Chapter 36: and ===GLOSSARY=== sections

It's Senior Sister Fengming's voice! The female cultivator Qiu Gu, leaning against the wall one meter away from Wei Yuning, said to him.

Under Wei Yuning's persistent entreaties, the female cultivator Qiu Gu briefly granted him a small favor last night—revealing her true face for a moment.

Just that little favor kept Wei Yuning awake half the night, and he's still bleary-eyed now.

"What do you mean, missing?" Wei Yuning asked, dazed.

"Missing means missing—what else could it mean? Hurry and have a look!" Qiu Gu dashed out of the room like a gust of wind.

By the time Wei Yuning rushed to the scene, most cultivators had already gathered. Steward Hongzhi and Immortal Maiden Yunyan stood sternly in the crowd, inquiring about Fengming's specific situation.

Wei Yuning squeezed into the crowd; the cultivator he bumped was from the Second Team. Seeing it was him, that person hurriedly shifted aside, and after a moment Wei Yuning had worked his way to the innermost ring.

"... I waited left and right, still didn't see Junior Sister Haiyan return, so I came here to check a convenient spot, but there wasn't a single person. I originally thought she had gone elsewhere and didn't want to alarm everyone. Later, when I came here a second time and found her hairpin in the grass, I realized she might really have met with misfortune!" Fengming's voice was clear; though choked with emotion, her words rang clearly in the ears of those present.

"Did you see any... signs of struggle?" Steward Hongzhi asked.

"No... I didn't notice; I was panicked and only thinking of calling for help!" Fengming lowered her head.

"Even if there were traces, it's probably too late!" Immortal Maiden Yunyan glanced at the densely packed disciples around and said regretfully.

"If that's the case, then don't waste time—disciples, hear my order!" Steward Hongzhi shouted, "All disciples, form teams of at least ten, search the surroundings, and send out a sect alarm at once if anything abnormal is found!"

"Yes!" the disciples replied in unison.

The disciples paired up with familiar cultivators and headed outward.

Wei Yuning didn't see Qiu Gu, but spotted the menial disciples Man Niu and Chang Fei, and hurriedly waved to greet them.

"Hmph, what's the big deal about being a Foundation Establishment disciple? Even if you advanced a few days early, you're still trash—how dare you look down on us menial disciples! Captain, may I join your search team?" Chang Fei strutted forward with a sneering aura, striding toward Wei Yuning.

Wei Yuning replied helplessly, "Of course, I was just about to call you over." At the same time he thought, "I daren't leave you over." At the same time he thought, "I daren't leave you out, or I wouldn't know how you'd scheme against me!"

When the Third Team's cultivators saw Wei Yuning, they flocked over to team up with him, but he politely declined each. In the end, Wei Yuning formed a twelve-person squad with the menial disciples Man Niu and others.

"Wait, let me have another look at the scene!" Including Steward Hongzhi and Immortal Maiden Yunyan, they left to search for the female cultivator Haiyan, leaving only Wei Yuning's squad behind.

While Steward Hongzhi was present just now, Wei Yuning detected an extremely faint but strange odor—pungent, irritating, sulfurous, exactly like the scent on Senior Brother Qingyun.

Seeing Wei Yuning pacing back and forth at the scene, Chang Fei and the other menial disciples were baffled, while Man Niu wore a thoughtful expression.

The ground was nothing but grass—tall enough to reach half a person's depth, short enough to just pass over the feet—and about three zhang away stood a small tree with three branches, sparse leaves, clearly visible and utterly unremarkable.

Wei Yuning's brows furrowed deeper and deeper as he walked, until he stood beneath the small tree. Of course there was nothing abnormal on the tree, but the smell grew stronger.

Although he had never learned any movement technique, relying on his powerful Foundation Establishment physique, he scrambled up the slender, over-four-zhang-tall tree like a monkey.

At a height of over three zhang, the bare trunk split into three branches, and Wei Yuning halted. He need go no further, for this was the source of the odor.

His face changed; it seemed this was premeditated, so the life of Female Cultivator Haiyan was likely in grave danger!

Wei Yuning jumped down from the tree and told Man Niu and the others, "Come with me—by the way, who has a sect alarm talisman?"

Chang Fei raised his hand and said, "I do!"

"I, a Foundation Establishment disciple, don't have one—how do you?" Wei Yuning protested.

"My... elder brother just reached Foundation Establishment, so naturally he doesn't have one; it'll be issued when the sect pays stipends next month. Still, this thing is rarely needed unless you often go out on missions—you know, my family is well stocked, so I took a few just in case." Chang Fei boasted of his family background.

Wei Yuning picked up the alarm talisman and examined it closely. It looked like a stick the length of a chopstick, several times thicker, with a rough surface.

"How do you use it?" he asked.

"Peel off the bottom cap, channel spiritual energy into it, hold it upright, and it will fly into midair, emitting light and sound!" Chang Fei explained.

"Oh, so it's a skyrocket—I get it now!"

"Senior Brother, what's a skyrocket?" Chang Fei asked, puzzled.

Wei Yuning hesitated, then said, "It's a gunpowder product from the mundane world—it can explode, or be made into something like this alarm talisman!"

"Explosions! Oh, I see—the Refining Hall also has similar things, like Thunderbolts made by formation cultivators, immensely powerful, usable when mining ore!" Chang Fei exclaimed, suddenly enlightened.

Wei Yuning shook his head, his inner sense of superiority dropping considerably.

The cultivators of this world are all extremely clever; pursuing longevity on the Great Dao is their true aim, and external tricks are petty arts they disdain. Yet when a concrete need arises, they can easily produce things akin to Earth's technology, so the paltry bits of Earthly knowledge stored in Wei Yuning's mind are really nothing to boast about.

Of course, Earth's ultimate achievement weapons—atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, and the like—would certainly be top-tier combat power here. But what's the point? Manufacturing such ultimate weapons requires a powerful industrial system, which cannot be realized in this world.

Moreover, even if one could build atomic and hydrogen bombs, what then—lug a nuclear bomb around to threaten people every day? With that time, one would be better off cultivating properly; the higher the realm, the longer the life, and that is the ultimate treasure for defeating enemies.

After returning the alarm talisman to Chang Fei, Wei Yuning took the lead, with the menial disciples following behind.

The pungent sulfurous smell came and went; Wei Yuning paused and resumed, slowly leading the group away from the Beast Garden. After about an hour, they reached the foothills of Guest Arrival Peak, where the mountain range's bedrock lay ahead.

Although it was late morning, thick clouds blanketed the sky, making it feel like dusk had already arrived. The climate beneath the clouds of Nine Clouds Peak is always like this; compared to the bright, refreshing abode of the Cloud Hidden Sect, Nine Clouds Peak under the mist is another world.

"Wei Yuning... Senior Brother, we're too far from the Beast Garden—should we head back first?" one of the menial disciples said timidly.