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The mountains were extremely treacherous. The sheer number of spirit trees was countless. If one encountered an aggressive spirit plant, fire and lightning were the best means of defense.
Sui An ran joyfully through the forest.
The surrounding disciples were all left behind. At this moment, only her own happy voice could be heard. The birds and beasts in the sky sang in chorus, and the rustling of the grass in the wind all played a wonderful symphony for Sui An’s free run.
Her heart was pounding.
But she also knew that this moment of joy was fleeting. Sui An slowed her pace. She glanced back, confirmed that no one was following, and then ducked into another thicket of bushes.
The mountain path was not easy to walk. It was covered in thorns everywhere. They lightly scratched the back of her hand and snagged her clothes. The dripping blood was quickly absorbed by these thorns.
Seeing this, Sui An held her sword and hacked at the thorns.
Each slash was clean and neat, leaving a smooth cut on the thorns. Sui An looked up at the sky. The leaves blotted out the sun. If she were to fly in the air, she would only attract the attention of more demonic beasts.
Sui An walked and hacked. It wasn’t long before she saw a stream shimmering with a silvery light. All kinds of five-colored flowers and plants grew along its banks. She walked closer and squatted down to look.
The system panel appeared before her eyes. The flowers and plants corresponding to her line of sight were all marked with names and uses. Most of the grasses contained trace amounts of toxins and were not suitable for alchemy. However, there were a few flowers as red as blood that could be used. The petals looked as if they had been scratched, leaving a mark. This flower was called Beauty’s Tear, and its petals were the main ingredient for refining the Visage-Preserving Pill and the Soul-Bewitching Powder.
Sui An only found a few stalks of Beauty’s Tear. She looked around again and harvested some common medicinal herbs.
[Host, according to the novel’s description, if you follow the stream down, you can find the Scarlet Spirit Fruit, which helps alchemists wash away impurities from their pills.]
Hearing this, Sui An’s eyes lit up like a thief’s.
She turned and slashed with her sword. A tree broke and fell into the stream. Sui An lightly tapped her toes, leaped onto the tree trunk, and floated down along the current.
In the silvery stream, many fish were swimming. The stream wasn’t wide, and she didn’t know where it led. There were rocks blocking the way everywhere. Big fish ate small fish, small fish ate shrimp. Just like Sui An’s world, the strong preyed on the weak, but at least they were freer than she was.
Faintly, Sui An heard the sound of fighting nearby. The clash of swords and blades, the sound of hard iron, echoed through the mountain forest. It seemed someone had found a Golden Spirit Beetle. Sui An didn’t care about the beetle. She held her breath and quietly followed the current away.
[Host, we’ve arrived.]
Sui An jumped ashore, looked around, and carefully scouted the area. She advanced cautiously because rare spirit fruits like this were usually guarded by a demonic beast, which would wait for the fruit to ripen before devouring it to enhance its strength, hoping to one day gain intelligence and transform into a human.
A fiery red fruit tree stood quietly. Judging by its color, it should be ripe in a few days. Sui An hid to the side. There were signs of trampling in the grass on the ground. It was clear that a demonic beast was guarding it, but its figure was nowhere to be seen. She didn’t know where it was hiding.
Sui An picked up a stone and threw it at the fruit on the tree. It hit the fruit, and the fiery red fruit fell to the ground along with a few green leaves. She carefully observed her surroundings. There was no movement.
“Not coming out?” Sui An smiled. “Then don’t blame me for taking the fruit.”
Demonic beasts weren’t too smart. Sui An naturally wouldn’t be foolish enough to run up close to pick the fruit. If she were still in the Qi Refinement stage, this fruit would probably be out of her reach. But she was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, so she had plenty of ways to pick the fruit.
Sui An tied a storage pouch to the hilt of her sword, pulled the mouth of the pouch as wide as possible, and even used a steel wire to fix it in place to ensure the fruit could fall in.
“Alright, go!”
Sui An smiled, controlling her sword to dash forward. The sharp edge of the sword cut down the fruit, which then fell into the storage pouch. Her hands were nimble as she used her sword to harvest one Scarlet Spirit Fruit after another. Perhaps the demonic beast sensed that the fruits were almost gone, as it finally made a move.
