Front Line of the Beast Tide, Part 4

After yesterday’s scouting, Su Qing understood that the camp was located at the rear edge of the beast tide front line.

The danger coefficient was not high, and the cultivators stationed here were not highly cultivated, mostly in late Qi Refining and early Foundation Establishment. Therefore, Su Qing’s cultivation was quite impressive here.

Although the tent for posting tasks was called a tent, the people here habitually referred to it as the mission hall.

Su Qing decided to do as the Romans did and called it that too.

The mission hall was probably the most crowded place in the camp.

Su Qing today wasn’t wearing her Sword School disciple uniform; instead, she had changed into an inconspicuous green common outfit.

Her appearance itself wasn’t outstanding, but her temperament was calm. She looked ordinary but definitely not someone to provoke.

As she entered the hall, although some people were curious about this new face and glanced at her more, that was all it was.

Inside the hall, a huge, freestanding screen was set up, with mission papers posted on it.

Tearing off a paper meant accepting the mission. Su Qing squeezed through the crowd and roughly scanned the tasks.

Most were about finding special beasts, or excavating herbs and spiritual ore.

Among them, hunting spirit beasts was the most common, as this place was primarily focused on beast tide resources.

Su Qing stood in front of the mission papers for a long time, then silently scanned the area, but did not find any suspicious figures.

She thought for a moment and tore off a mission paper for finding Jade Bone Butterflies.

The scale powder on Jade Bone Butterflies’ wings had a strong hallucinogenic effect, making them excellent material whether for refining pills, concocting poisons, or even mixing into ink to draw talismans.

Their individual strength was not high.

Jade Bone Butterflies were first-tier low-grade demon beasts, and the Butterfly King’s strength was around second-tier top-grade.

However, they operated in swarms, and the overall strength of a butterfly swarm was around late Foundation Establishment.

These kinds of demon beasts originally had no bones, but because they often confused their prey, and after the swarm devoured the flesh and blood of their prey, they would linger on the white bones until they had thoroughly hollowed out the marrow before reluctantly leaving. It was because of the name ‘white bones of butterflies’ that they were named Jade Bone Butterflies.

This mission was among the top-ranked in terms of difficulty among all tasks. Su Qing took on this mission for another reason: the habitat of Jade Bone Butterflies often yielded healing spiritual herbs. When Ye Mingshi escaped, she was seriously injured, and she was tight on funds, not necessarily having money to buy medicine for healing. Perhaps Su Qing could find some trace of her. Of course, she knew this possibility was small.

In addition, high risk meant high reward.

This mission’s remuneration was not low; one liang of scale powder was priced at two hundred fifty spirit stones, with no upper limit, earning more for more work.

However, this mission also had high requirements for the task-taker, demanding at least Qi Refining Layer 9 cultivation, and preferably a body cultivator who also practiced calming and focusing mental arts.

This was a team mission. Su Qing happened to be the last person to tear off a mission paper.

Soon, she was led by a mission hall staff member to the others.

Besides her, there were five other people: three men and two women.

Three of them were from the same sect, a rogue cultivator organization called the Blood Pact Alliance. The remaining two were also rogue cultivators.

The weakest among them was at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, and the other four were Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Among them, a burly man named Gao Changyuan had the highest cultivation, at mid Foundation Establishment.

As he was from the Blood Pact Alliance and had the highest cultivation here, he also had the most say in the team.

Su Qing’s aura indicated to everyone that she was at early Foundation Establishment cultivation. “Su Qing.”

Body cultivators understood each other best.

One could almost tell the quality of their body refinement at a glance.

Although the new female cultivator looked unremarkable, her spiritual energy was extremely harmonious and peaceful, her steps steady and agile, her physique well-proportioned and strong, and her exposed skin revealed a healthy vitality, indicating she had undergone countless tempering.

Moreover, her attire was simple, suggesting she was not well-off.

This was correct; if one wasn’t poor, why be a body cultivator? Gao Changyuan believed that some body cultivators, after gaining fame, saw their cultivation stagnate, and the reason was obvious: getting rich easily made one forget their roots.

