With the warming talismans, their freezing limbs warmed up instantly, so the group continued upward. But Lu Yaoyao’s luck seemed to have run out in the Wind-Thunder Bamboo Forest; upon reaching the midpoint of the mountain, they spent a considerable amount of time searching, yet they couldn’t find any spiritual minks or even any creature.
“How about we split up to look?” Chao Muxue suggested.
Lu Yaoyao looked up at the sky, “Let’s find a safe place to settle down for tonight first. That way, we have a meeting place to regroup.”
“Sounds good.”
If they failed to locate the spiritual mink before nightfall, they would be forced to spend the night on the mountain, which was more dangerous after sunset. So the group wandered around in search of a suitable shelter until Lu Yaoyao abruptly halted and directed everyone’s attention to a majestic ancient tree that easily appeared to be several centuries old. “Why don’t we take a break and rest in that tree?” She said, intrigued.
Du Qianshan thought it was a good idea, “It’s perfect to defend against creatures that can’t climb trees.” So they swiftly climbed the towering tree, which had sturdy, gigantic branches wide enough for several adults to comfortably sleep on.
They chose two horizontal branches, only one or two meters apart, with one branch slightly higher than the other. It was a close enough proximity to have conversations with no trouble and they could also move easily by jumping from one branch to the other. That finished, they sat together to rest and have lunch. They had been climbing since early morning, and it was now afternoon, yet they hadn’t taken a break to eat.
“How shall we split up later? Or should we go separately?” Nibbling on a spiritual fruit, Chao Muxue brought up the topic again.
“Acting alone is the easiest way to encounter trouble; we should continue to work in pairs.” Wen Zixing remarked. He had theoretical experience in this area—any seasoned novel reader knew that acting alone during a mission was a surefire way to get yourself into trouble!
Lu Yaoyao nodded in agreement. In the Wind-Thunder Bamboo Forest, although they eventually split up, they kept in pairs and stayed close together, and the area wasn’t particularly dangerous to begin with. This mountain, however, was outside the protection range of their sect; it would be wise to exercise more caution.
Chao Muxue then asked, “Shall we pair up as last time, me and Qianshan?”
Du Qianshan discarded a fruit pit, “I’m fine with that.”
After resting a while and chatting briefly, the group agreed to meet back at the same spot at sunset, and then split into pairs.
Lu Yaoyao and Wen Zixing headed up toward the right side of the mountain, where the path became increasingly difficult. “Why haven’t we seen even a single trace?” While using his sword to clear the pathway, Wen Zixing couldn’t help but grumble.
Lu Yaoyao followed behind, “Patience is necessary.” The Cold Mountain Forest was vast, and spiritual minks were rare; half a day was hardly enough time to find one.
Suddenly, she stopped, “Wait.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Something’s coming.”
Wen Zixing instantly gripped his sword and looked around nervously, “Where?”
Seeing his reaction, Lu Yaoyao wanted to facepalm, “Xingxing, use your spiritual sense to perceive it.”
“Oh, right.” Wen Zixing remembered what he had learned in the sect and quickly concentrated on sensing his surroundings. After a moment, he excitedly pointed towards the front left, “I sensed something, there’s movement over there!”
Lu Yaoyao nodded with satisfaction. Well, this kid’s a good learner.
While they were talking, the noise of an approaching object became louder, causing the ground beneath them to tremble slightly. In the next instant, the creature revealed itself—a massive mutant beast. Mutant beasts were easier to handle than spiritual beasts and this type in particular, while boasting a large size and strong defenses, was not particularly dangerous in attack, making it a suitable practice opponent for novices in the Qi Condensation stage. Lu Yaoyao had been hunting with friends since she was young, and she could handle such a beast easily, but to give Wen Zixing a chance to practice, she stayed back.
Wen Zixing was facing a mutant beast directly for the first time. Although he was initially flustered, he soon found his rhythm in the fight, trading blows with the beast. Seeing Wen Zixing relying solely on his sword, Lu Yaoyao couldn’t help but remind him, “Xingxing, use your talismans!”
