Chapter 58
Chapter 58: Catalyzing Vine Demon
The wounded Vine Demon lashed its vines in fury.
Shao Heng gathered the death qi she had produced earlier and coated her Jade Bee Needles with it. Thirty-six slender jade needles darted back and forth. Any vine threads they touched with death qi withered, shriveled, and snapped.
This Vine Demon was late-stage First Realm and had not formed a demon core. Once its roots were fully eroded by death qi, it died completely.
Shao Heng reined in her aura and continued deeper into the forest.
She moved quickly, and soon heard fighting and frantic cries.
“Help!”
“Help!”
Shao Heng hid behind a tree and looked over. A woman in red-brown robes was sprinting for her life, breath ragged.
Several green vines chased her from behind, slithering like maddened snakes.
Shao Heng sensed the aura and immediately judged it hard to handle. This Vine Demon was the strongest creature she had encountered since entering the secret realm. If not for the secret realm’s restrictions, it would have advanced to Second Realm already.
The female cultivator looked to have around six hundred furnaces of power. Without the boot-shaped artifact under her feet, she would have been caught long ago.
But driving an artifact consumed power and divine sense. If this dragged on, she couldn’t outlast the Vine Demon.
Shao Heng stayed hidden, careful not to get dragged into it.
But the female cultivator seemed to notice her. She angled toward Shao Heng’s direction, shouting, “Fellow Cultivator, save me!”
Shao Heng formed a hand seal and used the moonlight to cast her escape art, silently perching atop another tall tree.
The female cultivator was Cao Jing Yin. She was nimble, kicking off tree after tree, changing direction—and then charging toward Shao Heng again while yelling, “Please, Fellow Cultivator, save me!”
“We’re all out here together. Help each other!”
Shao Heng shifted positions several times. Cao Jing Yin kept following and pestering her. Finally, Shao Heng’s patience snapped.
She summoned the Thousand-Strike Bow, drew the silver-white string, and loosed an arrow straight at Cao Jing Yin’s chest.
Then she cast her escape art again, hopped to another tree, drew once more, and shot from a new angle.
“You!” Cao Jing Yin shouted, dodging vines while also dealing with Shao Heng’s arrows, shock and fury twisting together. “If you won’t save me, fine! But why are you trying to kill me too?”
“Junior Sister, we’re here to help!”
Two figures swept in with blazing firelight, a man and a woman, both with more than nine hundred furnaces of power.
Shao Heng saw the situation, put away her long bow, and fled under moonlight, putting distance between them.
With Senior Brother and Senior Sister helping, Cao Jing Yin’s expression finally eased.
When the man in red landed, flames erupted in a ring from his toe and burned outward. As he formed seals and chanted, fire snakes took shape and fought the vines.
Fire overcame wood, and the green vines recoiled.
The beautiful female cultivator supported the nearly exhausted Cao Jing Yin and fed her a healing pill.
Cao Jing Yin caught her breath and said bitterly, “Senior Sister, help me get revenge! Just now, a bow-using cultivator didn’t help while I was being chased by a Vine Demon, and she even drew her bow to shoot me!”
Zhang Rong frowned. “Why would she shoot you? Did you do something to her?”
“Did you lure the Vine Demon toward her?”
Zhang Rong guessed it exactly.
Cao Jing Yin pressed her lips tight and said nothing.
The male cultivator’s face darkened. “Don’t care what Junior Sister did. That person refused to save and instead tried to kill. What a vicious heart.”
“Jing Yin, don’t worry. Senior Brother will avenge you.”
He looked at her hand. “Did the Gold-Devouring Beetle remember her scent?”
Cao Jing Yin’s eyes lit. “Thank you, Senior Brother!”
She opened her palm. A tiny six-legged insect sat there, shaped like a little ladybug, its whole body a brilliant gold.
“My Gold-Devouring Beetle is naturally sensitive to all scents. She shifted positions several times—she must have left traces. We can definitely find her.”
Her voice grew sharper with resentment. “She must have an exquisite escape art. She clearly could have saved me, yet she still attacked me!”
The more Zhang Rong listened, the more something felt off.
Cao Jing Yin was Master’s only daughter, with a Fourth Realm father as her backer. Spoiled from childhood, it was hard for her not to become arrogant.
Zhang Rong wanted to say something, but Lin Xuan and Cao Jing Yin had already set off, tracking the scent.
Zhang Rong sighed and could only follow.
Shao Heng, who had resumed searching for Shattered Moon, suddenly received Ao Chuan’s voice transmission.
“I saw three people approaching quickly with Dragon Pupil Art. Is it the female cultivator from earlier?”
Shao Heng had only just started practicing the Great Expansion Spirit-Refining Art and hadn’t completed the first level yet. Her divine sense was strong, but her detection still lagged behind Ao Chuan’s Dragon Pupil Art.
“I know,” Shao Heng replied.
She murmured an incantation, jumped ten li away, widened the distance again, then rushed in a new direction.
Lin Xuan chased on a long shuttle, cutting through the forest at high speed. Whenever a Vine Demon or tree demon stirred, fierce flames burst out and forced them back.
Cao Jing Yin followed behind him and said anxiously, “The Gold-Devouring Beetle says the direction changed. Did she notice we’re chasing her?”
“So what?” Lin Xuan said. “Senior Brother will help you vent this anger today.”
He had cultivated for over twenty years and had more than nine hundred and forty furnaces of power. He was a standout genius among his peers in the Star-Inquiry Sect.
Lin Xuan glanced at Cao Jing Yin. That achievement did include her constant praise of him in front of Master.
Zhang Rong flew on her sword behind them. The demon qi around them grew thicker and thicker. Her brows tightened as she sent a voice transmission. “Senior Brother, Junior Sister, the demon qi ahead is too thick. Shouldn’t we reconsider?”
“It’s fine,” Lin Xuan replied, laughing lightly. “The strongest Vine Demon here is only at First Realm perfection. We’re disciples of the immortal sect. With immortal arts and artifacts, can’t we handle a few demons?”
He sped up instead.
Zhang Rong wanted to stop, but his words were rough yet not wrong. Both of them were at First Realm perfection, with strong combat methods. The Vine Demons here shouldn’t be their match.
When they rushed into the place where demon qi was densest, they saw a burly man.
Green vines coiled around him, and none attacked. Their posture looked more like protection.
The man’s fingers pointed down, dripping green liquid. The vines absorbed it, and their demon qi surged. They even became as clear as jade.
This green Vine Demon seemed to be undergoing some kind of transformation. Though still at First Realm perfection, its aura had exploded. It was practically a Vine Demon king.
Lin Xuan and Zhang Rong’s faces changed, and even the previously arrogant Cao Jing Yin looked terrified.
“Are you crazy?!” Zhang Rong shouted. “Working with a tiger?”
“Fellow Cultivator, why help this green Vine Demon? Those not of our kind will not share our hearts!”
“Won’t this bring disaster to Human Clan cultivators in the secret realm? We’re leaving now!”
Shao Heng said nothing. She only continued dripping Azure Emperor spirit liquid onto the vines, using it to keep the Vine Demon from attacking her for the moment.
Ao Chuan howled in Shao Heng’s mind, a chill running through its instincts. “I remember now! This is exactly how you tricked a dragon back then!”
Mixing spirit liquid with death qi made it impossible to notice, even for a True Dragon’s sharp instincts.
Shao Heng answered calmly, “Oh? Then I guess you have a good memory.”