Lin Zizheng sat on the flying fan, sneaking glances at Qin Mo beside him with a somewhat incomprehensible expression. He hadn"t expected s.h.i.+xiong would really believe his words and go with him to the mysterious cave.
Qin Mo didn"t know that, because of his previous injury, Lin Zizheng hadn"t gone up Dengtian Road and had since then lived a completely different life from his original one.
Since entering the outer sect, Lin Zizheng was bullied continuously by the outer disciples. Even the spirit stones and medicinal pellets that the sect distributed had all s.n.a.t.c.hed from him by others. Lin Zizheng"s spirit root was already extremely lacking and without the aid of medicinal pellets, he"d made no progress in his cultivation in the past few months.
A few days ago, he"d inadvertently heard of the Misty Ridge from the mouths of other disciples and with callous resolve prepared to come here to try his luck.
Perhaps it was his luck that was exceedingly lousy. Just upon entering the Misty Ridge, he was at once pursued by a powerful monster and, in the rush of escaping, he accidentally entered a hidden cavern.
Yet to one"s amazement, the interior of the cavern was unexpectedly lined with a copious amount of spirit gra.s.s. Although he didn"t know the value of the spirit gra.s.s at all, just standing there, he could feel the soaring spiritual influence it possessed.
Just as his heart brimmed with joy, in the distance, he heard loud voices outside the cavern. Recalling the faces of the disciples from the Sect, Lin Zizheng"s heart was reluctant. Clenching his teeth, he quickly left the cave planning to lead them away.
Originally, he just wanted to hand over a handful of spirit gra.s.s to make them leave. He hadn"t expected to meet Jin Ling-er and the others and still later to come across s.h.i.+xiong.
Thinking of this, Lin Zizheng"s eyes somewhat burned. He didn"t know why he told Qin Mo about the cave, but he didn"t regret it. Perhaps it was because when they"d first met his impression of Qin Mo was too glorious. Soaring swiftly he seemed like an immortal, indifferent to the dust.
Lin Zizheng tightly grasped the silk handkerchief and jade bottle in his hand. Moreover, he was the first person who didn"t look down at him with contempt.
Qin Mo sat on the side, seemingly in the middle of meditating, but in reality, he was lost in thought.
To begin with, when Lin Zizheng had mentioned that the cave was peculiar, he hadn"t wanted to go. Understanding that as the protagonist of this world, he knew that Lin Zizheng would have multiple strokes of luck unlike the common ma.s.ses and this mysterious cave might be one of those.
At his core, Qin Mo was an extremely proud individual. He"d persist from the bottom of his heart regardless of his arrival in this world. Moreover, he disdained the thought of seizing another person"s good fortune. Even if that person was the protagonist, who"s blessings were as numerous as the hair on an ox1.
However, when he saw Lin Zizheng uneasily biting his lower lip, his gaze exposing traces of nervousness as he tightly tugging at his sleeve, he didn"t know why but his heart suddenly became soft and he agreed to come.
Glancing at the slightly raised corners of Lin Zizheng"s mouth, he sighed in his heart. Qin Mo decided to be better to him later. Even though he was the protagonist, he was also still a child who had just lost his parents.
“s.h.i.+xiong, we"ve arrived. It"s here!” Lin Zizheng"s voice broke the quiet atmosphere between the two.
Upon hearing this, Qin Mo manoeuvred the flying fan under his body and landed on a patch in the long stretch of hills. Not seeing any trace of a cavern whatsoever, Qin Mo couldn"t help but s.h.i.+ft his gaze to Lin Zizheng.
Lin Zizheng gave a distracted look before immediately hastily walking over to one of the shorter hills and reaching over to pull the dense vines on top. After a while, the tranquil dark mouth of a cavern was revealed.
The opening wasn"t very big, at most it allowed for the entry of only one adult. Lin Zizheng looked back at Qin Mo and took the lead making his way through the hole. Qin Mo followed tightly behind as he entered the cavern without hesitation.
Arriving inside the cave, Qin Mo felt nothing but darkness and the incessant flickering of fluorescent green flecks before his eyes. His body possessed spiritual power, so despite the lack of light, he was capable of clearly seeing the present situation.
The cavern was roughly the size of a room. The interior was unexpectedly full of spirit gra.s.s. Qin Mo"s eyes shone. He recalled that in his Qiankun bag he had a jade strip which narrated how to refine pellets.
However, seeing the excited face of Lin Zizheng on the side, Qin Mo immediately calmed down. He remembered that Lin Zizheng would later apparently become a G.o.d-tier alchemist. Was the spirit gra.s.s here the reason for his development? Qin Mo restlessly retracted his hands and nevertheless waited for him to collect some first.
Lin Zizheng probably only took about ten or so stalks of spirit gra.s.s before stopping and straightening up. Only then did he see Qin Mo still standing motionlessly to the side. Somewhat doubtfully he walked over to face Qin Mo and opened his mouth to ask: “s.h.i.+xiong, why are you…”
“You take some first.” Qin Mo remained in the same place, his body not budging in the slightest. A few green specks of light flew past his face, he only then saw that these specks were actually quite similar to fireflies.
Hearing this, Lin Zizheng"s eyes suddenly widened. He was originally already quite bright and at that moment, immediately understood Qin Mo intentions. Qin Mo had intended to let him gather enough spirit gra.s.s first before collecting some himself.
With this thought, a dazzling smile emerged on Lin Zizheng"s face and his large eyes slightly squinted as they rose. It looked extremely adorable. Even the distress he"d felt a moment ago over collecting too little spirit gra.s.s was cast to the back of his mind and he spoke: "I"ve already taken!” That said, he paused and then continued: “I"ve gathered a lot and I have no more s.p.a.ce to place it.”
