Kacha! This time, the Feilai Blade completely severed the vine heart.

All the vines that had been extending from the heart seemed to have suddenly lost their life, and with a desolate wail, began to wilt rapidly.

Not long after, at least a third of the vines in the underground chamber had yellowed, the wailing stopped, and all was quiet once more.

“It’s dead, finally dead!”

Everyone finally took a deep breath.

“Sister Ruoyan, what was that blue light? It was so powerful!” Lin Qingchen looked towards Yun Ruoyan, somewhat shocked.

She’d seen high-grade weapons that could freely change their size, but never a beam like that which seemed able to understand human commands. She wasn’t even sure if that was a weapon at all.

“You mean this!” Yun Ruoyan extended her palm and lay it flat in front of Lin Qingchen, and the Feilai Blade appeared hovering above her palm.

It was a crescent-shaped blade, giving off a cold blue aura, slowly revolving in the air.

“This is…?”

“It’s a spiritual weapon.” Zhuo Yifeng’s equally astonished voice came from Yun Ruoyan’s back.

She turned around to glance at him and continued, “That’s right, this is the Feilai Blade, a spirit weapon I obtained unintentionally, and one of my lifelines.”

She looked at Lin Qingchen and Zhuo Yifeng in succession before saying with a severe expression, “This is far more precious than someone at my level of cultivation should have. I’m only a weak girl, and if others were to know that I have such a weapon, it won’t end well for me. That’s why I’ve been hiding this from all of you, and I hope you’ll all understand and help me keep my secret.”

“Of course!” Lin Qingchen exclaimed. She knew full well how difficult her cousin’s life was. “I’ll be sure to keep this secret. Don’t worry, Ruoyan.”

“We beastkin won’t ever betray our friends. I can swear a vow to the king of beasts,” Zhuo Yifeng continued.

Yun Ruoyan looked at him in anticipation. He didn’t hesitate to make a fist, place it above his heart, look toward the sky, and say slowly, “I, Zhuo Yifeng, hereby swear to the king of beasts: If I reveal Yun Ruoyan’s secret, I will lose my most precious possession.”

Zhuo Yifeng’s bright eyes looked toward Yun Ruoyan, and she nodded. “It’s not that I’m unwilling to trust you, but things happen so rapidly in this world that I need a guarantee.”

Zhuo Yifeng nodded in understanding. “All of you are fine, right?”

“I’m fine. How are you guys? Were you hurt by the vines?” Yun Ruoyan kept the Feilai Blade once more before turning to Zhuo Yifeng and Lin Qingxue.

“She wasn’t injured, but her face is rather pallid.” Zhuo Yifeng looked at Lin Qingxue, who was still in a daze.

“She’s fine. I just took her pulse, and she’s just been temporarily weakened. Luckily, her health’s not in danger,” Lin Qingchen added.

“The vines sucked up a lot of her spiritual energy,” Yun Ruoyan commented. “Given how long this vine’s been here, I wonder how many lives it’s taken?”

Everyone looked as one toward the bones lining the ground.

“What’s that?” Zhuo Yifeng frowned and glanced at the corner where the vine heart used to be.

After it had wilted, it had lost its blood-red appearance and instead lay shrunken on its side, just like a withered tree trunk.

With his bow, Zhuo Yifeng sawed the remainder of the vine away, revealing a little crevice beneath.

A little black snake was crawling up the hole, and Zhuo Yifeng cut its head off immediately.

“Hng! There are snakes here too.”

Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen also walked over. When Yun Ruoyan saw the little snake, she frowned. “Aren’t snake-type beasts usually green? Why is this one black in color?”

“A mutated snake!” Lin Qingchen stooped down as she looked at the two halves of the snake, which were squirming slowly. “Snake-type beasts mutate relatively easily, and they commonly develop some special ability upon doing so. I’ve seen records of one that could breathe fire, and it was a very powerful beast specializing in offensive attacks.”

She looked somewhat regretfully at the little snake carcass. “It’s a pity that it died, or I’d have been able to study it a little.”

“Qingchen, when did you start studying magical beasts?” Yun Ruoyan asked, recalling that her cousin had always followed her grandfather around learning medicine. She had some latent talent for pillmaking, but Yun Ruoyan didn’t know that she was interested in magical beasts as well.

“Grandfather said that many beasts’ inner cores can be a vital ingredient for some medicine, so he’s been pushing me to read more books about the subject. Sometimes, he even lets me keep some small magical beasts to observe. Only after entering this place did I realize how many beasts out there that aren’t recorded in books; we really have far too few records!”

As Lin Qingchen said this, her gaze drifted toward the crevice behind the snake carcass, and her eyes lit up. She reached out to clear away the rest of the vine before bending down toward the crevice.

“Great, there are still snake eggs here!” She turned back and said happily to Yun Ruoyan before reaching into the crevice and taking out three spotted snake eggs.

“Are you really going to raise them?” Yun Ruoyan looked at the three small, oval-shaped eggs, slightly frowning. “These are mutated beasts, and unless you’re a professional summoner, you might not be able to tame them.”

