Chapter 19: Chapter Nineteen: Help

"By the way, what relation is Senior Sister Tan to the Ye family?" Jiang Yu and the others stopped at the back of Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge.

The area is full of Qi, with spiritual herbs everywhere; she wouldn't act on a whim and completely abandon it.

"Her mother was a Ye family woman who married a member of the Tan clan from Golden Maple Valley, so she apprenticed under Tan Zhenren."

"This time, to enter the secret realm, she forced her cultivation to stay out of the later Refining Qi stages." Lu Chenxia, as Zhuang Zhenren's direct disciple, must master the interpersonal relations of each peak and valley.

Lin Yuan, though not formally apprenticed, is now known by everyone to be Zhenren Lin's clan nephew.

"Jiang Yu, I will definitely have someone keep an eye on Ye Cheng and the others; if they dare to strike, they'll be cut down."

"Senior Brother Lin, it's unnecessary; who can afford to offend a few people."

"Actually, you should accompany me to leave; missing the Mysterious Ginseng wouldn't be nice."

Looking at the back of Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge, though there are no medicinal spiritual plants, the Qi is still abundant; why not carve a cave dwelling here and rest for a night.

"At a suitable time tomorrow, we can search for the Mysterious Ginseng again, how about that?" Jiang Yu looked around, reluctant to leave this place's abundant Qi, similar to Chaos Valley.

There was no choice; when she first moved into Good Water Valley, the Qi felt truly abundant, but after training for a while and adapting, the Qi seemed far weaker than in the Transmission Hall, and it couldn't compare to the Chaos Valley, which specializes in sealed cultivation.

"Fine." The three exchanged glances, all reluctant to leave, and immediately chose a spot.

The four drew their four spirit swords together, carving a spacious cave dwelling; it was already dusk as the sun set in the west.

The young low‑level cultivators, always eager for rapid progress, set up the formation, ate a few spiritual rice cakes, then each retreated to their own small cave to cultivate.

After a night of silence, at dawn Jiang Yu woke up wanting to finish today's cultivation ahead of schedule.

But first she needed to send her divine consciousness outside the cave to observe, and unexpectedly saw Senior Sister Tang and others departing by boat.

She quickly woke Lu Ruochan, who was still sleeping next door; the two did not go to disturb the other two already training in the morning, and entered Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge swiftly through a formation gate.

Seeing that many hundred‑year‑old spiritual plants remained unharvested, they were instantly filled with enthusiasm and collected side by side.

After a short while, as Jiang Yu stretched, something suddenly arched under her right foot.

She quickly sent a mental message to Lu Ruochan; just as the latter prepared a jade spade, Jiang Yu abruptly lifted her right foot.

But Lu Ruochan's digging motion suddenly turned into a pat.

Jiang Yu also flicked out golden threads to wrap it, preventing the third‑tier long‑eared rabbit that emerged from the soil from escaping.

And she sighed, "Alas, I thought it was Mysterious Ginseng."

Lu Ruochan pulled out the fainted long‑eared rabbit: "Quite cute, braised or stir‑fried? Which method tastes better?"

Jiang Yu then had a sudden idea: "Senior Sister Lu, could you make a temporary contract with it to help us find Mysterious Ginseng?"

"The third‑tier demonic beast's spiritual intelligence should allow communication, right?"

"Good idea." Lu Ruochan said, "Let's do it," and in an instant forged a master‑servant contract with the long‑eared rabbit, also placing a low‑grade Qi‑gathering Pill under its nose.

The rabbit, unable to bear this, woke up in a frenzy, swallowed the pill, and tried to wrench free from her hand to jump away.

Unfortunately, with a single thought from Lu Ruochan, the rabbit's ears drooped instantly, resigning to obey the "master's" mental message.

Jiang Yu curiously examined, not really knowing what it feels like to contract with an actual third‑tier demonic beast.

But different species of demons have varying spiritual intelligence; "Does it understand sister's meaning?"

"It understands, its spiritual intelligence is quite high, and it even begs me not to kill it."

"She says the demonic birds of Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge, after snatching the phoenix tree spirit dew, will return when the sun is at its hottest."

Many hole‑digging demons each year take advantage of this period to sneak some spiritual plants here and leave before dawn.

