Chapter 27: It Even Shook Its Tail!
Song Jiulai had only been in this world for a short time, and only had A Wu as a comparison.
A Wu was focused on growing spirit herbs, and Song Jiulai was completely relying on her instincts for this Qi Condensation stage.
Lin Qian’s words made Song Jiulai sense a different meaning: “Ah, I usually just practice the Fireball Technique when I have nothing else to do. It’s the only magic I’ve really mastered.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Qian simply assumed she was ignorant from staying in the Sect for so long. Moreover, she wasn’t skilled in combat magic herself, so she didn’t think much of it, only saying, “No wonder. Are you planning to go training at the border of Cave Demon Valley?”
Song Jiulai said, “I can’t go that far. I’ll just go to First Mountain.”
First Mountain was merely the name for the edge of Cave Demon Valley, separated by continuous mountain ranges. Tier 1 and Tier 2 Demonic Beasts roamed in packs, making it the best place for disciples in the Qi Refining Stage to gain experience.
Lin Qian’s eyes lit up: “Perfect, Junior Sister. I need to go collect herbs there. Would you like to accompany me?”
Song Jiulai was worried about not understanding the local environment, so having someone to accompany her was ideal. She agreed.
However, she was a little curious: “Senior Sister Lin Qian, do all disciples of your Peach Blossom Sect go out for training?”
Lin Qian shook her head: “Not necessarily. It’s just that recently, for some reason, the Sect’s Pill orders have surged, with many requesting Tier 2 Qi Replenishing Pills. I heard that Tier 2 Spirit Benefiting Grass has appeared in large quantities at First Mountain, and what I’ve grown myself can’t keep up with the consumption for Alchemy. I want to try my luck there.”
In places where Demonic Beasts gather, wild Spirit Herbs are often better than cultivated ones, mainly because the chance of finding high-grade ones is higher.
However, precisely because there are so many Demonic Beasts, the rewards come with risks.
As for why no one harvests these Spirit Herbs, it’s because they don’t have much use for high-level Cultivators, so they are left for low-level Cultivators.
Otherwise, if everywhere were a safe zone, Cultivators would have no room for training, and that would truly be disastrous.
This seemed to have become an unwritten rule.
Lin Qian cautiously looked at Song Jiulai: “Junior Sister Song, if you want to train by fighting Demonic Beasts, I’ll collect Spirit Herbs beside you, and I’ll give you half of what I collect. Is that acceptable?”
Although Song Jiulai called her Senior Sister, Lin Qian didn’t believe her combat strength was superior to Song Jiulai’s.
They were both in the Early Qi Stage, and while she was close to advancing to the Middle Stage, the gap wasn’t significant at this point. As a Medicine Sect disciple, she wasn’t skilled in combat. The few large Fireballs Song Jiulai conjured earlier were enough to show she was clearly adept at fighting.
Lin Qian couldn’t say the same; she could only conjure a fist-sized Fireball, which was like a tickle to that Toad Snake earlier.
Song Jiulai’s eyes lit up: “Yes!”
Collecting Spirit Herbs also requires skill. Some wild Spirit Herbs are delicate and valuable; if you try to pluck them forcefully without the proper method, they will simply die on you.
Medicine Sect disciples are most skilled in these matters and have specialized methods for collecting Spirit Herbs while keeping them intact.
She would get to train and receive half the herbs, so Song Jiulai naturally wouldn’t object.
She didn’t think Lin Qian would play any tricks, especially since they were both only in the Qi Refining Stage, making such schemes unnecessary.
Senior Sister Su from the Peach Blossom Sect next door had mentioned that Medicine Sect disciples were quite concerned about their reputation.
Seeing that Song Jiulai was easy to talk to, Lin Qian was also quite pleased.
“Junior Sister, have you only recently joined the Longevity Sect?”
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have called her Senior Sister upon seeing her.
“Yes, yes,” Song Jiulai replied. “I accidentally discovered I had Spiritual Roots, and that’s how I was fortunately accepted into the Sect. Otherwise, I would have been fumbling around on my own for a long time.”
Although children born on the Yunzhou Continent are tested for Spiritual Roots shortly after birth, there are exceptions.
For example, children who are abandoned by their parents at birth.
This was an excuse Song Jiulai had prepared for herself early on.
