The carriage traveled as far as a village near Mount Huaicang before they stopped for a short rest.
Before their departure, his senior brother, the sect leader, had given Lin Huaiqing a commission. Since it happened to be close to their destination, he had accepted it.
According to the map, they were only a few dozen li from the Taiyin Secret Realm. Their purpose on this journey was to find the young male lead’s bonded spirit sword within that realm.
They might as well complete a commission along the way and earn a little money.
After all, the Xuantian Sect had so many disciples to feed. They couldn’t live on air alone.
The village lay at the foot of Mount Huaicang, with no other settlements nearby. Its inhabitants had lived there for generations.
They made their living by farming and hunting in the mountains. Their lives had been reasonably peaceful.
In recent years, however, monsters and demons had frequently caused trouble throughout the cultivation world.
This little village had fewer than a hundred inhabitants, yet six hunters had disappeared in the mountains over the past month alone.
The villagers had pooled their money to send a commission to the Xuantian Sect, begging them to dispatch a powerful immortal master to find the missing men and eliminate whatever evil lurked there.
They had not expected three to arrive at once.
The village chief immediately arranged a feast to welcome the immortal masters who had come from afar.
“Our whole village has been waiting day and night for you! At last, you’re here! Please, honored masters, enter the mountains and rid us of these monsters!”
Mu Yunting hurried forward and helped the elderly chief up from his knees.
“Rest assured, sir. My master is the cultivation world’s foremost Sword Venerable. He will surely bring the missing hunters back.”
Compared with Mu Yunting’s courtesy and humility, Qin Du seemed much colder. He said nothing, quietly sensing the magnetic field around them.
There was no demonic energy, but he could detect a faint trace of yao energy. Some creature in these mountains must have cultivated into a spirit.
“Village Chief, were all the missing hunters men in their prime?”
“Yes, all young men from our village! Every one of them is his family’s main breadwinner!”
Mu Yunting rolled his eyes at Qin Du.
“Of course hunters would be young, able-bodied men. What else would they be—the elderly, women, or children?”
Seeing the two about to quarrel over another trivial matter, Lin Huaiqing quickly intervened.
“Both of you, settle down. Make your preparations. You’ll come into the mountains with me shortly.”
The night was cold, but master and disciples set out at once, hoping to find the six hunters as soon as possible. Every moment saved meant a little less danger for the missing men.
Qin Du followed behind. This was his first time taking on a commission like a proper cultivator, and he was rather excited.
Curious, he asked, “Master, how much will we earn for completing this commission?”
“Probably one mid-grade spirit stone.”
Spirit stones and silver were the main currencies in the cultivation world. One mid-grade spirit stone was worth roughly ten taels of silver.
“That little? We’d make more performing tricks on the street.”
Qin Du was astonished.
Back when he had been the Demon Venerable, he would spend a thousand high-grade spirit stones without batting an eye. Now he was searching a mountain in the middle of the night for a single mid-grade stone.
“You dem—dawdling idiot! What do you know? That one mid-grade spirit stone is what the entire village scraped together, bit by bit. We cultivate to punish wrongdoing and vanquish monsters, not to make money!”
It really was obvious which one was the male lead and which was the villain.
At that moment, Lin Huaiqing wished he were deaf, just so he wouldn’t have to listen to their bickering.
“Qin Du, look at that tree ahead. Are there any marks on it?”
Though he could not see, he had been using sword energy to mark every distinctive tree along their route.
They had been walking for more than two hours, yet the scenery around them had not changed at all.
Strangely, even in the middle of the night, flowers bloomed everywhere, and an unusual fragrance lingered in the air.
Only when Lin Huaiqing probed the tree ahead with his spiritual energy did he realize that its shape closely resembled the one they had encountered upon entering the mountain.
“Master, there’s a sharp sword-energy mark on the trunk. It looks freshly cut.”
Just as he suspected, they had walked in a great circle and returned to their starting point.
As Lin Huaiqing considered whether to go left or right, he suddenly realized that everything around him had gone quiet.
Weren’t those two the sort who would practically suffocate if they stopped bickering?
Yet neither had spoken for half an incense stick’s worth of time.
“Xiao Du? Yunting?”
Only the chirping of crickets in the grass and an occasional distant wolf’s howl answered him.
A chill prickled across Lin Huaiqing’s scalp. In just a few short minutes, both Qin Du and Mu Yunting had vanished.
Blind though he was, he was still a Nascent Soul cultivator. Who could have spirited away both his disciples right under his nose without making a sound?
“What manner of monster—”
Before he could finish, a powerful wave of dizziness swept over him. A moment later, he lost consciousness.
When he woke again, an unfamiliar fragrance filled his nose, making him sneeze.
“Oh! The blind Daoist is awake! Come and look, everyone! He’s awake!”
“Master!”
“Master!”
The two called out in unison.
They had fallen into a trap set by these flower spirits. While traveling through the mountain, all three had inhaled varying amounts of pollen drifting through the air.
With their lower cultivation, the two disciples had succumbed quickly. Their master, unable to see, had not noticed their disappearance. By the time they woke, the flower spirits had bound them tightly and stashed them here.
They had never imagined such a place existed within Mount Huaicang.
Fresh flowers carpeted the paths, and a swinging bed had been fashioned from countless vines and petals.
All around, scantily clad female spirits reveled and exchanged toasts. Their teasing laughter rang out without end.
Even the wine in their cups was made from flowers, giving off an exquisite fragrance.
The two disciples were bound to wooden posts, one on either side. Their master, meanwhile, had been secured with an immortal-binding cord, carried over by a group of flower spirits, and tossed onto the petal-strewn swinging bed.
It was quite the scene of sensual springtime revelry. Unfortunately, neither disciple was in any mood to appreciate it.
Lin Huaiqing felt himself jolted about before being thrown onto a soft, fragrant bed. A smooth, delicate hand settled against his cheek.
The woman hooked a long fingernail beneath his blindfold, brushing past his brows as she slipped the ribbon away.
A moment later, silvery laughter sounded beside him.
“Such exquisite looks, little Daoist. I almost can’t bear to kill you. Why don’t you stay here and become my husband instead?”
Cold sweat broke out over Lin Huaiqing as he lay on the bed.
The miasma he had inhaled had left him unable to use his spiritual energy. Judging by the sounds around him, there were at least several dozen spirits nearby.
“Shameless witch! If you have any courage, untie me and fight me one-on-one!”
Qin Du was the first to lose his composure. He was the Demon Venerable—he had never suffered such humiliation!
But the flowering vines binding him only tightened as he struggled. They were now squeezing him so hard that he could barely breathe, his face flushed red.
“Stop struggling. Save your strength.”
Mu Yunting remained perfectly calm, as though he knew something for certain.
After taking a moment to clear his head, Lin Huaiqing sat up.
“Were you the ones who abducted the village hunters? Where are they now?”
“Them? My sisters drained their vital essence long ago.”
The flower spirit laughed teasingly and ran a hand over Lin Huaiqing’s chest through his robes.
“Don’t worry. Your disciples will be joining them shortly.”
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