Chapter 140 - Treasure-hunting Scorpion
Chapter 140: Treasure-hunting Scorpion
The Black Fat Rat eyed Zi Shang. When it saw that he raised no objections, it unenthusiastically retrieved a piece of Blue Stone from its little Bestial Pouch, before tossing it to Ye Jiuge.
Ye Jiuge swallowed the Blue Stone. Then, she said to Zi Shang, “Let’s go!”
Without further ado, Zi Shang went into the water with Ye Jiuge.
Ye Jiuge’s heart was set on returning to her residence at the speed of light, so she swam back to the bank quicker than the time it had taken her to travel from the lake’s shore to its bottom.
After Zi Shang followed Ye Jiuge to dry land, he patted her head warmly and said, “Since you have the Spiritual Flame in your possession now, you should return to your residence obediently and produce some pills!”
Ye Jiuge did not dare provoke the snake with the large hemipenes, so she nodded compliantly. Satisfied, Zi Shang returned to the imprint. As Ye Jiuge breathed a sigh of relief, she couldn’t help but feel glad. Luckily, Zi Shang had not completely recovered his Demonic Power yet. Hence, the time he had to torment her each day was limited. If he could appear beside her twenty-four hours a day, that would be her worst nightmare.
Within Ye Jiuge’s imprint, a shrunken Zi Shang was preparing to cultivate when he read Ye Jiuge’s thoughts. He could not help but smile.
Since Ye Jiuge was looking forward to having him follow her around relentlessly like a shadow, he should not disappoint Little Dumb Dumb! Unbeknownst to Ye Jiuge, her ‘nightmare’ was near.
She could not wait to return to the Zilin Residence so that she could start producing pills.
Not long after Ye Jiuge left the deep lake, a smear of pink appeared in front of it. A faint, foul smell of blood came from the girl’s body. Wild beasts from the surrounding valley caught her scent and hunted her down, but she killed them quickly. In the end, they became clots of blood on her hands.
“Little Darling, after you drink this blood, you should hurry up and bring me to the Spiritual Flame.”
This pink-clad young lady, who was smiling sweetly, was the Bloodthirsty Sect’s female disciple, Liu Yunfei.
She held a palm-sized purple scorpion in her fair hand. After it devoured the congealed blood, its long scorpion tail pointed toward the bottom of the lake.
“As it turns out, it is located in the lake’s bed. It never occurred to me that, in such a godforsaken place on the Capital’s outskirts, a Spiritual Flame might exist.”
Liu Yunfei smiled in satisfaction. After leaving Bloodcloud Peak, she’d ridden her horse at full speed to the Capital. At first, she’d wanted to find Su Junqing directly to understand the situation. She’d never expected that, when she was nearby, her Treasure-hunting Scorpion would suddenly became restless and bring her running all the way here.
“Lead the way.” Liu Yunfei snapped her fingers.
The Treasure-hunting Scorpion leaped into the deep lake and swam toward the bottom.
Liu Yunfei went after it without any hesitation. Soon after they reached lake’s bed, she smelled the faint metallic stench of blood. It was undeniable that there’d been a fight. Not only that, it had not been long since it had happened.
She thought: Don’t tell me that someone else got their hands on the treasure first!
Liu Yunfei’s expression was dark. She expedited her movements as she followed the Treasure-hunting Scorpion to a desolate cavern. She looked up and down, front to back, left and right, and turned the place upside down. Other than a pile of broken bones, there was nothing.
“D*amn it. Who snatched my treasure away?” Liu Yunfei was so furious that her expression was feral. She slammed the cavern wall with her palm, creating a hole.
She thought: Something is amiss. That person cannot have traveled far yet. If I chase them down now, I will be able to catch up in time.
“Bring me to the person who took away the White Bone Flame.” Liu Yunfei punctured the tip of her finger with her teeth and dribbled a drop of blood on the Treasure-hunting Scorpion.
The essence of her blood was exponentially more potent than the blood of the wild beasts she had killed earlier. A beam of red light shone from the Treasure-hunting Scorpion’s body. Its scorpion tail swayed from side to side. Finally, it pointed east, the direction in which Ye Jiuge had headed when she left.
Liu Yunfei plunged into the deep lake again, planning to get to dry land so that she could pursue whomever the person was. However, she was stalled by an Iron-skinned Crocodile, which came after her due to the smell of her blood.
She did not have enough spare time to engage the Iron-skinned Crocodile in combat. She raised her hand and hurled a mass of coagulated blood in the opposite direction. The Spiritual Blood’s sweet fragrance attracted the Iron-skinned Crocodile. It pounced immediately.
Liu Yunfei swiftly returned to the bank. However, by this time, the Treasure-hunting Scorpion had lost track of Ye Jiuge.
