues were the fundamental teachings of the Zhou Clan.

Back then, the patriarch of the Zhou Clan had always educated all their clan members that the highest form of power comes from self-control, selflessness, and service.

Qiaolian believed these virtuous too. However, after she discovered the tragedy of the Zhou Clan, she replaced it with solitude. For the last remnants of her clan, she could only depend on her own ability. This is but the highest form of power that she now recognized. Her ability.

The red aura suddenly trembled and slowly burned the three words in front of her. The air turned empty for a few seconds.

However, Qiaolian was completely stunned of the next scene. Only after a few seconds, there was a different word emerged.

SELF-RELIANCE

Qiaolian's eyes constricted and she gasped out of surprise. A distant memory suddenly flashed within her thoughts. This was a scene before her parents sent her to beast hunting. No, in fact, this was the day when they transferred their elixir fields inside her body. It was the last day she had seen them alive...

"Qiaolian'er, the true power comes from your belief. Your mother and I have excellent elixir fields. Come and we will let you experience the power of the Zhou Clan leaders. Keep it for now and practice with it. Maybe, you can have your own belief and bypass ours. Be sure no one will take them away. After your beast hunting, you can return these elixir fields to us."

That day, her father told her to keep the elixir fields and practiced it when she hunts beasts. She believed that they only want her to familiarize the powers of the two different elixir fields. But, when she started hunting beasts, she found out the power of the elixir fields was sealed. Only then did she understand that her parents had gravely lied to her.

By the time she knew the demise of the Zhou Clan, Feng Lu had told her that she can stay in the Feng Sect, and so, she accepted his generosity.

While Qiaolian was immersed in past events, the entire vigorous aura in the cube slowly solidified. And then, another word formed which made her almost jump in shock.

"Why is the name there?" she instantly blurted out.

The blazing movements of the red aura had completely stopped. Qiaolian stared at the words with disbelief.

SELF-RELIANCE

HUAN XUE

That's right!

Unexpectedly, inside this particular cube, the name of Huan Xue also emerged and floated in space!

"Ahh... W-Why? I... h-have to ask Elder Xia why is this happening," Qiaolian slightly panicked and retracted her hands away from the cube. She took a few steps backward and stared at the entire space.

The cube that she just touched had no more traces of words that she had once seen. She blinked a few times before she took a deep breath.

Soon after, she stood straight and wiped her face. Qiaolian did not even realize that she was actually crying. She hastily left her mansion and went to the Shijian Mansion not minding her appearance.

However, right before she could enter the mansion, she suddenly sensed the aura of Elder Xia in the distant sea. Without thinking too much, her figure flashed in a different direction to locate the elder.

Qiaolian's mind had not yet recovered from the unexpected scene. But, when she saw Elder Xia controlling the crimson vines, she gathered her composure before approaching him.

"Elder, this defense formation is already stable. Why are you channeling your power in it?"

"Ohh? Lady Zhou, it's good that you are here. Look at the waves in seawater. It's infected with the Hex Mile of Tears formation. I have to maintain supplying power to the crimson vines," Elder Xia muttered. Then, he directly asked her, "Have you found a method of tracing the source of this problem, Lady Zhou?"

"Elder, when the large elements in nature are involved... Such as this ocean water... It means this Hex Mile of Tears formation is activated using blood. This illness... I hope I am wrong, but... Since this is in the sea waves, the other regions might get infected with the illness too."

Elder Xia's back was stiffened for a split second. "Lady Zhou... Y-You mean to say... It's targeting the entire Heng continent?"