The Arrogant Dragon's Little Scheme

Deep within Black Wind Gorge, the light grew increasingly dim, and the fog was so thick it seemed impossible to disperse, carrying with it a scent of accumulated dust and a faint, indescribable fishy odor.

Tu Shanlan held a wisp of green light between her fingertips, carefully dispelling the overly thick fog in front of her. Her divine sense was like the finest net, filtering out any abnormal energy fluctuations.

Ao Ming followed closely behind, his dragon might concealed, yet he was always ready to deal with any unexpected situation.

Qian Jinze brought up the rear, holding the reins of the pack animal in one hand, while in the other hand... he was carefully brushing a breastplate that he had ripped off a soldier from the ambush. It looked fairly intact.

"Tsk, this black iron is of really good quality, but the forging technique is a bit rough. The runes are engraved like a dog's scratch," she muttered as she brushed it. "If I remelt it, I should be able to extract a lot of valuable broken magic black iron essence... It's a pity that I lost quite a few pieces because they were frozen and shattered by the stupid dragon..."

Ao Ming, who was walking in front, stumbled and almost tripped over a protruding stone.

He turned and glared at Qian Jin, his handsome face slightly flushed: "I was fighting an enemy! Unlike you, who's thinking about scraping materials while fighting!"

Qian Jin raised her eyelids and gave him an innocent look: "Increase revenue and reduce expenditure, make the most of resources. Senior Brother Ao Ming, your Dragon Palace is a large and wealthy family, so naturally you don't understand the way we poor sects manage our affairs. This is all money."

As she spoke, she flipped her wrist and put the slightly polished breastplate into her bag with a smooth and effortless motion, clearly not the first time she had done it.

Ao Ming was speechless, turned his head away, and his ears turned red.

He suddenly recalled how Qian Jin had recklessly tried to pry open the enemy's magical artifacts during the battle, and a nameless anger welled up inside him, mixed with lingering fear and an indescribable irritation.

This woman, all she cares about is money! Doesn't she know how dangerous that is?!

Just then, Tu Shanlan's hushed voice came from ahead: "There's movement, be careful."

The three of them immediately stopped and became alert.

A thick fog billowed to the side, and a dark green figure darted out nimbly—it was Ban Ge'er. His face wore a complex expression, a mixture of excitement and disdain.

"Sister Lan! Found it! There are definitely traces of something being taken from the crevice under that crooked tree. There's still a trace of the spiritual energy fluctuations from the isolation talisman. The method was very skillful, leaving no clues." Brother Ban spoke quickly. "But! I smelled an even stronger stench of something cunning nearby! That thing must have been lingering around here!"

He paused, his expression of disgust deepening, and exaggeratedly fanned his nose with his hand: "And... I even followed the smell to a super well-hidden cave entrance! The stench was unbearable! That must be one of its lairs! This cunning demon looks like a human and a pig at the same time, covered in bristles, and its cry sounds like it's chopping wood—it's incredibly stupid! But it's especially good at digging and hiding, it's covered in a foul stench, and it loves to steal shiny or spiritual treasures—it's so annoying! However, the cave entrance is concealed by a powerful illusion array and foul air; forcing its way in would definitely alert it."

"An illusion array?" Tu Shanlan pondered. "It seems this cunning demon is more troublesome than I imagined, or... it really does have someone guiding it from behind."

"Leave it to me!" Ban Ge'er patted his chest, his little tiger teeth gleaming with confidence. "We tigers are experts at dealing with these sneaky creatures! Give me half an incense stick's time, and I can tear a hole in it silently!"

“Alright, Brother Ban, I’m counting on you.” Tu Shanlan nodded. “We will protect you here.”

Ban Ge'er immediately darted to the vicinity of the hidden cave entrance, crouching low, his body radiating an extremely faint dark green glow, as if blending into the surrounding environment.

He extended his sharp claws, his fingertips wreathed in strange power, and began to carefully peel away the illusion array at the cave entrance, his movements as gentle as plucking a spider web.

The atmosphere was quiet during the wait.

Ao Ming glanced at Qian Jin beside him.

She was intently focused on... taking out a small jade mortar and pestle from her storage bag, and then picking out a few herbs she had picked along the way, which emitted a faint glow. She began to fiddle with them, oblivious to her surroundings, muttering to herself: "...three drops of corrosive herb juice...one mace of moonlight moss powder...mixed with demon blood...hmm...this should temporarily enhance the spell-breaking effect...applying it to weapons might save some spiritual energy..."

Looking at her serious profile, her long eyelashes cast soft shadows under her eyes, a stark contrast to the ruthless demeanor she displayed during the battle.

Ao Ming's heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason.

