Chapter 371 : Flat Broke
This battlefield ruin was unexpectedly vast, and it took Jiang Mo and her companions almost half a month to reach their first target location.
Half a month wasn't considered long for cultivators. The cultivation world was so immense that even flying across it from east to west would normally take a year or two. And that was at a high-level cultivator's speed—low-level cultivators might take ten or several dozen years for a round trip. Of course, apart from wandering cultivators searching for cultivation resources, other low-level cultivators rarely traveled so extensively. Not only were the distances far, but the journeys were fraught with dangers.
There were no dangers in the ruins, and even Jiang Mo had grown accustomed to journeys taking half a month. However, along the way, she encountered a thorny problem—the Little Swan Goose's food supply had truly been exhausted!
After feeding the last spirit stone to the Little Swan Goose, Jiang Mo sighed and said to her: "Little one, your food is really all gone."
The Little Swan Goose had just contentedly swallowed that spirit stone when, hearing these words, she was thunderstruck, the entire bird stupefied. Her slender phoenix eyes instantly bulged round, and she immediately snatched Jiang Mo's spirit stone storage pouch, nearly diving into it.
However, no matter how much the Little Swan Goose rummaged through it, the unmarked storage pouch remained completely empty, without even half a spirit stone left. After staring blankly for a moment, she chirped twice at Jiang Mo, who instantly understood and spread her hands: "The spiritual herbs are gone too, the spirit fruits are also gone, and the medicinal pills were finished three days ago. You know all this."
Upon hearing this, the Little Swan Goose immediately wilted. The entire bird flopped forward, hanging directly on Jiang Mo's shoulder as if her soul had departed. After a good while, a few weak chirps could be heard, their tone suggesting she had compromised on something.
But Jiang Mo still wouldn't let her off, continuing after understanding her: "There are no stones either. The previous ones were all sold, and the ones picked up here are inedible."
This was what Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu had specifically instructed after learning she was feeding minerals to the Little Swan Goose. Although this area sealed for tens of thousands of years had nurtured many high-grade minerals, the environment itself wasn't good—the killing intent and death aura were too heavy, affecting those minerals to some degree. Using them after purification by spiritual fire to forge magical treasures would be fine, but eating them... they weren't ignorant, but they truly hadn't heard of such a practice.
Jiang Mo hadn't dared feed her recklessly to begin with, and after the two elders' instructions, she became even less willing to feed minerals from the ruins to the Little Swan Goose. Thus, Jiang Mo was truly flat broke, and the Little Swan Goose was genuinely out of food.
The Little Swan Goose hadn't expected such an outcome—she couldn't even eat the stones she disliked the most—and immediately raised her head in shock. Her expression instantly reminded Jiang Mo of an ancient poem: "Rising in alarm from his deathbed."
Not knowing where this thought came from, but the moment the poem surfaced in her mind, Jiang Mo couldn't help but laugh.
The Little Swan Goose thought Jiang Mo was laughing at her—which she indeed was—and immediately grew annoyed, lifting her wing to fan at Jiang Mo's face. The force was naturally light, mostly playful, and Jiang Mo's face was suddenly covered by the small wing. This only made Jiang Mo laugh harder, eventually laughing out loud, drawing sidelong glances from Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu.
Seeing their looks, Jiang Mo used one hand to push away the Little Swan Goose's wing and smiled at them: "It's nothing, just that the spirit stones are gone, and Senior Sister's food is also gone. She'll have to go hungry from now on."
Hearing this, Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu gave her a few subtle looks, not understanding what was so funny.
Of course, the two mothers weren't too worried about this small matter for the Little Swan Goose—after all, she had purified her bloodline, and even though she was reborn through nirvana, she started with a foundation of Nascent Soul cultivation. With Jiang Mo's constant feeding, her cultivation had steadily risen; eating was merely a shortcut for her to absorb spiritual energy.
Therefore, even without food, the Little Swan Goose wouldn't starve; she would just absorb spiritual energy more slowly, and her growth would correspondingly slow down a bit. This had no impact on her personally—or perhaps only the wealthy Jiang Mo would continuously feed her like this.
However, the Little White Tiger had been feeding her for a year, keeping the Little Swan Goose sleek and glossy, while the two mothers hadn't provided any benefits. Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu exchanged glances, feeling somewhat negligent, so they rummaged through their already strained storage spaces and ultimately produced two pieces of spirit jade and one water-soft crystal.
"These, will she eat them?" Zhu Baiyi placed the three spiritually infused stones before the Little Swan Goose.
The Little Swan Goose, who had just been throwing a tantrum, immediately brightened. As long as they contained abundant spiritual energy, there was nothing she couldn't eat. The water-soft crystal was particularly compatible with her ice spiritual root—she could swallow them one after another.
