After Hong Chaoyang saw Ling Kong off and returned to the tea room, she found it empty. Shen Qing was nowhere to be seen.
She dispersed her spiritual sense to look for Shen Qing but discovered that Shen Qing had disappeared from the huge mansion. This really startled Hong Chaoyang, and she quickly summoned Xue Ling and Li Xian.
Li Xian closed his eyes and spread his spiritual sense across half of Shangjing in an attempt to find Shen Qing.
However hard the three of them searched, Shen Qing seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace.
Li Xian's face darkened instantly, and the darkness in his eyes was terrifying. Standing beside Li Xian, Xue Ling and Hong Chaoyang felt as if they were about to be crushed by his imposing manner the next second.
Xue Ling said timidly, "Li Xian, calm down..."
But the next second, the Silent Breath Sword appeared in Li Xian's hand.
Xue Ling was shocked and quickly grabbed Li Xian's arm. "Why did you summon the sword? What do you want to do?"
Gritting his teeth, Li Xian said, "I'm going to the Ling family!"
Xue Ling held onto Li Xian tightly and refused to let go. "What are you going to do at the Ling family? Do you think the people from the Ling family could have kidnapped Shen Qing?!"
Li Xian turned around and roared, "The last person Shen Qing met was the head of the Ling family. He's the prime suspect. Shouldn't I break into the Ling family?"
Xue Ling knew that Li Xian had lost his senses at the moment. She was on the verge of kneeling down to him. "If you want to go to the Ling family to ask for clues about Shen Qing, you can't go there with a sword in hand. Do you want to fight with the people from the Ling family?"
"Put the sword away. Don't be so impulsive. We don't even know if Shen Qing left on her own. If you cause trouble at the Ling family, Shen Qing will have to clean up the mess for you in the end. Calm down!"
Li Xian and Xue Ling stared at each other silently for a few seconds. Li Xian gradually regained his senses. Knowing that he had been impulsive just now, he put away the Silent Breath Sword.
"Okay, I'll put the sword away."
Seeing that Li Xian was obedient, Xue Ling let out a sigh of relief. Just as she withdrew her hand, she saw Li Xian turn around and leap. After a few big jumps, he left from the roof.
Xue Ling's eyes widened in surprise, and she shouted, "Li Xian!! Use the door!!"
No...
It didn't matter about using the door or not. She should hurry to stop Li Xian now, lest he cause trouble!
Xue Ling slapped her head hard and then leaped onto the roof with a big jump.
Hong Chaoyang was at a loss in place. After hesitating for a while, she still followed Xue Ling and left Li Tianyun's mansion.
...
Shen Qing's head was spinning. She had just injected a stream of spiritual energy into the Merit Stone, and the Merit Stone emitted an extremely dazzling light.
Then she felt as if she had been thrown into the air. After spinning several times, she fell to the ground.
She didn't know what her head had hit, but it hurt badly, and there seemed to be a big bump. Moreover, the dizziness from being thrown made her feel extremely nauseous.
After taking a moment to recover, Shen Qing slowly saw the scene in front of her.
The scene in front of her was very familiar. Shen Qing knew that she had entered the space of the jade pendant. However, the place had become much more spacious. The original wooden house had turned into a magnificent building.
What made Shen Qing recognize this as the space were the things Ling Zhou had left here. The swing he had built and some spiritual plants he had planted were still there.
On the simple wooden table, there was still a half - written cultivation technique left by Ling Zhou.
Shen Qing slowly walked up to the building and carefully examined it.
The pillars of the building were made of jade that seemed to be similar to the Merit Stone. The pillars were carved into dragon shapes, coiling around the columns.
The dragon claws, scales, bodies, and heads were carved so vividly that it seemed as if the dragons were just sleeping.
The spiritual spring behind the wooden house had turned into a gurgling stream, and there were even two red fish swimming in the stream.
The great change in the space surprised Shen Qing, but what surprised her even more was that this world in front of her seemed to be the Dragon Abyss in the memories Han Ze had shown her.
What was going on...?
Shen Qing paced back and forth in front of the building, afraid that Han Ze would walk out of it.
Han Ze had brought too much impact to Shen Qing. It seemed as if he was everywhere and omnipotent.
Following her memory, Shen Qing walked to the side of the stream and sat down cross - legged.
This was the place where Bai Li had sat with the egg in her arms, waiting for Han Ze to receive the inheritance...
If what Han Ze said was true and she was the egg in Bai Li's arms, then she had been here at that time, lying in her mother's arms, being protected by her mother.
Shen Qing fell into deep thought. Before she knew it, she had been sitting by the stream for a long time.
Suddenly, the two red fish in the water started to play around. Their tails flicked quickly, and the splashed water hit Shen Qing's face.
Shen Qing straightened her back and looked at the two red fish in the water.
"I wonder what these two fish would taste like if Long Bao roasted them."
Shen Qing murmured to herself. But the two red fish in the water seemed to understand what Shen Qing had said, and their heads and tails swayed quickly.
Shen Qing was surprised and asked again, "Can you understand what I'm saying?"
The two fish looked at each other and each spat out a bubble, as if responding to Shen Qing.
Seeing this, Shen Qing curled her lips and continued to ask with great interest, "Can you talk? Are you the spirits born in this space or were you forcibly pulled in like me?"
The red fish wagged their tails but didn't spit out any bubbles.
Shen Qing raised her eyebrows and said, "You can't talk... What a pity..."
But then, the heads of the two red fish swayed rhythmically, and they spat out a few more bubbles, seemingly signaling Shen Qing to come closer.
Shen Qing found it novel and simply lay on the grass by the stream, reaching out her hand into the water.
As soon as Shen Qing's hand entered the water, the red fish swam around her hand, spitting out bubbles even more merrily.
Shen Qing thought it was fun and, as if teasing them, popped the bubbles they spat out one by one.
Shen Qing's actions seemed to anger the two red fish. They angrily slapped Shen Qing's hand with their tails, as if trying to stop Shen Qing's prank.
Shen Qing didn't want to go too far, so she behaved herself.
The stream water wasn't bone - chillingly cold but rather warm. Shen Qing simply put both hands into the water to feel the warmth.
When the two red fish saw Shen Qing put both hands into the water, they immediately got excited. The two fish swam into the palms of Shen Qing's left and right hands respectively.
Then, Shen Qing felt a strong burning sensation spread from her palms to her arms.
She quickly propped herself up and checked her palms. She found that the two red fish had disappeared, replaced by two red dots on her palms.
These two red dots emitted light and were continuously spreading into her body along Shen Qing's meridians.
This burning sensation made Shen Qing involuntarily recall the bone - piercing pain when her spiritual bones were dug out by Master Heng Ling in her previous life.
She hugged her body with both hands and curled up helplessly. The pain made cold sweat break out on Shen Qing's forehead, and intermittent sobs came from her throat.
After an unknown amount of time, Shen Qing calmed down, but two dragon horns appeared on top of her head.