Chapter 77

Chapter 77: Searching for Clues

Wei Yun Xi thought back to the map she had bought of the Bao Hua Mountain Range’s outer area and roughly circled a range.

“Senior Brother Long, there are two places in that direction with large patches of fire dragon grass.”

“Exactly. That’s why I chose to follow. One place is guarded by a swarm of tigerhead bees. The other is already near the edge of the outer area, close to the inner area. The odds of running into second-rank demon beasts are high there, and it’s very dangerous. I don’t know which place they went to pick fire dragon grass.”

Yun Xi frowned and thought for a moment. “Based on what I know of Senior Sister Qin Tong Shuang, they probably chose the spot near the edge of the inner area. Precisely because it’s dangerous, not many Qi Refining cultivators would go deeper to gather there, so there should be more fire dragon grass.

“And first-rank fire dragon grass doesn’t do much for second-rank demon beasts, so the fire dragon grass there should be older. If she can hand in higher-year fire dragon grass for more sect contribution points, that would definitely be her first choice.”

Long Dao Yu turned to look at Yun Xi. “Looks like Junior Sister Wei prepared very thoroughly for this task.”

Yun Xi nodded. “At first, I took the task to find my missing friend. Later, I heard I might travel with Martial Uncle Sheng, so I prepared even more. I can’t embarrass myself in front of Martial Uncle Sheng.”

“You’re right. Then let’s speed up a bit.”

Long Dao Yu felt like he had been shown up. When it came to worshiping Martial Uncle Sheng, he claimed second place and no one dared claim first. He couldn’t lose to this junior sister, so he sped up as well.

After entering the Bao Hua Mountain entrance, he slapped a lightness talisman on himself and increased his pace. Yun Xi used the advantages of her Thousand Shadow Wind-Supporting Technique, borrowing wind spiritual energy around her to carry her forward.

With a direction in mind, their speed naturally increased. An hour later, Long Dao Yu stopped first. Yun Xi also halted and asked, “Senior Brother Long, why did we stop?”

Long Dao Yu waved his hand. “Martial Uncle Sheng and the others are not far ahead. Let’s not follow too closely. We should rest a bit. We’ve been traveling for an hour.”

“Alright.”

After agreeing, Yun Xi held her spirit sword and walked around the area once to make sure there was no danger. Then she set out a defensive formation plate, swallowed a pill like she was putting on a show, and began meditating.

Long Dao Yu stole a glance at Yun Xi, then quietly squeezed his sore calves. Even with talismans helping, it still punished his legs. But for some reason, Junior Sister Wei looked even more relaxed than he was.

Yun Xi kept her eyes closed as if meditating, but her spiritual sense stayed spread out on guard. Naturally, she noticed Long Dao Yu’s little movements. She didn’t call him out. Anyway, they were only a temporary team.

One was chasing an idol, and one was avoiding danger and looking for a friend. For now, their goals lined up. They could make do.

At this moment, Qin Tong Shuang, the one Yun Xi was worried about, was in a dark underground cave. She was holding an egg as large as a washbasin and slowly sending spiritual energy into it. Beside her, Mu Ning Zhu was doing the same thing.

If Wei Yun Qing were here, she would recognize Mu Ning Zhu as the person she once provoked on the outer third peak, only to be mercilessly slapped down. And now Mu Ning Zhu was at early Foundation Establishment. If Wei Yun Qing found out, she would probably lose it.

Qin Tong Shuang was already at the eighth level of Qi Refining. In just over a year, she had climbed two levels, clearly putting in hard work. Yet this time, she had been trapped here while training with Senior Sister.

Qin Tong Shuang couldn’t even keep her usual cool expression. While sending spiritual energy into the egg, she asked softly, “Senior Sister, the deadline is almost here. What do we do?”

Mu Ning Zhu sighed. “I can get away myself, but I can’t take all of you out. If we anger that three-headed snake, what if it kills you all?”

“Then we just keep waiting? That second-rank three-headed snake’s deadline is almost here. If we can’t hatch the eggs, we’ll die either way.”

Mu Ning Zhu understood her junior sister’s anxiety and could only comfort her. “Wait a little longer. The sect definitely received the distress talisman I sent. Fellow disciples have been getting captured and brought here one after another. The more missing disciples there are, the more the sect will realize something is wrong. They’ll arrange someone stronger to search for us. Hold on a bit more.”

Qin Tong Shuang sighed and could only keep slowly sending spiritual energy into the egg. They had worked at it for more than half a month, but they hadn’t even hatched a single scale. She even suspected these were dead eggs, but she didn’t dare say it to that second-rank three-headed snake. She was afraid she’d be swallowed.

The fellow disciples around them, each holding a snake egg, all wore gray, hopeless expressions. If this kept going, they would all run out of spiritual energy and die. Now they could only hope the sect sent someone to rescue them soon.

Elsewhere, Sheng Yu Hong was checking for clues at the fire dragon grass patch. But the area had been badly damaged and there were almost no useful traces. In the end, he took out the Reversal Mirror he had borrowed from the sect and spent his own spiritual power to replay what had happened.

But because Sheng Yu Hong’s strength was limited, some scenes only flashed by. He only managed to see a second-rank three-headed snake kidnapping Hao Ran Sect disciples. Then pain stabbed at his dantian, and he had to stop feeding it spiritual energy.

Sheng Yu Hong raised his hand and retrieved the Reversal Mirror hovering above the fire dragon grass. With a pale face, he put the mirror back into his storage bag and immediately swallowed a spirit-restoring pill to recover.

Five junior sisters quickly sat around him in a circle to protect him. They had seen the image in the Reversal Mirror too. At least now they knew what had taken their fellow disciples. Once Senior Brother recovered, they would follow the three-headed snake’s trail and search deeper.

After Sheng Yu Hong recovered, they didn’t delay. They started tracking the three-headed snake, preparing to strike straight at its lair.

Not long after Sheng Yu Hong’s group left, Long Dao Yu and Wei Yun Xi also arrived at the fire dragon grass patch.

Yun Xi looked at the fire dragon grass that had been half-destroyed and felt heartache. This was the main herb used to refine fire dragon pills. As the name suggested, fire dragon pills replenished fire spiritual energy, which was especially friendly to cultivators with fire spiritual roots.

Even without a fire spiritual root, a cultivator could still refine their body after taking it. It was also a must-have warming pill when training in extremely cold regions.

“Junior Sister Wei, since we’re already here, we shouldn’t leave empty-handed. We should pick some. At least we can hand something in when we go back,” Long Dao Yu said.

He also felt it was a pity, but this time his thoughts matched Yun Xi’s.

“Senior Brother Long is right. These fire dragon grasses are pretty old. Martial Uncle Sheng and the others don’t care about them, but we won’t complain.”

“Exactly.”

After that, one of them kept watch while the other started picking fire dragon grass.

Luckily, Yun Xi had prepared well and didn’t lack jade boxes for storing herbs. She specifically picked the older fire dragon grass, but she didn’t forget Long Dao Yu either. She split it almost half and half.

After putting the jade boxes into her storage bag, something changed. A snake tail burst out of the ground, wrapped around Wei Yun Xi, and drilled into the earth.

“Senior Brother, save me!” Yun Xi shouted.

Long Dao Yu was startled out of his skin. He threw out an attack talisman on instinct, but it only blew the remaining fire dragon grass into pieces. It didn’t injure the snake tail at all.

Long Dao Yu’s face changed. He raised his hand and fired a distress signal into the sky.