Gao Changyuan’s expression softened. He nodded, agreeing to Su Qing’s addition. “Finally, you’ve arrived. I thought the team wouldn’t be complete until tomorrow. No time to waste, let’s set off now and be back before dusk.”

While Gao Changyuan and his team were waiting, they had already gathered information and thoroughly understood the Jade Bone Butterflies’ habitat. But he didn’t rush to tell Su Qing.

Instead, he made her make a Dao Heart Vow first. “You must first vow not to harm your companions during the mission. After the mission, if you have grudges or grievances, that’s none of my business.”

Su Qing nodded, “I can make a vow, but you all must also make one.”

Gao Changyuan said, “Naturally.”

After the six of them finished making their vows, they finally felt a sense of camaraderie as a team.

The previously cold-eyed teammates also finally showed a hint of a smile.

The group walked out of the tent, talking as they went, “What good luck! I thought we’d have to wait at least ten days to half a month to meet a body cultivator.”

Su Qing curiously asked, “Why must it be a body cultivator?”

“My young friend, you do not know,” an elderly white-haired woman in the team said, “Those Jade Bone Butterflies have the pickiest mouths. One bite on a person and it’s a wound. And their swarm has tens of thousands of butterflies; how can you defend against all of them? Being bitten a few times is perfectly normal. If it were those frail and delicate spell cultivators, wouldn’t they scream for half a day after a single bite?!”

At this, all the body cultivators laughed, except for the two spell cultivators who didn’t. “We two are still here!”

Su Qing understood.

Body cultivators were the most durable.

Collecting scale powder definitely required close contact with Jade Bone Butterflies, inevitably leading to bites, which was why body cultivators were specifically requested.

Because there was a curfew at night, after everything was explained clearly, no one lingered to chat.

They walked straight through the forest. They were all cultivators, and mostly the poorest body cultivators, agile and quick on their feet. In about half a day, Su Qing watched the unchanging forest unfold layer after layer before her.

Seeing so much green, it felt like an inescapable maze, somewhat nauseating.

She blinked hard, trying to pull herself away from this expanse of green.

Another girl in the team named Yang Liu understood her feelings very well.

She quietly said, “Don’t always look around aimlessly. You need to pick a specific object to stare at from time to time, otherwise, it’s easy to get lost in the forest. I heard Big Brother Gao and Old Lady Liu say that this Myriad Beast Forest has a certain evil nature to it.”

Su Qing replied, “So that’s it. No wonder I always felt dizzy looking for too long.”

Even simple information was not something everyone was willing to share freely with others. Yang Liu volunteering to speak showed she was a kind person.

Su Qing followed Yang Liu’s advice and found three objects to stare at: one was the Man Qing Sword in her hand, another was Gao Changyuan’s hair tie, and the third was the wooden hairpin in Yang Liu’s bun, who was walking ahead and to her side.

Su Qing periodically shifted her attention to these three objects and silently chanted a mental calming art.

Indeed, as Yang Liu said, she felt much more comfortable.

At this point, they finally reached a mountain stream, where the target Jade Bone Butterflies resided.

The team members hid in the forest and quietly reiterated the plan.

Jade Bone Butterflies loved sweetness and blood food.

Their favorite was the meat of the demon beast Xilu (brook deer).

Gao Changyuan had already prepared deer blood and meat as bait, and beneath this blood and meat, a magical artifact called the Spirit Binding Net had already been laid out.

This was a net-like magical artifact woven from spiritual silk.

Its greatest feature was its ability to automatically adjust the mesh density according to the target’s size, so no matter how tiny the object, it could not escape its binding.

It was widely used for catching spirit insects, miniature demon beasts, or tiny spiritual creatures, a very useful artifact, almost every rogue cultivator had one.

However, this Spirit Binding Net was ultimately a low-tier artifact, and its flaws were also obvious: its hardness was not good, making it easy to be forcefully broken through, thus rendering the effort useless.

