This remark caused a flicker of surprise in Ji Yuan’s eyes. The other party’s move was akin to a gamble.
After all, no one knew how many people the spiritual spring could sustain. However, such precious spiritual items usually benefited only one or two individuals to its full potential.
If there were enough for two, the maiden would be making a huge profit. Otherwise, with her own cultivation or that of the middle-aged man beside her, they wouldn’t even have a chance to enter.
But if the spiritual spring could only be used by one person, she would gain nothing, neither the marvel of the spring nor any opportunities within or outside this cave dwelling.
In that case, it would be equivalent to giving away the opportunity in her hands for free, while she herself would bear immense risk.
Regardless of how they spoke, they were merely strangers who had met by chance. Without knowing each other’s background, with her cultivation at the middle stage of the Enlightenment Realm and suffering from no slight injuries, she was no different from fish on a chopping block.
Soon, Ji Yuan realized that the other party clearly intended to use this as a lure to get him to agree.
After a long silence, he still hesitated. The maiden’s offer was undoubtedly beneficial to him with no drawbacks. However, traveling with another person was always troublesome.
With an uncertain future, bringing a burden with weak cultivation was hardly a wise choice.
Moreover, if he were to be honest, he preferred a clean transaction, settling things in full, to avoid further entanglements and reduce potential troubles.
“Perhaps you could suggest a different request,” Ji Yuan said with a sigh after some thought.
If he were to choose the greatest benefit, it would naturally be to bring her along. He wouldn’t have to pay any price, only to ensure her safety.
Regardless of whether the spiritual spring could be used by multiple people, it was a sure win-win situation.
However, who knew what might happen along the way? There were bound to be other cultivators around the cave dwelling. It was hard to say if anyone else had obtained a jade token or similar token to enter the mountain protection array.
If it were just himself, it would naturally be more convenient and safer. Even if he encountered an insurmountable enemy, he could simply turn and flee. With his cultivation and items like the Divine Movement Talisman, he wouldn’t fear being unable to escape.
But if he brought someone along, it could put him in grave danger, or at the very least, restrain his actions.
“If that’s not possible, then offer a magic treasure as exchange!” the maiden replied readily.
Half an hour later, Ji Yuan, along with the maiden, her martial uncle, and junior disciple, had traveled more than ten li away.
Finding a densely wooded area, they stopped and each sat cross-legged, meditating and regulating their breathing.
The middle-aged man surnamed Chen and the young man immediately took the healing pills Ji Yuan gave them, quietly refining their medicinal properties.
Having been chased for dozens of li and wandering aimlessly for a day or two, their stored pills had long since run out. At this moment, despite their doubts, they had no choice but to take the pill.
However, it seemed unnecessary for the two. There were no tricks in the two bottles of healing pills, and their efficacy was even stronger than advertised. As soon as they took them, they felt their injuries improving.
As for Ji Yuan himself, he also consumed several pills to restore his spiritual energy and was simultaneously absorbing the pure spiritual energy accumulated in the Profound Sky Spirit Devouring Pagoda.
The sword energy that had killed the elder previously, though incredibly powerful, was enough to send a cultivator at the middle stage of the Spirit Awakening Realm to his death on the spot.
However, that single sword strike had also depleted more than thirty percent of his spiritual energy, and his vitality and spirit had also suffered considerable loss.
Feeling that his spiritual energy was only at a little over ten percent, Ji Yuan couldn't help but smile bitterly inwardly. This was his first time using such a move. If he had known the consumption would be so massive, he would never have used it then.
This level of depletion was even greater than when he normally unleashed all six Water Heavy Pearls at full power!
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to kill the others at the time; it was simply that he lacked the residual strength. If he had exhausted all his spiritual energy, he could indeed have achieved that.
However, doing so would have left him with absolutely no spiritual energy, and if any unforeseen event occurred, he would have very little power left to fight back.
Now, as the pills dissolved in his body and the Profound Sky Spirit Devouring Pagoda replenished him, his spiritual energy gradually began to fill up at an extremely rapid pace.
At this rate, it would take about half a day to fully recover his spiritual energy.
The continuous travel, several all-out battles, and the long distance covered using the Divine Movement Talisman provided an excellent opportunity to recover his depleted vitality and spirit.
When cultivators engage in combat, they not only expend spiritual energy and physical strength but also a significant amount of vitality and spirit, which refers to their soul light and mental state, among other things.
If not replenished in time, even with abundant spiritual energy, their strength would inevitably be weakened. Forcing themselves to act could even damage the foundation of their physical body and soul.
However, before meditating, Ji Yuan quietly placed three copper coins beside him and had a large handful of talismans ready in his sleeve.
If any incident occurred, he could immediately deploy the Profound Sky Spirit Devouring Pagoda to protect himself.
Within this ancient dojo, unlike the surface world, there were not countless types of living beings. Apart from some rare species like stone monkeys, even insects were nowhere to be seen.
Because of this, in the forest where they were, apart from their own breathing, no other sounds could be heard. All that met the eye was darkness and ubiquitous luminescent plants.
More than two hours later, the maiden was the first to awaken from her meditation. Having been protected by her martial uncles and senior/junior siblings, her injuries were the lightest.
