After Ning Yuzhou understood what was going on with this cave residence, he thought for a moment and asked, “Where is my third brother?”
Wen Mei pressed her lips together and said softly, “After the maze collapsed, we fell from above. Later, because of some unexpected events, we were separated.”
“Unexpected events? Was it those two?” Ning Yuzhou asked again.
Wen Mei shook her head, then said, “It has nothing to do with those two, but it is somewhat related to those outside cultivators.”
As she spoke, her expression became grave. “Seventh Highness, during this opening of Lin Tai Hunting Valley, many outside cultivators somehow mixed in. These outside cultivators are extremely arrogant and cruel. They have killed many people from Dongling. Earlier, if you had not saved me, I’m afraid I would have…”
At this point, Wen Mei’s expression darkened slightly, and she pressed her lips together.
Everyone said that the two beauties of the Wen clan were outstandingly talented, genius disciples of the Wen clan’s younger generation. Yet they did not know there were always heavens beyond heaven, and people beyond people.
Dongling was only a remote place, thin in primordial spiritual energy. The so-called geniuses of Dongling were nothing in the eyes of those outside cultivators. They were even ants that could be trampled at will.
She had fought those outside cultivators several times and discovered that both her experience and strength were inferior to theirs. She had been easily crushed by her opponents. If not for Ning Zhezou protecting her, she might not have survived until now. In the end, she had still been chased here in such a sorry state.
Although those two had higher cultivation than her, this still revealed her own shortcomings.
For the first time in her life, Wen Mei’s pride had been completely crushed. It made her recognise her own inadequacies and also gave rise to yearning for the outside world. She no longer remained fixated on just the Wen clan.
Beyond Dongling, there was a far broader world, where strong people emerged in endless numbers and experts were as common as clouds. There were countless cultivators there. Dongling’s scope was indeed rather small.
Ning Yuzhou glanced at her and naturally saw the mood of this genius disciple of the Wen clan.
But that had nothing to do with him.
He had saved her and given her an antidote pill only because she was Ah Qiao’s clanswoman. Whether she survived after that was up to her.
Ning Yuzhou smiled faintly, his fingertip gently stroking the edge of the white jade pot in his hand, a thoughtful look appearing on his face.
After listening to her cousin’s words, Wen Qiao could not help rubbing her leaves against Ning Yuzhou’s finger. When he looked over, she shook her leaves again.
As a little seedling that could not speak, it would be difficult for an ordinary person to understand her body language. Yet Ning Yuzhou somehow understood. He stroked her leaves with his fingertip to comfort her and smiled at her.
Seeing that he did not speak, Wen Mei did not rashly disturb him. She cultivated while waiting for the interrogation over there.
A while later, the Shadow Scaled Guards finished most of the interrogation and brought the two captives back, reporting the results to Ning Yuzhou.
These two were rogue cultivators from outside Dongling Kingdom, both at the Yuan Martial Realm. This time, the reason they had come to Dongling was said to be because of Sacred Martial Hall.
“Sacred Martial Hall?” Ning Yuzhou’s expression shifted slightly.
Wen Mei looked completely blank, not knowing what Sacred Martial Hall was.
Wen Qiao had also never heard of Sacred Martial Hall. Looking at her husband and cousin’s reactions, she understood that the imperial Ning clan probably knew about Sacred Martial Hall, while the other forces in Dongling did not possess the strength to know of it.
It seemed this Sacred Martial Hall was extremely mysterious.
Sure enough, Feng Sanniang and the man’s answers confirmed Wen Qiao’s guess.
Fortune had turned. Now that they had fallen into the hands of Dongling cultivators, Feng Sanniang and the male cultivator were no longer as arrogant as before, afraid that one careless word might get them killed by the Dongling cultivators.
The two were now very sensible and answered every question.
“I wonder whether this young master has heard of Sacred Martial Hall?” Feng Sanniang smiled charmingly, her gaze like a hook as she stared at Ning Yuzhou.
