Shaking his head, Jin Shu continued his story.

"The first mistake was using fire, thinking I could burn through their webs… only to end up strengthening them instead."

"That was my fault," Biyu said apologetically. "I should've warned you sooner."

"No. It was my fault." He shook his head again. "We were traveling through dangerous territory, and I didn't bother gathering intel beforehand. If I had, I'd have known what to expect."

"You shouldn't blame yourself for what-ifs," Chen Ai Yun said gently. "Learn from it, and do better next time."

"I know. It's just… when the broodmother arrived, we could've escaped and warned the other disciples. But we… no, I caused their deaths."

He stared down at the dirt beneath his feet, guilt gnawing at his gut.

"You're right. It was your fault," Sun Mei'er said suddenly. Everyone turned to her in surprise. "If you were stronger, you could've saved everyone yourself. That's what it means to be a cultivator—to gain strength that even the heavens can't shake."

Jin Shu blinked, taken aback.

"Why do you cultivate?" she asked.

He opened and closed his mouth, unable to find an answer. "I… don't know."

"What do you want most in life?"

"To protect my loved ones."

"There. Isn't that your answer? You cultivate to gain the strength needed to protect those you love."

He nodded absently, too flustered to question her sudden seriousness.

"So? Why worry about anything else, if the people you need to protect are safe and sound?"

He stared at her blankly, still unable to respond.

"No need to answer," she said, waving a hand dismissively. "Just keep whatever answer you think of in your heart. Now, go on—finish your story."

Unable to find words, Jin Shu fell silent for a moment before resuming. Her words lingered in his mind.

"Where was I?"

"Start after we escaped," Li Xue suggested.

"Right. We escaped to Deep Root Lake, where the treants live. The other disciples had arrived ahead of us and were already in a heated argument that almost turned into a fight. They lashed out with vines."

He glanced toward Biyu.

"Biyu was struck by one of the vines and bled, which… turned out to be a blessing, possibly. Her physique activated, healing her wounds and drawing out the treant queen, a dryad."

"You met Ziran? She's still alive?" came a voice from behind.

Jin Shu turned and blinked in surprise. Two identical Feng Lians were walking side by side. One was the perpetually tired version he'd first met, dark circles under her eyes. The other was who he'd recently learned was the real Grand Elder Feng Lian during his trip to the sect library.

"You know her?" he asked.

"Of course." The real Feng Lian nodded. "We were good friends back in the day. How is she?"

"She ascended," Biyu replied.

"Oh? Good for her. Last I saw, she was on the verge of death. Now she'll live forever."

The tired Feng Lian stifled a yawn, then pulled out a blanket and pillow and lay down right there.

"If you're going to sleep, at least do it without looking like me," Feng Lian said.

"Fine…"

A soft light enveloped the tired Feng Lian, and in the next moment, a large fluffy panda lay curled up on the blanket, snoring softly.

"She really was a panda?"

Jin Shu had always called her that in his mind but never realized she truly was one.

"Yes," the real Feng Lian said with a faint smile. "She's my spirit—the giant panda."

Internally, he thought that was a bit mundane, though he wisely kept it to himself.

Her knowing smile deepened, as if she'd read his thoughts.

"Anyway, sorry for interrupting. Please continue."

"Right." He nodded. "After Ziran Nushen appeared, she had the treants and humans join forces to protect both herself and Biyu while they completed some kind of ceremony."

"A guardian spirit bonding ceremony," Biyu clarified. "It was meant to bind her to my soul—she'd bolster my life energy and bleed away the fire qi that was slowly killing me. But neither of us expected my life energy to push her past her cultivation limits and cause her to ascend."

"We had to protect them while the ceremony was underway," Jin Shu said. "The battle went as well as any bloody battle could. None of our disciples died, thanks to the treants' sacrifices, but many were gravely injured. They would've died if not for the twin healers, Xiao Yi and Xiao Er."

He paused, remembering their courage, and made a mental note to ask Nurse Xi Yue to consider taking them as disciples.

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"After hours of brutal fighting against waves of mutated spiderlings with strange abilities, we finally killed the last of them. But just as we began to celebrate, two more broodmothers and a giant broodqueen tore through the forest."

He shuddered at the memory of those monstrous spiders trampling through the treeline.

"Even with the help of the ancient treant Xiang Mu, all seemed lost."

"But it wasn't, because you were there!" Li Xue said, grinning.

"Maybe…" He sighed. "It could've gone a lot worse, but luckily my experimental weapon worked… barely."

He pulled out the half-melted railgun.

"This thing—called a railgun—was built entirely on theory. It could've killed me as easily as it did the broodmothers. And even then, it couldn't kill the broodqueen… only injure her."

