Quick Transmigration: Still Life Fairy

Chapter 323 The Genius Senior Brother's Storage Bag

"Big Brother!!"

Suddenly someone stepped in front of him, easily deflecting all the attacks. Zheng Ze's tense nerves relaxed abruptly, and he was about to collapse when he was supported by the long sword in his hand.

Upon seeing the person blocking his way, he couldn't hide his surprise. To be honest, although he and Li Qingran were both disciples under the sect leader, their relationship wasn't actually close. Li Qingran's aloof nature meant he didn't have any close friends; his relationships with everyone in the sect remained lukewarm, even with Li Qingran's junior brother. Moreover, because both were busy cultivating, their relationship was probably even worse than that of ordinary disciples.

“If you keep fighting, your body won’t be able to take it.” Li Qingran cleaved the monster that attacked him with his sword. His expression remained unchanged, and his voice was as calm and collected as ever. But to Zhengze’s ears, it carried a hint of concern: “I’ll hold them off for you first. You should heal your wounds quickly.”

After casually giving a brief instruction, Li Qingran pressed down on the white cloud and storage bag that were itching to come out of his chest, and wielded his longsword with ease in his right hand. Each hum of the longsword could take the life of a monster.

His posture looked very relaxed, without any sense of urgency on the battlefield, clearly indicating that this kind of battle could not force him to use his full strength.

Thinking of his senior brother's strength, Zhengze finally felt relieved and calmed down, sitting cross-legged under his senior brother's protective circle. Looking around the entire battle arena, he was the only one completely safe. The surrounding disciples all cast envious glances at him. Envy aside, they had no other thoughts. After all, they knew that their second senior brother had been seriously injured, and they had been worried before. Now that their second senior brother was safe, they breathed a sigh of relief.

As Zhengze formed hand seals and circulated his spiritual energy, two completely opposing spiritual energies, one red and one white, enveloped him and his entire body. These were Zhengze's spiritual roots. His aptitude was not good; he possessed both water and fire spiritual roots. The two roots were mutually exclusive, yet their energies were evenly matched, constantly battling within his body, causing Zhengze considerable distress.

Two completely antagonistic spiritual energies were absorbed into his body. Zhengze began to be a little cautious. His cultivation had always been like this. Once a certain balance was broken, the cultivation would be terminated.

In the past, he would meditate and heal in a quiet cave. At that time, he was alone and could calm down and slowly recover from his wounds. But now, on the battlefield, even though he knew he was safe, he could not calm down and completely entrust his life to others.

"Ugh—cough cough!!"

Two beams of light flashed a few times before slowly disappearing from his body. Zhengze suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood, coughed uncontrollably a few times, and blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

Seeing that he had not only failed to heal his injuries but had actually made them worse, Li Qingran frowned.

Yu Liu and Li Qingran's left hand engaged in a battle of wits, and finally, taking advantage of an opportunity, Yu Liu secretly peeked out a corner. It was unclear how the storage bag's perspective was calculated, but even though this corner represented her right hand, after sticking it out, she was able to see what was happening outside!

Seeing Zhengze's condition, she couldn't help but pat Li Qingran's chest with her horn, her heart filled with anxiety, but she couldn't think of a way to help Zhengze for the time being.

Li Qingran's brows furrowed more and more as she patted him, and he finally sighed helplessly: "Junior brother, if I remember correctly, you received a Heart-Melting Lotus as a reward for successfully defending your title in the Ten Directions Arena Tournament. Why didn't you use it?"

The Heart-Melting Lotus is a high-grade spiritual plant, and its unique uses make it extremely precious throughout the cultivation world. When it blooms, the lotus displays two colors that perfectly blend together, like two distinct energies. After consuming the Heart-Melting Lotus, if the person possesses two different energies within their body, regardless of their attributes, they will be fused together by the lotus's powerful and domineering medicinal properties, becoming a new force that significantly increases their strength. Therefore, this lotus is highly sought after.

After all, apart from geniuses with a single spiritual root, most cultivators in the cultivation world have two different energies within them, to varying degrees.

