“This is an issue… the Wind King plant has also mutated, and I don’t know if it’s able to be used or not.” Little Colour’s vines were stretched all around looking for medicinal plants, the group of medical plants hiding in the dark tried to fight against it one after another, but fortunately, there was also pig fairy grass beside it.
“No matter what just take this one back first.”
The mutated Wind King plant struggled and wanted to escape from the capture of Little Colour and Pig Fairy grass. Little Colour was on guard everywhere, and Pig Fairy grass’ pig tail was already wrapped around the stem of the Wind King plant.
Qian Wanyu’s consciousness drifted further forward, and just as she was about to return, she heard the footsteps of a group of people.
“What the hell is this place, there’s no light at all.”
“What are you afraid of, isn’t there still fire?”
A small flame ignited, illuminating several familiar faces.
Qian Wanyu’s consciousness suddenly returned after observing and the moment she did she immediately said, “The people from Qing Lan Sect are catching up.”
“So fast?” Wei Junlan had just wrapped her wounds and prepared to rest, but before her butt touched the ground, she stood up again, “Didn’t we set up a formation outside, I thought they could be held back for longer.”
In fact, Qian Wanyu’s formation has played a certain role, making Qing Lan Sect’s disciples go round and round in circles for awhile. If someone else had broken in instead, maybe they would still continue to wander around in the formation.
Also Dongfang Minghui and the others spent too long in this place, almost five days passed without them realising it. Wei Junlan still thought only a day had passed!
“What do we do now?”
Qian Wanyu estimated the distance of the Qing Lan Sect disciples from their position, “We have almost an hour before they arrive at where we are now.”
An hour…
Wei Junlan walked back and forth and muttered, “Little Colour hasn’t come back yet. If we continue to wait, we will run into someone from Qing Lan Sect. How many of them are there?”
“Ten.”
Qian Wanyu felt that the person who was leading the Qing Lan Sect seemed a little dangerous, so she quickly retreated.
When Little Colour came back, she didn’t feel their solemn atmosphere at all, “I have some news to tell you.”
“The bad news is that the people from Qing Lan Sect are catching up, so just tell us the good news.”
“Ah bah bah, the good news is that I’ve found that medicinal plant!”
“Really?”
Wei Junlan smiled happily, “Then what are you waiting for, hand over the plants to Minghui, then we’ll be able to speak normally again.”
Communication could sometimes be a matter of life and death.
Little Colour spread her hands, “The next thing is the actual bad news. The bad news is that the plants I found have mutated, so whether or not the medicinal properties are still effective… this matter has to be left to her to decide.”
Dongfang Minghui felt that everyone’s eyes were on her, and couldn’t help but wonder, “Did something happen?”
Everyone talked a lot, except Qian Wanyu who was sitting there motionlessly, Little Colour and Wei Junlan tried to mouth and talk over each other but it was useless, the other party still looked at them with ignorant eyes.
By the end, everyone was exhausted.
Qian Wanyu waited for them to finish before standing up, “Let’s get out of here for now. This place is too dark. If we meet someone from Qing Lan Sect, it will be a fight for sure.”
“So you mean—”
“Let’s go.”
Once Dongfang Minghui understood what they meant, she walked to the tree vine, patted her hand on the trunk, and communicated with the tree vine with her consciousness, “We want to leave this place, can you point us to a way? I’ll pay you before you leave.”
As the vines shook, a green light sank into Dongfang Minghui’s forehead again, and the Wanhua logo that had disappeared before reappeared.
“This seems to be a restrictive transaction. The requirements for reaching this type of transaction are quite high, just like the blood oath binding you.” Qing Mo could see it clearly this time. There was a huge spiritual power hidden inside the green light. This spiritual power directly submerged into Dongfang Minghui’s soul sea.
“What are the terms of the deal?”
Qing Mo shook his head. He could only make a guess. The stronger the bloodline was, the stronger the seal would be. Qian Ying’s blood oath before with Qian Wanyu was an example, if no one worthy had climbed to the top to obtain the Qian Family’s inheritance, Qian Ying’s blood oath symbol would not appear. It was the same for Dongfang Minghui who was the only known remaining bloodline of the Longevity Clan, in this black forest likely only the high-grade medicinal plants knew the other party’s identity.
After the deal was concluded, a wide road for the two of them appeared in front.
“This-” Wei Junlan was dumbfounded, this was too amazing.
“Let’s go.”
Qian Wanyu held Dongfang Minghui and Wei Junlan pulled the little mute, the four of them quickly jumped towards the end of the road. The dark light that shrouded their heads gradually disappeared, replaced by a gloomy world that seemed like a storm would come at any time.
The vine that followed them out pulled Dongfang Minghui’s ankle.
With their vision no longer obscured by the darkness, Dongfang Minghui put the bean sprouts aside and stretched out her hand.
