Though Li Yuanjiao had already explained the situation clearly to her, Li Qinghong had no personal relationship with this deer monster after all, and she did not wish to speak in too much detail. She summarized things tersely in just eight words. Only then did Lu Ken realize, saying with solemn respect:
"So Fairy is the Li family's lightning cultivator! Pardon my ignorance! A true honor!"
His attitude became far more upright, and he said courteously:
"Fellow Daoist's Xuanlei Pool is the perfect foil to that tiger monster's Juguinyin. This venture will surely be effortless."
Li Qinghong rode the purple lightning, keeping her speed low to wait for him, and asked to confirm:
"Quanwu Monster Cave... can one really come and go there as they please?"
Lu Ken nodded and explained:
"Inside the State of Yue, things are unlike the Southern Border and the East Sea. Mount Quanwu—or rather, the Quanwu Monster Cave—is called Mount Zuiliu by the monsters of the Southern Border."
He spoke steadily:
"Quanwu was originally the dwelling of a Violet Palace monster king. This monster once served as the mount of a Golden Core expert and had some face in both the Southern Border and Jiangnan. While residing at Quanwu, whenever a monster cave in the Southern Border was destroyed or monsters fell under punishment, the Quanwu Monster King would bribe others with pills to bring those monsters to Quanwu.
"Back then, the Dongli Immortal Sect still existed, and the State of Yue consisted of four sects and twelve gates. Whenever disciples needed mounts or wished to slay monsters to cultivate methods or refine artifacts, they would enter the mountain themselves.
"Later, this monster king vanished, and the Dali Monster Cave took the place of Mount Quanwu. The mountain gradually declined, yet monsters from the Southern Border continued to flee into the Quanwu Mountains from time to time... It became a refuge for monsters escaping from the Southern Border."
After hearing this, Li Qinghong understood and replied:
"So they are monsters fleeing from the Southern Border... The Qingchi Sect leaves them alone; presumably, they are more than happy to let it be."
"Indeed."
Lu Ken smiled with some feeling:
"This place is also a cornucopia. The Qingchi Sect deliberately keeps it around, waiting for these monsters to flee with treasures in tow. No matter how many hands those treasures pass through, they ultimately end up with the Three Sects and Seven Gates or the noble clans.
"If they happen to hook the direct descendant of some great monster, it becomes a bargaining chip to extort the Southern Border. At worst, they can tame it as a spirit beast... The benefits are far too numerous, which is why they have secretly supported it all along."
Li Qinghong frowned and said in a low voice:
"Then isn't this the Qingchi Sect's backyard? If we slay the tiger monster, I fear we might have to smooth things over within the sect..."
Lu Ken was slightly taken aback, then waved his hand:
"No harm done. This tiger monster is down-and-out with no backing; I investigated thoroughly long ago. Otherwise, I wouldn't have dared bring Fairy here..."
Inwardly, he muttered to himself:
'How could I not investigate? Your Li family has backers in Qingchi, so even if you really offended someone, you'd have ways to resolve it. But I'm just a petty deer monster—if trouble came, I truly couldn't afford the blame!'
Li Qinghong weighed the nuances for a moment and similarly thought:
'If we can rob it, there's no need to kill it... One more incident means one more headache...'
The two engaged in idle chatter, discussing the major events of recent years, and both gained some insights. Before long, the Quanwu Mountain Range appeared in the distance ahead.
The Quanwu Mountain Range was not particularly tall, but it compensated by being vast and sprawling. Bordering the Xunlin Plain as well as the two commanderies of Cangwu and Helin, it was surrounded by wide plains that made the mountain stand out all the more. Within lurked demons and monsters, elusive and hard to track.
The deer monster led her into the mountains, taking twists and turns until they reached an unremarkable small peak. Riding the wind, they descended into the mountains, and he uttered a soft gasp of surprise.
The entrance to the cave stood wide open, dark and somber. He looked over, sweeping it with his spiritual sense, and said somewhat awkwardly:
"Fairy! That tiger monster is rather cautious. He has most likely relocated his cave dwelling and is no longer here!"
