Before long, as her footsteps drew nearer, the sound of coughing grew louder. It confirmed her suspicion—there was indeed a survivor, though in poor condition.
"This is a child's arm."
She saw, partially buried under a collapsed house, a corpse. Only a slender, frail arm protruded—clearly that of a child, perhaps seven or eight years old.
The collapse occurred at one of the corners of the house, forming a unique structure that had miraculously preserved a pocket of space—just enough for someone to survive.
She raised her hand and effortlessly lifted the fallen wall. A small boy, covered in blood and dust, appeared before her. She quickly stepped forward to assess his injuries.
"Fortunately, it's only abrasions. A bit of a concussion, maybe."
She rummaged through her storage pouch and pulled out a few mild medicinal pills—simple healing remedies that didn't even qualify as first-tier spiritual medicine.
Yet, to a mortal, they were precious treasures. After she fed him the pills, the boy slowly regained consciousness. Still dazed, he blinked at his surroundings, then focused his gaze on her.
"Are you an immortal?" he asked, confused, with a sorrowful look that tugged at the heart.
"I'm not an immortal, just a cultivator," Chen Jinshu replied, glancing at the boy.
"Like Uncle City Lord?" he asked.
"Yes."
As she nodded, the boy suddenly dropped to his knees before her, blood soaking into his trousers. The sound of his knees hitting the ground was crisp—and struck a chord in Chen Jinshu's heart.
"Please, immortal, take me as your disciple!"
"I have no intention of taking disciples," Chen Jinshu responded, caught off guard by his plea.
She had her own burdens—taking on a student was out of the question. Even her senior brothers and sisters hadn't taken any disciples yet.
She gently helped the boy back to his feet and said kindly, "Whether you can cultivate depends on your spiritual affinity."
As she spoke, she examined his spiritual root. Though she lacked a formal testing plate, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, she could still sense it. After a moment, she located a faint spiritual root in his abdomen.
"You have a spiritual root, but it's not very strong."
"Is my talent that poor?" The boy's face fell immediately, his gaze drifting to two mangled corpses in the corner. Tears shimmered in his eyes.
"Don't be discouraged. In the cultivation world, there are treasures that can improve your aptitude. A weak spiritual root only defines your starting point—not your ceiling."
"Thank you, immortal!"
"You said you know the City Lord. Do you know of any other survivors?" Chen Jinshu asked, a sudden thought occurring to her.
"I only know that my life was saved by Uncle City Lord. When the bad guys came to destroy the city, I was playing outside and ran into him. He told me to crouch in the corner."
Chen Jinshu glanced in the direction the boy had pointed. She noticed a tattered piece of talisman paper on the ground.
"A concealment talisman."
She quickly understood—he must've encountered the City Lord, who, hoping to preserve at least some of Yulian City's population, used the talisman to hide the child. A stroke of fate.
"But I remember Uncle City Lord's manor had a wine cellar."
Chen Jinshu's eyes lit up at the mention of it. Without hesitation, she picked the boy up and flew toward the City Lord's residence.
Under his guidance, they found the wine cellar. She could faintly sense the breathing of someone beneath it. With a single motion, she lifted the wine cellar's heavy cover. The boy watched her with wide, admiring eyes.
"Ah! Father, is that you?"
A frail girl's voice rang out the moment the cellar opened. Chen Jinshu glanced inside and saw two children curled up in a dark corner, trembling in fear.
"It's alright. The bad people are gone now."
"Ah Qing! Ah Yan! An immortal came to save us. Don't be afraid!" the boy exclaimed as he recognized them.
"Ah Ming, is that you?" the girl—Chen Qing—asked, her voice still shaky but braver than before.
"It's me!" Wen Ming responded quickly.
The once-peaceful Yulian City had fallen, and to find even a few survivors was a rare miracle. Without another word, Chen Jinshu lifted the two children out of the cellar. The moment they saw her, they dropped to their knees in reverence.
"Chen Yan greets the immortal."
"Chen Qing greets the immortal."
"So your names are Chen Yan and Chen Qing. Nice names! Did your father leave anything for you?"
"Yes! Father left a brocade bag for the immortal. He said to give it to you if one ever came," Chen Yan said, eyes full of curiosity and admiration, pulling a red pouch from his chest.
Chen Jinshu accepted it and, after a quick examination, felt a rush of emotion. The City Lord had foreseen the fate of Yulian City. Hoping to preserve his children's lives, he had used his remaining resources and luck to prepare for them.
The bag contained a significant amount of cultivation materials and a hastily written letter. The letter implied that if Chen Jinshu were reading it, then both children had survived.
He asked her to find a good home for them—so they wouldn't be left to wander the streets. He had already checked their spiritual roots: the boy had three, and the girl two—both considered decent.
He had originally planned to use the snake demon incident to build ties with the Xuanming Sect. But he hadn't anticipated the sudden invasion by evil cultivators that turned their peaceful home into a nightmare.
"Please, immortal, take us as your disciples. My brother and I both have spiritual roots. We want to protect the city like our father did—even if it costs us our lives," Chen Qing pleaded, noticing the shift in Chen Jinshu's expression.
Chen Yan immediately knelt beside her. Wen Ming, not wanting to be left out, did the same.
"Please accept us as your disciples!"
Chen Jinshu looked at the three small children before her, all barely half her height, and found herself at a loss.
She wasn't swayed by their earnest pleading. She knew her own ambitions—until she formed her Golden Core or even Nascent Soul, she would never consider taking a disciple.
Even reaching the Nascent Soul stage, she might still pursue ascension. Taking on disciples would only be a burden. Still, she couldn't ignore her responsibility. The destruction of Yulian City was something she bore a share of. To walk away now would weigh heavily on her conscience.
"I cannot take you as disciples. But I can provide support for your cultivation."
"At the very least, I'll find a good place for you to begin training."
The three children's faces fell with disappointment. Just then, a massive spirit ship approached swiftly from the west, trailing a streak of red light in its wake...