Chapter 971: Choice

　　The Cosmic Ring he gave her contained almost all kinds of things, which included precious pills and treasures. Hence, this was a good time to put these pills to use.

　　Mu Hongyu chuckled. “Didn’t I say that Prince Li treats you differently? Say, did he previously move to the academy because of you?” If he didn’t like Liuyue, why would he be so concerned and considerate toward her?

　　Chu Liuyue lightly knocked on her forehead with her fingers. “If you have the time to think about these things, you might as well spend it on recuperating and recovering your energy. This way, we can quickly go look for Jian Fengchi and Little Zhou.”

　　At the mention of them, Mu Hongyu, Yuwen Jinghong, and Wu Ming became serious. As they had been getting chased by the Taiyu Dynasty’s team all this while, they had no idea what the situation was like on the other two people’s end. “Liuyue, we’re unable to contact them since we’ve crushed our golden bells. Are you able to contact them with yours?”

　　Chu Liuyue’s eyes darkened slightly as she rubbed the golden bell on her wrist. “They also crushed theirs not long after you guys did. This is why I forced my way in here.”

　　“What? They’ve also—” The other three looked at one another, and it was only then that they realized the gravity of their situation.

　　Chu Liuyue looked up and glanced in a certain direction. “They’re probably still there, but I don’t know how things are now. Let’s rest for a bit before making our way over.”

　　“Both of them are quite strong, so how come they also…” Yuwen Jinghong frowned in perplexity. “We only ended up in this state because the Taiyu Dynasty’s people kept coming after us to kill us. But both of them… Did they get into a similar situation as us?”

　　A total of five teams had entered Ancient Phoenix Mountain, and the team most likely to make a move on them was the Dongning Dynasty’s team.

　　“We didn’t see it for ourselves, so we can’t be sure. Besides, danger might be everywhere in this mountain,” said Chu Liuyue with a shake of her head, although she wasn’t too optimistic about their situation.

　　Needless to say, Qiang Wanzhou should feel the most comfortable moving in this sort of place, having grown up in Nan Jiang. Jian Fengchi, on the other hand, was the lazy and carefree type of person who would never put himself in danger. He would fight if he could defeat his opponent and run away if he couldn’t.

　　Chu Liuyue reckoned that they must’ve gotten into a really bad situation that both of them had no choice but to crush their golden bells. That said, she didn’t share these thoughts with the others and merely focused on helping them to regain their health.

　　Mu Hongyu’s condition was the best among the three of them; she merely suffered from some superficial injuries, which weren’t too much of a big deal compared to Yuwen Jinghong and Wu Ming.

　　Yuwen Jinghong had a broken leg, which Chu Liuyue helped reattach and bandage before feeding him some medicine. Although his leg wasn’t too nimble, he was feeling quite energetic at the least.

　　Wu Ming’s condition was the worst, having sustained plenty of injuries from saving Mu Hongyu and Yuwen Jinghong. His spleen was badly ruptured, making his five organs—which he tried so hard to connect together—incomplete. It also resulted in difficulty circulating his force throughout his entire body.

　　This was an incalculable blow to a cultivator because the sudden loss of one of the five connected organs would have a great impact on the cultivator’s recovery and cultivation journey. Chances of their cultivation being stagnant were very high as well.

　　Thankfully, Wu Ming wasn’t too bothered about it. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I’m already very fortunate to be alive. I wouldn’t dare to ask for anything else—”

　　“I mind though. I brought you guys here to work on your cultivation, not come here to die. Won’t my loss be greater if you end up handicapped or dead?” Chu Liuyue looked at Wu Ming disapprovingly with raised eyebrows.

　　Knowing that she was trying to comfort him, Wu Ming couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh. “But my five organs are no longer connected because of my damaged spleen. How can I still connect them?”

　　Chu Liuyue laughed. “And I used to be a real good-for-nothing because my current body didn’t have a Yuan meridian in the past. Aren’t I doing fine now? Not all of your organs are damaged anyway; it’s just one of them. It’s not a huge problem.”

　　Wu Ming remained a little skeptical though. “…Really?”

　　Chu Liuyue looked up, her black gem-like eyes calm and reassuring.

　　Just like that, the last trace of Wu Ming’s worry dissipated. He pressed his lips tightly. “I’ll do as you say, Your Majesty.”

　　Only then did Chu Liuyue nod in satisfaction. “Get some rest first. Once you feel better in a couple of days, we’ll proceed with the next stage of treatment.”

　　“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

　　Chu Liuyue smiled, only to remember something a moment later. “By the way, did you guys encounter anything good in these six days?”

　　The three of them shook their heads. “We weren’t inside for long before the Taiyu Dynasty’s people came after our lives. We couldn’t care about anything else.”

　　That’s true. Who would care about those things when their lives were at stake? thought Chu Liuyue.

　　“But…” Yuwen Jinghong hesitantly said, “I feel that the concentration of the mountain’s force has decreased a lot from the time we entered the mountain.”

　　“Yeah! I feel it too!” Mu Hongyu hurriedly nodded to express her agreement in the matter.

　　“Are you guys sure?” asked Chu Liuyue in surprise. The force concentration in here feels several times higher than outside, yet it’s actually lower than when they first came in? Just how much force was in here at the start?

　　Yuwen Jinghong—who seemed to have guessed what was on Chu Liuyue’s mind—explained, “Actually, this isn’t happening everywhere inside the mountain. I-it’s just…”

　　He scratched his head, not knowing how he should describe it. He then suddenly smacked himself on the forehead and pointed in a certain direction. “Look over there…”

　　Chu Liuyue narrowed her eyes.

　　The place Yuwen Jinghong was pointing to was the highest and most dangerous mountain peak. However, the top of the peak seemed to have been sliced off as it looked very flat.

　　Currently, they were a few peaks away from that peak.

　　“Ancient Phoenix Mountain’s main peak?” Chu Liuyue knew that only that peak was considered the real Ancient Phoenix Mountain, and it was also where the Beiming Dynasty’s ancestor had broken through and entered Apotheosis. It was said that its flat peak was a result of the ancestor’s strike.

　　“Yes, that’s the place! All of the force has been gathering in that direction over the past few days!”

　　Chu Liuyue shut her eyes and used her senses to carefully examine her surroundings.

　　The vast mountain range was filled with rich Heaven and Earth Force, and it was slowly moving toward that peak as if something was pulling it over.

　　When she opened her eyes again, she nodded in all seriousness. “You’re right. The Heaven and Earth Force is gathering toward that side. If I’m not wrong, that’s where the Three Yuan Convention will occur nine days later.”

　　“Oh right! I almost forgot about this!” Yuwen Jingwen laughed in embarrassment.

　　Mu Hongyu looked back and forth before hesitantly asking, “Liuyue, Jian Fengchi and Qiang Wanzhou are in the opposite direction… Where do we go first?”

　　Without any hesitation, Chu Liuyue answered, “We’ll look for them first..”