Chapter 275 : Revisiting the Tribe
Night fell once again, with two shadowy figures lurking outside the native tribe.
Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu had been observing for quite some time. Far from being novices, both possessed extensive travel experience and easily noticed that the tribe's night defenses hadn't been strengthened.
Were these natives too careless, not expecting someone to come to the rescue so quickly? Or were they too arrogant, not taking the cultivators on the island seriously? Or perhaps... they had some special advantage?
Earlier, when speaking to the Crimson Blood Sect and Xuanqing Sect disciples, Jiang Mo and the others had been somewhat reserved, but Jiang Mo naturally held nothing back when addressing Peak Master Qingyu. Thus, Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu knew that merpeople—who had been absent for many years—had appeared on this island. Not only could they use spiritual energy, but they also had intricate connections with the island's natives.
The two came tonight with rescuing people as a secondary concern; more importantly, they wanted to investigate the relationship between the merpeople and the natives.
After lurking for a long while, Zhu Baiyi lowered her voice and said to Qingyu: "Let's go around to the back of the tribe first. Tan Xin said there's a pond there, and he saw traces of a merperson."
The relationship between Qingyu and Zhu Baiyi was complicated and impossible to sever, but regardless, they could trust each other. Moreover, now stranded on this island, whatever grudges they held, they shared common enemies, allowing for temporary peaceful coexistence. For instance, Qingyu now truly regarded Zhu Baiyi as the unfamiliar "Elder Qi," nodding in response: "Let's go."
Zhu Baiyi noticed her coldness and sighed inwardly, but knew this wasn't the time for conversation. She rose first, concealing her movements as she headed toward the back of the tribe, with Qingyu following closely.
Following Tan Xin's description, they arrived at the back of the tribe and indeed found a small pond.
The water flowed in and then out through a gap on the other side, but there was no sign of any merperson—this wasn't surprising, as merpeople naturally lived in the ocean where they could exert their full strength. Even with connections to this tribe, they wouldn't confine themselves to this small pond.
The two searched around the pond but found no special traces. However, they discovered a barely visible narrow path through the dense grass by the shoreline. The path was only wide enough for one person, with trampled vegetation unable to grow back, clearly indicating frequent use.
According to Tan Xin, this was the merperson's territory, so why would someone come here? Surely not to feed them?!
Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu exchanged glances, forming a vague suspicion. Zhu Baiyi pointed along the path, and Qingyu nodded slightly before they followed it. The path wasn't long but led into the tribe, requiring them to carefully avoid the patrolling guards before entering the legendary native settlement.
Inside the tribe, the ground became even, with hardly any weeds—the result of being trampled by natives for hundreds or thousands of years. Here, there were no distinct paths, making it challenging to know where to go next.
This problem might have stumped Qingyu, who had lost her spiritual energy, but not Zhu Baiyi. With a slight sniff, she detected a faint fishy smell. She immediately gestured for Qingyu to follow, then moved silently deeper into the tribe.
Qingyu naturally followed. In fact, they hadn't traveled far before stopping outside a wooden hut nearby.
This hut appeared no different from others in the tribe—even less noticeable due to its location on the outskirts. However, Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu clearly weren't dismissive. They approached the hut, holding their breath to listen for sounds inside—apart from breathing and snoring, there was nothing else. The hut's occupants were evidently sound asleep.
Qingyu didn't doubt Zhu Baiyi's judgment, merely giving her a questioning look: what next?
Zhu Baiyi's courage was considerable. She gestured for Qingyu to wait outside, then broke the door latch and slipped inside in one swift motion. Immediately, the snoring abruptly stopped. Qingyu waited for the right moment, then followed inside.
The hut's occupants were a couple, still appearing to be fast asleep on the bed, though clearly knocked unconscious by Zhu Baiyi.
Seeing Qingyu enter, Zhu Baiyi nodded and continued searching the hut—the layout was extremely simple, with only a bed, table, chairs, and wardrobe, all visible at a glance.
And with that glance, Zhu Baiyi's eyes fell on the patterns carved into the corner of the wall...
༻༺❀༻✧⋆｡°✩☽༓☾✩°｡⋆✧༺❀༻༺
The two elders had been gone for most of the night, naturally causing concern among the remaining disciples. They had found a strategically favorable location to rest temporarily, but couldn't sleep soundly, so they all stayed awake waiting for the two to return.
The island was very quiet under the night sky, with only the distant sound of waves and occasional beast roars.
While waiting for their elders to return, everyone remained vigilant against spirit beast ambushes, but after half the night had passed, they hadn't even seen a single hair of any beast. Finally, someone couldn't help but exclaim in surprise: "What's going on? Why are the spirit beasts so well-behaved tonight? Or is there something special about our resting place that keeps them away?"
