From a loser to an immortal sage

Chapter 528 Fragments of Truth

The crystal felt intensely hot in my palm; I squeezed it so hard my knuckles turned white, and the texture of the lines flowing under my skin felt just like the black silk wrapped around a six-petaled flower in my dream.

A mountain breeze blew in from outside the tent, making the candlelight crackle. The warm yellow light rippled with a deep blue light on the surface of the crystal, as if it were glowing on its own.

"Yaoyao."

Wen Chen's voice came from behind him, sounding somewhat hoarse.

His hand rested on my shoulder, the warmth of his palm seeping through the rough linen sleeves. Only then did I realize that I had been trembling ever since I entered the tent—not from the cold, but a kind of shiver that seeped up from my very bones, like a fine needle drilling into the cracks of my bones.

"Are you afraid?" He crouched down to meet my gaze, the fine lines at the corners of his eyes stretched long by the candlelight. "Ever since we left the Blood Fiend Palace, you've always been staring blankly at the Shadow Crystal in the middle of the night."

Looking into the concern in his eyes, my throat suddenly tightened.

Three months ago, when I picked up the Shadow Crystal in the Blood Fiend Palace, it throbbed like a living thing in my palm, which I thought was just a coincidence. Later, I kept seeing six-petaled flowers in my dreams, and the patterns on the petals were exactly the same as the engravings on the surface of the Shadow Crystal. Then, when that wisp of black energy wrapped around my wrist, I clearly smelled a faint, sweet, and fishy smell from the Shadow Crystal—it wasn't a coincidence after all; it was guiding me to find my way.

"If I truly am the destined one..." I stared down at the shadow crystal, my nails digging deep into my palms, "Then who am I?"

The curtain was suddenly pulled open, and a cold wind carrying the scent of pine rushed in.

I looked up and saw the ethereal immortal standing at the entrance of the tent. His robe was still stained with specks of mud, and he was holding a yellowed ancient scroll in his hand. The edges of the pages were charred, as if it had been snatched from a fire.

“This is a fragment I found in the ruins of Guixu a thousand years ago.” He walked over, the ancient scroll crackling as it was unfurled. “It records the conditions for ‘Dual Crystal Resonance’—the host must possess a ‘Chaotic Spiritual Root’.” His gaze fell on my face, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes suddenly tightening. “And this kind of physique hasn’t appeared since the Great Cataclysm of Antiquity.”

My blood rushed to my head with a "boom".

When I first transmigrated, I was laughed at as a "useless person with no spiritual roots" when I stood in front of the spirit testing stone. Later, I suddenly became able to use fire magic, and then I could use water, wood, thunder... all five elements of magic. I always thought it was a "mutation" brought about by transmigration, but now I think that the spirit testing stone did not react at the time, perhaps it was not because I had no spiritual roots, but because it could not detect them.

The shadow crystal vibrated even more rapidly in the palm of his hand, once, twice, as if echoing the words of the ethereal immortal.

Wen Chen's hand covered mine, and I realized that I had stood up without even realizing it. My fingertips dug deeply into the love knot on his wrist, leaving a white mark on the red rope.

"A chaotic spiritual root..." Wen Chen repeated softly, his thumb gently stroking the back of my trembling hand, "is it a physique capable of containing all spiritual energy?"

The ethereal immortal nodded, his withered fingers tracing a line of text on the ancient scroll: "The fragments say that those with chaotic spiritual roots are always accompanied by unusual phenomena at birth—either a rain of blood or a shift in the celestial orbits." He suddenly looked up at me, "On the day you were born, did you hear anything from anyone?"

My mind went blank for a moment.

In the original owner's memories, an old servant of the Xiao family once remarked, "The night the Third Miss was born, the moon was as red as if it had been soaked in blood, and even the old locust tree in the manor bloomed out of season." At the time, I thought it was just a rural ghost story, but now that I think about it...

