“This Li Chang Shou, he could have just followed any pair, why split into three routes!”

In the clouds above the Chaotic Miasma Treasure Forest, Jiu Jiu sat cross-legged on a gray cloud, slapping her knee in frustration. She truly wanted to gulp her wine gourd to ease her worries.

She hadn’t expected so many disciples to come to the North Continent for this training gathering, with four of them being precious seedlings of the sect who couldn’t meet with any mishap…

Now these five people had ‘boldly’ split into three groups, putting considerable pressure on Jiu Jiu.

Every one of them was…

Like newborn calves unafraid of tigers, youths who hadn’t tasted the flavor of ‘misery’!

But thinking back to when she was a young disciple, wasn’t her spirit just as high as theirs?

Jiu Jiu casually took out her wine gourd and removed the stopper, but after slight hesitation, she plugged it back.

“Forget it, just endure another twenty days.”

Due to the miasma’s influence, even her True Immortal realm spiritual sense couldn’t probe too far.

Fortunately, this was just the outer region of the North Continent. The poisonous beasts weren’t powerful, and human cultivators or demon races rarely operated here—the latter two usually ventured deeper when entering this area.

After some thought, Jiu Jiu turned to look at Yu Wen Lin standing on the gray cloud behind her. She initially wanted to have him follow You Qin Xuan Ya and Yuan Qing, which would reduce her pressure considerably, but as the words reached her lips, she blinked gently…

‘Master-Aunt Jiu, those of unknown origins remain suspicious, don’t trust them easily.’

She recalled Li Chang Shou’s voice transmission when she had tried to kick him; although Jiu Jiu was somewhat dismissive, as she considered the big fellow behind her no match for her.

But somehow, she did hesitate.

‘Never mind, these five youngsters haven’t yet walked beyond my spiritual sense’s range, no need to worry too much for now.’

Riding the gray cloud forward, Jiu Jiu didn’t forget to turn and say: “Big fellow, keep up with me.”

“Rest assured, Immortal,” Yu Wen Lin clasped his hands and replied, maintaining a three-zhang distance as he followed behind Jiu Jiu on his cloud.

The five people had chosen three different forking paths, naturally growing further apart as they walked.

After consideration, Jiu Jiu chose to temporarily follow Wang Qi and Liu Yan Er, feeling more at ease with Yuan Qing and You Qin Xuan Ya.

As for Li Chang Shou…

Although Jiu Jiu was quite concerned, she couldn’t possibly ignore the pairs to protect just one lone wanderer—that would show too obvious a bias.

She planned to trail each group in rotation, at most distributing her protective surveillance evenly!

According to the training gathering’s rules, the sect’s immortals only needed to escort disciples to their destination and let them enter for training, without much further involvement.

As the saying goes, life and death are ordained by fate, and wealth and honor are determined by heaven. While dangerous environments could help disciples grow quickly, they also carried the risk of losing disciples.

Within Jiu Jiu’s spiritual sense detection, You Qin Xuan Ya and Yuan Qing were quickly heading to their intended area; that pond where the ‘Fire-Resistant Heart-Clarifying Grass’ grew was actually among the safer regions in the Chaotic Miasma Treasure Forest.

Though these two didn’t dare fly, their advance wasn’t slow. They barely communicated throughout, rushing one after another, easily handling occasional ambushes from poisonous beasts.

‘Indeed, Breaking Heaven Peak’s disciples are the least worrisome.’

Looking down, Jiu Jiu could see Wang Qi and Liu Yan Er’s situation. These two chatted while walking, seemingly harboring a tiny bit of mutual affection; although they frequently encountered attacks from poisonous beasts and insects, they handled everything composedly, showing quite impressive strength.

‘Though nothing much has happened, somehow it’s still a bit irritating.’

Jiu Jiu’s lips twisted as she tried to observe Li Chang Shou’s condition, shifting her spiritual sense…

He had vanished!

Had he been dismembered by poisonous beasts so quickly? Or swallowed whole by some fierce beast?

Jiu Jiu’s brows furrowed tightly as she hastily increased her spiritual sense search intensity.

No, there was some technique blocking spiritual sense, but she could feel his aura to the north, moving at high speed, charging forward at a pace… nearly twice as fast as You Qin Xuan Ya and Yuan Qing’s group!

‘You, a Nascent Soul Ninth Stage, flying at full speed toward the depths of the Chaotic Miasma Treasure Forest—are you rushing to your death?!’

Jiu Jiu silently roared skyward, her already-stretched hemp robe shaking wildly.

She glanced at Wang Qi and Liu Yan Er studying a poisonous flower, pointed forward with her left hand, and swiftly pursued Li Chang Shou’s direction on her cloud.

She would catch this fellow and hand him straight to Wang Qi to watch over!

However, moments later, when Jiu Jiu rushed above Li Chang Shou and maintained his speed, looking down for a while, her frown only deepened.

This fellow…

Seemed to be using concealment talismans to mask his aura, thus avoiding detection by fierce beasts from a distance;

Moreover, Li Chang Shou hadn’t risked flying while traveling but instead used that rather sophisticated Dragon-Seeking Cloud Step, even producing afterimages beneath his feet, pushing his Nascent Soul Ninth Stage cultivation to its limit.

No, that medicine cauldron hanging at his waist…

Jiu Jiu sniffed, catching a hint of a strange scent, pondered for a moment, and then showed sudden realization.

It was Solar Poison Dragon Saliva?!