Qin Mo"s brow wrinkled slightly. He recalled that disciples of Yueqing Sect regardless of whether they were members of the outer sect or inner sect, on the first day of entry, under the Sect they"d be issued a Qiankun bag. Why hadn"t Lin Zizheng? Could he have been left out by mistake?
Qin Mo unfastened his own pouch-like Qiankun bag from his waist and handed it to Lin Zizheng, dismissively stating: “Take it.”
Although Qin Mo didn"t have that many spirit stones, he nevertheless still had a myriad of cultivation supplies like Qiankun bags, Spirit swords and medicinal pellets. After all, Jin Linfeng doted on him quite a bit and in this aspect, he was naturally quite generous.
Originally, Lin Zizheng had, in fact, had a Qiankun bag, however, it was s.n.a.t.c.hed by another disciple. Looking at the bamboo green embroidered Qiankun bag Qin Mo presently held, it was obviously much better than the one provided by the Sect. For a moment, he was stunned, unable to move. Only after a while did he react by coming closer and somewhat fl.u.s.tered pushed back the Qiankun bag.
“s.h.i.+xiong, I… I can"t ask for your things!”
Seeing the manner in which Lin Zizheng refused the Qiankun bag, Qin Mo"s thin lips firmly pursed.
Sensing the atmosphere around Qin Mo become colder. Lin Zizheng was under the impression that he was angry and couldn"t help but become even more fl.u.s.tered, hurriedly saying: “s.h.i.+xiong, this is too valuable!”
If it had been given to him by someone else, Lin Zizheng might have already accepted it. After all, he really did need a Qiankun bag at the moment, but the person before him now was s.h.i.+xiong. He didn"t know why, but Lin Zizheng didn"t want to let Qin Mo look down on him.
“Take it, I also want to pick some spirit gra.s.s.” Qin Mo"s brow creased as he looked at Lin Zizheng in front of him and immediately swept a glance at the gra.s.s around him.
Seeing Qin Mo so determined, Lin Zizheng bit his lower lip and took the Qiankun bag. In his heart, he secretly vowed that in the future he would definitely… would definitely what? Lin Zizheng also still had some doubts in his heart, but seeing s.h.i.+xiong so incomparably dazzling even as he crouched on the ground, he vowed that in the future he would definitely treat s.h.i.+xiong well.
Under their great efforts, the spirit gra.s.s within the cavern had ceaselessly decreased. Even though the expression on Qin Mo"s face remained unchanged, in his heart, he was also extremely happy. This time, their gains were indeed quite bountiful.
Just then, Qin Mo suddenly felt a s.h.i.+ver run through his heart, and the hairs on his back stood on end. There seemed to be something watching him closely. Thinking of it, he moved his feet and his body immediately s.h.i.+fted to the side.
The moment he moved, he saw an immense tail suddenly appear in the air and ruthlessly strike.
The blow struck down, dust flew up. Waiting for a clear view of the scene, Qin Mo took a deep breath. As the dust settled, in the place he"d been standing just a moment ago, emerged a huge deep pit and in it a thick tail incessantly writhing.
Following along the length of the tail, Qin Mo"s pupils constricted slightly. At the entrance of the cavern lay an enormous python. Its radius was approximately about one meter and at a pa.s.sing glance, it also had about 100 meters in length. Its immense body took up nearly the entire cave, wall to wall.
At this point, it was sticking out a scarlet tongue and its verdant green eyes greedily gazed at him.
More than anything else, what made Qin Mo feel the worst was that he, in spite of everything, couldn"t make out the python"s cultivation level. He was currently at the tenth layer of the Qi refining phase and was able to observe the cultivation level of anyone below the foundation building phase. At the moment, the only thing that was shown to be certain was that the python"s cultivation level had at least reached the foundation building phase.
Qin Mo"s heart tightened. Biyoujian immediately appeared in his hand. His figure once again turned and he came to face Lin Zizheng. Seeing his small figure, Qin Mo all of a sudden took his hand and whispered: “Don"t be afraid.”
The instant he saw the python, Lin Zizheng"s heart became extremely desperate and at that moment, it brimmed with unwillingness. Why did the lives of others pa.s.s so smoothly, while his own life had to be so rough.
His beloved parents had been murdered by demonic cultivators. Afterwards, despite arriving at Yueqing Sect, he was constantly tormented because of his five-elemental waste spirit root. Now, after having faced great difficulties, he went out for the first time only to get killed by a chance encounter with disaster.
His eyes were red, and a strange darkness appeared in his pupils. Thinking about it, he decided he"d self-detonate his Dantian2, even though he"d die in the process at least he"d drag this giant serpent together with him.
Just then, a cool hand firmly wrapped itself around his and he heard someone say, “Don"t be afraid.” Lin Zizheng felt something warm his heart and he spoke a gentle “En”, grasping Qin Mo"s hand in return.
Qin Mo wasn"t the slightest bit aware of the change in Lin Zizheng and tightly held him in his arms, his gaze warily concentrated on the python before them.
The python stared at them, its long serpentine tongue licking its lips. Qin Mo could even see the obvious pride in its eyes.
Sorry this chapter came out a bit later, I got caught up in some work at the high school I used to go to but now that its over I"ll be focused on this again and hopefully return to releasing a new chapter every 3-4 days. I"m really loving Qin Mo"s character. He"s a great stoic while being quite feeling.
I"m pretty glad I have the opportunity to work on this project and I"m really grateful for all the positivity I"ve been getting in the comments. I hope you guys continue to enjoy the story.
-Bean
1As many as the hair of the ox (多如牛毛): Chinese idiom meaning very many. It speaks for itself, this footnote is completely unnecessary.
2Dantian: refers to the region in the body where a person"s Qi is concentrated.