Chapter 291 The Raccoon Who Picks Up Trash

Jia Xitong trapped the fleeing creature. After a moment, the creature, unable to burrow underground, jumped out of the ground, attempting to escape from above, but was blocked by the gold-bound talisman.

This is a fat, short man with a mustache.

The moment he was caught, he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy, "Senior, please have mercy!"

Who are you? Why are you hiding here?

"My name is Sun Jiuchi. I am a disciple of Dingtian Academy. I entered Tengyun Mountain Range to hunt magical beasts to complete my mission. I never expected to meet you here, senior."

Is he also a disciple of Dingtian Academy?

Jia Xitong secretly sized her up.

"This is my disciple's order."

He held the wooden plaque in both hands and handed it to Shang Yanting; it bore the mark of Dingtian Academy.

Why are you the only one here?

"I got separated from the others."

Sun Jiuchi replied, "This place is fraught with danger, and I was worried that traveling alone would be too perilous, so I hid here, intending to wait for them to find me and then come back to pick me up."

That makes sense.

Jia Xitong nodded slightly.

"I don't know where you come from, senior. I have no intention of offending you. Please be lenient."

"I am also from Dingtian Academy."

Shang Yanting waved his hand and broke the gold-binding talisman for him. "What mission have you come here for? Is there a young man in your team who is seven feet tall, twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, named Niu Chuanchuan?"

"There were eight of us going together. We had only known each other for a short time, so I didn't know who Niu Chuanchuan was. But I knew where they went."

Sun Jiuchi offered to lead the way with an enthusiastic expression.

Having someone to guide you is certainly helpful, but Jia Xitong suddenly remembered that the Eight-Turn Treasure Hunting Compass had been pointing this way. Wherever the Eight-Turn Treasure Hunting Compass points, there must be treasure.

I almost got led astray by Sun Jiuchi.

The raccoon, carrying an eight-turn treasure hunt disc bigger than its own head, ran towards the direction it was pointing.

She brandished her claws and dug a hole in the ground with all her might.

Sun Jiuchi, who had been respectful and cautious, suddenly changed his expression upon seeing Jia Xitong's action. He quickly composed himself and said, "Senior, this place is filthy and unclean. Don't get your magical beast dirty. Aren't we going to find Fellow Daoist Niu and the others? Let's go quickly."

Shang Yanting glanced at him but didn't move.

Sun Jiuchi's ingratiating smile disappeared as the raccoon dug the hole deeper and deeper. Suddenly, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Shang Yanting's gaze was looking elsewhere. Taking advantage of Shang Yanting's inattention, he pounced on Jia Xitong.

At the same time, a tremendous force from behind ripped him away.

Jia Xitong felt a gust of wind pass behind her, and when she turned around, she saw Sun Jiuchi thrown to the ground with blood spilling from his mouth.

He reached down to dig a hole, but Shang Yanting was not about to let him succeed.

A moment later, Sun Jiuchi was found hanging upside down from a tree, both his hands broken. At the same time, Jia Xitong also found what the Eight-Turn Treasure Hunting Compass was pointing to—a dirty, tattered cloth the size of a washcloth, irregularly shaped.

Is this a treasure?

Jia Xitong pinched it with the tip of her claws in disgust.

Is this a treasure? Or is the Eight-Turn Treasure Hunting Compass broken?

Iron Egg Flower's back pocket is cleaner than this.

However, since Sun Jiuchi reacted so strongly, it must be a pretty good treasure.

She picked up the rag and asked, "What is this?"

"ah?"

Sun Jiuchi, who was hanging upside down, was stunned. This appearance looked exactly like something he didn't know either.

"Stop pretending, just tell me, what exactly is this thing?"

The way they pounced on it just now, trying to snatch it, didn't seem like they weren't going to fight for this treasure.

Shang Yanting then squatted down to observe the pit she had dug. The soil around the pit was loose, with withered and broken weeds mixed in, making it look like it had just been filled in.

He followed the direction of the many pits that Jia Xitong had already dug and forcefully thrust his longsword into them.

The soil collapsed, revealing a small hole.

"Tongbao, come here."

Shang Yanting called Jia Xitong over, saying, "Sun Jiuchi probably isn't after this piece of cloth, but rather this hole."

"Then this Bühler?"

Jia Xitong held the piece of cloth tightly; because they were so close, she could even smell the unpleasant odor emanating from it.

What kind of treasure would be like this?

The Eight-Turn Treasure Hunting Disc was, after all, just a Radiant Gold Magical Artifact, and it wasn't impossible for it to malfunction occasionally. This piece of cloth was more likely to have slipped off during a fight and then been buried in the mud, gradually decaying over time.

"I threw it away."

Although Shang Yanting's noble demeanor has changed a lot because of Jia Xitong, not picking up rags is still his bottom line.

"All right."

Jia Xitong threw it on the ground.

Shang Yanting was satisfied with this. He turned to interrogate Sun Jiuchi, "What's inside?"

Sun Jiuchi remained silent and even threatened, "If you dare to kill me, the academy will definitely not let you off easily!"

Shang Yanting had no intention of wasting words with him. A silken thread shot out and pierced the back of his neck. The man, who had been so arrogant and defiant just moments before, suddenly became vacant. "I don't know what's inside. I was just sent to guard the entrance to prevent anyone else from going in."

"Who went in?"

"We are the protectors of the Dharma."

"Aren't you a student of Dingtian Academy?"

"No, we are from Huyang Palace. However, we encountered disciples from Dingtian Academy before. The protector killed one of them and took away the disciple's token, so I pretended to be an academy disciple."

Tiger Yang Palace is a small, relatively unknown gang, yet it dared to kill disciples of Dingtian Academy, which is truly audacious.

However, this also means that the remaining disciples are likely to be in grave danger.

"What about the remaining disciples?"

"They were taken away by the Dharma Protector."

The area below is fraught with danger; any disciple of Dingtian Academy taken down there will surely be destined to be cannon fodder.

Having obtained useful information, they returned to the narrow cave entrance.

Jia Xitong took out a Light Talisman, which Shang Yanting took and affixed to the tip of his longsword. He reached inside, and the Light Talisman illuminated the surroundings. It was very long inside; he couldn't reach the bottom with just his arm and the longsword.

"Stay close to me."

As Shang Yanting spoke, he took the lead and entered the cave entrance.

The hole was a bit small for Shang Yanting, but just right for the little raccoon. She easily followed behind him, waiting for Shang Yanting to dawdle for a few meters.

Jia Xitong looked back, then suddenly turned back to the cave entrance and picked up the tattered piece of cloth she had just thrown away. She crumpled the cloth and then stuffed it into the talisman she used to keep souvenirs.

—It's confirmed that the raccoon is a scavenger.

The passageway is narrow, with no end in sight, and being trapped inside gives one an extremely oppressive and suffocating feeling.

Moreover, Shang Yanting was too big and moved extremely slowly.

Jia Xitong followed him for a while but finally couldn't stand it anymore. She squeezed through the gap between the passageway and Shang Yanting to the front, and then stuck a light talisman on herself.

"Dear host, I'll go check things out ahead first."

After saying that, she jogged ahead.

Shang Yanting felt a white light in front of him getting farther and farther away, until it finally reached its peak.

(End of this chapter)