Chapter 15: The Fifteenth Chapter: Recognition

When the two of them slipped silently into the underground, Lu Chenxia on the other side also managed to shake off the Iron Wing Eagle.

At dusk she discovered a patch of Hundred-year Huangjing, but when she sent a message to Lu Ruochan, she received no reply for a long time.

As for senior brother Lin here, after witnessing several bouts of sect brothers fighting over spirit herbs and getting into brawls, he also learned to slip away like those wandering cultivators.

He would rather happen to meet Jiang Yu, but the person is currently out of contact.

The out‑of‑contact Jiang Yu, at this moment, together with senior sister Lu, steadied her breath and focus, hoisted an apricot‑yellow banner, and arrived outside the double‑tailed scorpion cave.

It is a place with a narrow entrance but a spacious and warm interior; at the very bottom of the cave, the walls and floor are covered with purple flowers edged in gold, which open and close like tiny mountain monkeys blinking.

Amid the foliage, three white scorpion demons about a zhang tall breathe shallowly, sleeping with utmost concentration.

But if they are startled awake, a storm‑like onslaught would surely follow, and neither of them dares to project their spiritual sense outward.

"Unfortunately they are poisonous themselves, and the purple monkey fungus is delicate; some fragrance wilts at the slightest touch.

Otherwise, the bewildering incense I carry could be used," Lu Ruochan forced her heartbeat down, not counting how many flowers there were or how many merit points they could yield.

Jiang Yu nodded repeatedly and transmitted, "I intend to set up a formation at the cave entrance, using the fragrance of a superior gathering‑Qi pill to lure them into the array."

"Use a medium‑grade one," Lu Ruochan said instinctively, thinking it wasteful, "You actually have a superior pill that costs twenty spirit stones per piece?"

"An unexpected gain." Any disciple who, like Jiang Yu, received the personal transmission of the Cave Profound Thunder‑Fire Technique, is bound by a seal of silence, forbidden to disclose any special privileges to outsiders.

They first receive a standard copy, then go alone to the third floor of the Inner Affairs Hall to obtain a personal transmission copy.

She immediately produced the formation disc, "I need senior sister to keep watch for me."

"No problem. This shadow‑covering pole‑banner is a superior artifact that masks spiritual energy," Lu Ruochan boasted, recalling how she had drawn the superior flying boat and this banner during the clan's blind selection of artifacts.

The best feature of these two is that they can house spirit stones, substituting for spiritual‑energy propulsion.

She placed a spirit stone at the base of the pole, gradually expanded the banner, and leapt lightly toward the cave entrance; the passage was instantly sealed solidly by the flag.

After a faint yellow spiritual light flickered across the banner, looking from inside the cave outward revealed the original passage, with no sign of the two of them.

The double‑tailed scorpions among the flowers remained motionless, not awakened.

Jiang Yu received her perfectly normal transmission and, at an unprecedented speed, set up the formation disc and banner.

But before the seal‑breaking activation, she had Lu Ruochan swiftly enter the formation.

When the formation light ignited, a few buzzing spiritual‑energy ripples almost immediately startled a double‑tailed scorpion.

It opened its eyes and warned the one behind it; the two scorpion demons instantly lifted their tails, poised to launch poison darts at any moment.

But as no one advanced, they remained stationary.

Until Jiang Yu opened the formation gate and appeared, the two scorpions rushed toward her at full speed.

Lu Ruochan, puzzled, asked, "The third one hasn't awakened?"

The two scorpions had already reached the gate, and, drawn by the scent of the pill Jiang Yu crushed, they pursued her without hesitation.

The foremost one opened its mouth without hesitation and spat a transparent water arrow, aimed directly at Jiang Yu.

Knowing it was poison, she shrank back and threw a fireball to block it, while a half‑pill from her hand shot into the air.

The first scorpion instinctively lunged to swallow, but the second double‑tailed scorpion, using its momentum from behind, leapt onto its back and opened its mouth to gulp the pill.

"Now!" Jiang Yu shouted as the two jumped into the formation, waving the main banner to seal the gate, while ignoring the third for the moment.

