The Young Lady Only Wants to Cultivate Immortality Chapter 62

A gust of wind, Gu Jingyang swiftly maneuvered her sword, bringing A’Ling along as she dodged the violently whipping tree branch.
A’Ling bent slightly, steadying her trembling body, and looked down. A mutated beast resembling a rabbit stood up from a dirt pit, shaking off the soil clinging to its body.
The tree that had just whipped at them was its twitching ‘ear’!
The mutated beast still had the form of a rabbit, but it was much larger, closer to the size of a leopard. Its two ears had become two arm-thick trees; one was about a dozen meters tall, and the other a bit shorter, only a few meters tall.
It raised its head, displeasure flickering in its crimson eyes. It looked at the people flying on swords in the sky as if they were annoying mosquitoes. With a forceful shake of its head, its two mutated ears swung towards the people in the sky like two giant clubs.
“Watch out!”
Gu Jingyang dodged on her sword while observing the situation below. This scene was truly like a nightmare.
A’Ling dodged while summoning Little Wandering. She didn’t need to control a sword, so she could fully focus on dealing with these ‘trees’ swatting at them from all directions.
“Gu Jingyang, do you know what’s going on with these things?” A’Ling asked loudly, snapping a strange plant with blue flowers (that somehow bloomed in winter) with a whip.
She had never before seen mutated demonic beasts that grew plants from their bodies. This was completely illogical.
How could plants possibly grow from flesh and blood? These were completely different species, and there wasn’t just one type.
A’Ling had just seen them: not only rabbits with tree-like ears, but also wild wolves with tails that had become bushes, and porcupines whose quills had turned into evergreen leaves, and so on, countless of them.
Gu Jingyang’s expression was solemn, her brows tightly furrowed. She had never seen such a thing either, and if she hadn’t witnessed it herself today, she wouldn’t have believed something so absurd.
“No, I’ve never seen anything like it. This is too outrageous. Demonic beast mutations have always been individual mutations, and mutated demonic beasts are usually fierce and solitary, living at most with a mate or children. But here, look, these mutated beasts are in hordes.”
“When we arrived, their hiding places were right next to each other, with no territorial divisions at all. But animals in this world rarely, if ever, don’t fight over territory.”
“If they were all the same species, like those rabbits, living in groups might be explainable. But look, next to the rabbits are wolves. This isn’t a symbiotic relationship. How could these two types of mutated beasts coexist so peacefully like this?”
Gu Jingyang blurted out all her confusion in one breath. After speaking, she glanced at A’Ling, her eyes filled with bewilderment, so much so that she seemed to be looking to A’Ling for an answer.
A’Ling didn’t know why either. Her mind was still buzzing, and the scene below made her heart pound with fear with every glance.
“Can you two stop wasting time and figure out how to escape first!” Xing Yanchu shouted loudly at Gu Jingyang. “Forget why this is happening, quickly think of a way! Our lives are important!”
His cultivation was not high to begin with, and he had to both fly on his sword and fight on it. After cutting down a few trees, his hands were numb. If this continued, he was bound to die here.
He certainly didn’t want to die. He still planned to return to the Xing family and take over the gambling house to live a carefree and joyful life once the Crane Gate opened five years later.
Gu Jingyang looked up at the barrier of branches above them. She wasn’t sure if it was because it was currently winter, or if the trees on these mutated beasts’ bodies were simply this desolate.
There weren’t many green leaves on the branches. Although the barrier was dense with branches, it was at least somewhat translucent. Gu Jingyang saw through the gaps that the sky had already darkened considerably.
If they didn’t escape soon, it would be even more dangerous at night.
Gu Jingyang turned and shouted at Lan Fushang, who was dodging trees in the air, “Lan Fushang, come here! You take A’Ling!”
As she spoke, she stretched out her hand and summoned the Blazing Azure Edge Sword, instructing A’Ling behind her, “Get on Lan Fushang’s sword and keep some distance.”
A’Ling nodded. Although she didn’t know what Gu Jingyang was planning, she immediately did as instructed.
As soon as Lan Fushang drew near, A’Ling leaped onto her sword.
“Go, Fushang, get away from Gu Jingyang,” A’Ling urged Lan Fushang to leave while swatting away the ‘trees’ approaching them, also reminding Xing Yanchu.
Xing Yanchu felt he was on his last legs. Hearing A’Ling tell him to move away, he looked up and saw raging azure flames ignite in mid-air. A strong gust of wind blew, making his mouth, which he hadn’t closed in time, immediately water.
