Chapter 29: Snatching Food from the Eagle’s Beak

Xie Jiuniang deftly maneuvered through the dense forest, her figure as graceful as a swallow gliding through the clouds. Ahead, a flash of white caught her eye in the grass. With a swift leap, she snatched up a gray-white rabbit in her right hand—an ordinary wild rabbit, not a spirit beast.

Continuing forward, Xie Jiuniang soon reached a small waterfall nestled in the mountains. She found an inconspicuous corner and swiftly excavated a small stone cave with her flying sword, just large enough to accommodate the rabbit. Carefully, she tied the assessment jade token to the rabbit’s abdomen and bound its limbs before placing it inside the cave. The token possessed positioning and sensing capabilities, ensuring that her location displayed in the sect would always be at the waterfall.

To conceal the cave entrance, Xie Jiuniang used vines she had nurtured, and outside, she set up a small isolation formation. Using an invisibility talisman, she continued flying forward at breakneck speed.

Within an hour, Xie Jiuniang reached a spot about one li^[1]li: A traditional Chinese unit of distance, equal to about 500 meters or 0.31 miles. away from a towering mountain peak that pierced the clouds. She affixed another Aura Concealing Talisman^[2]Aura Concealing Talisman: A magical item used by cultivators to hide their spiritual energy (qi) from detection. to herself, knowing that cultivators possessed keen eyesight.

On the cliff face, a hundred zhang^[3]Zhang: A traditional Chinese unit of length, equal to about 3.3 meters or 10.9 feet. high, someone was burying an object. Facing the cliff wall, Xie Jiuniang could only see his back, making it difficult to immediately identify him. However, one thing was certain—the danger she encountered in her previous life was indeed premeditated.

Without probing with her spiritual sense, she knew what he was burying: a hundred-year-old Qi-Condensing Lingzhi^[4]Lingzhi: A type of medicinal mushroom highly prized in traditional Chinese medicine and cultivation., the main ingredient for refining Foundation Establishment Pills.

In her previous life, she had passed by this spot and caught a whiff of a medicinal fragrance. Climbing the mountain to investigate, she discovered the Lingzhi in the exact location. While harvesting it, a falcon attacked her, causing her to fall off the cliff in peril. Someone had rescued her, and she survived the ordeal, but her broken sword was swindled away, and she never heard of anyone using it. Thus, Xie Jiuniang had yet to deduce who had orchestrated the scheme against her.

It was a truly ingenious plot, with each step meticulously connected to the next.

The moment Xie Jiuniang entered the mountains, she deliberately followed the route from her previous life, sneaking ahead to the cliff where she had faced danger, determined to uncover the truth behind the scenes.

As the person finished burying the item and turned to leave, Xie Jiuniang was stunned.

It was Mo Chuan!

In her previous life, he was a prominent figure in the Tianxu Sect, ranked among the top ten prodigies in the Eastern Domain, and renowned as the number one talent in the Dao of Alchemy^[5]Dao of Alchemy: The art and study of creating magical pills and elixirs in the cultivation world.. Before Xie Jiuniang’s death, Mo Chuan’s cultivation had already reached the early stage of Nascent Soul, and he was also the youngest seventh-grade alchemist^[6]Seventh-grade alchemist: A highly skilled alchemist, with the highest grade being ninth. in the entire cultivation world.

Mo Chuan was a prodigy of the same generation as Lin Wangchen. Like Lin Wangchen, he was of noble birth, possessed outstanding looks, and had numerous admirers. As the saying goes, two tigers cannot coexist on the same mountain. In their previous life, although they appeared calm on the surface, Xie Jiuniang, as Lin Wangchen’s Dao companion, naturally knew that their relationship was strained.

Due to his poor relationship with Lin Wangchen, Xie Jiuniang had no interactions with Mo Chuan. However, she had witnessed him helping treat outer sect disciples multiple times, only charging a small amount of spirit stones, leaving her with a favorable impression of him.

It turned out that the Mo family was also one of the forces secretly hunting her. The Mo family had a long history of medical cultivation and an excellent reputation in the Eastern Domain, greatly respected by others.

At this time, Mo Chuan should have reached the Foundation Establishment stage. As he wasn’t a disciple participating in the assessment, he must be one of the personnel in charge of it.

Xie Jiuniang did her utmost to conceal her aura, feeling fortunate that she had used an Aura Concealing Talisman in advance. Otherwise, at such a close distance, she might have been discovered. She waited for Mo Chuan to depart.

Even after he left, Xie Jiuniang remained motionless, gazing towards the cliff, the flames of anger in the depths of her eyes continuously surging. Although she couldn’t confront him yet, it wouldn’t be too much to take some interest first, right?

After a quarter of an hour had passed, Xie Jiuniang took out a Time Leaf. At the seventh level of Qi Refining, she could foresee the next twelve breaths and rewind time by six quarter-hours.

Although it was only twelve breaths, it was enough!

Xie Jiuniang quietly activated her foresight. In the river of time, she took a step forward and immediately saw several scenes unfold.

[She approached the cliff wall, climbed up, found the Qi-Condensing Lingzhi, and was about to reach out and pick it. Suddenly, a falcon appeared and attacked her with swift ferocity. In the struggle against the falcon, she was momentarily overpowered and severely injured…]

The twelve breaths ended.

