27: Chapter 27 The Fight Between the Snipe and the Clam

Morning mist, like gauze, wrapped around every corner of the canyon.

Lin Xuan opened his eyes in the narrow rock cave; faint sounds came from outside—nocturnal insects and beasts were returning to their nests.

He maintained his cross-legged posture and inspected his Dantian internally. His Qi flowed slowly, and after a night of Cultivating the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art, it had solidified a fraction more.

He stood up to stretch his somewhat stiff muscles and bones; the stone golem puppet stood quietly at the cave entrance, covered in a thin layer of dew.

Lin Xuan retracted the Puppet, which shrank back to the size of a palm, and placed it into his Storage Pouch. The warning Talisman at the cave entrance had not been triggered; the night had been peaceful.

After a simple meal of dry rations, Lin Xuan pushed aside the dead branches used to conceal the cave entrance. The mist outside was thicker than yesterday, with visibility of less than five zhang, and the air was filled with a mixed scent of rotting leaves and damp earth.

"Today is the second day," he calculated silently in his heart, releasing the Herb-Seeking Mouse. The little fellow seemed to have completely adapted to the canyon environment and began sniffing around excitedly as soon as it came out.

Lin Xuan unfolded his map. The "wind bell flower Slope" marked yesterday had already been occupied by Man-eating Flower Vines and could no longer be visited.

According to the original plan, he should explore towards the northwest today, where there was an area marked with "possible water-condensing stone vein."

But the Herb-Seeking Mouse tugged at his pant leg and gestured towards another direction—that was the northeast, where the map marked a "wind bell flower growth point," but there was a small note beside it: "Often fought over by Disciples."

Lin Xuan pondered for a moment. wind bell flowers were the main ingredients for refining several types of heart-clearing and barrier-breaking Medicinal Pills and were quite valuable.

Furthermore, according to what Deacon Wu said, they only had optimal medicinal efficacy if harvested under specific conditions. The group of Man-eating Flower Vines yesterday had caused him to miss an opportunity, and today...

"Go take a look, but don't force it," he decided. Being steady didn't mean avoiding opportunities entirely, but rather assessing the situation.

He activated the Breath Concealment Technique, his figure blending into the mist as he followed the Herb-Seeking Mouse towards the northeast.

After walking for about half an hour, the mist gradually thinned, and faint human voices came from ahead.

Lin Xuan stopped immediately, lowered his body, and used the dense ferns to hide his figure. He activated the Earth Listening Technique to its fullest, and the world in his ears became clear.

"...Senior Brother Wang, we clearly discovered this patch of wind bell flowers first!" A young male voice, slightly urgent, sounded somewhat familiar.

"Just because you found it first means it's yours?" Another voice, hoarse with sarcasm, replied, "Junior Brother Li, you must understand the rules in this canyon, right?"

Lin Xuan silently moved forward a few steps and looked through the gaps in the plants.

Ahead was a gentle slope with a shallow gradient and thin mist, allowing him to see the situation thirty zhang away.

More than a dozen wind bell flowers grew on the slope, with vines wrapped around several grey-white rocks. The pale blue flowers were eighty or ninety percent bloomed, swaying gently in the morning breeze.

Beside the flowers, two groups of people stood in a standoff.

On the east side were two people, both wearing the pale red attire of Flame Peak.

The leader was a square-faced youth at the Early Stage of Qi Refining Level 2, holding a crimson short blade with flickering firelight on the blade.

Lin Xuan recognized him—this person was Li Yan, whom he had met once in Chen Hao's courtyard; he was one of the Senior Brothers on good terms with Chen Hao at Flame Peak.

Behind Li Yan was a slightly shorter Disciple at the Peak of Level 1 Qi Refining, clutching several Talismans in his hand with a nervous expression.

On the west side were three people, dressed in the style of Sharp Metal Peak; their pale gold robes were quite conspicuous in the mist.

