Chapter 00092: The Heretical Woman
# The Heretical Woman
Chapter 92
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 92: The Heretical Woman
Qi Xinyue wasn’t surprised that Ding Huan knew about this matter. “Yes, the people on Earth sent a distress signal to our spaceship. When we arrived, they shot it down.”
“A distress signal?” Ding Huan looked at Qi Xinyue in confusion.
The Federation and the Gene Alliance shouldn’t have known about the universal distress signals used between planets in the cosmos.
Qi Xinyue continued, “Later, I found out that it wasn’t a distress signal they sent, but a signal to test and search for extraterrestrial civilizations.”
“Your companions are all dead, and only you survived?” Ding Huan asked again.
Qi Xinyue shook her head. “No, they weren’t my companions. They considered me a heretic with divine bloodline, so they captured me and brought me onto that spaceship to work for them.”
“Were the injuries on your body caused by your companions?”
As soon as Ding Huan asked this, he realized it was wrong.
The spaceship Qi Xinyue was on had crashed on Earth seven years ago, and her injuries were clearly recent.
Sure enough, Qi Xinyue shook her head. “No, it was the Gene Alliance who did this to me.”
“That old bastard.” Ding Huan immediately knew it must have been Shi Changyi.
No one else would have the authority to do such a thing, even if they wanted to.
“Do you know him?” Qi Xinyue looked at Ding Huan with a puzzled expression.
Ding Huan nodded. “I raided his lair, but I didn’t run into him.”
Qi Xinyue said, “He’s very strong. If it weren’t for the Chief, I would have been tortured to death by him. He kept interrogating me, demanding that I hand over the secrets of my cultivation. There’s a Chief Hu here who always stood by his side, preventing him from laying a hand on me. The injuries on my face were inflicted when Chief Hu wasn’t around. When the beast tide broke out, I took advantage of the chaos and escaped from the cell. I’m good at hiding and moving quickly. I knew that going against the flow was my only chance to survive. I managed to escape and used a small boat to reach this reef island.”
In truth, the reason she was able to escape here wasn’t because of the boat, but because of her ability to hide.
“Thank you,” Ding Huan said sincerely once again.
Seeing Qi Xinyue’s puzzled look, Ding Huan slowly explained, “The people on Earth treated you so cruelly, yet you still saved me.”
Most people wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help in such a situation.
Qi Xinyue’s spaceship had been shot down by Earthlings, and she herself had been imprisoned and tortured by them, forced to reveal secrets.
Under such circumstances, it would be hard not to hate the people of Earth.
In other words, even if Qi Xinyue had chosen not to kill Ding Huan, simply ignoring him would have meant his death.
Qi Xinyue smiled faintly. “There are always good people. Chief Hu saved me more than once, and I’m very grateful to him. I could tell that the reason he agreed to imprison me was to understand advanced civilizations. He was acting in the interest of humanity on Earth, not to force my secrets out of me.”
“We probably can’t leave now. Why don’t you cultivate for a while? I have some spirit stones here.” As he spoke, Ding Huan took out a few spirit stones from his bag and handed them to Qi Xinyue.
The cave on the reef was spacious enough for both of them to cultivate.
He also needed to improve his own strength.
Qi Xinyue shook her head. “What I cultivate doesn’t require these. They’d be wasted on me. You should use them.”
“What kind of cultivation method do you practice?” Ding Huan asked instinctively.
He quickly realized his mistake and added, “I’m not trying to pry into your secrets. I just want to see if I can help you.”
“It’s fine. What I practice isn’t a cultivation method, but a divine art. I’m not entirely sure how to explain it, but it allows me to hide and move short distances quickly,” Qi Xinyue said.
Since they were in a life-or-death situation, she could sense that Ding Huan was similar to Chief Hu and decided not to hide anything.
Ding Huan forcefully placed three spirit stones into Qi Xinyue’s hands. “Try cultivating with these. I’ll also cultivate for a while. With our current strength, we definitely can’t leave this place.”
Qi Xinyue wasn’t too concerned about leaving.
What difference did it make whether she stayed here or left? In her homeland, she was considered a heretic.
On Earth, she had no family or friends.
If it weren’t for the beast tide, she would still be locked in a cell underground.
After taking the three spirit stones from Ding Huan, Qi Xinyue watched as he prepared to cultivate.
Instead of joining him, she walked out of the cave.
---
Ding Huan didn’t start cultivating immediately.
Instead, he took out the leather scroll he had obtained from the old scavenger.
He carefully examined the scroll several times.
Apart from the words on it, it didn’t seem any different from the one he had swallowed before.
Should he swallow this one too?
After thinking for a long time, Ding Huan decided to put it away for now.
Back then, he had swallowed the scroll out of desperation, wanting to destroy it.
Now, he felt uneasy about the prophecy on the scroll.
He didn’t know what it meant or if he was the one who had left it behind.
After putting the scroll away, Ding Huan held a spirit stone in each hand and began circulating his Luo Shi Scripture.
Having cultivated in ordinary places before, Ding Huan immediately felt as if two dragons of spiritual energy were flowing from his hands.
As his Luo Shi Scripture circulated, the energy of heaven and earth instantly filled his meridians and dantian.
In just one cycle, his strength had risen by a small level.
Ding Huan was even more convinced that once he left this place, he would need to search for more spirit stones.
They were practically tailor-made for him.
