Chapter 48: Next Location

Jiang Tu flashed out of space, saw the little companion propping her face with one hand, looking like she was pondering life's big matters, and sat beside her to study the Tianyuan map.

The two of them now hidden in this clean land, carried a sense of tranquil years.

However, only a dozen li away, Fan Zhou and Ye Lian, this temporary team of hard‑luck siblings, were chased by second‑tier blue stinging bee swarms, with no sky above and no ground below.

All living things that encountered the swarms, seeing these overwhelming poisonous stinging bees, kept far away, allowing them to move unimpeded from the third‑tier territory into the fourth‑tier area.

Farther away, more disciples formed teams to fight the small beast hordes attracted by lure demon powder.

Worse still, disciples who were besieged by scattered cultivators and could not hold on, crushed the Great Exam token, were rescued by a Foundation‑period senior uncle, then withdrew.

And those stronger would, upon a scattered cultivator's raid to plunder, instantly counterkill and seize treasure, such as Senior Sister Gu Bingwen.

While hunting a third‑tier six‑wing centipede, she was intercepted by a passing master of fully‑refined Qi who stabbed her; she decisively self‑detonated her spirit sword to wound the opponent's eye, and succeeded in the counterkill.

Meanwhile, at another spot on Er Mountain, Lu Ruochan and several disciples teamed up, using their artifacts, to strike back from the third‑tier ground into the second‑tier area, trying to win by numbers.

As for whether any disciples took the chance to retaliate in internal fights, there were, but they could only injure the opponent by crushing the Great Exam token, not kill them.

This is an unspoken mutual understanding; otherwise, once a same‑sect member is killed, the Foundation‑building senior uncles would immediately take them away for life‑repayment.

Hence, even five hundred foundation‑builders are not easy; watching over five thousand plus refined Qi, they must constantly wield swords in flight to patrol, rescue the endangered, and prevent disciples from vicious fighting.

Among them is a small team of Senior Brother Hao and Junior Brother Wang.

"Why haven't I ever run into Jiang Yu?"

"Perhaps our designated patrol range doesn't include her landing spot."

"Brother Hao, is it worth losing a hundred spirit stones to me?"

"Not worth it. I saw Che Xuan; he and Huo Jiu have always been close, each time they go out they use the tethering secret technique to locate each other."

"These two won't do good deeds; you patrol, I'll keep an eye on them for a while." Senior Brother Hao worries that Che Xuan might plunder a lone disciple in the sect.

Che Xuan, flying ahead, is only in the early foundation‑building stage; he hasn't noticed being tracked by mid‑stage foundation‑builders.

This time they raided the mountain and got a lot of good stuff; not only half is with Huo Jiu, but also a treasure map from Zhang; after evading the Lingyun Eagle's chase, the positioning tag on his body lost Huo Jiu's response.

Che Xuan eventually reached near where Jiang Yu was hidden, but didn't find her in the grass, and kept moving forward searching.

Since Senior Brother Hao stepped out of the patrol range, he sent a message to nearby same‑sect members to watch Che Xuan and Huo Jiu.

Unexpectedly, the reply said: "My master saw the specifically named Huo Jiu, and an hour ago was slain by sect‑disciples of refined Qi."

"What the heck, who is that fierce? Killing enemies across tiers?"

"My master just returned from a tour, hasn't seen that female disciple, only saw the used Jie Dan sword‑Qi talisman."

"Jiang Yu! Most likely her." Senior Brother Hao's eyes lit up, regretting he didn't witness it himself.

He flew away shortly after; Jiang Yu, only ten li away from the spot where he had just landed, decided to change strategy.

"Wait for the enemy to tire? What method?" Jiang Tu looked at a few cultivators flying over their formation, then saw fourth‑tier cloud‑wing sparrows and arrow hawks passing nearby.

"Now, within a thousand‑li radius everything is in conflict; even the inner beasts may have issues."

"We must abandon the tangled fourth‑tier area and return to the second‑ and third‑tier zones."

