Chapter 41
Logically speaking, the prey belonged to the one who killed it. However, at this moment, no one brought this up.
Once the three had left, Yi Jiao jabbed Lu Mingshu’s side. “Aren’t you afraid they’ll wait for an opportunity to retaliate, given how you don’t give them any face at all?”
Lu Mingshu replied, “It’s not as if they won’t retaliate even if I give them face, right?”
Yi Jiao was stunned for a moment, and after thinking about Second Zhou Miss’s temper, she murmured, “That seems … to be quite justified.”
Some people would never know what mercy was. Facing someone stronger, they would not rest until they killed their arrogance; facing someone weaker, they would demean them till they reached rock bottom. Provided that the Second Zhou Miss still possessed a tiny bit of leniency, she wouldn’t have allowed her servant to anger Elder Lu to death.
In front of her, no matter how much of a low-profile Lu Mingshu kept, she would still find a reason for retaliation— Although the biggest reason, was that she found Lu Mingshu extremely unpleasant to the eye.
Moreover, to lower your head towards her, was the most nauseating feeling ever.
“That move you executed earlier was not bad.” Yi Jiao said.
With a brief thought, she was able to guess how Lu Mingshu killed that White Lined Tiger in one strike. When Lu Mingshu unsheathed her sword, she planned to use the force of the White Lined Tiger’s jump to her advantage and kill it in one strike.
However, the White Lined tiger was no pushover and was in fact, very vigilant. The angle of unsheathing her sword had to be very precise. A little higher and the White Lined Tiger would have mistaken it for a sword move and dodged. A little lower, and there would not be sufficient force to do enough damage.
In order to conceal the killing intent and kill in one strike, the angle and force used had to be controlled perfectly. Even the pouncing force of the White Lined Tiger had to be accounted for. Had Yi Jiao been in Lu Mingshu’s shoes, the result would not have been the same; she would not have instantly thought of such a countermeasure in such a tense situation.
However, the more awesome Lu Mingshu’s performance was, the more Yi Jiao pitied her. There’s no doubt that such a good bud, would not be lacking in resources if she were to be placed in the hands of one of the Top three sects. Unlike now, when she is dispatched to do some useless tasks for ‘Spring Hunting’.
While they spoke, Wei Peng arrived along with Shao Zhengyang.
“What happened?” They had heard sounds of activity right after they were done with patrolling. It seemed as if they had been late to arrive at the scene.
“Small matter …” Yi Jiao explained the whole situation to them.
Wei Peng didn’t react in any visible way and only nodded. “Right, the two of you should continue with your task.”
Before they left, Shao Zhengyang shot a deep glance towards Lu Mingshu.
On the other side, an ear-splitting cheer that tested the limits of Yi Jiao’s patience rang out from the camp. Unfortunately, she could not leave her squatting post out of duty.
She lamented in anguish, “Why do I have to squat outside when this event only happens twice a year?”
But no matter how much she lamented, no one paid attention to her.
Only in the evening, when both of them went back to change-over with the next shift, did they find out that the hunt today was pretty successful— numerous big fishes had been caught.
Excited, Yi Jiao ran into the tent the minute she had acquired the information. “I heard that they found a beast cave today.”
‘Beast cave’ referred to the land where the ferocious beasts lived in a flock. The places that were generally termed as a beast cave, had at least a dozen different species of ferocious beasts living together.
As for such a beast cave; finding one was akin to finding a whole nest. The harvest would undoubtedly be extremely abundant. Hence, the atmosphere in the camp was full of joy.
“The beast cave we found this time is really high-ranked. I heard there were quite a few Spirit Realm beasts inside, so the elder had already relayed a message to the sect asking for reinforcements.”
There were very few ferocious beasts in the Spirit Realm. Hence, the Spirit Realm experts in the sect would not participate in encirclement hunting. At most, two Spirit Realm experts would be dispatched. Apparently, they had found a huge beast cave this time.
“I heard there are even Snow Winged Cloud-Treading Horses there. How awesome would it be if we could catch even just one!” Yi Jiao’s eyes shone dazzlingly.
“Snow Winged Cloud-Treading Horse?”
“That’s right, that’s right!” As Yi Jiao knew Lu Mingshu lacked general knowledge and could be a cute blank at times; she explained to her warm-heartedly, “You do know the name of our Nine Jade Palace’s fundamental cultivation method, right?”
“Cloud-treading Sword Technique?”