Currently, the Spirit Binding Net used by Gao Changyuan was actually a combination of several small Spirit Binding Nets.

The team members needed to manipulate the Spirit Binding Net to capture a sufficient number of Jade Bone Butterflies, and then press them into a magical artifact called the Golden Bell Shield.

After all this was done, everyone could dust off their hands and figure out a way to escape from the Butterfly King.

In the team, Yang Liu and Pan Qi, a disciple at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, were responsible for activating the Spirit Binding Net.

The four body cultivators, Su Qing, Old Lady Liu, Gao Changyuan, and another, were responsible for encircling the Jade Bone Butterflies from four directions, forcing as many as possible into the trap.

After the Spirit Binding Net was activated, Gao Changyuan would summon the Golden Bell Shield, collecting the net and butterflies inside, and then taking them away.

Su Qing was the last to arrive, and her assigned task was simple: force the Jade Bone Butterflies into the Spirit Binding Net from the east. She had no objections.

Gao Changyuan reviewed the plan again, explaining every detail very clearly.

He was indeed a capable team leader. Su Qing listened quietly, often leading teams herself, and learned from him how he led a team.

After everyone had received their instructions, it was already noon.

The sun shone directly into the mountain stream, and the morning mist had finally completely dispersed.

In the distant forest, there were faint green specks of light, which were the scale powders on the Jade Bone Butterflies’ wings.

Gao Changyuan said in a deep voice, “So, is everything clear? We’ll act separately, listen for my command!”

The team members all said, “Understood.”

Su Qing, as planned, surged with qi and lightly stepped off. A moment later, she landed on the east side of the forest. She silently chanted a breath-concealing art, pretending to be a tree in the jungle.

Gao Changyuan hid in the distance and swung his hand, throwing a storage bag far away.

When the storage bag landed, countless fresh, sweet-smelling blood and meat chunks instantly exploded, scattering onto the green grassland.

The grassland, however, was covered by a fine, hair-like net invisible to the naked eye—the Spirit Binding Net.

Jade Bone Butterflies had extremely sensitive olfactory senses. Their antennae acted as their noses, and were much more acute than human noses. Almost the moment the blood splattered, the distant forest erupted.

Brilliant green specks of light immediately floated above the forest, like daytime fireflies, gently swaying. Su Qing knew the true nature of Jade Bone Butterflies and couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.

Although these creatures looked beautiful, they were no different from the blood-sucking moths; they were all deadly presences.

The butterfly swarm crossed the stream, a faint fragrance and their forms carried by the breeze.

Soon, the first butterfly silently landed on the blood and meat on the other side of the mountain stream.

As it landed, countless other butterflies also descended, and the reddish-brown bloodstains were covered by the green butterfly swarm in a few breaths, as if white-green mold spots had suddenly grown on fresh flesh.

Su Qing’s breathing was very light. Her gaze fell on a giant green jade butterfly.

This butterfly was a full size larger than the others, its wings like large fans, intricately patterned, and its scale powder glowed in the light, like tiny embedded gems, with a graceful green akin to flowing jade.

The Jade Bone Butterfly’s beauty was indeed beyond words, but at this moment, it was twitching its long antennae, circling a large deer head, its dark legs climbing along the edge of the deer’s eye socket, inserting its hard, long proboscis, comfortably sucking the brain marrow within.

Su Qing couldn’t help but let her thoughts wander for a moment: ‘Between herself and Xilu, whose head was harder?’

She thought it should be herself.

Then it was fine.

As the Jade Bone Butterflies all plunged their proboscises into the flesh and blood, enjoying this unexpected feast, and just as they were engrossed, a red mark suddenly appeared in the distant sky.

It was the signal released by Gao Changyuan.

This signal meant: act.

Sure enough, in the next second, a violent spiritual energy fluctuation suddenly erupted from the bushes.

A huge net suddenly rose into the air, covering all the flesh and blood on the ground, along with the butterflies perched on it.

