Chapter 34: Discovery

"Go up, what are you all doing coming down?" Xia Bing swiftly vanished back to the ground.

Seeing Ye Lian and Xiao Bai, the Zhao disciple formed a Three Talents defensive formation; she nodded silently.

The three who had just vanished underground with her were now attacked in the same way as Jiang Yu.

Except for senior brother Fan, who reacted the fastest and a talisman burst out of the earth, the other two were successfully ambushed.

In the dense bamboo thicket not far from them, Jiang Yu watched helplessly as the unconscious Senior Sister Min and Senior Brother Ren were stripped of the bamboo tags from the Library Tower by two masked Foundation Establishment cultivators.

She couldn't help but telepathically asked the masked senior uncle who had just ambushed her: "So easy, you're canceling the qualification?"

"Escaping and exposing our identity at the first moment is also easy."

"All it takes is a Sword Qi talisman." The masked senior uncle, annoyed that his first ambush also forced him to reveal his identity first.

Just now, that brat Jiang Yu used an Earth‑splitting talisman to blast his hiding place and also activated a Sword Qi talisman.

"Damn, it's downright god‑defying—just a single encounter and he pulls out a great killing weapon."

It should be known that any Sword Qi talisman can only be crafted by a cultivator who has reached the Core Formation realm, allowing them to condense their own sword qi and embed it onto talisman paper.

Even after being made, it holds only one‑tenth of the power of the cultivator's true sword strike, yet it can still instantly kill a Foundation Establishment practitioner, and it requires only a small amount of spiritual energy to activate.

It doesn't need to drain most of a low‑level user's power like ancient talisman treasures do.

Moreover, such treasures are often life‑saving talismans given by Core Formation or Nascent Soul elders to juniors; even with spirit stones, they're not guaranteed to be bought.

The Merit Hall of the Inner Affairs Hall in the Grand Void Sect has them, but you need a large amount of merit points to exchange for one.

When the masked senior uncle saw the talisman glow, he immediately recalled that Jiang Yu had obtained three Nascent Soul Sword Qi talismans; he hurriedly exposed his identity, showing his token, fearing that any delay might be cut down by the sword qi.

But Jiang Yu didn't consider it a great killing weapon; after blasting the ambusher, Jiang Tu said it was a Foundation Establishment level, so she didn't need the strongest weapon to deal with the opponent—just to survive and buy time to flee.

She isn't a sword cultivator, so she can't transcend the stage to challenge.

"So, does this stage count as finished?" With a dreamy feeling, she simply produced the Core Formation Sword Qi talisman that Jiang Bai gave her, and the uncle before her fell.

The masked senior uncle nodded, his spiritual sense turning to attack several disciples elsewhere with his teammates, paying little attention to her.

Because later he also discovered that the opponent had activated an early Core Formation sword talisman; its power was great, but he wasn't without a chance to escape… right?

Jiang Yu is very clever; she sensed the opponent's vague resentment toward her early on, asked what she wanted to know, then stepped back three zhang.

After tightening the secret and thickening the protective spiritual light around her body, she alone looked at the bamboo beside her.

She believes the test and the mission are two separate lines; passing one cannot pull down the other.

In any case, the distant ambush and counter‑kill are outside her spiritual sense range, so she might as well use the masked senior uncle's protective aura at her side to do something practical.

Jiang Yu no longer looked at the injured bamboo; instead she extended her spiritual sense along the intact bamboo roots beside her, following them outward.

The little turtle Jiang Tu now telepathically said to her: "I just confirmed, those masked Foundation Establishment cultivators are the same ones we met on the road.

Actually, the senior uncle Xia who led the team must have known and deliberately made you stay on guard, draining your spiritual sense.

He probably did it to lay the groundwork for an ambush."

"Regardless of them, just get through."

Thinking carefully, the Thousand Bamboo Forest is also a sect‑leased property; it's not easy for outside cultivators to set up an ambush here.

Moreover, if the sent Chain Qi disciples can find clues, the stationed Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn't have missed anything." This was Jiang Yu's deduction after the danger passed.

After about a tea‑time's worth of time, she repeatedly examined several bamboo stalks and finally spotted a clue.