Although the Treasure-hunting Scorpion was a Spiritual Beast, it could only sense the White Bone Flame within a radius of 5 kilometers. Right now, the distance between the White Bone Flame’s location and the Treasure-hunting Scorpion had already exceeded the scope of its abilities.
“D*mn it, d*mn it, d*mn it!” Consumed by rage, Liu Yunfei jumped into the water, rushed to the bottom of the deep lake, and tied up the Iron-skinned Crocodile.
The Iron-skinned Crocodile was skinned alive, and its tendons were ripped off its bones. After that, she stomped on it repeatedly until it became a patty—only then was the bitterness in her heart eased.
“It’s your fault that I am completely drenched in blood.” Liu Yunfei sent the Iron-skinned Crocodile flying with a kick. She took a clean set of clothes from her Magical Bottomless Satchel and changed into them. Then, she continued her journey to the Capital.
Ye Jiuge was unaware that an innocent Iron-skinned Crocodile had been tortured to death because of her. She was currently preparing to use her White Bone Flame to produce a Rank Three Mind-clearing Pill. Essence of Goldthread Rhizome, Icy Mint, Mind-sobering Herb…One by one, Ye Jiuge threw the ingredients into the small bronze cauldron. After that, she summoned the White Bone Flame and started to produce her pill.
As expected, using the Spiritual Flame to aid her pill production process felt different. In the past, the small, inferior cauldron not only took a long time to work, but it was also inefficient. Now, it rotated much faster.
The impurities in those Medicinal Herbs spun in the centrifuge at a high speed. The result was a green solution with a slight fragrance.
When the production process was almost complete, Ye Jiuge called for the Black Fat Rat, as usual, to help her to purify the solution from its poison.
“Pipi!” the Black Fat Rat did not even raise its head as it replied to her glumly. It hugged it small tail and curled up into a furry black ball. It was as if it were telling her that it was not in a good mood, so she should not bother it.
Ye Jiuge could empathize with the rat’s depressed feeling. It had gone through a lot of trouble for her in guiding her search for the treasure. Everyone else had reaped the benefits of the effort, and it had merely wished to suck some of her blood. As soon as it had asked her for it, Zi Shang had threatened it. Unsurprisingly, it was unhappy. However, regardless of how much Ye Jiuge understood the Black Fat Rat’s feelings, she did not dare give it her blood. Zi Shang’s two large hemipenes were quite intimidating to her.
Fortunately, she had used the White Bone Flame in the furnace to produce the Mind-clearing Pill. The final product was of an acceptable quality. Even though the Black Fat Rat did not help her refine the poison from the pill, the pill was still a better Rank-two Spiritual Pill, compared to similar pills of the same rank.
After Ye Jiuge used a jade bottle to store the pale green Medicinal Pill, she left the Pill Production Room to rest in her room. Then, she suddenly sensed a shadow moving slightly beside the door. She halted her footsteps and demanded, “Ye Yu, why are you here?”
“Eldest Miss, how did you notice me?” Ye Yu showed himself. His handsome face was filled with amazement.
Ever since he had turned into a Shadow Assassin, as long as nothing seemed out of place, there was practically no one who could discover his presence.
“You tell me.” Ye Jiuge gave him the smile of someone who had just progressed in their cultivation.
Ye Yu looked at her carefully. He only now realized that Ye Jiuge had already advanced to an Intermediate Level Spiritual Practitioner. He cupped his hands in obeisance and said, “Congratulations, Eldest Miss, for successfully moving to a higher level.”
“Thank you very much!” Ye Jiuge’s tender, rosy lips curved slightly. She flashed him a modest smile.
Ye Jiuge’s smile caused Ye Yu to feel a little dizzy. He had no idea if the dizziness was due to the moon or if Ye Jiuge just looked exceptionally beautiful tonight. Like an elf during a moonlit night, she was so ethereal that she didn’t look like a real human.
“It is quite late now. What’s the matter?” Ye Jiuge asked.
“There’s something I need to report to you.” Ye Yu snapped out of his mesmerized state immediately and spoke to her with a serious expression.
“Then, come in!” Ye Jiuge turned around to return to the Pill Production Room. She informed Ye Yu, “Sit where you like.”
Ye Yu swept his eyes over the cluttered Pill Production Room and thought to himself that there was barely a place to stand, much less to sit. Ye Jiuge pushed some things off a stool roughly and forced them into a corner, attempting to clear a place for him.
“It’s fine. I’ll stand.” Ye Yu stopped Ye Jiuge hurriedly, so that she would not violently tear down the entire place.
“Alright!” Ye Jiuge gave up on tidying. She turned to ask him, “Tell me, why are you here?”
“Today, in the afternoon, a young lady wearing a pink dress visited Su Junqing,” Ye Yu said with a grave expression