Chapter 12 (2/2)

With this hanging on his belt, ordinary poisonous beasts and insects would not dare to go near him. It was no wonder that he was advancing so fearlessly.

Jiu Jiu’s eyebrows twitched as she mumbled, “This fella was quite well-prepared. It looks like he was really determined to find that herb. What herb is he looking for?”

Yuwen Ling’s rough voice sounded behind her. “Immortal Elder, why don’t you ask him?”

“There’s no need. He would become a good-for-nothing even after ascending to immortality if he knew that he’s training under the protection of an immortal.” Jiu Jiu stretched her body, then turned to face Yuwen Ling, who was standing behind her. “Let’s go. We’ll go and see how the royalty from your house is doing. Don’t say that this Aunt-Master is biased behind my back.”

Yuwen Ling immediately nodded in response, looking very eager. He played the role of a loyal guard perfectly.

However, when Jiu Jiu turned to fly away, Yuwen Ling retrieved a black beetle from his thigh and threw it into the gray cloud underneath him.

This move was very subtle, and it was only done when Jiu Jiu turned her immortal awareness to focus on the other four disciples. Even though Jiu Jiu’s cultivation level was far higher than Yuwen Ling’s, she did not notice that subtle movement.

After the two of them flew away, the beetle continued to fly with the gray cloud, following Li Changshou closely.

…

“Eh?”

Li Changshou looked up into the sky. While he was speeding along, he noticed something out of the ordinary. It was almost like there were a pair of eyes in the sky, keeping watch on him.

However, on closer inspection, he could not find anything strange.

‘Aunt-Master? Perhaps not. The gaze feels malicious.’

Li Changshou lived according to the principle of being safe rather than sorry. He stopped and conjured a seal with both his hands. He muttered several words under his breath, and thin waves began to appear in the gray ground in front of him.

As he advanced forward, his body quickly got sucked into the ground. At once, he disappeared.

Li Changshou used one of the escape techniques of the Five Elements, Earth Escape.

A moment later, Li Changshou’s figure appeared among the bushes 25 kilometers ahead. Around him, there were countless poisonous insects and a few poisonous beasts running in all directions.

The feeling of being watched had indeed disappeared.

Li Changshou quickly found his bearings, lowered his head, and continued sprinting forward. At the same time, he retrieved two talismans from inside his sleeve, sticking one on each thigh. This helped him to speed up a fraction more.

Soul Movement Thousand-Mile Talisman—it was considered quite an average talisman, which could increase the speed of the user’s movement. It was normally only used by cultivators in the beginning phases of the Qi Refinement Realm.

Li Changshou had already guessed that since there were five of them on this journey, they would most likely meet extraordinary circ.u.mstances.

The Chaos Treasure Forest was extremely dangerous, but they were on the extreme outer regions of the North Continent. Cultivators in the Void Return Realm would easily be able to deal with the dangers as long as they were cautious. That meant the Chaos Treasure Forest’s dangers were not particularly applicable.

However, the external factors, namely Yuwen Ling, whom they had met halfway, Yuan Qing, who looked warm and kind all the time, as well as Youqin Xuanya, who looked cold on the outside, but was devoid of shrewdness on the inside, complicated the whole situation. Most importantly, Her Highness Youqin Xuanya was a royal princess from the secular world.

Li Changshou had his personal theory and firmly believed that there was some kind of story to be unraveled in there.

The person that had been planning all of these behind the scenes must have thought that there were no holes in his plan. However, the guard of royalty in the secular world had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, instead of going to the immortal sect directly to explain the situation and resolve the situation by stopping Youqin Xuanya from going out. This was not logical!

‘Forget it. This has nothing to do with me.’

As Li Changshou ran, he retrieved his simple map and studied it again. There was a hint of frustration in his eyes.

If he had a choice, Li Changshou would choose not to come to such a dangerous place. This went completely against his life principle, to stay on the mountain until he died of old age.

However, he had to do it for his Master.

“Keep purity a priority and remain unaffected by everything else. Then, it would be easy to avoid all types of evil!”

Li Changshou said to himself, perking himself up. Then, he continued to speed through the black forest filled with poisonous obstacles.

A moment later, he felt like he was being watched once again.

He frowned and cursed in his heart how troublesome this was. This time, Li Changshou did not expose more of his escape techniques. Instead, he checked the fighting equipment in his storage Dharma treasures. His spiritual awareness also began searching for a place to hide.

Although he was cautious, Li Changshou was not a coward. There was a difference between both of these things.

A long period followed. Li Changshou continued to have this feeling of being watched, but he did not find anyone hiding, nor did anyone try to a.s.sa.s.sinate him.

He remained on high alert for two whole days and nights, displaying his Earth Escape technique several more times. The feeling of being watched did not go away.

Li Changshou tried to a.n.a.lyze his current position. Of course, he was already deep inside the Chaos Treasure Forest. He must have already traveled outside of the limits of Aunt-Master Jiu Jiu’s immortal awareness.

He did not stop moving, but he did not feel exhausted. The tough training that he had been through for several years prior was proving to have outstanding effects.

All of a sudden, Li Changshou sensed murderous intent!

Li Changshou’s spiritual awareness did not detect any threat. It was obvious that the other party had the means to avoid his spiritual awareness.

He scanned the source of the murderous intent—on his left, in the darkness of the forest. Li Changshou continued to advance, but the tips of his left fingers were already moving subtly, creating thin ropes, which resembled spiderwebs, and spreading them out. His right hand began summoning a gentle breeze, undetected.

It was the best way of investigating—the Spiderweb of Strong-Pupil Three-Headed Spiders.

Shortly after, a blurry image appeared in Li Changshou’s heart.

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