Chapter 144 Three-Eyed, Scale-Hoofed, Two-Headed Deer

Lian Mu didn’t plan to remind him and continued searching along the path to the west.

She released Green Bean and fed it the demonic beast scent she had gathered, letting it lead the way.

As a spirit beast, Green Bean was highly sensitive to demonic beast scents. Among the seven types of demonic beasts, it especially liked to eat Wood Beasts and Metal Beasts. Lian Mu hadn’t had time to feed it these past days, so this was the perfect moment to put it to use.

As soon as Green Bean hit the ground, it sniffed out the direction of the Wood Beast and crawled off at lightning speed. It was small but remarkably fast when hunting for food—vanishing in a blink.

Lian Mu followed behind. The farther they went, the denser the underbrush grew, and the more dangerous it became.

Green Bean stopped in front of a tree covered in green vines, its bean-sized eyes fixed on something above, motionless for a long while.

Lian Mu observed as well but saw nothing unusual about the tree. She swung her sword and sliced off the vines coiled around the trunk; milky sap oozed from the cut.

The vines were normal.

She was just about to test the trunk when a wolf’s howl sounded behind her, approaching fast.

Lian Mu frowned and turned to see Ning Xun again, this time with a pack of black wolves behind him. Each wolf’s eyes glowed green with hunger as they chased him.

Lian Mu: “?”

Didn’t he head the other way? How did he end up here?

Ning Xun spotted her too, sprinting so fast his feet nearly sparked. “Miss, run!”

Lian Mu: “……”

He lured a whole pack of wolves over, ran straight at her, then told her to run—wasn’t this deliberate?

She stood her ground. Seeing she wouldn’t move, Ning Xun immediately climbed up a tree with monkey-like agility.

With their prey out of reach, the wolves redirected their fury at Lian Mu.

These black wolves were also demonic beasts, with blood-red mouths and thorn-like tails. Though low-ranked, about fifth or sixth tier, their numbers were intimidating—dozens at least.

Lian Mu couldn’t be bothered to fight. She kicked Green Bean forward. Catching the scent of demonic beasts, Green Bean transformed midair into a mass of black mist that expanded and landed in the shape of a giant scorpion.

By sheer size alone, Green Bean easily overpowered the wolves. Spirit beasts naturally suppressed demonic beasts; the wolves, catching its scent, wavered with unease.

The wolf king howled, its eyes turning crimson as it lunged and bit Green Bean’s leg, trying to rip it apart.

Green Bean flexed its pincers, caught the wolf king’s neck, and tore it off cleanly.

Without their leader, the wolves went berserk. Those that had wanted to flee now attacked from all sides.

“Miss, hurry up the tree!” Ning Xun poked his head out from the leaves above. “It’s dangerous down there.”

Lian Mu calmly sliced off the branch he sat on. Ning Xun crashed down again and before he could speak, she grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

“What exactly are you after?” Lian Mu asked.

Ning Xun gave a sheepish smile. “I… miscalculated my route again and accidentally teleported right into a wolf den with a teleportation talisman. I swear I didn’t know you were here.”

Lian Mu: “You sure?”

Seeing his sorry state, she wondered what gave him the guts to post that bounty.

As if guessing her thoughts, Ning Xun said, “I really need that Withered Corpse Flower. No matter how dangerous, I have to come.”

Lian Mu glanced at Green Bean—it had finished off the wolves and was eating the carcasses.

Ning Xun was about to slip away but froze when he saw Green Bean feasting.

“Miss, that’s your spirit pet?” He narrowed his eyes slightly. “So spirit beasts still exist in this world…”

Suddenly, he grabbed her hand, pressing his fingertip against her palm.

“With a spirit beast of such rank, you surely don’t lack money,” Ning Xun said. “I know I can’t outbid you, so how about a deal? I only need the leaves of the Withered Corpse Flower. If you let me have them, I’ll owe you a favor you can call in anytime.”

Lian Mu pulled her hand back. “What kind of deal is that? This reward is worse than your fortune-telling offer.”

She only needed the flower’s main blossom, but his offer was far too stingy.

“Trust me this once,” Ning Xun said. “I just read your fortune. We’ll meet again in the future.”

Lian Mu: “You think you can fool me…”

“Miss, if I’m not mistaken, your background is quite unusual, isn’t it? You’re from the Returning Immortal Sect.”

Lian Mu’s words stopped dead. She lifted her eyes sharply to see him smiling.

“You’re quite a swindler for a street charlatan.” She raised a brow. “But you guessed wrong. I don’t need anyone’s favors—I only need money.”

She was wearing her casual clothes today, carrying nothing to indicate her sect. The only ones who knew were the Star-Plucking Tower master and Muzhou.

Ning Xun said, “You bid the highest at the auction floor. Why would you be short on money?”

“Because I wasn’t the one paying,” Lian Mu said. “You want the leaves? Fine. Pay up.”

Ning Xun deadpanned. “Do I look rich to you?”

He rummaged through his spatial pouch and produced only a few moldy fruit peels and scraps of talisman paper.

Lian Mu: “Yet you dared to outbid me at the auction?”

“Because I wasn’t the one paying either,” Ning Xun said. “Someone else covered it for me.”

