The cave fell into a brief silence after Liu Qingyang finished speaking.
The glow of the night-luminescent pearl cast flickering shadows upon the stone walls, and the distant, faint shrieks of demonic beasts could be heard.
"Wait."
At Zhu Yinxi's voice, Liu Qingyang paused, hearing the rustle of fabric from behind him.
"If we're going, we're all going together!" Duan Xianxing had already picked up his sword. "Why should you get to play the hero all by yourself?"
"Fellow daoists of the Shenmu Sect have always been known for saving the dying and healing the wounded. Now that we've encountered them, how can we not save them?" Li Nanzhu also stood up; she had a very favorable impression of the people from the Shenmu Sect.
"Furthermore, it's quite abnormal for cultivators with such low cultivation to wander into the inner-middle region of the Forest of Demonic Beasts. I suspect it might be related to those evil cultivators. It'll be good to ask them and clear things up, right? Second Senior Brother." Li Nanzhu turned to Zhu Yinxi and blinked.
Zhu Yinxi rubbed his brow helplessly. These two troublesome juniors always had an abundance of compassion, but...
A smile tugged at the corner of Zhu Yinxi's lips. If it weren't for such a pure heart, the seventh junior brother would never have possessed such a pure sword intent. Besides, his little junior sister was right; given the current situation, it wasn't as if he couldn't protect them. So be it.
"Then we go together," he said, picking up his jade flute and stepping toward the cave entrance.
"You guys..." Liu Qingyang was stunned for a moment, but Duan Xianxing slapped him on the shoulder, snapping him out of it.
"What are you dazing off for? If we don't hurry, those disciples are going to be eaten alive by those spirit-siphoning fire ants!"
The four exchanged looks; no more words were needed.
Liu Qingyang's Adam's apple bobbed as he finally gave a deep, respectful bow.
...
Meanwhile, the six members of the Shenmu Sect were in dire straits.
Having just evaded another wave of demonic beasts, Zhou Zichun suddenly raised his hand, and all six dove into the mud.
On a tree canopy thirty feet away, two iron-beaked crows were tearing at a severed human arm—judging by the green bamboo pattern on the sleeve, it belonged to Senior Brother Wu, who had been separated during their earlier breakthrough.
Lin Xiaowan bit her lower lip hard, and Shen Qingqiu covered the girl's eyes, though she herself couldn't stop trembling.
"It's Senior Brother Wu..." Tao Ying's sob was muffled by Zhou Zichun's hand. A red string was still tied around those pale fingers; before they set out, everyone had teased him for being too sentimental, insisting on tying a concentric knot like a mortal couple. They never expected that now...
The six waited for the iron-beaked crows to fly away before continuing forward.
Lin Xiaowan's ankle was swollen like a mantou, and every step she took brought a piercing pain.
She bit her lip fiercely to keep from crying out, but tears still fell uncontrollably.
Shen Qingqiu supported her, half-carrying her, even as her own right shoulder bled—a wound corroded by the acid of the spirit-siphoning fire ants.
"The rejuvenation pills are all gone. What do we do?" Tao Ying looked at Shen Qingqiu's wound anxiously, feeling powerless.
"Don't look back..." Shen Qingqiu's warning was mixed with bloody froth. "The colony... we don't know when they'll catch up..."
They had been truly unlucky. They had clearly escaped the previous swarm, only to stumble upon another group of about twenty spirit-siphoning fire ants. Though it was less than half the size of the first swarm, it was still more than they could handle. While they had temporarily lost them, there was no guarantee they wouldn't follow.
Suddenly, Tao Ying cried out in pain. A fire ant had somehow crawled onto her calf, its carapace glinting with a metallic coldness.
Senior Brother Zhao tried to pick it off with a broken sword, but the blade snapped with a loud crack. These were standard-issue weapons provided by the Shenmu Sect to every disciple, intended for self-defense while gathering herbs—how could they possibly stand up to such a demonic beast?
