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Xie Jiuniang looked up at a spot a hundred feet high on the mountain peak.
There were people lurking in the shadows, monitoring her every move. She had to act like a Qi Refining seventh level cultivator—she could appear weak but not exceed her supposed limits.
Carefully, she climbed upwards.
As she approached within two zhang[1]2 zhang: 2 ft of the spiritual plant, Xie Jiuniang unhurriedly took out a Defensive Talisman and patted it on her body. She then took out a Vajra Talisman and patted it on her right arm.
In her precognition, the thumb size golden-ringed snake would bite her right arm.
The golden-ringed snake’s speed was too fast, and its strength was far beyond Xie Jiuniang’s. In her precognition, it only bit and injured her, injecting a small amount of snake venom, which should have been on the orders of its master, Mo Chuan.
Otherwise, with the golden-ringed snake’s true cultivation level, it could kill Xie Jiuniang in less than a breath.
Xie Jiuniang continued climbing upwards.
She entered within a two-zhang range.
Suddenly, a snake’s shadow shot out like an arrow.
Almost simultaneously, Xie Jiuniang activated the Defensive Talisman and the Vajra Talisman. She herself also shot up two zhang like a sword.
The golden-ringed snake was a bit dumbfounded when its first strike missed.
The small prey that its master spoke of actually dodged?
Xie Jiuniang paid no attention to the golden-ringed snake. Her five fingers plunged straight into the soil at the root of the Seven Leaf Flower, instantly digging out the entire plant and storing it in her storage pouch.
It wasn’t that the Seven Leaf Flower was easy to dig up. The spiritual plant had been artificially buried which was different from those naturally grown.
Oh, the soil was loose, making it easy to dig!
The golden-ringed snake couldn’t stand it when it saw the spiritual plant it was guarding being stolen by Xie Jiuniang. It attacked her again, its venomous fangs flashing with cold light as it bit down on Xie Jiuniang’s right arm.
Crack.
A section of the venomous fangs broke off.
What the hell?
The golden-ringed snake was furious. Its body suddenly enlarged, growing several zhang in length. Its tail fiercely whipped towards Xie Jiuniang.
Xie Jiuniang was on the cliff face, and the environment was already unfavorable for her. As the snake’s tail struck, she tossed out a Binding Talisman.
The golden-ringed snake was only immobilized for half a breath before it broke free from the Binding Talisman’s restraint and struck at her again.
Boom!
Xie Jiuniang raised her arm to block. The force sent her entire body crashing into the stone wall. At the same time, the Defensive Talisman and Vajra Talisman on her body shattered under the impact.
Damn it! Xie Jiuniang almost cursed out loud.
This snake actually had strength comparable to the Foundation Establishment stage!
Without the protection of the talismans, another strike would finish her off.
Immediately, a bone knife appeared in Xie Jiuniang’s palm. She wrapped the blade with spiritual power and plunged it into the cliff face. Decisively, she used the Thousand Catties Fall[2]Thousand Catties Fall: A martial arts technique involving a heavy downward force. technique, sliding down almost eighteen zhang in an instant.
She gripped the knife handle with one hand, barely stopping her fall and successfully escaping the attack range of the golden-ringed snake’s tail above.
However, the golden-ringed snake shrank again!
Its body slid down swiftly, coming towards her.
“I’ll blast you to death!”
Xie Jiuniang took out a handful of talismans.
She patted the Defensive Talisman and Vajra Talisman on her body, then threw the Binding Talisman and Explosive Talisman at the golden-ringed snake.
At her current Qi Refining seventh level, Xie Jiuniang could only activate four talismans at a time.
She was really pissed off now!
“Boom!”
The moment the explosion occurred, Xie Jiuniang’s body fell downwards.
It looked extremely perilous!
In midair, a figure in a cyan robe flew over. With a sweep of his robe, he blocked the falling rocks from above for Xie Jiuniang. He then extended his arm to catch her.
Suddenly, an unexpected change occurred.
He discovered that the target had grabbed his robe collar a step ahead of him, and her entire small body crashed into his embrace.
He was actually unable to move for a moment?
It only took half a breath for him to break free from the immobilized state.
Unfortunately, it was too late!
Bang!
The two of them fell from the sky like a thousand-catty[3]Catty: A traditional Chinese unit of weight, equal to around 500 grams or 1.1 pounds. boulder and crashed into the ground with a loud bang, creating a large crater.
The person at the bottom was none other than the cyan-robed male cultivator!
Now, he was shaken by the tremendous impact, his internal organs and blood surging, his mind muddled by the dizziness.