As a prince of Dongling, Ning Yuzhou had been raised in luxury since childhood and naturally possessed a noble bearing. Added to that, his appearance was handsome and outstanding. Although his cultivation was low, his face alone was enough to attract a woman’s gaze.
The moment Feng Sanniang saw him, her eyes lit up. Her nature unchanged, she could not resist throwing flirtatious glances at him and using a beauty trap.
Beauty traps had always worked well, but Feng Sanniang miscalculated today. Ning Yuzhou had already seen the most beautiful woman in the world. Although that girl had not yet fully grown up, he had already placed her in his heart. Naturally, he would not spare another woman a glance.
Wen Qiao felt inexplicably displeased and moved her leaves.
Ning Yuzhou stroked the restless leaves and used his hand to block others’ view, lest anyone notice how lively the little seedling was.
He said lightly, “I have heard some rumours. It is said to be a very mysterious place.”
Feng Sanniang relaxed slightly. It was good that he had heard of it. “I heard that this time, Sacred Martial Hall sent its Sons of Shengwu to Dongling Kingdom to search for the Chosen One.”
The Chosen One?
Wen Qiao and Wen Mei were still both confused. The Shadow Scaled Guards stood dutifully nearby, expressionless, making it impossible to tell what they were thinking from their faces.
Only Ning Yuzhou remained exceptionally calm and casually said, “You two shouldn’t be people of Sacred Martial Hall, right?”
Feng Sanniang smiled awkwardly. “Naturally not. If we could be chosen as Sons of Shengwu, why would we have acted against this young lady?”
Sacred Martial Hall kept a low profile and was not widely known. On Shengwu Continent, it was extremely mysterious. Ordinary cultivators had no way of learning about this force.
But well-informed forces all knew a little about Sacred Martial Hall and treated its disciples with considerable courtesy.
It was said that Sacred Martial Hall’s requirements for accepting disciples were extremely strict. Those who could become Sons of Shengwu were all people with outstanding talent, excellent aptitude, and the potential to ascend. Ordinary cultivators could not compare to them, and naturally neither could people like them.
If they could become Sons of Shengwu, why would they need to covet such petty benefits?
Ning Yuzhou nodded. “That makes sense. You don’t look like it, nor are you qualified.”
No one should insult people like that! If the two of them were not prisoners right now, they might truly have flown into embarrassed rage.
Feng Sanniang endured her anger, feeling that this handsome young man was not likeable at all. What a waste of that face.
“Did this Chosen One appear in Dongling?” Ning Yuzhou asked again.
Feng Sanniang and the male cultivator had not expected him to know these inside details so clearly. Surprise appeared on both their faces. They secretly thought that they had underestimated this small Dongling land. They had assumed this backward, isolated little kingdom knew very little about the outside world. The cultivators here mostly had low cultivation and no real foundation. Who would have known that this man, who looked as if he had almost no cultivation, was so well-informed?
Could Dongling actually be a place hiding dragons and crouching tigers?
Considering that Dongling had produced a Chosen One, this guess seemed somewhat reasonable.
“I heard that is the case,” Feng Sanniang answered, no longer daring to look down on Dongling. “I only heard rumours as well… so we decided to come and take a look.”
After this news spread, many people had been stirred into action and wanted to come see what ability this small Dongling Kingdom had, to actually produce a Chosen One and make Sacred Martial Hall specially send Sons of Shengwu to search for him.
Of course, most people believed that Dongling might have something special about it, which was why they travelled thousands of miles to come here.
It also happened to coincide with the opening of Lin Tai Hunting Valley. Dongling Kingdom’s younger generation of cultivators had entered Lin Tai Hunting Valley for training, and the Chosen One was among this batch of young cultivators. Thus, this group of outside cultivators also mixed in.
Among these outside cultivators, some belonged to forces opposed to Sacred Martial Hall. While stirring up muddy waters, they also planned to ruin Sacred Martial Hall’s affairs. Before Sacred Martial Hall’s people could find the Chosen One, they intended to kill the Chosen One first, leaving Sacred Martial Hall empty-handed.