A ray of green star light emerged from Dongfang Minghui’s palm, and happily shrank back a little bit around the vine. Dongfang Minghui didn’t feel much from it. The small balls in her dantian were still full of energy, and she was in a very strong state of mind. She murmured, “It seems that this vine has done its best as well.”
“Ninth Sister?”
Qian Wanyu pulled her to stand up, and flicked her finger on her forehead seeing the sign on it disappear again.
After the road behind them disappeared, the road in front of them also changed, from one road to two, Wei Junlan scratched her head, “What does this mean, choose a road?”
For a while, everyone had no clue what to do.
“Let Seventh sister choose.”
Dongfang Minghui has a sense of blind trust in Qian Wanyu, not to mention that Seventh Sister has the heroine halo on her head, even if they chose a dead end, they will definitely survive. This blind trust had let them survive until now just fine.
“Alright.”
Qian Wanyu resolutely chose the right at the fork, “Let’s take this road.”
Not long after they left, the Qing Lan Sect’s people were besieged in the Black Forest. Among them was a Fire-type Spiritual Master, they were all holding torches, and the group of enlightened medical plants were calmer, hiding in the dark and not daring to come out.
There were ten of them, and among them only two were the people Qian Wanyu and the others met outside the Dragon Gate before, one was called senior brother by the others, another was called Haoqing, a wood Spiritual Master well versed in the way of tracking, this is why he was selected into this team.
With him leading the way, the ten of them walked out of the black forest faster than Qian Wanyu and the others, they were only lost for an hour or so.
“There are two paths here, which one should we choose?”
“Haoqing.”
Xu Haoqing was actually a dual-type Spiritual Master, he mainly fought using the Thunder element, but he studied wood-type skills when he’s bored. His skills are also quite special with the ability to track by breath similar to Dongfang Minghui’s tracking.
“Left.”
“Haoqing, are you sure?”
“If senior brother is sure that there’s a merperson in their team, then I will tell you for sure that it is the left side.”
“Why?”
“The merpeople have the smell of sea water on their bodies. No matter how they hide, they can’t hide the smell on their bodies. I can tell when I smell it.” Xu Haoqing said so but in fact, he had a secret that had been hidden in his heart for many years. He had actually eaten the heart of a merman many years ago,it is said that the voice of the merman is innate, and a merperson’s beast core is a priceless treasure, but no one knew that the heart of the merman is the most nourishing.
Probably because of that time, he has become particularly sensitive to the smell of the merpeople.
The person who took the lead was an elder in the outer chamber of Qing Lan Sect. After listening, he said with a firm voice, “In that case, let’s listen to Haoqing and go to the left.”
——
Everyone walked safely for more than half an hour, Qian Wanyu took out her whip, “This road is too peaceful.”
Wei Junlan nodded warily.
Dongfang Minghui’s black eyes watched everywhere. The road was sparse with grass and trees, but the stones on the surrounding road were gradually increasing, “Seventh sister, will this road lead to a cliff in the end?”
The little mute seemed very happy along the way, and the more he walked, the bigger the smile on his face.
Wei Junlan kept staring at him, afraid that the boat would capsize in the gutter and they’d be trapped, she was certain that Qian Wanyu had chosen the right path, but she couldn’t help but ask, “Qian Wanyu, did your method really work? What if they turn back again?”
“Even if they turn back, we’ll almost be at the treasure the little mute’s talking about.”
Dongfang Minghui’s words soon become a prophecy. They came across a cliff at the end. Below the cliff was a deep blue ocean. The little mute screamed happily. Although his voice was very hoarse, it did not affect his happy mood.
Wei Junlan glanced at Dongfang Minghui strangely, and cursed inwardly, “Crow mouth.”
“Seventh sister, what should we do now?”
Qian Wanyu’s eyes roamed back and forth on Little Mute, pointed at him and said, “Let Little Mute lead for the rest of the way.”
The Little Mute gestured towards them quickly. Dongfang Minghui only had time to understand a bit but before she could tell the others she saw the Little Mute jump off the cliff.
Beneath the cliff, the waves were surging, and the water flowed violently on the rocks on the shore. Those rocks were polished so smoothly that the little mute might turn into a dead fish if he wasn’t careful.
After a few tumblings, the little mute waved his fish tail to greet them excitedly.
“Ninth Sister, take out that blue bead.”
“There’s still a sea area behind this damn dragon gate.” Wei Junlan cursed in a low voice and swallowed, “Do we really want to jump down like this?”
Qian Wanyu glanced at her coldly, “Otherwise you can stay here and deal with the people from Qing Lan Sect.”
Hearing this, Wei Junlan waved her hand quickly, “Forget it, how can something like jumping off a cliff stump me, ahem, look at this.” She took a few deep breaths and leaned to the edge of the cliff to look down, her legs were shaking but seeing Qian Wanyu looking her way with interest, she straightened her waist again, took a deep breath again, took a few steps back, gritted her teeth, as if she was sprinting for a hundred meters and before she jumped she shouted, “I’ll wait for you below, whoever doesn’t come is a bastard.”