The ground shook.
Sui An retracted her sword, and both the sword and the storage pouch were back in her hand. The demonic beast ambushing under the fruit tree burst out of the ground, its huge mouth snapping at empty air. The beast crawled out of the ground. It had a mouth full of sharp teeth, a pair of strong forelimbs, and a tail. The forelimbs were for digging, and the tail for balance. Its whole body was covered in scales.
This was an Earthscale Beast.
Its eyes were crimson. Curling its body up, it rolled towards Sui An like a ball, its large body crushing trees and shattering rocks as it moved. Sui An put away the spirit fruits and flew low on her sword, dodging the spirit trees left and right.
“Roar!”
The Earthscale Beast slammed its tail, sending dust flying. Its body shot high into the air and came crashing down towards Sui An. The rubble spinning with its body was like it had been launched from a slingshot, shooting out in all directions. One hit Sui An’s shoulder, making her sway in pain. She turned to look.
The body that appeared in her vision blotted out the sky. There was no time to dodge. Sui An turned back, formed a hand seal, and a firelight flashed. A net of fire formed in mid-air. The Earthscale Beast crashed into it, its scales burning red-hot.
It howled, stretched its body, and was forced to change direction by the burning fire net. It landed on the ground and stared viciously at Sui An. “Roar!”
Anyone who had guarded a treasure for several years only to have it snatched away in the last few days of its ripening would not be happy or generous enough to let the person go. The Earthscale Beast’s sharp fangs glinted with a cold light, a look of fighting to the death on its face.
Sui An took out a porcelain bottle, opened it, and threw it towards the Earthscale Beast. “Inside are Spirit Nurturing Pills. Consider it my apology to you. If you still don’t know what’s good for you, don’t blame me for being merciless and killing you.”
The Spirit Nurturing Pills scattered on the ground. The Earthscale Beast looked up at her, then lowered its head to sniff, extended its tongue to lick, and swallowed one whole, wagging its tail.
Seeing this, Sui An slowly backed away.
It was hard to say if the Earthscale Beast had reconciled with her or was just too busy eating to bother with her. In any case, Sui An successfully left the area. She then walked back upstream along the small creek.
At this moment, a bell-like sound suddenly rang in the sky. Sui An looked up and saw a faint light screen flicker. Someone had successfully teleported back with a Golden Spirit Beetle.
“So that means there are only ninety-nine spots left.” Just as Sui An finished speaking, another bell-like sound rang out.
Sui An frowned. She hadn’t expected the pass rate to be faster than she thought. As time passed, the number of Golden Spirit Beetles would become fewer and fewer. The later one was, the more dangerous it would be. Although she had rarely left the sect, Tan Yun had always taught her this.
Never test human nature.
Sui An didn’t dare to delay. She returned to the pile of herbs from before and found a stalk of Golden Scent Grass. With a flick of her finger, a small fireball shot out, burning the grass. She squatted to the side and waited patiently.
A faint fragrance wafted out.
The Golden Spirit Beetle was not aggressive and very docile. But because of its small size and its habit of hiding in bushes, it was difficult to find. However, the Golden Spirit Beetle loved this Golden Scent Grass. As long as its fragrance was burned, it would attract the nearby beetles.
Before long, the hiding Golden Spirit Beetles all flew out. Each one was only the size of a little finger, their backs golden and shiny. There were hundreds of them at a glance, a dazzling sight. Sui An rubbed her eyes and carefully stared at the backs of these beetles.
As time went on, Sui An still hadn’t seen a marked beetle. Just as she was about to give up, she happened to glimpse a black dot on the back of one. Sui An stepped forward and caught it in her palm.
Opening her hand to look, there was a tiny formation drawn on the back of the beetle. It showed just how nimble and skillful the person who drew the formation was. But who in the sect could draw such a detailed formation?
“Forget it, I won’t think about it.”
The Golden Spirit Beetle was a living creature and couldn’t be put into a storage space. But the Grand Elder hadn’t said whether the beetle had to be dead or alive when brought out. To be safe, Sui An put it into a porcelain bottle and carefully placed it in her bosom. Next, she just had to find the teleportation formation and go back.
