Chapter 370 : Item Prompt
Having experienced the predicament of having to defer even a single medicinal pill, Zhu Baiyi now urgently needed to make money.
Of course, Jiang Mo, who hadn't experienced such difficulties but was raising a Little Swan Goose, needed money just as much. Therefore, after understanding Zhu Baiyi's intention, Jiang Mo's eyes immediately brightened, but then she looked around at their surroundings and hesitated: "This place is so empty—could there really be some opportunity or treasure here?" After a pause, she added: "After tens of thousands of years, even these magical artifacts have lost their spiritual glow."
Jiang Mo was referring to the artifacts scattered across the battlefield. Some were indeed damaged and broken, but others appeared perfectly intact. However, having lost their owners and been eroded by time, their original luminous circulation had become dim and lusterless.
Hearing this, Zhu Baiyi also swept her gaze across the battlefield, then replied: "There is. After seeing this battlefield, you should know there is."
Confused by her words, Jiang Mo watched as Zhu Baiyi pointed to the white bones in the distance, then to the empty ground beneath their feet: "Look, all the skeletons are over there, with clear battlefield boundaries. This is the edge of the demon-confining grand formation that was set up back then. You may not know that the demon-confining grand formation didn't operate on spiritual energy, but was founded on demonic energy and demonic elements. Therefore, as long as even one demonic creature remained, the formation wouldn't disappear..."
Of course, if the demonic creatures within the confining formation devoured each other, breeding like venomous insects, they would eventually be able to break through the formation. But looking at it now, there were clearly no signs of a breach in the formation; it could only mean that the formation had dissipated naturally after the demonic creatures disappeared.
In other words, that great battle of the past had indeed eliminated all demonic creatures. However, this brought about two possible outcomes: first, the demonic creatures were exterminated, resulting in complete victory; second, mutual destruction, with all the cultivators who entered the formation to exterminate demons also perishing.
According to Zhu Baiyi's reasoning, the result couldn't have been the second one, otherwise the demon-confining grand formation wouldn't have disappeared. But thinking carefully, it probably wasn't entirely the first one either, because if it had been a complete victory, people would have returned back then. She leaned toward the belief that the cultivators had eliminated the demonic creatures but paid an enormous price, ultimately exhausting all their resources to seal this place, without escaping themselves.
After listening, Jiang Mo nodded, but still appeared confused: "What does that have to do with us?"
Zhu Baiyi sighed and explained: "If people die, that's the end of everything. But if they don't die, they'll always look for someone to pass things on to. Back then, so many brilliantly talented individuals came to exterminate demons. Despite their noble cause, how many of them left without regrets?"
This time Jiang Mo understood, but replied: "The cultivators from back then might have left legacies? But none of us lack legacies."
Indeed, looking at the composition of their family—a fox, a human, a White Tiger, and a bird—the only human cultivator was a high-ranking member of a major sect who had already reached the Fusion realm. What legacy could they possibly need? Xuanqing Sect had many ancestors who had ascended over generations, and their cultivation methods had long been validated. As a Peak Master, the cultivation methods Qingyu practiced were undoubtedly profound, absolutely capable of leading to tribulation crossing and ascension.
As for the others, they weren't even human, and each had their own legacies—how could they possibly need someone else's? Therefore, even if they obtained such an opportunity, it would be of little use to them.
Jiang Mo's reasoning was sound, but Zhu Baiyi didn't believe that the cultivators of the past had left behind only cultivation method legacies. After all, with so many people here, how could they have left no resources behind? Even she and Qingyu, after returning from the underground, were so poor they didn't have a second medicinal pill, but they weren't completely bankrupt. At the very least, she still had many valuable magical treasure materials in her storage space that hadn't been useful at the time.
Zhu Baiyi was thinking of making some extra money since they were already here, while Jiang Mo was truly poor.
After hearing Zhu Baiyi's analysis, Jiang Mo immediately perked up and asked: "Then where does Sect Leader think the treasure might be hidden?" She looked around and added: "This place seems quite vast—finding it won't be easy."
As her words fell, before Zhu Baiyi could speak, the system in her mind suddenly made a "ding" sound.
Jiang Mo had been focused on raising her child for the past year and hadn't heard a system prompt for a long time. However, upon hearing this sound, she didn't feel nostalgic or delighted, but instead instinctively frowned—she was afraid she'd somehow triggered another system task. The previous main quest tasks had all resulted in losses for her, and she had no desire to undertake any more tasks now.
Fortunately, the system prompt wasn't about the stalled main quest, but a reminder about something else—"Ding, congratulations to the host for triggering a plot-related event. Please complete the task according to the item prompt."
Hearing this unexpectedly, Jiang Mo was momentarily confused, not understanding what "item prompt" meant, as there was nothing in front of her.
