Cheng Xueyi could have guessed what Shen Nanyin was thinking about while staring at her without even trying.
She’d known before coming down that the Heartless Spring water couldn’t hurt her, and she’d already thought up a reason to explain it.
“Eldest Senior Brother, this spring water has been tainted by demonic energy. It’s lost its original effect.” She said it with a completely straight face. “We should hurry down. There’s no telling how long this whirlpool will hold.”
The demonic energy had steeped the spring water until it turned murky and foul, no longer able to scorch those who carried love and desire within them. It was an entirely reasonable, perfectly legitimate explanation.
Shen Nanyin’s expression stayed calm, showing no trace of suspicion, his manner still gentle. Hearing this, he withdrew his gaze and used his spiritual energy to carve open a passage for her, leading her down to sink to the bottom of the pool together.
Cheng Xueyi followed close behind. Once all three had vanished, the Crimson Tower sword trailed after them, and the Heartless Spring water settled back into stillness, as if nothing had happened at all.
The water below was pitch black, with no air to breathe. The drowning sensation brought back memories of the last time she’d fallen into the Watersprite’s sea of blood.
Shen Nanyin followed behind Cheng Xueyi, watching her twist and stretch through the water with ease. The only light down here was the Crimson Tower sword — both Fu Xiaoran, who was clearing the way up front, and Cheng Xueyi relied on it.
The darkness at the bottom of the Heartless Spring wasn’t like the darkness on land above — it wasn’t something that could simply be broken through with deep cultivation. Even Shen Nanyin found his vision somewhat blurred.
The sword’s glow was bright but wavered unsteadily, flickering between strong and weak. Cheng Xueyi looked back and, in the flickering light, saw Shen Nanyin’s eyes — deep, calm. He held the sword in one hand, gaze sweeping their surroundings, occasionally sweeping the sword to brush away demonic energy that drew too close, which was why the sword’s glow kept flickering.
Fu Xiaoran ahead, Shen Nanyin behind, and Cheng Xueyi sandwiched safely in between — utterly, completely safe.
She was quite satisfied with the current arrangement. She glanced back once, then kept swimming forward. After a few quick strokes, holding her breath, she grabbed the hem of Fu Xiaoran’s robe and yanked him backward. Seeing the faint scorch marks on his face, she couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.
Fu Xiaoran had no thought to spare for his own injuries. Having witnessed the state of things at the bottom of the Heartless Spring, all he could think about was finding his sister immediately, then going to demand an explanation for who exactly had gone mad and caused this chaos.
He knit his brows and looked toward Cheng Xueyi. Seeing her point in a direction underwater, he swam that way without a second thought.
…He trusted her that much?
If she’d pointed him in the wrong direction and sent him to his death, he really would have died.
What good fortune you have, Fu Xiaoran, running into her today of all days. Today she wasn’t playing demoness — today she was playing the soft-hearted deity.
Cheng Xueyi blew a stream of bubbles and smiled a little. Fu Xiaoran turned back to check on her just in time to catch that smile, and in the next instant saw her kick off and close the distance toward him, grabbing his arm and, still blowing bubbles, hauling him toward a tricky angle.
They were in no danger at all, since Shen Nanyin brought up the rear behind them — all they needed to do was find the right direction and reach the source of the demonic energy.
It had been quite a while since they’d dropped down. All three were holding their breath, each silently competing over who could last longer.
Of the three, Cheng Xueyi’s cultivation was the lowest. Her breath should have run out first.
In the sea of blood where the Watersprite had rampaged, she’d chosen to steal Shen Nanyin’s breath. So what about now?
She was with Fu Xiaoran now — if she needed air, there wouldn’t be time to go find Shen Nanyin.
Shen Nanyin drove away every wisp of demonic energy that coiled toward him, the Ice Heart Sword Intent freezing and shattering all the demonic energy around him.
The sight looked strange underwater — his movements weren’t slowed by the water in the slightest, his speed just as fast as it would be on land. The direction Fu Xiaoran and Cheng Xueyi were swimming was exactly the direction he wanted them to go; from his angle, no one could tell who had actually chosen it. — black lotus Translations · Black Lotus
Shen Nanyin was just about to catch up when he suddenly saw the two ahead get knocked back by some enormous force — a powerful current burst through the water, instantly sweeping away all three of their breaths.
