Chapter 12

"Slap!"

Lu Xiaoding, with her incomplete hand, grabbed its mouth and pulled it to her face, then opened her mouth and bit down.

This was a battle of divine souls. Lu Xiaoding, who had no idea how to counterattack just a moment ago, now felt a surge of ferocity. The only thought in her mind was, you want to devour me, so I'll devour you first!

"This is unfair, what is that black mass!" The other side's aura soared, even surpassing it. The Wind Gold Horn Snake raised its head and roared. Who tampered with it, daring to trick me!

Lu Xiaoding swallowed the Wind Gold Horn Snake in large bites. With each bite, she felt her body gaining strength. The parts that had been devoured before were slowly replenished, and the feeling of a body full of power made her feel particularly good.

Her simple mind also gained a different quality. She felt that the sense of helplessness had disappeared. She even thought that she had cried too much in the past half year, acting like a useless fool, how could she be so weak.

"Spit out my senior sister and the tripod, you disgusting stinky snake!" Lu Xiaoding grabbed the Wind Gold Horn Snake and fiercely threw it, then started to swallow it in large bites.

The massive body of the Wind Gold Horn Snake lay on the ground, its eyes tightly closed, seemingly sleeping leisurely. But upon closer inspection, it was clear that something was wrong. Its body did not rise and fall with breathing, and it was as still as a stone.

Suddenly, the snake's mouth moved and slowly opened. Something slowly squeezed out from inside, which turned out to be a black tripod. Following the tripod was Lu Xiaoding. She was covered in filth, and after pushing the tripod out, she squeezed herself out of the snake's mouth.

As soon as she crawled out, she hurriedly opened the tripod lid and carried Lu Yaohang out. She reached out to check her nose, worried that her senior sister might have suffocated inside.

"Smells so bad!" Lu Yaohang, who had been motionless, suddenly opened her eyes, covered her nose, and rolled to the back, cursing in disgust.

"Senior sister, you're okay." Lu Xiaoding, seeing that she was awake, happily pounced over, grabbed her hand, and smiled.

Lu Yaohang felt a wave of stench hit her, almost making her faint again. She quickly waved her hand and cursed, "Why do you smell so bad, stay away from me!"

Lu Xiaoding was taken aback, sniffed herself, and, not knowing if it was because she had gotten used to it, smelled nothing. She said blankly, "Just a bit dirty, not smelly at all."

"You go wash up quickly!" The decaying smell was unbearable. Lu Yaohang stood up and looked around, seeing the Wind Gold Horn Snake lying motionless nearby. After a careful inspection, she found that it was really dead.

It seemed that the senior had really taken action and killed it directly. That means the corpse of this monster belongs to us. This is a big windfall; not only do we have the monster's crystal, but just the skin, bones, and scales can be sold for crystal beans.

Thinking of this, she suddenly remembered the two cultivation techniques and quickly closed her eyes, using the little spiritual energy she had to check her body. She had barely entered the initial stage of Qi Cultivation and had not yet cultivated a spirit. She could only use this method to search her entire body.

Finally, in her head, she found two light balls and tried to touch them with her spiritual energy. Instantly, a voice echoed in her mind: "I don't trust anyone's promises, so I have to place a restriction in your body. If Lu Xiaoding dies, you will also die. If you protect her well, there will be no problem. You don't have to protect her for life; just find a man with excellent talent and good looks, the higher his cultivation, the better. After severely injuring him and putting him in the tripod, you can lift the restriction."

Lu Yaohang stood there, stunned, and after the voice disappeared, she used her spiritual energy to touch the two light balls again, feeling very complex. The content of the two cultivation techniques appeared in her mind, both at the first level.

The names of the cultivation techniques were particularly powerful. The cultivation method was called "Empty Universe Vortex," and the sword technique was called "Frost Moonlight." She never thought that the senior, whose voice sounded male, would have such a feminine-sounding sword technique. She was very satisfied with the name of the sword technique, as it was very suitable for women.

But when she looked at the content of the two cultivation techniques, Lu Yaohang instantly lost her smile. She speechlessly retracted her limited spiritual energy and angrily cursed in her heart: "You have to reach the Foundation Establishment stage to cultivate, what kind of thing is this!"

"Senior sister, that person hasn't gone far, he seems to be seriously injured and about to die!" At this moment, Lu Xiaoding, who was washing the filth off her body, ran back, carrying the tripod with Bai Zhen inside.

Lu Yaohang was startled. The senior had said to find a person with excellent talent and severe injuries and put them in the tripod, which sounded like a plan to take over their body. She couldn't let this person be mistaken for someone she put in there, especially if he wasn't of excellent talent.

"Quickly take him out, how can you put him in the tripod!" She hurried over and forcefully pulled him out, throwing him on the ground.

Bai Zhen was unconscious and didn't realize he had been thrown on the ground like garbage.

