This slightly sinister idea was ultimately forced to be abandoned under Linglong’s intervention; the two of them were here to explore the depths of the mountain range, not to sit in one place acting as potato mines.
If it were just Hua Jian alone, she could play around with such tricks, but not now.
With the rising sun signaling a new day, the two packed up their belongings and continued groping their way toward the heart of the mountains.
Along the way, Hua Jian was like a child with a new toy, wildly shooting thin vines at anything she could see—flowers and grass by the roadside all suffered at her hands.
Perhaps out of some twisted amusement, Hua Jian even used her own vines to cosplay as Spider-Man, shooting vines with a swoosh onto nearby trees and then pulling herself over.
Although her control over the vines weakened greatly beyond a meter, simply shooting them into the wood was still doable.
As for retracting the vines, that was even simpler.
She couldn’t control vines at a distance, but if she started drawing them back from herself, wasn’t that the same thing?
Anyway, she was light enough to use this method to zip herself along, and the speed wasn’t too bad.
This allowed her to acquire a new way of moving through complex terrain—a pleasant surprise.
After playing like this for most of the day, Hua Jian finally bounced back to Linglong’s side, still unsatisfied.
“I didn’t expect this spirit technique to be so much fun.”
Is it really fun? Linglong was momentarily at a loss for how to answer; other Cultivators probably wouldn’t feel the same.
Hua Jian really had no concept of her own talent.
“You’re making a lot of noise,” Linglong could only pick on Hua Jian’s faults in another area since she couldn’t answer the previous question.
Because of Hua Jian’s ruckus in the woods, Linglong had faced several Spirit Beast attacks in just half a day.
On average, less than half an hour would pass before a Spirit Beast leapt out of nowhere to ambush them.
Though the beasts weren’t strong, constantly being on alert was exhausting.
“Ahem, doesn’t this make your training more colorful? Besides, it’s just a few ordinary Spirit Beasts. As long as they’re not Cultivators, it’s fine.” Hua Jian grinned mischievously.
“By the way, are there really so few Cultivators in the Northern Mountains? We’ve been walking for ages and haven’t met a single one…”
In Hua Jian’s mind, there shouldn’t be many people in a place like this, but it couldn’t be that you wouldn’t meet anyone even after most of a day.
Where had all the people gone?
“The Northern Mountains are simply too vast—they’re basically an enormous Secret Realm. Even if there are many Cultivators exploring, running into each other is still rare.”
Compared to the world’s vastness, the number of Cultivators was quite small.
Most of the land here was rarely visited—or rather, Cultivators simply didn’t want to go there.
Spirit Energy isn’t evenly distributed everywhere; some places have more, some less. Cultivators naturally gather where the Spirit Energy is plentiful, while the desolate, thin-aura places are seldom visited.
Even if a talented Cultivator came from a sparse-aura area, the first thing they’d do upon rising in power would be to move their whole family somewhere richer in Spirit Energy.
The Northern Mountains were relatively rich in Spirit Energy.
According to the Saints of the Saint Sect, the Northern Mountains sit atop a Spirit Pulse and are second only to the Five Great Sacred Sects’ holy grounds.
But naturally, such good places were claimed by powerful Spirit Beasts; ordinary Cultivators couldn’t get in.
“Our chosen route doesn’t have many Resource Zones along the way, so we’re less likely to meet people.”
Linglong explained that she had picked a path avoiding the outer Resource Zones, making it even less likely to encounter other Cultivators.
After all, people don’t enter the mountains to play. Who would waste time trudging through barren, birdless wilderness?
“But this won’t last long. In about half a day’s journey ahead, we’ll reach our first major Resource Zone.”
The clues they’d received pointed toward the deeper parts of the Northern Mountains, so they would have to pass through some rich Resource Zones.
There, one could meet a Cultivator every few steps.
By then, Hua Jian might even long for the current peace and quiet.
Often, Cultivators were more frightening than Spirit Beasts.
Spirit Beasts wouldn’t smile as they stabbed you in the back.
In these deep forests, human nature was the least trustworthy thing, especially the nature of strangers.
“We’ll pass through about three large Resource Zones. Each one takes at least several days to cross.” Linglong continued.
Hua Jian pulled out the Map and checked the area Linglong mentioned.
Qian Feixue’s Map clearly marked the area, noting it as suitable for Spirit Master-level Cultivators to explore.
Such zones were scattered throughout the Northern Mountains, some for Spirit Masters, some only accessible to Ling Kings.
Beyond these were large red-circled areas—habitats of powerful Spirit Beasts.
Unless you were at least a Ling Emperor, don’t even think about entering; if you die in there, no one will recover your body.
Linglong’s chosen route was steady, passing through several large Spirit Master Resource Zones before reaching an unknown area just outside the red forbidden zone.
Recently, many rare treasures had reportedly appeared in this area, so quite a few Cultivators were heading there to explore.
Hua Jian and Linglong were among the later arrivals, but not too late; the exploration of unknown areas wasn’t a one- or two-day affair.
There was even an advantage to being slower. Early exploration was fraught with peril—many Cultivators vanished quietly in these mountains.
Arriving later meant missing the first wave of benefits, but the risk was much lower, right?
It was a matter of trade-offs, and Linglong didn’t care much about gains on this trip, so she could afford to take it slow.
