wolf pack
Wen Zheng and Mu Qing followed the older demon for a while and stopped in front of a house. The older demon pushed open the wooden door, and the scene in the courtyard was laid out before them.
Tables, chairs, and benches were scattered haphazardly throughout the yard, the house door had been cleaved open by swords, and the dried bloodstains on the earthen walls were glaringly obvious.
"Where is this?" Wen Zheng picked up the stool that had fallen to the ground and handed it to the older demon. "Sit down and let's talk."
The other person was using a cane and was already panting heavily after only a few steps.
The older demon took the stool and sat down, saying, "You can just call me Old Zhao. I'm the mayor of Blue Water Town."
Wen Zheng was somewhat surprised, not expecting that this demon race member with such a weak aura could become the town mayor. However, she didn't pay attention to it and instead asked about what had happened before, "What did those demon race members mean when they said that human cultivators kidnapped children?"
The relationship between humans and demons is so-so. When Wen Zheng was strolling through the night market in Mingguang City, she hardly saw any humans, let alone in this remote town.
Mayor Zhao coughed twice and slowly said, "A few days ago, two human cultivators passed through Blue Water Town. For some reason, they suddenly wanted to take away the child of this family. When they refused, they were killed on the spot, and the child was taken away as well."
Wen Zheng: "Are you sure you're a human cultivator?"
Why would human cultivators capture demons? Especially underage demons.
While they were talking, Mu Qing walked around the courtyard and then spoke up, "They are human cultivators."
The traces of spiritual energy remaining in the courtyard indicate that it was done by humans, but it's unknown which immortal sect's disciple did it.
Mayor Zhao waited for him to finish speaking before continuing, "After those two human cultivators kidnapped the child, I led people to chase after them. We tried our best, but we couldn't save the child, and many of our people were injured in the process."
He himself aged prematurely and his cultivation level regressed due to the use of the secret technique.
"Do you want us to save that child?" Wen Zheng asked after listening to Mayor Zhao finish speaking.
First, they play the emotional card, and then, when you feel sorry for them, they ask for your help. You, overflowing with sympathy, find it hard to refuse.
She didn't like beating around the bush, so she decided to speak frankly. She glanced at the mayor's face, which was as black as the bottom of a pot, and his murky eyes glared at her.
Feeling that she had exposed Mayor Zhao's scheme, Wen Zheng took a step back to a safe distance and said, "Our purpose in coming to Blue Water Town is the Evening Primrose. You certainly won't give it to us easily, so you will make demands, asking us to save the child."
Once the words were out in the open, the atmosphere in the courtyard suddenly became tense. Mayor Zhao slammed his cane down, panting. Mu Qing glanced at Wen Zheng, who was slowly backing away, stood in front of her, and said to Mayor Zhao, "If you want our help, you have to tell us which direction those two people ran in."
Mu Qing wasn't one to beat around the bush, so she asked the other party directly, earning her a disapproving look from Mayor Zhao.
"Westward, westward, they ran westward." Mayor Zhao banged his cane loudly. "You two have no manners at all."
They showed no respect for the elderly at all; it was too much.
Mu Qing closed his eyes, his consciousness leaving his body and drifting westward. Wen Zheng turned her head to look at him, and seeing that he didn't move, she leaned close to Mayor Zhao and asked, "Mayor, are there any other clues?"
If you just give a general description of the west, how are they supposed to find it?
Mayor Zhao glanced at her, took out a cloth bag from his sleeve and handed it to her, "This is a fragment of one of the cultivators' magical artifacts. I knocked it off during the fight."
Speaking of this, Mayor Zhao looked quite proud.
Wen Zheng opened the cloth bag and reached inside. Her slender fingers slipped into the bag, and the next second she made a cut. She winced in pain and flung the bag away to examine her finger.
A red mark appeared on my fingertip, and blood was flowing from it, almost reaching my palm.
Wen Zheng didn't have time to worry about the contents of the cloth bag. She took out the medicinal powder and applied it to herself. After wrapping her fingers with a strip of cloth, she picked up the bag and emptied its contents. A small shard of mirror, about the size of a little finger, fell to the ground, instantly adding a bright silver glint to the sandy soil.
Wen Zheng carefully picked it up, looked at it, but didn't find anything.
When Mu Qing's consciousness returned, he smelled a bloody scent. He looked in the direction of the scent and saw Wen Zheng holding something in her hands as she walked towards him.
