"Qingxue's injury is too severe... We need to find a place to hide and heal her."
Cao Zhirou spoke anxiously.
They quickly left with Tan Qingxue.
"Howl—"
At this moment, the direction of the valley echoed with the thunderous roar of the Black Needle Giant Ape, shaking the mountains.
It's emerged again!
"Quick, run!"
Jiang You's legs went weak, and he hastily spoke.
...
The mouth of the valley.
Like a withered tree, Li An waited, and as soon as the Black Needle Giant Ape rushed out of the valley, he replaced three new Yellow Rank mid-grade Swift Movement Talismans and darted in.
He ran his Super Sensing Skill to the extreme, moving like a nimble monkey, deftly avoiding the dung on the ground, and in an instant, he saw the stone cave ahead.
In front of the cave, two disciples' corpses leaned against the stone wall, their heads smashed beyond recognition.
Rushing inside the cave, the scene was even more horrific, with shattered limbs and flowing blood...
A strong mix of blood and medicinal aroma filled the air.
Li An only glanced at the two Glowing Lotuses and did not pick them but instead quickly searched and found the storage bag belonging to the disciple named Qin Wei.
Grabbing the storage bag, he checked it and found only a pile of miscellaneous spirit herbs, a Parasitic Spirit Vine Fruit, some spirit stones, and a First Grade low-grade talisman. The Tree Reishi was missing.
He remained very calm, quickly inspecting the other storage bags, and finally found the Tree Reishi in Qing Yuan's storage bag.
Without greed, after taking what belonged to him, he quickly uprooted one Glowing Lotus in the cave, placing it into his storage bag.
Then he dashed out of the cave and left the valley.
The entire process took less than a quarter of an hour.
After leaving here, he immediately headed towards the valley where he had faked a fall.
...
On a certain mountain peak, the Black Needle Giant Ape viciously smashed a pill bottle to pieces.
Then it returned to the valley, and upon discovering that one Glowing Lotus was missing from the cave, it let out a thunderous roar!
...
The sunset fell.
Li An crawled out with difficulty from the dense vines on a cliff slope, his robe filthy and torn, with one leg broken.
Painfully, he crawled out from the base of the cliff with his hands.
"Help..."
"Help me..."
His faint and miserable voice echoed through the forest.
It wasn't until the next morning that Li An, on the verge of death but with a strong will to survive, was discovered by other disciples from the sect who had come looking for opportunities.
Upon seeing Li An's bloodied hands and the path he had crawled, they were all shocked!
It was too brutal!
...
Li An was sent back to the Talisman Hall that very day.
His return instantly spurred a wave of commotion.
After all, Li An had gone with Tan Qingxue and others, and now he returned in such a miserable state... Did something big happen to Tan Qingxue and the others?
Li An forced himself to stay composed and informed Sun Lin of the situation.
He went to pick some miscellaneous spirit herbs, but unexpectedly fell and didn't wait for Tan Qingxue and others' rescue. After waking up, he could only struggle to climb out from the bottom of the cliff...
This was consistent with what the disciples who brought him back had described!
After Sun Lin finished asking, he didn't say much, only advising Li An to rest.
Then, on the second day after Li An's return, Tan Qingxue and the others also returned!
It turned out that due to severe injuries, Cao Zhirou and Jiang You first found a safe place to heal her with pills before bringing her back.
Tan Qingxue's injuries even brought out Guo Xiao from his seclusion, who invited an expert from the Alchemy Hall to treat her.
But Cao Zhirou and Jiang You, upon hearing about Li An, were quite surprised, though they neither visited Li An once nor sent anything.
It was as if they had nothing to do with Li An.
To this, Li An couldn't have asked for more.
...
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
During these three days, Wang Dazhu and Zhao Xian's Story heard the news and visited once, especially Zhao Xian's Story, who brought Li An many healing medicines.
With the recovery from the medicines and spirit stones, Li An was finally able to barely walk.
On this day, an elder from the sect's Law Enforcement Hall personally came to the Talisman Hall and summoned Li An to the Talisman Hall Great Hall.
In the Talisman Hall Great Hall, the elder from the Law Enforcement Hall carefully inquired about the events in the Spirit Beast Mountain Range.
"Elder Shi, I suspect the reason I was ambushed by the Black Needle Giant Ape was that someone tampered with my things... The biggest suspect is Qing Yuan!"
Tan Qingxue bit her lip lightly.
She wasn't foolish. Reviewing the events over these few days, she naturally could find the suspicious points.
After listening, Elder Shi of the Law Enforcement Hall sighed, "Yes, they indeed tampered with it."
"But, they are all dead now!"
"They used you as bait to lure away the Black Needle Giant Ape, intending to steal the Glowing Lotus but ended up all being killed at the Black Needle Giant Ape's lair. That Black Needle Giant Ape has now broken through to Tier Two... and is listed as one of the highly dangerous spirit beasts in the Spirit Beast Mountain Range. The inner sect is organizing a hunt!"
Upon hearing this, Tan Qingxue and the others were stunned.
Already... dead?
"I'll communicate with the Alchemy Hall about this matter and have them provide you with some compensation."
After Elder Shi finished speaking, he turned and left.
Clearly, the person is already dead, so it's impossible to pursue any responsibility.
From now on, this matter can only disappear without a trace.
Of course, no one suspected Li An, not even suspecting the involvement of a third party besides Tan Qingxue and Qing Yuan.
