Chapter 27: Chapter 27: It Even Called for Backup
Song Jiulai was new to this world, after all, and her only point of comparison was A Wu.
A Wu was completely focused on growing medicinal herbs. As for what this Qi Refinement Realm was all about, Song Jiulai was just winging it.
Lin Qian’s words made Song Jiulai sense something was off. "Ah, I just practice the Fireball Technique when I have nothing else to do. It’s the only spell I’m good at."
Hearing this, Lin Qian just assumed she was ignorant from spending all her years inside the sect. Besides, she wasn’t good at combat spells herself, so she didn’t give it much thought and just said, "No wonder. Are you planning to train at the borders of Demon Cave Valley?"
Song Jiulai said, "I can’t go that far. I’m just heading to First Mountain."
First Mountain was just the name for the area at the very edge of Demon Cave Valley. It was cut off by continuous mountain ranges and home to swarms of First and Second Rank demon beasts, making it the best place for Qi Refinement Realm disciples to practice.
Lin Qian’s eyes lit up. "Perfect! Junior Sister, I’m heading there to gather herbs. Would you like to travel together?"
Song Jiulai had been worried about how she would learn about the local environment. Having a companion was perfect, so she agreed.
But she was a little curious. "Senior Sister Lin Qian, do all disciples from the Taohua Sect have to go out and train?"
Lin Qian shook her head. "Not exactly. It’s just that for some reason, the number of orders for elixir pills in the sect has skyrocketed recently, and many of them are for Second Rank or higher Qi Replenishing Pills. I heard that patches of Second Rank Beneficial Spirit Grass have appeared over at First Mountain. The ones I’m growing myself can’t keep up with the demand for alchemy, so I wanted to come try my luck."
In places swarming with demon beasts, wild Spirit Grass is often better than cultivated varieties, mainly because the chances of finding high-level ones are greater.
But precisely because there are so many demon beasts, the rewards come with risks.
As for why no one harvested all this Spirit Grass, it was because it wasn’t very useful to High-level Cultivators and was left for low-level cultivators to practice on.
Otherwise, if everywhere were a safe zone, cultivators would have no room to train at all, and that would be a real disaster.
This seemed to have become an unwritten rule.
Lin Qian glanced cautiously at Song Jiulai. "Junior Sister Song, if I travel with you while you train and kill demon beasts, I can gather Spirit Grass nearby. I’ll give you half of what I collect. How does that sound?"
Although Song Jiulai called her Senior Sister, Lin Qian didn’t think her own combat prowess could be stronger than Song Jiulai’s.
They were both in the Early Stage of Qi Refining, and though she was about to advance to the Mid-stage, there wasn’t a huge difference at this level. As a disciple of an alchemy sect, she wasn’t skilled in combat. The large fireballs Song Jiulai had conjured just now were enough to show that she was clearly a talented fighter.
Lin Qian, on the other hand, couldn’t say the same. To this day, her Fireball Technique could only produce a fist-sized flame. Against that Toad Snake earlier, it would have been like a tickle.
Song Jiulai’s eyes lit up. "Sure!"
There was a certain art to gathering Spirit Grass. Some wild types weren’t cultivated; they were delicate, and if you just yanked them out without the proper magic technique, they’d die on you right then and there.
Disciples from alchemy sects were experts at this, possessing special methods to gather Spirit Grass while keeping it perfectly intact.
She could train and still get half the spoils. Of course Song Jiulai wouldn’t object.
She didn’t think Lin Qian was trying to pull a fast one. Besides, what was the point of scheming when they were only in the Qi Refinement Realm?
Senior Sister Su from the neighboring Taohua Sect had mentioned before that disciples of alchemy sects cared a great deal about their reputations.
Seeing that Song Jiulai was easy to talk to, Lin Qian was also quite happy.
"Junior Sister, have you just recently joined the Longevity Sect?"
’Otherwise, she wouldn’t have called me Senior Sister the moment she saw me.’
"Yes, yes," Song Jiulai said. "I only discovered I had a Spirit Root by chance and was lucky enough to be brought into the sect. Otherwise, I would have been fumbling around on my own for who knows how long."
Although children born on the Yunzhou Continent were tested for a Spirit Root at birth, it wasn’t unheard of for some to be missed.
For example, children who were abandoned by their parents at birth.
