The first question Bai Shengyi asked when she woke up was:
"Is Bai Murong dead?"
"She is."
Qin Si had been by her bedside. He was unhappy to hear the first name mentioned was someone else's. He frowned, "Ayi, look at you, you're so badly injured, and you haven't seen me for only a few days. Don't you think you should say something to me?"
Bai Shengyi blinked, and instinctively asked, "You've worked hard?"
Qin Si's face immediately darkened. He let out a cold snort and turned his head away.
This outwardly stubborn, inwardly awkward demeanor looked a bit familiar.
"Thank you?"
Bai Shengyi suppressed a smile and tried to sit up. She saw that the person who had been sulking just now immediately noticed her movement and helped her sit up.
A sudden warmth and softness filled her heart. The previous gloom, suppressed by Bai Murong's overwhelming presence, also dissipated inadvertently.
Having been with Qin Si for some time, Bai Shengyi had also discovered that this man, who always appeared cold, domineering, and cool, could also be endearingly childish and naive at times.
Just like now, with so many thoughts in his mind, he simply wouldn't say them directly.
"So you want to go to the Pill Fighting Competition with me?" Bai Shengyi stopped teasing him and said with a smile, "But you don't have an invitation. How will you go?"
"I do." Qin Si took out the invitation he had asked Mo Shuxin for earlier and flashed it at her.
Bai Shengyi understood. He had prepared it long ago. "Alright then, you'll accompany me, but my spiritual root..."
She frowned slightly. After waking up, she realized that while her body had recovered, she still couldn't feel any spiritual power within her.
Qin Si said, "The Hellish Phantom Poison in your body has been completely removed. Both Mo Shuxin and Qian Ying said your body is fine, so it should be your own issue."
"Ah?" Bai Shengyi's frown deepened. "Then that illusory place..."
"That was the world inside the Soul Reflection Mirror. The Soul Reflection Mirror is a treasure that can draw out a cultivator's divine consciousness. When a cultivator's divine consciousness is projected into the world within the mirror, even though the person's本体 (original body) remains intact, any damage sustained in the mirror will be reflected back onto the person..."
Qin Si's explanation still echoed in her ears. Bai Shengyi closed her eyes tightly and looked within her dantian.
She remembered that it was the gray thread, the Hellish Phantom's poison, that had entered her body, causing her to feel her spiritual power leaking. Eventually, it was like air escaping a balloon, leaving nothing behind.
But her spiritual root was still intact. Now that the poison was removed, why was the spiritual energy still gone?
She hadn't observed her dantian for a long time, and at this moment, she was somewhat startled. Within the sea of qi vortex, two distinct scenes presented themselves.
One side was a transparent, deep blue, like a vast ocean, with lustrous snow-white resembling painted waves blooming at the end of the breakers.
The other side was covered by boundless, endless green vines and leaves, as vast as the Spirit Chasing Wood Bai Shengyi had seen before. The branches and leaves were lush, scattering clear, gentle green spiritual light.
They were clearly separated yet also merged with each other.
"Master~"
Little Vine Leaf darted out from the vines. Bai Shengyi then realized that the little fellow, who used to stay near the dantian with its two leaves, had grown so tall.
Little Vine Leaf affectionately stretched its branches and complained softly, "Master's spiritual power was all eaten by that fellow. Little Vine Leaf isn't as strong as the boss. It couldn't stop it."
It pointed at the black mist pretending to be dead not far from Bai Shengyi.
Bai Shengyi was stunned.
To be honest, ever since she came out of the Flowing Light Secret Realm, she hadn't paid much attention to the black mist.
Because it was usually silent, didn't secretly devour her spiritual power anymore, and didn't cause trouble. In short, its presence was very low.
Now, looking at it, Bai Shengyi keenly noticed that the black mist seemed to have grown larger?
"Why are you eating my spiritual power?" Bai Shengyi asked softly with a smile, but the black mist strangely sped away to the furthest point from Bai Shengyi.
Bai Shengyi couldn't help but twitch her lips, her smile deepening. "Come here."