Fu Xiaoran reached out and grabbed Cheng Xueyi, keeping her from being flung farther away. Both of them had their hair knocked loose and looked thoroughly bedraggled — compared to Shen Nanyin, who swam up against the current with his composure intact, they looked like a pair of half-drowned dogs that had just taken a beating.
Shen Nanyin was affected by the current too, but he held his sword and kept his footing without being knocked back, even managing to force his way over to them.
He tossed a hand seal to each of them, and in an instant, both Fu Xiaoran and Cheng Xueyi could breathe again.
This was exactly what he’d meant to do for Cheng Xueyi back in the Watersprite’s sea.
He’d certainly had a way to keep her from drowning back then — but at the time, she’d chosen a different method.
Shen Nanyin didn’t so much as glance at Cheng Xueyi, but Cheng Xueyi couldn’t help but look at him.
She noticed that he’d let both her and Fu Xiaoran breathe — but hadn’t helped himself.
His throat, his chest, showed no sign of rising or falling. Bubbles clearly rose at the corner of his lips, yet he’d rather keep holding his breath than use the same technique on himself.
Fu Xiaoran, his mind on his sister, hadn’t noticed such details at all, and was still gesturing to Shen Nanyin about the problem that had appeared up ahead.
Now that he couldn’t lead the way anymore, since he couldn’t handle it, it fell to Shen Nanyin.
Shen Nanyin moved naturally from the back to the front, still holding his own breath, his movements graceful and unhurried, methodical — showing no sign at all of being on the verge of suffocating.
Cheng Xueyi couldn’t help but marvel at this. What kind of willpower did that take?
But there was no need for it, was there?
He could have simply not suffered — so why force himself to?
What exactly was Shen Nanyin trying to prove?
Shen Nanyin wasn’t trying to prove anything at all.
His mind was perfectly calm.
He walked ahead, confirmed the other two were keeping up, then forced open a gap against the current that kept trying to fling away anything living that drew near, leading them through into this separate space.
The instant they entered, Cheng Xueyi had only one feeling.
She felt as though she’d returned to Heart-Devouring Valley.
The wind howled, the temperature plummeted, and Xueyi, still damp with water, instantly froze over.
She was the one who feared cold the most. The Fire Spirit Dragon Pill in her body had only just fused, and she hadn’t gotten a single full day of proper cultivation before coming here — she simply couldn’t withstand wind and snow like this.
She stared stiffly at the white breath she exhaled, patiently waiting a few breaths, and sure enough, the chill receded — Shen Nanyin had melted it all away for her.
Once he’d helped her, he immediately went to help Fu Xiaoran, who could withstand a bit more on his own and was in relatively better shape.
With both of them rescued, Shen Nanyin knelt on one knee off to the side, reaching up to tap his own chest twice.
Sealing off some acupoint?
Cheng Xueyi couldn’t help but ask, “Eldest Senior Brother, are you injured?”
Shen Nanyin faced the matter alone, his long hair falling from his shoulders, blocking others’ prying eyes.
He furrowed his brow, breathed out softly, the frost on his face receding, and swept out a flourish of sword-light to set up a barrier around the three of them, blocking out the freezing wind.
Once that was done, he exhaled again, pressing a hand firmly to his chest, suppressing the dull ache within.
His serious injuries hadn’t healed, and now he had to lead the other two while pushing through both current and freezing wind — it was no wonder some old wounds had flared back up.
But none of that mattered. It wouldn’t hinder his ability to fight, much less affect the outcome he’d already set for today.
He slowly stood, his expression calm as he turned back around, lowering his eyes to look over the other two.
Aside from the frostbite from the wind and snow, Fu Xiaoran also bore some burns left by the Heartless Spring water — not too severe, but his complexion wasn’t good. He seemed not to understand why he’d been affected at all, and was busy tending to his injuries.
As for Cheng Xueyi.
Her cheeks were smooth, her lips rosy, her bright, lively eyes sweeping her surroundings with focus — not a single problem in sight.