A few minutes later, Ding Huan entered a meditative state.
At this moment, Ding Huan was completely immersed in the exhilarating process of improving his cultivation.
He had dozens of spirit stones placed beside him, ready to grab more whenever he needed.
---
When Qi Xinyue returned, she saw Ding Huan deep in cultivation.
Not wanting to disturb him, she walked to the edge of the reef island and gazed at the endless sea and the horizon where the sky met the ocean.
She knew she would never be able to return home in this lifetime.
She would never see her mother again.
She would spend the rest of her life on this uninhabited reef island.
Perhaps she only had a few years left, or maybe just a few days…
Her mother had told her that if the outside world ever rejected her, she should return to the Valley of Fallen Gods.
Although it was desolate, she could live a peaceful life there.
But she hadn’t listened to her mother.
She had been captivated by the bustling cities, and now she could never return to the Valley of Fallen Gods.
As she thought about this, Qi Xinyue couldn’t help but feel her eyes welling up with tears.
Perhaps she wouldn’t die alone.
At least one more person had come here.
This person was different from the other Earthlings.
He didn’t seem to care about her secrets or whether she possessed knowledge of advanced civilizations.
He had even given her three spirit stones, which were probably the very things those Earthlings were desperately seeking.
Time passed slowly, from morning to evening.
Qi Xinyue stood like a statue, gazing at the horizon where the sea met the sky.
The beauty of the sunset’s afterglow almost mesmerized her.
“Boom!” A loud splash erupted, and a black beast lunged toward Qi Xinyue.
Startled, Qi Xinyue realized she had been so lost in thoughts of her mother that she had forgotten she was standing on a reef, with the sea right beneath her.
With a light tap of her feet, Qi Xinyue’s body shot toward the center of the reef island like a spring.
“Whoosh!” An arrow of light shot out from the sea, piercing through her body.
Qi Xinyue felt all her strength draining away, and she fell like a broken kite.
She knew that if her feet touched the seawater, it would be the end for her.
Fortunately, at that moment, she spotted a log and quickly stepped onto it.
Almost simultaneously, several more arrows of light shot out from the sea.
Qi Xinyue twisted her body desperately, trying to dodge the arrows.
But her injuries were too severe.
She managed to avoid two arrows, but the rest pierced through her body.
At this moment, Qi Xinyue finally understood how Ding Huan had been injured earlier.
It was because of these fish-like beasts that could shoot arrows of light.
She had managed to reach this place by hiding in the small boat, which had kept her from being detected by these creatures.
She smiled bitterly.
Just moments ago, she had been wondering how many days she could survive here.
Now, it seemed she wouldn’t even last a few hours.
Goodbye, Mother.
---
Ding Huan had no idea how much time had passed, but he felt his energy reaching another peak.
Having experienced this before, Ding Huan knew he was about to break through.
He also knew that each breakthrough was painful, so he prepared himself.
The Luo Shi Scripture circulated wildly, driving spiritual energy to impact his meridians.
A powerful surge of true energy erupted within his body, producing a booming sound.
Boom! When the true energy reached its peak, a new meridian barrier was shattered, and the powerful energy rapidly spread throughout his body.
Ding Huan opened his eyes, overjoyed.
He had reached the fifth level of gene cultivation.
What surprised him was that this breakthrough hadn’t been painful at all.
Was it because the environment here was different? Or was it because reaching the fifth level made breakthroughs easier?
No, Ding Huan quickly realized the real reason.
It was the spirit stones.
The reason his previous breakthroughs had been so difficult was because the spiritual energy in his cultivation environment had been insufficient.
Now, with so many spirit stones, breakthroughs had become much easier.
Looking down, he saw that he still had twenty-eight spirit stones left.
It seemed he had used up ten during his cultivation.
Ten spirit stones had taken him from the fourth level to the fifth level of gene cultivation.
These were truly valuable treasures.
And it had taken him less than a day.
Ding Huan looked around but didn’t see Qi Xinyue.
He extended his spiritual sense outward.
To his delight, Ding Huan discovered that his spiritual sense could now reach over a hundred meters.
This was a significant improvement.
But then, he saw something alarming.
Qi Xinyue’s body was falling onto a log, and several arrows of light pierced through her.
Qi Xinyue’s body swayed on the log, and Ding Huan immediately shot into action.
He hated these arrow-shooting fish beasts more than anything.
If he could exterminate them all, he wouldn’t hesitate.
But he knew that was impossible.
In an instant, Ding Huan reached Qi Xinyue’s side and caught her just before she fell into the sea.
At the same time, dozens of arrows of light shot toward Ding Huan from the sea.
Still in mid-air, Ding Huan twisted his body effortlessly and landed on the top of the reef where Qi Xinyue had been standing.
With a wave of his hand, nearly a hundred wind blades shot out, causing bursts of blood to bloom on the sea’s surface.
Ding Huan’s rage reached its peak, and he continued to unleash wind blades without pause.
Compared to when he was at the fourth level, Ding Huan’s strength had increased several times, and his spiritual sense had also grown significantly.
With his feet firmly planted on the reef instead of an unstable log, Ding Huan easily wiped out all the arrow-shooting fish beasts in the area.
More sea creatures, drawn by the blood, swarmed in to devour the dead fish beasts.
Even while holding Qi Xinyue, Ding Huan managed to kick the log and bring it back to the reef island.
(End of Chapter)