In the end, it took the combined effort of several people to kill that single ant.
Despair spread through the group. Zhou Zichun reached into the storage bag at his waist, only to find that the last of the talismans had been used up fifteen minutes ago.
"We can't get through..." Lin Xiaowan suddenly stopped, pointing ahead with a trembling finger. The leader of the fire ants had somehow circled around and blocked their path, while the swarm chasing from behind had already formed an encirclement.
Zhou Zichun's vision began to blur.
He remembered Chu Qingyue's final cry before being submerged by the ants: "Plant a red maple tree." He suddenly found it incredibly ironic—they wouldn't even have whole bodies left, so where would the grave be?
But he wasn't willing to give up just like that. Squeezing out the last drop of spiritual energy from his dantian, he cast the Green Vine Technique.
This time, however, only seven or eight sparse vines emerged, withering before they could even touch the swarm.
Shen Qingqiu's vine whip snapped into three pieces as soon as it was swung. Senior Brother Zhao even began to burn his life-bound essence blood, but everyone knew this would only last ten breaths at most.
When the first fire ant jumped onto Tao Ying's shoulder, the girl screamed.
She bit her teeth and threw her hairpin; it exploded into powder among the ants, but only managed to push five of them back.
More fire ants surged from behind, threatening to completely submerge them. The leader of the spirit-siphoning fire ants also launched its attack. Zhou Zichun instinctively swung his sword to parry, but the fragile magic tool shattered under the ant king's forelimb. He was sent flying by the impact, slamming hard against a tree and spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"Senior Brother Zhou!" Lin Xiaowan cried out in panic, only to see the ant king raise its sharp forelimb, ready to cleave down on him!
Drawing strength from an unknown source, Lin Xiaowan grabbed a sharp beast bone from the ground. "I'll kill you!"
Before she could even lift the bone, the ant king's limb sliced through the air. Zhou Zichun watched helplessly as the cold, sickle-like blade approached.
Was he... going to die?
Zhou Zichun closed his eyes in resignation.
The next moment.
BOOM!
A blast of air flipped the fire ant king over. The pain Zhou Zichun expected never came. He opened his eyes tremblingly to see a silver sword light streak across like a meteor, severing the ant king's limb at the base. Green blood sprayed everywhere.
"Heh, fellow daoist, the rescue fee is three tier 1 pills! Don't forget!"
Duan Xianxing's laughter came from the treetop. He swung his sword while hanging upside down, bisecting every fire ant his blade touched.
Lin Xiaowan looked up blankly and saw a young girl in green. Li Nanzhu descended from the sky like a goddess, stepping on burning vines as talismans flew from her fingertips.
"Stay down!"
Liu Qingyang's shout jolted everyone awake.
As a wave of heat washed over them, Liu Qingyang's fire dragon grazed the edges of the Shenmu Sect disciples' robes, incinerating the lunging ants with a crackling sound. The flames scorched the tips of Shen Qingqiu's loose hair, but she held tightly to the exhausted Tao Ying in her arms.
When the final spiritual energy barrier rose, the group realized that Zhu Yinxi was already standing within the circle, his jade flute held to his lips.
Was that a god?
Lin Xiaowan stared at the blue-clad figure, her throat aching with emotion.
She suddenly remembered what her master had said when she first joined the sect: "The cultivation world is a place where the strong prey on the weak; no one will risk their lives for a stranger."
But at this moment, someone had stepped through a sea of fire to save them.
Fortunately, while the number of spirit-siphoning fire ants was still high, most were only at tier 1. Within fifteen minutes, the four had slaughtered them all.
Zhou Zichun clutched his chest and rose with difficulty, giving a deep bow to the four. "Zhou Zichun of the Shenmu Sect thanks you four daoists for your rescue."
"This is no place to linger," Zhu Yinxi said. "Let's head to the cave first; it's safer there."
