WDMJST 93

Chapter – 93

 Where Is My Heart-Linking Fruit?

[Su Ling’er: I’ll use the Heart-Linking Fruit to transmit part of the intelligence back to Qingxu Temple first, then let the Sect Master decide what to do.]

When Wang Xiedi heard this, his spirits lifted. At last, he felt he could be useful.

“Yes! Senior Sister!”

…

It was midnight. All was silent.

Senior Brother Lin Qingfeng had already finished his bath and returned to his cave dwelling—logging off to do something else.

After confirming that no one was around, Wang Xiedi quietly slipped out of his thatched hut and made his way to the ancient tree in the wilderness where they had agreed to meet.

Before long, a red figure descended silently before him.

It was Su Ling’er.

“The item?”

She got straight to the point, her voice carrying barely suppressed urgency.

This was her only key to escaping this living hell.
Her only chance to warn the world of the demonic sect’s existence in advance.

Wang Xiedi nodded quickly and reached into his robes to retrieve the jade box containing the “Heart-Linking Fruit.”

But after fumbling around for quite some time, he found nothing in his robes—aside from his gleaming heart-protecting mirror.

???

“Huh?”

What was going on?

His expression froze.

Seeing his reaction, the ominous premonition in Su Ling’er’s heart swelled instantly to its peak.

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t tell me you lost it!!!”

“N-no, nothing, Senior Sister… maybe I put it somewhere else.”

Wang Xiedi forced a dry laugh. Cold sweat began to bead on his forehead. He frantically searched himself—from his sleeves to his belt—he even took off his boots and shook them upside down.

Nothing.

The jade box… was gone.

The fruit was gone too.

H-how could this be?!

He had kept it on his person the entire time. How could it just disappear into thin air?!

Watching him scramble in a panic, drenched in cold sweat, Su Ling’er felt her heart plunge into an icy abyss.

“Wang Xiedi, don’t tell me you really lost something this important!!!”

“Senior Sister, I… I truly don’t know! I kept it on me the whole time—how could it be gone?”

It was over.

Their last hope… shattered.

All her strength seemed to drain away. Darkness clouded her vision; she nearly lost her footing and had to brace herself against the tree.

I can’t get out…

I’m going to be forged into a flying sword…

I’ll be trapped in this demonic pit for the rest of my life…

Rage and despair intertwined within her. She whipped around, her bloodshot eyes—red from sleepless nights and mounting pressure—fixing on Wang Xiedi.

She wanted to scold him.
To interrogate him.
To pry open his skull and see whether it was filled with straw!

How could the Sect Master have sent someone like this… this fool…

But when she saw his tearful, on-the-verge-of-crying face, her anger subsided somewhat, turning instead into a deeper sense of helplessness.

What good would it do to curse him?

We… we’re both just pitiful souls thrown into this hell.

“Don’t panic…”

Su Ling’er took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

“Think carefully. From the moment we entered the sect until now—what happened? Was there… anything strange?”

Stunned by her sudden composure, Wang Xiedi tried hard to recall.

Suddenly, he slapped his thigh.

“Senior Sister! I remember!”

“At the Spirit Beast Garden!”

“There’s that disciple named Yan Buliu—he was tossing a red fruit in his hand. I thought it looked familiar at the time!”

Yan Buliu!

He also recalled the earlier conversation between Senior Brother and Yan Buliu—something about “obtaining a rather good spirit fruit” and “this mountain man has his own clever method.”

And considering how Yan Buliu had once dared to make a move against Elder Qian—and successfully stolen the elder’s socks…

And how Wang Xiedi had spotted that very figure at the mountain gate when picking up the junior disciple…

It wasn’t “impossible.”

It was very possible.

As all the clues linked together, a terrifying truth began to surface.

That spirit fruit was, nine times out of ten, the Heart-Linking Fruit!

And the stolen Heart-Linking Fruit had very likely already been sold to Wang Xian of the Beast-Taming Pavilion!

But why would he steal a junior disciple’s spirit fruit?

Was it just itchy fingers?

No.

This was Gui Xi Sect!

A demonic den!

Here, behind every seemingly reasonable explanation lay a deeper, darker logic.

“Not theft…”

“This might not be simple theft…”

“I understand now!”

“It’s hunting! From the very beginning, we were his prey!”

“H-hunting?” Wang Xiedi was completely bewildered.

“That’s right!”

“When I first entered the sect, I saw this person! Right in front of me, he stole a pair of… socks… from the Transmission Elder!”

“Socks?”

“Yes! Socks!”

“At the time, I thought he was just eccentric. Now I understand!”

“It wasn’t about stealing at all! It was a show of force! A declaration!”

She grabbed Wang Xiedi’s shoulders, lowered her voice, and spoke rapidly:

“He was telling me—and perhaps telling all newcomers like us—‘Look closely. Even an elder’s personal belongings are mine for the taking. As for the pitiful possessions you carry, they’re nothing but things I can seize at will!’”

Wang Xiedi was completely stunned by this earth-shattering analysis.

“He… he must have recently cultivated some kind of evil technique!”

Su Ling’er’s eyes were filled with dread.

“A technique that can detect the radiance of treasures!

When we entered the sect, he was near the mountain gate!

At that moment, he must have swept each of us with his evil art!

The Heart-Linking Fruit was the most valuable treasure on you. The spiritual glow it emitted marked you as his prey the moment you stepped into the sect!”

Wang Xiedi shuddered and instinctively touched his heart-protecting mirror.

“So… he didn’t just happen to run into us… he specifically came to take my Heart-Linking Fruit?”

“Exactly.”

“They think we’ve reached the end of the road. That is precisely our opportunity!”

“Yan Buliu said the fruit required ‘secondary cultivation,’ which means he hasn’t used it himself. He intends to sell it to Wang Xian of the Beast-Taming Pavilion!”

Her gaze turned toward the Spirit Beast Garden.

The Spirit Beast Garden. The Beast-Taming Pavilion.

Although Su Ling’er had wandered through the garden before, she had never ventured deep into the core areas like the Beast-Taming Pavilion. She had no idea what kind of dragon’s lair or tiger’s den awaited inside.

But now, it seemed unavoidable.

Her eyes grew solemn.

“It’s late. Though the sect appears quiet, danger lurks everywhere.”

“We must rest and recover tonight. Tomorrow, we make our move.”

…

That night, Wang Xiedi tossed and turned in his thatched hut—nervous about the heavy responsibility he was about to shoulder… yet feeling a trace of secret excitement.

Meanwhile, in her small bamboo loft, Su Ling’er did not sleep at all.

She gazed at the lone moon outside the window, her heart filled with worry and resolve.

To escape this place.
To expose the truth.
For all the people under heaven… and for her own unwillingness to let her path to immortality end here.

This time—

No matter what—

They had to succeed.