If the previous scene were to be summed with a few words: that was probably it.
Then, the three people, in the face of their glorious victory booty, went into silence.
Surrounded by three people, the constant shivering of whiskers and cheeks could not conceal the high tension and fear inside Ling Yan’s heart. Her cultivation base, peak Jindan Stage, was the highest among them, far beyond even that of Xiao Qi, much less Liu Li and Wang Lu. Properly speaking, she could easily defeat the three of them combined. However, she knew very well that if she really made her move, in just one or two strokes, the opposite three people could take her life.
Though they were still within the boundary of Grand Cloud Mountain, without all sorts of arrays ready at hand that she was familiar with, without the extracting-the-surrounding-spiritual-energy array, not to mention the backing of their entire force on the Grand Cloud Mountain, she didn’t think that higher cultivation base alone would win her against Zen Master Dog Meat, let alone the two Foundation Establishment Cultivators who were also far more powerful than they look.
And more crucially, in the face of the woman who returned her right eye back, Ling Yan has a very mixed feeling about it. Perhaps her slightly slower reaction to grab A Xia’s hand just now also stemmed from this very same reason. However, facing the present situation, the girl’s heart was actually at a lost on what to do next.
"So, what’s next?" Xiao Qi has no idea, so she unceremoniously sought help to the always thinking Wang Lu.
Wang Lu crossed his arms and then looked at the twelve-thirteen years old looking cat-eared girl in front of him.
"How about we do some perverted things to her?"
If it were someone else, Xiao Qi would simply regard him as spouting out some bullsh*t, but since this was Wang Lu...
Xiao Qi lifted up her monk staff and half-warningly said, "Hey, how could you say that, in any case, you’re still a person with a good reputation and background."
Wang Lu said, "Therefore, perverted things must be done in secret."
"…"
"She is one of the Elders in the Beast Master School Division. Though she seems somewhat weak, she’s better than the previous one who’s called Chi Hou, that muscular loser. Perhaps we can find some important clues from her. Therefore, I suggest we use some perverted means to torture and interrogate her."
Xiao Qi asked, "I understand the part about torture and interrogation, but why do you want to emphasize the perverted part?"
Wang Lu righteously said, "To someone who looks like a twelve or thirteen years old little girl, no matter what we do, it would appear abnormal. So, we might as well go all the way and make it perverted instead!"
"... Really worthy to be the disciple of your Master, an open and aboveboard pervert."
Fortunately, without having to resort to Wang Lu’s perverted methods, the cat-eared girl systematically and in full detail confessed the course of event smoothly.
Towards this, Ling Yan’s explanation was particularly convincing.
"I can’t go back, and don’t want to go back."
Seeing the mean of A Xia in taking out her eyeball, it wasn’t difficult to understand Ling Yan’s defection. After all, cats were never known for their loyalty.
After changing side, Ling Yan somewhat has given up on herself. A lot of things, without Wang Lu even asking for them, has already been confessed by her on her own initiative. Including the great undertaking scheme of Tiger King and the other Elders, which was the information about the immortal beast moon spirit.
"We first obtained the information about the immortal beast when we're still in the Southern Heaven Region. Although we are not good at divination, we are particularly sensitive to information related to spirit beast. Therefore, in recent years in Nine Regions, any event related to precious spirit beast would basically have the shadow of our Beast Master School."
This was completely consistent with Wang Lu and the other’s line of thought, thereupon they nodded in agreement.
"However, regarding immortal beasts, in the entire Nine Regions, it would only occur around once in a century. Therefore even within the sect, there was a great deal of controversy. First, the location where the immortal beast would appear is not within the sphere of influence of Beast Master School. And secondly, after all, it was only a result of divination, so it was not enough to win the trust of everyone. Thus, ultimately, only the faction with a radical view within the sect, led by Great Elder Tiger King Lei Zhen, took action and led his subordinates away from the Southern Heaven Region. For this reason, we have basically paid an enormous price, and it’s basically impossible for us to return to our power base in Southern Heaven Region. However, after we entered Grand Cloud Mountain, we discovered that our bet is justified since indeed there are traces of the immortal beast in the Grand Cloud Mountain. Moreover, it’s the precious young immortal beast."
"Wait a minute," Xiao Qi interrupted, "what kind of immortal beast exactly is that?"
"Before it could be truly caught, we can’t accurately assert its type. However, according to the inferred clues that we have gleamed so far, that young immortal beast should be a variant-type. It’s the fortune spirit of all living things on the Grand Cloud Mountain, resulting in it being born through moonlight magical transformation. Therefore, we call it moon spirit."
Wang Lu recalled his past study in the Teng Cloud Hall, which confirmed Ling Yan’s account without any contradiction.
The immortal beast in the Nine Regions was not the result of reproduction of normal creatures, but the creation of the surrounding good fortune. Because they possessed the characteristics of some kind of spirit beast, people categorized them into immortal beast. For example, before the Age of Chaos, there was an immortal beast who came out of a stone. It was born supernaturally strong, and it was valiant beyond compare. Because it looked like a monkey, it was also known as the Monkey King.
And though no one has ever seen the appearance of this immortal beast on the Grand Cloud Mountain, after Beast Master School tracked it for quite some time, they judged it to be the spirit dog type. Therefore, they collected thousands of spirit dogs to create an especially-made-for-dog spirit beast collar, in the hope that it would force the immortal beast out of its hiding.