Yun Ruoyan turned to look at the gigantic serpent carcass behind her, still remembering the heart-pounding battle she’d had with the beast. If not for the Feilai Blade, she’d likely have been swallowed whole in one gulp.

“It’s alright, I’ll let Grandfather help me. Snake-type beasts aren’t easy to raise, either, and it’s possible that none of them will actually survive.” She reached out into the crevice again, but this time, rather than a snake egg, she extracted a book.

“Why’s there a book here?!” Lin Qingchen exclaimed.

The book was dusty and old, as yellowed as the vine had become after its death.

Yun Ruoyan was as flummoxed as Lin Qingchen.

“It’s likely left by one of the people that the wild vine consumed,” Zhuo Yifeng said from the side. He’d cleared out the vines by the other side of the crevice and was reaching his hand in as well.

“That’s possible! Let me see.” Yun Ruoyan took the book. It wasn’t very thick, but felt dense and heavy to the touch. She flipped it open and revealed equally yellowed pages, but there wasn’t a single word on them.

“What’s this? There are no words anywhere!” Yun Ruoyan flipped through the entire book and confirmed her statement.

“There are more things inside!” Zhuo Yifeng suddenly exclaimed, and Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen both looked toward him. His hand was clutching a dark green porcelain bottle, his face full of delight.

Yun Ruoyan also smiled. “There’s probably quite a few more possessions in this crevice from all those people who’ve died here before. If we clean out all the vines, we might end up with some good finds.”

Lin Qingchen carefully stored her three snake eggs, and Yun Ruoyan tossed the book with no words into her pocket dimension.

The three of them began clearing out the remainder of the vines, revealing a frightening number of bones within. Most of the bones were from humans, and it seemed that they’d been dead for quite a while.

“It looks like this serpent’s killed a large number of people as well.” Yun Ruoyan picked up another white porcelain bottle from amidst those bones. She opened it and found, to her surprise, a core foundation pill.

But this pill wasn’t particularly successful: it seemed far inferior in terms of shape, smell, and size to the pill that the Lins had had.

“This must be a failure.” Lin Qingchen took the pill and sniffed it carefully. “But it still has pretty good medicinal properties, better than a standard life quintessence pill. Just the thing we need to help restore Qingxue’s vitality.”

She walked over to Lin Qingxue’s side and fed her the pill. Lin Qingxue’s complexion immediately seemed far better, and she slowly opened her eyes. “Qingchen, I was so scared!”

“This is a lesson for you, so you’ll be better behaved in the future.” Lin Qingchen clicked her tongue at her sister, but her fingers were gently rubbing her temples.

In the end, the group found quite a few noteworthy things from the chamber, mostly pills and powders for restoring spiritual energy and stamina. Although they were precious, nothing was exceptionally special.

Every cultivator would normally keep pills like those by their side in case they encountered any danger, so rather than putting it into Lin Qingchen’s bag of holding, they split it up on the spot.

What remained was a bottle of mysterious medicinal powder and a rusted ring.

The medicinal powder would be handed to Lin Zainan, who would be able to identify it.

The ring was engraved with what appeared to be a little serpent. Lin Qingchen liked the look of it very much, so they agreed to give the ring to her.

After they’d extracted the core from the serpent, the group went back to the hole down which they’d fallen. Lin Qingchen and Zhuo Yifeng had prepared a vine as they’d descended, making the climb up much more convenient.

“Lin’er? Lin’er?” Zhuo Yifeng called up through the hole.

Yun Ruoyan could see that he was still a little worried, and she couldn’t help but be touched that, in order to save her, he actually left his sister up there in the cave alone.

“Brother, I’m alright. Are you injured? How are Ruoyan and the others?”

Zhuo Lin’er’s voice finally responded from above, and the group relaxed at the same time.

“We’re all alright, and we’re heading up now!” Zhuo Yifeng responded before grabbing a vine, carrying Lin Qingxue on his back, and climbing up.

Lin Qingchen followed behind him, and Yun Ruoyan behind her. After about fifteen minutes, they were finally back in the cave.

Zhuo Lin’er had been guarding the entrance, looking downward from time to time with her little body. As soon as she saw Zhuo Yifeng, she immediately stood up.

“What’s wrong with Sister Qingxue?” She saw Zhuo Yifeng carrying Lin Qingxue and asked in concern.

“I’m alright.” Lin Qingxue opened her eyes and spoke with considerable exertion, “I’m just a little weak, but after a bit of rest, I’ll be able to bicker with you again!”

“Hng! I don’t enjoy bickering with you.” Zhuo Lin’er couldn’t help but give her a supercilious look.

The others began laughing at their antics.

After a short rest, they descended the cliff once more, returning to where they’d fought with Pei Ziao that day in the forest.

Pei Ziao’s group had long since vanished, but what was curious was that Liu Sheng and Jin Fei’er’s bodies had likewise disappeared. There were only two pools of unsightly dried-up blood on the ground.