"Still, it was crazy watching you fight!" Li Xue said, throwing her hands up for emphasis. "You were like a lightning immortal, shooting out beams of pure lightning! And when you split the earth in half—insane!"

"Oh? Lightning?" Liu Hua perked up. "I know a thing or two about lightning. Maybe I could get one?"

"No." Jin Shu shut that down immediately. He wasn't even sure he should let her have bullets for the weapon he'd already made her—let alone something like a railgun.

He continued his story, ignoring her interruption.

"I managed to kill the first two broodmothers easily—they didn't even have the chance to birth another swarm. But the broodqueen… she was too strong. Even Xiang Mu was useless against her. All my railgun did was knock her flying and send her into a frenzy."

Sliding the railgun back into his earring, he thought briefly about its defects and how he'd fix them later.

"Then, a demonic cultist appeared, turning an already perilous situation into something completely unsalvageable."

"Ugly bastard!" Li Xue blurted.

"He was ugly," Jin Shu agreed.

"No. Well, yes, but that was his name."

"Oh… right. It did sound like that. Chou Hundan."

"Was it a man with a spiderweb design on his face?" Liu Hua asked.

"He was. Do you know him?" Jin Shu asked in return.

She shook her head. "No, but I've heard of him. He had a reputation for carving spiderwebs into his victims' faces before burning them alive."

"Well, he didn't carve anything into us," Jin Shu said, "but he certainly tried, and nearly succeeded in cooking us."

"You don't look cooked to me," Liu Hua replied, glancing over their bodies.

"We have the goddess to thank for that," he said. "She appeared at the last moment and saved us. Even healed all our wounds. Her healing was so powerful, it even restored the limbs some of the women had lost."

"So the goddess killed him?"

"Not exactly. She appeared while possessing Biyu's body and countered every one of his attacks. Even when he tried to drain the broodqueen's life force to boost his cultivation, she turned it around and drained his life instead. Then he tried some kind of desperate, self-sacrificial move—right before I shot him."

"So you killed him?"

"Yeah. I would've let the goddess finish it, but I didn't want it turning into one of those stories where the protagonist underestimates the enemy and loses something—or someone—because of it."

"The self-sacrificial move," Chen Ai Yun asked, her tone sharpening, "was it when he pierced his own heart with a strange dagger?"

"It was."

"Then you did well to end him before he could complete it," she said, nodding approvingly. "If you ever see a demonic cultist try that again, stop them at all costs."

"Why?"

"Because if you don't," she said grimly, "their death will summon a demonic creature."

"Like a demonic beast?" Li Xue asked.

"No. Worse—a creature from hell. Their power is unimaginable. The weakest are as strong as a peak Master Realm cultivator."

"During the last war," Feng Lian added quietly, "one was summoned with strength nearly equal to the Immortal Realm. That was how we lost over ninety percent of our sect's elders. Most died that day… and the few who survived are still barely holding on."

The mood grew somber.

"Speaking of demonic beasts…" Jin Shu began, attempting to shift the atmosphere. "What happened to Bai Wang? I haven't seen her since before we returned to the sect."

"She said she wanted to test out her new body and abilities," Biyu replied with a small shrug.

"Who's Bai Wang?" Sun Mei'er asked.

"My guardian spirit," Biyu answered.

Li Xue shuddered dramatically. "She was the broodqueen—until the goddess turned her into a cute little spirit beast."

Jin Shu blinked. That explained why Li Xue had been completely unbothered by Bai Wang's existence. Apparently being "cute" overrode even past experiences of giant spiders. He still couldn't understand how Li Xue's mind worked—but that was simply part of who she was. Irritating, in a way that somehow made it impossible to dislike her.

The ones who hadn't been with them in the forest exchanged baffled looks at Biyu's mention of a spirit beast serving as a guardian spirit.

Noticing, Biyu addressed it directly.

"Normally, a guardian spirit is an elemental spirit that forms a soul-link with a cultivator. In my case, the spirit who was meant to bond with me ascended to a higher realm before completing the bond. That should have left me without a guardian spirit and permanently stuck at the first stage of the Spirit Realm."

She paused.

"But Ziran used the last of her time in my body to give Bai Wang a rebirth while linking her to my soul."

Feng Lian nodded slowly, thinking aloud. "She must have transferred the remaining fire qi from your body into Bai Wang while infusing her with an excess of life energy. Combine both with even a trace of higher realm immortal qi… and a new lifeform would indeed emerge."

"I don't know the exact details," Biyu admitted, "but that seems consistent with what happened. Bai Wang should be back soon."

She glanced down the mountain path. Someone was approaching—but it was not Bai Wang.