Chapter 30

“There’s something beneath.”

In front of the water mirror, Ju Yuan softly said, “It’s likely the ruins of an ancient city.”

They had some knowledge of this secret realm. Aside from the desert, most of the area had been thoroughly explored. The only dangers left were a few ancient bloodline spirit beasts and carnivorous spirit plants. However, due to the suppression of the collapsing heavenly laws, as long as these creatures didn’t go berserk, escaping from them wasn’t difficult, and the casualty rate was low. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent new disciples into such a place right after entering the sect.

But now, it seemed like everything was unknown.

“If Lin Du is smart, she should have the other disciples join her. With her strength alone, it’s unlikely she could excavate such a large area of ruins.”

A cultivator spoke up.

But they quickly realized this child was clearly not smart.

Not only did she not call for help, but she also walked alone to the area where the sand had already melted, crouched down, and began drawing in the sand with the handle of her fan.

Lin Du was sketching the trajectory structure of where the sand had first melted.

After finishing her drawing, she pondered for a while but couldn’t figure out what it was. So, she started taking out her tools.

Summer’s failed elixirs would explode quickly if a little decomposing spiritual energy was injected, with a blast stronger than landmines.

Eight successive loud explosions sent dust and sand flying. Not only did it startle Ni Si and Li Dong, who hadn’t gone far, but it also frightened the crowd in front of the water mirror.

Amid the swirling dust, a figure in pale green stood steadily on one side.

After the last explosion, Lin Du’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, and she whispered, “Collapse.”

With that light word, the sand began to tremble violently. Then, the quicksand started to sink rapidly, revealing a deep pit at least ten meters wide, but it was still just a vast expanse of sand.

“Is it really this deep?”

Lin Du frowned.

It shouldn’t be, she thought, standing lightly beside the pit, as if she might fall in at any moment.

“Is Lin Du really this reckless?”

The elders stopped paying attention to the disciples fighting the spirit beasts in the forest and instead focused on the massive pit visible in the desert.

This action of blowing things up at the slightest disagreement seemed all too familiar.

Boom! Another explosion occurred elsewhere, but unlike the sand, this time dirt and rocks flew out, followed by a girl in a pink robe emerging.

Unlike Lin Du, who hadn’t gotten a speck of dust on her earlier, this girl was covered in dirt, looking like a lion cat that had secretly run out to roll in the mud.

Her big eyes blinked in confusion.

The elders: … If they remembered correctly, wasn’t she also from the Supreme Sect? Ranked 99th on the Qingyun list, it was definitely this girl, right?

“Look, that girl is holding a Five-Colored Stone Flower, a top-tier spiritual plant.”

…

“As expected of a disciple of the Supreme Sect, ha ha ha.”

“Truly worthy of being one of the young talents of Zhong Zhou, really remarkable.”

The elders quickly began praising her. After all, encountering a Five-Colored Stone Flower was extremely rare, with only one instance recorded on the map when someone had luckily found one.

Moreover, this plant grows deep within caves, in a maze of hundreds of interconnected stone paths. One wrong step, and it’s a dead end. Inside, there are bloodthirsty bat swarms and demonic snakes, making it one of the most dangerous places.

Many people had gotten lost inside, never to come out.

But clearly, the disciples of the Supreme Sect had a very straightforward approach.

Can’t find a way out? Just blast one open.

Sky Thunder Seeds aren’t easy to come by—they’re the last resort for survival. Explosive talismans are similarly rare. Only these rich kids from the Supreme Sect could throw so many without blinking.

No one expected that what they were throwing were just failed elixirs, containing explosive fire spiritual energy that couldn’t be controlled.

When yet another explosion occurred, the elders were already numb.

“Is it another disciple from the Supreme Sect?”

Ju Yuan coughed, “Maybe not.”

Just as he finished speaking, they saw a figure clad in dark gold armor emerge from the dust, followed by a pair of yellow dragon horns poking the youth in the lower back.

Ju Yuan: …Oh, it really is one of ours.

Yuan Ye, that royal descendant.

As the dragon-horn-like object poked him, the youth let out a yelp and flew into the air, shouting something loudly.

Ju Yuan rubbed his temples. Thankfully, the Heavenly Eye couldn’t hear any sounds.

He really didn’t think that child would say anything good.

Moreover, his own waist was starting to hurt a little.

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s with you, old cow! Is my erhu playing really that bad? Didn’t you say you’d give me a pearl if I played the right tune? Didn’t I play it right?”

The spirit beast snorted in response and charged at him again.

Yuan Ye swiftly turned mid-air and then jumped onto a large boulder. Seeing that the ox was still coming at him, he had no choice but to continue running forward.

“Even if I’m playing badly, you don’t have to butt me!”

“Hey, hey, stop butting my rear!”

Yuan Ye shouted loudly as he dodged, appearing quite disheveled. However, there wasn’t the slightest trace of panic or urgency on his face.

“Is that… a dragon-snake with the bloodline of a Qui Niu?” one of the elders recognized amidst the chaos.

The creature had the head of an ox, yellow horns, the body of a snake, and four legs. It hadn’t fully transformed into a dragon, but the dragon’s bloodline was still evident.

By nature, spirit beasts with the Qui Niu bloodline are gentle, fond of music, and not violent, so they wouldn’t normally harm anyone.

In this secret realm, this dragon-snake with the Qui Niu bloodline guarded a spiritual creek. The water flowed gently, birds chirped melodiously in the forest—truly a natural symphony.

“The disciples of the Supreme Sect really don’t follow the usual paths,” Ju Yuan listened to the elders’ discussions, maintaining a forced smile.

This wasn’t his personal disciple, but he vaguely remembered that this kid had taken a *xiqin* from the Treasure Pavilion. The child’s master was Cang Li, who was skilled in music, making him half a music cultivator.

A royal descendant protected by dragon energy should have the highest affinity with spirit beasts of the dragon lineage, and among the dragon kin, the Qui Niu bloodline was the most gentle and music-loving.

With three layers of favorable conditions, Yuan Ye still managed to push this dragon-snake to the brink of rampage. In a way, that was a skill in itself.

The dragon-snake chased relentlessly while the boy kept running.

Ju Yuan quickly noticed that Yuan Ye was deliberately keeping the dragon-snake at bay, maintaining a distance where it could almost reach him with a lunge but never letting it actually harm him.

“Yan Qing! Are you done yet? I told you to fetch the pearl, not go fishing!” Yuan Ye, seeing that he was nearly out of energy and that the spirit snake was becoming increasingly agitated, shouted into his disciple token.

“Alright, alright! The spirit beast had hidden several burrows under the creek, so it took some time,” Yan Qing’s voice came from the token. “You can retreat now. I’m one mile to the west. Shake off that snake and come find me.”

Yuan Ye glanced back at the snake, then grinned, “Brother Niu, see you later. I’ll play you another tune when I get the chance.”

With that, he deftly dodged the thick snake tail that swept towards him. The tree the tail hit snapped in half, but Yuan Ye wasn’t fazed at all. With a few light steps, he moved gracefully like a swimming dragon, and in no time, he had already distanced himself by several meters.