Chapter 129 : Not to Be Trifled With
Ruan Le had been knocked unconscious by the little white cat's plummeting descent.
Yun Qingyue was excavating the Spirit Crystal when she heard movement behind her. Turning around, she saw the little white cat sitting innocently on Ruan Le's head. Noticing her Senior Sister's gaze, the cat immediately curved her lips into an awkward yet polite smile.
However, her Senior Sister wasn't so easily fooled. She frowned and asked: "Weren't you supposed to set up the formation? How did you let her fall down here?" After examining the person on the ground more carefully—recognizing her from their few encounters a year ago—her frown deepened: "This is Ruan Le from Tiandao Sect, reportedly a greatly cherished junior disciple of the Tiandao Sect Leader." She was practically synonymous with trouble.
Hearing this, the little white cat raised her paw to scratch her ear, explaining somewhat sheepishly: "Well, Senior Sister, I haven't used formation disks much, so I was a bit slow. Just my luck, right as I finished setting up, this person came along and nearly stepped on me."
The little white cat had been setting up the formation at the entrance when she suddenly looked up to find a foot about to step on her head—how could Jianbing, the dignified divine beast, allow someone to step on her head? She immediately dodged, resulting in her delayed formation placement and Ruan Le stepping into empty space and falling straight down. Fortunately, the pursuing scorpions sensed the divine pressure and didn't dare follow.
But Ruan Le had already fallen in, and Jiang Mo immediately thought "this is bad," hastily completed setting up the formation and rushed down after her. She arrived just as Ruan Le was looking up, and without time to think, knocked her unconscious.
Now the little white cat hung her head low, occasionally glancing at the unconscious Ruan Le, afraid to look up as if she'd done something wrong.
After hearing the explanation, Yun Qingyue sighed but didn't blame the little white cat for the mishap. After all, Jianbing was still young, born with congenital weakness, and restoring her cultivation to Nascent Soul in just over a year was already remarkable. Moreover, formations weren't the specialty of divine beasts—things not included in inherited memories had to be learned from scratch, so one couldn't demand too much.
She reached out to stroke the little cat's head, reassuring her: "It's fine. She didn't see anything anyway. We'll just put her somewhere safe later." Then she instructed: "However, you must watch her closely and make sure she doesn't wake up."
The little white cat was extremely touched, feeling that beneath her Senior Sister's cool exterior truly beat the gentlest heart. As for watching Ruan Le, that was hardly a task—cultivators had plenty of methods to keep someone unconscious. Senior Sister had only assigned her this task to alleviate her guilt, and she would certainly keep a close eye on Ruan Le, ensuring she didn't see a single thing she shouldn't!
And so, Ruan Le, who had barely escaped, found herself thoroughly managed once again.
After examining Ruan Le's condition and feeding her an antidote pill, Yun Qingyue returned to excavating the Spirit Crystal. The little white cat crouched beside Ruan Le's head, her cat eyes glowing green in the darkness, fixed unblinkingly on her.
The matter seemed temporarily resolved, with both human and tiger below continuing their mining, and even the Flame Poison Scorpions in the stone forest above gradually showing signs of retreat—Ruan Le had escaped, they hadn't caught her, and they had detected a powerful predator's aura here. Why stay and offer themselves up as fodder? Though not high-ranked, the Flame Poison Scorpions weren't fools, and under the Scorpion King's coordination, they prepared to withdraw.
However, at this moment, You Yi, who had led away the large group of Flame Poison Scorpions, returned. He was still flying through the air, but unlike his unhurried pace when leading away the scorpions, his return speed could only be described as swift as lightning.
Ruan Le had miscalculated after all. When You Yi led away the large group of Flame Poison Scorpions, he realized that although the scorpion wall had significantly diminished, it still remained in place. With only mid Golden Core cultivation, his Junior Sister stood little chance against this scorpion wall. So he planned to draw away two waves of scorpions, waiting until their numbers decreased further before letting his Junior Sister break through.
But after successfully leading away the first wave and returning to draw the second, he found Ruan Le had vanished... Where was his Junior Sister? How could such a sizable Junior Sister disappear from within the scorpions' encirclement?!
You Yi was extremely puzzled and somewhat worried.
He didn't know how long Ruan Le had held out under the Flame Poison Scorpions' siege, nor how many of her magical treasures and tools had been depleted. What if her magical treasures and tools had just been exhausted when he led those scorpions away? Judging by the scorpion swarm's current calmness, it wasn't impossible, and given the Flame Poison Scorpions' potent venom, they could poison someone until nothing remained.
Thinking of this, You Yi grew increasingly concerned and alarmed, so he lowered his flight altitude to investigate—having drawn away scorpions the entire way, he knew their attack range and had calculated his height and distance accordingly.
What You Yi didn't know was that among this dense mass of Flame Poison Scorpions lurked a fifth-grade Scorpion King. This Scorpion King had recently been intimidated by a "natural predator's" pressure and was now both startled and fearful, making it exceptionally sensitive. You Yi's sudden approach immediately triggered its alertness, and upon discovering it was merely a Nascent Soul cultivator, the Scorpion King's rage was easily ignited.
