Bao Gu shouted, “Don’t push, there’s a wolf staring at me.”
Duobao Spirit Monkey stood on Bao Gu, who was lying on the ground, and bared its teeth at the she-wolf, squeaking twice. The she-wolf then retreated two steps.
Bao Gu was pushed into the cave by Yu Mi, and the she-wolf pounced towards Bao Gu in an instant.
Yu Mi ducked into the cave, punching the she-wolf on the top of its head, knocking it unconscious. She then quickly tidied up the bushes at the entrance of the cave, plucked a few wolf hairs from the she-wolf, and threw them outside before heaving a sigh of relief. They nestled in the narrow cave, seven or eight feet deep and only about two to three feet wide and tall. She wanted to set up a formation to conceal their aura, but thought it might arouse suspicion.
Since both she and Bao Gu wore jade bracelets that concealed their aura, as long as they remained silent, others wouldn’t be able to detect them. The wolves outside could serve as a cover. She took out a jade token, engraved the technique for concealing one’s aura on it, and handed it to Bao Gu, urging her to learn how to control her breathing and heartbeat as soon as possible.
Bao Gu sighed inwardly, “The cultivation world is even harder to survive in than the mortal world! A master at the early stage of Golden Core actually has to hide in a wolf’s den!” She weakly glanced at Yu Mi and pressed her forehead against the jade token to learn the technique engraved on it. This technique, called the Turtle Breathing Technique, minimizes one’s breathing and heartbeat to the lowest state, like a resting turtle. It’s a basic technique and not difficult to learn. Bao Gu quickly managed to control her breathing and heartbeat.
Yu Mi sat cross-legged at the entrance of the cave, thinking for a moment before switching places with Bao Gu. In case they were discovered, Bao Gu could go out first to distract the enemy. Bao Gu, at the third stage of Qi Refining, was as weak as a martial artist in the mortal world. Even if discovered, she wouldn’t attract much attention and might be overlooked like an ant. If someone tried to harm Bao Gu, Yu Mi could launch a surprise attack from behind. Nascent Soul cultivators would disdain to kill a weak cultivator like Bao Gu. As for cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage, even those at the late stage of Golden Core, Yu Mi was confident she could take their lives in a close-range attack.
Three wolf cubs whimpered on their mother, waking her up.
The she-wolf and her cubs retreated to the innermost part of the cave, no longer daring to attack the intruders.
Bao Gu, with her weak cultivation, couldn’t sense any disturbances and simply closed her eyes to meditate and recuperate.
Yu Mi heard continuous noises outside, seemingly from a fierce battle happening tens of miles away, and not just in one place. The intermittent sounds of battle continued without pause, sometimes closer, sometimes farther. She didn’t dare to extend her divine consciousness to investigate, instead, she listened closely to the surroundings by pressing her ear against the mountain.
She hid in the cave for half a day, and the sounds of battle outside not only didn’t stop but also got closer. The noise was tremendous, shaking the mountain, roaring like thunder.
The battle continued until the latter half of the night before gradually quieting down.
Before Yu Mi could relax, a violent explosion suddenly erupted not two miles away from the cave entrance. The intense explosion shook the mountain, and small stones fell continuously!
Yu Mi was stunned by the noise—it sounded like a Nascent Soul explosion! Definitely a Nascent Soul explosion! This was a mutual destruction! The power of a Nascent Soul explosion was astonishing, resulting in a tragic end with both soul and body obliterated.
Bao Gu, frightened by the noise, quickly looked up at the cave ceiling, fearing the cave would collapse and bury them alive.
After about half an hour, Yu Mi heard heavy footsteps from the explosion’s perimeter, only dozens of yards away, as if someone had gotten up. She knew that anyone who survived such a massive explosion and was approaching them must also be a Nascent Soul cultivator, likely the one who forced the Nascent Soul cultivator to self-destruct. Even if it was a severely injured Nascent Soul cultivator, she wouldn’t be able to handle them. Yu Mi was afraid to alert the person and didn’t even dare to release her divine consciousness, signaling Bao Gu to remain silent.
About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea later, Yu Mi heard heavy, staggering footsteps approaching their direction, getting closer and closer, heading straight for their hiding spot in the cave.
Yu Mi bitterly smiled to herself, “I know this wolf den is a good hiding place, but as a Nascent Soul cultivator who’s severely injured, you wouldn’t also want to squeeze in with us, would you?” Before she could finish her thought, she felt the severely injured Nascent Soul cultivator crouch down outside the cave and reach out to move the bushes blocking the entrance.