As if possessed, he reached out and handed over a piece of material that he had just picked up from the battlefield, which looked fairly intact.

“Here,” his voice was a little stiff, his eyes drifting elsewhere, “I just picked this up from the ground. It looks pretty sturdy. If you want to… study it, go ahead and take it. But… don’t go to dangerous places to pick it up again.”

Qian Jin paused in her pounding of the medicine, looked up at Ao Ming in surprise, her eyes lighting up instantly. She took the medicine without hesitation: "Wow! This structure is very special, worth studying! It can be sold… uh, it can be used as a reference for a lot of things!"

Her eyes crinkled with laughter, a pure joy at obtaining the materials that made Ao Ming's vision blur.

He hurriedly withdrew his hand, coughed twice, and tried to appear calm: "...Who, who asked you to thank me! I just thought it was in the way and cleaned up the mess! Don't overthink it!"

Even so, his gaze involuntarily followed Qian Jin's careful movements as she put the medicine away, and as he watched her happily start grinding the herbs again, that strange feeling welled up in his heart: a little satisfied, a little annoyed, and a little... worried.

This woman, though not highly skilled in cultivation, is quite adept at causing trouble. She's also poor and greedy, willing to risk her life for a few materials… What will she do without me watching over her? Will she be sold out and then have to count the money for the seller?

The thought entered his mind without warning, startling even Ao Ming himself.

He shook his head violently, trying to shake off the absurd thought, but found himself unable to resist starting to calculate: there seemed to be a few pieces of unused millennium-old cold iron and star-patterned steel in the Dragon Palace's storeroom, and the quality seemed quite good... Should he bring them back next time he went to the East Sea? Just say it's... taking up space! Yes, taking up space! It's not specifically for her!

Just as Ao Ming was having an intense internal monologue, good news came from Ban Ge'er.

"It's done!" Ban Ge'er lowered his voice, a hint of pride in it. "We made an opening without alerting those inside! But the stench inside is even stronger, so everyone be careful!"

Tu Shanlan's expression hardened: "Let's go!"

The three immediately concealed their presence and followed Ban Ge'er, like four shadows, silently slipping into the cave entrance, which was concealed by the illusion array and exuded a strong, foul stench.

The cave was pitch black and filled with a nauseating smell.

But what's even more striking is that in a small clearing deep inside the cave, there are several items that clearly don't belong to a low-level demon like the Wobbly Demon: half a torn communication talisman made of a special material, and several... fragments of high-grade spirit stones that shimmer with a faint light.

Ao Ming's attention was completely focused on the faint, almost invisible, magical fluctuation that lingered on the half of the communication talisman... a fluctuation that seemed somewhat familiar to him.

Qian Jin's gaze immediately locked onto the fragments of spirit stones. She was about to pounce on them almost instinctively, but Ao Ming grabbed her wrist.

"Be careful, it might be a trap!" Ao Ming whispered. The dragon's keen senses made him feel that this seemingly casual disposal was strange.

Tu Shanlan flicked a wisp of cyan foxfire from her fingertip, the soft light instantly dispelling a small patch of darkness and illuminating that area.

She examined it carefully for a moment before nodding slightly: "There are no restrictions or traps yet, but the placement of the items does seem to suggest that they were left behind in a hurry or deliberately left to mislead people."

Before she could finish speaking, Qian Jin had already darted over like a nimble rabbit, carefully picking up the spirit stone fragments one by one with specially made jade tweezers, not letting a single speck of dust go to waste. She muttered with heartache, "What a waste! High-grade spirit stones just smashed like that? What a waste of money!"

Ao Ming found her miserly behavior both amusing and exasperating, but his attention was more focused on the half-finished communication talisman. He crouched down, not touching it directly with his hands, but instead channeling a wisp of dragon essence to sense the faint residual fluctuations on the talisman from a distance.

The slight fluctuation carried a chilling, almost deathly cold feeling, and a faint sense of familiarity that made his scales stand on end.

It feels like I've encountered it somewhere before, but I can't quite place it.

“This talisman is made of a special material, not ordinary talisman paper. It seems to be made of the pulp of the Yinbai wood commonly used in the Netherworld.” Tu Shanlan also came over, her face solemn. “Moreover, the way it was torn was clean and tidy, and there was still a strong sense of destruction left on the edges, as if it was afraid of being tracked down and restored.”

“The Netherworld?” Ao Ming frowned. “How could the Northern Border trade route involve people from the Netherworld? And this aura…” He tried hard to recall.

Just then, Ban Ge'er, who had been keeping watch at the cave entrance, suddenly let out a very low, warning snore.

The three fell silent instantly, slipping into the shadows deep within the cave and holding their breath.