Dongfang Minghui blinked and then blinked again.
Qian Wanyu urged her again, and Dongfang Minghui responded.
“Ninth Sister, don’t be afraid.”
“Seventh sister.”
Before Dongfang Minghui could react, a strong arm wrapped around her waist leading her to jump off the cliff.
“W-what–”
Dongfang Minghui reflexively shouted before she realized that they were jumping off a cliff, and she was not alone, she was with Seventh sister so her brain also instantly made up a 10,000-word essay about a cliff jumping love story in her mind…
“Puff”
There were two loud noises, and countless waves splashed on the rocks.
As soon as Qian Wanyu appeared, she quickly emerged with Dongfang Minghui in her arms. She held the blue beads in her mouth, and soon, a circular waterproof cover centered on them wrapped them again, “Ninth Sister.”
Dongfang Minghui choked on two sips of water, washing away all the lofty pride of the love story she had been so excited about before.
“Seventh sister.”
“Ninth Sister, I’m here, don’t worry.”
Dongfang Minghui felt that she was floating on the sea again so she was secretly relieved, and then worried, “Seventh sister, where did Wei Junlan go?”
Qian Wanyu was also not sure where Wei Junlan jumped to, “Let’s wait.”
The little mute swam to and fro on the bottom of the sea. He looked very cheerful, which made Dongfang Minghui feel very strange. She pulled Qian Wanyu’s sleeve, “Seventh sister, how come the little mute knew that there was a treasure behind that door? Could it be that he once broke through the door and entered this place?”
The little mute listened carefully to what Dongfang Minghui said, and nodded after she finished speaking.
“So that’s how it is.” Dongfang Minghui had a question, and when she glanced at it, she saw a fish tail quickly sinking into the bottom of the sea. She couldn’t see it clearly, but she saw a little afterimage. She boldly guessed that it was Wei Junlan
“Wei Junlan, don’t make trouble, we’re all waiting for you.”
She even stretched out her hand to grab the fish tail.
“Don’t move.” Qian Wanyu quickly grabbed the opponent’s wrist.
As soon as her voice fell, a water column suddenly formed, and the little mute jumped out quickly eager to express something to them, but unfortunately he sank to the bottom of the sea before he could finish expressing it.
After the water column fell, the entire sea became very quiet.
“Seventh sister, just now the little mute told us to leave quickly. Did something happen?”
“No.”
Qian Wanyu held up her head and pressed her lips lightly, “Ninth sister, stay here obediently.”
She said it several times in a row, but the other party shook her head in response.
Qian Wanyu kissed the other person several times again, “Ninth sister is really smart, you can understand at a glance.”
“Seventh sister, there is danger there.”
When she opened her mouth, Qian Wanyu took out the bead from her mouth and put the bead back into Dongfang Minghui’s mouth, “Wait for me here.”
Qian Wanyu jumped into the sea, and the cold water made her mind clearer. She had clearly seen several fish tails before, they should be from the merpeople race. She was holding her whip but the weight of the whip in the water increased a lot.
She smelled a corrosive smell at the bottom of the sea, making her scalp tingle with familiarity.
“Wei Junlan.”
“Little mute.”
Just behind her, there were ten mermen lurking in the dark seeiming to have received an order that rushed over quickly, pulling a net bag in their hands, besieging Qian Wanyu from all directions.
Qian Wanyu kicked her legs, and the mine whip in his hand smashed the nets in their hands, and even broke a hole in them. However the ten mermen were not afraid, they did not even flinch, they still moved towards her.
The fish tails swum mechanically on the bottom of the sea, and every movement looked very rigid.
It was only after the close encounter that Qian Wanyu could see their faces clearly. She could remember this strong corrosive smell and a fragrance under the tip of her nose. She held her breath and said in astonishment, “You are—”
She still remembered that when she returned to the town before, she had hunted and killed countless living dead. They all wore human appearances, but all their emotions and desires were gone. Now, in this deep sea, ten people who looked like merpeople were just like that group of people from the town. Their bodies exuded a rotten stench and they all had empty eyes, this all told her they were just a bunch of corpses.
Dongfang Minghui saw the lightning flashing in the sky, plus the fact that Seventh sister had been down for some time made her a little uneasy.
“Little Colour, can you use your vines to pull me down to have a look. I’m a little worried about Seventh sister down there.”
Little Colour’s vines probed into the bottom of the sea and shrank back again. It sensed a strong sense of death and corrosion. As soon as its vine branches penetrated into the seabed, it felt a super-stimulating corrosive aura.
“Little Colour, is Seventh sister in danger?”
Oh the mystery deepens! Now even the merpeople have some undead?!
Thank you to all supporters on KoFi! I have fixed my stripe now as well 🙂 Thank you to all readers and commentors as welll~