Su Zhan and Yun Li fell amid a howling gale.
In the midst of that dizzying plunge, Yun Li instinctively wrapped her arms tightly around Su Zhan’s waist.
Only after the two of them landed steadily did she finally release her trembling hands, brace her knees against the ground, and spit out a mouthful of sour water.
It was as if a great wind had risen in the heavens, sweeping through valleys, across rivers, over fields, and through dense forests, until at last it rolled an even fiercer wind toward the distance.
Fortunately, she had not gorged herself at breakfast the way Ning Yao usually did.
Otherwise she would have been even more wretched in front of Su Zhan right now… of course, she was not exactly looking graceful at the moment either.
She remained half-squatting for quite a while before slowly rising, an expression of utter despair on her face as she rubbed her lower abdomen.
“Feeling any better?” Su Zhan asked softly.
“I’m fine…”
Yun Li nodded hard, yet the motion only made her head swim again.
She turned aside and started dry-heaving once more.
Su Zhan could only sigh and reach out to gently pat Yun Li’s back.
Once the girl had finished most of her retching, Su Zhan took a handkerchief from her robes and wiped away the tears that had welled at the corners of Yun Li’s eyes.
Then she pulled out a water pouch and handed it over for her to rinse her mouth.
“Rest a little first before we move,” Su Zhan said, supporting Yun Li’s shoulder as she guided her toward a large tree nearby.
Yun Li nodded.
Perhaps having learned her lesson from a moment ago, the range of her swaying had lessened considerably.
They were standing in a clearing within a forest.
The surroundings were quiet, broken only by the rustling of wind through the treetops.
The fragrance of locust blossoms drifted over, and Yun Li felt a little better.
By the time she recovered her strength, Su Zhan had already finished surveying the area around them.
“Feeling better…? You don’t need to nod. If you’re still dizzy, you can rest a while longer,” Su Zhan said.
“Much better. It feels like Junior Sister Ning took me on a full circle of sword-riding.”
Yun Li coughed a few more times and straightened up.
Looking at the nearly identical trees all around, she kept having the illusion that the trees were spinning along with her gaze.
“Senior Sister, where are we going?”
“Which direction do you want to head?” Su Zhan asked in return.
When diving into a dungeon, of course it’s better to follow the protagonist.
If a cannon-fodder female supporting character like her took the lead, it would not be long before the two of them fell straight into a ditch.
“You want me to lead the way? If your luck is good, then I’ll listen to you.”
“All right, then… that way.”
Yun Li did not fuss over it and casually pointed in one direction.
“Fine.”
Su Zhan nodded, took back the water pouch Yun Li returned, and tucked it into her robes.
The long sword at her waist left its sheath and settled into her hand.
Her other hand reached out toward Yun Li.
“Senior Sister, what are you doing?”
Yun Li jumped in fright and instinctively drew her hand back a little.
“What’s wrong?”
Su Zhan looked puzzled.
She thought for a moment, then patiently explained,
“The situation here is unknown. If we get separated because of it, that would be troublesome.”
After all, things like the female lead always manage to leave the team for all sorts of reasons, then fall into various grotto-heavens and blessed lands to obtain opportunities and treasures.
So what she was holding onto was not her junior sister—it was the female lead’s luck, and her own bright future.
“Is that all?” Yun Li blinked.
“What else did Junior Sister think it was?” Su Zhan asked, puzzled.
“Nothing, nothing…”
Yun Li shook her head and obediently offered her hand.
Seeing that Su Zhan only gripped her wrist and went no further, Yun Li secretly let out a breath of relief in her heart.
Then she could not help but grumble inwardly that her senior sister really was a block of wood.
Did she not know that a girl’s hand was not something to be held casually?
Just a moment ago she had still been thinking that Senior Sister never took the initiative to get close to Senior Sister Tang because she liked her instead.
Her heart had even skipped a little, and she had felt a secret thrill.
Now it seemed she had been overthinking it.
Yet… Senior Sister’s hand was cool, yet soft.
Those slender fingers circling her wrist felt just like wearing a warm, smooth jade bracelet.
The girl lowered her head slightly, letting her messy thoughts run wild as she allowed Su Zhan to lead her forward.
Only when she suddenly heard the person beside her coldly spit out the words “Careful!” did her scattered mind snap back.
In the next instant, the hand that had been loosely holding her wrist suddenly tightened.
With force, it yanked her to the side.
Her steps stumbled, and she nearly crashed straight into the other person’s arms.
A cold sound of tearing air rang out without warning.
Su Zhan raised her hand and thrust her long sword forward with force, her figure shifting slightly to shield the girl.
A faint scent of sandalwood drifted from the raised wrist and seeped into the girl’s nose.
Whimper!
Yun Li only managed a single whimper.
She had no idea what had just happened and lifted her eyes toward the tip of the long sword in Su Zhan’s hand.
There she saw a venomous snake covered entirely in green-yellow scales, sharp bone spines protruding from its back, its fangs and massive jaws wide open as it was pinned firmly in midair.
The two enormous fangs at the sides of its mouth were nine parts colder than Su Zhan’s sword.
The snake had just dived down from the tree…
She had not sensed it at all.
If she had been bitten, the consequences would have been unimaginable…
Cold sweat instantly broke out across Yun Li’s back.