They did not know who the Chosen One was, so they acted with the mindset of killing the wrong person rather than letting the right one go. Whenever they encountered Dongling cultivators, they killed them.
This was the reason Wen Qiao and the others had seen those Dongling cultivators brutally murdered not long after entering Lin Tai Hunting Valley.
Hearing this, Wen Qiao felt that Sacred Martial Hall truly had not handled things carefully enough. Such an important matter had somehow spread everywhere, and the cultivators of Dongling were especially unlucky because of it.
Wen Mei’s thoughts were similar to hers, though even angrier.
If Sacred Martial Hall had not spread rumours about some Chosen One, the cultivators of Dongling would not have faced so many malicious killings from outside cultivators. More than half of the Wen clan disciples had died at the hands of those outsiders.
Even Wen Mei herself had nearly died.
“Do you know who this Chosen One is?” Ning Yuzhou asked.
Feng Sanniang and the man honestly shook their heads. “We heard that the task of finding the Chosen One this time is being handled by Yin Xingheng of Sacred Martial Hall. His cultivation is extremely high. We did not dare get too close to him, so we don’t know where he is now or whether he has already found the person.”
Yin Xingheng was the nineteenth-generation direct-line Son of Shengwu from Sacred Martial Hall. His status was lofty, and he was not someone ordinary people could provoke.
It was also because Yin Xingheng was present that, although those outside cultivators looked down on Dongling, they did not dare cause trouble openly there. Only after sneaking into Lin Tai Hunting Valley did they begin their massacre plan.
Feng Sanniang and the man had come to Dongling more to pick up leftovers. In their minds, this remote place that had produced a Chosen One must have something extraordinary about it. Perhaps they could take the opportunity to gather some cultivation resources, which would be ideal.
Who would have known that after sneaking into this mystic realm called Lin Tai Hunting Valley, they would discover that while the primordial spiritual energy inside was indeed higher than outside, that was all. The resources here were not even comparable to a mystic realm controlled by some random small sect outside. It had been a waste for them to come all this way and spend so much effort sneaking in.
Fortunately, a cave residence had later appeared, and the demonic beasts and spiritual herbs in this underground space made up for it somewhat.
After understanding the purpose of these outside cultivators, Ning Yuzhou did not get angry. He still looked calm and composed.
Then he asked, “Do you know Xu Jiuxiu?”
Feng Sanniang looked at him in surprise. “You know Ninth Master?”
So this Ninth Master was indeed Xu Jiuxiu.
Ning Yuzhou smiled, his expression very amiable. Refined and gentle, he said, “Tell me about this Ninth Master.”
Although Feng Sanniang and the man were puzzled, they did not hide anything.
Xu Jiuxiu came from Shadow Tower. He was one of the Nine Asuras of Shadow Tower’s Nine Halls, known by the world as Ninth Master.
Shadow Tower was a force that specialised in assassination work. It had nine halls, each responsible for assassination missions of different levels. As long as one could pay enough primordial spirit jades, Shadow Tower would accept the mission. They claimed there was no one they did not dare assassinate.
Although Feng Sanniang and the man were rogue cultivators, they had some friendship with people from Shadow Tower and were quite well-informed.
This time, they had learned through Shadow Tower that Sacred Martial Hall had sent its Son of Shengwu to Dongling, so they had followed along to Dongling. Earlier, when Feng Sanniang and the man encountered Wen Mei, they discovered that she had a water-type heavenly spiritual root. Seeing something desirable, they wanted to give Wen Mei to Xu Jiuxiu to curry favour with him.
Hearing their plan again, Wen Mei’s face showed disgust and hatred.
Feng Sanniang and the man carefully looked at Ning Yuzhou. They knew that among all the people here, this man with extremely low cultivation was the one in charge. How the two of them would be dealt with would also be decided by him.
Wen Mei also looked at Ning Yuzhou, unconsciously clenching her fists.
Feng Sanniang and the man had killed many Dongling cultivators in Lin Tai Hunting Valley. Their methods were cruel, and they had no compassion. Leaving such people alive would only create disaster. Wen Mei wished they could be killed directly and naturally did not want Ning Yuzhou to let them go.
