Chapter 10 of 100

Chapter 10

18 min read4,562 wordsMature

Lu Yaoxiang thought for a moment, perhaps this was a good opportunity. It's better to be bold and take risks than to be timid and starve. She then said to Lu Xiaodeng, "When you hear that laughter again, listen carefully to the direction, and we'll go and take a look."

"Senior Sister, are you thinking of picking up a lost child? This must be what Master meant by doing one good deed a day," Lu Xiaodeng said, having just said they shouldn't go, but now suddenly decided to go. She immediately thought of the master's teachings. The master had said that people should be kind and do good deeds to align with the will of heaven.

"Yes, we need to save someone. How can we let a child be out in the wild and be eaten by a beast?" Lu Yaoxiang said with determination, but in her heart, she was skeptical: "What good deed? Of course, I want to see if that laughing sound is from a spirit herb that has become sentient."

If she could get one, it wouldn't just be crystal beans; perhaps even crystal clusters. Then, there would be plenty of elixirs and cultivation techniques. Many poor cultivators had become powerful by doing just this.

Lu Xiaodeng listened to her senior sister's words and, upon hearing the laughter, stopped to carefully find the direction. As they walked, even the small path disappeared. All they could see were dense and dark forests, with not a single person in sight.

By then, it was completely dark, and it wouldn't be safe to go any further. Lu Yaoxiang found a relatively flat area and decided to rest there for the night.

The two of them took out a lot of things from the tripod, clumsily set up a small tent with oilcloth, and Lu Yaoxiang even started a fire, throwing in a piece of insect-repelling and beast-repelling night incense. She had bought it a long time ago but never had the chance to use it.

Lu Xiaodeng hung a small pot over the fire, picked some grass and leaves from the side, blew off the ashes, and threw them into the pot. She then poured water from the water bag and started to boil it.

"That kind of thing, you eat it yourself. I'll just eat dry rations," Lu Yaoxiang said quickly as soon as she saw her cooking soup. Sometimes she suspected that Xiaodeng was actually a green worm beast that had transformed into a human due to high cultivation. Otherwise, why would she only eat soup made from grass and leaves? Even without spirit herbs, she could eat weeds.

"Senior Sister, drinking this soup can nourish the body. I drink it every day, and the elixirs I refine will be much better, just like an old teapot," Lu Xiaodeng said, thinking of her master's teapot, which had a thick layer of tea residue inside. Her master was reluctant to wash it, saying that it was a way to nourish the pot, making the tea taste better.

Refining the tripod also required this. Although she didn't have a physical body and was very naive, she remembered that the person would refine elixirs every few days just to nourish the tripod with the medicinal properties. Now, with a more developed mind, she had formed this habit. Even without spirit herbs, she would gather some grass and leaves to drink.

Plants are also things of heaven and earth. Although they may not seem to have spiritual energy, they do contain a small amount of it. Accumulating a little bit over time is better than having none at all.

Lu Yaoxiang was at a loss, "Do you want to cultivate a layer of medicinal residue in yourself? That's a bit too much. How can you compare a person to a teapot?"

"It's the same. Otherwise, I won't feel at ease," Lu Xiaodeng said firmly, nodding. "If I don't, the elixirs I refine won't be as smooth."

"Whatever you say," Lu Yaoxiang didn't want to argue about this anymore. She munched on dry rations while looking at the map. She didn't know where Xiaodeng had led her; even the small path was gone.

The only thing she could be sure of was that they were still in the Fangjing Mountains and hadn't gone out. Although they hadn't encountered any beasts that would attack them, it made her uneasy. According to Xiaodeng's directions, they had been going downhill the whole time, as if they were heading into a basin, which was very dangerous. They shouldn't go too deep.

Lu Xiaodeng's wild grass soup didn't need any seasoning and was quickly cooked. Just looking at the color, one could imagine how terrible it tasted. Lu Yaoxiang would rather drink cold water than this.

The two of them were eating by the fire when suddenly, a deafening roar came from the distant forest, startling them both to look in the direction of the sound.

"Senior Sister, what's that sound?" Lu Xiaodeng looked at the distance, but the trees were too dense to see what was happening.

Before Lu Yaoxiang could speak, the roar turned into a rumbling sound, rushing towards them. The sound was terrifying, and the ground even trembled slightly. The two of them stood there in a daze. Xiaodeng still held her soup bowl, and Lu Yaoxiang held half a biscuit, staring at the dark forest.

Neither of them had ever killed a beast before. Although Lu Yaoxiang had secretly practiced sword techniques, she had never been in a real fight. The commotion was too big, and they were a bit scared, not even thinking to run away.

Suddenly, a figure flashed past them and crashed to the ground, then bounced up and knocked down several trees before stopping.

The two of them looked closely and saw a Foundation Establishment disciple wearing a dark blue and white-trimmed robe. His thigh was bloody and torn, with a large hole. He struggled to sit up, gritted his teeth, and was about to leap up and continue flying away when he saw the two women standing there, staring at him in a daze.

"Ah!" He was stunned. Why were there medicine apprentices at the edge of the basin, one without cultivation and the other just at the initial stage of Qi Cultivation?