He quickly dodged on his sword, clutching his wildly beating heart as he watched where the azure flames had erupted.
“How powerful!” Lan Fushang exclaimed, gazing at the extraordinary sword in Gu Jingyang’s hand. “What kind of sword is that? How can it have such potent sword energy?”
A’Ling’s eyes reflected the azure flame as she explained to Lan Fushang, “That’s the Blazing Azure Edge Sword. Its sword energy can shatter profound iron.”
It was a treasured sword that Gu Hongjue had refined for Gu Jingyang, after her utter defeat in the competition against Shi Qingqian. He had expended immense effort, exhausting the Gu family’s wealth and prestige, to find the purest Azure Dragon King Marrow for its creation.
But this sword was not to be used lightly. Its sword energy was too potent; it harms the enemy a thousand, but oneself a hundred. Gu Hongjue had once instructed her to keep an eye on Gu Jingyang and ensure she didn’t use this sword unless absolutely necessary.
A’Ling sighed. Now, it was likely a necessary moment.
A majestic azure flame sword energy, carrying a strong wind and world-shattering power, swiftly slashed towards the barrier in the sky from mid-air.
In an instant, thick wood shavings flew up and scattered from above, as if a heavy snow was falling on their heads.
A’Ling quickly put a protective barrier around herself and Lan Fushang.
“Quick, follow! Now, charge out!” Gu Jingyang turned and said to everyone.
A’Ling looked up and saw that Gu Jingyang had sliced a large hole in the barrier.
Lan Fushang wasted no time, immediately soaring on her sword to rush through. She found that severing these ‘trees,’ which were like parts of their bodies, didn’t have much effect on the mutated beasts; there were no painful wails.
It was as if they were just clipping a fingernail.
The mutated beasts whose ‘trees’ had been severed retreated, and new mutated beasts replaced them.
The hole was about to be filled.
Just as Lan Fushang was about to rush out of the barrier with A’Ling, an unexpected turn of events occurred.
“Move aside, move aside, let me out first!”
Xing Yanchu had been a bit further away. Seeing everyone rushing out, he desperately charged towards the hole, afraid of being left behind, carelessly bumping Lan Fushang aside.
He himself fared no better, knocked back a distance by Lan Fushang’s sword energy.
Just then, the sky barrier gathered again.
It was too late. Lan Fushang looked at the barrier, which was already closing, thinking they wouldn’t be able to escape in time.
Suddenly, a white figure rushed in from outside.
“Gu Jingyang! Why did you come back in?!” A’Ling’s head throbbed with anger. They had finally managed to get one person out, and now she had rushed back in.
Gu Jingyang had just used the Blazing Azure Edge Sword, consuming too much spiritual energy in a short time. Now her face was pale, her lips dry, and she didn’t look well at all.
“Ah!”
Xing Yanchu had just been hit by Lan Fushang’s sword energy. In a moment of inattention, he was whipped off his sword by a ‘tree’ and fell straight to the ground. He struggled to his feet and saw mutated beasts from all directions gathering around him.
“Ah, help, help me, Gu Jingyang save me!” Xing Yanchu frantically crawled on the ground several times but failed to get up.
A’Ling had returned to Gu Jingyang’s sword, supporting the slightly swaying Gu Jingyang and taking over the task of controlling the sword.
A’Ling was not skilled at controlling her sword, but there was no other choice. Gu Jingyang needed time to recover. Hearing Xing Yanchu’s cries for help from below, she thought about how they would already be out by now if not for that scoundrel ruining things.
She truly wished she could go down and whip him to death herself; she didn’t want to save him at all.
Lan Fushang also found the man despicable, but as a medical cultivator, she couldn’t bear to let someone die in front of her.
She thought for a moment, then pulled out some medicinal pills from her storage bag, infused them with spiritual energy, and threw them towards Xing Yanchu.
The medicinal pills instantly exploded into powder, forming a cloud of mist. Lan Fushang soared forward on her sword and pulled Xing Yanchu onto her sword within the mist.
Looking down, her beast-repelling medicinal pills had indeed knocked down several smaller mutated beasts. These were mostly mutated rabbits, porcupines, and small mice—creatures that were likely not very aggressive to begin with, and whose abilities after mutation were also mediocre.