"Take a look at this." Wen Zheng handed over the shards of mirror in her hand. The shards were too sharp for her to handle, so she could only hold them.
Mu Qing's gaze fell on Wen Zheng's bandaged finger. She took out an antidote pill and handed it to Wen Zheng's lips. "The thing that cut you might be poisonous. Take this antidote pill."
The brown pill was brought to her lips. Wen Zheng tilted her head back slightly and took the pill with her free hand. "I can do it myself." She swallowed the pill and continued to hand the mirror shards to him. "These were left behind by those two people."
Mu Qing then focused his attention on the mirror fragments. With just one glance, he could tell that the fragments were different. He took out the mirror he had obtained in the Ghost King's Palace and placed it opposite. The two mirrors were almost identical and could not reflect human images, but the materials of the fragments were very different.
Elder Yun Ge said that this mirror was related to his master's death. Now that such a mirror has appeared again, is it an implication for him?
Mu Qing asked Mayor Zhao sternly, "Is one of those two cultivators using a mirror as a magical artifact?"
Mayor Zhao nodded, getting angry as he brought it up, "That mirror is very strange. When you look into it, you become dizzy and completely lose the ability to resist."
The mirror was also a reason why he didn't stop those two people.
"I understand," Mu Qing said in a deep voice. "We'll go find those two people now."
He was about to head west to chase after them when Wen Zheng grabbed him. "Wait a minute, I have a Thousand-Mile Tracking Talisman."
She took out a peculiar talisman. Unlike the bright red talisman drawn with cinnabar, this talisman was blue and shimmered with tiny lights.
Wen Zheng affixed the Thousand-Mile Tracking Talisman to the mirror. The blue talisman transformed into a beam of light, circled the mirror shards twice, and then turned into a butterfly that flew off in one direction.
"Let's go." Wen Zheng took out her sword and flew on it, closely following the butterfly. Mu Qing touched the sword on her back, put her hand down, and quickly jumped onto Wen Zheng's sword.
Feeling the sword sinking, Wen Zheng quickly steadied herself and turned around in horror, asking, "Why are you getting on my flying sword?"
She had only been learning for a short time, and she could barely fly by herself, let alone carry someone.
"Stop talking nonsense and fly quickly, the butterfly is about to fly away." Mu Qing turned her head and transferred some spiritual energy to her.
The two of them flew unsteadily into the dense forest of the Western Hills.
The towering green forest blocked out the sun, and the ground beneath the trees was covered with low weeds, making it difficult for people to move an inch.
Wen Zheng carefully maneuvered her flying sword, following the butterfly to a cave entrance. "We're here, this is it."
The butterfly turned into blue smoke and disappeared into the air. The two of them looked at the dark cave entrance. Wen Zheng spoke first: "You go in first, I'll cover you."
Mu Qing glanced at her speechlessly, drew her sword, and walked ahead. Wen Zheng followed behind, taking out a long-lasting talisman, with a large handful of talismans tucked into her waistband.
The two had barely entered when two cultivators in white robes appeared, one of them cursing, "That brat is such a nuisance. He insists on taking back his wooden carving. If it weren't for his high talent, we would have killed him long ago."
"Alright, hurry up and grab your things and get going."
"Okay, okay."
After they finished speaking, they stepped into the dark cave together.
Wen Zheng and Mu Qing walked one after the other. The cave was very spacious and there were no other forks in the road. The two walked all the way to the end and saw a stone wall.
"There's no way out." Wen Zheng knocked on the stone wall; it was solid. She turned to Mu Qing: "What do we do?"
Although the Thousand-Mile Tracking Talisman can still be used, if you fail to find the person the first time, the chances of finding them again are very low.
Mu Qing didn't answer her question. He squatted down and looked at the ground. The black soil was faintly tinged with red. He picked up a bit and smelled it. It smelled like blood.
"Is this the blood of a demon?" Wen Zheng couldn't tell what kind of blood it was, but when she saw a large patch of blood on the ground, she had a vague sense of foreboding.
With such a large amount of bleeding, she couldn't think of any other possibility besides being murdered to silence him.
Just as the two men looked down at the soil, two men in white robes suddenly appeared and shouted at them, "What are you doing there?"
Wen Zheng slightly raised her head to look at the two of them, and nudged Mu Qing's arm with her elbow, "They seem to be human?"
Could this be the person they're looking for?