Of course, after chasing that immortal beast for over a year, Beast Master School must’ve mastered a large amount of information. This information was not enough to help them capture the moon spirit, but put in Wang Lu et al’s hands, perhaps there would be an unexpected wondrous use.
"This is what I remember the possible locations of moon spirit deduced by the several Elders."
Ling Yan said as she lifted up her petite white hand forward and then drew a translucent map of Grand Cloud Mountain. In which, there were red lines that indicated the possible whereabouts of moon spirit.
"Though it is an immortal beast, it is the spirit of all living things, and since it is a living creature, it must obey the law of creatures. Since it came to life, it’s definitely not more than ten years, so even if it’s an immortal beast, it’s strength is still very limited. Coupled with being tired of from being pursued this last year, leaving it with no time to practice, it would not have the power to transform. Therefore, according to cultivation stage standard, it’s power would still be below Jindan."
As she said these words, Ling Yan gradually recovered some of her peak Jindan Stage imposing manner. When talking about that moon spirit, it was as if she was talking about a caged animal, completely unconcerned that based on rank, moon spirit was of a much higher rank than a spirit cat like her.
"Because of this lack of strength that its action is very much limited. Even if it has a magical ability that allows it to escape our pursuit, but after a year, we have found a lot of its pattern. Within five hundred kilometer radius around Grand Cloud Mountain, there are several places where its probability to appear is the highest."
While carefully looking at the map, Wang Lu asked, "Feng Shui line node of spiritual energy?"
Without waiting for Ling Yan to confirm, he went on to deduce, "Mm, it should be so. It is the spirit of all living things on the Grand Cloud Mountain, thus it could not leave the mountain before it fully transforms, just like a baby can’t be separated from the umbilical cord. However, even if it’s only the level of Xudan, it could play your ten Jindan and one Yuanying Elders around in circles, so obviously, it’s because the whole Grand Cloud Mountain is helping it. However, this kind of help is also traceable, which, in the final analysis, should be the Feng Shui line nodes of spiritual energy. This point should also be clear to you. However, since Grand Cloud Mountain is a place that could breed immortal beast, its Feng Shui line changes are also mysteriously strange, something which couldn’t possibly be grasped by you this group of beast trainer barbarian. Therefore, even knowing that the whereabouts of that immortal beast is related to the Feng Shui line nodes, you still couldn’t catch it. You can only draw a few approximate positions to try your luck."
Wang Lu said and then looked up at the amazed cat girl Ling Yan. "Right?"
Ling Yan inwardly marveled. That deduction was indeed correct, but Beast Master School was only able to scrape up that conclusion after several days of painstaking data perusing by many Beast Master School Division Elders. Unexpectedly, this seemingly young cultivator was so familiar with matters regarding Feng Shui line nodes and immortal beast, and everything seemed to be at his fingertips.
Of course, if put in Wang Lu’s eyes, Ling Yan’s amazement was nothing more than the manifestation of a stupid animal that could not understand the realm of best student.
"Well, now that there’s this ready-made result…" After carefully looking at the map, Wang Lu had already confirmed several points; he said, "We might as well take advantage of this time to try our luck."
Quan Zouhua, as a quasi-immortal beast, has a resonance induction function with the moon spirit. Though the other side deliberately avoided them, if they mastered the path of the moon spirit, they could wait it out on the path where it must go through. Coupled with the resonance induction, it would not be difficult to find it.
——
In accordance with the location selected by Wang Lu, they quickly adjusted their direction and went there.
Five hundred kilometer radius around Grand Cloud Mountain was not vast, but walking in an area where Beast Master School has been operating for over a year, they naturally could not speed up.
Holding her monk staff, Xiao Qi walked at the front, camouflaging her and the people walking behind using her secret spell. During which, she had a conversation with Wang Lu.
Xiao Qi casually asked a sentence, "By the way, do you really believe that cat girl’s words? I thought you never trust anyone."
Wang Lu looked back to see Liu Li talking with the cat girl; he rhetorically asked, "If she lied, wouldn’t the cost too big for her?"
"Mm, if things change, I’ll make sure she’ll die first." Xiao Qi gently nodded as if she was describing a simple fact.
Wang Lu said, "Therefore, in any case, she’s a peak Jindan Stage cultivator, wouldn’t it be too extravagant for them to put her life as bait?"
Xiao Qi was in agreement, "She previously said she can’t go back, and won’t go back… it’s not a lie. I can hear it."
"With how easy she changed side, shouldn’t it be said that she is naturally disloyal? However, able to completely unmask Ling Yan’s disloyal nature, that A Xia is really something."
Xiao Qi’s face suddenly sank. "That person is not simple."
"It can be seen; a middle-level Jindan beast trainer, yet able to f*ck a peak Jindan Stage cat girl in the ass, how could he possibly be a simple person?"
"... I believe that in the ass remark is just a slip of tongue right?"
"No, I mean it," Wang Lu said, paused and then looked around. "We’ve almost arrived."
Xiao Qi was curious. "Almost arrived?"
As soon as she said that, Xiao Qi felt the ground began to tremble slightly. After a moment, the slight tremble turned into an enormous quake. The surrounding mountain peaks began to rapidly rise, forming steep rock cliffs. Before long, the several of them had been wrapped up in a layer of cage-like cliff.
This was the second time they met the Five Mountain Broken Veins Great Array.
Wang Lu didn’t even bother to look at A Xia who was on the top of the cliff and just said to Xiao Qi, "Now you can let that three-surnamed [1] cat die first."
[1] Three surnames refer to Lu Bu from the Three Kingdoms.