In the blink of an eye, Zhu Baiyi's hand was empty, and she was met with the Little Swan Goose's shining eyes full of expectation... She suddenly understood how the dignified Jianbing, the noble divine beast, had gone bankrupt.
Nevertheless, a child was their own, and they couldn't rely entirely on others to raise her.
Zhu Baiyi sighed helplessly and took out a few more crystals from her storage space, all beautiful and rich in spiritual energy. Unlike the minerals Jiang Mo had found, which were mostly metallic due to the White Tiger's gold attribute—extremely hard to chew and not very compatible with the Little Swan Goose's ice spiritual root—Zhu Baiyi's collection was different. The Little Swan Goose ate them effortlessly, one after another, just like swallowing spirit stones.
In the blink of an eye, the Little Swan Goose had swallowed seven or eight crystals, and the collection of a Grand Achievement realm cultivator was clearly no ordinary material. She seemed full, yawned, and curled up on Jiang Mo's shoulder, falling asleep.
Seeing the Little Swan Goose finally satisfied and quiet, Zhu Baiyi sighed: "She really eats a lot."
Jiang Mo nodded in complete agreement—how else had she gone bankrupt? But a good appetite was beneficial; none of the spiritual energy was wasted. The more the Little Swan Goose ate, the faster she grew, and the sooner Senior Sister would recover—this was why she had been so diligent in feeding her.
However, seeing that even Senior Sister's birth mother said this, Jiang Mo still tried to offer a suggestion: "When Senior Sister wakes up in a couple of days, Sect Leader, don't feed her these anymore. Instead, feed her some metallic materials. Those are harder, and Senior Sister doesn't like them as much, so she'll eat more slowly..." Otherwise, by the time they left this place, the dignified Crimson Blood Sect Leader might truly be flat broke.
Hearing this advice from experience, Zhu Baiyi's expression became rather peculiar, but she reluctantly took the suggestion to heart.
So when the Little Swan Goose woke up two days later and went to her birth mother for feeding, her mother never again produced those delicious, spiritually abundant crystals. Instead, she gave her a piece of golden flame stone. The stone looked beautiful, but its hardness almost rivaled gold essence—even after biting it, she couldn't break off even a corner. It was truly an excellent tooth-grinding tool.
The Little Swan Goose accepted it pitifully, and afterward waved her wing to summon a water mirror, gazing at her reflection, tiny in size yet deeply worried—she didn't look good at all now. She still needed to eat more spirit stones; only by eating more could she grow faster and develop beautiful tail feathers!
Indeed, the Little Swan Goose's voracious appetite wasn't for anything else—she simply wanted to have a coat of beautiful feathers. What was wrong with that?
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The spirit stone depletion issue ended with the Little Swan Goose receiving a golden flame stone for tooth grinding. However, this was just a small interlude, and it obviously wouldn't affect the group's onward journey in the slightest.
Moving swiftly, after traveling for almost half a month, they finally arrived at the location Zhu Baiyi had previously marked.
To be honest, after reaching the place, Jiang Mo didn't find anything different about it compared to elsewhere. It was still the same gloomy sky, black earth, with occasional scattered rocks, and not even a weed could grow.
According to Zhu Baiyi, this place was originally a wasteland in North Abyss, without people or resources, which was why it was selected for confining demons. However, the environment back then wasn't as harsh as it was now. It seemed that over these tens of thousands of years, affected by the killing intent and death aura permeating the space, even the soil had mutated, causing plants to wither, ultimately turning into a scene of complete desolation.
But Jiang Mo wasn't concerned about these things now. Holding the Little Swan Goose who was still stubbornly working on the golden flame stone, she looked around and asked Zhu Baiyi: "Sect Leader, there doesn't seem to be anything different here. Have we chosen the wrong place?"
Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu were also observing the surroundings, looking while calculating in their minds. Hearing this, they shook their heads: "Let's not jump to conclusions yet."
Seeing this, Jiang Mo knew she couldn't help and therefore kept quiet, not adding to the confusion—or rather, she was waiting for success to fall into her lap. The wisest thing she had done after transmigrating was indeed to cling to Senior Sister's leg. Even though she could no longer rely on Senior Sister, hadn't two even stronger supports arrived?
Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu truly lived up to their status. Through some unknown method of exploration and calculation, they had formulated a plan after about an hour or two. Zhu Baiyi then called Jiang Mo to stand at a certain spot and instructed: "In a moment, follow my command and attack this location."
Jiang Mo obediently nodded. After handing the Little Swan Goose to the still-recovering Qingyu, she prepared herself.
Meanwhile, Zhu Baiyi stood at another position, and at her command, both of them simultaneously struck the ground with their palms. The black soil didn't splatter up as expected; instead, the surrounding space began to vibrate, followed by a sudden outpouring of swirling spiritual energy. The solid ground also began to shake...