Chapter 98

Chapter 98: Post-Battle Rest

Yun Xi forced herself through the third body-refining movement, then could not hold on anymore. Her bones even made cracking sounds, clearly exceeding her body’s limit.

Dian Dian, watching its master, was extremely curious. It watched her make all kinds of strange movements and felt like she was about to twist herself into a coiling vine. But once the posture was set, white starlight power would flow into its master’s body.

After Yun Xi finished, Dian Dian shuffled over and asked, “Master, what technique are you cultivating? It looks like the way great demons absorb moonlight and starlight.”

Yun Xi wiped the sweat from her forehead. Then she rubbed Dian Dian’s head and said, “This is my own unique body-refining art.”

“Oh!”

Dian Dian twitched its ears, showing it understood. Then it sniffed and said, “Master, you have a weird smell on you.”

Yun Xi sniffed herself and did not smell anything. She said to Dian Dian, “Find where the smell is coming from.”

“Yes, Master! Dian Dian’s nose is the sharpest. Wait a moment.”

It circled Yun Xi while sniffing. In the end, it stopped at Yun Xi’s ankle and flicked its tail.

“Master, it’s here.”

Yun Xi understood immediately. This was where the emerald-green little snake had bitten her earlier. Luckily, she had listened and swallowed the two antidote pills she had kept in her mouth, so she had not ended up fully paralyzed.

She sat down on the floor, pulled up her pant leg, and exposed the injured ankle. Two black dots the size of yellow millet grains were seeping from the bite holes.

Dian Dian leaned in at once to sniff, then sent a voice transmission. “Master, that’s the smell.”

Yun Xi took out a handkerchief and wiped the black dots away, then used a cleansing technique. Only then did she lower her pant leg again. She brought the handkerchief to her nose, sniffed, and said with understanding, “This should be residual poison left in my body by a bamboo-leaf viper.”

“No wonder the smell is so faint. Dian Dian almost didn’t catch it.”

Yun Xi guessed that forcing the residual poison out was related to the body technique she had just cultivated. She felt she had struck treasure this time. She had nearly pushed herself to the point of her body collapsing, but the benefits were obvious.

After that, she sat in meditation and circulated her technique for a full cycle, bringing herself back to peak condition. Then she asked Dian Dian, “That sharp shriek on the battlefield earlier – which great demon made it?”

“It was the White-Browed Old Ape. It’s one of the bosses in the inner region,” Dian Dian said, twitching its ears.

Yun Xi asked with interest, “So it’s Fifth Rank? Equivalent to a Divine Transformation Stage cultivator?”

“Mm. It’s very strong. It went through a transformation thunder tribulation, but it didn’t want to leave its clan, so it stayed cultivating in the Bao Hua Mountain Range.”

Yun Xi smiled and squeezed Dian Dian in her hand, rubbing it a few times before asking, “Looks like you’re from the Bao Hua Mountain Range. How did you end up contracted by human cultivators? I didn’t have time to ask before. Now we have time – tell me.”

Dian Dian accepted its master’s “affection.” Its fur was messed up from being kneaded around, and it could only say dejectedly, “Dian Dian had its eye on a Second Rank Long Yan Grass. I guarded it the whole time, waiting to pick it when it matured, but those two human cultivators noticed me. They were very sly. They played the game of mantis stalking a cicada while the oriole waited behind. They not only picked the Long Yan Grass, they also captured me.

“To survive, I said I could track the scent of treasures, so I helped them lock onto cultivators carrying valuable items.

“But their cultivation was limited, so they only targeted lone cultivators. They robbed four lone cultivators in total and got some treasures. Most of the spirit stones in their storage pouches were taken because of me.

“Just when they were about to leave the outer region of Bao Hua Mountain, I smelled the wonderful scent on you. I told them, and then they went to rob you…”

Dian Dian could not finish. Yun Xi squeezed it again from head to tail, kneading it all over.

“Master! Dian Dian… turned over… a new leaf!” Dian Dian struggled to explain.

“Hey, you even know what ‘turning over a new leaf’ means. Who taught you that?” Yun Xi asked, amused. She found the little thing pretty interesting.

“I overheard… high-tier… demon beasts chatting… and heard it…” Dian Dian said in broken phrases.

After she finished kneading it, Yun Xi turned serious.

“You’re my contracted beast now. In the future, act with restraint and don’t drag your master down. Otherwise, I’ll be the first to squeeze you to death.”

She set Dian Dian down beside the meditation cushion.

After landing, Dian Dian first smoothed its fur, then twitched its ears and said, “Dian Dian wouldn’t dare. I only did that before to protect myself. Besides, the ones who robbed people were cultivators. Dian Dian only provided information.”

Yun Xi curled her lips into a smile and flicked its forehead. Then she let the matter pass.

After that, Yun Xi took out the Seven-Star Doom Staff and studied it. Because of the battle earlier, she felt a tighter connection with the staff, and using it felt more and more natural.

Especially after feeding in lightning spiritual energy, the Seven-Star Doom Staff’s killing power rose another level. When she attacked demon beasts, the staff would follow her intent and increase its striking force.

Just like she had sensed in battle, the attack force increased, but the Seven-Star Doom Staff’s own weight did not change. Instead, it adjusted according to her strength. She was very satisfied.

Then she did not pour any spiritual energy into the staff at all. Relying only on her own strength, she practiced a set of sword moves from the Peerless Sword Thunder Art, using the staff as a substitute for a spirit sword. She swung it with a fierce wind, and Dian Dian watched while chirping excitedly.

After all that, Yun Xi had no sleepiness left. She started counting her gains from today’s battle, especially that twenty-five-meter-long five-colored python. It was the material she planned to use to refine her robe.

When Dian Dian saw a five-colored python suddenly appear on the ground, its fur stood on end. This kind of demon beast was a natural enemy of rodents. It shot back into Yun Xi’s arms in a blur, leaving only its tail sticking out as it trembled in fear.

Yun Xi held her spirit sword and measured for a long time, not knowing where to start. She had never skinned anything before. In the end, she could only put the five-colored python away, deciding to deal with it after returning to the sect.

What remained in her storage pouch were the corpses of Unicorn Rhinoceros bull-beasts, sharp-snouted alligators, and snake demon beasts, as well as a pile of First Rank demon beasts. All of them were her spoils.

After she finished counting, the sky was almost bright. Yun Xi did not forget the cracks she had smashed into the floor with the Seven-Star Doom Staff. She formed hand seals and smoothed the ground flat again. Then she pushed open the door and walked out.

Several fellow disciples were already standing in the courtyard, talking quietly about yesterday’s great battle.

Yun Xi saw Mu Ning Zhu and Qin Tong Shuang and walked over.

“Yun Xi, have you recovered?” Mu Ning Zhu asked.

“I rested all night and I’m mostly recovered. It’s just that I used up half my talismans. If we don’t need to go out to fight today, I’m planning to draw some attack talismans.”

Yun Xi did not hide it. She laid out her plan. She always had this anxiety about not having enough ammunition.

Mu Ning Zhu agreed. “I can’t draw talismans. I’m going to buy some. We should also turn in yesterday’s harvest. We should be able to exchange it for spirit stones.”

Then she lowered her voice further.

“This beast tide will probably end very soon.”