Besides, there are many Rogue Cultivators on this continent, and there are countless reasons why they don’t join a Sect.
“I see,” Lin Qian nodded. “It is indeed quite difficult to cultivate on your own without guidance from a Sect. I joined the Peach Blossom Sect very early on, but I don’t have much talent, and my Alchemy is the slowest.”
“However, I’ve felt some inspiration recently, which is why I thought of coming out to collect Tier 2 Spirit Benefiting Grass. But I didn’t expect to encounter a Toad Snake halfway.”
Lin Qian was a typical Sect disciple who hadn’t gone out for training, her Realm advanced slowly, and she became nervous when encountering Demonic Beasts.
“Congratulations, Senior Sister.” Feeling inspiration means one is not far from a breakthrough, just like Su Huanli.
Of course, when Medicine Sect disciples like her go out, combat strength is one thing, but they would definitely have prepared plenty of life-saving Pills.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t dare to come out alone.
Song Jiulai, being sensible, didn’t ask further.
Next, as she and Lin Qian headed towards First Mountain, they both sensed something was amiss.
Besides the Toad Snake they encountered initially, they also ran into Flame Birds and Green Poison Centipedes, which shouldn’t have appeared before First Mountain.
These harmful Demonic Beasts had one thing in common: their appearance was quite unappealing.
The Flame Bird was as large as an eagle, with a sharp beak and talons. Its mouth opened to reveal rows of fine teeth, and upon closer inspection, one might even see suspicious rotten flesh clinging to them. They also liked to eat corpses.
The Green Poison Centipede was just a green centipede. Its combat strength wasn’t high, but it was about human-sized, and just looking at it was enough to lower one’s sanity.
They were highly poisonous, harming both Spirit Herbs and humans, and like the Toad Snake, they were universally disliked.
Both were Tier 1 Demonic Beasts, but the Flame Bird was the most troublesome, spitting fire, able to fly, and resistant to fire.
Song Jiulai’s Fireball wasn’t very effective. She formed a hand seal and used the Water Control Technique to instantly conjure a Water Ball, though it wasn’t as large as a Fireball.
She aimed at the Flame Bird’s attack direction and doused it head-on.
The Flame Bird was quite decisive; failing its attack, it immediately flew away.
Song Jiulai couldn’t do anything about it.
The Green Poison Centipede was killed by the same method.
Because of what Lin Qian had said earlier, Song Jiulai remained cautious. She didn’t throw Fireballs as fiercely as she did at first. Instead, she used the terrain to restrict the Green Poison Centipede, predicted its direction, and made the ground sink to trap it.
Fortunately, the Green Poison Centipede wasn’t very strong either; its speed was slower than the Toad Snake’s. After Song Jiulai held it off for a while, a large Fireball finished it off.
Fighting like this gave her a general understanding of the strength of Tier 1 Demonic Beasts.
As expected, they were meant for beginners to practice on.
Strangely, even though it was her first time fighting, Song Jiulai felt her perception of danger was quite accurate.
She could accurately predict the attack directions of the Flame Bird, the Green Poison Centipede, and the Toad Snake encountered earlier.
This seemed to be related to the Soul Cultivation Method provided by the System.
This method was different from the Cultivation Methods on the Yunzhou Continent. At the moment it was rewarded, the System simply said: “Don’t ask, just practice.”
Things from the System were definitely better than those from the Yunzhou Continent.
It was enough that it could provide something as heaven-defying as opening Spiritual Roots.
Lin Qian wiped the sweat from her forehead after seeing Song Jiulai deal with the Green Poison Centipede: “We’re half a day away from the First Mountain area, but these Demonic Beasts shouldn’t be appearing yet. Could the Demonic Beast Compendium be wrong?”
Song Jiulai was looking at the same thing: “Perhaps… after all, who knows how many years ago the Compendium was recorded. But maybe two or three just wandered over.”
Lin Qian thought for a moment, “That’s true.”
After all, the ones they encountered were all alone.
As soon as she finished speaking, Song Jiulai suddenly heard a strange, piercing bird cry.
Looking up, in the sky, two Flame Birds were flapping their wings and charging towards them.
Clearly, the one from before had gone back to call for backup.
Song Jiulai: “…”
Damn it!