Besides Jiang Mo, no one could answer this question, but the absence of spirit beast attacks was certainly a good thing. Once this was confirmed, the atmosphere among the group relaxed somewhat, and gradually people began to chat.
Jiang Mo listened attentively for a while, but hearing nothing useful, she withdrew her attention.
Yun Qingyue sat across from her, with moonlight falling upon her. Even with the mask covering her face, it was impossible to look away.
Unconsciously, Jiang Mo stared rather dazedly, not even noticing when Yun Qingyue looked back at her. When their eyes finally met, she suddenly felt caught, hastily averting her gaze while her cheeks warmed beneath her mask.
No one spoke, and Yun Qingyue showed no reaction.
After a while, Jiang Mo shifted her gaze back, only to find her Senior Sister had closed her eyes to meditate. Far from feeling relief, Jiang Mo felt utterly dejected, her longing gaze tinged with disappointment.
Unfortunately, with closed eyes, Yun Qingyue didn't see this.
Night deepened silently, and after most of the night had passed without Peak Master Qingyu and the others returning, those waiting patiently finally began to worry and grow anxious. Fortunately, as the eastern sky turned white, the two returned, covered in dew.
The disciples breathed sighs of relief and hurried forward to greet them, though their hearts sank upon seeing the two return alone—hearing about it from Jiang Mo and the others was one thing, but for all their elite status, until they encountered those natives themselves, they hadn't truly regarded them with sufficient gravity despite their caution. Now that two sect elders had gone but still failed to rescue anyone, it spoke volumes about the situation.
The Crimson Blood Sect disciples, being more straightforward and direct, asked: "Elder Qi, what about the captured cultivators? Were you able to rescue them?"
At these words, even Yun Qingyue looked over, since the previous night's rescue attempt had cost them Zhong Heng.
However, Zhu Baiyi shook her head and said: "This matter isn't urgent. We'll discuss it later."
According to what Jiang Mo's group had reported, all the captured cultivators had been affected by something, and it was unclear what the natives intended to do with them—how could this not be urgent? Even Yun Qingyue couldn't remain calm upon hearing this and looked toward her master.
Outsiders might be unreliable, but Zhong Heng was her master's personal disciple. Surely her master wouldn't abandon him!
However, since her return, Qingyu had remained silent, seemingly oblivious to Yun Qingyue's gaze—she was truly distracted and hadn't noticed, which Yun Qingyue, being quite familiar with her, recognized. But what had happened in the tribe to make her master behave this way remained a complete mystery to her.
In the end, it was Tan Xin who broke the deadlock. He stepped forward, uttered a Buddhist invocation, and directly asked the two: "Respected Elders, in your night exploration, did you happen to see the merperson from last night?"
At these words, both Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu looked over, and though they didn't speak, their reaction provided the answer.
By now, everyone knew that the ghost ship incident was inseparable from the merpeople. Upon hearing this, someone couldn't help but exclaim: "Merpeople, again? Weren't they absent for ten thousand years? How have they suddenly reappeared?"
No one could immediately answer this question, but with these words, Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu's thoughts inevitably returned to earlier—
Both came from major sects and held high positions, naturally knowing secrets unknown to others. Therefore, upon learning of merpeople on the island, their purpose in going to the native tribe tonight wasn't to rescue people but to investigate. The process went smoothly; from the pond where the merperson had been spotted, they found the suspicious wooden hut, and then Zhu Baiyi discovered a demonic race formation inside.
Finding a demonic race formation in a tribe connected to merpeople wasn't surprising, but it undoubtedly confirmed the place's connection to them. They hadn't chosen the wrong location. Zhu Baiyi studied the formation carefully.
Unlike Yun Qingyue, who had received no inheritance at all, Zhu Baiyi, though also without a teacher, had at least obtained a manual left by her demonic race father. Three hundred years ago, she could already use secret methods to transmit bloodlines, and after years of dedicated study, she had naturally made progress.
Before long, Zhu Baiyi determined it was a special teleportation formation that didn't require spiritual energy input—only a specific method would activate it.
Both women were bold enough to consider exploring further, despite not knowing the formation's purpose. After brief hesitation, they activated it and arrived at a strange place.
All around stood tall stone pillars, with mysterious patterns beneath their feet. The expansive stone platform was clearly an altar. The overwhelming stench of blood was nauseating—seven or eight spirit beasts were piled in one corner of the altar, bleeding. Strangely, though much blood flowed from the beasts, very little reached the altar, leaving the ground dry and clean where Qingyu and Zhu Baiyi had teleported.
Both were startled. However, perhaps because no one expected outsiders to come through the teleportation formation, there were no guards around the altar, allowing them to continue exploring undetected...