Chapter 46: An Unusual Fate

Almost as soon as the female disciple finished asking, a flash of light shot toward them from afar.

Among the senior elders, Uncle Tang of the Grand Void Hall and another Foundation‑Establishment uncle pressed the button to land the flash of light; he glanced at the few bowing figures and asked Jiang Yu directly: "On whose body was it found?"

"Him." Jiang Yu tossed the badly wounded Ye Lin out.

At the same time she removed her small storage pouch and said, "Uncle Tang, my cultivation robe is inside; the Demon‑Attracting Powder is applied to the lower back corner of the robe, better open it in a safe area to inspect."

Otherwise I'm afraid it will attract a fourth‑tier pursuit nearby.

Fortunately, Jiang Tu noticed something odd about her robe, allowing them to avert a beastly ambush in time.

One should know that within dozens of miles there are many fourth‑tier beasts; even late‑stage cultivation masters can, with talismans and artifacts, deal with fourth‑tier beasts lacking awakened spiritual intelligence, but only in one‑on‑one situations.

Facing a pack of fourth‑tier beasts, seeing how she previously fled from a bird into a space, and seeing five fellow disciples from Golden Maple Valley and two members of the Ye family, the outcome was clear.

In truth, without Jiang Tu alongside her and without the sect elders covertly patrolling, Jiang Yu would likely have only skirted the fourth‑tier perimeter, not ventured too deep.

"Demon‑Attracting Powder?" another female disciple from Golden Maple Valley, after gently stroking the deep wound on her face, suddenly lunged at Ye Lin.

Snatching his collar from Jiang Yu's hand, she demanded, "So you didn't accidentally fall into a bear's den?"

Did you, while we were passing through Withered Leaf Gulch, use Demon‑Attracting Powder to disturb a Ground‑Shaking Bear in the middle of its ascension?"

"No, no, Senior Sister Tan, it was Confusion Powder at the time." But then, when Ye Lin voluntarily left the group to locate the bear's lair, he discovered a beast that had just entered the sixth tier and whose cultivation was still unstable; in his excitement he scattered the powder by mistake.

As a result, the entire team that had just harvested the earth‑bay mushroom mother was pursued and hunted.

But the female disciple wouldn't listen to his explanation; she used several life‑saving artifacts herself, her face still bearing severe wounds, and on top of that she was poisoned at the back, uncertain whether she would recover.

She formed a fist with one hand, her hand imbued with the Wooden Spike Technique, and pummeled Ye Lin's face and neck with a series of "bang—bang—bang" strikes, blood splattering instantly.

The latter, still not fully detoxified, took two consecutive beatings and couldn't even cry out in pain.

Jiang Yu, standing nearby, involuntarily stepped back two paces, watching Uncle Tang open Ye Lin's storage pouch while another uncle cleared the bloodstains from the ground to prevent attracting beasts.

"Ye's fate is sealed!" Apart from his own little buddy who still doesn't know beauty, the bored little turtle Jiang Tu, who was idly scanning the dwelling, knew very well how much the other female cultivators cared about their faces.

Anyway, when it saw Ye Qi's face being smashed to pieces by the female disciple in front of it, and since that person also had a Golden Core Ancestor, there was no need to hold back like Jiang Yu.

"Cousin, Brother Fifteen didn't do it on purpose…" Ye Shi Ba rose to help his brother.

But the Golden Maple Valley disciple also wanted to protect his own, and shoved him far away in one go.

Especially when they saw Uncle Tang take a black pill bottle marked with the characters for "Demon‑Attracting" from Ye Lin's storage pouch and sniff it lightly, they were outraged to the extreme.

What made them even more speechless with anger was Uncle Tang's words: "This powder was scattered in large quantities around Er Mountain today, causing many disciples participating in the Grand Martial Examination to get injured."

"Ye Lin, as well as you members of the same team, are all suspects; come with me to the Enforcement Hall for a round of questioning!"

Uncle Tang would not allow them to argue, releasing flying swords that seized all of them and carried them away.

When Jiang Yu bid farewell to the remaining uncle, she faintly heard the fleeing Tan family disciple cry out in grievance: "Uncle Tang, we didn't do it, and we didn't even know about the Grand Examination."

She happily sped toward Luminous Stream Pool; even though she saw many stream‑juice fruits pecked by birds, she remained delighted.