"So Shadow Crystal chose me because I have a Chaos Spiritual Root?" My voice was hoarse. "And is that why Blood Fiend mentioned 'the true chosen one'?"

"Most likely." The ethereal immortal pushed the ancient scroll in front of me. On the yellowed pages were small characters written in cinnabar: "When twin crystals appear, chaos emerges; the balance of heaven and earth is broken from this."

Footsteps suddenly sounded outside the tent, and Elder Qingfeng's voice came through the tent flap: "Immortal Venerable Wen, Miss Xiao, is it convenient for you to say a few words?"

I looked up and saw Wen Chen staring at me, his eyes surging with an undercurrent I had never seen before—worry, heartache, and even more so, a kind of almost stubborn determination.

He gently smoothed my hair, which had been ruffled by the mountain wind, and whispered, "No matter who you are, you'll always be my Yao Yao."

A corner of the tent flap was lifted, and Elder Qingfeng's white beard swayed in the wind. He clutched a jade tablet engraved with runes in his hand, his gaze sweeping over the shadow crystal in my palm: "This old servant was just pondering whether we could use the 'Spirit Vein Detection Technique'..."

The Shadow Crystal felt almost burning hot in my palm. Looking at the jade tablet in Elder Qingfeng's hand, I suddenly remembered the day the original owner underwent spirit testing; the spirit-testing stone had also emitted a similar white light—except then it was silent and lifeless, but now…

“Okay.” I took a deep breath and placed the Shadow Crystal into Wen Chen’s hand. “Let’s try it now.”

Wen Chen pressed my hand on the back of my hand, then turned and nodded to Elder Qingfeng.

The moonlight streamed in from outside the tent, making the patterns on the surface of the crystal seem to flow like life, and I could hear my heart pounding like a drum—I had been waiting for this day for far too long.

Elder Qingfeng's jade tablet glowed with a faint blue light under the candlelight. His withered fingers traced the runes on the tablet, and his voice was filled with excitement: "The Spirit Vein Detection Technique requires the spiritual power of an Immortal Venerable as a guide in order to reveal the true nature of the spiritual roots hidden in the meridians."

Miss Xiao, please sit cross-legged.

I sat down as instructed, my knees pressing against the rough animal hide cushion, where I could smell the scent of aged pine resin mixed with earth.

Wen Chen knelt down opposite me, her black wide sleeves cascading down like a waterfall, the love knot on her wrist brushing against the back of my hand—it was one I had braided myself, the red string had faded to a light pink, but at this moment it made me feel more at ease than ever before.

"Will it hurt?" I heard myself ask, my voice trembling at the end.

Wen Chen reached out and brushed the stray hairs from my forehead, his fingertips brushing against my burning earlobe. "It feels like soaking in a hot spring." His eyes sparkled. "If you feel any discomfort, I'll stop immediately."

Elder Qingfeng took a half step back, and the jade tablet glowed white; Ziling gripped the hem of my clothes, her nails almost digging into my flesh; the ethereal immortal walked around to my side with his hands behind his back, his gaze seemingly trying to pierce through my skin.

Wen Chen's palm touched my dantian, and when the first wisp of spiritual energy surged in, I shivered—not from heat, but from a refreshing coolness, like melting snow in early spring spreading across the ice.

The coolness traveled up the meridians, passing through the Tanzhong point and the Quchi point, swirling around the elbow tip before suddenly exploding with a "boom".

A golden light suddenly appeared before my eyes.

I can see my own meridians.

Within the pale blue veins, where there should have been no space, seven orbs of light—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple—are now surging. Each orb moves like a living creature, sparking tiny fragments of light as it collidees with the Tanzhong acupoint.

The brightest spot in the very center was a chaotic gray, like a crushed star, absorbing and expelling the seven colors of light, forming a tiny vortex.