Shen Nanyin slowly reached up to his own neck, using his spiritual energy to gradually cover and conceal the burns spreading across his entire back and chest.
Once he’d finished all this, Cheng Xueyi ran up in front of him and said, “Eldest Senior Brother, there’s only one path here.”
Yes, only one path — he’d already seen it long ago.
“Then we have no choice but to take it.”
There wasn’t even a cliff edge to pick between — the underwater world’s singular passage left only this one option.
Shen Nanyin’s voice was steady and even, his pace of speech not particularly fast, even carrying a faint hoarseness at the tail end. By rights it should have sounded warm and approachable, yet Cheng Xueyi inexplicably felt a shiver run through her for a moment.
She observed him without a trace, noting that his gaze had landed on Fu Xiaoran, who was tending his wounds, and immediately thought of the matter of the Heartless Spring water.
She’d noticed underwater that something seemed off with Fu Xiaoran too.
Harboring some concern, and having gotten a read on Fu Xiaoran’s personality, she made a point of asking him, “Saint Son, why does it look like you got hurt by the Heartless Spring water? That water’s been tainted by demonic energy — it should have lost its effect ages ago. I’m perfectly fine.” B L A C K L O T U S N O V E L
“And even if it hadn’t lost its effect, you shouldn’t have been hurt by it either, Saint Son.”
Her matter-of-fact tone made it hard for Fu Xiaoran to admit that he really had been burned.
As if admitting it would get him mocked.
So, his expression shifting unpredictably, he denied it: “Who told you I was hurt by the spring water? It was that burst of current that injured me. I was at the very front at the time — it had nothing to do with the spring water. The water’s obviously lost its effect.”
Cheng Xueyi glanced toward Shen Nanyin without a trace, hoping this meant he wouldn’t dwell on the matter anymore.
As for whether Shen Nanyin himself might have been burned by the spring water — that was a question she hadn’t worried about in the slightest.
Who was Shen Nanyin, after all? He was the impossible tyrant who, even after she’d exhausted every trick in the book, still remained utterly, movingly unmoved and rejected her outright.
A heart of iron, a will like stone — of course he wouldn’t be the one to get burned by the spring water, would he?
Besides, he probably didn’t mind all that much that she hadn’t been burned either — that was good news for him, if anything.
At most, this would make him suspect that since she hadn’t been moved by desire and hadn’t been burned by the spring water, why she was still entangling herself with him so persistently — and just what her real goal was.
She couldn’t let him think about that too much.
Sure enough, Shen Nanyin didn’t press the matter further. He opened the barrier and walked ahead, leading them to that single passage.
The passage was spacious, its stone walls entirely frozen over with wind and snow. The deeper they went, the more familiar it felt to Cheng Xueyi.
She held her tongue and said nothing, but Fu Xiaoran spoke up hoarsely: “This place — why does it look so much like the rumored Heart-Devouring Valley?”
He asked Shen Nanyin, “Daoist Lord True Martial was in charge of the spirit-suppression rite at Heart-Devouring Valley, and personally went inside once himself — do you think the two places resemble each other?”
Shen Nanyin didn’t answer right away. He led them out of the passage, and looking at the scene that suddenly opened up before them, he finally answered, weighing each word carefully: “Identical.”
Truly identical.
Cheng Xueyi could vouch for that.
As a native of Heart-Devouring Valley, she had the most authority to speak on the matter.
Everything they saw after emerging from the ice-sealed passage — wasn’t it exactly the scene of Heart-Devouring Valley?
A town abruptly rising up on a snowy mountain of ice, houses and towers packed close together, streets and buildings all piled with snow, many places even built from ice itself — this was the place where she’d survived, day and night, through the first half of her life.
Standing beneath the ice-built city gates, no one took the initiative to step inside — not a single person could be seen within. Boundless demonic energy had taken physical form, its black-red afterglow permeating the air. Standing outside the gate tower was fine, but actually going in would surely mean being assailed by it.
“Could we have passed straight through from the bottom of the Heartless Spring beneath the Desireless Heavenly Palace, right into Heart-Devouring Valley?”
