The Lair

Seeing that the battle was over and their job was done, the ten water buffaloes vanished into thin air, returning to the spiritual fields. "How are you holding up? Can you stand?" Man Gu stepped forward with concern. Lu Yang's decisive azure sword strike had thoroughly won his respect. Even though he and Meng Jingzhou had assisted by wounding the tiger demon first, Man Gu suspected that even without their help, Lu Yang's strike still could have slain the beast. Lu Yang swallowed a packet of Qi-Replenishing Powder. Soon, his breathing steadied and his aura rose at a steady pace—far faster than what a few grains of Qi-Replenishing Powder could ever accomplish. "If I'd known, I would have bought a Qi-Replenishing Pill instead. This powder is so dry," Lu Yang muttered. Circulating the Water Condensation Technique, a small orb of water formed at his fingertips. A stream of water about two fingers wide extended from the orb straight into his mouth. "Was that Size Manipulation you just used?" Meng Jingzhou asked. Seeing Lu Yang suddenly shrink and then expand back had looked remarkably familiar, much like the Size Manipulation spell an uncle in his clan once demonstrated. Yet to his knowledge, that spell was extraordinarily difficult to cultivate and possessed an immense threshold; reaching the Golden Core stage was an absolute prerequisite. "Something similar. What I used was a spell called 'To Inches.'" "To Inches?" Meng Jingzhou's head filled with question marks. As a scion of the Meng Family, he had heard of practically every spell under the sun, yet this one called "To Inches" sounded completely foreign. *Could it be an original spell created by Eldest Senior Sister Yun Zhi?* Thinking of it that way made it seem entirely reasonable. "This humble one, Lan Ting, greets the three Daoist friends." Lan Ting walked over with graceful poise. "The three of us are disciples of the Dao Seeking Sect. This is Meng Jingzhou, and this is Man Gu," Lu Yang introduced. In the heat of the moment earlier, he had only introduced himself. "So it is Brother Meng and Brother Man." It was clear that Lan Ting was exceptionally well-mannered, treating everyone with courtesy. Even when facing Qi Wu and the other mortals earlier, she had not driven them out into the rain just so she could take shelter in the Mountain God Temple alone. "Many thanks for lending a hand, Daoist Lan Ting. Otherwise, had both tiger demons attacked together, it would have been quite a headache, and our mission might have ended in failure," Lu Yang said politely. This was merely a polite formality, of course; the three of them still had trump cards they had not yet played. "So this was your mission." Lan Ting did not pry further. She had also come down the mountain to complete a secret assignment. It was just that she was unfamiliar with the region. Having failed to make it down the mountain during the day, she had run into the stormy night and sought a place to spend the night, never expecting to stumble into such an ordeal. "I know a bit of talisman-crafting. The pelts of these two tiger demons look quite fine—would you be willing to part with them and let me have them?" "Of course," Lu Yang said with a smile. "If there is anything else you need, Daoist Lan Ting, please take it as well." Tiger pelts were indeed valuable, but compared to the assistance Lan Ting had provided, they paled in comparison. Lan Ting shook her head and made no further requests. Having lived in the wilderness with his parents since childhood, Man Gu was more than adept at skinning. Pressing two fingers together sharper than any butcher's knife, he made a few swift, precise cuts, stripping off both tiger pelts whole in mere moments. After accepting the pelts, Lan Ting politely bid the trio farewell and vanished into the depths of the mountain forest. Her senior sisters had warned her before: unless one's mental fortitude was sufficiently formidable, one should never casually associate with people from the Dao Seeking Sect, lest one be assimilated by them. "Jingzhou, do you want the tiger bones and tiger penis?" Meng Jingzhou was utterly baffled. "What would I want tiger bones and a tiger penis for?" Lu Yang grinned mischievously. "To boost your yang, of course." "Get lost!" With his Pure Yang Spiritual Root, why on earth would he need to boost his yang? Any more yang and his body wouldn't even be able to endure it! "Let's put away these two tiger demons. They're important proof of our