But now, those who had protected her had all perished, sacrificing themselves to fight the pursuers.
The maiden sighed softly, silently suppressing her heavy emotions. In an environment of uncertain safety, succumbing to melancholy was not a wise course of action.
Regaining her composure and feeling bored, she first glanced at her martial uncle and junior disciple. Seeing that their breathing was gradually stabilizing and they were rapidly recovering, she felt a slight sense of relief.
Then, the maiden’s gaze fell upon the young Taoist priest sitting with his eyes closed. A hint of curiosity naturally surfaced in her eyes.
She wondered how he cultivated. He appeared to be a few years younger than herself, yet he had already successfully entered the second realm, and his cultivation was quite formidable, capable of killing enemies across a minor realm!
It was known that among cultivators, the gap between each minor realm was significant. While it wasn't entirely strange to fight and even kill enemies across realms in the Enlightenment Realm, it became extremely difficult in the Spirit Awakening Realm.
In the Spirit Awakening Realm, achieving such a feat required a combination of superior cultivation techniques, Daoist methods, and magic artifacts!
Only with extreme advantages in all aspects could one potentially fight across a minor realm, but successfully killing an opponent was still an exceedingly difficult task.
The maiden had heard that only inner sect disciples of renowned sects, or even their direct disciples, could achieve such a feat.
However, in Feiyun County, apart from the Nine Xuan Sect, there were no other renowned sects left. The few remaining sects, two or three in number, were not of the Taoist lineage.
“What is it?”
As she watched, the young Taoist priest in front of her suddenly opened his eyes and asked with a puzzled expression.
Hearing this, the maiden’s cheeks flushed slightly. After all, it was somewhat embarrassing for a woman to stare at a man, let alone be caught in the act by him.
“N-nothing!” the maiden coughed, saying with a hint of awkwardness, “I’m just a little curious. You’re so young, how did you cultivate so quickly!”
Ji Yuan’s lips twitched slightly. He suppressed the urge to throw a Water Heavy Pearl at her and glared at her with mild annoyance.
What kind of words were those!
For a boy around fifteen years old, his height was considered quite tall!
In another two years, as he grew older, he would naturally become even taller, at least becoming an eight-foot man!
“Diligence can compensate for lack of talent!” After thinking for a moment, he managed to utter this sentence.
However, even he didn’t quite believe it, let alone for cultivators. Even for martial artists who trained through hardship, this saying wasn't entirely applicable.
In the world of cultivators, lacking talent meant lacking talent. Pure diligence, while not entirely useless, was of little use.
With that effort, it would be better to explore other avenues. For instance, Liu Ruyan of Mingxin Xuan, despite not having exceptional innate talent, managed to accumulate enough resources through her business acumen to be forcefully pushed to the second realm.
Without talent, one had to rely on resources or opportunities to find a way out. Relying solely on diligence yielded significantly lesser results.
This time, it was the maiden’s turn to twitch her lips. She rolled her eyes with annoyance, suddenly feeling disinclined to converse with the person in front of her.
However, after some deliberation, she still spoke in a low voice, “My name is Zhou Lianying. May I ask for your honored name, senior?” She emphasized the word ‘senior’ and blinked her eyes, appearing quite playful.
“This humble Taoist is Ling Yu, a registered Taoist of the Great Yu Dynasty.” Ji Yuan withdrew his gaze and then closed his eyes, reciting Namo Amitabha silently several times in his heart.
He even began to regret agreeing to this opportunity, wishing he had simply let it go. If necessary, he could have tried his luck near the cave dwelling with the spiritual spring.
He truly shouldn't have agreed so readily!
Looking back now, he was truly asking for trouble!
Whether in storybooks, tales told by storytellers, or even his own master’s instructions, all spoke of the same thing.
That women in the world were the most troublesome. They should never be easily provoked, lest they inevitably bring about constant changes, like being trapped in a vortex from which there is no escape!
He had initially thought that while women might be troublesome, they wouldn't be that exaggerated. Like Liu Ruyan, Qian Nishang, and even Zheng Wanrong and Lin Miaoyi, hadn't their interactions been appropriate?
However, in that brief glance, Ji Yuan suddenly felt a ripple in his state of mind, and his heartbeat even quickened by a few beats.
This immediately brought to mind the stories in the books and his master’s years of teachings and admonitions!
“Daoist Priest, have you thought of something?” Zhou Lianying tilted her head, puzzled as to why he suddenly closed his eyes.
Hearing this, Ji Yuan hesitated for a moment before saying in a deep voice, “I am tired from the continuous travel and need to meditate for a while.”
She replied with an ‘Oh,’ and seeing that he was indeed meditating, she began to sit and regulate her breathing on her own.
However, after a short while, Zhou Lianying’s eyes secretly opened again, and she looked at the young Taoist priest in front of her with interest.
For some reason, she felt a slight strangeness in her heart, always wanting to look at the person in front of her, with no other thoughts besides that.
Such a feeling had never occurred before. Even the young talents in her sect had never garnered more than a fleeting glance from her.
This unprecedented situation naturally made Zhou Lianying somewhat puzzled. After much thought, she attributed it all to the person in front of her, believing that this young Taoist priest had left an exceptionally profound impression.