The four corners of the Spirit Binding Net were manipulated to lift, looking as if they were about to converge.

This sudden commotion startled the butterfly swarm. The Butterfly King was the first to fly out.

According to the plan set by Gao Changyuan, there was no need to deal with the Butterfly King.

Following the Butterfly King’s movement, the Jade Bone Butterflies struggled to fly out through the still-unconverged gaps. They struggled fiercely, and the green scale powder exploded in clouds of smoke.

Yang Liu and Pan Qi strained, “Quick!”

Seeing that more than half of the butterflies in the net had flown out in the blink of an eye, the body cultivators hidden in the four corners of the southeast, northwest, and northeast flashed out.

Gao Changyuan had earth-attribute spiritual roots. He slammed his thick palm onto the ground, and the soil surged, a thick earthen wall instantly rising, forcefully blocking the escape path of the butterfly swarm.

He moved back and forth on the earthen wall, and everywhere he passed, wind-sending talismans were affixed.

Spiritual energy surged, activating the wind-sending talismans. A huge airflow erupted, sending the struggling Jade Bone Butterflies back into the Spirit Binding Net.

But he also fell into the butterfly swarm. He himself was living blood food, also on the Jade Bone Butterflies’ menu.

His solitary presence was the best climbing surface. Hundreds of butterflies soon attached themselves to him, scrambling to pierce their hard proboscises into his flesh, attempting to drain this ill-intentioned human clean.

Gao Changyuan felt some pain, and some blood bloomed on his skin.

The proboscises of these creatures were harder than metal daggers; ordinary cultivators simply couldn’t endure it. He roared, and golden light erupted from his body, forcibly shaking off the blood-sucking butterfly swarm.

But the proboscises of these Jade Bone Butterflies were already coated with a nerve-paralyzing venom.

Even with his perfected body refinement and having taken an antidote pill beforehand, he still felt dizzy for a moment.

With his side resolved, he couldn’t help but look towards Su Qing’s direction with a slight worry.

He knew Old Lady Liu’s strength, and the other body cultivator was originally from the Blood Pact Alliance.

Gao Changyuan knew his capabilities and could handle it. The only one he was somewhat uneasy about was the newly recruited body cultivator.

He didn’t ask anything of her, just hoped she wouldn’t be a burden.

Su Qing looked at Old Lady Liu. Although the old woman’s hair was white, her footwork was unpredictable. She single-handedly charged into the butterfly swarm, her figure seeming to be between solid and ephemeral.

And she must have cultivated some kind of movement technique; her steps were exceptionally light and quick, barely allowing the butterfly swarm to gain much advantage.

Even if a few butterflies did pierce her body, she roared, her entire body’s muscles bulging, like the protein queen described in Su Qing’s middle school textbook. She repelled the butterfly swarm with her body’s defense alone.

It was truly invigorating to observe the unique cultivation methods of different body cultivators.

Su Qing naturally refused to fall behind. She summoned Man Qing Sword.

As the heavy sword emerged, it overwhelmed all others. Just standing there, it was like a wild beast unleashed, radiating oppressive power.

The Jade Bone Butterflies’ shimmering green wings reflected on the silver sword blade.

Su Qing gripped the sword hilt, pressing the sword tip downwards, into the ground.

Spiritual energy overflowed from her, resonating with the sword in her hand. Sword qi arose, and the pure white airflow split into several bursts.

Because the sword tip was pointing downwards, buffered by the terrain below, the overflowing sword qi was even softer, not directly slicing the butterfly swarm, thus avoiding damaging their wings.

The soft but irresistible sword qi forcefully pushed the butterfly swarm towards the center, until they fell into the Spirit Binding Net.

But this sword qi was not all-encompassing; it couldn’t block all of the Jade Bone Butterflies’ attacks. Dozens of butterflies landed on Su Qing, climbing on her skin, trying to burrow their proboscises in, only to find: they couldn’t penetrate.

‘Mere humans, why are they so thick-skinned and strong?’