Xie Jiuniang was also left with a dizzy head from the impact. However, having someone at the bottom left her unscathed.
But as the dust settled, it threatened to bury Xie Jiuniang.
Xie Jiuniang quickly created a spiritual shield for herself.
As for the other person?
Who cares if he lives or dies.
The cyan-robed male cultivator was left coughing violently from the dust, even bringing tears to his eyes.
Xie Jiuniang crawled out of the large crater on her own hands and feet.
She moved away from the disaster area…
Well, she moved a bit away from the large crater and then plopped down on the grass. “It’s really tiring me to death…”
First, she took a sip of spiritual liquid to calm herself.
Xie Jiuniang drank the spiritual liquid while taking out the best formation disk from her storage pouch. She inserted spirit stones and immediately activated a defensive formation.
After all the commotion, she really didn’t have the strength to run away. The most important thing was to set up a formation to protect herself. The golden-ringed snake wasn’t dead yet.
As the formation gradually took effect, a nine-zhang diameter barrier opened above her head. Being inside finally gave her a sense of safety.
Only then did she weakly pull up her sleeve, revealing the diamond-made arm guard, the culprit that had broken the golden-ringed snake’s venomous fangs earlier.
She took off the arm guard and felt much lighter.
This arm guard was a spoil of war obtained from a Foundation Establishment stage bandit. Her father didn’t quite like it, so she took it to study. She never thought it would come in handy today to play a trick on the golden-ringed snake.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
Another violent coughing fit came from the bottom of the crater.
The coughing sounded as if his lungs were about to come out. When the dust dissipated, the person in the crater stood up, and beside him, a huge golden-ringed snake protected him.
Xie Jiuniang narrowed her phoenix eyes.
If she couldn’t guess the identity of the cyan-robed male cultivator by now, she would be a fool.
An ordinary Qi Refining cultivator, intentionally smashed like this by her, would either die or be crippled. They definitely wouldn’t be able to stand up in such a short time.
Moreover, when she approached the cyan-robed male cultivator, Xie Jiuniang smelled a faint medicinal fragrance, the kind that clings to alchemists after years of refining. In other words, the cyan-robed male cultivator was Mo Chuan in disguise.
Before Mo Chuan could look over, Xie Jiuniang suppressed the coldness in her eyes and put on an innocent and confused expression. “Who are you?”
Without waiting for Mo Chuan to speak, Xie Jiuniang then exclaimed as if she had a sudden realization, “I know! You’re the owner of the golden-ringed snake, trying to snatch my spiritual plant!”
“Cough, cough, cough…”
Mo Chuan clutched his chest, holding back a mouthful of stifled air.
Was she trying to shift the blame? But could he reveal the truth?
No!
Otherwise, if the Nascent Soul elder of the disciple recruitment courtyard noticed his presence, even as a personal disciple, he wouldn’t fare well.
Mo Chuan could only force an explanation, “Cough, cough, Fellow Daoist Xie has misunderstood. I discovered the spiritual plant first. At that time, it hadn’t fully matured, so I let my contracted beast guard it, intending to come back and pick it in two days. Cough, cough, cough…”
He coughed for a while again.
After catching his breath, Mo Chuan said helplessly, “I rushed over just in time to see you in danger. In the urgency of the moment, I intended to…”
“Don’t think that by saying this, I’ll share half of the spiritual plant I picked with you.”
“No, I didn’t intend to…”
It hurts, my Seven Leaf Flower.
Mo Chuan decided it was best to keep it out of sight and left with the golden-ringed snake first. He urgently needed a quiet place to heal his injuries and didn’t want to argue nonsense with Xie Jiuniang.
As for the matter of the wooden hairpin, he would have to reconsider it later.
Seeing him flee in such a wretched state, Xie Jiuniang felt extremely pleased.
It was a pity that the fall didn’t kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator. She had even used a Binding Talisman to immobilize him for half a breath, then used the Thousand Catties Fall to press down on him, in addition to the fall from high up…
That Mo guy really had great luck!
Xie Jiuniang began to promptly handle the spiritual plants.
She stored the Seven Leaf Flower and the Qi-Condensing Lingzhi separately in high-quality spirit jade boxes, then attached Sealing Talismans on it. This could effectively protect the medicinal properties and prevent the loss of spiritual energy.
After finishing, she sat down on the spot to recover.
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Katra1212[Translator]
Hi I'm Katra! Translator by day, lemon aficionado by night. Secretly suspects a past life as a citrus fruit. Squeezing the joy out of language, one word at a time.🍋