mission's completion." Lu Yang took out his identity jade pendant and brushed his thumb across it, storing both tiger demon carcasses inside. The jade pendant could also function as a storage ring. "Let's go. The tigress made quite a racket when she arrived, knocking down plenty of trees. If we follow her trail in reverse, we should be able to find their lair." The two tiger demons had entrenched themselves on Mount Song for years; they were bound to have a den. The pouring rain posed no issue to the three of them—any simple rain-warding incantation was enough to keep it off. Following the trail of collapsed trees and shattered boulders, they soon located the tiger demons' lair. It was a three-meter-tall cave, pitch-black and impossible to see into. "Does anyone have a torch?" Man Gu asked. It was too dark to make out anything inside, and who knew if there were hidden mechanisms? He had read in books that these bizarre caves were prime locations for traps. Step on a loose brick by accident, and arrows from both walls would riddle you like a hornet's nest. Or perhaps a sudden cloud of poison gas would seep out and choke you to death. At the very least, a giant rolling boulder would crush you into paste. "Who would set up that many traps in their own home for no reason? Are they worried going home is too convenient?" Lu Yang said, speechlessly concluding that Man Gu's imagination always ran wild in the strangest directions. Even so, having a torch really did give it that proper adventure atmosphere. Torrential rain poured outside while three people held torches inside to discover treasure—just imagining that vibe felt exhilarating. "Who carries a torch around when going out?" Meng Jingzhou muttered. They were cultivators! Why bother with a torch when they had fire manipulation techniques at their disposal? "You need to broaden your thinking," Lu Yang said, pulling out a youtiao. Touching a single spark to it, the entire youtiao instantly caught fire. From the looks of it, it would burn for quite a long time. Lu Yang held the blazing youtiao without fearing the heat, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. The cafeteria's food truly was versatile: beyond eating and bludgeoning, it could even serve as a torch. Man Gu was struck with sudden realization. Indeed, one could always learn something new by sticking with Brother Lu. With Lu Yang leading the way holding the burning youtiao, Man Gu and Meng Jingzhou followed close behind. There were none of the traps Man Gu had envisioned. There was only the den of wild beasts. Rare curios and treasures from travelling merchants, the classics, histories, philosophical treatises, and literary collections of scholars, martial arts manuals belonging to pugilists... None of these items needed to be turned over to the sect; they counted as their personal spoils of war. "Jewelry and antiques..." Of the three, Meng Jingzhou was the most knowledgeable, so the task of identifying the origins of these goods fell to him. "A century-old teacup, hardly worth a few coins." To cultivators, a century passed like a fleeting white colt jumping across several crevices—exceedingly brief. Any random household item could easily be over a century old. In the cultivation world, antiques were the least valuable things around, prized only by mortals. "A rusted iron saber. What did the tiger demons keep this for, grinding their teeth?" Meng Jingzhou shook his head. Lu Yang thought to himself, *Don't look down on a rusted iron saber—one slash and you'll get tetanus, believe it or not.* "'Imitation Fist'? I recall this is a mortal martial art that mimics animal movements?" Meng Jingzhou flipped through a few pages without much interest and tossed it to Lu Yang. Lu Yang, on the other hand, was somewhat intrigued, planning to practice it once he had free time in the coming days. "'Sayings of the Sage'..." Meng Jingzhou sneered repeatedly. "What use do two beasts have for the 'Sayings of the Sage'? Aren't they still beasts in the end?" *Sayings of the Sage* was an introductory primer for Confucian cultivators, recording the sage's earnest teachings. Man Gu knew its contents by heart and held a profound understanding of them. Man Gu carefully stored *Sayings of the Sage* away. Not because the book held immense monetary value, but because of its extraordinary status, it ought to be treated with care. This was out of respect for the sage. "Hm? There's a letter here. Is it addressed to the tiger demon?"