Chapter 50

The group set off again, determinedly heading in the right direction without deviation, traversing mountains and ridges as if they were flat ground, moving in a straight line.

As they moved forward, Yu Qing's expression gradually became blank, his gaze once again turning deep and somber, moving forward numbly.

Tie Miaqing, who accompanied him, occasionally glanced at him and gradually sensed that Yu Qing's expression was somewhat abnormal. She asked, "What's wrong? You seem troubled. Are you afraid I'll break my promise?"

There was only one more fire cricket left, and she didn't want any unexpected incidents to occur.

Yu Qing still wanted to get closer to the beautiful woman. A smile instantly appeared on his face. "Nothing, I'm just a bit tired. My cultivation isn't high, you know."

So Tie Miaqing reached out and grabbed his arm again. "Since we've already set off, let's just keep going. We can rest properly once we get there. Resting in a cave is better than being out in the open."

"Okay." Yu Qing nodded, but being held by the beautiful woman's hand wasn't enough for him. He fantasized about what it would feel like to hold her...

Just a moment after the group set off again, another group of people flew out of the "Ancient Xiao Old Forest."

A group of people dressed in black, none other than the "Jianyuan Hall" group.

Their numbers had been reduced by more than half, from over thirty to just over ten, and they were all in a wretched state, some even in tattered clothes and covered in wounds.

The leading steward, Cui You, was no better off, with several parallel bloody gashes on his chest, almost as if he had been gutted.

The group had clearly encountered some kind of incident.

Seeing that the "Unicorn Mountain Xiao" behind them had stopped chasing, Cui You immediately led the group to land and stop, leaning against a large rock, panting heavily.

His ten or so gasping subordinates took out medicine, helping each other apply it.

Wu Kuang, limping, also took out some high-quality wound medicine and approached Cui You, helping him apply it while panting heavily. "Steward, that was close. We almost didn't make it out of the 'Ancient Xiao Old Forest.'"

As the medicine was applied, Cui You's face contorted in pain. After taking a deep breath, he straightened his chest, which was torn and bleeding, and said slowly, "The 'No Demons' here are indeed as famous as their name suggests. Fortunately, the head manager gave us that token before we came, to prevent any unforeseen events. I didn't expect it to actually come in handy."

Wu Kuang asked, "What kind of token is that?"

Cui You chuckled. "From Xiyashan. The head manager has some connection with the son of the Xiyashan demon, and received a token from him. It seems that while the 'No Demons' here don't care about the face of Youjiaobu, they do respect the face of the Xiyashan demon."

Wu Kuang whistled. "It seems the 'No Demons' don't know that the Xiyashan demon has already been killed by the Earth Mother."

Cui You: "They don't communicate with the outside world, so it's normal that they don't know. But on the other hand, it's a good thing they don't know, or we wouldn't be alive. Those who survive great disasters are sure to have good fortune!" He looked ahead and waved his hand. "Let's continue!"

"This..." Wu Kuang looked back at the group, who were all injured and exhausted, and hesitated. "Steward, everyone is so injured and tired, let's rest a bit first."

Cui You glared. "Am I not injured? Am I not tired? At this point, you should have realized that we are tracking a group. I'll tell you openly, we must catch up with them before they leave the ancient wasteland. Once we're in the outside world, there are too many variables. If anything goes wrong, the head manager won't spare us!"

"Yes." Wu Kuang reluctantly agreed and then went to rally the reluctant group to set off again.

However, they didn't run far before stopping again.

They saw another conspicuous target, a small stone post!

Wu Kuang stared at the pattern on the stone, puzzled. "Steward, this pattern is different from the previous ones. What does the arrow in the box mean? Is this left by our people?"

Cui You pondered. "The arrow indicates the direction, and the box around the arrow means we should stop tracking." He looked back toward the "Ancient Xiao Old Forest" and sighed, half-laughing, half-crying. "I think I understand what happened. We might have run too fast. The people we are tracking were just ahead of us not long ago. The 'Unicorn Mountain Xiao' were disturbed by them and hadn't calmed down yet, so we ran right into them. It seems they left here not long ago. If we go any faster, we might run into them directly!"

"..." Wu Kuang was speechless for a moment, then finally figured out what had happened. He wanted to say, "I told you to rest, but you didn't listen and insisted on rushing." But he didn't dare to say it, hesitating. "After chasing for so long, stop tracking? When will we start again?"

Cui You said, "Since they left a message, they will give us an explanation. Everyone is tired, so let's rest here."

The group was already exhausted and immediately collapsed upon hearing this...

In a basin among the mountains, a cave entrance was covered by a tangle of vines. If you didn't know it was there, it would be hard to spot.

Tie Miaqing's group stopped here. This was another underground entrance where they had previously found fire crickets.

Yu Qing didn't rest immediately but instead asked Cheng Shanping and Zhu Shangbiao to prepare first, to cut down some trees.

