Chapter 75 – Blazing Ants and Someone Passing By

There really wasn’t much to eat around here.

Lian Mu thought to herself.

She had left the wooden huts and walked for quite a long time, but hadn’t found a single spirit plant that could be eaten directly. Most of them were poisonous and required processing in a pill furnace.

She wasn’t hungry per se, but the depleted spiritual energy in her dantian felt terrible. The spirit plants she’d collected couldn’t be eaten raw, and she was running out of Spirit Recovery Pills.

At least she wasn’t worried about beast attacks anymore. The scent of that particular spirit plant she carried kept magical beasts from attacking her—in fact, it made hunting them easier.

Along the way, she had cleared out three magical beast dens, totaling more than a dozen beasts. Some of them seemed to be above fifth rank—beyond her normal combat ability—but upon seeing her, they had simply laid down without resistance, letting her slaughter them at will.

That spirit plant was far too special. Even Ji Mingyue hadn’t told her that Vermillion South had a plant with such a bizarre effect.

Magical beasts weren’t a problem anymore. What she was truly worried about was running into disciples from other sects—she wasn’t in a good state for fighting right now.

She needed something to replenish her spiritual energy.

The trees in this area were tall, with dense canopies that formed a network overhead, making it hard to tell whether it was day or night. She felt colder the further she went.

Lian Mu remembered Bai Lique mentioning that in Insect Mountain and Serpent Ridge, poisonous miasma would spread after dark. It might be getting close to nightfall now.

Looking around at the trees, she noticed one with fiery red ants crawling all over its trunk.

She recognized them instantly. She’d seen them mentioned in The Vermillion South Guide to Venomous Creatures, a book she had borrowed from Azure Profound Sect’s library. These were Blazing Ants—poisonous when mature, capable of self-ignition when threatened. But in their larval stage, they fed on spirit plant sap and could be used to replenish spiritual energy.

Lian Mu reached her hand above the line of Blazing Ants. The busy ants instantly froze. The entire column stopped moving.

As expected, the scent from that spirit plant didn’t just affect magical beasts—it worked on venomous insects too.

Her eyes lit up as she followed the ants to their nest.

This colony was huge. Their earthen mound was nearly half as tall as she was.

Lian Mu kicked over the mound and stabbed her sword into the ruined Blazing Ant nest.

Sensing danger, the ants began to prepare for self-immolation, but the scent from Fortune’s blade calmed them, and they all climbed onto the sword.

Lian Mu got to work, digging out all the ant larvae and dumping them into her pot.

Blazing Ant larvae couldn’t move and were pure white, clustered tightly together, which made collecting them very convenient.

Once she’d stripped the nest clean, she shook off the ants clinging to her sword, carried the pot to a small stream, built a makeshift stove with stones, cleaned the pot and ingredients, lit a fire, and started cooking.

Meanwhile, outside the illusion realm, the observing elders were filled with mixed emotions as they watched.

Murong Yi: “…”

It’s almost nightfall, and she’s cooking?

Xin Wanbai watched Lian Mu’s movements intently. She even thought it wasn’t enough and went downstream to catch fish and shrimp. “…”

The Clear Thought Sect elder took a deep breath and looked toward the recording stone showing his sect’s disciples. The lead team was currently being harassed by magical beasts, and the others weren’t doing much better.

This illusion trial was full of unexpected factors. Besides beasts, venomous insects and toxic miasma were hard to deal with. None of the disciples from the four major sects had had a smooth ride so far.

Azure Profound Sect had started closest to the Wood Core Flower, but after the Returning Immortal Sect’s second-seat sword cultivator dug it up, she wandered in a direction further and further from Azure Profound Sect. She wasn’t moving in a straight line—just aimlessly meandering and spreading traces of the flower’s spiritual aura everywhere.

Azure Profound Sect’s lead team had encountered a Serpent Den midway. Their lead body cultivator had gotten bitten. Over at Crimson Sky Sect, things were safer, but there were too few beasts, so they couldn’t find their way forward. As for the Returning Immortal Sect’s lead team, they had Ji Mingyue and Wen Yun, which made handling venomous creatures easier—but they were far away.

Nightfall was near, and the first wave of toxic miasma was about to hit. Everyone else was scrambling to prepare—except the Returning Immortal Sect’s second-seat sword cultivator, who was calmly cooking dinner by the stream.

The Crimson Sky Sect’s alchemy elder couldn’t help but say, “Your second-seat sword cultivator seems to be living quite comfortably in there.”

Xin Wanbai knew full well the remark was sarcastic, but she kept her composure. “At the moment, other than the toxic miasma, there’s nothing that poses a threat to her.”

Her comment immediately drew resentment.

Snark was one thing—envy was another. Everyone wished it was their sect’s disciple with that kind of luck.

The Clear Thought Sect’s sword cultivator elder turned to Shang Liu. “That disciple took the Wood Core Flower. It’s bound to affect the other sects. The planned routes of the lead teams will be thrown into disarray. Surely we can’t just let her keep it forever?”

The elders from the Returning Immortal Sect all turned to Shang Liu.

Murong Yi, blunt as ever, said, “We all agreed that everything would be based on personal ability. Why should the rules change just because you’re unhappy?”

The Crimson Sky Sect’s sword elder chimed in, “And what if we’re unhappy too? The Wood Core Flower shouldn’t be in her hands. She’s dragging the endpoint around with her—that’s not fair to the rest of us!”

Xin Wanbai raised her eyes. “Once the disciples enter the illusion realm, the location of the Wood Core Flower can’t be interfered with from the outside. Even if all of you are dissatisfied, you can’t demand that she return it to its original place. Our Returning Immortal Sect simply doesn’t like to make a scene—it doesn’t mean we can’t.”