Fu Xiaoran said, disbelieving, “Daoist Lord, does what you saw last time you went to Heart-Devouring Valley differ at all from what’s in front of us now?”
If this were an illusory realm, it would surely differ from reality to some degree — and Shen Nanyin, having just been there, was best positioned to compare.
But standing out here, there was no way to make that comparison.
Shen Nanyin said, “I’ll go in and take a look. We’ll decide what to do once I’m back.”
No one had expected that going through would lead to Heart-Devouring Valley — a place where hordes of demons gathered. Even though they suffered daily under the spirit-suppression rite, the hordes of demons, though not themselves wielding demonic power, were still not to be underestimated.
“You’re going alone?”
Fu Xiaoran felt this wasn’t right. “Daoist Lord, your complexion isn’t good. I’ll go with you.”
Having help was certainly good, but leaving Cheng Xueyi here alone didn’t sit well with Shen Nanyin either.
Just as he was about to refuse, Cheng Xueyi said, “I’ll go too. Getting in here wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t especially hard either — this can’t possibly be the real Heart-Devouring Valley.”
The real Heart-Devouring Valley — aside from someone like Shen Nanyin who held mastery over it — no one could get in without losing a layer of skin.
When Fu Xiaoran had first gone looking for the Qiantian Sect, Shen Nanyin had told him to request a token from Jingci Fazong to enter Heart-Devouring Valley, precisely because the token’s power could protect him.
She’d nearly died on the road out of the valley herself — she absolutely didn’t believe that today, so easily, they’d simply walked straight into Heart-Devouring Valley itself.
Besides, arriving there would actually suit her purposes just fine — she could see what exactly had happened inside the valley, and whether Fuguang’s and her mother’s spirits were still alright.
Cheng Xueyi stepped forward directly, but this time Shen Nanyin seemed particularly insistent on not letting her go in, turning to block her path — and she ended up walking straight into his chest.
His chest was firm, warm, and broad. In the past, once Cheng Xueyi had bumped into him like this, she’d have clung on and refused to let go, shamelessly pestering him until he gave in.
Not this time.
Cheng Xueyi pulled back immediately, both arms raised, as if afraid of any close contact with him at all.
That kind of deliberate avoidance was obvious to anyone with eyes, and Fu Xiaoran saw it too — after seeing it, he started to wonder if he’d misjudged her. · Black Lotus Novel Chapters | Black Lotus Novel
Had she perhaps not entirely broken her promise after all?
There was a soft clatter — something fell from Shen Nanyin’s person. All three of them turned their gazes to the ground at once, seeing a plain wooden jewelry box that had struck the floor, its clasp knocked open, and out of it tumbled a pair of earrings, shimmering with iridescent light and carrying powerful defensive spiritual energy.
Fu Xiaoran’s breath caught, and he snapped his gaze toward Shen Nanyin — this was clearly something meant for a woman, and he’d been carrying it on his person.
He looked back at Cheng Xueyi’s expression — she was slightly lowering her head, her long lashes hiding whatever emotion lay in her eyes, impossible to read.
Shen Nanyin bent down and picked up the earrings, carefully wiping them clean, putting them back in the box, and stowing it in his qiankun pouch.
He looked at no one, unaffected by anyone’s scrutiny or attention, still as composed as a deity above the clouds — gentle, meticulous, master of the situation, utterly flawless.
“No need to argue about it.” He said only this, and then his eyes suddenly sharpened. “They’re here.”
Cheng Xueyi had been right — this journey of theirs, though it had held some danger, hadn’t been especially difficult, not even as perilous as Wangmu Mountain had been.
Standing here now, it seemed as though they’d chosen this path themselves, but it felt more like they’d been lured here — turtles caught in a jar.
There was no need for them to keep arguing over who would go and who wouldn’t. The ground shook as they were struck, black energy condensing into howling, terrifying skeletons that swallowed all three of them whole.
Fu Xiaoran drew the Tongxin Sword right on cue, holy light condensing into countless golden swords, forcing back the surrounding black energy entirely.