This was the excuse Song Jiulai had prepared for herself long ago.
Besides, there were plenty of Loose Cultivators on the continent, and there were many reasons why someone wouldn’t join a sect.
"I see," Lin Qian said with a nod. "Cultivating on your own without a sect’s guidance is quite difficult. I joined the Taohua Sect very early on, but I don’t have much talent. I’m also the slowest at alchemy."
"But I felt a stirring recently, so I thought I’d come out to try and gather some Second Rank Beneficial Spirit Grass. I just didn’t expect to run into a Toad Snake on the way."
Lin Qian was a typical sect disciple. She had never been out to train, so her realm progressed slowly, and she got nervous whenever she encountered a demon beast.
"Then congratulations, Senior Sister." Feeling a stirring meant a breakthrough wasn’t far off, just like with Su Huanli.
Of course, when a disciple from an alchemy sect like her went out, her combat ability was one thing, but she definitely had plenty of life-saving elixir pills prepared.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have dared to come out alone.
But Song Jiulai was tactful enough not to ask.
As she and Lin Qian continued toward First Mountain, they both really did notice that something was wrong.
In addition to the Toad Snake they first encountered, they also ran into a Flame Bird and a Green Poison Centipede, which also shouldn’t have appeared before First Mountain.
These harmful demon beasts all had one thing in common: they were painfully ugly.
The Flame Bird was as large as an eagle, but it had a sharp, falcon-like beak. When it opened its mouth, a row of fine teeth was revealed, possibly stained with suspicious, rotting flesh. It also liked to eat corpses.
The Green Poison Centipede was just a green centipede. Its combat power wasn’t high, but it was human-sized, and just looking at it was enough to make you lose your sanity.
It was extremely poisonous, harmed both Spirit Grass and humans, and was universally despised, just like the Toad Snake.
Both of these were First-rank Demon Beasts, but the Flame Bird was the most troublesome. It could spit fire, fly, and had fire resistance.
Song Jiulai’s fireballs weren’t effective, so she manipulated the formula for the Water Manipulation Technique, instantly forming a ball of water, though it wasn’t as large as her fireballs.
Aiming for the Flame Bird’s attack path, she doused it right in the face.
The Flame Bird was decisive; when its attack failed, it flew away immediately.
There was nothing Song Jiulai could do about it.
The Green Poison Centipede was dealt with using a similar method.
Because of what Lin Qian had said earlier, Song Jiulai held back a little. Instead of bombarding it with fireballs as she had at first, she used the terrain to corner the Green Poison Centipede, predicting its path and causing the ground to collapse and trap it.
Luckily, the Green Poison Centipede wasn’t much of a threat. It was slower than the Toad Snake, so after stalling for a bit, Song Jiulai finished it off with a single large fireball.
After these fights, she had a general grasp of the strength of First-rank Demon Beasts.
They really were just practice dummies for newly initiated cultivators.
Strangely, even though this was her first time in real combat, Song Jiulai felt that her perception of danger was quite accurate.
She had been able to accurately predict the attack directions of the Flame Bird, the Green Poison Centipede, and the Toad Snake from before.
’This seems to be related to the Soul Cultivation Heart Method the system gave me.’
’This thing is different from the mental methods of the Yunzhou Continent. Anyway, the moment it gave me the reward, the system just said, "Don’t ask. Just practice."’
’Anything produced by the system is definitely better than what the Yunzhou Continent has to offer.’
’Just look at the fact that it could give me something as heaven-defying as Opening Spiritual Root.’
After seeing Song Jiulai take care of the Green Poison Centipede, Lin Qian wiped the sweat from her brow. "We’re only half a day from First Mountain’s territory, but these demon beasts shouldn’t be appearing yet. Could the demon beast encyclopedia be wrong?"
Song Jiulai had been reading the same thing. "Maybe... Who knows how many years ago that encyclopedia was written? But it’s also possible that just a few strays wandered over."
Lin Qian thought for a moment. "That’s true."
After all, the ones they had encountered were all alone.
The words had barely left her mouth when Song Jiulai suddenly heard a strange, piercing bird cry.
Looking up, she saw two Flame Birds in the sky, flapping furiously as they dove toward them.
Apparently, the one from before had gone back to call for backup.
Song Jiulai: "..."
Damn!
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