Lu Xiaoding asked in confusion, "Senior sister, why can't I put him in? It's hard to drag him with the tripod."

Since she had to ask, Lu Yaohang made up an excuse, "Because the tripod is used for cooking soup and refining pills. What if putting a person in it dirties the tripod?"

"Oh, I forgot about that. It seems that's the case." Indeed, she hadn't considered it enough. Lu Xiaoding nodded and remembered. Suddenly, she stared at Lu Yaohang's forehead and asked curiously, "Senior sister, did you get hurt on your forehead? There's a red mark."

Lu Yaohang touched her forehead but felt nothing. She quickly took out a mirror and saw a red mark on her brow, like a red sprout. Could this be the restriction the senior mentioned?

She smiled bitterly. She hadn't even started cultivating, and her life was already in someone else's hands. But seeing Xiao Ding trying to wet her sleeve to help wipe off the mark, she felt relieved. Even without the restriction, she would protect her junior sister with all her might. The restriction just made sure she wouldn't abandon her in danger.

"Xiao Ding, I'm fine. This is the mark of my cultivation. From today, you need to refine more pills, as I'm starting to cultivate." Lu Yaohang patted her head and said gently.

"Senior sister, don't worry, I will definitely refine many pills." Lu Xiaoding nodded, staring at her brow, thinking the mark looked quite nice. She wished she had one too.

She had thought they were alone and could slowly deal with the Wind Gold Horn Snake, but now there was a man. She couldn't just let him die.

Lu Xiaoding started searching his body. The sleeve of the sky couldn't be opened, but she found a jade token in his pocket with the character "Ai" written on it. She handed it to her senior sister, thinking it was probably an identity token.

"Ai... This is the identity token of a disciple from the Ten Ai Peak. The back will have a mark indicating whether they are a regular disciple or a direct disciple." Lu Yaohang flipped the token over and saw nine swords arranged in a fan shape, pointing inward. She raised an eyebrow and said, "He has a significant background, a direct disciple of the Ten Ai Peak. I wonder what this senior brother's name is."

A plan immediately formed in her mind. This was a direct disciple, who must have learned many cultivation techniques and had a deeper understanding of cultivation. If they saved him, they could ask him to teach them techniques and sword skills to reach the Foundation Establishment stage, and he wouldn't refuse with his life on the line.

"Senior sister, look, his whole body is hot. Is he about to be cooked?" Lu Xiaoding squatted beside him, feeling his forehead and finding him scarily hot, with his skin showing a light red-pink color.

Lu Yaohang didn't know what was wrong with him, so she took out a book from her pocket and quickly flipped through it. It was the "Monster Catalog," which described many existing monsters with both text and illustrations.

Every cultivator would remember this, but she wasn't familiar with it and thought just looking at the pictures wasn't enough, so she always carried the book, planning to confirm with the real thing. She didn't recognize this big snake, so she decided to check the book before saving him, to see if there was any poison that could infect humans.

"I found it, the Wind Gold Horn Snake. This monster is very powerful; every part of its body can be sold for crystal beans. We've made a big profit this time." Lu Yaohang was pleasantly surprised at first, then her face turned slightly red as she read about the monster's characteristics.

She composed herself, closed the book, and walked over, saying, "He's been poisoned and needs to be woken up first."

"Senior sister, we don't have any antidotes, do we?" Lu Xiaoding asked. If she remembered correctly, her senior sister only had some bone-setting and wound-healing medicine, nothing to wake someone up or antidote poison.

Lu Yaohang said nonchalantly, "It's fine. You don't need medicine to wake someone up; hitting them a few times will do. But since he's been poisoned, to prevent him from being delirious and harming us, it's better to tie him up first."

"No problem." Lu Xiaoding quickly found some rope by the tent, dragged the unconscious Bai Zhen to a tree, and tied his upper body to it. Then Lu Yaohang walked over and slapped him a few times on the face.

The slaps echoed, but had no effect. The poison was too strong. This made her a bit hesitant. Slapping him didn't work; should she hit him harder?

At this moment, Lu Xiaoding pointed to herself and said, "Senior sister, let me try."

"Do you have a way?" Lu Yaohang stepped back, not sure what she could do.

Then she saw Lu Xiaoding holding a broken black iron sword, which she had broken in the tripod and somehow ended up in her hand. Next, Lu Xiaoding stabbed the sword into Bai Zhen's other intact leg.

The black iron sword pierced through the skin and flesh, and blood spurted out. The unconscious Bai Zhen was jolted by the pain, and his tightly closed eyes opened.

Before he could see clearly, Lu Xiaoding quickly pulled out the black iron sword and threw it into the nearby grass. Then she looked at the waking person with concern, quickly distancing herself.

Lu Yaohang watched in shock. Her junior sister was so ruthless! Even if she had seen it with her own eyes, she couldn't believe that this person, who looked so pure and concerned, had just stabbed someone.

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**End of Chapter**