novelapdf Chapter 11 Thorn Ridge
Chapter 11 Thorn Ridge
The evening breeze subsided, the stars and moon hung high, and before we knew it, it was midnight.
Steam rises from the Cleansing Spring, and the graceful figure of Teng San Niang appears and disappears.
Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, as if she were enduring the pain of cleansing her magical powers.
The water-shaped form by the spring has become a sculpture, and Lu Changgeng is wholeheartedly absorbing its nourishment.
Now, as long as the person soaking in the spring has given him magical power in return, Lu Changgeng can absorb magical power from the spring water at any time.
This is not a practice of sexual exploitation, but rather a cooperative and mutually beneficial method of dual cultivation.
The Iron-Bone King had already fallen into a deep sleep on the large rock, snoring loudly.
Fortunately, Lu Changgeng casually cast a purification spell, limiting the snoring to within a foot of Iron Bone King, thus preventing it from affecting the seven little spiders who were also cultivating.
On the third day, the spring gushed forth, and a new bounty was given.
Lu Changgeng was greatly surprised; this time it was a fragment of memory.
It's not a complete memory, but a very clear fragment.
Amidst the vast mountains, a towering peak pierces the clouds, its summit shrouded in mist, where countless ancient trees reach for the sky and vines hang in the air.
The mountains are overgrown with thorns and brambles, their tendrils blocking out the sky.
On one of the ridges, there was an ordinary wisteria growing on a remote cliff in the northwest corner, which was ignored and undisturbed for many years.
Many years later, one day a small white flower suddenly bloomed. The flower had a very faint fragrance, but it attracted a butterfly.
It seems that the wisteria vine is Teng San Niang.
The butterfly stayed on her petals for three days and three nights, and during those three days she sensed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for the first time.
Later she learned that the butterfly was a butterfly demon about to undergo tribulation, and the spiritual energy emanating from its body permeated her body, causing her to awaken her intelligence ahead of schedule.
However, the butterfly demon failed to transcend her tribulation and her soul was scattered.
She clung to life on the last bit of spiritual energy left by the butterfly, and it took her three hundred years to barely cultivate to the level of Qi Sensing.
It took another five hundred years before he reached the level of alchemy.
After the transformation, her intelligence truly matured, and she began to consciously cultivate herself, also learning that the place where she was born was called Thorn Ridge.
There are many spirits on this Thorn Ridge, but most of them act independently and ignore each other.
Until one day, an old man with white hair appeared in front of her.
The old man called himself "Master Jinjie," the oldest bamboo on Thorn Ridge who had been cultivating for over three thousand years.
He recognized her potential, saying she possessed a rare "spiritual vine body" on Thorn Ridge, and that if she cultivated diligently, she would surely achieve great things in the future.
Overjoyed, she immediately accepted the offer of becoming a disciple.
My memory ends here.
Lu Changgeng frowned slightly.
Thorn Ridge.
He felt like he'd heard that name somewhere before.
He searched his mind for a moment, and then a flash of inspiration struck him.
Thorn Ridge! Wooden Immortal Temple!
Wasn't that one of the trials the pilgrims encountered on their journey in the original story?
There is a group of tree spirits on Thorn Ridge, including Eighteen Elders, Lonely Elder, Soaring Master, Cloud-Sweeping Elder, and Apricot Fairy.
Those tree spirits weren't very powerful, but they were quite refined. They asked the pilgrim to compose poems and couplets. Later, the apricot fairy wanted to marry the pilgrim, but in the end, Pigsy beat them all to death with his rake.
Was Teng San Niang from Thorn Ridge?
Lu Changgeng quickly calculated in his mind that the tree spirits on Thorn Ridge were all plant spirits, and Teng Sanniang was also a plant spirit, which made sense.
However, the original work did not mention a person named Teng San Niang from Thorn Ridge.
Moreover, the tree spirits of Thorn Ridge met tragic ends, each one more miserable than the last, all turned into rotten logs by Pigsy.
Lu Changgeng glanced at Teng Sanniang, who was cultivating in the spring, and his heart suddenly felt complicated.
I wonder why this Teng San Niang came out of the Thorn Ridge. The tree spirits of the Thorn Ridge are refined people, and they probably look down on a vulgar monster like the Iron Bone King.
On the fourth day, what returned was a complete spell.
"The Secret of the Heavenly Vine Lock".
This is Teng San Niang's signature skill: using her own vines as a guide, she weaves the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into invisible chains that can lock people, demons, spirits, and magic.
Those who have reached the pinnacle of their cultivation can even lock down the flow of spiritual energy in a region, creating a blessed land.