The black mist humanely trembled.
Bai Shengyi remained silent for a moment, then directly summoned the main body of the Reincarnation Brush and pointed it at the mist, her smile fading. "I'll say it again, come here."
Even though the black mist was a dark mass, Bai Shengyi could still perceive its "trepidatious" little emotions.
The critical point was that the "waves" in her dantian seemed to have seized the opportune moment to exact revenge for past bullying. A wave of fire directly pushed the hesitant black mist to the front of Bai Shengyi.
Bai Shengyi: ...
With the Reincarnation Brush suppressing it, the black mist became as obedient as a kitten, exposing its belly for pets, or rather, allowing Bai Shengyi to tousle it.
"You're just a pile of broken cotton. Where did all that spiritual power go?"
"Pfft!"
As soon as Bai Shengyi finished speaking, the black mist spat spiritual power all over her face, clearly dissatisfied with her description.
"Hungry! Bad!"
These two words echoed in her dantian.
"Even if you're hungry, you can't eat my spiritual power! If you have the ability, cultivate yourself! You could survive among the Thousand Soul Worm Silk, so can't you survive without my bit of spiritual power?" Bai Shengyi directly ignored the latter word and focused on criticizing the former.
She hadn't forgotten that this thing was what the younger Bai Shengyi had brought out from the Eastern Peak Jungle after being tricked by Bai Murong.
"Bad... Grr... Bad!" The black mist excitedly repeated this word, as if Bai Shengyi were a terrible villain.
Bai Shengyi rubbed her forehead in exasperation. To be honest, she also didn't know what to do.
This thing couldn't be expelled from her dantian, nor could it be directly killed. It also had some self-awareness like a child, but she couldn't just let it be, could she?
Just as Bai Shengyi was getting a headache, the voice of the Reincarnation Brush sounded like heavenly music.
"It's still in its growth phase. Reasoning with it is useless; you need to supply it with spiritual power," the Reincarnation Brush said reproachfully to Bai Shengyi.
Bai Shengyi exclaimed excitedly, "Little Reincarnation, you're awake!"
"Now you know how irreplaceable I am, right?"
The Reincarnation Brush snorted proudly and then flew out of Bai Shengyi's hand.
It pointed its tip at the black mist and fiercely declared, "Little thing, from now on, my master will feed you spiritual power once a month. You are not allowed to steal spiritual power from her dantian anymore! If you don't listen, I'll suppress you directly!"
The black mist seemed scared by the Reincarnation Brush's childish ferocity and immediately went silent.
She didn't know how it managed it, but Bai Shengyi could suddenly feel the spiritual energy in her dantian becoming abundant and beginning to flow into her meridians.
"Alright, from now on, remember to give it some spiritual power each month," the Reincarnation Brush said proudly, doing a circle in mid-air before landing on Bai Shengyi's shoulder.
"Little Reincarnation, you're amazing! I really couldn't have done it without you today!"
Bai Shengyi praised the Reincarnation Brush without reservation, and of course, didn't forget to ask, "But shouldn't you tell me what this thing is now? Auntie can't keep raising it with spiritual power forever, can she?"
Even the Qingmeng Vine never ate her spiritual power, so why should she put so much effort into raising such an unknown thing whose behavior was unpredictable?
Bai Shengyi intensely disliked this feeling of being controlled by someone.
But faced with Bai Shengyi's annoyance, the Reincarnation Brush, which was usually even more temperamental, actually backed down.
It silently slid off Bai Shengyi's shoulder, burrowed into her palm, and let her manipulate it, like a soulless brush.
Playing dead.
Bai Shengyi looked at it silently.
The Reincarnation Brush continued to play dead and threatened the Qingmeng Vine to quickly find a way to extricate it.
The Qingmeng Vine obediently approached Bai Shengyi.
"Master! Little Vine Leaf is truly useless. If Little Vine Leaf knew what this thing was, it could help Master solve her worries. Alas, it's all Little Vine Leaf's fault. Master, don't be angry..."
The Reincarnation Brush suddenly felt that something was not right.