This time it ate too much and ran late.

"It seems we only have two hours," Lu Ruochan said, looking at the newly risen sun.

"We can only interrupt senior brother and sister's cultivation." Jiang Yu, not wanting to miss the chance, did not use a wake‑up message talisman but went to wake them herself.

With the long‑eared rabbit leading the way, the four siblings actually harvested several hundred‑year‑old Mysterious Ginseng.

They even found a patch of violet crystal embroidered dragon ginseng, an excellent detox remedy.

The four were not greedy, only gathering a few that were over one or two hundred years old, leaving some for the demonic birds.

And within half an hour before noon, they left Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge.

Lu Ruochan kept her promise and set the long‑eared rabbit free.

However, while probing the next area, she saw many cultivators on the ground engaged in a chaotic battle.

Jiang Yu originally ignored the side matter, but Lin Yuan stopped his flying boat to look closely: "It's Senior Brother Tao and others fighting scattered cultivators; surely the scattered cultivators broke some rule."

Lu Chenxia scanned the mountains below: "Most likely the scattered cultivators broke the sect's seal to steal spiritual stone ore."

The Grand Void Sect has only this one Refining Qi secret realm; although the jurisdiction itself is not lacking in spiritual stone ore, it forbids any intruder from privately mining spiritual stones.

Ten thousand years ago, they repeatedly dispatched all direct disciples to set up a seal on the spiritual vein.

"We'll go down to help; be careful not to take any lives," Lin Yuan said, not worried about everyone's combat strength, as the highest cultivation among the entrants was only Refining Qi sixth layer.

Jiang Yu also didn't shy away from battle; she rushed into the combat circle and tossed a lowest‑tier basic water sphere talisman, easing the pressure for a senior sister from Good Water Valley.

The opponent smiled kindly, "Thanks, Sister Jiang."

"Senior sister, are they stealing spiritual ore?" she asked, while she and Lu Ruochan, back to back, fought the scattered cultivators.

Before that senior sister could speak, she discovered the opponent was using demonic Qi, "Demonic cultivator?"

"Yes, we can't let them go." The senior sister flipped the enemy before her, placed an immobilization talisman on them, then had time to answer.

At that moment, Senior Sister Tang Yihe also shouted loudly, "Against demonic cultivators, no mercy, life or death doesn't matter."

"Tang Daoist, you misunderstand, we are not demonic cultivators," the few scattered cultivators fighting shouted in protest.

Tan Yihe snorted coldly, "You broke the seal together with demonic cultivators, so you are treated as co‑conspirators."

Thus, Jiang Yu didn't hold back, using three mid‑grade fireball talismans at once.

The opposing demonic cultivator's defensive steel ring was instantly shattered, yet she didn't rush forward; instead she released the fireball talismans in succession, breaking its protective aura, watching to see if it had any further means to counterattack.

The demonic cultivator had been besieged for a long time, so it had no more tactics; watching the opposing young cultivators fling talismans one after another, it jeered, "Cultivators are so wealthy."

Yet with no powerful weapon in hand, its protective shield cracked, and it clutched its great sword, desperately trying to break through the encirclement.

How could Jiang Yu let him get his wish, suddenly slipping a mid‑grade fireball talisman into the rocket talisman, and as the spirit sword parried the opponent's great sword, she swiftly flung the talisman out.

The demonic cultivator was blasted, his face covered with blooming peach‑flower petals, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

Jiang Yu, being very cautious, released a shield projectile onto him with a binding talisman, then turned to face the cultivator dueling Lu Ruochan.

The two struck from both sides, quickly subduing the person, while more disciples of the sect rushed in to aid.

In a short time, all these dozen‑plus wandering cultivators were captured; Senior Brother Tao asked the disciples to help activate the wanderers' talismans, and he himself, together with the captives, teleported out of the secret realm.

Tang Yihe and a few others asked those who were familiar with the matter and knew formations to come and inspect and repair the seal, saying the sect would offer compensation rewards.

Jiang Yu's formation was only at the introductory level, so she didn't join the commotion; she sent a voice to Lin Yuan: "The Dao‑Demon war has been raging for years, how can there still be demonic cultivators daring to operate in the Grand Void Sect market?"

They can even obtain a talisman to enter the secret realm.