Bao Gu, hearing the noise, held her breath in fright, not daring to move, even controlling her heartbeat to stop.
Yu Mi cautiously reached for her storage bag.
Duobao Spirit Monkey’s pair of pitch-black eyes swiveled, hesitated for a moment, but eventually, with no dignity, slipped into the mountain and fled.
The Nascent Soul cultivator’s clothes were torn to shreds, his body a bloody mess. One side of his face was missing flesh, revealing white bones, while flesh on the other side hung off, exposing an empty eye socket. His skin was torn, and many bones and tendons were broken, looking like a monster. As he moved the bushes and peered into the cave, he was startled to find not only a she-wolf and three cubs but also two living people hiding inside. His reaction was swift; as soon as he saw someone inside, he retreated—
Bao Gu knew someone was coming in, but didn’t expect such a creature. She screamed in fright.
The moment the Nascent Soul cultivator peeked his head in, Yu Mi took out Thunder Talismans and Fire Talismans from her storage bag and bombarded him. At the same time, her Lihuo Sword also struck fiercely! Almost the moment the Nascent Soul cultivator saw them and started to retreat, her sword and talismans had already hit him on the head, with the Lihuo Sword piercing through from the top of his head, exiting from his back.
This was Yu Mi’s only chance! If this strike missed, even a severely injured Nascent Soul cultivator would be difficult to fight against.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye!
As the Lihuo Sword pierced the Nascent Soul cultivator, the talismans Yu Mi launched exploded in his head.
Fire and thunder engulfed the cave entrance, and the Nascent Soul cultivator was blown away, falling more than a yard outside the cave, his head already blown off. Only the Lihuo Sword pierced through his neck and exited from his back, and he lay motionless on the ground. A fist-sized, transparent golden infant flew out of his body, screaming in terror, “No—” and turned to flee.
If not for the protective jade given to Bao Gu by her master and the protective talisman on Yu Mi, activated by the power of the Fire and Thunder Talismans to defend and block the fire and thunder outside the cave, they would have hardly escaped unscathed.
Yu Mi didn’t have time to think about the consequences. Seeing the Nascent Soul cultivator’s Nascent Soul escaping, she cursed under her breath, noticing the Nascent Soul was transparent and also severely injured. Delighted, she rushed out of the cave, stepped on her flying sword, and chased after the Nascent Soul.
The Nascent Soul fled desperately! A Nascent Soul without a body is extremely fragile! Although the opponent was only a minor cultivator at the early stage of Golden Core, surrounded by talismans, he was not something a fragile Nascent Soul could withstand. Moreover, a Nascent Soul is fragile, and if it leaves the body for more than the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, it will naturally dissipate. He turned to flee, suddenly realizing that continuing to flee was also dangerous! He had just seen a little girl in the cave, and judging by her age, her cultivation couldn’t be very high! He narrowly dodged an attack from Yu Mi, turned around, and charged towards Bao Gu in the cave.
Bao Gu, blinded by the light from the Fire and Thunder Talismans, had just recovered when she saw a fist-sized infant flying towards her, aiming for her forehead.
Yu Mi, seeing this, exclaimed in shock, “Bao Gu, dodge! He’s trying to seize your body!”
Bao Gu was puzzled, “What does ‘seize your body’ mean?” Knowing the situation was dire, she didn’t dare not to dodge. She tilted her head and rolled on the ground, but couldn’t avoid it. The fist-sized infant actually landed on her forehead, seemingly about to drill into her head, when suddenly the protective jade given to her by her master on her neck emitted a dazzling golden light, striking the Nascent Soul. A pitiful and desperate scream sounded, “Ah—” and the Nascent Soul vanished into thin air in the golden light.
Yu Mi, holding the Lihuo Sword at the cave entrance, let out a sigh of relief. That was terrifying! Suddenly remembering something, she ran to the Nascent Soul cultivator’s body, collected it into her storage jade bracelet, and called out to Bao Gu, “Come out, we’re leaving right away!”
Bao Gu hurriedly crawled out of the cave.
The four wolves in the cave were so frightened they huddled in the corner, trembling.
Duobao Spirit Monkey also emerged from the mountain and hopped back onto Bao Gu’s shoulder as she crawled out of the cave.
As soon as Bao Gu crawled out, Yu Mi pulled her onto the flying sword.