Mu Qing frowned and stood up, swinging her sword, sending a sharp sword aura flying towards the two of them.
The spacious cave became narrow due to the fighting. The two white-robed men were unable to dodge in time and were grazed by the sword energy. One of them angrily shouted, "Where did this blind fool come from, daring to hit the two of us?" His words were met with even fiercer attacks, and Mu Qing continued to strike at the two of them.
With constant dodging and the narrow passage, the two were completely unable to fight back and quickly turned around and ran towards the outside of the passage.
Just as Mu Qing was about to give chase, a talisman flew out from behind him and struck the two of them. The huge explosion knocked them to the ground, leaving them unable to move.
"This is my extra-powered version of the explosive talisman." Wen Zheng clenched her fist happily. Advanced talismans were too difficult to draw, and she didn't have time to study them. She could only keep improving the basic talismans.
Seeing that Mu Qing was still in a daze, she quickly nudged her, "Quickly tie them up and find out where the child is."
"I know." Mu Qing rubbed his temples; the echoes in the cave were giving him a headache.
He had just tied the two men up with rope when a low growl sounded from outside the cave, the voice filled with anger.
Wen Zheng looked warily toward the cave entrance, exchanged a glance with Mu Qing, and the two of them, each carrying one, rushed out of the cave.
As soon as they went outside, they saw a scene that sent chills down their spines: the surrounding bushes were filled with eerie green eyes, like will-o'-the-wisps.
Wen Zheng was so frightened that she dropped the man in white and whispered, "What is this?"
She had never seen such a terrifying scene in her entire life.
"Wolf."
A deep voice reached his ears, and Mu Qing also dropped the white-robed man he was carrying and drew his sword to fight back.
Its eerie green eyes flickered a few times before it emerged from the bushes. The alpha wolf, larger than a tiger, had matted fur covered in blood.
It raised its head and howled, and the howls of wolves rose and fell all around it as it approached them step by step.
"What should we do? Fight?" Wen Zheng walked to Mu Qing's side, holding a large handful of talismans in her hand.
Mu Qing glanced around and switched her ordinary sword for the Taiqing Sword. "You stay hidden, I'll handle this."
He pushed Wen Zheng to the cave entrance and charged at the wolf pack with his sword, which was imbued with a chilling aura.
The wolves were not to be outdone, and one after another they pounced on him, their sharp teeth nearly biting him several times.
Wen Zheng watched with trepidation, throwing out talismans one after another. At first, she would check what kind of talismans they were, but later she became numb and just kept repeating the action of throwing talismans.
When the last talisman was thrown away and Wen Zheng couldn't find it after groping around her waist, she hurriedly looked down to check.
All the hundreds of talismans I had saved up have been used up.
She looked up at the surrounding wolf pack, which was still numerous. Mu Qing did not kill the wolves; she only attacked them until they were unable to move.
Without a second thought, she took out her Azure Spirit Brocade Brush and found a stone to draw talismans on the spot. Busy drawing talismans, she didn't notice that the ropes binding the two white-robed figures had loosened, and they were glaring fiercely at Mu Qing, who was fighting the wolves.
Before Wen Zheng could finish drawing the talisman, two white-robed men rushed towards Mu Qing. They attacked too quickly, and although Mu Qing dodged in time, she was still stabbed in the back.
The sudden turn of events made Wen Zheng stop what she was doing and look at Mu Qing helplessly.
The two men in white robes seemed to be in a hurry. After slashing with their swords, they threw something at the wolves to make them go berserk and then ran away.
Wen Zheng looked at the wolves approaching step by step, drooling, quickly finished drawing the talisman in her hand, and then helped Mu Qing run into the cave.
She threw the newly drawn talisman at the entrance of the cave, forming a barrier that prevented the wolves outside from entering.
She had specifically learned these talismans to prevent Mu Qing from barging into her room again, but she never expected to use them now.
Wen Zheng sighed inwardly and turned to Mu Qing, asking, "When will you recover?"
Mu Qing closed her eyes and meditated to recover. "It will take some time."
Wen Zheng glanced at the pack of wolves lurking outside, howling at the alpha wolf as they relentlessly charged at the barrier.
The thuds from the impacts startled Wen Zheng, so she drew a few more barrier talismans and threw them out.
Looking back at Mu Qing, who was still meditating and recovering, Wen Zheng decided to save herself.
She needs to break through to the Nascent Soul stage and use the lightning tribulation to repel the wolf pack.
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