A’Ling also saw this scene. After a moment of thought, she said to Gu Jingyang, “It’s no good up here. We can only break through from the ground. Although there are many of these things, many of them don’t seem to have strong attacking power.”
Gu Jingyang nodded. This was their only option now. Besides, she needed some time to recover and couldn’t use the Blazing Azure Edge Sword for a while.
After A’Ling told Lan Fushang, she also agreed. Only Xing Yanchu kept crying and wailing, saying it was too scary down below and he didn’t want to go down.
A’Ling was too lazy to listen to his wailing. His words were so disheartening; he was truly useless. She simply whipped him down.
Subsequently, everyone landed one by one. Except for Xing Yanchu, A’Ling, Gu Jingyang, and Lan Fushang stood back to back, facing outwards in unison.
As A’Ling had thought, these creatures’ attacking power wasn’t strong. Even the mutated wild wolves and mutated leopards that surrounded them were slow-moving and had greatly reduced attack power due to carrying trees on their bodies.
A’Ling could knock down a whole group with one whip, and even Lan Fushang’s sword formation, created while soaring on her sword, could cut down many.
But the problem was, there were too many!
They couldn’t kill them all, simply couldn’t!
A’Ling’s arm stiffened from swinging her whip. The mutated demonic beasts emerged in hordes, like ants.
“No, this won’t do.” Gu Jingyang coughed, clutching her chest, faintly feeling a coppery taste welling up in her chest.
Although these things weren’t strong, there were simply too many. It seemed that every visible plant on this mountain was a mutated demonic beast. If this continued, everyone’s spiritual energy would be exhausted.
Moreover, some of the beasts that were originally fierce demonic beasts were still quite difficult to deal with.
If more of these fierce beasts appeared from behind, they probably wouldn’t be able to resist them.
“Ah!” Lan Fushang cried out in pain. A’Ling turned her head to look and saw that her hand had been bitten by a mutated fox. A’Ling quickly whipped it away, freeing her hand.
“Are you alright, Fushang?” A’Ling quickly glanced, then returned her gaze to her defensive position, whipping away a mutated beast attempting a sneak attack.
Lan Fushang endured the pain, quickly cast a healing spell on her wound, and held back the tears that pain brought to her eyes, trying to look as normal as possible. “I’m fine, I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”
“Ah, my leg!” Another scream rang out from the side.
Gu Jingyang looked down and saw Xing Yanchu’s leg had been bitten by a mutated leopard. She controlled her sword, piercing its throat with one strike, saving Xing Yanchu.
Lan Fushang also cast a healing spell on him.
This wouldn’t do. Gu Jingyang looked up the mountain, thinking about her failed spell earlier. It shouldn’t have happened. Why couldn’t her spell detect the Great Beast Lair? Had she made a mistake somewhere?
She pondered in her mind, her gaze anxious, meticulously searching every spot on the mountain, wanting to find if there was a place where white smoke rose.
Suddenly, her eyes paused.
There!
It had been blocked by the sky-covering dense forest earlier, and with the added snowfall obstructing her vision, she hadn’t seen it.
“A’Ling, Fushang, and Xing Yanchu, listen to me. We’ll work together to break through and charge towards that spot up the mountain.” Gu Jingyang pointed in a direction.
A’Ling and Lan Fushang quickly glanced up, then loudly said, “Okay!”
Xing Yanchu was greatly surprised. “Are you crazy?! Instead of trying to escape, you want to charge further into the mountain? Are you courting death? If you want to die, go ahead, I’m not going!”
Gu Jingyang gave him a cold glance, said nothing, and only turned back to A’Ling: “I’ll be in front, you guard the rear, and Lan Fushang will go in the middle.”
A’Ling nodded vigorously. “Understood.”
Lan Fushang knew she was the weakest, and that Gu Jingyang’s arrangement was to protect her. She nodded, tears welling in her eyes, “Okay.”
Seeing the two fully trust her, the dimness in Gu Jingyang’s eyes faded, and a spark of light ignited in her pupils. She would definitely bring them back safely.
“Charge!”
At Gu Jingyang’s command, the three charged headlong in one direction.
The path was fraught with dangers. The mutated beasts blocking them were endless, like an ant swarm on the move. By the end, in a mist of blood, A’Ling could no longer distinguish if it was the beasts’ blood or her own.
In the strong wind, the sky gradually darkened. Wails filled the air, miserably shrill, coming from both the mutated beasts and themselves.