This supernatural power is somewhat similar to the "Weaving Clouds Technique" that Lu Changgeng learned from the Seven Fairies, but the "Weaving Clouds Technique" focuses on weaving clouds into clothing, setting up formations, and trapping enemies, while the "Wisteria Locking Heaven Technique" focuses more on directly blocking the opponent's magic power.
Lu Changgeng quickly grasped the spell by relying on Teng Sanniang's cultivation insights. Although his spell was not as exquisite as Teng Sanniang's when he used it with his peak Nascent Soul cultivation, it was more powerful due to his abundant magical power.
-
As the sun sets and the moon rises, on the fifth day, another memory is given back.
In late autumn at Thorn Ridge, the moonlight was cold and clear.
There is a bamboo forest on the ridge. The bamboo is green all over, tall and straight, and the moonlight shines through the bamboo leaves, casting dappled light and shadow.
Deep within the bamboo forest stands a bamboo hut, from which the sound of poetry being recited can be heard.
"Look at the bend of the Qi River, where green bamboos grow luxuriantly."
"A gentleman of noble character is like jade being cut and polished, like stone being carved and refined."
"..."
Teng San Niang stood cautiously at the door of the bamboo house, holding a cup of tea.
She was only partially human at this moment, with light green patterns on her arms, slender fingers like vines, and long, dark green hair that reached her waist, with a few tiny white flowers blooming at the ends.
She claimed to be a disciple of Master Jingjie, but in reality, she was just a page, responsible for brewing tea, sweeping leaves, and tending to flowers and plants.
Tonight, Master Jingjie is composing poems with several old friends, and she is ordered to serve him.
Three elderly men were sitting inside the room.
The man in the center had white hair and beard, a gaunt face, and no trace of demonic aura; he looked like an old scholar from the mortal world. This was the Resolute Elder, whose true form was an old bamboo that had cultivated for over three thousand years.
The old man on the left is short and stout with a ruddy complexion and a cheerful smile. He is known as the Eighteenth Elder, whose true form is an old pine tree.
The old man on the right is thin and sallow-faced, and never smiles. He is Gu Zhigong, whose true form is an old cypress tree.
The three people are discussing several volumes of poetry.
Teng San Niang brought in the tea, arranged the teacups one by one, and then retreated to a corner with her hands at her sides.
Her gaze inadvertently swept over the poetry books on the table; the paper was yellowed, the ink was ancient, and they looked quite old.
One of the books was open and spread out on the table, the handwriting flowing gracefully.
Teng San Niang was illiterate and couldn't understand what was written on it, but she thought the characters were very beautiful.
As she left, her sleeve accidentally brushed against the corner of the table.
The rolled-up book of poems slipped to the ground and landed right in a copper basin next to it. The basin was half-filled with water—the water she had just used to wash her brushes.
"Oh no!"
Teng San Niang's heart tightened, and she quickly bent down to pick it up.
But the paper softens when wet, and in her panic, she used too much force, her fingertips piercing the page. With a "rip," the page of poetry was torn open.
The room fell silent instantly.
Jingjie Gong lowered his head and looked at the soaked, torn book of poems on the ground.
His face went from rosy to ashen, then to deathly pale, finally settling on an expression that Teng San Niang had never seen before—an expression of extreme anger that was strangely calm.
"Do you know what this is?" Jingjie Gong's voice was very soft, as soft as a bamboo leaf falling to the ground.
Teng San Niang knelt on the ground, trembling all over: "Disciple...disciple does not know..."
"This is a poem manuscript written by Qu Yuan himself," said the Venerable Jingjie, emphasizing each word. "I spent countless efforts to collect it from the East; this is the only copy in the entire Three Realms."
The Eighteenth Duke and the Lonely Duke exchanged a glance and remained silent.
Teng San Niang's mind went blank. She didn't know who Qu Zi was, but she knew her master was angry.
"This disciple deserves to die! This disciple deserves to die!" She kowtowed desperately, her forehead hitting the bamboo floor with a thud.
Jingjie Gong stood up, walked up to her, and looked down at her.
"You can't read, can you?" he suddenly asked, a completely unrelated question.
Teng San Niang was stunned and looked up at him.
Jingjie Gong's lips twitched slightly, as if he was suppressing some emotion: "Someone who can't read is not fit to stay on Thorn Ridge?"
Teng San Niang opened her mouth, as if to say something, but couldn't utter a word.
"Get out." That was the only word Jingjie Gong uttered.
"Master..."
"Get out of Thorn Ridge! From this day forward, never set foot here again!"