Chapter 53

Chapter 53: The One Who Dragged Them Down
Tang Ru naturally did not want to take the blame for ruining spirit fields, so she could only say she spent spirit stones to hire people to ask about an old friend. Her words sounded nice, but anyone with eyes could see she was looking for a lover.

But Chen Feng was a nobody in the Outer Sect. The only time he became the center of gossip was when Tang Ru became a concubine, and he was labeled as the man Tang Ru abandoned. After a year, the matter died down and no one paid attention to him anymore.

Tang Ru’s words dragged Chen Feng back into everyone’s view again, but the man was now missing. No one knew when he left.

Tang Ru’s words also proved that the last place he appeared was the Class-B spirit fields in the B Sector of the Outer Fifth Peak. Chen Feng became a suspect in the Law Enforcement Hall’s eyes.

By sheer coincidence, in the B Sector, aside from Yun Xi and Zong Hao, the two “timid” novices who speed-ripened their spirit rice early, everyone else’s spirit fields were ravaged. It was also the most severely damaged area across the entire Outer Fifth Peak. With that, Chen Feng became the number one suspect.

When Yun Xi heard about it, the corner of her mouth twitched uncontrollably. Heaven was helping her. Now it really was dead men telling no tales, and Chen Feng was nailed to a pillar of shame. Even Tang Ru was dragged into it.

Wei Zong Hao rubbed his chin and said, “Little Sister Yun Xi, I think that Chen Feng was probably coming for the two of us.”

Yun Xi nodded and followed his guess. “I think so too. Chen Feng wanted to make us fail the sect task. Then when we were punished, he’d make his move on us.”

“But we were smart. We’d rather spend spirit stones to speed-ripen the spirit rice. We didn’t delay even a moment, and we handed in the task and left. His move ended up being one step too late.”

“Our spirit fields were empty, so those Bai Mi insects crawled over to other spirit fields to do damage,” Yun Xi said. “Then it spiraled out of control. When he realized he caused a huge disaster, he ran away. Serves him right!”

Zong Hao felt his sister made perfect sense and echoed her. “He must have planned the whole thing in secret, and he definitely wouldn’t have told anyone. When Tang Ru went looking for him, it just confirmed his guilt. She’s a total liability.”

“Exactly. The two of us just need to know this. Don’t tell Zong Yu,” Yun Xi said. “Uncle still hasn’t returned from training outside. We should keep a low profile.”

“I know,” Zong Hao said. “We avoided danger with our own wits. There’s no need to make them worry. From now on, we need to be even more careful when we take tasks.”

Yun Xi nodded. “Yes. Anyway, we’ve already finished this month’s task. And after what happened on the Outer Fifth Peak, let’s rest for a month for now, then see how things look.”

Zong Hao suggested, “Then tomorrow let’s go to the Outer Sect market? We can sell the spirit rice we harvested.”

Yun Xi thought about it, then said, “Brother Zong Hao, don’t rush to sell the spirit rice. This season’s spirit rice on the Outer Fifth Peak was destroyed, so I think the price will rise in the short term. Let’s wait two days. If the price changes, we’ll sell then. Even if we earn two more spirit stones, it’s still something.”

“That’s true. I forgot about that,” Zong Hao said. “Then for the next two days, we’ll behave and go to the cultivation hall to cultivate. We’ll use up all the cultivation time we saved up.”

Zong Hao only wanted to improve his cultivation right now.

Starting the next day, the two of them went straight to the cultivation hall. They did not bother choosing rooms. They picked two rooms next to each other and went inside.

Yun Xi opened the isolation array, then sat cross-legged on the cushion. She sorted through everything that happened over the past three months to make sure she missed nothing. Only then did her consciousness enter the space chat group.

The space looked the same as always. Only the rattan baskets used to hold milk fruit were different. Four of them were empty, and only the last basket remained. She decided to ask Tribal Warrior whether they could trade for new milk fruit.

As usual, the light screen showed the message that she had logged in. During the time she was offline, Tribal Warrior had logged in to ask for help. It seemed their tribe had run into a once-in-a-thousand-years cold season.

Heavy snow fell nonstop for three months. Their stored food was not enough, and many cubs and females in the tribe got sick. Wild beasts trapped by the snow and unable to find food also grew more frenzied and attacked the tribe from time to time.

Because Tribal Warrior had the foresight to trade for a protective barrier, the tribe was not overrun, but the lack of food became a huge problem.

The males could only go out hunting, but they were easily surrounded and attacked by frenzied beasts. Every time they went out to find food, there were casualties.

Survival Is The Only Hard Truth provided Tribal Warrior with a batch of medicine for free, helping the sick cubs and females survive that period. Star Trek provided a batch of nutrient solution. The taste was poor, but it could provide energy, letting the male beastmen maintain their transformed battle state.

Ox-Head and Horse-Face and Ethereal Aura could not help Tribal Warrior. One was a dead soul, and the other did not need to eat. Even if they wanted to help, they could not, so they could only stay silent.

When Yun Xi saw this, she immediately contacted Tribal Warrior.

Passing Clouds and Smoke: “Warrior, how are things on your side? Is the cold season over?”

After a moment, Tribal Warrior replied, “The cold season has ended, but the snow was too thick. Meltwater flooded where we lived, so our tribe had to migrate. The beasts that starved through the cold season are very vicious, and we lack food.”

Passing Clouds and Smoke: “I’ll send you ten bottles of Bigu Pills first. One pill can make sure you won’t feel hungry for a day. Try it first. Then I’ll send you a hundred jin of spirit rice. I grew it myself, and the energy in it should meet the needs of the males in your tribe. Try cooking some.”

That was all Yun Xi could think of right now. She had previously shown her cultivation outwardly as Qi Refining level four. She was preparing for alchemy, but she had not truly started refining pills yet. These Bigu Pills were what she accumulated over the past year.

Tribal Warrior replied, “Little Clouds and Smoke, thank you very much. I’ll convert what you provided into milk fruit for trade. When the hot season comes, we’ll be able to harvest milk fruit. I’ll send it to you then.”

He clearly did not want to take advantage for free. Yun Xi’s original goal was to trade for milk fruit, and what she did also counted as timely help. Since Tribal Warrior would remember the favor, she naturally agreed happily and sent the items to him through the chat group.

After that, she glanced at the group avatars. The avatar for the group member called Deity was always gray, clearly still offline. She looked through the chat record and saw no useful resources for trade, so she logged off.

When she opened her eyes again, Yun Xi continued cultivating for the day. She wanted to break through to Qi Refining level nine as soon as possible, then start trying alchemy.

On the other side, after Wei Yun Qing saw Wei Yun Xi, her mood was extremely gloomy. Wei Yun Xi was practically her nemesis, always breaking through ahead of her. She tightened her grip on the pill bottle in her hand and decided to take the pill Senior Brother Ye gave her. She did not want to keep getting crushed by that younger sister with three spiritual roots.

She did it as soon as she decided. She even spent spirit stones to rent a well-located cultivation room. After swallowing the pill, she began cultivating.

The pill melted as soon as it entered her mouth, turning into a stream of pure energy that flowed through her whole body and made her feel warm all over. Then her meridians began to ache and swell. Yun Qing knew that was because the spiritual energy was stretching them open, so she immediately guided the chaotic spiritual energy into circulation inside her body.