"Hm?"
Li Qinghong let out a soft hum. Lu Ken rolled up his sleeves and said:
"No need to worry, though. Just watch me."
With that, he set foot on the ground, tilted his ear to listen, and conversed for a while with the surrounding trees. Striding forward for over ten li, they came upon a wild persimmon tree hidden amidst tangled kudzu vines, laden with bright yellow fruits.
Lu Ken pinched an incantation, and the fruits hopped down one by one, buzzing as they poured out their tale. Lu Ken smiled and turned back:
"Fairy, the tiger monster headed north."
"Good!"
Li Qinghong praised. She sized up the yellow-fruited wild persimmon tree before her, its branches and leaves swaying with a rustle. Lu Ken listened for a breath and chuckled:
"She says she still needs thirty-seven years to gather qi and become a spirit. She begs Fairy to spare her life and not dig up the soil, lest her century of painstaking effort go to waste..."
At first, Li Qinghong had entertained the thought of transplanting this spiritual persimmon tree back home. Hearing this, she paused, feeling somewhat amazed:
"To think it has such high spirituality! Fellow Daoist can understand the speech of vegetation—are there many such spirit trees?"
"Indeed, not many..."
Lu Ken sighed regretfully and said softly:
"A pity... what use is it? She still needs thirty-seven years to gather qi and become a spirit, transforming into a Qi Refinement spirit root. After that, she faces several centuries of life before becoming a Foundation Establishment spirit root... The span of time she must spend at the mercy of others is simply too long; having spirituality only brings an extra measure of pain."
Li Qinghong took another look. The Li family really did not think much of an Embryonic Breathing spirit root these days, whereas a Qi Refinement rank would be vastly different. Thus, she said gently:
"Then we shall return in thirty-seven years."
Right then, she cupped her palm, and a formation disk flew out, landing before the tree. A small Embryonic Breathing illusion formation arose to shroud it within. With a flick of her slender hand, she inserted three spirit stones, enough to sustain it for many years.
Lu Ken stroked his beard as he watched from the side. Li Qinghong smiled and said:
"The times are difficult, and perhaps I won't be able to wait thirty-seven years, but when the time comes, my Li family's descendants will naturally come."
"Fairy's karmic fortune is profound, with the Violet Palace in sight. You are far too modest."
Lu Ken shook his head. The two of them then rode the wind, listening and asking along the way, and soon arrived before a low hill. Lu Ken looked ahead and said softly:
"That's right, he should be here."
Li Qinghong asked directly:
"How does Fellow Daoist plan to deal with him?"
Lu Ken said:
"My only fear is that he might flee, making him difficult to catch. Although you and I are not slow when riding the wind with our immortal foundations, that tiger monster's Juguinyin won't be slow either.
"How about I step forward to fight first? Once the monster's strength is largely spent, Fairy can strike... Catching him off guard with lightning arts that are formidable in the extreme, it will surely succeed."
Li Qinghong felt this wasn't foolproof, sighing inwardly:
'If only I had a formation treasure like Kong Tingyun's Cuiyu Plain in hand, things would be so much easier!'
By now, Lu Ken had already ridden the wind forward. Holding an axe in hand, jade light swirling across it, the weapon expanded to the size of a house within breaths and slammed violently toward the low hill. It shook the mountain with a rumbling roar, sending shattered rocks tumbling and clouds of dust billowing up.
'As expected, these monsters lack proper inheritances and rely solely on brute strength and magical artifacts; it really is quite crude... This spell here looks to be of his own devising, which can be considered decent enough.'
The great axe in Lu Ken's hands was also something he had refined himself. He had likely read a few low-grade artifact refinement manuals and pondered them year after year, who knew how many years spent nurturing and polishing it to reach its current rank. Yet it was still no match for the Duruo Spear in her hands.
"Roar...!"
A tiger's roar erupted in the sky, and from within the mountain rose a burly, bare-chested man, roiling in black qi. He barked in a deep voice:
"You monster general! I have no grudge with you—why come to my cave to provoke me?!"