Su Qing, imitating Old Lady Liu, directly tensed her muscles, forcibly bouncing the butterflies off with sheer physical strength. She was fine, but her clothes were torn again. Sigh, she’d have to ask Xiaocao to mend them later.

Sword qi?

Gao Changyuan, watching from a distance, couldn’t help but be startled.

This person was actually a dual cultivator of body and sword, and at this age, she could already cultivate such refined sword qi. She was probably not a simple rogue cultivator, but definitely came from a renowned sect, and had to be an inner disciple.

It was known that training one’s body to her extent was already very difficult, let alone cultivating an additional sword technique and producing sword qi.

This person, if not a young genius, must have dedicated all her efforts to cultivation.

‘Cannot offend.’

However, shouldn’t a disciple of a prominent sect have countless cultivation resources backing them? Why would she, like them, earn spirit stones by risking her life?

‘There must be some unspoken difficulty.’

Gao Changyuan had already concocted a grand drama in his mind. He decided that when it came time to distribute the spoils, he would give her more.

After the butterfly swarm was once again gathered from the four corners, Yang Liu, without needing a reminder, preemptively said, “Everyone move aside, I’m closing the Spirit Binding Net!”

Su Qing stepped back, retreating to a safe distance.

The Spirit Binding Net, manipulated by spiritual energy, closed again.

Su Qing thought something was wrong. According to their plan, they should have stopped after capturing about a quarter of the butterflies.

After all, if the number was too large, it would inevitably have a significant impact on the Jade Bone Butterfly swarm, forcing the Butterfly King to come out and fight.

And they didn’t want to fight the Butterfly King.

But now, the number of Jade Bone Butterflies in the Spirit Binding Net was already close to one-third, even approaching one-half. At this rate, the Butterfly King would inevitably act.

As Su Qing’s thoughts just settled, she saw a shadow sweep past in the distance.

The Butterfly King had actually flown back!

This was a late Foundation Establishment demon beast.

Too late to reprimand, Gao Changyuan roared, “Run!”

Compared to the butterflies in the swarm, the Butterfly King had long developed much intelligence.

Its compound eyes flickered with an eerie light, instantly locking onto the two people who were directing the Spirit Binding Net to encircle its tribe.

It flapped its wings, and countless green specks of light quietly fell from its body, floating in the air like dazzling dots.

These were its fallen scale powders.

The wind carried these invisible, fine dusts into Yang Liu’s and Pan Qi’s mouths and noses, causing their eyes to suddenly lose focus and become blank. They couldn’t even hear Gao Changyuan’s shouts.

Old Lady Liu roared, her voice containing spiritual energy, startling birds in the jungle to rustle their wings and fly up, sweeping across the sky.

“Run–!”

The Butterfly King’s scale powder was not only poisonous, but it would also burn and explode after leaving its body for three breaths, catalyzed by sunlight.

Seeing the scale powder self-ignite into balls of white, blazing fire in the short distance before hitting the ground, Yang Liu and Pan Qi barely woke up. At this moment, the scorching firelight was reflected in their eyes.

Gao Changyuan ran wildly. Countless piles of earth surged beneath his feet, moving towards the two.

He wanted to use earth-controlling magic to shift both of them and the ground beneath their feet to his side, but the distance was too great; it was too late.

Old Lady Liu had already made the worst preparations. She pulled out an ice-freezing talisman.

Scale fire was a rootless fire; once ignited, ordinary water could not extinguish it.

They had no spiritual springs at hand, so they could only use ice-freezing talismans to freeze the source of the fire, then figure out another solution.

However, with alternating cold and heat, these two were not body cultivators, and would likely be severely injured.

At this critical juncture, a thunderous roar echoed, like lightning coursing through the ground.

Three streaks of purple qi exploded successively, pure yang power pouring out, propelling a figure to almost instantly teleport beneath the scale powder.

Man Qing Sword flew out of her hand, striking Pan Qi and sending him flying nearly ten meters away, knocking him straight out of the jungle. He crashed headfirst into a crooked-necked tree and slumped to the ground.