Because Luminous Stream Pool, aside from second‑tier fish, has no beasts stationed at the moment, she could harvest more fruits and also transplant a few into the Dragon Pearl Space.

"Tell me, who would deliberately scatter Demon‑Attracting Powder?

Such a high‑grade powder that only releases its fragrance after a quarter‑hour of contact with spiritual energy must be expensive." Jiang Tu always had a strong curiosity.

Jiang Yu quickly harvested ripe fruits, "I don't know, and it's none of my business.

You pick a few, I'll transplant them later." She, with only a modest amount of cultivated Qi, believed that managing one's own cultivation was the true path.

Jiang Tu looked around, saw no one, then flew to a tree, placed his forepaws on the trunk and pulled.

Unexpectedly, he didn't control the force properly, and the tree snapped with a crack.

Jiang Yu, alert, pounced over, found a tree whose green fruits had fallen on half of it, so she helped clean up and gather them, then promptly selected a few to send into the space.

"I'll go down to the pool and fetch some second‑tier small fish for you," Jiang Tu said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"No, it's said that anyone who descends into the pool will be attacked by a divine soul," Jiang Yu didn't want any complications.

Given that the second‑tier fish in the water have been carefree up to now, the pool bottom must indeed be different.

"Then, after harvesting the spirit fruits, grill me a fish to eat." By noon, Jiang Tu was starving, especially after being well‑provided by Jiang Yu these past years; whether fried, grilled, sautéed, boiled, stewed, steamed, braised, poached, vinegar‑sauced, or salt‑baked, he ate everything delicious.

Jiang Yu readily agreed, letting him go back to grill the fish he raised in the space; the ones from Luminous Stream Pool, however, were best left alone.

While the little turtle was fishing, Jiang Yu harvested about seventy percent of the ripe fruits and then stopped.

Just as she was about to leave the pool, a frantic tiger roar shook the water, causing it to splash up.

In the blink of an eye, a massive tiger ablaze with crimson fire descended, swept past a short distance in front of her, and shattered several fruit trees, sending them crashing into the water.

The overwhelming demonic aura pressing around was several points heavier than the sixth‑tier Gale Wolf she had encountered before.

It must be sixth or seventh tier!

"Seventh‑tier Eclipse Moon Tiger?" Jiang Tu confirmed within the space.

She also has a bizarre monkey‑dung (i. e., odd) connection with the tiger clan.

Jiang Yu's heart stopped beating, and at once she slapped an Invisibility Talisman onto herself and activated the Flash Escape Talisman to flee.

But as her spiritual power was about to surge, the tiger's roar that burst from the water knocked her to the ground, and the Escape Talisman in her hand was hit by a dark ray and self‑ignited.

"Human little cultivator, hand over your detox pill.

I might spare you." The seventh‑tier Eclipse Moon Tiger could already speak human words.

Jiang Tu prepared to break the encirclement, and Jiang Yu sent a mental command for it not to move, also using a Teleportation Talisman.

Whoosh— whoosh—

Jiang Yu not only tossed the opponent a full bottle of detox pill, but also a Revival Pill and a spare mid‑grade minor rejuvenation pill.

She boldly said, "First take the green bottle to detox, then the red bottle minor rejuvenation pill to regulate breath; the effect will be better."

The Eclipse Moon Tiger eagerly opened and swallowed it, but just as it began to feel some effect, the little cultivator again activated

"Hahaha, coward." However, the medicine was good; next time they'll raid a human cultivator and make more.

Jiang Yu was grateful that the pool was far enough away, and she always kept talismans hidden in the inner pocket of her sleeve, saving the time of rummaging through a storage pouch.

The only flaw was that, in her haste, she activated a Ground Escape Talisman, and when she tried to retrieve the storage again, Jiang Tu pulled her into the Dragon Pearl Space.

She worried that the little companion's treasure would be exposed: "So close, it won't see it, will it?"

"It won't, it's busy detoxifying and healing its wounds, it can't attend to you." Jiang Tu controls the dragon pearl as it tunnels underground; although daily flight time is limited, every bit of distance counts.

"It's also weird, clearly we're in tier three-four territory, yet those tier five-six-seven that usually don't move nests keep showing up today." Curious Jiang baby Tu goes online again.

Jiang Yu lies on the grass rubbing her face: "Perhaps, the high-level demon beasts of Er Mountain are seizing territory."

Spring has arrived, it's breeding season for animals again; the old always have to snag a nest for the young.