Ning Yuzhou still wore that gentle expression and said to the Shadow Scaled Guards, “Deal with them.”
Feng Sanniang and the man’s expressions changed greatly. Before they could open their mouths to beg for mercy, the Shadow Scaled Guards gagged them and dragged them away.
The Shadow Scaled Guards quickly dealt with the two and threw their bodies far away. Before long, demonic beasts would appear and eat the corpses, and no one would know how they had died.
After this was done, Ning Yuzhou decided to leave.
He turned to Wen Mei and politely asked, “What are Fourth Miss Wen’s plans?”
Wen Mei supported herself against a nearby stalagmite and stood up. Her face was still somewhat pale. Although the snake poison in her body had been cured, her injuries had not yet healed, and she had little combat strength. She could not help smiling bitterly. “My injuries have not recovered yet. I only want to find a place to recuperate and wait for Lin Tai Hunting Valley to close.”
As she spoke, she looked at Ning Yuzhou, knowing that at this stage, following Ning Yuzhou, who had the Shadow Scaled Guards’ protection, was the best choice.
Ning Yuzhou said mildly, “If Fourth Miss Wen does not mind, then travel with us.”
“Of course I don’t mind. Many thanks, Seventh Highness,” Wen Mei said gratefully.
Then the group left the area.
The demonic rabbit continued leading the way. They found a relatively hidden cavern as a resting place.
Ning Yuzhou held the white jade flowerpot and sat on the stone the Shadow Scaled Guards had cleared. He took out a bottle of spiritual medicinal liquid from his storage pouch and poured it onto the roots of the little seedling inside the flowerpot.
These days, Ning Yuzhou fed the little seedling spiritual medicinal liquid three times a day. Those precious medicinal liquids were used as if they cost nothing, making Qian Shou increasingly puzzled. Did his master not value this little seedling a little too much?
Wen Mei sat to one side and happened to see this scene. She froze, then widened her eyes.
“You… you can cultivate?” she said in shock.
Without even lifting his head, Ning Yuzhou continued carefully pouring spiritual medicinal liquid for the little seedling and casually hummed in response.
Wen Mei was utterly shocked and wondered if the rumours she had heard in the past had been wrong. She carefully examined Ning Yuzhou’s cultivation again and discovered that he was only at the lowest level, the early stage of the Entry Yuan Realm. The primordial spiritual energy fluctuations around him were almost nonexistent. No wonder she had not noticed earlier.
After the shock, Wen Mei’s heart relaxed slightly, and she could not help feeling somewhat happy for Ah Qiao.
In outsiders’ eyes, Wen Qiao and Ning Yuzhou’s marriage matched one sickly, short-lived person with one unable to cultivate, making them very compatible. But as a cultivator, Wen Mei still hoped her future husband would be a cultivator. Putting herself in Wen Qiao’s place, she felt Wen Qiao probably thought the same.
Now that Ning Yuzhou could finally cultivate, no matter what his aptitude was like, at least outsiders would no longer call him useless.
After feeding the little seedling spiritual medicinal liquid, Ning Yuzhou had Wen Mei stay here to heal while he took the demonic rabbit and the Shadow Scaled Guards to search for spiritual herbs.
This place was safe, so Wen Mei naturally had no objections. Nor was it appropriate for her to have any. After all, she and Ning Yuzhou were not truly close. The only connection between them was Wen Qiao, and her relationship with Wen Qiao was not especially intimate either.
——
The next two days were especially peaceful. With the demonic rabbit leading the way, they stayed far from other cultivators and did not encounter any trouble, quietly searching everywhere for spiritual herbs.
Time passed in the blink of an eye, and finally, the day came for Lin Tai Hunting Valley to close.
Wen Mei, who had been healing, opened her eyes.
Ning Yuzhou held the white jade pot in his arms and reached out to grab the demonic rabbit, which was stuffing spirit pills into its cheek pouch. After feeding it so many spirit pills, naturally he had to take it out with him for it to be worthwhile.
Then they allowed a pulling force to send them out.
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