After all, the breakthrough of the Black Needle Giant Ape proved that the Glowing Lotus wasn't taken away, and Qing Yuan and others' storage bags didn't lose anything either...
Everything seemed so natural.
"Seniors and elder sisters, I will head back first..."
Li An got up, limping away.
"Li An."
Tan Qingxue suddenly called out to him, her eyes showing a hint of guilt, and said, "I'm sorry."
Li An forced a smile, "It's nothing, Senior Sister Qingxue... Don't mention it, I didn't expect to come back alive myself."
After speaking, Li An left desolately.
Watching his back, Tan Qingxue only sighed.
...
For the next two months, Li An didn't go anywhere and stayed at his residence to recuperate.
He couldn't even hand in all the talismans, so part of his monthly allowance was deducted.
This made Li An feel quite the pinch, but there was no way around it—being badly injured, it was evidently impossible to complete the tasks normally.
On the day of the third month, Li An finally could walk normally.
"In just three more months, I can reach perfection in Qi Refining Third Layer!"
He introspected the Life Seed in his Dantian, and the third leaf had fully unfurled.
In the blink of an eye, he had been in the Profound Yang Sect for almost six years.
Six years to reach Qi Refining Third Layer is extremely fast for those outside lacking resources, but for sect disciples, it's just below average.
Actually, Li An's Spirit Root is slightly better than the ordinary Yellow Rank Low Grade Spirit Root, being without attribute, but his cultivation speed is inferior to Zhao Xian's Story, Wang Dazhu, and others, mainly because the progress of his Life Nourishing Immortal Skill is too slow.
"The Yellow Rank Low Grade Spirit Root generally has a limit at Qi Refining Fifth or Sixth Layer, and the further you go, the slower the cultivation speed... Qi Refining Fourth Layer, transitioning from early-stage to mid-stage Qi Refining, is a major hurdle."
The Spirit Root determines the limit!
Fortunately, the Life Nourishing Immortal Skill is gradually altering his Spirit Root.
...
He left the Talisman Hall and invited Wang Dazhu and Zhao Xian's Story. This time, he specially bought a lot of good Spirit Wine and Spiritual Food, setting up a table to entertain them by the pavilion beside Moon Lake.
Since Li An became a registered disciple, the relationship among the three deepened, and the rift between Li An and Zhao Xian's Story had long disappeared.
"Brother Li, surviving such a calamity surely means future fortune! Let's drink a toast!"
Zhao Xian's Story spoke, and the three of them raised their cups.
"Brother An, there's good news I want to tell you, I've started learning Artifact Refining!"
Wang Dazhu spoke excitedly. His skin was getting darker but more lustrous, his vitality stronger than Zhao Xian's Story and Li An, officially stepping into Qi Refining Fifth Layer.
This person with the least scheming in mind paradoxically advanced the fastest in cultivation, leaving both Li An and Zhao Xian's Story behind.
"That's great!"
Li An took out twenty Fire Talismans, smiling, "It's worth celebrating!"
"Brother An, I don't need so many talismans..."
"It's not just for you, but also to show respect to Master Yu."
Only then did Wang Dazhu dumbly accept them with a grin.
Zhao Xian's Story also presented some Spirit Stones as a congratulatory gift.
"Brother Zhao, have there been any significant news outside lately?" Li An proactively asked, among the three, Zhao Xian's Story was the most well-informed.
"Regarding the Middle Grade Spiritual Ore affairs, the three major sects might be negotiating peace."
Zhao Xian's Story cautiously said, "That's why it's been relatively quiet the past year or two... The three major sects are tired of fighting over the years, and it's said that other forces are watching too, so the three major powers might jointly develop it."
"Demon Dao forces are quite rampant, several notorious Demon Dao robbers have appeared, even the three major markets of Profound Yang Sect have been disturbed..."
Li An couldn't help but nod, knowing he had quite a few things, like the Second Grade Glowing Lotus, the Fire Spirit Fruit he hid in Spirit Plant Mountain, and First Grade Middle Tier Talismans...
Those things couldn't be sold within Profound Yang Sect and sooner or later had to be taken to the outside markets, so it was better to gather some information beforehand.
From Zhao Xian's Story, he learned quite a lot.
"Mu Qingwan is officially going to become Dao companions with Chen Cheng."
Speaking of which, Zhao Xian's Story suddenly said with a complicated expression, "Next month, they'll hold the ceremony."
Evidently, Mu Qingwan had always been a knot in Zhao Xian's Story's heart.
As for this, Li An was quite indifferent.
"Hmm? Isn't that Mu Qingwan?"
Wang Dazhu suddenly pointed towards the lakeside ahead, where Mu Qingwan and a young man were walking side by side.
The two were chatting and laughing, Mu Qingwan's moon-white long dress highlighted her graceful figure, her long hair like a waterfall, now she seemed like a fairy.
As for that young man, he was elegant and graceful. Li An had seen him before, it should be the inner-sect relation who embarrassed Zhao Xian's Story—Chen Cheng.
Mu Qingwan also noticed the trio in the pavilion, her beautiful eyes showed a hint of surprise, and she immediately came over.
"Dazhu, Li An, Zhao Xian's Story, what are you doing here? Great, I was just about to find you."
Mu Qingwan smiled beautifully, evidently very pleased, while Chen Cheng appeared quite arrogant.
...