Chapter 79: Reunion – Fragrance of Spirit Herbs

When the Returning Immortal Sect’s lead team finally found Lian Mu, she and Qu Ruotian were huddled around a fire, eating.

Guan Huailin rushed over with the team, his face full of anxiety.

The lead team of the Returning Immortal Sect had completely lost track of the spiritual energy trail left by the Woodcore Flower. Now their priority was simply to ensure the safety of their own sect members.

When Guan Huailin heard Qu Ruotian had been separated, he wasn’t too worried at first. But when he realized there had been no news at all from Lian Mu, concern started to build.

Two of the sect’s three second-seat disciples had gone missing. That was bound to impact the upcoming matches significantly.

Thankfully, Qu Ruotian was a talisman cultivator and still able to send messages with talismans.

The lead team had braved the poisonous miasma the whole way, relying on Baili Que’s spiritual barrier to force their way through the forest.

When Guan Huailin finally laid eyes on Lian Mu, he was stunned.

In such harsh conditions, with no shelter or support, he had already braced himself for bad news. But when he saw the two of them crouched around a pot cooking over the fire, for a moment, he couldn’t react.

“Senior Brother Qu, don’t forget to wash the pot later.”

“Where did you even find so much food?” Qu Ruotian stared at the pot in shock. Meat and vegetables stewed together in a chaotic mess, yet it somehow looked halfway decent.

Lian Mu poured water from her kettle into the pot, covered it with the lid, and stoked the flames.

“There were lots of rabbits and wild birds along the way. I mixed them with some spirit herbs. Fills the belly and restores spiritual energy.”

Qu Ruotian: “…You’re really living the good life.”

They were both gathered around the pot cooking. Qu Ruotian’s face remained expressionless, but he was the first to grab a pair of makeshift chopsticks, ready to dig in.

The lead team of Returning Immortal Sect that had just arrived: “……”

Guan Huailin was just about to speak when Xu Xianxing flew over first: “What are you eating? Save me some!”

Hearing the familiar voice, Lian Mu turned and saw her sect members approaching, so she opened a gap in the barrier.

Baili Que moved his fingers subtly as he walked over, laying down his own barrier around the two of them. His gaze landed on the stack of talismans beside Lian Mu.

With a glance, he spotted a flawed talisman and pointed it out to Qu Ruotian: “Senior Brother Qu, the left loop on this talisman is crooked.”

Qu Ruotian didn’t immediately register: “Huh?”

Seeing they were safe, Guan Huailin finally relaxed a little. “Junior Sister Lian, where were you before? Where’s your team?”

Lian Mu replied, “I was separated from the start, couldn’t reach my team.”

“They didn’t follow you?” Guan Huailin’s brows furrowed.

He had assumed she’d been with the second-seat team she was leading. Finding her should’ve meant finding the team. But if they’d been split from the beginning, then that team was still missing.

Ji Mingyue said, “It’s already late. It’s too dangerous to search now. We’d best stay here for the night.”

Qu Ruotian had hidden here for safety. He’d already scouted the area with talismans, and it was relatively secure.

On the way here, they’d encountered several groups of nocturnal demonic beasts. Continuing to wander in the dark would only increase the danger.

Guan Huailin remained tense but eventually nodded. “We’ll rest here for now.”

With the team leader’s command, no one dared wander. They all stayed nearby to rest.

Xu Xianxing grabbed a pair of chopsticks and sat beside Lian Mu, waiting for food. “Wen Yun isn’t with you?”

“I don’t know where he is,” Lian Mu said.

After finding Qu Ruotian, they’d used all their blank talisman paper to draw barrier talismans to keep out the poisonous miasma. During that time, they’d only received one jade tablet message: the chief body cultivator from Crimson Sky Sect had been eliminated.

“If he’s not with you, maybe he ran into that Crimson Sky guy,” Xu Xianxing guessed. “I heard he’s made enemies in all three major sects, especially with Changsun Li from Crimson Sky…”

Xu Xianxing had seen firsthand how good Wen Yun was at making enemies. He spoke bluntly and didn’t hide his disdain. And now, with the Wen family head position still vacant—temporarily filled by Wen Yun’s father, Ji Xiuyuan—tensions between clans in White Tiger West ran high. Many disliked him.

Still, Xu Xianxing had to admit that while Wen Yun’s mouth might get him into trouble, he was undeniably strong. As the top body cultivator from the premier body cultivation family, he likely ranked first among all four sects’ chief body cultivators.

Since he was on his own out there, Xu Xianxing wasn’t particularly worried about his safety.

The smell of stew wafted out from the pot. Xu Xianxing wrapped himself tighter in his fox-fur cloak and reached out to lift the lid. “We really got unlucky this time. We’ve got two top-seat advantages, but haven’t found a single demonic beast carrying spirit traces. Looks like we’ll have to wait for the other lead teams.”

Thinking back, the past few days had been oddly quiet. Lian Mu said, “Azure Profound Sect was fast in the first round, but it’s been a while, and they still haven’t found the Woodcore Flower.”

Xu Xianxing picked out a piece of rabbit meat. “They don’t have the edge this round. Heard their chief body cultivator’s scared of poisonous bugs—probably been a rough trip for them.”

Seeing the others eating, Qu Ruotian moved over and picked out a piece of meat himself. But just as he was about to take a bite, Baili Que handed him a talisman and said, “Senior Brother Qu, the left loop of this barrier talisman is crooked. It’ll affect how long the barrier lasts.”

He then demonstrated, drawing a perfect talisman.