Before Li Qinghong, Lu Ken had acted like a genial, even subservient fellow, but only now did he reveal an overbearing side, sneering:
"Hand over the precious herb on you! Save us both a fight! If you refuse, I'll just have to beat you to death and take it myself."
Lu Ken was in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, his imposing aura truly startling. The tiger monster stared at him with suspicion and doubt, frowning:
"I have no wish to provoke you, nor do I care to duel with you."
Right then, he refused even to trade blows. Operating his immortal foundation, gusts of yin wind rose about him, and borne aloft by black qi, he shot away like an arrow.
The tiger monsters Lu Ken had encountered in monster caves were all rash and hot-tempered. He had never expected this tiger monster to be so cautious. Stunned for a full second, he stamped his feet and cursed:
"Cowardly tiger!"
His hands swung the axe without pause, unleashing arc after arc of qi blades as large as carriages that rained down upon him. But the tiger monster cared only about dodging, fleeing headlong without looking back.
"Sigh! I knew it!"
Li Qinghong shook her head helplessly. The scenario she had faintly worried about had indeed come to pass.
Although Lu Ken was advanced in age, he had spent year after year huddled inside a monster cave under another's protection, focused on cultivation. He had assumed this tiger monster was rash, thinking a few provocative words would plunge him into a life-or-death battle.
'How could anyone surviving comfortably in these mountains be a reckless fool? Lu Ken spoke so decisively and with such confidence that he took even me in.'
She hooked her slender finger, and a purple glow lit up her white-jade-like fingertip. Tracing a talisman in empty air, thunder rumbled softly and black smoke billowed, slowly coalescing into a lightning talisman:
Purple Talisman Origin Light Secret Method!
Condensing the spell, Li Qinghong trod upon lightning, pursuing like a streak of wind and lightning, and hurled the lightning talisman right at his face.
"Strike!"
The tiger monster was unsteadily riding the wind amidst Lu Ken's assault to widen the distance. Bent purely on escaping, Lu Ken truly had no way to stop him. He never expected a handsome female cultivator to suddenly fly straight at him, brandishing lightning that surged with crackling purple light, appearing formidable in the extreme.
"Fairy... Ah..."
Black qi surged from the tiger monster's hands as he cried out in disarray. Daring not to take the blow head-on, he pulled back while pushing forward with black qi. Yet when the lightning flashed, a searing heat enveloped his hands, and his face turned burning hot and bloody, nearly forcing him back into his true form.
'Damn it! That deer monster deliberately found a lightning cultivator to target me!'
He cultivated Juguinyin, and what he feared most were things like bright yang and thunderbolts. Already terrified, seeing the long spear in Li Qinghong's hands—snow-white like jade and clearly no ordinary item—he lost another three tenths of his courage.
"Holding a Foundation Establishment artifact and wielding a top-grade technique—she must be from the Three Sects!"
Black tiger fur sprouted across his face as his body swelled rapidly, and he cried miserably:
"I am willing to hand over the treasure!"
Lu Ken frowned, the power of the great axe in his hands unabated. Li Qinghong transformed her lightning spear into afterimages, cutting off his path of retreat, and said softly:
"Hand over the precious herb at once, and I will not make things difficult for you!"
The tiger monster reacted swiftly. With one hand he produced a jade box, while with the other he summoned black qi to ward off Lu Ken's great axe, falling back several paces.
Li Qinghong caught the jade box on the tip of the Duruo Spear and drew it through the air. A sweep of her spiritual sense confirmed it was indeed the Blood Sun Fruit. She put it away with a turn of her hand. By then, the tiger monster had already ridden the wind a li away.
Li Qinghong rode her purple light to pursue him. Black qi flowed between the tiger monster's paws, and he had already reverted to his true form.