"Seven...seven kinds of spiritual power!" Zi Ling's voice trembled with tears as her hand slid from the hem of my clothes to my wrist. "Yao Yao, look, that gray thing...it's the Chaos Spiritual Root absorbing and releasing spiritual energy!"

Elder Qingfeng's beard trembled violently, and he didn't even notice the jade tablet clattering to the ground: "I've lived for three hundred years, and this is the first time I've seen such a spiritual vein... No wonder the spirit-testing stone was silent; how could ordinary magical artifacts contain chaotic energy?"

The ethereal immortal's finger almost touched my forehead; his Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice was hoarse: "The condition for the twin crystal resonance... actually applies to you."

I stared at my glowing palms and suddenly remembered the scene when I knelt before the spirit-testing stone when I first transmigrated.

At that time, the spirit stone didn't budge, and my fellow disciples' sneers pierced my ears like needles; later, I secretly practiced fire techniques in the woodshed, and when I was discovered, the charcoal brazier I kicked over burned half of my clothes; still later, in the Blood Fiend Palace, I rolled around in a pile of corpses while holding the Shadow Crystal, and when Wen Chen found me, the blood and tears on my face had frozen into ice.

It turns out I wasn't a good-for-nothing; it was just that this body held a secret that even heaven and earth dared not easily reveal.

"So that's why I can use five elemental spells simultaneously," I murmured, tears suddenly falling, "that I could withstand three tribulations of lightning in the secret realm, that I could make the Shadow Crystal recognize me as its master... Is it all because of this?"

"Yes." Wen Chen wiped away my tears with his thumb. His spiritual energy was still flowing within me, but now it felt as light as a feather. "The Chaos Spiritual Root can absorb all spiritual energy, and in dire situations, it will unleash its potential—you were meant to be the sharpest sword."

Suddenly, a loud crash came from outside the tent, as if someone had knocked over a copper basin.

Senior Brother Lin's voice boomed in immediately after, trembling with sobs: "Miss Xiao!"

Immortal Venerable Wen!

A message came from the outer sect saying that the rift in the sky behind the Cangwu Sect had suddenly cracked open by three inches!

Disciples from the Xuanbing Sect and Hundred Flowers Valley also reported seeing black lines rising on the horizon, like...like a torn piece of cloth!

I looked up abruptly. Senior Brother Lin's face was as white as paper in the candlelight, and the communication jade talisman at his waist was still hot, hissing and emitting blue smoke.

Zi Ling jumped up, making the teacups on the table clink: "Strange phenomenon in the heavens?"

Isn't that a node from the ancient seal?

"Yes." The ethereal immortal's robe was lifted by the wind, and he suddenly grabbed my wrist, his fingertips as cold as ice. "Someone is breaking the seal."

They can't wait any longer; they want to get there before you fully awaken...

"boom--"

A muffled rumble like thunder came from outside the tent, and I could see an eerie purple hue in the distant sky even through the tent flap.

Wen Chen had already stood up, his sword whistling as it was drawn half an inch from its sheath, his black robes fluttering in the wind: "Yao Yao, you..."

“Summon all disciples,” I interrupted him, my voice more steady than I had imagined.

As the chaotic spiritual root surged within my body, I suddenly heard the shadow crystal vibrating in Wen Chen's sleeve, its frequency exactly matching my heartbeat.

Zi Ling had already grabbed the command flag on the table. When Elder Qing Feng bent down to pick up the jade tablet, I saw a fighting spirit burning in his eyes.

Senior Brother Lin wiped the sweat from his face, turned around and ran out of the tent, but his steps were more steady than when he came in—he knew that there was something he had to protect now.

Wen Chen placed his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me closer to his arms.

The distant thunder grew closer, and as I pressed my face against his chest, I heard him say, "I'm here."

As I gazed at the swirling purple mist outside the tent, I suddenly smiled.

The real storm was brewing.

But this time, I'm no longer a loser hiding in a corner.

I am the one who wields the sword.