After the two left, Yu Qing asked Tie Miaqing to take him to the end of the tunnel first. Sun Ping stayed behind to watch over Xu Fei and Chong, two burdens. He watched as the two of them, holding a portable oil lamp, disappeared into the tunnel.

Chong, who also watched them disappear, timidly asked, "Mr. Sun, if Shiheng catches one more fire cricket, can we leave the ancient wasteland?"

Sun Ping smiled. "Yes."

Chong's eyes showed hope, and she was tired of being dragged around.

Xu Fei also hoped everything would go smoothly, but Cheng Shanping's attitude toward Yu Qing made him uneasy. He was worried that Cheng Shanping wouldn't keep his promise to return Yu Qing's things. He had seen Yu Qing kill two demons for twenty pounds of spirit rice, one of which was a Xuan-level demon.

That guy would risk his life for two thousand taels of silver. The bottle of Xuan-level demon-detecting dew that Cheng Shanping took was worth ten thousand taels. He couldn't imagine what Yu Qing would do for ten thousand taels.

He hoped he was overthinking it.

His concerns weren't unfounded. Just a short while ago, he noticed that Yu Qing's gaze toward Cheng Shanping was off. The look in Yu Qing's eyes was similar to when he was hiding in a tree hole, about to shoot the demon. It was a look of determination...

Deep in the tunnel, far from the entrance, the dim light of the oil lamp cast flickering shadows. The sound of their footsteps was clear in the quiet.

Yu Qing, walking beside the woman holding the oil lamp, suddenly spoke. "Boss, I have a question."

Tie Miaqing, who was now treating him well, replied straightforwardly, "What is it?"

Yu Qing: "Is the task issued by Youyan just three fire crickets?"

Tie Miaqing: "Of course, I wouldn't make a mistake about that. It's just three."

Yu Qing: "No, you misunderstood me. I mean, does Youyan only accept three fire crickets for this task?"

"Yes, only three." Tie Miaqing answered seriously, also curious. "Is there something wrong with that?"

Yu Qing: "What if several teams all find three fire crickets?"

Tie Miaqing explained in detail, "If Youyan says three, it means three. No more, no less. If you find fewer, it doesn't count, and if you find more, they won't take them. Whoever finds three and brings them back first completes the task, and the task ends. The others will have wasted their time, so it's a race to see who completes it first."

Yu Qing nodded thoughtfully and asked, "How many shops in Youjiaobu took on this task?"

Tie Miaqing thought for a moment and said slowly, "It's hard to say. Youyan only posts the task and doesn't force any shop to take it. Those who want to take it just need to bring back the three fire crickets mentioned in the task. There's no formal process for accepting the task, so I don't know how many shops took it. Based on what I know, about twenty shops might come, but I can't be sure how many actually did."

Yu Qing: "So, there are other people from Youjiaobu here."

Tie Miaqing smiled. "Definitely."

"Are you not worried that someone might have already completed the task and returned?"

"I don't know if anyone has returned. I just focus on finding and bringing back my own as quickly as possible. The rest is up to fate."

"If other teams know that another team has completed the task first, there might be a fight over it, right?"

"That's correct. If that happens, a fight would be normal. But you should know that the ancient wasteland is vast, not smaller than your entire Liestate. The chances of two groups from different shops meeting are very slim."

Yu Qing lowered his head slightly, looking at his feet and moving forward silently, not saying a word.

They walked quietly for a while, and the oil lamp suddenly flickered, swaying abnormally.

Yu Qing stopped abruptly and suddenly grabbed Tie Miaqing's arm.

Tie Miaqing's arm stiffened instantly. She wasn't used to being grabbed by other men, which she considered a violation, and quickly shook him off, angrily shouting, "What are you doing?"

Yu Qing, realizing his mistake, quickly let go and said, "Don't misunderstand, just stop and don't move."

Tie Miaqing was puzzled and noticed he was staring at the flame of the oil lamp. She looked at the oil lamp in her hand and then at him, not understanding what was happening, and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"

Yu Qing didn't answer, looked around, and then took out a dozen or so incense sticks from behind him, lighting them together in the lamp. He observed the drifting smoke for a while, a smile appearing on his face as if he had figured something out.

Tie Miaqing asked again, "What's going on?"

"There might be something unclean here." Yu Qing casually brushed it off and then began to stick the incense sticks into the walls on both sides.

Tie Miaqing, who now trusted him more, and given his strange behavior, quickly looked around. However, with her cultivation, she couldn't sense anything. She quickly applied "Blue Demon" to her eyelids but still saw no spirits, feeling a chill run down her spine.

After sticking the incense sticks on both sides, Yu Qing waved his hand as if nothing had happened. "Let's go."

The two continued forward, but Tie Miaqing felt a cold presence following her, making her uncomfortable. Even the flickering light seemed to give her a sinister hint.