Kuang Yuanwei steadily held the water bowl, leading the team swiftly toward the direction indicated by the compass.
Jiang Ke’er, temporarily relieved of geomantic pressure, followed closely behind, bombarding him with questions left and right.
“Captain, Captain, what does that dragon look like?”
“Like a dragon,” Kuang Yuanwei replied impatiently.
“Can it understand human speech?”
“Yes.”
“What color is it?”
“Blue.”
“Then it just needs a red little demon as a CP, right?” Jiang Ke’er giggled.
“Oh, by the way, how strong is it?”
“Peak of the Bagua Venerable Realm.”
“Is that powerful?”
“Very powerful.”
“How powerful?”
Kuang Yuanwei couldn’t take it anymore.
He turned and glared fiercely at Jiang Ke’er.
“One slap could kill you a hundred thousand times!”
“What about you?” Jiang Ke’er blinked, looking at him.
“…”
Kuang Yuanwei’s eye twitched violently.
“It could kill me tens of thousands of times too. In its eyes, there’s not much difference between our strengths.”
“So you’re that weak…” Jiang Ke’er muttered under her breath, but how could her voice escape Kuang Yuanwei’s ears?
He strongly suspected she was doing it on purpose.
“Why don’t you go back to using your spacing-out skill?” Kuang Yuanwei said in exasperation.
“No need. With that compass in your hand, I don’t have to space out,” Jiang Ke’er grinned, continuing her questions.
“Is that dragon easy to talk to?”
“Very irritable. One punch for every chatterbox,” Kuang Yuanwei replied gruffly.
To his surprise, Jiang Ke’er let out a sigh of relief, patting her slightly flat chest.
“Good thing I’m not a chatterbox.”
Kuang Yuanwei nearly spat out a mouthful of blood in frustration.
Does this dog demon have any self-awareness at all?
“What’s the dragon’s name?” Jiang Ke’er asked again.
“Qiao Xiaoxian.”
“Huh, that’s a pretty nice name. Doesn’t sound too hard to get along with,” Jiang Ke’er said, rubbing her nose.
“Oh, compared to that big expert you guys invited, who’s stronger?”
Kuang Yuanwei clamped his mouth shut.
He was done.
He didn’t want to answer any more of Jiang Ke’er’s questions.
But when he stayed silent, Jiang Ke’er turned into a broken record, relentlessly repeating her question over and over.
Kuang Yuanwei desperately wanted to sew her mouth shut, but since they might still need her later, he couldn’t kill her just yet.
“Qiao Xiaoxian is a bit stronger,” he finally answered, exasperated.
“But if we can reach the dragon vein first and set up in advance, Qiao Xiaoxian won’t be able to beat us.”
“I see… Oh, by the way, do you know about the three major sects’ treasured artifacts?” Jiang Ke’er shifted to a new topic.
At the mention of the three sects’ treasures, Kuang Yuanwei gritted his teeth in anger.
“I know a bit.”
“Do you know how to use them?”
Kuang Yuanwei shook his head.
“No idea. Those are powerful high-grade magical artifacts. Only someone who has undergone the blood pact ritual can form a spiritual connection with the artifact and understand its true usage.”
“Blood pact ritual? How does that work?” Jiang Ke’er asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.
“Are you done or not?!” Kuang Yuanwei couldn’t take it anymore.
“Are you a question mark incarnate? Ask one more, and I’ll kill you!”
“Last one! Just one final question! I was bored in prison for too long, and my curiosity’s out of control.”
Jiang Ke’er grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of her head.
“You swear it’s the last one?”
“Yup, yup, the last one!”
After Jiang Ke’er’s repeated assurances, Kuang Yuanwei explained the blood pact ritual in detail.
First, a blood pact array was needed.
The array wasn’t hard to draw—just use the contractor’s blood to paint a specific pattern on a large piece of spiritual cloth.
The completed array could be reused.
Each time, place the magical artifact meant for bonding in the center, and the array would automatically activate, infusing the artifact with the contractor’s blood essence.
Powerful artifacts might require a lot of blood essence, so the contractor would need to keep replenishing the array with fresh blood.
“Fatty, draw her a blood pact diagram.”
To stop Jiang Ke’er’s incessant chatter and mental pollution, Kuang Yuanwei considerately had the chubby monk nearby draw a sample array for her and even gifted her a piece of spiritual cloth.
“No more questions! Got it?”
“Got it!” Jiang Ke’er nodded obediently this time, finally falling silent.
She hid her expression under her hood, her captivating eyes narrowing.
Finally got it out of him.
Now, she just needed a chance to be alone to perform the blood pact ritual on those sect treasures.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t require too much blood.
Her small frame didn’t have much to spare.
If she got drained dry by the ritual before the big battle even started, that’d be hilariously tragic.
“Look over there!”
Following the compass’s direction, the group looked out but didn’t notice anything unusual at first.
After a closer look, they spotted a protruding stone beneath the vegetation.
The large stone leaned against a small hill, seemingly covering something.
As they approached, the compass needle pointed firmly at it.
“This must be it!” Kuang Yuanwei’s voice trembled with excitement.
“Go move that stone!”
The demon-hunting team members obeyed, stepping forward to push the stone.
But the stone was unbelievably solid and heavy!
Despite their all-out efforts, it didn’t budge an inch!
Kuang Yuanwei frowned.
“Smash it open.”
Following orders, the team drew long swords and heavy axes, ready to break the stone with their magical weapons.
Yet, when a heavy axe struck, a loud clang rang out, and the axe blade shattered on impact! The broken blade even pierced through a team member’s thigh!
If an axe couldn’t do it, a sword stood no chance.
Jiang Ke’er’s eyes lit up as she looked at the stone, rubbing her hands together, plotting how to stuff it into her inventory.
While everyone else was focused on the dragon vein beneath, only she realized—this stone was absolutely a treasure!
A massive axe struck it without leaving a mark.
This was definitely a rare material for crafting!
Too bad it was so heavy she couldn’t lift it.
“Step aside.”
At that moment, an aged, raspy voice came from behind the group.
Kuang Yuanwei breathed a sigh of relief.
“Venerable Fox-Slayer, you’re finally here.”
Wait… what? Venerable what? Fox-Slayer?
Jiang Ke’er froze in shock.