A rustling sound, accompanied by heavy breathing and a foul stench, came from afar. A short, stout figure with coarse, bristly hair trudged into the cave, cursing as he went.

"...Damn it! I almost got caught by those bastards... Luckily I ran fast..." it muttered, its voice as harsh as a dull knife chopping wood.

In the dim light, one could barely make out its humanoid form with a wild boar's head and its filthy appearance; it was indeed the cunning demon.

It seemed unaware that anyone was inside the cave, and walked straight into the depths of the cave, plopped down on the ground, and painfully touched the charred marks on its body caused by the magic.

Qian Jin's eyes widened instantly!

Because she clearly saw that the cunning demon was tightly clutching a small, exquisite brocade pouch in its claws! The pouch was made of fine materials, embroidered with intricate cloud patterns in gold thread, bulging and full, clearly containing a lot of things, and radiating pure spiritual energy! It was completely out of place in this filthy demon cave and in itself!

“My…treasure…” The cunning demon sniffed the brocade pouch with fascination, then became indignant, “…It’s all those meddlesome people’s fault! They forced me to hide back in this stinky place…Once things calm down, I’ll definitely go and make a big score again…”

Ao Ming and Tu Shanlan exchanged a glance, understanding each other without words: this brocade pouch was definitely not something that the cunning demon owned; it was very likely that it stole it from somewhere else, and it might even be related to the middleman!

Just as the cunning demon lowered its guard and prepared to open the brocade pouch to take stock of its treasures, Tu Shanlan made her move!

Her figure moved like smoke, silently slipping out of the shadows. With a flick of her fingertip, a highly concealed fox clan binding spell, like an invisible thread, instantly wrapped around the cunning demon!

However, this cunning demon's intuition for danger far exceeded expectations! Just as the blue light touched its body, its mane suddenly bristled, and it let out a piercing howl. It managed to avoid a fatal blow with an extremely clumsy yet effective roll, only to have its hind leg grazed by the spell, causing it to freeze instantly!

"Roar!" Seeing that his sneak attack had failed, Ban Ge'er immediately rushed in from the cave entrance. His roar shook the cave ceiling, causing rocks to fall down, heading straight for the cunning demon's face!

Ao Ming also made his move at the same time. With a dragon's roar, a cold, icy blue aura sealed off any possible escape route for the cunning demon!

Terrified, he saw himself being attacked from both sides. A look of mad pain flashed in his eyes, and he slammed the precious brocade pouch hard at the charging Ban Ge'er. At the same time, he opened his mouth and spewed out a thick, foul-smelling black mist that instantly filled the entire cave!

"Cough cough cough!" The brocade pouch and the foul-smelling black mist that hit Ban Ge'er made him pause in his movements.

Ao Ming's frost was slightly hindered by that strange, foul air.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the cunning demon, enduring the excruciating pain in its hind legs, let out a shrill howl and slammed into the side of the cave wall!

The seemingly solid rock wall rippled like water upon impact, revealing a dark, narrow crevice that could only accommodate one person at a time!

It plunged inside, and the gap instantly closed, restoring everything to its original state, as if it had never existed!

"Damn it! There's another secret passage!" Ban Ge'er angrily slammed his fist on the rock wall.

Ao Ming waved his sleeve to dispel the nauseating stench, his face grim.

Tu Shanlan strode to the rock wall, examined it carefully, and shook his head: "It's an extremely advanced earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a technique for concealing one's tracks) technique. It was temporarily activated and has now completely closed. We can't catch up with it."

At that moment, taking advantage of the slight dissipation of the foul air, Qian Jin rushed to the brocade pouch that the cunning demon had thrown out as a shield, picked it up, and quickly opened it without caring about the dirt.

Inside were not the spirit stones and jewels she had expected, but several black wooden plaques engraved with unfamiliar runes, a fragment of an ancient bronze mirror with slightly damaged edges, and... a small bundle of dark purple dried herbs bound with special silk thread.

Qian Jin's breath hitched slightly.

She recognized that herb! It was the Soul-Guiding Grass, which grows on the banks of the River of Oblivion in the Netherworld. It was extremely rare and a core ingredient for refining many high-level soul-refining pills.

And the residual fluctuations on that bronze mirror fragment... actually originated from the same source as that half of the communication talisman!

Ao Ming also walked over, his gaze falling on the black wooden signs, and his expression suddenly changed!

"This is... a death warrant?!" he exclaimed in a low voice, finally remembering where that familiar chilling feeling came from. "This is a decree that can only be crafted by ghost generals and above in the Netherworld, used to command lower-ranking ghost soldiers! How did it end up here? And in the hands of a cunning demon?"