Just as You Yi carefully lowered his altitude, he suddenly saw a black gleam shooting toward him from the scorpion swarm.
Having been attacked countless times, he naturally recognized it as a Flame Poison Scorpion's stinger and instinctively moved to avoid it as before. However, this scorpion stinger came with unprecedented speed and urgency, leaving him no time to dodge. He could only rapidly form hand seals, hoping the wind barrier beneath his Mountain River Fan would have some effect, at least diverting the incoming stinger.
But as the stinger drew near, You Yi realized it differed from all those he'd encountered before. The previous Flame Poison Scorpions' stingers could truly be described as needles, varying only in size. But this one resembled an arrow, its needle tip gleaming coldly like a poison-coated arrowhead, chilling to behold.
You Yi knew that Flame Poison Scorpions' size corresponded to their cultivation level. Seeing this stinger, he immediately realized the swarm must contain a formidable entity. His heart sank, and disregarding everything else, he prepared to flee immediately.
But it was too late. After barely avoiding the first stinger, a second one followed closely.
The Scorpion King's stingers were formed from its cultivation and seemingly inexhaustible, now firing at You Yi relentlessly one after another. The force and damage of the stingers were secondary; most critical was the poison they contained. You Yi dared not touch them with his hands, nor even allow his magical treasures to contact them. Despite his precautions, he gradually felt his limbs weakening and his head spinning—clearly poisoned.
Realizing this, You Yi had no time to react. The Scorpion King's poison was too dominant, and in the moment after he noticed, he plummeted straight from the sky. He fell into the stone forest, injuring his internal organs but feeling no pain, his sensation numbed by the scorpion venom.
In his last moment before losing consciousness, he saw a dark red scorpion the size of a millstone...
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The concealment formation Yun Qingyue had Jiang Mo set up also blocked internal sounds from transmitting outward. However, external sounds were unaffected and could still be heard inside, preventing those within from misjudging the outside situation.
Spirit beasts were scarce in the desert, and with this stone forest occupied by Flame Poison Scorpions, there were almost no sounds besides the "rustle rustle" of scorpions moving and communicating—unusually quiet both inside and outside the formation. Until a muffled thud was heard, as if something heavy had crashed at the entrance... no, more precisely the hole entrance, breaking the silence.
The little white cat's ears twitched, and she instinctively looked up, clearly curious.
But Senior Sister had instructed her to watch Ruan Le, preventing her from waking and seeing anything she shouldn't. Jiang Mo quickly returned her gaze, continuing to stare intently at the unconscious person before her, only asking in her mind: "System, what's happening now?"
The system was also curious, but neither it nor its host was in a hurry this time. The glowing orb lazily floated up, intending to investigate personally.
Soon, that warm yellow light disappeared from view. But Jiang Mo didn't have to wait long before the orb eagerly rushed back: "Host, there's someone collapsed at the entrance, and you'll never guess who it is."
Jiang Mo didn't bother to guess, asking directly: "Who is it? Surely not Zhong Heng?"
Of course it wasn't Zhong Heng. The system was briefly stunned, then stopped being mysterious: "Not Zhong Heng, it's You Yi. When I went up, I saw a millstone-sized Flame Poison Scorpion nearby, but it probably sensed the divine pressure host left behind. That large scorpion didn't linger and left with its underlings. However, You Yi's condition doesn't look good—he seems poisoned."
The system could certainly know You Yi's specific condition by scanning his physical data, but You Yi wasn't an important figure, and the system had no interest in wasting energy on him.
Hearing this, Jiang Mo became somewhat interested in the millstone-sized Scorpion King, but upon learning it had already left with its minions, her interest immediately waned. As for You Yi's condition, she had absolutely no interest—she and her Senior Sister were merely mining here, and having already had a Junior Sister fall from the sky, she had no desire to take in a second senior brother.
The little white cat silently raised her paw to wash her face, pretending she knew nothing, pretending nothing had happened.
Though Yun Qingyue was carefully excavating the Spirit Crystal, she wasn't oblivious to the outside world. She had also heard the muffled thud at the entrance earlier, and while she knew nothing of the little white cat's conversation with the system, she wasn't completely unaware of the little white cat's unusual behavior.
After removing another layer of black rock from the Spirit Crystal with her sword, Yun Qingyue turned and asked: "What's happening outside now?"
The little white cat hesitated before deciding not to lie about such a minor matter, and truthfully replied: "The one who led away the Flame Poison Scorpions must have been You Yi from Tiandao Sect. He's back, but this time he probably encountered the Scorpion King... That scorpion is as big as a millstone, clearly not one to be trifled with. You Yi was probably taken down by that Scorpion King, and now he's lying at our entrance."
As she spoke, her expression showed annoyance, unable to understand how, in such a vast stone forest, these brother and sister just happened to crash at their entrance. Could this be what they called a fated adversity?!
But Yun Qingyue's eyebrows arched slightly, focusing on just one phrase—"clearly not one to be trifled with." Who had the little white tiger heard this from?