With a booming sound, several fire dragons spewed from all directions toward the two scorpions; they found no way to retreat.

Fearing they could not finish off the two demons, Jiang Yu and Lu Ruochan, after the fire dragons turned into golden arrows, flung golden‑cone talismans at the demons.

Clang clang

The scorpions' shells were as hard as iron, and their tails knocked down arrow‑cones, causing a constant clatter within the formation.

But Jiang Yu was reluctant to use fire again; the scorpions could be taken with medicine, and she didn't want them to become corpses like the ice wolf.

At that moment, she hardened her resolve, altered her hand technique onto the main banner, and the flag instantly entered the formation.

Screech

A clear phoenix cry rang out, and a massive ice phoenix burst forth, swooping toward the two demons that had been struck by golden arrows.

Crack!

In the blink of an eye, both double‑tailed scorpions were encased in ice, their flowing mana seeming about to crack the thin ice.

In a flash of lightning, Jiang Yu and Lu Ruochan leapt, their sword light slashing at the scorpions' heads, fast and precise, killing them.

Before Lu Ruochan bent down to flip the demon's body, Jiang Yu shot two fire rockets that lodged into the demon.

"Jiang Yu, you are overly cautious," Lu Ruochan said, raising her sword and cutting off the useful parts of the scorpion demons.

"The third one is still motionless; what's going on?" During the pause, she and Jiang Yu's spiritual senses together turned toward the one in the flower cluster.

Then the two shouted in unison, "A doomed second‑stage centipede!"

"Big profit!" Jiang Yu quickly finished dealing with the scorpions, cast a dozen cleansing‑dust techniques on herself, and only then dared to run into the flower cluster.

Lu Ruochan followed closely, "First harvest the flowers, then deal with it."

"Got it!" Jiang Yu slapped her storage bag, pulling out a jade shovel and a dozen jade boxes, placing them beside her.

She only collected the purple monkey fungus over a hundred years old; after picking dozens in a row, she finally had the mind to speak, "Senior sister Lu, these flowers cannot be transplanted; those under a hundred years should be left to continue growing.

And leave some for future disciples as a memory."

"We are kind‑hearted, but the next person who comes in may not be willing to leave them.

Let's also harvest those over fifty years; at least we can sell them for a few hundred spirit stones," Lu Ruochan said, not wanting to miss out on many spirit stones.

Jiang Yu insisted strongly, "Senior sister, there are about one hundred twenty‑eight plants over a hundred years old, enough to cover many of our missions.

Look at the sword marks on this cave and the stone tables and chairs in the corners; it's clear someone specially cleared this place to cultivate these flowers.

We must respect the legacy of our predecessors; we shouldn't be overly greedy."

She paused, then switched to transmission, "The spiritual plants here grow in patches, indicating that those before us also didn't harvest them all.

I suspect that over‑harvesting will bring some sort of punishment upon us."

Lu Ruochan, supporting the hand of an eighty‑year‑old flower, instantly became still.

But just as she turned toward another hundred-year-old one, the jade shovel accidentally cut off the eighty-year-old half-flower.

Instantly, the centipede hidden in the flower bushes flew up, its numerous legs slapping toward her.

"Senior sister, quickly enter the formation." Unfortunately, after Jiang Yu finished shouting, Lu Ruochan was also kicked out of the cave by the centipede.

She quickly defended herself, but she could not truly attack and harm the Purple Monkey Flower.

Fortunately, the centipede fell back to its original spot, remained motionless, and still made no sound.

Jiang Yu could not see her senior sister's trace in her divine sense, she involuntarily swallowed, then swiftly sent a message talisman to Lu Ruochan, and immediately sped up to finish harvesting the remaining hundred-year spiritual flowers.

Then, with a few leaps, she flew toward the cave entrance to break the formation.

Before leaving, she took a deep look at the demon… or rather, the mechanical puppet, in the flower thicket.

At the moment she escaped from underground, Jiang Yu received a reply from Lu Ruochan: "I am in the rear valley, surrounded by ice wolves."

She hurriedly released a paper crane, only to find that the airspace was forbidden; but when she reached the valley, what she saw was three people being besieged by the wolf pack.

And the other two, she recognized.