The entire Zhuoling Mountain surged with a thick, pervasive scent of blood.
Lan Fushang’s grey robes were soaked and stained dark red. Gu Jingyang, who had been spotless, was now covered in blood and in a sorry state.
A’Ling forcefully swallowed the coppery taste of blood that surged up from her chest to her tongue. She tirelessly swung her whip, with only one belief in her heart: she had to live, and she had to bring Gu Jingyang and Lan Fushang to live as well.
They couldn’t just die in this cursed place!
“We’re here, quickly, A’Ling, into the cave!”
Suddenly, a loud shout came from ahead, a hoarse voice that held the joy of escaping despair and deep exhaustion.
A’Ling’s heart tightened. Gu Jingyang was likely at her limit.
Fortunately, they made it!
No longer caring about the mutated beasts behind her, she pulled one with each hand, dragging Lan Fushang and Gu Jingyang, and leaped into the Great Beast Lair that Gu Jingyang had discovered.
“Ah, wait for me, wait for me!”
Xing Yanchu, who had been at the rear of the group, turned and saw everyone had jumped into a cave, so he quickly tried to jump down too.
But a fierce wild wolf bit his leg. He didn’t know where he got the surge of brute strength from, but he jumped into the cave, dragging the wolf with him.
The moment he landed, Xing Yanchu prepared to fight the wild wolf, but to his surprise, as soon as it landed, the wolf let out a wail, cowered, tucked its tail between its legs, and scurried away.
“What… what happened?” Xing Yanchu, still shaken, turned to look at Gu Jingyang and the others.
Lan Fushang had also been startled just now. Seeing the wild wolf flee, she was very surprised as well and looked at Gu Jingyang.
Gu Jingyang, covered in blood, leaned against the cave wall. She had also seen the scene just now; her complexion eased slightly, but her relief lasted less than a second. She quickly scanned her surroundings, every muscle tense.
While checking, she said to A’Ling and the others, “This should be Zhuoling Mountain’s Great Beast Lair. As the saying goes, ‘a mountain cannot hold two tigers.’ Generally, there’s only one Great Beast on a mountain, and it is the undisputed king here. Other demonic beasts don’t dare enter a Great Beast’s dwelling.”
This was also why she wanted everyone to hide in the Great Beast Lair.
But this was not the best strategy. They didn’t know the condition of the Great Beast inside this cave.
It was possible its cultivation was only a bit higher than the beasts outside, within their ability to handle. In that case, they would have gambled correctly; they could use the Great Beast to deter the beasts outside, and also defeat the Great Beast to successfully survive.
But if the Great Beast inside was very powerful with high cultivation, then they would have just escaped the wolf’s den only to enter the tiger’s mouth.
After A’Ling heard this, she understood. She had once gone with others to deal with mutated demonic beasts, and that time she had almost not returned, fortunately saved by her ugly dog.
Thinking of this, A’Ling was immensely grateful that she hadn’t brought that ugly dog this time. Otherwise, the mutated beasts outside would probably have already devoured it.
She let out a heavy breath, leaning against the dark wall, seizing the time to regulate her spiritual energy.
At the same time, inside the Warm Tower Cave Abode, Heng Qingyi listened as a disciple reported some rumors circulating within the cave abode these past few days.
Regarding Gu Jingyang and her group’s mission to deal with the demonic beasts, the senior disciples in the cave abode were indifferent. Zhuoling Mountain was remotely located, taking several days of sword flight to reach, and they were unwilling to suffer such hardship to deal with a demonic beast mutation.
In their view, while a Great Beast Lair might have good things, it wasn’t worth such a strenuous trip.
But the new disciples were different. Such a good opportunity, offering both training and treasures, made them very envious.
Some people in the cave abode were saying that Heng Qingyi was too partial to Gu Jingyang.
Heng Qingyi simply smiled after hearing this. As a Abode Master, she didn’t need to listen to the commands of these new disciples regarding her arrangements.
Besides, this mission was not as easy as they thought. Gu Jiangxue had discovered some very special mutated demonic beasts in the outer sect that didn’t seem to be naturally mutated. She suspected someone in the inner sect had used some means to mutate them.
She didn’t know what this person’s motive was. Heng Qingyi had also been troubled by this matter these past few days, only hoping Gu Jingyang and her group would return soon to resolve her doubts.
The disciple also reported an interesting anecdote concerning A’Ling.
