Inside a room, a Qilin was reporting to the clan leader about the recent events when he was interrupted by a large group of Qilins barging in.
“Senior Brother, how could you bully two young women like that?”
“Exactly, exactly! How could you be so heavy-handed with a little girl at the Core Formation stage? Really.”
“Senior Brother, we were truly mistaken about you! You’re too cruel!”
Looking at this group of weeping junior brothers and sisters, Yan, who was called “Senior Brother,” felt his head ache. Recalling how those two human cultivators fought, Yan felt wronged. How was I bullying them? It’s more like I was bullied by them!
But no one listened to what Yan said. Finally, the clan leader coughed, telling them to speak one by one clearly, and only then did the room quiet down a little.
“Clan Leader, it’s like this: Senior Brother Yan just brought back two human girls, right? Those two girls looked fine, but they were actually severely injured by him!”
“Nonsense! When did I ever injure them severely?” Yan felt wronged; it was more like I was almost severely injured by them!
“So you admit you fought with them?”
“That’s right…”
“As a high-rank Qilin, you fought with a Core Formation cultivator, not to mention also fighting a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Isn’t that bullying them?”
“Uh… alright.” Yan faltered, “But I always held…” He wanted to explain further, but facing more than ten pairs of disdainful eyes, he ultimately couldn’t get the word “back” out.
“You held back and still crippled a perfectly good cultivation seedling!? Hmph, if I were their master, I’d definitely come to your door and demand an explanation!”
“Crippled? How is that possible! I barely even touched them.” Yan thought, How could that be?
“That Core Formation woman, when she fought with you, could she use her techniques?”
“Of course, she could!” Isn’t that obvious?
“Then after you fought, how much time has passed until now?”
Yan thought for a moment. “Less than six hours.”
“Then during this period, did the two of them ever leave your sight, or did anything special happen?”
“No. They were in my isolation barrier; they couldn’t possibly leave.”
“Then if they are severely injured now, and it wasn’t you, who else could it be?”
“This…” Yan hesitated. Could it be that I really accidentally injured them?
The clan leader coughed and asked the Qilin who had been questioning Yan, “You keep saying those two human children are severely injured. What kind of severe injuries did they sustain?”
“Reporting to the Clan Leader, the little girl at the Foundation Establishment stage isn’t injured, but the little girl at the Core Formation stage has no spiritual energy left at all. She’s now no different from an ordinary person!” the questioned Qilin said indignantly.
“How is that possible?” Yan exclaimed. I’ve witnessed that human female cultivator’s strength myself. How could her spiritual energy suddenly disappear?
“If you don’t believe me, you can go see for yourself.” This Qilin was not nearly as polite to Yan as it was to its clan leader.
“Alright.”
Ultimately, Yan, surrounded by over a dozen Qilins, arrived at the wooden cabin where Lin Wuxi and Yu Huang were resting. He knocked on the door and said, “Excuse me, I am Yan of the Qilin clan. I have come today to discuss a matter with you two. May I know if it is convenient?”
Lin Wuxi was discussing with Yu Huang how to treat Yu Huang’s condition. Hearing the knock, she knew it was the Qilin that had brought them here. She stopped their discussion, got up, opened the door, and let Yan in.
Looking at their expectant eyes, Yan knew what they wanted to ask. He didn’t hesitate and said formally, “It’s like this. The young Qilin you encountered in the Lianhen Mountains is the sole heir of our clan, Lin’er. Out of curiosity, he snuck into this Qilin Forest but was ambushed by human cultivators and severely injured. When we received the news, we rushed to rescue him and saw you with him. We mistakenly thought you were the cultivators who attacked Lin’er. That’s why we captured you and brought you into the Qilin Forest, intending to let our clan leader deal with you. However, it turns out this was all a misunderstanding. If you hadn’t treated the young clan leader’s injuries, he would likely be on the verge of death right now. Therefore, I am here today, first, to apologize, and second, to thank you.”
Learning it was a misunderstanding, although Lin Wuxi wasn’t prepared to pursue the matter further with them, she didn’t look pleased. Never mind the fright from the battle, just the two high-grade thunder talismans she had used were enough to make her angry. One could imagine how difficult it was to draw talismans effective against Qilins.
“Moreover,” Yan changed the subject, “I heard that Miss Yu Huang seems unwell. The Qilin clan is knowledgeable in matters of healing. To express our apologies, we are willing to examine Miss Yu Huang. I wonder if you would be willing?” Yan finally stated the purpose of his visit. Although Yu Huang’s spiritual energy disappearing wasn’t his doing, it did vanish during her battle with him. Ultimately, this matter was still related to him.
Lin Wuxi knew that in front of these Qilins with unfathomable strength, nothing they said could be hidden. Therefore, she wasn’t too surprised that Yan knew about Yu Huang’s injury. She just turned to look at Yu Huang, clearly seeking her opinion.