He bit his finger, using the blood to summon his life-bound spirit companion — every cultivator of the Desireless Heavenly Palace had a unique spirit companion, one that could transform into some manner of spirit-creature, fighting enemies in their master’s place, wielding the master’s full power and holy light.
Cultivation at the Heavenly Palace meant cultivating one’s reserve of holy light. As Saint Son, Fu Xiaoran’s reserve of holy light within him was beyond estimation — at the very least, more than enough to handle the skeletons before them with ease.
Cheng Xueyi retreated and put her back against Shen Nanyin’s, guarding against any surprise attack.
Her weapon was just an ordinary spirit sword issued to outer-sect disciples by the Qiantian Sect — it looked rather out of place in a situation like this.
Shen Nanyin silently took her spirit sword and tossed it, without a second thought, into the black energy. Cheng Xueyi heard the crisp sound of blade cutting to the bone ring out beside her ear, and turned to look at the man behind her, seeing him hand her a spirit-brimming precious sword.
“This is the sword I used before I reached Foundation Establishment,” he said. “It’s called Qinghui. You can borrow it for now.”
Cheng Xueyi held the precious sword, carrying his lingering aura, in her hand, feeling the power within it. For an ordinary disciple, a sword this fine would have served a lifetime — but naturally, the eldest senior brother of the Qiantian Sect would have far better options available to him.
The sword’s name suited it well too — Qinghui, “clear radiance.” It matched him perfectly. Wherever he stood, no matter the circumstances, he pressed forward without hesitation, ever steady and upward, giving off an overwhelming sense of security — he was, in this darkness, a singular clear radiance all his own.
Cheng Xueyi’s throat felt a bit off. She couldn’t help coughing lightly, and mumbled, somewhat unclearly, “Eldest Senior Brother, are you unhappy?”
He hadn’t shown anything at all — no cold expression, no sharp words — yet Cheng Xueyi could sense that he was even more displeased than when Fu Xiaoran had angered him.
This kind of quiet anger, this calm coldness, was a hundred times more frightening than if he’d simply shown it outright.
Cheng Xueyi wasn’t afraid of the danger before them, but she felt unsettled over his unusual mood.
Shen Nanyin suddenly smiled — a soft, pleasant sound of laughter, gone in an instant. If Cheng Xueyi hadn’t been paying him such close attention, she never would have heard it at all.
“…Eldest Senior Brother, what are you laughing at?”
Shen Nanyin said slowly, “Answering your question.”
— Eldest Senior Brother, are you unhappy?
That had been her question.
Shen Nanyin had laughed — meaning, was he not unhappy?
“Junior Sister Cheng, hold on tight.”
Her waist suddenly tightened — a length of white silk wound entirely around her, pulling her toward him.
Shen Nanyin used the white silk to ensure she wouldn’t be swept away, while Cheng Xueyi still had both hands free, able to hold her sword or grip the silk to keep herself secure.
She suddenly recalled that, in the past, in a situation like this, he wouldn’t have used such a roundabout method — even if it meant overstepping propriety, urgency would have justified simply holding her, or making direct physical contact.
But not now.
The fierce wind bore down, and even Fu Xiaoran’s holy light couldn’t hold against it. All three were swallowed by darkness, unable to see, able to sense only each other’s shapes and body warmth. Black Lotus novel Novel Reading — Black Lotus Novel
Cold sank into their bones, the space shifting at breakneck speed. When they came back to their senses, they found themselves shut separately inside specially made cages.
This cage was far too familiar. Cheng Xueyi’s eyelid twitched. Footsteps sounded in her ear, and she turned toward the sound to see a youth wrapped in a black cloak, his crimson robes billowing like blood.
Yu Fuguang.
…Was this place really Heart-Devouring Valley after all?
Her gaze flickered slightly, and in the instant her eyes met Yu Fuguang’s, all she saw within them was boundless unfamiliarity.
Something was wrong.
Even accounting for not wanting to expose her identity in front of Shen Nanyin, that look was far too distant. Since when had Fuguang’s acting gotten this good?
The scene reminded her of the first time she’d gone to the True Martial Training Ground to see Shen Nanyin.
Why did it seem like no one recognized anyone anymore??
Honestly, enough already.
New Glossary Terms No new terms.
