Chapter 353

Chapter 353: Wasteland and Green Land

After all, they had actually tried to make her give up the Marquis Wu’an heir apparent. That was someone they could not afford to offend. And it wasn’t only them-apparently they couldn’t afford to offend Yu Zhi Yi either. Yu Zhi Yi was third rank, while the heir apparent’s father was a second-rank marquis.

Yu Zhi Yi ignored what the others thought. She told Jiang Liu Yi to take everyone back, then went alone into the wasteland.

The wasteland was truly desolate, nothing but yellow as far as the eye could see. But it wasn’t blowing sand. The ground here was dry and compact, so hard that even the toughest wild grass couldn’t push up from below.

Bare in all directions, with no landmarks at all, anyone weak with directions would soon get lost. Yu Zhi Yi believed her sense of direction was decent, but after walking for a while, even she lost her bearings.

She looked around. All she could see was desolation. Sky and earth looked the same, and the bright blue sky held not a single cloud. The sky was a pure, clear blue; the ground was a pure, clear yellow. Every direction showed almost the same view.

As she walked, Yu Zhi Yi began to feel thirsty. There was water in her Spatial Talisman, but she didn’t take it out at once and walked a bit more. Then she felt hungry. A voice shouted in her mind: [I’m so thirsty. I’m so hungry.]

She still had no plan to open the Spatial Talisman. Instead, she took out a compass. With the compass, direction was no longer a problem. Heading due north and moving very fast, she walked for one shichen-about two hours-and finally reached the northern edge of the wasteland.

There, she saw a patch of green.

In the green woods hung bright red fruit, and deeper in she seemed to hear the sound of running water. Yu Zhi Yi licked her dry lips and stepped forward.

She seemed to forget why she had entered this place. Right now she had only one thought-find food and water. And here, there was both.

She stepped onto the soft green grass. The red fruit was right in front of her. It could fill her belly and quench her thirst. She reached out, inching toward the fruit.

Not far away, a pair of eyes stared at her hand. As she drew closer and closer, those eyes grew more and more excited.

Suddenly, Yu Zhi Yi stopped.

At once, annoyance flashed in those eyes. Seeing that the slender, pale hand was about to pull back, the owner of the eyes narrowed them and shot out like a blur, trying to bump into her hand so she would grab the fruit.

“Got you,” Yu Zhi Yi said.

She looked with keen curiosity at the thing flailing in her grip. It looked like a snake. Why “like” and not “is”? Because on its head were two little horns, and on its belly were four small legs. From a distance it was a bit like a lizard, but lizard skin is bumpy; this one’s surface was smooth and even. If you ignored the feet and horns, it really did look like a snake.

Pinned in her hand, the creature struggled with all its might and even tried to bite her. Yu Zhi Yi neatly pinched its mouth shut.

Jin Lin: “?”

Staring into its anger-filled eyes, Yu Zhi Yi asked with interest, saying: “What exactly are you?”

Jin Lin: “…”

[Do I look like I can answer you?]

Yu Zhi Yi knew asking a small creature a question and expecting an answer was silly. She didn’t expect it to talk. She rummaged in her storage and soon pulled out a cord. She had looted this cord from a female Demonic Cultivator before; it faintly carried Spiritual Energy and wasn’t an ordinary item.

She had tested it. Once this cord tied you up, even she found it hard to break free. The cord was also quite “smart,” able to change shape based on the size of whatever it bound. For example, now that Yu Zhi Yi wanted the little thing’s mouth tied, the cord thinned to a hair’s width.

The little thing fought with all its might, but it couldn’t break the cord’s grip. Only then did Yu Zhi Yi release her fingers and say: “You’ve opened your spiritual wisdom, haven’t you?” Though spoken as a question, her tone was certain.

Jin Lin ignored her.

Yu Zhi Yi didn’t mind and said mildly: “You don’t have to answer me. But I don’t like disobedient prisoners. If I rough you up in a minute, please forgive me.”

As she spoke, she strolled unhurriedly across the green. The environment here was excellent-there were hills and water, and many things in the grove looked edible. Someone who had just crossed a seemingly endless wasteland would think they’d stumbled into a fairyland. Under the torture of hunger and thirst, the moment they saw fruit they could eat, even if a tiny doubt rose in their heart, most people couldn’t resist. They would pluck it without thinking.

Yu Zhi Yi didn’t know what would happen after picking the fruit, but she was sure it wouldn’t be good.

She circled the entire green, finding that the place wasn’t large. At her speed, half a shichen would cover it; an ordinary person would need about a day.

Jin Lin’s eyes spun nervously as it watched her. Seeing her attention fixed on the surroundings as if she had no time for it, it seized a chance and bolted in a streak of motion.

Yu Zhi Yi didn’t care. She began a second round of searching.

Before long, she stood before a waterfall and released a paper crane. She wrapped the crane in a thin shield of Spiritual Energy so the falling water wouldn’t soak it, then guided it to fly behind the waterfall.

Jin Lin actually hadn’t run away at all, but hid to watch. Seeing Yu Zhi Yi’s move, a flash of anxiety crossed its gold-black eyes. After a long moment, it stamped its little feet in a very human way, then sprang from hiding and made a loud fuss.

Yu Zhi Yi turned her head and saw the strange little creature streak past like a blur. The paper crane had already flown to the pool below the falls and was searching at a key moment. She was curious about the little creature, but she didn’t want to split her focus. To be safe, she activated all the defensive measures on her body.

Jin Lin saw she didn’t give chase, stamped its feet again in anger, and once more whizzed past behind her.

[Got it,] Yu Zhi Yi thought. [There must be something good down there.]

She ignored the noise the little thing made on purpose. Before long, the paper crane sent back a message: it had found a spot with Spiritual Energy fluctuations. It had no true wisdom, so it could only tell that the place was unusual, not what exactly was unusual about it.

With a turn of the wrist, Yu Zhi Yi took out a few Heavenly Thunder Talismans. Tapping her toes, she leapt from the hundred-meter-high waterfall.

Jin Lin: “!!!”

[She…she really found it?] it thought. It dropped the act, and a golden blur shot after her, leaping down toward the falls.

Light as a feather, Yu Zhi Yi landed on a single rock. Water roared on all sides; this rock was the only foothold. Three sides were sheer rock walls hidden by the falling water; the last side was the direction the water flowed away. The Spiritual Energy fluctuation came from one of those rock walls.