Liu Qingyang looked at Zhu Yinxi gratefully, then quickly pulled a bottle of pills from his storage bag and shoved it toward the Shenmu Sect disciples. "These are spirit-returning pills. Take them quickly. We'll tend to your wounds once we're safe!"
"Thank you, fellow daoist." Zhou Zichun didn't stand on ceremony and distributed the pills to the other five. Once they regained the ability to move, they quickly retreated to safety.
As he was leaving, Zhou Zichun glanced back. For a brief moment, he seemed to see a familiar green figure standing in the woods, smiling at him gently.
...
Inside the cave.
Li Nanzhu was helping Lin Xiaowan check the injury on her ankle.
The girl's ankle had swollen to a purplish hue, and even a light touch made her gasp in pain.
"The bone is dislocated," Li Nanzhu frowned. "Bear with it."
Before Lin Xiaowan could react, Li Nanzhu applied a clever twist of her hand.
"Ah!" Lin Xiaowan screamed, tears instantly flooding out.
But she soon realized that while it still hurt, the sharp, piercing sensation had lessened significantly.
Li Nanzhu withdrew her hands, looking satisfied at how quickly the swelling on Lin Xiaowan's ankle was receding. This was something she had learned from doctors on the battlefield, and she hadn't expected it to come in handy now. She couldn't help but mutter, "The cultivation world is great. If this were the mortal world, a bone injury would take a hundred days to heal, but here you'll be hopping around in a few days."
Lin Xiaowan stared at her blankly, her eyes shimmering with admiration. "Th-thank you, Immortal..."
Li Nanzhu waved her hand and laughed. "Don't call me that; it sounds weird. Just call me Nanzhu."
Lin Xiaowan's face turned red, and she whispered, "Then... Sister Nanzhu."
On the other side, the Shenmu Sect disciples were experiencing the most brutal "detoxification" of their lives.
Fearing that his own pills wouldn't completely neutralize the poison in the Shenmu Sect disciples' bodies, Liu Qingyang had gone so far as to buy pills from Zhu Yinxi—the ones made by the third senior brother—at a high price.
He handed them to the Shenmu Sect group with a serious expression. "To be safe, these are high-grade detoxification pills. Take them quickly."
Suspecting nothing, the Shenmu Sect members accepted them gratefully and swallowed them in one gulp.
Three seconds later.
"BLEGH!!!"
"Wh-what kind of poison is this?!" Tao Ying clutched her mouth, tears streaming down her face.
"No, it's the antidote..." Shen Qingqiu's face was ashen as she fought back the roiling in her stomach. "It's just that the taste is... unique..."
"Unique?!" Zhou Zichun leaned against the rock wall and retched. "This is clearly... urgh... murder!"
"How could anyone... make... ugh, such a foul-tasting pill!"
Duan Xianxing squatted nearby, watching the scene with great interest, his lips curling upward. "Aha! Finally, I'm not the only one suffering through this!"
Liu Qingyang rubbed his nose guiltily and whispered in defense, "Actually... the effects are quite good..."
Zhu Yinxi glanced at him calmly. "Next time you buy pills from me, remember to explain the side effects beforehand."
Liu Qingyang gave a dry laugh. "I was just... afraid they wouldn't dare to eat them..."
Once the group had mostly finished vomiting, Zhu Yinxi finally spoke. "Tell us, how did you end up in the inner-middle region of the Forest of Demonic Beasts?"
The Shenmu Sect members looked at each other, their faces still pale. The atmosphere, which had lightened significantly, froze again at the mention of the topic.
Finally, Zhou Zichun took a deep breath and said weakly, "We... were driven here by evil cultivators..."
Duan Xianxing raised an eyebrow. "Evil cultivators? They didn't feed you anything strange, did they?"
The Shenmu Sect disciples looked at Liu Qingyang in unison, their eyes full of accusation.
Liu Qingyang: "...This really wasn't my doing!"
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