Chapter 196

Jiang Yu couldn't help but start circulating the new thunder-fire technique; this time she smoothly completed a minor circulation.

Jiang Bai watched the lively spiritual qi gather near the cliff, heaved a deep sigh, and sent a mental message: "Jiang Yu, don't overdo it; if you can come out, do so as soon as possible."

Knowing that haste makes waste, Jiang Yu understood, so she didn't do a second minor circulation; upon opening her eyes she put away the thunder mother stone brimming with lightning.

Holding the bamboo fan, she leapt forcefully and, as expected, jumped out of the thunder pool.

Jiang Bai immediately turned around; he certainly didn't want to see Jiang Yu in rags and end up bald, to be remembered by others.

But he overthought it; Jiang Yu had no such thought, and right away she ran to the purple gold bamboo and used the earth-splitting technique again.

This time the lightning she produced was within her tolerance, so she successfully dug up one stalk.

"Jiang Yu, dig some more." Jiang Tu cheered her on.

Jiang Bai turned his head and said, "This is the formation's eye; you can't dig randomly. For the second stalk, count three to the left and dig there."

Jiang Yu followed instructions; when she had dug up five stalks and tried to dig another, she was blasted away by lightning and flew outside the cliff.

When Jiang Tu and Jiang Bai flew over to catch her, she had already taken control of the bamboo fan and risen on it.

But when Jiang Tu pointed below the cliff and said someone was there, Jiang Bai pulled with his spiritual power, taking both of them away.

From below the cliff came a snicker: "You really know how to pick a spot."

"Wen Lan!" Jiang Yu recognized the voice, and her whole body went on alert.

"Run." Jiang Bai turned to meet Wen Lan, and their two swords crossed midway.

Clang!

"Jiang Tu, come up, conceal yourself and send me down." The cliff bottom was too deep; Jiang Yu could only see the sword light, not the two fighters.

"Alright." In terms of combat skill, Jiang Tu truly couldn't beat the fake Wen Lan, but using the Pearl for a sneak attack was something it was practiced at.

So the two hid on a small stone platform, turned, and flashed into the Pearl, flying down the cliff.

Soon after, they saw Jiang Bai, half his body bloody, struck by Wen Lan's sword against the cliff face, falling repeatedly and getting caught on a tree growing halfway up the cliff.

Without hesitation, Jiang Yu leapt onto Jiang Tu's shell and shot out, the Nascent Soul sword talisman swishing forth.

Jiang Tu's spirit fire had already pursued closely.

"Still using that move." But Wen Lan had already been wounded once and was on guard against her appearance.

Upon sensing the slightest spiritual fluctuation, Wen Lan swiftly fled; the sword talisman came up empty, only damaging some weeds and grasses on either side of the cliff.

The spirit fire also lost its target and flew back, feeling wronged.

Moreover, it exposed Jiang Yu's position; the swiftly returning Wen Lan slashed with a sword.

But her slash was sure to miss, because Jiang Tu brought Jiang Yu into the Pearl, then flew to fetch Jiang Bai hanging from the tree and pulled him into the Pearl as well.

The latter slowly opened his eyes and said, "Wasn't I supposed to let you run?"

Jiang Tu countered, "Why didn't you run?"

"Heh, split up, you two can't outrun a late-stage Golden Core; together, you'll still be caught." Having seen Wen Lan's strength in the Tai Ji Dian square, Jiang Bai knew that without anyone to block her, they would definitely be pursued.

But that was before he knew these two had a flying space; "You've been exposed!"

"No problem, just keep living here from now on." Jiang Tu drew his attention, while Jiang Yu's incense of bewilderment on the side took effect.

Jiang Bai felt both angry and amused, but wounded as he was, he couldn't resist the daze and fainted.

Jiang Tu dared let him in because it was confident of sealing the mouth; it had learned a secret method from the message left by the dragon king's remains.

At that moment, following the gourd's example, it drew a talisman with dragon's blood on Jiang Bai's and its own chest; a flash of spiritual light, and the talisman entered the heart.