Even in a crisis, Old Lady Liu couldn’t help but exclaim, ‘Spell cultivators are useless! When I was young, my talent wasn’t good, so to practice Iron Head Gong, I used to hit my head against trees for fun.’

Su Qing tackled Yang Liu. At this point, the phosphorus fire had already fallen onto her, igniting her clothes.

Countless fireballs descended, like a meteor shower, raining fire from the sky, incinerating everything in sight.

The crimson-white, rootless fire blazed furiously, outlining a figure within the flames.

The overflowing flames flowed like magma between her muscles, sculpting her sturdy physique and beautiful muscles. Even “Protein Queen” Old Lady Liu, at this moment, couldn’t help but say in admiration, “Damn it, that’s really well-trained.”

The flames simply could not burn through Su Qing.

She had undergone body refinement with third-tier earth fire at the Sword School’s Pill Peak for five years, enduring five years of eye-rolls and whispers from Pill School disciples. She cultivated in earth fire, with pill furnaces above her, and pills inside the furnaces.

Even the pills wouldn’t dare claim to be more thoroughly heated than Su Qing below.

So, mere second-tier phosphorus fire could not harm her.

The other body cultivator who arrived decisively said, “Let’s deal with the Butterfly King first.”

But Old Lady Liu and Gao Changyuan both sighed inwardly, “No need, it’s already dealt with.”

“Dealt with?” The person asked in surprise, “When?”

Before he finished speaking, the Butterfly King, like a kite with a broken string, swayed left and right in the air a few times, then suddenly plunged headfirst, lightly falling to the ground, rolling, and breaking into two halves.

Several people went closer to inspect and found a remarkably clean incision on the Butterfly King’s abdomen.

White sword qi still steamed from the incision. It was this single sword strike that had cut the Butterfly King in half.

It turned out that when this female cultivator came for rapid rescue, she forcefully sped up, shortening the distance with sword qi. While swiftly moving across the ground, she even had the presence of mind to simultaneously cut the Butterfly King flying overhead with sword qi.

To have cultivated sword and body to this extent, Old Lady Liu exclaimed in anger, “Young people are so capable these days, are they not going to let an old woman like me live?!”

Gao Changyuan gave a wry smile. Before the scale powder on the Butterfly King’s body exploded, he quickly stuffed its shattered corpse into the Golden Bell Shield.

He quietly watched the burning figure, as if referring to a distant phantom, “At her age, with this cultivation, she’ll definitely be able to challenge the Sword Pavilion in the future. Perhaps we’ve also witnessed these great figures before they became famous.”

The Sword Pavilion’s glorious years, the ancient pines and cypresses of Pengshan, the bright moon emerging from the Sword Pavilion.

If one could leave their name in the Sword Pavilion, it would not be in vain to have made this journey in the human world, to be a drop in the ocean, an ant in a cup.

Old Lady Liu disapproved of his appearance. “If you can’t get into the Sword Pavilion, you won’t live? Stop being so melancholic, it’s disgusting. Get to work, get to work.”

They cleared the surrounding forest, creating a firebreak, so the phosphorus fire only burned for two hours.

After incinerating everything, it automatically stopped.

Su Qing summoned a new set of clothes and put them on.

She had originally intended to have Xiaocao mend her old clothes and make do, but now, they were burned clean, reduced to ash.

Body cultivating was good in every way, except for wasting clothes.

After she stood up, everyone finally saw Yang Liu, whom she had protected.

She was wrapped in a red magical robe, a fourth-tier magical robe gifted by Tang Yueling.

With Su Qing shielding her, not a single spark had touched her.

However, Su Qing seemed to have pounced too fiercely, breaking a few of her ribs, causing her to pass out.

Only then did Su Qing guiltily understand Pei Jingzhi’s earlier complaints.

Yang Liu was not from the Blood Pact Alliance, but she had teamed up with Gao Changyuan and his group many times, so they were quite familiar companions.