Every sword elder here had a sword at their hip. As she spoke, Xin Wanbai rested her right hand meaningfully on her hilt.

“……”

The room fell silent for a moment. A Artifact cultivator elder from Azure Profound Sect finally stepped in to smooth things over. “Alright, alright. You sword cultivators… always so impulsive. Let’s all calm down and talk this through.”

After a pause, Shang Liu slowly spoke. “That disciple finding the Wood Core Flower was an incredible stroke of luck. It’s natural that she chose to dig it up. For now, let’s not interfere and see how things develop.”

Shang Liu’s word carried the most weight among the elders—but he was, after all, from Azure Profound Sect. Saying they should “wait and see” was really just waiting to see if it would negatively impact his sect.

Xin Wanbai understood perfectly. All she hoped was that Lian Mu would pluck the flower the moment it bloomed. If her calculations were right, there were still three days left until the Wood Core Flower bloomed.

Murong Yi stared at the image of Lian Mu flipping food in the wok and murmured, “Wait… could it be that she doesn’t even realize she dug up the Wood Core Flower?”

Xin Wanbai’s fingertips paused slightly. “…”

Now that he mentioned it… it did seem possible.

From the moment Lian Mu had discovered the flower’s seedling, she hadn’t shown the slightest surprise. She’d just casually tossed it into her spatial pouch, mixing it with other spirit plants.

Murong Yi: “…”

Alright. On second thought, he was pretty sure Lian Mu hadn’t recognized it at all.

Xin Wanbai’s gaze turned contemplative. “Looks like this year’s illusion trial might be the most entertaining one yet.”

…

In the Pangu Illusion Realm—

After Lian Mu finished stir-frying, she immediately began eating. The Blazing Ant larvae were fragrant and replenished spiritual energy, so she completely ignored their ugly appearance and ate them all without the slightest guilt.

Sure enough, it worked—her dizziness had eased.

After replenishing her spiritual energy, the air grew colder and colder around her. It was likely already evening, and the poisonous miasma would soon arrive.

There was no high ground here, but while wandering earlier, Lian Mu had seen a thousand-year-old giant tree to the south. Its trunk looked sturdy enough—she could probably hide in it overnight.

Time was tight. Lian Mu packed up her pot and sword, pulled a broomstick from her spatial pouch, mounted it, and flew toward the giant tree in the south.

However, just after she left, someone else arrived at the area.

“Captain, someone’s been here.”

Jiang Yuechen brushed aside the fallen leaves on the ground, revealing a string of fresh footprints in the mud.

“Looks like they were alone—only one set of tracks.”

The Azure Profound Sect’s first-seat team had come from the southeast. The poisonous miasma was spreading from that direction, so they’d detoured to avoid it and ended up here.

Feng Yunyi scanned the surroundings. “There are traces of wood-core flower spiritual energy here.”

The talisman in Jiang Yuechen’s hand burned out as she added, “We passed three magical beast nests along the way, all of them already cleared out. That person must still be nearby.”

She turned to Ying You and asked, “Captain, should we find them?”

Ying You looked around. “No need. Our goal is to locate the wood-core flower as quickly as possible. Don’t waste time on one person.”

Feng Yunyi’s fingertips glowed with green light. Following its direction, he stopped in front of a tree where a cluster of unmoving red ants clung to the bark.

“That’s odd,” Feng Yunyi said with a puzzled look. “These red ants also carry traces of wood-core flower spiritual energy.”

He pivoted on his toes and began following the line of ants. The others followed his lead.

Feng Yunyi soon found a destroyed earthen mound. The traces of wood-core flower spiritual energy here were the strongest so far.

“Did you mess up?” Jiang Yuechen asked. “The traces we found earlier pointed in another direction.”

Feng Yunyi frowned. “No mistake. The spiritual energy here is denser than anywhere else.”

“Someone’s definitely been here.” Ying You stared at a crack near the red ants’ nest—it looked like the mark of a sword strike.

As Feng Yunyi reached out to collect the remaining traces of spiritual energy, the previously unmoving red ants suddenly stirred.

Ying You grabbed Feng Yunyi’s shoulder and pulled him back. “Danger!”

The red ants, now awakened and realizing their nest had been destroyed, immediately swarmed together. In the next instant, they ignited in flames from top to bottom, creating a fiery gale that swept straight toward the Azure Profound Sect’s first-seat team.

Ying You slashed through the firestorm with his sword, but the Blazing Ants’ self-immolation lasted long. Splitting them up only made them burn more wildly.

Jiang Yuechen quickly drew a talisman and formed a protective barrier around the team, keeping the red ants outside.

“What the hell are these things?” cursed Gu Qingyu, who was being helped up. He’d been poisoned by a snake earlier, and his face was pale. Now he’d been burned by a Blazing Ant; the back of his hand was blistered.

“Their fire is toxic,” Feng Yunyi muttered, quickly applying salve to Gu Qingyu’s wound.

Under the shield of the barrier, the firestorm gradually weakened. The Blazing Ants burned out completely, leaving behind nothing but blackened husks.

Jiang Yuechen dispelled the barrier. Ying You crouched and picked up a few charred corpses, inspecting them. “Blazing Ants. Someone stole the larvae from their nest.”

Feng Yunyi had a vague feeling that something wasn’t right, though he couldn’t put his finger on what.

Ying You looked up at him. “Which way do we go now?”

As a pill cultivator, Feng Yunyi had an acute sense for wood-core flower energy. The first-seat team largely relied on him to navigate.

After a moment’s thought, Feng Yunyi replied, “We head west.”