No good, these two would die if they stayed here! He waved his hand and shouted, "You two, get out of here quickly!"

"Where should we run?" Lu Xiaodeng asked. If a Foundation Establishment disciple was injured like this, how could she and her senior sister escape? And what were they trying to escape from?

Lu Yaoxiang stared at his thigh, shocked by the torn flesh. She thought to herself that it was best not to run around. Who knew if this person was trying to get them to lure the beast away so he could fly off? When encountering a beast that eats people, the slower one becomes the food.

Seeing that the two of them were standing still, not panicking and running away as he had imagined, and still holding their food, looking like they were too scared to move, Bai Zhen cursed in his heart, "Women are such a hassle!"

"Find a place to hide, I'll lure it away!" He couldn't just let these two be eaten. He didn't know whose apprentices they were, but how could they be allowed to wander into the basin? This was just too much trouble!

At that moment, the trees in front of them were knocked down, and a huge figure rushed out, stopping in front of Lu Xiaodeng and Lu Yaoxiang.

So big!

Lu Xiaodeng's mouth was slightly open as she looked up at the creature in front of her. It was a nearly ten-zhang-long snake with a golden horn on its head and a layer of wing-like scales from its head to its seven-inch mark.

Its golden eyes were staring fiercely at Bai Zhen, and its tongue was constantly flicking out, with a milky white liquid dripping down, burning the ground into black charcoal.

Bai Zhen didn't dare to look down at his leg. This was a Wind Golden Horn Snake, and from its size and the spiritual energy it emitted, it had lived for at least as long as a late-stage Golden Core cultivator. It was just a five-hundred-year-old Yihua, and even if it had just formed a spirit, there was no need for the Wind Golden Horn Snake to chase him so far.

Last year, he had accidentally discovered this Yihua in the basin. Seeing that it was about to bloom and that a spirit was forming, he had been guarding it. For a whole year, he hadn't seen any particularly high-level beasts, thinking that the one guarding it was a late-stage Foundation Establishment Spiny Beast.

But when Bai Zhen killed the Spiny Beast and was about to dig up the Yihua, the Wind Golden Horn Snake appeared.

Fortunately, he had managed to put the Yihua in a jade box. Now, if he could just escape, he could enter the mountains ahead, where he would be discovered by fellow cultivators. Then, with the help of his senior masters, they could kill this beast.

Bai Zhen had a good plan, but he had underestimated the Wind Golden Horn Snake. He was bitten and his thigh was pierced by sharp teeth. The special venom had entered his body, and now he had two extra burdens, possibly leading to his death.

Lure it away?

Lu Xiaodeng and Lu Yaoxiang didn't look back at him but stared intently at the Wind Golden Horn Snake. The pressure from such a large beast was overwhelming.

"Quick, run! What are you standing there for?" Bai Zhen leaped up, pointed his right hand at the Wind Golden Horn Snake, and two flying swords shot out, striking the snake's head. Then he turned and quickly flew into the air, trying to lure the snake away.

But to his surprise, the Wind Golden Horn Snake, which had been struck by two swords, didn't chase him. Instead, it ignored the wound on its head and turned to look at Lu Xiaodeng and Lu Yaoxiang.

Lu Xiaodeng stared into its eyes, her heart pounding with fear. She felt the danger. Suddenly, she heard a cold laugh, different from the child's voice she had heard earlier. She could clearly tell that it was coming from the Wind Golden Horn Snake.

The laughter was filled with surprise and delight, which confused Lu Xiaodeng. Why was it laughing like that?

Suddenly, she grabbed Lu Yaoxiang's hand, dragged her into the tripod, and slammed the lid shut.

"Xiaodeng! Let me out quickly, it's dangerous for you to be out there alone!" Lu Yaoxiang pushed the lid hard, but the lid, which she could usually open easily, was now tightly closed, and no matter how hard she pushed, it wouldn't budge.

She cursed herself for being scared by a snake and not dragging Xiaodeng away quickly. Now, she had to rely on Xiaodeng to protect her. She didn't even know how to hold a sword and would be eaten by the beast!

Lu Yaoxiang clenched her fists and pounded on the lid, shouting loudly, even bleeding from her fists, but she didn't stop.

Meanwhile, Lu Xiaodeng looked up at the Wind Golden Horn Snake and shouted at it, "Get lost!"

This couldn't scare away the Wind Golden Horn Snake; instead, it turned its body to face her, flicking its tongue constantly.

Bai Zhen didn't expect this. The Wind Golden Horn Snake, which had just tried to kill him, was now ignoring him. He had heard that the venom of this beast was highly toxic and aphrodisiac. Could it be that they preferred females over males?

He was torn between taking the opportunity to leave with the Yihua or staying to save the two. He was very frustrated. Why weren't these two outsiders, so he could leave without hesitation?

"You are mine!" Suddenly, a cold voice echoed in Lu Xiaodeng's ear, and the Wind Golden Horn Snake opened its mouth and pounced, swallowing her and the tripod whole.

"Ah!" Bai Zhen was shocked, feeling a sudden surge of heat in his body. He lost control and fell from the air, landing not far from the Wind Golden Horn Snake.

Trouble, the snake venom was taking effect!

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