’Could this be a Magical Artifact?’
Li Changsheng wondered.
Other than the great hall he saw when he first joined the sect, he had never seen another Magical Artifact. He tried to circulate his Spiritual Power into it, but felt a sense of blockage from the blade.
It was clearly just an ordinary longsword, albeit one that looked rather sharp.
Disappointed, Li Changsheng sheathed the sword and carried it in his hand.
As the sky brightened, the eleven piglets, having finished their milk, began to frolic about, squealing chaotically inside the cave.
Big Flower and Xiaohua also got to their feet, rubbing their bodies against the wall and grunting incessantly.
Having raised them for a year, Li Changsheng knew at a glance that they were hungry and wanted to eat.
’I need to hurry.’
Li Changsheng mulled it over for a moment. Looking at the lively Tusked Pig piglets, he pulled a bright yellow talisman from his robes.
It was a Mind Confusion Talisman, the same kind the raider had used to knock out one of Big Flower’s piglets.
Li Changsheng channeled his Spiritual Power into the talisman. In an instant, it ignited, transforming into a pale yellow light that enveloped the piglets.
THUD...
All eleven piglets passed out.
Li Changsheng placed the piglets into his back basket, gave a call, and strode out of the cave.
Big Flower and Xiaohua followed closely behind him, with the four Red-winged Blood Bamboo circling overhead.
The forest was unbearably hot and humid. Before long, the four Red-winged Blood Bamboo’s wings grew damp, and they landed on Xiaohua’s back.
Li Changsheng was tempted to ride Xiaohua himself, but considering how easy it was to get lost in the unpredictable forest and how difficult Xiaohua was to communicate with, he dismissed the idea.
He walked out of the dense forest, crossed a mountain, and waded through a shallow stream until a low hill appeared before him.
After climbing the hill, he saw a ravine not far away, about five meters wide and of unknown depth.
Li Changsheng wiped away his sweat. ’This is it.’
He had come into the mountains for two reasons: one, to hide from danger, and two, to find the secluded Red-winged Blood Bamboo colony in the gorge.
Now that he knew how formidable the Red-winged Blood Bamboo were, he was no longer satisfied with just four. He wanted more, many more.
’If I could command a swarm of Red-winged Blood Bamboo that blotted out the sky, would I still have to fear those people causing trouble for me? Would I still need to hide?’
’Hiding then? What a joke!’
’If they want to steal my Tusked Pigs, I’ll kill them as they come—one by one, or two by two.’
Filled with excitement, Li Changsheng hurried to a relatively gentle slope leading down into the ravine.
Just as he was about to descend, Li Changsheng suddenly froze and looked behind him.
He could use the bushes on the slope to get down, but Big Flower and Xiaohua couldn’t. They were too big and didn’t have hands.
Li Changsheng frowned. This gentle slope was the only way down; the rest was all sheer cliffs. The ravine stretched for an unknown number of miles, and going around would take far too long.
Besides, the sect mission items were due tomorrow. If he didn’t want to be kicked out of Beast Valley, he had to be back by dawn.
With no other choice, Li Changsheng found a thicket of bushes, hacked a small path with his sword, and cleared out an open space within. He then herded Big Flower and Xiaohua inside.
Figuring there weren’t any dangerous beasts nearby, he placed the piglets inside as well and blocked the opening.
Carrying the basket on his back and with the four Red-winged Blood Bamboo in tow, Li Changsheng quickly made his way to the slope and descended to the bottom of the ravine.
At the bottom of the ravine, the sunlight was dim. The ground was covered in jagged rocks and slippery moss.
Li Changsheng infused his feet with Spiritual Power and leaped from rock to rock, speeding toward the end of the ravine.
「An hour later.」
A massive, ten-meter-tall boulder appeared ahead. Li Changsheng circulated his Spiritual Power, leaped up, and landed on top of it.
Li Changsheng gazed forward and chuckled softly. "Finally."
Ahead was a mountain gorge about a hundred meters wide. Lush forests surrounded it, filled with the cries of birds and the roars of beasts. A clear stream flowed slowly through the middle.