This black tiger was as large as a hill, surrounded by wild winds and swirling black qi. Its tiger eyes were crimson, wrapped in tendrils of dark yin qi. Its bloody maw roared, the soundwaves echoing so fiercely that both Lu Ken and Li Qinghong were momentarily checked:
"Since an exalted immortal demands it, I cannot afford to offend you! If you want the precious herb, take it!"
He adopted a posture of fighting to the death, snarling viciously:
"If you push me any further, I won't let you off easily either!"
Although the tiger monster possessed higher cultivation than Li Qinghong, he had witnessed the prowess of disciples from the Three Sects and feared her. Restless and gnashing his teeth, he managed to intimidate Lu Ken.
'What a cunning tiger monster.'
Li Qinghong cast a glance and noticed that Lu Ken had a look of fear. Earlier, he had clamored tirelessly to kill; now, he was the first to quail. She chuckled inwardly:
'Monster cultivators really are mostly bullies who fear the strong... When the tiger monster kept a low profile, he was overbearing, but the moment the other turned fierce, he panicked immediately...'
Li Qinghong raised an eyebrow and said calmly:
"Fellow Daoist need not be nervous. I merely wish to ask where you obtained this spirit fruit."
The black tiger's bristling fur smoothed down, and he grew much more polite, murmuring:
"I wonder which exalted sect Immortal hails from?"
Li Qinghong chuckled and said ambiguously:
"I come from the north."
The tiger monster had an epiphany, breathing a sigh of relief as he secretly thought:
'So she is a mountain master from Xiuyue. No wonder she spared my life... Had it been a demonic sect, they wouldn't have wasted words with me at all...'
Right away, he said respectfully:
"Reporting to Mountain Master, I came from the Southern Border. This item was obtained in the State of Tiaowu in the Southern Border..."
He then transformed back into human form and recounted in detail the whole affair of obtaining it. It was nothing more than an ordinary treasure-hunting tale without novelty. Li Qinghong frowned and said:
"You are familiar with the Southern Border. Keep an eye out for news of this treasure in the future. Perhaps I will return in a few years. If you can obtain more of this item, there will be no lack of rewards for you."
The tiger monster was overjoyed. Li Qinghong did not wish to make an enemy, and why would he want to harbor a grudge? To him, this precious herb was merely a tonic that saved a dozen years of cultivation effort. Helpless and unsupported in the State of Yue, having a disciple of an exalted sect express an interest in associating with him was a rare blessing. He lowered his voice and said:
"Understood, understood. Consider this item a meeting gift."
Li Qinghong shot him a glance, feeling that this tiger monster resembled a human more than a beast, and murmured:
"Fellow Daoist is quite perceptive."
The tiger monster bowed his head and did not reply. Li Qinghong had merely given an offhand instruction; having secured the treasure, she waved her hand in delight and said softly:
"Let us go!"
Lu Ken nodded and followed. As the two rode the wind away, Li Qinghong was in fine spirits after securing the treasure with little effort. Lu Ken, however, stroked his beard, finding it rather uncanny:
'So this is the method of noble clans... The humans' convoluted schemes are truly profound... To think it really has the power to turn foes into friends?'
Although advanced in years, he had cultivated in a cave all year round. For one, he would remain in seclusion for over a decade at a time; for another, monsters were accustomed to being straightforward, so his mind was not that worldly.
It had only been ten-odd years since he emerged from the cave to become a monster general, and he had spent even less time dealing with humans. Remembering the naive mistake he had just made, regret welled up inside him:
'No wonder... No wonder this tiger monster has been able to cultivate in Mount Quanwu for so long... and has consistently survived disaster. He must have relied on precisely this sort of thing... There is truly much to learn from these two fellows!'
At once, his attitude grew far more eager. Li Qinghong did not know why the deer monster had become like this, but she continued to converse with him. She took out the Blood Sun Fruit and inspected it carefully several times, breathing a sigh of relief once she confirmed it was in fine condition and not mistaken.
Only when they flew to the front of Mount Qingdu did the deer monster reluctantly take his leave. Li Qinghong touched down before the mountain, counted the days, and realized that barely over a month had passed.
Chapter 405