Wiping the cold sweat from her forehead, Xie Jiuniang quickly took a sip of spirit liquid and immediately sat down to meditate, allowing her dried-up dantian to recover rapidly.

Once her spiritual power was replenished, Xie Jiuniang ceased meditating and looked towards the cliff again. As expected, the falcon was there too.

If the Qi-Condensing Lingzhi was placed by Mo Chuan, then the falcon must also be raised by him. During the assessment, demonic beasts comparable to Foundation Establishment cultivators would be excluded from this area. The falcon’s actual strength was equivalent to the ninth level of Qi Refining.

Xie Jiuniang wanted to secretly take the Qi-Condensing Lingzhi without causing a commotion. Ideally, she would kill the falcon and make Mo Chuan suffer a significant loss. However, with her current strength, she couldn’t accomplish that. She needed to plan carefully.

Raising her left index finger, Xie Jiuniang tapped the covenant imprint on her right hand. “Broken Sword, Xiao Jianjian, let’s have a chat.” [TN: Xiao Jianjian: Lil’ Swordy.]

“You help me with a small favor, and I’ll give you a spirit stone as a reward. How about that? I’m generous enough, right?”

Xie Jiuniang spoke while tapping the covenant imprint.

Hearing this, the Broken Sword became irritated. This new master’s mouth was too vile! Who was called Xiao Jianjian? It had a domineering name!

Most importantly, the new master was too stingy. She clearly had two thousand spirit stones in her storage pouch, yet she only offered one?

Xie Jiuniang vaguely sensed the Broken Sword’s thoughts, and a glint flashed in her eyes. “Of course, if you handle the matter well, I can reward you with a thousand spirit stones.”

“Two thousand!” A childish voice suddenly rang out in Xie Jiuniang’s mind, angrily saying, “If it’s not two thousand, I absolutely won’t do it!”

Xie Jiuniang was secretly delighted. It finally agreed to speak?

Nonchalantly, she said, “Alright! It’s a deal.”

“Hmph, I won’t go back on my word,” the sword spirit snorted in a childish voice. “Also, you can’t call me Xiao Jianjian! I have a domineering name called…”

“Okay, Xiao Jianjian.” Xie Jiuniang ignored the Broken Sword’s exasperated state and organized the items she might need.

Invisibility Talismans were a must, as were Aura Concealing Talismans. Oh, and Earth Traversal Talismans, Teleportation Talismans, and Flight Talismans should all be prepared. The crafting methods for these rare talismans came from a book called “Comprehensive Guide to Talisman Characters” in her family’s library. Xie Jiuniang had practiced these three types of talismans during her seclusion, and now she had over a hundred of them stored in her storage pouch.

She also took out rock climbing tools. As long as she didn’t use spiritual power, it wouldn’t be easy to discover her movements.

Xie Jiuniang had experienced it once in her previous life. She had seen it again in her foresight, and after simulating it several times in her mind, her small body became as agile as a monkey. She successfully climbed up the cliff and quickly approached the Qi-Condensing Lingzhi’s location, a hundred zhang high on the cliff.

The hundred-year-old Qi-Condensing Lingzhi was the size of a sea bowl, emitting a faint purple glow. It was ready to be used as medicine! Upon closer inspection, one would discover that its medicinal fragrance had been sealed within a small range.

“Xiao Jianjian, get ready!” Xie Jiuniang secretly transmitted her voice. With her left hand gripping the rock to stabilize her body, she pretended to reach out with her right hand to pick the Qi-Condensing Lingzhi.

“Screech!” The falcon, hidden in the clouds at the mountain’s peak, let out a long cry and swooped towards Xie Jiuniang.

Well-prepared, Xie Jiuniang’s hand that was originally reaching for the Lingzhi suddenly turned and threw a handful of scattered sand towards the falcon’s eyes. The sand, cast with spiritual power, successfully obstructed the falcon for half a breath, enough time for Xie Jiuniang to pluck out the Qi-Condensing Lingzhi.

Once successful, she decisively activated the flying talisman and leaped downward.

Boom! The falcon’s claw grasped empty air! The hard rock under its claw crumbled like tofu, and broken stones and soil flew in all directions.

Just as the falcon was about to flap its wings and take off again, the Broken Sword, which had been lying in ambush among the rocks, flew out, leaving only a faint shadow in the air. In the next instant, blood spurted from the falcon’s throat, and a rain of blood began to fall in mid-air.

Xie Jiuniang had a pair of wings formed from spiritual energy on her back, the activated state of the flying talisman, effectively slowing down her falling speed. The flying talisman was only of the lowest grade, and its duration was inherently short. Now, with the rapid falling speed, Xie Jiuniang desperately stimulated the flying talisman to control her posture, causing the talisman’s power to be consumed even faster.

By the time she safely landed on the ground, the spiritual energy wings on her back dissipated.

Boom! The falcon’s corpse followed closely, crashing to the ground and stirring up a cloud of dust.

The Broken Sword simultaneously returned to the covenant space.

Xie Jiuniang waved her hand, storing the falcon’s corpse into her storage pouch. She immediately activated the teleportation talisman, and her figure instantly disappeared from the spot.

---

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