"Lie still, little disciple, Senior Brother will feed you."
Leng Xingzhi helped Chu Lingwei sit up against the pillows, gently brushing away the stray hairs from her forehead and sighing, "You're severely injured this time. You won't be able to use your spiritual energy for a while."
Chu Lingwei sat up in shock. Severely injured?
"Sit up properly," Leng Xingzhi said, supporting her shoulders to keep her from moving. "It seems you truly don't know fear."
"Senior Brother, you wouldn't know, but that Hong Guniang was very strange. I couldn't escape, so I had to... compete with her." Chu Lingwei leaned against the bed, drinking the spiritual porridge her Senior Brother was feeding her, and explained.
In that situation, she really had no way to escape.
"Why didn't you transmit a message to me when you encountered this situation?" Leng Xingzhi asked helplessly.
"They captured so many female cultivators without a single leak. I thought my message wouldn't get through either." Chu Lingwei lowered her eyelids slightly. Actually, if she wanted to, she could have sent a message.
Leng Xingzhi chuckled softly, looking at his junior sister earnestly telling a lie. He really wanted to knock her head.
She was even deceiving him.
"Is that so?" Leng Xingzhi slowly fed Chu Lingwei the porridge, replying casually.
"Of course it's true." Chu Lingwei nodded vigorously. As long as Senior Brother didn't expose her, he would believe her words. "Senior Brother, is that Hong Guniang dead?"
Since Senior Brother could appear here, she surely wouldn't be able to escape.
She had gravely wounded her at the time, so Hong Guniang had no way to escape.
"Yes, her soul is extinguished."
"Alas, she knew Master." Chu Lingwei sighed. She still wanted to know what deep enmity she had with Master that made her want to kill her disciples.
"A hundred years ago, she vowed to become Master's disciple. Master saw her poor character and told her to find another teacher. From then on, she harbored resentment towards Master and swore to kill all of Master's disciples."
Chu Lingwei, "..."
"So, I'm the unlucky one, the only one who ran into her?" Besides herself, Master had three disciples. These three disciples had followed Master for many years, and they were all fine.
Leng Xingzhi chuckled in a low voice, "Precisely so."
Chu Lingwei pouted. It seemed her luck wasn't that good.
"Rest for another day, and we'll return to the academy tomorrow," Leng Xingzhi said to Chu Lingwei as he stood up.
"Returning tomorrow?" Chu Lingwei felt disappointed. Why couldn't she leave the Spiritual Cultivation Academy for a longer period? She felt like someone embarking on a long journey, only to be able to wander around her doorstep and occasionally bump into family members.
This feeling was really not good.
"Yes, you can't use your spiritual energy for now. Returning to the academy is the safest," Leng Xingzhi nodded, picked up the empty bowl, and left the room.
Since Senior Brother said so, returning had become inevitable.
"Feng Ming."
Chu Lingwei got out of bed and walked to the window. Opposite was a mountain, and no one could be seen.
Feng Ming heard Wei Wei's voice and soon jumped in through the window. Seeing Chu Lingwei awake, she rushed into her embrace. "Wei Wei, you're finally awake. I missed you so much."
"I only slept for a while, how could you miss me already?" Chu Lingwei hugged Feng Ming back to the bedside. At this moment, she truly felt that she was seriously injured. Even walking a short distance made her feel a sense of fatigue.
"Senior Brother has been guarding you. We didn't dare to come in," Feng Ming said with a hint of grievance. Senior Brother brought Chu Lingwei here and stayed by her side the entire time, and she could only wait outside.
"How long was I unconscious?" Chu Lingwei's heart skipped a beat when she thought of Senior Brother guarding her.
Senior Brother was being too good to her.
"Three days. Wei Wei, you've been asleep for three days." Feng Ming thought of Chu Lingwei's appearance at the time, her face full of worry. "Wei Wei, you really scared me to death then. You were covered in blood, with no spiritual energy at all."
"Was it really that serious?" Chu Lingwei had lost consciousness after stabbing the sword into Hong Guniang's body, so she didn't know how badly she was injured at the time.
"Of course. At that time, the connection between us weakened considerably..." Feng Ming couldn't continue. She really thought their connection was about to break. "Fortunately, Senior Brother arrived."
Chu Lingwei raised her hand. There was no spiritual energy at all. It seemed she was indeed very seriously injured at the time.
"Hong Guniang is dead. What about those courtesans?" Chu Lingwei stroked Feng Ming's fur. Hong Guniang was dead, so the captured female cultivators should have been released by now.
"Those courtesans were all cultivators at the Spiritual Wheel Realm. They have all left now," Feng Ming said after thinking for a moment.
Chu Lingwei thought of An Tao, who was waiting for her at the foot of the mountain. She patted Feng Ming's body. "Go find An Tao and let her know I'm safe."
Feng Ming leaped up and quickly left the room.
Half an hour later, An Tao rushed in excitedly. Seeing Chu Lingwei standing well in the room, her eyes turned red, and she hugged Chu Lingwei tightly. "Wei Wei, I almost thought I would never see you again."
"I'm fine, aren't I?" Chu Lingwei comforted An Tao and pulled her to sit on a chair. "I was injured and only woke up just now, so I couldn't send you a message."
"How did you get so badly injured?" An Tao calmed down and, seeing Chu Lingwei's complete lack of spiritual energy, worried, "Your spiritual energy..."
"My spiritual energy is sealed now. I need some time to recover."
Senior Brother had sealed her spiritual energy, which would allow her to recover better.
"That's good." An Tao patted her chest. She then spoke about what happened after Chu Lingwei entered the mountain that day. "Not long after you left, I was discovered by those people and captured into the mountain."
An Tao blushed slightly as she said this. She was a cultivator at the Spiritual Wheel Realm, yet she was easily captured.
"Where did they take you?"
"They took me to a cave filled with high-level formations, where many female cultivators at the Spiritual Wheel Realm were imprisoned." An Tao leaned closer to Chu Lingwei, lowering her voice. "They were all forced to cultivate another technique, the kind that allows for dual cultivation."
Dual cultivation.
When Chu Lingwei heard the word "courtesan," she had already associated it with this technique.
Some people could attract and absorb others' cultivation through dual cultivation, thereby enhancing their own. This was a wicked art.
She believed that these courtesans were forced to cultivate this technique and were the ones being "harvested."
"Was the mastermind caught?" Chu Lingwei's expression turned cold. There were already few female cultivators in the Xuan Tian Continent, and to be persecuted like this made her furious.
"They are all dead."
An Tao smiled. Overnight, everyone in Jinyang City involved in these matters had died. She didn't know who did it.
Chu Lingwei's brow twitched. She had a feeling it was Senior Brother's doing.