What she valued were the sights and experiences along the way.
While the two chatted idly, Hua Jian noticed something unusual up ahead.
“Is that… a tiger?”
Lowering her steps, Hua Jian crept through the underbrush for a peek and saw a scene she could hardly bear to look at.
A huge fire-red tiger was burying its head in a blurry mass of flesh and blood—almost certainly the remains of a hapless Cultivator.
Seeing a Spirit Beast eating a human with her own eyes was a bit of a shock for Hua Jian.
She supposed people might not believe it, but this was the first time she’d ever seen such a scene.
On reflection, it made sense. Hua Jian had grown up in the Central Continent’s core areas.
Although those places didn’t have much Spirit Energy, they were at least dominated by Cultivators.
With the Linglong Pavilion established there, the area’s security was among the best in the Central Continent.
There was no chance wild Spirit Beasts would appear and eat people.
Hua Jian had grown up there, rarely leaving before meeting Linglong, and had no exposure to the reality outside.
After gaining power, she only entered the Linglong Pavilion Secret Realm—which was designed to prevent deaths.
Given all that, it was perfectly logical Hua Jian had never seen a Spirit Beast eat a person.
Now, faced with such a scene, she couldn’t help but feel a rabbit’s sorrow at the fox’s death.
“This is the risk you take by coming here.” Linglong’s expression remained calm.
Cultivators kill Spirit Beasts for their hides and bones, so naturally Spirit Beasts may turn the tables and feast on Cultivators.
That’s the way of the world.
There’s no right or wrong here—it’s simply the natural order.
You can’t forbid Cultivators from killing Spirit Beasts, nor Spirit Beasts from killing Cultivators.
Still, Linglong had no intention of just watching.
A Spirit Beast eating a Cultivator wasn’t wrong, but if she wanted to kill it now, hopefully the beast wouldn’t hold it against her.
Her Ling Sword slid quietly from its sheath as she leveled the blade at the feasting beast, who hadn’t sensed any danger.
With a tap of her toes, Linglong shot forward like lightning.
Boom!
At the last moment, the Spirit Beast finally reacted—but it was too late.
Linglong’s blade was at its throat, and though it managed to spit a few sparks, its body was run through by the Ling Sword.
Blood as red as fire sprayed from the wound, splattering onto Linglong’s Spiritual Garment with a sizzling sound.
Linglong immediately sensed something was wrong and leapt back, drawing her sword out.
As the blade slid free, more blood poured from the wound, and where it touched the ground, the earth ignited.
“Menghuohu?” The distinctive trait made Linglong recognize the beast.
But upon realizing what it was, Linglong hesitated.
The Menghuohu’s greatest trait was its extremely hot, flammable blood—a defense against other Spirit Beasts.
Most low-level Spirit Beasts rely on simple biting attacks; imagine another beast biting the Menghuohu, only to get a mouthful of magma—what would that feel like?
Like biting into a surprise bomb, no doubt.
For Cultivators, the Menghuohu’s traits weren’t so revolting; its blood was even a material for some fire-attribute spirit tools.
But among low-tier Spirit Beasts, this tiger was notoriously troublesome.
“Linglong, you didn’t even manage to kill it with a sneak attack?!” Hua Jian was speechless at the result.
A sneak attack ought to be a one-hit kill, but this time, Linglong had only opened a wound in the tiger’s belly—the damage looked minimal.
“It’s already seriously wounded!” Linglong protested.
Her attack had gone straight for the Menghuohu’s vitals.
Though it managed to dodge slightly at the last second, her strike still pierced many vital organs—though the wound didn’t look big, the damage was substantial.
What Hua Jian didn’t realize was that the tiger was already at death’s door; just a bit more damage would finish it off.
“Really? Let me try.”
Hua Jian’s first thought was that Linglong was just being stubborn, but on second thought, the ‘little dragon girl’ wasn’t the type for that.
Could it be true?
She took a few puzzled steps closer and found the Menghuohu barely able to stand.
The beast’s eyes were wide, as if trying to scare her off.
But Hua Jian wasn’t buying it. When she got within a few dozen meters, she launched her attack.
She didn’t use her bullets—she only had a few left and wanted to save them.
Instead, she used the new ability she’d learned last night, aiming her hand at the Menghuohu as several thin vines shot out like arrows.
They weren’t as fast as bullets, but a heavily injured Menghuohu couldn’t dodge them.
The vine tips had been specially reinforced for penetration; the beast’s hide was no match, and the vines punched straight through its skull.
Hua Jian had even wanted to try spinning the tiger around with the vines, but when she gave them a tug, she sadly realized she couldn’t lift it at all.
Awkward—she even had to walk over to retrieve her vines from the corpse.
“Is my strength beyond saving?” she muttered.
“Keep practicing, and it’ll grow,” Linglong consoled her.
Generally, a Cultivator’s strength grows with their cultivation, but the absolute increase doesn’t mean much when compared to others of the same rank—small is still small.
For example, if the Lingcaifeng Master arm-wrestled Fenghua Venerable, she’d lose for sure—even if she could pin down a Ling Emperor with a single finger.
Once she’d retrieved her vines to within a meter, Hua Jian could finally feel the sensation from the other end.
And then—“Hot! Hot! Hot!”
She yanked her vine from the tiger’s skull. Just that instant had nearly burned her fingers.