Both Liang Zhuangmin and Hua Honglou stopped meditating and looked at Xiang Shaoyun in confusion.
"I have some healing spring water here. Come take some. It will increase the speed of your recovery," said Xiang Shaoyun while handing them some of the liquid.
The two were overjoyed and consumed the liquid without hesitation. Xiang Shaoyun then went through the storage ring again, but nothing else caught his attention. One ought to admit that Xiang Shaoyun's standards were a tad bit too high. Some tier-3 or even tier-4 items couldn't even attract his attention.
As far as he was concerned, the most valuable item he had received was the ring itself. After all, even Skysoar Realm experts would rarely have something like this in the Cloud Margin Pavilion. But even so, this ring was in fact not really a significant gain.
Well, I can give this to big brother, thought Xiang Shaoyun.
In the blink of an eye, half a day passed. Both Liang Zhuangmin and Hua Honglou woke up from their meditation. They had healed significantly, but they would still need some time to recover their combat prowess.
Hua Honglou winked her eye and said, "Thank you, Xiang Shaoyun."
"You're welcome. You are my bed warming maid. How can I let others bully you?" Xiang Shaoyun said as he rubbed his nose.
"Yes, yes, when we leave this place, I will go warm your bed," said Hua Honglou while shooting Xiang Shaoyun a glare.
Facing the bold response, Xiang Shaoyun ended up feeling embarrassed. "Hehe, we'll talk about that after I give it more thought."
"Oh? Why the hesitation?" Hua Honglou asked in a provocative manner.
Earlier, she already had the thought of committing suicide when Devil Face was about to rape her. Xiang Shaoyun coming to her rescue had caused her to feel extremely grateful to him.
In any case, Xiang Shaoyun was a handsome young man with extraordinary temperament. He was a giant among men, and a person with his qualities would be able to easily attract the fairer sex.
Thus, it was natural for Hua Honglou to have a good opinion of him. And with him being an enemy of the Lightning Alliance, she felt even closer to him. Now that he had saved her, although that wasn't enough for her to offer her body as gratitude, her opinion of him had still soared considerably. Any man would find it hard to endure an attractive woman's teasing.
With a perverse smile, Xiang Shaoyun replied, "Remember your words. Don't regret it later."
"I, Hua Honglou, have never done anything I will regret," declared Hua Honglou firmly.
Xiang Shaoyun had no interest in sticking with this topic, so he started talking about something else, "Oh, by the way, where are the others? They're not all dead, right?"
Hua Honglou's expression dimmed, and she said, "I am the only survivor among the people who came with me. Yaxuan and Zilong were not with us, and with their strength, they should be fine."
"Anyone coming into this place has already prepared for the possibility of death. Don't blame yourself," said Xiang Shaoyun. "Have you heard of any soul springs?"
Hua Honglou's expression went stiff for a bit before she said, "Yes, and I have even gotten one!"
She was telling him the truth because he had saved her. If he requested for the soul spring as repayment, she would not refuse him, but from now onward, she would no longer have anything to do with him. And if Xiang Shaoyun ended up not taking advantage of her while she was in her current predicament, she would be able to see clearly his real character.
"No wonder the Devil Blood Society people were attacking you so relentlessly," said Xiang Shaoyun in realization. "Do you know about any other soul springs?"
"Uh...don't you want the soul spring on me?" asked Hua Honglou, slightly stunned.
"Oh, sure, if you want to give it to me, I don't mind," said Xiang Shaoyun.
"Dream on," said Hua Honglou. "I had only encountered this soul spring by fluke. A lot of my people were killed, and if you want to find another soul spring, I'm afraid you have to go deeper into the territory of the ghostrunes."
Liang Zhuangmin cut in and said, "Unlike regular springs, soul springs won't be concentrated in the same general area. Like mist, they drift here and there. Generally, people can only rely on their luck to stumble upon one. But of course, the deeper one goes into the territory of the ghostrunes, the higher the chance is for one to stumble upon one."
"What? The soul springs can fly themselves? Is that even possible? Do you know where they come from, then?" Xiang Shaoyun asked.
Hua Honglou shook her head as she had no idea, but Liang Zhuangmin spoke after a short silence, "Is it possible that there is actually a large pool of soul spring water within a certain zone in the ghostrune territory? The soul springs we are finding outside are merely the ripples of that pool sent outside by a certain power?"
Hua Honglou gasped, "If that is true, then that means a big fortune is waiting inside the territory of the ghostrunes!"
If they could obtain an entire pool of soul spring water, they would be able to create a large number of Skysoar Realm experts! Unfortunately, this was a place only those at the Transformation Realm and below could enter. However, there were Kings among the ghostrunes, and with their ability to directly attack one's soul with their soul power, no Transformation Realm cultivator could stand a chance against them.
If one wanted to go deeper into the ghostrune territory, facing the soul attacks of ghostrune kings would be inevitable. And that was something no Transformation Realm cultivator could survive.
Xiang Shaoyun suddenly thought of the soul raising stone Hua Cheng had mentioned to him. He thought to himself, Perhaps the soul raising stone is also located at that same place.
After talking a little bit more about the ghostrunes with Hua Honglou, he decided to set off toward the territory of the ghostrunes with Liang Zhuangmin.
"Hua Honglou, you already have a soul spring. Are you still coming with us to the ghostrune territory? Or do you want to leave?" asked Xiang Shaoyun.
The Land of Soul Springs would remain open for a month. During this period, one could freely enter and leave. But after leaving, one could no longer re-enter and would need to wait for the next opening in 10 years to enter again.
Since Hua Honglou already had a soul spring, the smart choice would be to leave and break through into the Skysoar Realm in the outside world. That would be a much better choice compared to staying in here where danger might come anytime.
"I'll go with you guys. There are still a lot of brothers and sisters of the Red House here. I can't just leave them all behind," said Hua Honglou seriously.
"Sure, let's go together then," said Xiang Shaoyun.
Hua Honglou had impressive combat prowess, so it wasn't like she would be a drag to him.
As they set off, she grew curious about how Liang Zhuangmin and Xiang Shaoyun had come to travel together. Liang Zhuangmin was a genius from the generation before her, and not even the Young Lightning King and Young Eagle King could compare to him back in the days.
Unfortunately, his cultivation level was stuck for seven whole years, and he was eventually surpassed by his peers. But in this Land of Soul Springs, Liang Zhuangmin was definitely among the strongest in existence. Even the Lightning Kid would fear him.
After all, Liang Zhuangmin was once known as the number one Transformation Realm cultivator.