Jiang Yu leaned on a bamboo and telepathically told the little turtle: "Jiang Tu, help check the lower left side about twenty‑plus zhang of this bamboo; there seems to be something burnt, looks like a beast's trace."

"Huh… looks like a flying beast's wing." Little Jiang Tu opened the spirit‑beast bag, and his spiritual sense instantly plunged into the earth.

"A wing—what kind of beast can fly and carve a hole this deep?" While pondering, Jiang Yu suddenly recalled the Insect Record in the Library Tower.

She and Jiang Tu simultaneously telepathically said: "Golden‑back mantis."

"Uncle, there's something in the bamboo root; I'll go down and retrieve it." Jiang Yu reported this to the masked senior uncle who was constantly monitoring the distant battle.

The latter merely gave a soft hum; she snapped a ground‑vanishing talisman, quickly reached the target, bound the spiritual light with her hand, carefully collected the barely remaining burnt wing into a wooden box for Jiang Tu to verify.

Then, while carefully checking the surroundings for any other traces, she suddenly sensed movement not far to the left.

Her spiritual sense pierced through the past, and she saw a burst of flame swooping toward that strand of her spiritual sense, trying to burn it off.

Jiang Yu immediately decided to retract her spiritual sense, seized the Sword Qi talisman, and tried to release her spiritual sense again to see clearly.

"Wait, it's a Sixth‑rank Azure‑eyed Golden‑eyed Fox.

If on the ground there's no obstruction, your spiritual sense would be burned." Little turtle Jiang Tu leapt out of the spirit‑beast bag, his fifth‑rank aura fully manifested, startling the fox away.

No wonder the bamboo was burnt; even a Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn't detect it.

Jiang Yu didn't show off; she swiftly vanished from underground, only to find senior brother Zhao had also had his bamboo tag taken, and he looked up at her with a silent, bitter smile.

She couldn't waste words, quickly reported to the masked senior uncle: "Uncle, down there there's a Sixth‑rank Azure‑eyed Golden‑eyed Fox.

Also the remnants of the Golden‑back mantis wing, its life or death unknown."

"Sixth‑rank?!" the masked senior uncle shouted loudly, "Hold, we've discovered a sixth‑rank demonic beast."

The voice reached the ongoing fight, causing Xia Bing and another masked cultivator to cease their attacks.

Meanwhile, junior sister Bai, watching the two Chain Qi cultivators she had been battling alongside her three, saw them retreat, their cultivation level shifting to Foundation Establishment, and asked, "You?"

"Leave quickly, and inform the other team leaders to gather people at the rest area outside the forest camp." Xia Bing chose that spot because the rest area has houses and a defensive formation.

The fox is cunning and intelligent; a sixth‑rank demonic fox is at the Core Formation level and could erupt to harm people at any moment.

Our side's Foundation Establishment cultivators are too scattered; without twenty‑to‑thirty people they can't form an effective resistance, and those scattered in the bamboo forest include many Chain Qi disciples and bamboo farmers—a single encounter could be fatal.

Withdraw first, then plan the rest.

Several masked individuals sent messages in all directions; before long, a few streams of vanishing light shot toward the sky.

At the same time, a wail came, surely the fox had injured someone.

"Quick." Xia Bing and four masked comrades hauled their disciples, drawing swords to rush forward.

Junior sister Bai was nervous, and although she hadn't seen the sixth‑rank beast, she asked, "Sister Jiang, the sixth‑rank can fly in the air; will it and its companion attack the rest area?"

She kept asking question after question, Jiang Yu didn't have time to finish answering, and the flying swords had already entered the rest area.

The massive defensive aura resembled an upside‑down iron pot, blocking everyone without a formation token outside.

However, someone inside quickly opened the formation gate, allowing each sword‑wielding Foundation Establishment practitioner to send their refined Qi into the array, then return to the bamboo forest to fetch the remaining people.

Xia Bing did not go, "Jiang Yu, any other findings?"

"None. My divine sense only detected a ball of fire.

It was Jiang Tu's warning that let me avoid the danger of having my divine sense twisted and killed by it," Jiang Yu handed over a thumb‑sized remnant wing.

Xia Bing took it and said, "May I borrow your Jiang Tu and go back into the bamboo forest with the Foundation Establishment senior brothers?"