Seeing that the fierce snake, even with its upper and lower jaws pierced by the sword, was still struggling desperately and trying to lunge at her to bite, she could not help but lean a little closer to Su Zhan’s side.
Su Zhan applied a clever force and slanted her sword to lift the snake upward.
The creature, suspended in midair, actually managed to free itself and twisted its body as if to slide down along the blade.
Yet Su Zhan gave it no chance to approach.
With a flick of her wrist she brought the blade down in a horizontal slash that cut water with a single stroke, severing the snake at the waist.
A shrill hiss accompanied the four-way spray of snake blood.
The snake monster’s body curled up, completely losing the strength to continue its attack.
Then, fearing the snake might not be thoroughly dead, the long sword in Su Zhan’s hand began to glow with flowing light.
In the span of a few breaths she delivered several more cuts, slicing the snake’s body into multiple segments that fell to the ground.
The snake corpses that had not yet stiffened continued to writhe and twitch, making soft patter-patter sounds.
Yun Li could not help swallowing a mouthful of saliva.
Her heart was still pounding wildly.
From the moment the snake was discovered to the moment it was slain, the entire process had lasted only a few short breaths.
Su Zhan’s expression had not changed in the slightest throughout, giving people a solid sense of security.
Only… she suddenly wondered—if one day she truly angered Senior Sister, would Senior Sister deal with her the same way once she got angry?
She recalled the earlier rumor that Ning Yao had been scolded until she cried.
Mm… it would be better to mix less with Junior Sister Ning recently and stay a little more obedient beside Su Zhan.
“Were you frightened? Don’t be afraid, and don’t overthink it. Senior Sister is here.”
Seeing Yun Li’s face turn pale, Su Zhan assumed it was because Yun Li was seeing this kind of scene for the first time and had been scared.
So after the bloody aftermath, she spoke softly to soothe her.
“Oh, I’m fine, Senior Sister.”
Yun Li came back to herself and nodded repeatedly.
When she stood up, her legs were still a little weak.
Su Zhan gave a quiet acknowledgment and temporarily released her hand.
She bent down and used her sword to turn aside the chunks of snake flesh, searching among the meat of the seven-inch vital area until she found a glowing, tumor-like core.
Then she half-squatted and pinched it between her fingertips.
“Where did this snake monster come from? It’s really hard to guard against,” Yun Li muttered under her breath.
Watching Su Zhan’s movements, she also leaned in curiously.
“Senior Sister, what is this?”
“Beast core,” Su Zhan answered concisely, then tossed it to Yun Li.
“So this is a beast core?”
Yun Li caught it and examined it carefully.
It was crystalline and translucent.
“How ugly. When Elder Liu taught me, he said beast cores are similar to inner cores. This snake monster’s cultivation is still shallow. It must have only just stepped into Qi Refining, so its beast core has not yet condensed to maturity. That’s why it looks like this,” Su Zhan explained.
Yun Li sighed and casually put the beast core away.
“So why did it pick me to attack? Just because I’m easy to bully?”
“This dense forest is full of growth. Demonic creatures like this snake monster should not be few. Does Junior Sister have any techniques for sensing nearby demonic creatures?” Su Zhan asked.
She had not yet cultivated in the area of the divine soul.
Even if she released her spiritual sense to probe, the range would be extremely limited.
She could only detect danger the way she had just now—when the snake demon was already close enough to nearly bite.
Yet she remembered that in the original work, spell cultivators, formation cultivators, and talisman cultivators could all practice similar techniques.
And Yun Li happened to be a dual cultivator of formations.
“I do.”
Yun Li nodded and reached into her robes to rummage around.
It seemed there were too many things she needed to find.
She searched for quite a while without success, crumpling her entire set of clothes into a wrinkled mess.
Su Zhan could only sigh and turn her head aside to keep watch on the surroundings, practicing the principle of not looking at what was improper.
“Found it.”
At last, a moment later, Yun Li pulled a palm-sized jade disk from her robes.
The outer rim was carved with the eight trigrams directions, the inner surface painted with the taiji yin-yang fish, and the reverse side engraved with patterns of the sun, moon, and stars.
This was her natal spiritual artifact.
Su Zhan looked over again.
She watched as Yun Li also took out a stack of talisman papers, a proud look appearing on her little face as she hummed with satisfaction.
“As long as I stick a Spirit-Seeking Talisman on it and activate it with spiritual power, every demonic creature within a hundred-meter radius can be detected.
As long as my spiritual power is sufficient, the detection technique can be maintained continuously.
This is a technique I spent three whole months learning from Elder Liu.
Even Senior Sister doesn’t know it!”
“Impressive,” Su Zhan praised sincerely.
“Then I’ll begin.”
Her tiny vanity satisfied, Yun Li raised her hand, flicked a talisman paper, and stuck it onto the center of the jade disk.
She brought two fingers of her left hand together and pressed them against her forehead, murmuring under her breath.
Before long, a circular diagram rose from the jade disk and hovered half in the air.
A circle with waves spreading outward from the center appeared before the two of them, dotted with faint lights and interwoven lines covering the entire diagram.
The smile that had originally been bright on Yun Li’s face stiffened the moment she clearly saw the contents revealed by the circular diagram.
Cold sweat instantly poured down her back.
“What’s wrong?”
Su Zhan sensed something amiss and lightly tightened her grip on the long sword as she asked in a low voice.
“Senior Sister… we seem… to be in trouble…”
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