Luckily, the system promptly reminded her: "Host, have you forgotten? Those items you exchanged for at the Nine Abyss Sect's Mission Hall. The system had indicated they were key items, but they hadn't been useful until now."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Mo immediately remembered. With a lift of her hand, several objects appeared in her palm: a piece of ore whose nature she still couldn't determine, a fragment of a magical treasure, a damaged map, and two palm-sized dice.
Seeing these familiar items that had been exchanged from the Nine Abyss Sect, Zhu Baiyi and the others couldn't help but ask: "What's this?"
Jiang Mo rubbed her forehead, finding an excuse: "I have a feeling they might be useful."
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A cultivator's intuition was an all-purpose excuse, though in many cases it could indeed be used to gloss over things. After using this excuse and studying the items, Jiang Mo truly identified the key item—it was indeed the map.
Long ago, Jiang Mo had asked the system to check the map, which indicated it showed North Abyss.
A year ago, after they teleported to North Abyss with the Three Elder, Jiang Mo had secretly examined the map, but North Abyss had many deserts with similar environments. Additionally, Three Elder had headed straight for Nameless Temple at that time, so she hadn't realized the map's usefulness. After that, so many things happened that she had completely forgotten about the map—who would have thought it could be used in the "secret realm"?
Fortunately, during the ten-plus days she had wandered with her Senior Sister, she had effectively "unlocked" the map. Later, to return to the battlefield, she had the system organize the map and route. Now, comparing the system-surveyed map with the one in her hand, she could easily see that a small portion highly overlapped.
However, after comparing the two maps, Jiang Mo couldn't help but marvel, because according to her fragmented map, the battlefield ruins covered an enormous area. But the map was just a map, not a treasure map—it didn't have markers indicating where the legacy might be, so it couldn't serve much more purpose in her hands.
But that was only for Jiang Mo. Zhu Baiyi took the map and examined it with Qingyu. The two clearly saw some clues but found it too coincidental, so they asked her: "Are you sure this is a map of this place?"
Jiang Mo nodded and traced her finger on the map: "This section is the route we traveled before."
Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu asked no more questions. The two put their heads together and studied the map for a long while. Unable to contribute, Jiang Mo could only watch from the side. The curious Little Swan Goose even flew to Qingyu's shoulder and craned her neck to peek at the map.
Qingyu turned her head to look at the Little Swan Goose perched on her shoulder.
The latter, either shy or nervous, hastily hid her head under her wing.
Qingyu smiled but said nothing, turning back to continue studying the map. The shy Little Swan Goose didn't stay long on Qingyu's shoulder, as Jiang Mo scooped her back, pretending to admonish her seriously: "Don't disturb Master."
The Little Swan Goose seemed displeased at being chastised, flapping her wings and chirping at Jiang Mo a few times, but was quickly pacified by Jiang Mo's offering of food.
While the two little ones ate, drank, and played on the side, unconcerned about future matters, the elders studied and calculated based on the map.
Though Qingyu was a cultivation fanatic who often secluded herself to cultivate, she had mastered many skills of the cultivation world. Combined with Zhu Baiyi's extensive knowledge, the two put their heads together, calculating and discussing, and after about an hour, they finally reached a tentative conclusion.
Zhu Baiyi spread the map on the ground and pointed to two locations: "Qingyu and I have calculated that if this place truly has legacies left by predecessors, these two spots are the most likely. But we're not certain which one it is, so we can check both. However, these two locations are far apart. Which one to visit first and which second, I'll leave that decision to you."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo looked at the two newly marked locations on the map, one on the left and one on the right, indeed quite distant from each other. Based on her and her Senior Sister's previous pace, a round trip would take at least one or two months.
Calculating the time in her mind, she asked the two: "Have you found the exit, Sect Leader?"
Zhu Baiyi pointed to another spot on the map and said: "If I'm not mistaken, if this ruin has a normal exit, it should be here." After a pause, she added: "But I think your entry was just a coincidence, and there might not be a normal way out."
The Demon-Confining Battlefield had vanished for tens of thousands of years, and those inside had never left—it was clearly a sealed existence. No one knew what changes had occurred to make it reappear, but originally there should have been no entrance or exit. So despite their calculations, Zhu Baiyi wasn't certain there was a normal exit; they would just have to go and try their luck.
Jiang Mo didn't seem disappointed, but rather delighted. She never imagined that such an ordinary map could reveal so many clues to the two of them. She immediately said: "Then let's go and see."
As she spoke, the Little Swan Goose, who had been tilting her head and staring at the map for a long time, suddenly jumped down and landed directly on the map.
"Senior Sister, what's wrong?" Jiang Mo instinctively asked, then looking closely, she discovered that the Little Swan Goose had landed precisely on one of the potential legacy locations Zhu Baiyi had marked. Her eyes brightened, and without further hesitation, she decided: "It seems Senior Sister has chosen this location to explore first? That's perfect! We don't need to deliberate anymore—let's go to this place first."
Though it seemed somewhat coincidental, aren't coincidences in the cultivation world often heaven's will?
Hearing this, Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu raised no objections. Everyone put away the map and immediately set off toward their destination.