Qu Ruotian finally understood what he meant and explained, “I didn’t draw that one. Junior Sister Lian did.”

Baili Que froze mid-motion. “Who?”

Qu Ruotian pointed at Lian Mu. “She drew it.”

Baili Que fell into complete silence: “……”

From the look on Baili Que’s face, Qu Ruotian could already guess his thoughts. He whispered, “I also think today’s sword cultivators are too talented. She actually got it right on her first try.”

Though it had some minor flaws, it was far better than what most entry-level talisman cultivators could produce.

Baili Que silently put the talisman paper away: “……”

It wasn’t that sword cultivators were too talented—it was that Lian Mu was too talented.

What kind of proper sword cultivator could use body cultivator moves and draw talismans?

And this was no ordinary talisman. It was a high-grade symbol. Even if a novice talisman cultivator drew it successfully, they usually couldn’t activate it properly.

Baili Que took a deep breath. He felt he needed to give Lian Mu a word of caution, so he wedged himself between Xu Xianxing and her.

Xu Xianxing shoved him with his foot: “Why are you squishing me?”

“Lian Mu, aren’t you learning a little too much at once?” Baili Que asked, trying to be gentle.

Lian Mu blinked. “What do you mean?”

Baili Que said, “It’s not good for new cultivators to study too many disciplines. If you learn everything, something might go wrong…”

Xu Xianxing added, “Wait, what’s she learning? Isn’t she a sword cultivator?”

Lian Mu thought about it and said, “Nothing’s gone wrong so far. Everything’s fine. I only drew a few talismans casually. Senior Brother Qu’s condition wasn’t great, so I just helped him out.”

It was true. She had dabbled in artifact refining and pill refinement and hadn’t run into any real issues—just occasional spiritual energy depletion that made her dizzy. Once replenished, she was fine.

Rather than waiting around doing nothing, she’d rather learn—even if she messed up. Dying while doing something was better than wasting away in fear.

She’d only picked up these skills to aid her cultivation. Being useless was scarier than danger.

Baili Que relaxed slightly at her words. “There are dual cultivation paths like sword and talisman arts, but for three-spiritual-root cultivators, it’s usually better to focus on one at the beginning.”

“You can draw talismans?” Xu Xianxing asked.

He’d only ever seen Lian Mu fight. The idea of her drawing talismans was unimaginable. In his mind, sword cultivators were too rough—they’d crush talisman paper before they could even begin to draw on it.

Lian Mu picked up a bite of food with her chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth. “Don’t ask. Just eat.”

“You’re all excluding me.”

Xu Xianxing grumbled, then obediently shut up and went back to fighting Qü Ruotian for more food.

There was plenty in the pot. Lian Mu added a bit more ingredients, and the group chatted while eating, completely free of any tension.

Seeing how relaxed everyone was, Guan Huailin couldn’t help but be influenced too; his own anxiety began to ease.

Calming down, he turned to Ji Mingyue. “How’s your side?”

A faint blue glow shimmered at Ji Mingyue’s fingertips. After a while, her expression turned puzzled. “Strange.”

Guan Huailin asked, “What is it? Still no sign of the spiritual energy from the Woodcore Flower?”

“No.”

Ji Mingyue fell silent. She turned her gaze to the people sitting around the fire eating. “…”

It wasn’t that she hadn’t sensed the Woodcore Flower’s spiritual aura—rather, the aura in this area was too strong. Unnaturally strong.

She had felt something was off since they neared this place. On the way here, she sensed a familiar energy, but they hadn’t fought any beasts along the way, so it couldn’t have come from them.

Falling into thought, Ji Mingyue didn’t respond again, and Guan Huailin chose not to press her. Instead, he turned to Lian Mu and the others.

“Junior Sister Lian, did you get injured along the way?”

Lian Mu replied, “I’m fine. Senior Brother Qü was injured, but he took some pills and is mostly recovered now.”

Not only were they unharmed—it had gone unusually smoothly.

“That’s good. Tomorrow morning, we’ll set out immediately to find the rest of the team.”

Everyone answered in unison, “Understood.”

Just as Xu Xianxing was about to dig in again, he suddenly caught a whiff of something fragrant coming from Lian Mu’s direction. “You smell really nice. Did you pass through a flower valley or something?”

“No.” Lian Mu sniffed her own hand. The scent was still faintly there. “I picked a spiritual plant on the way in. The scent must be from that.”

Bai Liqüe leaned over too. “I don’t smell anything.”

Xu Xianxing snorted. “That’s because you’ve been stinking from that swamp. Who told you to insist on taking that disgusting path?”

Earlier, when they were scouting routes, the top team from Returning Immortal Sect had sent Bai Liqüe ahead. He’d found a swamp filled with rotting magical beast corpses—then insisted on leading the group through it.

Bai Liqüe said, “I really don’t smell anything.”

He glanced over at Qü Ruotian, who shook his head. “Me neither.”

All he could smell was the meat simmering in the pot.

Lian Mu wiped her hands. “It’s just the scent from the spiritual plant, nothing special. It’ll fade in a couple days.”

Then she changed the subject and looked at Xu Xianxing. “My sword’s chipped. Can you help me fix it?”

She’d fought quite a few magical beasts on the way, and some had tough hides and high ranks. Her sword had suffered a lot—it was painful just looking at it.

But repairing spiritual weapons required materials only artifact refiners had, so she couldn’t fix it on the spot.

Xu Xianxing took her sword and drew it out. The gash in the blade was shocking.

“Hold on, let me grab my stuff.”