Ye Qiu and the others headed east, searching for any sign of Wu Qianfan.
They walked for a long time but still found nothing.
“Strange, where on earth has that fellow run off to?” Ye Qiu said with furrowed brows.
“Big Brother, do you think Wu Qianfan might have died?” Lin Da Niao asked.
“Impossible,” Ye Qiu replied. “Apart from those supreme geniuses, who has the strength to kill him?”
Lin Da Niao nodded. “True, without those geniuses around, Wu Qianfan is practically invincible. But then where could he have gone?”
“Keep looking!” Ye Qiu said and pressed onward.
They travelled several hundred li more.
Finally, Ye Qiu drew a tracking talisman. In an instant, a thread of black qi thinner than a hair appeared before him. The others did not notice it, but the little white fox did.
“A talisman!” Surprise flickered in the little white fox’s eyes. She thought to herself, “I never expected this Ye Changsheng to have so many tricks up his sleeve.”
“I must find a way to lure him to the demon clan.”
The wisp of black qi hovered in front of Ye Qiu for a moment, then shot forward like an arrow.
“Little brat, could we be searching in the wrong direction?” Long-Brow Daoist asked.
“No chance. I’m now certain Wu Qianfan definitely went east. Let’s go.” Ye Qiu took Yun Xi’s hand and moved ahead.
The rest followed closely behind.
They walked another few dozen li.
The tracking talisman led them into a forest.
Ye Qiu followed it through the trees until he reached an ancient tree. There were clear signs of battle, bird bones, and traces of a campfire.
“Wu Qianfan has been here. We’re on the right path.”
He continued following the talisman and soon arrived at another stretch of jungle.
There he found the corpse of an enormous python.
The python had been killed, its gall bladder removed, and the ground around it was stained with congealed blood.
“This python was almost certainly killed by Wu Qianfan. It looks like he may be injured.”
Without pausing, Ye Qiu passed through the jungle. Moments later he came upon several more corpses.
Every one had been killed with a single sword stroke.
Ye Qiu crouched beside one body, examined it carefully, and said, “If I’m not mistaken, these people were killed by Wu Qianfan.”
Mo Tianji asked, “These cultivators aren’t particularly strong. Why would they attack Wu Qianfan?”
“Everyone knows Wu Qianfan is a prince of Great Zhou and a Cave Heaven realm genius.”
“Did they really have the guts of a bear and the胆 of a leopard?”
Ye Qiu answered, “Most likely Wu Qianfan was already injured, so these weaker cultivators saw an opportunity to kill him and loot his treasures.”
“Let’s keep going.”
“I have a feeling we’re getting closer.”
Following the tracking talisman, they continued and soon saw many more corpses along the way.
There were at least several dozen.
A few had been peak Cave Heaven experts while alive.
Blood was everywhere.
“Big Brother, if your guess is right, Wu Qianfan was injured and then hunted by so many cultivators. His situation must be really bad right now.”
Among the group, Lin Da Niao had the lowest cultivation and a stout body. After travelling so far he was panting heavily and said, “Big Brother, how about we stop looking?”
“After all, Wu Qianfan is only your servant.”
“We’ve searched this long, we’ve already done more than enough. Whether he lives or dies is up to his own fate now.”
“Let’s just leave the mountain!”
Ye Qiu replied, “Once the arrow is loosed there is no turning back. Since we’ve decided to find him, we can’t give up halfway. We find him alive or we find his corpse.”
“If you’re tired, you can rest here.”
With that, Ye Qiu continued the search.
Lin Da Niao had no choice but to follow.
A few minutes later, the tracking talisman reached a wide expanse of grass. The grass was lush and green, stretching as far as the eye could see, like a vast prairie.
Whoosh!
The tracking talisman suddenly dispersed.
“Wu Qianfan is nearby,” Ye Qiu said.
“Nearby? That’s impossible, right?” Lin Da Niao was sceptical.
Although the grass was thick, it was less than two chi high. It couldn’t possibly hide a person.
If a living person were in there, even lying flat, they would be clearly visible.
“He’s definitely nearby.” Ye Qiu’s tone was certain. He trusted the talisman completely.
Ye Qiu stood still, scanned the area, and saw no sign of Wu Qianfan, so he quietly activated his Heavenly Eye.
The next second, his expression turned odd.
Because he had seen Wu Qianfan.
Wu Qianfan was actually very close, right beneath the grass not far ahead of him, inside a dirt pit.
The dense grass concealed the pit, and mysterious formation patterns shrouded it. If Ye Qiu didn’t possess the Heavenly Eye, he really wouldn’t have discovered Wu Qianfan.
Wu Qianfan’s hair was dishevelled, his body charred black, his clothes in rags. He looked exactly like a beggar.
Ye Qiu was stunned.
“How did he end up in this state?”
At that moment, Lin Da Niao said, “Since Big Brother says Wu Qianfan is nearby, let’s search!”
With that, Lin Da Niao charged straight into the grass.
“Stop—” Before Ye Qiu could finish, Lin Da Niao vanished with a thud.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
“What just happened?”
“Where did Da Niao go?”
Hahaha…
Ye Qiu suddenly burst out laughing.
“Little brat, what’s so funny?” Long-Brow Daoist asked, puzzled.
The others also stared at Ye Qiu.
“I just saw something hilarious.” Ye Qiu had watched the scene: Wu Qianfan had been in the pit cursing heaven and earth when he finally stood up, only for Lin Da Niao to fall in and land right on top of him with a loud clang.
“There’s a dirt pit in the grass. Da Niao and Wu Qianfan are both in it now.”
Ye Qiu walked into the grass and stopped at the edge of the pit.
Boom!
He threw a punch downward.
Immediately the grass split apart, revealing the dirt pit. Light gathered in the centre, mist swirling thickly.
“Formation patterns?”
Long-Brow Daoist exclaimed in surprise, “There’s an array here.”
“Can you tell what kind it is? Can you break it?” Ye Qiu asked.
“Let this poor Daoist study it.” Long-Brow Daoist circled the pit twice and tried several methods to break the array, but none worked.
“This poor Daoist has never seen this array before. Breaking it won’t be easy,” Long-Brow Daoist said.
Mo Tianji observed for a while and said, “I don’t recognise this array either.”
Confusion filled Yun Xi’s beautiful face. “Strange, why would there be an array here?”
“Could there be treasure down there?”
Ye Qiu readied himself to use the Xuanyuan Sword to force the array open when the little white fox in his arms suddenly spoke.
“A mere array, and so many of you can’t even recognise it. Aren’t you ashamed?”
“Ye Changsheng, you don’t believe me?”
“Let me do it!”