“Senior Sister An, so you were here.”
Sui An only turned around after making sure the porcelain bottle was safe.
A male disciple bowed to her. He was clean-cut with fair skin. When he smiled, he revealed his white teeth, which put people at ease. He walked closer to her.
“Senior Sister An, if you find a Golden Spirit Beetle, don’t put it in your storage space.” He smiled and explained, “I just caught one, and after putting it in my space, a silver bell rang in the sky. Now there are only ninety-nine effective spots left.”
Thankfully, Sui An hadn’t put it in her storage ring.
“Thank you for telling me.” Sui An could feel that the other person’s aura was thick; he should be at the Foundation Establishment stage. She asked warily, “May I ask how I should address this junior brother?”
“Senior Sister can just call me Wu Bin.”
Hearing this, Sui An’s vigilance grew.
This Wu Bin, she had heard Yu Mufei mention him before her rebirth. He had won first place in the Outer Sect Trial back then, but he had used despicable means, tricking Yu Mufei out of his pass token. It was only after Tan Yun found out that he was sent to continue training in the outer sect and did not become an inner sect disciple, so she had never seen him.
Wu Bin looked over at the scorched grass and smelled the faint fragrance. “Senior Sister, did you find some Golden Scent Grass?”
Sui An nodded. “Yes, but I didn’t find a marked beetle.”
Wu Bin smiled. “No worries, no worries. Don’t be anxious, Senior Sister. You’ll find one eventually.”
Wu Bin’s smile was very sincere, like the sun in the sky, making one feel very comfortable. But only he himself knew how much of that smile was genuine.
“Oh, right, Senior Sister. When I was looking for a Golden Spirit Beetle just now, I was hiding in the bushes and happened to hear that the teleportation formation is in the northern direction of the mountain. If you find a beetle, you should head north to find it.”
“Alright.” Sui An pulled at the corners of her mouth to smile.
Wu Bin bowed again respectfully. “The mountains are full of dangers. I wonder if I could travel with you, Senior Sister, so we can look out for each other?”
Wu Bin’s every move was very normal, and he also seemed sincere. If Sui An hadn’t learned of this person’s character from Yu Mufei beforehand, it would have been easy to be deceived by his smiling face.
Sui An raised a hand. “I like to travel alone. Junior Brother, please go on your own way!”
“Well… alright then!” he sighed.
But Wu Bin didn’t move. He stood there, looking as if he were going to see Sui An off, but more like he was blocking her path.
“Junior Brother, please go first.”
“It should be Senior Sister who goes first.”
The two seemed to be politely yielding to each other, but the atmosphere around them was tense, as if a fight could break out at any moment. Wu Bin narrowed his eyes, not knowing what he had said to make the other person so wary. He had clearly used his appearance to his advantage; it should have been easy to gain her trust.
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Glossary
Spirit Plant (灵植, língzhí): A plant that has absorbed spiritual energy and may possess magical properties or even sentience.
Beauty’s Tear (美人泪, Měirénlèi): A type of flower used in alchemy.
Visage-Preserving Pill (驻颜丹, Zhùyán Dān): A classic pill in cultivation novels that halts or reverses the aging process, allowing a cultivator to maintain a youthful appearance.
Soul-Bewitching Powder (迷魂散, Míhún Sǎn): A powder used to confuse or control the mind of another.
Scarlet Spirit Fruit (赤灵果, Chìlíng Guǒ): A rare fruit that aids alchemists.
Earthscale Beast (土鳞兽, Tǔlínshòu): The demonic beast guarding the Scarlet Spirit Fruit.
Golden Scent Grass (金香草, Jīnxiāng Cǎo): A grass used to attract the Golden Spirit Beetles.
Wu Bin (吴斌, Wú Bīn): The disciple who approaches Sui An after she finds the beetle.
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Reika’s Notes:
- Interesting! I can’t believe so many chapters end in a cliffhanger!
- This text was translated by RudeGirl and given to BC Novels for publication.
- I helped with the footnotes, formatting, grammar, etc., the usual stuff that is needed to post this on the website.
- Please let me know if there are any errors. Thanks for reading!