Yu Mi controlled the flying sword to flee at the fastest speed. She only wished she had the skills of her master to carve a teleportation array and escape far away immediately.
She flew over a hundred miles without encountering a single living cultivator. Along the way, they saw signs of battle and the corpses of cultivators, most of whom were at the Golden Core stage, with quite a few at the Nascent Soul stage, all in a terrible state, almost none left intact. Yu Mi didn’t dare to stop and search, even knowing there would be many valuable items in the storage bags of these deceased.
Yu Mi flew at high speed, and even though she didn’t see any more signs of battle, she didn’t dare to stop. She continued flying for another three hundred miles before landing with Bao Gu in a deserted canyon. She released her divine consciousness to scan the surroundings, seeing only ordinary wild animals. She then carefully hid under a secluded cliff and set up a concealment formation.
Bao Gu, having not eaten all day, was starving. Knowing she was safe with Yu Mi, she immediately took out wolf meat from her storage bag to eat. She had just taken a few bites when Yu Mi threw out a battered corpse from her storage jade bracelet. The wolf meat in her mouth became impossible to swallow. She held it in for a moment before going to a corner to vomit, complaining, “Sister, couldn’t you wait until I finished eating before throwing out the corpse?” She looked down on Yu Mi for not only killing someone but also taking the corpse with them.
Yu Mi didn’t even lift her head as she searched the body.
Logically, a Nascent Soul cultivator should have considerable wealth. This Nascent Soul cultivator, having fought to such a state, probably didn’t have any offensive or defensive talismans or precious pills left.
Yu Mi, having listened to the sounds of battle in the cave for so long, suspected that the item that attracted so many Nascent Soul cultivators might have fallen into the hands of this person or the one who self-destructed earlier.
In the cultivation world, apart from treasure hunting, even grievances like killing one’s wife and stealing love wouldn’t lead to such a brutal killing. There’s always time for revenge as one’s cultivation improves. But treasure hunting is different, especially for precious treasures. If you miss this opportunity, there’s no next time. If two cultivators meet, one strong and one weak, even if the weaker one offers the treasure willingly, they might still be killed to silence them. If their strengths are equal, who would willingly give up the treasure? It would definitely be a fight to the death, to see who survives and who gets the treasure!
If someone possesses a treasure in a place crowded with Nascent Soul cultivators, they will inevitably be targeted, and it would be difficult to escape, let alone survive to the end. The last battle in that area was on this Nascent Soul cultivator. If there was a treasure, it must be on him.
Yu Mi searched the Nascent Soul cultivator’s body several times, only finding a storage ring.
Inside the storage ring, besides a few sets of clothes, there were some medium and low-grade spirit stones, some refining materials, a pill furnace, and other miscellaneous items, and a piece of skin from an unknown animal. This skin was very soft, with no trace of spiritual energy fluctuations, dull in color without any spiritual luster. It was only palm-sized, indistinguishable between front and back, clean without even a sketch, obviously not a treasure map. Yu Mi couldn’t understand it, so she handed the skin to Duobao Spirit Monkey, saying, “Silly monkey, what kind of skin is this?”
Sitting on her shoulder, Duobao Spirit Monkey stretched its neck, its eyes wide open as it stared at the skin, its mouth agape.
Bao Gu asked, “Could it be human skin?”
Yu Mi replied, “It looks like human skin, but it’s definitely not human skin!”
Duobao Spirit Monkey nodded several times, seemingly agreeing with Yu Mi. It kicked its legs, jumped onto the skin held in Yu Mi’s palm, and instantly disappeared.
Bao Gu watched Duobao Spirit Monkey vanish into thin air, her eyes wide open. She quickly bent down to search under Yu Mi’s palm and the ground, calling out, “Little monkey!”
Yu Mi was shocked and quickly examined the skin in her hand, but found nothing. She infused her divine consciousness into the skin, still finding nothing. If there was really nothing, how could the silly monkey disappear by jumping onto the skin? Even if it was a teleportation array or something similar, there should be energy fluctuations, right? To say the skin was a storage artifact, there are storage artifacts in the cultivation world that can contain living things, and those are precious treasures, but this skin didn’t look like a storage artifact at all!
Yu Mi stared at the skin in her palm, puzzled and bewildered.
Just as she was filled with doubts, Duobao Spirit Monkey mysteriously reappeared on the skin, then grabbed the skin, jumped onto Bao Gu’s arm, lifted her sleeve, and directly attached the skin to Bao Gu’s arm, letting out a triumphant “squeak.”