After calming the tightness in his chest, Zhengze gave a wry smile: "It's not that I don't want to use it, it's just that the time hasn't come yet."

There was no time for him to explain properly; his words were utterly baffling.

"When is the time to use it?! Second Brother, don't hesitate!! Eldest Brother can't protect you forever, you have to find a way to protect yourself too!!"

Zhengze and Li Qingran did not hide their conversation from others. Disciples who were far away might not have paid attention to this, but those who were close could hear their conversation clearly. Immediately, someone spoke up, seemingly out of concern but actually shouting in a coercive manner.

Zhengze paused, his hand still forming a hand seal. Although he knew the other person was likely jealous of his senior brother's protection, what he said was indeed true. Regardless of the senior brother's reasons for protecting him, he couldn't rely on him too much, otherwise he would only cause trouble for his senior brother and himself.

He could find another lotus, but he only had one life. He couldn't entrust his life to someone else.

With that thought in mind, he finally made up his mind, reached out and flicked his hand over the storage bag, and a pink and white lotus flower appeared in his hand.

As the lotus flower appeared, the tiger's roar, which had been heard at the very beginning, echoed once more from the depths of the forest.

"Roar--"

The sound was much louder than before and carried a demonic attack. The ordinary people protected by the disciples in the middle immediately fainted after hearing it.

The disciples in the midst of the battle paused subconsciously for a moment, but quickly regained their rhythm. They all increased their attack speed considerably, understanding that the tiger's roar meant that the leader of the forest monsters was finally going to take action personally.

Before meeting each other, they could not ascertain each other's cultivation level. Being isolated from the world for 30 years also left them completely ignorant of the outside world. No one knew what would happen. The most important thing for them was to eliminate their opponents as soon as possible and unite to deal with the leader who was about to emerge.

"Boom, bang, bang..."

Accompanied by heavy footsteps, a huge, yellow and black figure, nearly three meters tall and four or five meters long, slowly emerged from the woods and appeared in everyone's sight.

It was indeed a tiger, its huge paws stomping on the ground, each step sinking deep into the mud. The mud actually absorbed the sound of its paws hitting the ground, but it felt that it lacked power, so it used its magic to add a sound to itself, making it look somewhat comical.

After the tiger appeared before everyone, it raised its head and roared, its eyes fixed on the Heart-Melting Lotus in Zhengze's hand.

"Hey, human monks."

Suddenly, a somewhat frivolous voice rang in everyone's minds. The voice was clear and sweet, and it sounded like a woman. This was actually a tigress!

"I never imagined I'd see human cultivators again in my lifetime." For some unknown reason, the tigress began to sigh, "You human cultivators always manage to pull off all sorts of shady things, but the results are surprisingly good. When I was little, my mother often took me to rob human cultivators, because you always had so many things we needed, especially spiritual herbs and pills. I loved those two things as a child, and my mother would always get them for me. I thought these happy days would last forever, but one day, all of you human cultivators disappeared. Since then, I haven't eaten any delicious pills. I don't know if it's just psychological, but my cultivation has stagnated, and recently I've even encountered quite a few problems."

Realizing it was rambling on, it tilted its head and rolled its eyes, as if looking down on itself: "Anyway, I've been having trouble with the Heart-Melting Lotus lately, and I really need it. I didn't expect you human cultivators to just deliver it to my door like this."

As it spoke, it poked its large head out and sniffed in Zhengze's direction: "The finest Melting Heart Lotus, truly excellent~"

Zhengze looked down at the lotus flower in his hand, his heart filled with unease. He had experienced his own luck over the years, and now, besides the fact that it was indeed as he had hoped, he also felt a sense of resentment.

Why is it that every time I encounter danger, it's because of myself? No matter who I'm with, I always end up dragging everyone down with me. Just how much does God hate me?

"Hey, you injured guy who's coughing up blood, can I borrow Lotus for a bit?"

The big tiger grinned, but its sharp fangs didn't look cute at all.