"Gathering spirit herbs and such, hold off for now; we'll set a Yellow Spring Array over there to lure demons into the formation." Jiang Yu, after the airborne people and birds finished, immediately entered the space with them.

Jiang Tu startled: "You're also using lure demon grass?"

"No, second‑tier honey‑roasted lamb ribs plus spirit beast pill; I believe many demons will like that." Jiang Yu finished speaking, a little turtle began drooling, insisting it taste it first before luring the enemy.

"I'll go kill a few spirit lambs to marinate; while grilling, you watch." Though the marinating time will be short, most demons probably won't mind.

"No problem." Jiang Tu liked it.

Over a hour later, the golden crow set westward, a hundred birds returned to the forest, and a wind‑like shadow sprinted through the woods.

And it kept muttering: "Add fire, reduce fire."

Some cultivators of the Grand Void Gate who practice demon‑fighting saw this silhouette and felt it was familiar.

But Jiang Yu today ran through the forest several times, speed a notch faster than before, and before anyone could see her clearly, she vanished.

When she returned to the third‑tier activity zone, the lure demon powder effect nearby had worn off; the exhausted people and demons each found a spot to rest, only occasional insect chirps sounded.

"Done, we're a bit late." Jiang Tu's spiritual sense radiated, seeing no demons.

"Ahead lies the Terror Forest, the place with the most eagle nests and wolf dens." Jiang Yu, however, confidently headed toward a dense forest.

A moment later, she arrived at the edge of Terror Forest, quickly set up a Yellow Spring Grand Array, and crushed the spirit beast pills, sprinkling them on both sides of several hot lamb ribs, hanging them on a few towering trees at the array's corners.

As she flicked her ten fingers, wind‑style techniques flashed like lightning, several gusts suddenly blew toward the lamb ribs on the trees.

The tender meat scent, mixed with the alluring pill fragrance, instantly swept across half a li.

She also deliberately carried two, mounted a flying boat within a one‑li radius, circled, then swiftly entered the array.

When humans are weary and demons' bellies are empty, who can resist cravings.

Puff—, Woo—

Eagle flocks and wolf packs appeared almost simultaneously; each cautiously surveyed, seeing no one for a long while.

An eagle that could no longer stand the scent swooped down; after it successfully snatched a piece of meat, the other beasts surged forward.

Jiang Yu pointed the array flag with a finger, shouted several times, and the wolves and eagles all fell into the Yellow Spring, instantly stunned by the icy cold of the surrounding snow‑field.

When they tried to retreat, they found their feet frozen; countless ice spikes rained from the sky, killing and wounding many in an instant.

Jiang Yu herself didn't need to fight; the beasts were annihilated solely by the array, "Pack it up, next location."

She only looked for the clustered beasts on the map, luckily avoiding most disciples' habitats; after a night of hustle, she only made one mistake.

At dawn, Jiang Tu, who had roasted meat all night, no longer mentioned hunger, feeling full: "The storage bag and storage ring are almost full, keep going?"

"You rest, continue in the afternoon." After two days of contest, Jiang Yu couldn't keep fighting; baby Jiang Tu, still in infancy, fell asleep the moment he heard the voice.

But Jiang Yu didn't expect that just as dawn broke, she heard a beast's roar echoing through the forest, followed by a massive spiritual energy explosion from deep mountains.

Trails of flying swords' afterglow shot across Er Mountain everywhere.

She seized her own opening and said: "Quick retreat, enter the nearest mountain pass, have support."

Jiang Yu, without a word, launched the array, released the flying boat, and ran; at this point, who cared about flying beasts.

Many disciples made the same motion as her; not long after, flying magical artifacts filled the sky.

Seeing Senior Brother Qian, who also cultivated the Thunderfire Technique, the other party just greeted and said "side by side," then his face showed alarm: "Jiang Yu, make an emergency landing quickly!"

But a huge spiritual pressure came from behind; as soon as Jiang Yu jumped down, a giant claw grabbed her, and with a swoosh, she hung in midair, her face sliced by the wind that tore through the air.