The leading "Senior Brother Wang" was a Thin Tall Man with a hooked nose and thin lips, at the Middle Stage of Qi Refining Level 2, wearing a thin sword at his waist.

The two behind him, a man and a woman, were both at the Peak of Level 1 Qi Refining, holding standard-issue qingyun sword.

Li Yan's face flushed red: "Wang Zhen, don't go too far! We marked this flower patch yesterday evening!"

"Marked?" Wang Zhen sneered, pointing to a small flame mark on a rock—a trace burned with fire-type Qi, "What kind of mark is that? I passed by this morning and thought it was just some blind idiot scribbling around."

The male Disciple behind him laughed in coordination: "Exactly, Senior Brother Li, you people from Flame Peak are just crude, burning up a perfectly good rock like this."

The short Disciple behind Li Yan couldn't help but speak up: "You Sharp Metal Peak people are just openly robbing us!"

"You can't put it that way." Wang Zhen slowly adjusted his cuffs, "Canyon resources belong to those who are capable. We have three people, you have two; I am at the Middle Stage of Qi Refining Level 2, while you, Junior Brother Li, are only at the Early Stage. If we really start fighting, I don't need to say who will suffer, do I?"

He paused, revealing a seemingly kind smile: "How about this, I won't bully you. We'll take seventy percent of these wind bell flowers, and you take thirty. How is that?"

"Seventy percent?!" The veins on Li Yan's hand holding the blade bulged, "Wang Zhen, you're dreaming!"

"So there's no room for negotiation?" Wang Zhen's smile faded as his hand pressed onto his sword hilt, "Junior Brother Li, I advise you to think clearly. Getting injured here is no joke. The canyon has only been open for two days; there are still eighteen days left."

The atmosphere suddenly tightened. The two groups were at daggers drawn, and their Qi fluctuations began to grow chaotic.

Lin Xuan observed quietly from behind the grass. He recognized Li Yan but still had no intention of appearing.

Such disputes were too common in the canyon; rashly intervening would only drag himself into the mess.

His gaze swept over the wind bell flowers and then looked at the surrounding environment.

Near the flower patch were a few crooked trees wrapped in grey-green vines. Between the vines, one could vaguely see several grey, basin-sized spherical objects—beehives.

"Poison Mist Bees..." Lin Xuan recalled the records in the appendix of introduction to hundreds of herbs.

A Low Grade Rank 1 demonic insect, social, not highly venomous but extremely painful to sting, and capable of releasing trace amounts of paralyzing mist. They usually inhabit areas with dense vines.

He had a plan in mind but remained still.

On the slope, Li Yan gritted his teeth and said: "Wang Zhen, don't push people too far! If we really have to fight, we at Flame Peak aren't pushovers!"

Before his voice faded, the crimson short blade in his hand slashed out violently! A foot-long flame blade energy whistled out, flying straight towards Wang Zhen's face!

"Well come!" Wang Zhen laughed instead of being alarmed; his thin sword unsheathed, and a golden light flashed.

"Clang!"

The sound of metal clashing exploded. Flame and golden light collided, bursting into a halo of light that made the surrounding mist tumble.

The fight had started!

The short Disciple behind Li Yan immediately threw out two Talismans—they were "Fireball Talismans," and two fist-sized fireballs shot towards the two Level 1 Qi Refining Disciples of Sharp Metal Peak.

Those two were not weak either; they swung their qingyun sword, and golden sword energy met the fireballs.

"Boom! Boom!"

Explosions rang out one after another, and the slope immediately descended into chaos. Flame blade energy and golden sword energy crossed and intertwined, bursting into halos of light in the mist.

Li Yan's fire technique was indeed fierce, each strike carrying scorching heat waves, but his defense was slightly weak; Wang Zhen's sword technique was sharp and swift, specializing in attacking vital points, but it consumed a lot of energy.

The two sides were deadlocked for a time.