Yu Huang nodded. She had heard a thing or two about the Qilins’ healing arts. There was no harm in letting them try. She replied, “In that case, we’ll trouble you.”
Yan examined Yu Huang’s meridians. Indeed, as the other Qilins had said, there wasn’t a trace of spiritual energy. Even her dantian, the golden core within it, seemed to have vanished. Her body was like that of an ordinary person who had never cultivated.
Seeing this was indeed the case, Yan’s heart grew heavy. He had fought with these two and knew they were both exceptionally talented. Witnessing this situation, he couldn’t help but feel regret. He could only sigh and say, “Please, both of you, come to our clan leader’s residence. Let it examine Miss Yu Huang.”
The group of Qilins, along with Lin Wuxi and Yu Huang, went imposingly to the clan leader’s dwelling, hoping the clan leader would have a solution.
The clan leader was an old Qilin. Judging by its voice, its age was not young. After examining Yu Huang’s condition, it didn’t speak but sat there, deep in thought.
Its silence here was making the Qilins waiting outside anxious; they were just short of rushing in to ask directly.
The clan leader finally spoke before the Qilins could no longer hold back from rushing in to ask: “To be honest, I don’t understand why this situation has occurred either. However, if you have enough materials, perhaps this symptom of hers can be treated.”
Hearing this, Lin Wuxi and Yu Huang were quite disappointed, but they didn’t lose hope. They first asked, “What materials?” The Qilin clan was most skilled in healing. Since they said they could treat it, Yu Huang and Lin Wuxi naturally had to try.
“Snow Lotus Fruit, Sole Fish, Rootless Grass, Blue Pearl, Immortal Nectar, Hundred Spirit Fruit…” The Qilin clan leader listed a string of rare materials in one breath. It paused, then continued, “These are some of the rarer and more precious materials needed. As an apology for mistakenly injuring you, we have the other materials in stock and can provide them. However, the ones I just listed are all extremely difficult to find. We are also powerless to help with those; you can only rely on yourselves to find them. For ordinary people, it might be impossible to gather these materials in a lifetime. But if it’s you two, I believe you can find them.” The clan leader looked at them with a burning gaze, its confidence of unknown origin.
The Qilins outside who heard this began to look strange. They counted; the clan leader had listed nineteen types of materials in total. Each one was a treasure that even they, Qilins, would find difficult to obtain. Yet their own clan leader had asked for nineteen types right off the bat. No matter how they looked at it, it seemed the clan leader was trying to trick these two young humans.
Thinking of this, the gazes of many Qilins instantly changed. The way they looked at the clan leader in the house was now no different from how they looked at Senior Brother Yan.
Yu Huang frowned and said, “These materials are indeed rare. Even I can’t produce some of them right now. It seems I’ll have to trouble Junior Sister Wuxi to accompany me in searching for them.”
Lin Wuxi replied, “Wuxi will definitely find all the materials for Senior Sister.”
The clan leader nodded in satisfaction, showing it was very pleased with their unafraid-of-hardship spirit. But as it was nodding, the clan leader was stunned by a small mountain of items that suddenly appeared before its eyes, its head even freezing mid-nod.
“Rootless Grass, Immortal Nectar, Hundred Spirit Fruit, Qiankun Leaf… these, are these all the materials you just listed? Am I seeing things?” The pile of worldly rare treasures that appeared before its eyes made even the Qilin clan leader, who had seen much, doubt its own sight.
Yu Huang smiled embarrassedly. “These are all I can take out at the moment. Snow Lotus Fruit, Sole Fish, and Blue Pearl—these four types I really don’t have. I hope you can wait. My Junior Sister and I will go look for them immediately. We should be able to find them all.”
Are these still humans? How are their family’s resources even more abundant than ours, the Qilins? At this moment, this was the same thought that surfaced in the minds of all the Qilins.
Only Yan, remembering how this little Golden Core stage girl had thrown out nine Pale Soulstone without even frowning during their battle, felt that this was only to be expected. Their family’s foundation was simply richer than that of Qilins like them. What could they do about it?
“In that case, we’ll have to trouble you two young friends.” The old Qilin leader barely managed to say this when it saw the female cultivator named Lin Wuxi summon a Qingyu Brush, take the hand of the female cultivator named Yu Huang, and fly away into the sky, leaving only this pile of materials behind.
After a short while, Lin Wuxi flew back again. She looked at the clan leader and smiled embarrassedly, “Um, excuse me, where do we go from here? Also, do you have any Purple Orchids?”
The clan leader mechanically lifted a hand. A Purple Orchid and a seven-colored jade stone appeared before Lin Wuxi. In the distance, a seven-colored gate also materialized. The clan leader’s emotionless voice echoed throughout the Qilin Forest: “When you have gathered all the materials, use this jade stone, and you will be able to enter this place again.”
Seeing the clan leader truly had a Purple Orchid, Lin Wuxi was overjoyed. She said her thanks, collected the Purple Orchid and the jade stone, and joyfully led Yu Huang into the seven-colored light gate.