“Right! We use Could-treading Sword Technique now, followed by the Deity Cloud-treading Swordsmanship in future. This Snow Winged Cloud-treading Horse is snow-white from head to toe— similar to a pegasus, and is even called ‘Cloud-treading’; it couldn’t be any more suitable for us! Snow Winged Cloud-treading Horse as a mount; while using the Deity Cloud-treading Swordsmanship. Doesn’t it sound like having a particularly mystical immortal-aura?”
“…”
“Ya!” excited, Yi Jiao said, “I say, not only is this Snow Winged Cloud-treading Horse beautiful in appearance, it is super formidable too. It’s fluttering immortal-aura, is so unlike the other ferocious beasts that are fierce and stinky!”
Even though demonic beasts were relatively superior to others, a vast majority of the ones in Jade West Mountain Forest were exactly as Yi Jiao described them – fierce and stinky. However, those like Snow Winged Cloud-treading Horse were generally termed as precious beasts.
From beginning to end, Lu Mingshu remained unmoved, making Yi Jiao feel like she was preaching to deaf ears. There were a lot of ferocious beasts in Jade West Mountain Forest, yet few precious beasts. Especially precious beasts that were suitable to be mounted; the Snow Winged Cloud-treading Horse had the overall highest-valued appearance. Which Nine Jade Palace disciple doesn’t want to have a Snow Winged Cloud-treading Horse? However, in the last few hundred years, the ones to successfully obtain one could be counted on just one hand.
“But, senior sister, no matter how awesome you make it sound, does it concern us?”
The excited Yi Jiao became as if drenched by a bucket of cold water— cold from head to toe.
She sighed gloomily, “You’re right.” Snow Winged Cloud-treading Horse is an uncommon species, with at most two or three in a nest. With the Spirit Realm elders coming out, there’s no way it would fall into someone else’s hands. Even if they found a cub, they would naturally give it to their own juniors. This had no connection with her at all.
In a large tent in the camping grounds— at that moment, Zhou Yinru furrowed her brows and was glaring at her attendant.
“What did you say?”
Under her glare, the attendant meekly repeated her words.
Zhou Yinru’s face became like a canvas of dark clouds. When Rui Xiang, who was standing by the side saw her expression, she knew right away that the miss was furious. Hence, she walked over with a cup of tea and spoke in a softened voice, “Miss, it’s but a small matter, why bother wasting your effort …”
“Whoosh!” Zhou Yinru slapped the teacup away.
The hot tea splashed out, scalding Rui Xiang’s hands a bright pink.
However, she did not utter even a single sound. To be able to attend to such a temperamental person for ten years, meant Rui Xiang’s patience and eye of discernment was top-notch. She was well-aware of her miss’s temper. She could be impudent when her miss was in a good mood, but when miss was in a bad mood, she had to swallow whatever mistreatment she is given.
“Hmph! she is truly bold to dare make Mingtang lose face!” Zhou Yinru raged. “She truly thinks she is the sect’s Young Miss, doesn’t she?!”
1“Miss …”
Rui Xiang just opened her mouth, when … “Piak!” … she was slapped in the face.
After Zhou Yinru slapped her, she sat back down as if nothing happened. “Fine, let her show off if she likes to show off! I’ll see if she has enough lives to do so!”
Finished speaking, she commanded Rui Xiang, “Go and call Zuo Yiming here.”
“Yes.” Rui Xiang went off with a red slap print still visible on her face.
She had obviously been slapped – that was both painful and embarrassing. Yet once she left the tent, she breathed out a sigh of relief.
It’s good that the miss’s anger was let out, otherwise, something big would’ve happened. When that happened, it wouldn’t just be something as simple as slapping my face.
Fu Mingtang coincidentally walked over and was stunned at the sight of Rui Xiang. “Sister Rui Xiang …”
Rui Xiang smiled and spoke in a soft voice, “Eldest young master, don’t go in for the moment.”
Fu Mingtang understood right away, and asked in a lowered voice, “Sister Rui Xiang, is this because of what happened yesterday?”
Rui Xiang nodded.
“It isn’t even anything big, why must aunt be so angry?”
Rui Xiang thought in her heart, This eldest young master is a strange one. His temper doesn’t resemble the sect leader nor does it resemble the Elder miss or miss. He has good qualities, though unfortunately, he lacks that tiny bit of decisiveness.
She took a glance at the tent, before whispering to Fu Mingtang, “Young master must not be aware of that person’s identity, right? She lives in Green Jade Valley.” Once she spoke, she bent her knees in a bow, “This servant will leave to handle the task given now.”
Fu Mingtang was stunned for a long while before coming back to his senses.
He had heard of Green Jade Valley before, and the person staying there seemed to be …