"Isn't that just a shared-life-and-death talisman?" Jiang Yu recognized it.

Jiang Tu paused, then said, "Anyway, if he dares betray me, when I die he won't live either."

Jiang Yu neither agreed nor disagreed, saying, "We'll see later; what Jiang Bai said is that we were exposed in front of Wen Lan."

Saying that, she fed Jiang Bai a Grand Return Pill.

"Just kill Wen Lan. As for the talisman, it should work." Jiang Tu looked toward the outside of the Pearl, where Wen Lan was furrowing her brows and scanning the surroundings.

It said: "Or should I go out and give her a big fire?"

"Never mind, let's lie low and see if Xuantang Xingjun can come in to face her." Jiang Yu couldn't let another companion get hurt.

Jiang Tu hid the Pearl among the cliffs, saying, "Can't count on him; might as well rely on Qian Zhenren."

Before its words faded, Qian Zhenren flew in on his magical device, saying, "So you were hiding here."

"Qian Shiqi..." Wen Lan began to speak, but before she could finish, a flying hurled eight-trigram plate struck her, forcing her far back.

The two of them once again exchanged blows in melee.

Meanwhile, under Jiang Yu's direction, Jiang Tu quietly took the Pearl to the spiritual spring and placed Jiang Bai inside to soak.

"I want to soak too." Watching Jiang Bai's body gradually recover and seeing Jiang Tu happily swimming in the water, she scooped out half a tub of spiritual water.

Then she mixed in half the river water from inside the Pearl, trying to take a bath.

Unfortunately, after just sitting in for a dozen breaths, her whole body felt like needle pricks, no less severe than lightning tempering.

Jiang Yu decisively gave up, merely changed the water quickly, washed up, and then stood guard by the spring to protect them.

When Jiang Bai awoke again, it was already evening; his injuries were fully healed, and he felt a breakthrough coming, saying, "I want to advance to the middle stage."

"Ah!" Jiang Yu, unable to contain her envy, immediately handed him a top-grade spirit stone, saying, "Today, thank you for your several assists."

"I'll repay you later." Jiang Bai unceremoniously took it for use in setting up a spirit-gathering formation.

At the same time, he didn't forget to sweep his divine sense across dozens of li, discovering that Qian and Wen were still fighting, and that besides Xuantang, another team had joined in breaking the formation.

"His advancement will take at least a day or two; I'll go find a place to set up the formation and enter seclusion. You two had best hide in the previous location."

"That's my natal space; if you leak it, we'll both die." With a thought from Jiang Tu, a crimson spiritual light appeared on both of their chests.

After Jiang Bai recognized what it was, he rolled his eyes and said, "I've been training outside all year, I could fall at any time. You live ten thousand years—can I get some of your glow?"

"Oh, I forgot." Though the great demon's lifespan exceeds that of humans, Jiang Tu smiled and said, "This is a one-way secret talisman: if I die, you die; if you die, I won't die."

Jiang Bai couldn't help but give it a thumbs-up, saying, "Thank you."

Jiang Yu interrupted them: "I thought Tai Ji Palace was a decent place for closed-door cultivation."

It's perfect; I also need to do a minor closed-door cultivation to sort out my gains from the Thunder Pool."

Jiang Bai hesitated a little: "Easy to get in, hard to get out."

"With it, combined they can send us straight into the Tai Ji Dian." Jiang Yu took out half a fish token and attached spiritual power to the mark on her arm.

Jiang Bai also took out his own matching half, likewise activating the mark, and the fish token indeed emitted spiritual light again.

The three instantly returned to Tai Ji Dian and, in the blink of an eye, retreated underground for closed-door cultivation.

Meanwhile, Jiang Tu stared at the unfolding scenes, seeing someone break through the formation and enter the mountain at midnight.

But layer upon layer of restrictions—not everyone who enters can reach Tai Ji Dian.

Its longed-for Azure Net little snake also arrived at dawn the next day, together with Lin True Person's party.

Moreover, the Azure Net doesn't need to break the formation; it merely pours magical power into the stone stele at the mountain's base, and the formation gate opens on its own.