Before A’Ling left, she had placed a barrier outside her cave abode. This was quite rare. Generally, others wouldn’t enter a personal cave abode, and moreover, cultivators carried their important belongings in their storage bags, so there was usually nothing vital left in their cave abodes.
Some wondered what A’Ling had hidden in her cave abode that warranted a barrier.
Disciples with higher cultivation and stronger curiosity used their spiritual energy to probe.
They discovered that inside there was only the little ugly dog A’Ling had been raising recently. They weren’t sure if it was unhappy about being confined or something else, but they noticed the ugly dog attempting to break through the barrier again and again.
It was quite interesting indeed.
These past few days, fellow disciples with nothing to do would occasionally gather outside A’Ling’s cave abode entrance to watch a silly dog try to break a barrier.
Heng Qingyi found it amusing. If not for her status as Abode Master, she would have liked to take a look herself.
Shi Qingqian also knew she had been watched these past few days. Those people weren’t trying to hide anything, openly using their spiritual energy to observe.
She glanced at the gushing, bleeding scar that had reopened on her body. She could no longer feel pain; the irritation in her heart overshadowed everything. Never had she regretted anything more.
She should have returned to her true body as soon as her injury healed.
If she had returned then, how could she now be trapped by A’Ling’s small barrier, being watched like a monkey in a cage!
Shi Qingqian gritted her teeth and glared at the glowing barrier.
Suddenly, she noticed something was wrong. The barrier actually had fluctuations; silver ripples wavered like a disturbed water surface.
Something had happened to A’Ling!
Shi Qingqian quickly jumped off the stool and walked to the barrier.
Those watching outside thought it was going to try and break through the barrier again, and one by one, they looked ready to watch a show.
But this time they were disappointed. The ugly thing was merely by the edge of the barrier, looking serious, seemingly watching something they couldn’t discern.
They followed its gaze towards A’Ling’s barrier. Some with higher cultivation also noticed something unusual.
“A’Ling is likely injured; the barrier’s energy is weakening.” Someone spoke up to clarify for the others, and instructed a new disciple to report this discovery to the Abode Master.
A’Ling’s cultivation might not be strong, but she had Gu Jingyang by her side. Gu Jingyang was usually so protective of A’Ling, so how could she have let A’Ling get injured?
The greatest possibility was that Gu Jingyang was also injured and couldn’t protect A’Ling.
Simply dealing with mutated demonic beasts, yet it could severely injure a Nascent Soul stage cultivator? Something unexpected must have happened.
Upon hearing this report, Heng Qingyi immediately went to invite the masters of the other cave abodes to discuss the matter, and finally decided to send another team to investigate.
Shi Qingqian sat blankly by the barrier, staring unblinkingly at its changes. Two hours later, Shi Qingqian noticed that while A’Ling’s barrier had weakened slightly, it had clearly stabilized.
Her heart eased a little. Fortunately, things weren’t too serious.
Shi Qingqian paced back and forth in the room. Although the person was fine, it still indicated that something must have happened during A’Ling and her group’s mission.
She couldn’t sense the specific situation in her current body. Only by returning to her true body could she fully perceive it, including A’Ling and her group’s current location.
No, even if she died today, she would break this barrier!
Shi Qingqian gazed at the glowing barrier, the look in her eyes as firm as ice.
A’Ling didn’t know yet that because of the barrier she had set up to trap the ugly dog, the people in the cave abode already knew something had happened to them.
After resting for more than half an hour, she felt her spiritual energy had recovered considerably.
During this half an hour, they remained constantly vigilant for the Great Beast’s appearance, but found the cave to be quiet, as if the Great Beast wasn’t home.
However, the cave was dim, and they didn’t dare light a talisman to investigate thoroughly.
The four rested against the cave wall at the spot where they had jumped down. They rested for more than half an hour, and nothing unusual happened.
A’Ling’s heart didn’t dare relax at all. Fortunately, after resting for more than half an hour, Gu Jingyang’s complexion had returned to normal.
Lan Fushang’s wound had also been treated. Although it hadn’t fully healed, it no longer affected her hand movements.
She also conveniently cast a healing spell on Xing Yanchu, healing his wound so his walking was no longer much affected.
After A’Ling asked Gu Jingyang’s opinion and received confirmation, a lighting talisman ignited in her palm and floated towards the depths of the beast lair.
The talisman suddenly ignited on the cave ceiling, and the light instantly illuminated the entire Great Beast Lair.