They locked eyes, both feeling the sting of their mutual poverty.

Ning Xun thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth. “How much do you want?”

“Depends,” Lian Mu said. “If the Wood Beast is easy to kill, I’ll charge you less.”

“I can help you find it,” Ning Xun offered.

“You can’t even find your way around. How will you find it?” Lian Mu eyed him suspiciously. “I already know its general direction.”

“Too much trouble. I can make it come to us.”

Ning Xun pulled out a blank talisman, pricked his finger, and let a drop of blood stain the paper. Complex runes emerged, then turned gold.

Lian Mu felt a shift under her feet. Looking down, she saw golden light spreading beneath them like a net, with Ning Xun at its center.

The golden talisman floated into the air, drawing the surrounding spiritual energy into the web. With a flick of his finger, the talisman dissolved into pure energy and shot into the ground.

“Heaven’s Net, bind!”

At his command, the golden lines on the ground twisted and writhed.

Lian Mu looked out and saw four golden chains rise at the forest’s edges like giant pillars, enclosing the entire woods.

So that’s why he’d been running around—laying down an array.

If he were her age yet capable of such a wide-area formation, he was undoubtedly a Heavenly Spiritual Root.

“Miss, cover your ears.”

The moment the four golden chains lit up, a thunderous roar of demonic beasts erupted through the forest, shaking the sky.

Lian Mu remained expressionless. Such roars weren’t enough to harm her.

But in the next instant, she sensed something off: the spiritual energy around them was becoming unstable.

She instinctively looked at Green Bean—it opened multiple red eyes but showed no sign of frenzy.

This formation must only affect demonic beasts, not spirit beasts.

“Demon-Luring Array, activate!”

Ning Xun touched his forehead, and a golden eye opened in the center of it. The golden lines on the ground suddenly snapped taut.

“Miss, I’ve lured all the demonic beasts inside the formation here. The rest is up to you.”

Lian Mu: “?”

Lian Mu: “You really don’t fear dying together, do you?”

“I’m guessing your goal this time isn’t just that wood beast, is it?” Ning Xun smiled.

Lian Mu glanced at the extra golden eye on his forehead; she had never seen anyone with three eyes.

She fell silent for a moment, then said, “…You guessed right.”

She sheathed one of her swords and kept only one in hand — a sign that a sword cultivator was preparing for a prolonged fight.

Since Star-Plucking Tower had sent her into the Third Domain again, it was obviously not enough to kill just one demonic beast; she still needed plenty of demonic beast inner cores to refine the new version of the spirit replenishing pill.

“You’re pretty good at reading people’s minds,” Lian Mu said. “Thank you, Third Eye.”

This saved her the trouble of hunting down demonic beasts one by one.

Once the demon-luring array was activated, Ning Xun became the center of the formation, drawing all the demonic beasts toward him. In no time, swarms of demonic beasts gathered, and the ground trembled under their approach.

Green Bean caught the scent and was about to pounce when Lian Mu grabbed its tail hook.

“Don’t ruin this for me,” Lian Mu said. “If you’re here, the demonic beasts won’t dare come closer.”

Green Bean blinked, then had no choice but to shrink back into a ball of black mist, reverting to palm size and slipping into her sleeve.

Ning Xun poured more spiritual power into the array, tightening its hold as the horde closed in on them.

“Miss, I don’t fight. Taking them down is your job.” Ning Xun gave a slight smile. “A Returning Immortal Sect sword cultivator shouldn’t have any trouble handling these low-level beasts.”

Lian Mu tightened her grip on her sword hilt and also smiled. “I’m just a three-spiritual-root cultivator. You’re giving me too much credit.”

“You’re not,” Ning Xun said with certainty. “At least not an ordinary three-spiritual-root. Did I get it right?”

A swarm of red-eyed demonic beasts charged at the heart of the formation. Lian Mu leapt in, paying no mind to their ranks.

She moved like the wind, cleanly beheading several beasts with fluid, practiced strikes, as if she had done this hundreds of times.

When her blade tasted blood, it quickly absorbed the purplish-red beast blood and gleamed an even brighter green.

“I’ll concede you really can tell fortunes.”

At first, the beasts only charged at Ning Xun, but with a shift of his foot, countless golden chains erupted from the ground, weaving into a cage that protected him inside.

In an instant, Lian Mu became the sole focus of the beast swarm’s attacks. They weren’t just one type; aside from water and fire beasts, every other elemental beast was present. Even dormant earth beasts underground had been roused.

In the midst of the horde, Lian Mu spotted a mass of writhing vines and warned, “It’s there.”

Ning Xun flung out a talisman and locked onto the dense vines. A golden chain burst from the ground, piercing through the center of the vines.

The tangled vines scattered, then quickly gathered again, gradually taking the form of a deer.

Lian Mu caught his talisman and instantly rose into the air, hovering high above.

From above, she could see the entire swarm clearly. The bounty target — the Scale-Hoofed Two-Headed Deer — was right in the middle.

The Scale-Hoofed Two-Headed Deer sensed her gaze and dispersed into vines again, twining itself around other demonic beasts.

Lian Mu narrowed her eyes and studied it for a moment. “…”

Looks like she’d have to kill every other beast first before she could catch it.