Zhengze's eyes showed a clear hesitation. He had suffered unfair treatment since birth, partly due to his personality, but mostly due to the bad luck he was born with. The reason he went through so much hardship to pursue immortality was that he wanted to defy fate. Since everyone said his bad luck was a gift from heaven, he would turn the world upside down and live a life of his own.

But now, every step he takes is fraught with difficulty and danger. If the two conflicting energies within his body aren't dealt with soon, he has no doubt that his body won't be able to hold on. The Heart-Melting Lotus is the key to saving him, but one Heart-Melting Lotus isn't enough; he needs to prepare several more. However, the Heart-Melting Lotus is a high-grade spiritual plant, usually extremely rare and hard to find; finding it is purely a matter of luck. Unfortunately, for Zhengze, relying on luck is a completely unthinkable scenario.

This has led to Zhengze's current awkward situation. He's afraid that swallowing the medicine won't be potent enough, but if he doesn't swallow it, his body won't be able to withstand it. So, he left the Melting Heart Lotus behind, and now it has become an opportunity for this big tiger in front of him.

He gave a wry smile.

By now, a large number of demons had surrounded them. Even if they weren't afraid, there were still many mortals around, and they couldn't just stand by and watch them die. This tiger had been able to rob human cultivators 30 years ago, so its cultivation level must be quite high. If they didn't give it the Heart-Melting Lotus, their group would likely be in grave danger. His own death didn't matter, but what about the people behind him…

He slowly reached out and handed the Lotus of Melting Heart towards the tiger.

"Have you figured it out?"

Li Qingran suddenly asked.

Everyone could see that Rong Xinlian was very important to Zhengze, but apart from Li Qingran, no one spoke up to remind him, or even offered a word of concern.

Everyone felt guilty. To be fair, the second senior brother usually fulfilled his duties as a senior brother to the sect disciples. It was just that everyone's luck was a bit low when they were with him, so over time, he ended up working alone. Even so, he had been silently contributing to the sect. At this time, they shouldn't have agreed to the second senior brother handing over the Heart-Melting Lotus, but since it concerned their own lives, they couldn't bring themselves to stop him no matter what.

"Senior Brother, I've thought it through. It's alright. I think Miss Hu won't make things difficult for everyone after she gets the lotus."

Zheng Ze concealed the bitterness in his heart. Although his expression was somewhat forced, he at least looked quite well.

"Huh—" Upon hearing Zhengze's words, the big tiger let out a light, mocking sound: "When did I say that I wouldn't make things difficult for you after I got the stuff? Did I say that?"

Its large head swayed from side to side, and finally it slowly approached Li Qingran, leaning close to him and asking a question with its eyes full of doubt.

Through the small corner that was peeking out, Yu Liu could clearly see the mockery in the tiger's eyes and the contempt for the group of disciples who dared not utter a sound.

"I never said that."

Li Qingran smiled calmly and spoke the truth.

"That settles it then! Even if you don't hand it over, I can take it by force. It belongs to me anyway. As for how to deal with you, that's not your place to decide! Have you human cultivators been staying in the mountains for too long? Have your brains deteriorated?! Can you please not misinterpret what someone didn't say?"

The tiger showed no mercy. It slowly strolled up to Zhengze, sniffed the lotus in his hand under his wary gaze, and then raised its large paw and suddenly slammed it down on the lotus.

"Aaaaaah—" Seeing the tiger's movements, Yu Liu screamed in terror, "It's all over, it's all over, it's all over... Help me—"

Yu Liu quickly poked Li Qingran several times, and before he could react, she jumped out of his chest and floated towards the big tiger with the wind.

Then Li Qingran slapped him back.

"Baby, stop making a fuss!"

"Ahhh—where did you see me acting like I was...making a scene..." Before Yu Liu could finish speaking, she saw that the tiger's paw finally slapped Zheng Ze's hand, brushing against his hand and falling to the ground. The lotus flower was swept away by the strong wind and split in two. The tiger sucked in the fallen half with its big mouth, while the other half was still firmly held in Zheng Ze's hand.