Gao Changyuan thanked her, “Thank you, Fellow Daoist, for your assistance. Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t have gotten this Jade Bone Butterfly scale powder, and there would have been casualties.”

“We’re all on the same team; helping you is helping myself.” For Su Qing, without them, she wouldn’t have gotten these powders either. Moreover, aside from a common outfit, she suffered no losses.

For body cultivators, what doesn’t kill them only makes them stronger.

Su Qing felt that she didn’t just break even; she made a profit. Hadn’t she and Man Qing Sword worked together so well just now?

Gao Changyuan said, “Although Fellow Daoist is only at early Foundation Establishment, you probably wouldn’t have any trouble against someone in late Foundation Establishment.”

“Although my teacher often says cultivation doesn’t represent strength or weakness.” Su Qing shook her head. “But it’s always more reassuring to have higher cultivation.”

Mainly, this time, the Jade Bone Butterflies had high attack and low defense, while she had high attack and high defense, and she caught it off guard, which was why she luckily won.

Combat didn’t follow fixed rules. Under the right conditions, a three-year-old child could kill a grown man.

But rather than gambling on such probabilities, it was better to diligently build a solid foundation and cultivate oneself to be more comprehensive, and then even more comprehensive.

Because Su Qing was the main force this time, she was allowed to pick first when distributing the spoils.

She didn’t stand on ceremony, but considering that the entire layout and preparation were completed by Gao Changyuan and his team, and she was the last to join, she only took the Butterfly King’s corpse, which was outside the plan, and her rightful share of scale powder.

She had no use for the Butterfly King’s corpse; the beast cores inside were all fire-attributed.

Su Qing asked Old Lady Liu, “I’ll trade the Butterfly King for your movement technique. Would you trade?”

Su Qing’s weakness lay in her lack of speed. Although not slow, she wasn’t fast either.

But this Old Lady Liu was completely different; her speed was so great that she could almost leave afterimages.

She wanted to learn.

Su Qing was already counting the items in her storage bag, thinking if Old Lady Liu didn’t agree, whether she could offer more things in exchange.

She knew it was very difficult for rogue cultivators to cultivate to this level, and they would certainly not casually hand over their unique skills.

“Trade.” Old Lady Liu said decisively, “I can give you all my body refinement notes from this lifetime, on the condition that you acknowledge me as your master.”

Acknowledging a master wasn’t a big deal. The Sword School didn’t have fixed masters.

Su Qing had a pile of teachers, not including Orange King and the jellyfish who taught her skills. Anyone who could teach her was a teacher; there was no constant master.

But she wasn’t sure if other places were as casual. What if Old Lady Liu’s adherence to the teacher-student relationship was the “once a teacher, always a mother” kind? Su Qing couldn’t do that.

So, she explained clearly, “It’s possible, and I’m also willing for you to be my teacher, but I might not be able to follow the usual master-disciple relationship…”

“It’s fine.” Old Lady Liu was a decisive person. “I don’t care about common etiquette. We met by chance, so let’s be master and disciple who met by chance.”

What she cared about was whether, if this child could truly, as Gao Changyuan said, one day walk into the Sword Pavilion and leave her name there, then would the knowledge she imparted, the body refinement knowledge that contained her life’s work, also leave a trace in the Sword Pavilion? Could she, the obscure rogue cultivator Old Lady Liu, also briefly shine in the Sword Pavilion for a moment?

The matter of acknowledging a master was thus settled.

The two performed a simple master-disciple ceremony under the witness of everyone. The tuition fee was the Butterfly King’s corpse.

Gao Changyuan watched with mixed feelings.

He knew that although Old Lady Liu’s cultivation wasn’t high, she had lived for nearly four hundred years, and must have put a lot of effort into body refinement. Otherwise, he might as well acknowledge her as a master too; he just didn’t know if she would accept him…

Fortunately, at this moment, Yang Liu slowly woke up, interrupting his thoughts.