Wake up, you are a talisman cultivator, not a sword cultivator! Using a sword was a basic skill for every cultivator, but only sword cultivators specialize in the sword path. A cultivator should naturally learn to utilize their own specialties, so when Lu Yaoyao saw Wen Zixing, a talisman cultivator, taking so long to remember to use his talismans, she almost wanted to sigh.
Under Lu Yaoyao’s guidance, Wen Zixing quickly learned how to use talismans in combat. His timing was far from perfect, but it was more than enough to handle a mutant beast. Soon, the beast fell under Wen Zixing’s sword. He breathed heavily, staying alert for a while, and upon seeing the beast remained unmoved on the ground, he finally relaxed and smiled at Lu Yaoyao, “Yaoyao, I won.”
Lu Yaoyao was equally happy, “Xingxing, you’re amazing!”
Wen Zixing beamed, “Of course, this genius Xingxing is extraordinarily talented and extremely smart!”
Lu Yaoyao continued praising him for a bit, then looked up at the lifeless corpse lying on the ground, still much taller than her. “Xingxing, what do you want to do with this mutant beast?” Her eyes lit up.
Wen Zixing circled the corpse once. It was just an ordinary mutant beast, so its fur and claws had no market value, but it was still his first hunted prey… Wen Zixing clapped his hands and declared, “Let’s have a roast meat feast tonight!”
“Yes!” Lu Yaoyao immediately agreed. It had been years since she last tasted a mutant beast! Though not as tender as spiritual beast meat, they were still delicious.
So Lu Yaoyao helped pack the beast into her storage pouch, and then the two excitedly ran back to their temporary shelter. It wasn’t sunset yet, and Chao Muxue and Du Qianshan hadn’t returned. Lu Yaoyao looked at the place and suddenly slapped her forehead, “We need to find a new place. The smell of blood and meat could attract dangerous things.” If they butchered the beast here, this spot would be dangerous at night.
Wen Zixing agreed, so they found a riverside spot in the mountain gorge to use as their dinner base.
“Xingxing, you gather firewood,” Lu Yaoyao directed. As for her, she went to collect stones to make a fire pit and then proceeded to take out the beast to slice the meat and clean it by the water.
The moment her hand made contact with the water, she exclaimed in surprise, as it turned out to be warm. No wonder she could see a faint mist over the water! The temperature itself wasn’t very high, and she also saw fish in the water. Lu Yaoyao was excited. They would have fish soup and grilled fish tonight!
Wen Zixing quickly came back with a stack of dry wood and saw Lu Yaoyao catching fish, so he immediately went over to assist her.
“Xingxing, you were a step too slow… wait, wrong angle! …now!”
Wen Zixing pulled up his sword, with a fish around the size of his palm still wriggling on it.
“As expected of me, I’m truly amazing!” Wen Zixing felt proud, thinking his fishing skills could land him a spot on a survival show.
Lu Yaoyao also quickly speared four or five fish with her small sword.
“Yaoyao, how are you so good at everything?”
With a beaming smile, Lu Yaoyao proudly exclaimed, “Of course! There was a lake next to my house when I was little. It was such a big, deep lake! When I just turned one, my Daddy took me fishing there, and when I turned three, I could swim to the bottom and catch fish bigger than me!” The lake by their cabin at Cangshan Mountain was filled with spiritual fish, and Lu Yaoyao had been swimming there since she was born. To her, it was like a natural swimming pool, so she was very much adept in water.
The stream here seemed shallow but was actually deep, and who knew what was inside, so she didn’t go in.
Listening to Lu Yaoyao’s impressive feats, Wen Zixing gave a thumbs-up, “Awesome!”
Both of them got caught up in the excitement, spearing fish one after another. By the time they returned to their senses and looked at the shore, there were already more than twenty fish. Let alone one dinner, that amount should be enough to feed the four of them for one full day. Only then did they reluctantly stop.
“We’ll continue tomorrow.”
“Yeah!”
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Despite being able to acquire food rather easily, I’m concerned that they haven’t encountered other creatures, especially when they’re right next to a water source with many fish and have already butchered the mutant beast; you’d think they would at least encounter other creatures on the way, but since they haven’t encountered anything, it could be a sign that they’re in a territory belonging to a powerful creature or I’m just being paranoid, lol.
Thanks for the chapter! 😀