Li Changsheng stood on the edge of a cliff over ten meters high. Below was a deep, dark pool of water.
Withdrawing his gaze, Li Changsheng leaped. Just before hitting the water, he pushed off with his feet, his body moving like a swallow as he landed on the opposite bank.
The pool behind him exploded with a splash, sending ripples across its surface.
Without pausing, Li Changsheng continued on. Soon, a towering cliff face appeared a hundred meters ahead.
The scree slope at the base of the cliff was littered with all kinds of jagged animal bones. The cliff itself was covered in Blood Bamboo Vines, which were entirely crimson and had bamboo-like nodes.
Every so often, a few Red-winged Blood Bamboo would fly out, circle a few times, and then land back on the vines.
Li Changsheng didn’t approach. Instead, he turned and walked toward a clump of vibrant green bamboo about ten meters away.
He drew his sword, chopped one down, and fashioned it into a dozen or so bamboo tubes.
Li Changsheng glanced back at the Blood Bamboo Vines, his expression hardening. He decisively sliced his palm across the edge of his blade.
A bloody gash appeared, and fresh blood gushed out, flowing into one of the bamboo tubes.
He didn’t stop until the tube was more than half full, by which point the wound on his palm had turned pale.
’That should be enough.’
Li Changsheng circulated his Spiritual Power to stanch the bleeding, then mentally reviewed the key principles of using the "Insect Seal."
He formed a hand seal for the Technique. Inside his body, Spiritual Power traced a strange pattern through countless tiny meridians.
A look of delight appeared in Li Changsheng’s eyes as he changed the hand seal.
But just then, his left hand trembled. The hand seal faltered for half a beat, and the resonating pattern inside his body instantly fell into chaos as his Spiritual Power dispersed violently.
The magic failed.
COUGH...
Li Changsheng let out a muffled grunt and coughed up a trace of blood.
’Fuck! There’s actually a backlash when it fails!’
Wiping the corner of his mouth, Li Changsheng cursed inwardly and hurriedly sat down cross-legged, circulating his Spiritual Power to calm his turbulent meridians.
This was due to his own ignorance; he didn’t know that for Magic of the first-rank, middle-grade or higher, failure would cause one’s Spiritual Power to disperse and impact the meridians.
The more powerful the offensive Magic, the more severe the backlash from failure.
The Insect Seal he was cultivating wasn’t a purely offensive spell that absorbed the power of the five elements, so the backlash only caused some turmoil in his meridians, which would resolve after he calmed them.
「A Cup of Tea’s Time later.」
Li Changsheng opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that he was fine internally.
’When I get back, I absolutely have to go to the Scripture Tower and cram on the basics of cultivation! If I stay this ignorant, I might just get myself killed cultivating.’
Li Changsheng closed his eyes and reviewed the various principles of the Insect Seal until he knew them by heart. Then, he opened his eyes and formed the hand seal for the Technique.
With a flicker of intent, his Spiritual Power flowed like water into countless tiny meridians, forming the strange pattern.
"Go!"
The moment the pattern formed successfully, Li Changsheng changed his hand seal, and the pattern inside his body lit up as he gave a soft shout.
As his voice fell, a thumb-sized stream of pale gray light shot into the bamboo tube, merging with the blood inside.
Spiritual Power surged, and the blood inside the tube rapidly congealed into a gray, solid mass the size of an adult’s fist, emitting a strange odor.
Li Changsheng exclaimed happily, "It worked!" He then capped the bamboo tube with a pre-prepared bamboo sliver and began circulating the Spirit Guiding Technique to recover his Spiritual Power.
「A moment later.」
Li Changsheng stood up, took the bamboo tube, and walked toward the Blood Bamboo Vines, stopping ten meters from the cliff face.
"Go."
Li Changsheng threw it forcefully toward the Blood Bamboo Vines on the cliff.
WHOOSH...
The sound of the bamboo tube hitting the Blood Bamboo Vines caused more than ten Red-winged Blood Bamboo to fly out.
The tube fell to the ground, its cap flying off. The smell of the gray solid inside instantly spread through the air.