“I’m sorry…” The first thing Yang Liu did upon waking was apologize. She said guiltily, “I don’t know what happened. It was like I was bewitched.”

Gao Changyuan wasn’t suspicious. “You were too close to the Jade Bone Butterflies. You must have unconsciously inhaled the hallucinogenic scale powder. Although you made a mistake, it’s not entirely your fault.”

Su Qing looked at the wooden hairpin on her head, which had sprouted new leaves, and said nothing.

Today, Su Qing and Xiaocao were responsible for guarding the first half of the night.

Everyone was busy today, running around all day.

The other teammates almost collapsed into their tents and fell asleep.

Su Qing took a meditation cushion and sat outside the tent, guarding the burning bonfire, seriously and quietly poring over the notes Old Lady Liu gave her.

Jiang Xiaocao sat beside her. The bright orange-red firelight flickered, warmly illuminating her face, revealing an inexplicable sense of peace even on a cold night.

The breathing in the tent had become steady; everyone was sleeping soundly. Xiaocao and Su Qing spoke in very low voices, so low that it was like the rustling sound of wind blowing through grass.

Xiaocao looked at his palm and said softly, “I always feel that something is wrong here. The earth here seems to be polluted, very violent.”

Su Qing looked up, deeply empathetic. She whispered, “Right? There’s something sinister about this place.”

Xiaocao was a plant cultivator blessed by nature, and Su Qing had wood spiritual roots.

Both were extremely close to forests, places inherently filled with wood spiritual energy, and thus were most sensitive to the subtle anomalies hidden beneath the calm.

Of course, Su Qing could make this inference partly because she already knew about the traces of the demonic bone in the Myriad Beast Forest.

The demonic energy released by the demonic bone was gradually infiltrating this forest.

Su Qing casually picked up a wooden branch and drew on the ground.

She then asked, “Are you alright? Will this demonic energy affect you? Do you need me to sort out your spiritual energy?”

Jiang Xiaocao whispered, “I’m fine for now. After all, I’m an external plant cultivator, but the local plant cultivators and demon beasts are probably not doing well…”

The two talked in low voices for a while.

The night wind howled softly, and the moon hung gently in the night sky.

The pure moonlight fell, but it couldn’t penetrate the deep, hazy jungle ahead. Fortunately, there was a warm bonfire here, preventing the cold from spreading to this small corner of the world.

Bai Ying quietly slipped out of the tent at this moment.

He met Su Qing’s and Jiang Xiaocao’s somewhat surprised gazes, lightly coughed, and whispered, “You know, unlike a certain person, I’ve always been someone who understands social cues, reads the atmosphere, is meticulous, and has a brain.”

He meant that his current appearance to disturb the two of them was entirely for a reason.

Unfortunately, neither of them understood his meaning. Su Qing asked, “Who is ‘a certain person’?”

She thought it shouldn’t be herself.

Xiaocao quietly said without much confidence, “It wouldn’t be me, would it?”

Although he couldn’t read social cues, he was still very meticulous. Probably?

Bai Ying swallowed half his words and decisively said, “That’s not important. As long as you know I didn’t intentionally choose this time to disturb you, that’s fine.”

His expression also became serious. “Me too.”

“You too?” Su Qing belatedly realized, “You mean you also feel the sinister nature of this place? What spiritual roots do you have again? Oh, dual water and fire spiritual roots.”

Bai Ying simultaneously said, “Dual water and fire spiritual roots.”

Su Qing couldn’t help but complain, “You’re truly a complicated person.”

Bai Ying sighed, “I am indeed a person of substance.”

Dual water and fire spiritual roots, but no wood spiritual roots. So why did he feel it?

Speaking of which, she also felt Yang Liu was a bit off today, but she had no evidence to directly accuse her.

Su Qing unconsciously wrote on the ground with a small wooden stick: Yang Liu, Bai Ying, Xiaocao.

She blinked, and suddenly realized something.

“Xiaocao, did you tell me that a name is the shortest form of fate?”