The Solar Poison Dragons were born in the North Sea, fond of devouring demon beasts, poisonous beasts, and ordinary creatures. But being too brutal and indiscriminately killing, they damaged the already sparse dragon race’s fortune, leading to a massive purge by the dragon race thousands of years ago.

This Solar Poison Dragon Saliva wasn’t a rare treasure, but it was still quite valuable. Who knows where Li Chang Shou got a piece…

With this thing hanging nearby, ordinary poisonous creatures truly wouldn’t dare approach, no wonder Li Chang Shou dared to charge forward so recklessly.

Jiu Jiu’s eyebrows lifted slightly as she muttered: “This fellow made many preparations, seems he has some urgent herb to find. What does he want?”

Yu Wen Lin’s rough voice came from behind: “Why doesn’t the Immortal go down and ask?”

“No need. If one only cultivates under the sect’s protection, even becoming immortal would make them useless,” Jiu Jiu stretched lazily, glancing back at Yu Wen Lin. “Let’s go see your princess again, lest anyone say I’m showing favoritism as a Master Aunt.”

Yu Wen Lin immediately nodded in agreement, appearing somewhat eager, fitting the reaction expected of a loyal guard.

However, as Jiu Jiu turned to fly away, a black beetle flew from beside Yu Wen Lin’s leg, diving into the gray cloud below.

This movement was too subtle, done while Jiu Jiu was using her spiritual sense to check on the other four disciples’ situations. Even though Jiu Jiu’s cultivation far exceeded Yu Wen Lin’s, she hadn’t noticed his small action…

After these two flew away, that beetle continued racing through the gray mist, closely following Li Chang Shou’s figure.

…

“Hmm?”

Li Chang Shou looked up at the sky. In his swift advance, he vaguely sensed something unusual, as if a pair of eyes were watching him from above.

But careful investigation revealed nothing out of the ordinary.

Master-Aunt?

Probably not, this gaze carried hostility.

Following the principle of better safe than sorry, Li Chang Shou stopped and quickly formed hand seals while muttering incantations, and subtle ripples appeared in the gray-black ground ahead.

He stepped into it, his form quickly sinking into the earth, disappearing in an instant.

Five Elements Escape Technique, Earth Escape.

Moments later, Li Chang Shou’s figure emerged from a patch of grass fifty li away, the gathered poisonous insects and several poisonous beasts quickly scattering in all directions.

The feeling of being watched had indeed vanished.

Li Chang Shou quickly oriented himself to the surrounding terrain, lowered his head, and continued racing forward, casually taking two talismans from his sleeve and attaching them to his outer thighs, his speed increasing another notch.

Thousand-Li Swift Travel Talisman—a rather ordinary talisman that could enhance the user’s travel speed, usually prepared for cultivators who had just entered the Qi Condensation realm.

Li Chang Shou had already determined that their group of five would encounter some unexpected events this time.

Though the Chaotic Miasma Treasure Forest was dangerous, this was just the outer region of the outer region of the North Continent. Even Return to Void realm cultivators could handle it with some caution, it was just that the North Continent had a fierce reputation.

But that Yu Wen Lin who suddenly appeared halfway…

Yuan Qing who always seemed so kind…

You Qin Xuan Ya who appeared very cold but probably lacked actual scheming ability…

The Princess, secular royal power…

Li Chang Shou analyzed a thread of clues in his mind, growing more convinced that some story would surely unfold here.

Those plotting behind the scenes thought they had considered everything, but having a cultivator general from secular royal power appear halfway, rather than going directly to the sect to find a senior member to explain the situation and stop You Qin Xuan Ya from leaving, was somewhat illogical…

Never mind, none of this had anything to do with him.

While running, Li Chang Shou took out that simple map for a look, his gaze revealing slight helplessness.

If he hadn’t run out of options, he wouldn’t have wanted to risk coming to such a dangerous place—it completely violated his life principle of staying safely in the mountains until death.

But Master…

“Supreme Clarity above, untouched by all causes, ward off all evil!”

With this shout, Li Chang Shou roused his spirits and continued racing through the black forest full of poisonous obstacles.

However, just moments later, Li Chang Shou again had the subtle sense of being monitored.

His brows slightly furrowed, mentally noting the trouble, but this time Li Chang Shou didn’t reveal more escape techniques. Instead, he checked several combat items in his storage treasure, while his spiritual sense began seeking suitable ambush locations.

Though careful, he wasn’t cowardly—there was still a distinction between these traits.

For quite a while after, Li Chang Shou only had this feeling of being watched, without encountering any ambush or sneak attack.

He remained mentally tense for two full days and nights and used Earth Escape several times, but the feeling of being tailed persisted.

Li Chang Shou calculated his current position, having naturally penetrated deep into the Chaotic Miasma Treasure Forest, probably beyond Master-Aunt Jiu’s spiritual sense detection range.

He hadn’t rested for a moment yet showed no signs of fatigue, the effects of his many years of perseverance training quite evident.

Suddenly…

Killing intent?

Li Chang Shou’s extended spiritual sense hadn’t detected any threat—the other party had the means to evade spiritual sense detection.

His gaze swept toward the source of the killing intent—the dark forest to the left. Li Chang Shou continued sprinting forward, but his left fingertips gently rubbed, spreading spider web-like transparent strings to his side, while his right hand inconspicuously stirred up a gentle wind on the other side…

Detection tool: Three-Eyed Spider’s Thread.

Soon, a somewhat blurry picture formed in Li Chang Shou’s mind.