"Oh, look!" Lin Zhaoyue chirped suddenly, her voice light and lodic as she pointed toward a narrow clearing nestled between the gnarled roots of a towering silverwood tree.
"There’s the Hollow Yeklo Grass!"
Fang Yuan’s eyes snapped in the direction she pointed, narrowing instinctively.
And there, resting between braided roots, partially cloaked in spiritual mist were ten glowing sprouts of greenish-gold.
Their leaves shimred faintly, a gentle hum of spiritual resonance pulsing from them in tune with the air itself.
Even from this distance, he could sense the unique qi rhythm tied to the Hollow Spirit Realm, subtle and steady, like a breath waiting to be drawn.
There it was.
Hollow Yeklo Grass.
A treasure beyond value.
A step closer to breaking through to hollow spirit realm.
Fang Yuan didn’t hesitate. His boots cracked through the moss as he darted forward.
He was not going to risks. No, he should not delays.
Last ti, he’d found one, only for it to wither before his very eyes, devoured by the Saberfang that guarded the grass.
Not this ti.
He landed by the herb, careful not to damage the roots as he knelt.
He pulled out a precision blade and dug slowly, carefully, extracting the soil along with the herb.
Lin Zhaoyue strolled after him, arms folded behind her back, eyes lazily observing.
"My, my, why the rush, husband?" she asked with a smirk. "Scared soone else might pick your little treasure?"
Fang Yuan wanted to snap back, ’Last ti I found one, it was eaten by a damn beast five seconds later’ but he swallowed the mory.
Instead, he remained quiet, breath focused, eyes sharp. He slipped the grass into a protective crystal container and tucked it into his spatial ring.
Then he rose, satisfied.
Lin Zhaoyue bead, leaning in slightly.
"Am I not useful, husband~?"
Fang Yuan gave her a long look... and finally nodded.
Just once.
"Mn."
That seed to please her more than a full poem would have.
But before he could enjoy even a second of peace, the system buzzed in his mind again.
[DING!]
[Host, you haven’t claid your Coldwind Tournant reward. Please access it now to optimize your cultivation path.]
Oh right.
That notification again.
He was about to pull it open when....
"Husband," Lin Zhaoyue’s voice ca again, unusually casual. "What are you daydreaming about?"
He blinked.
Then she added, almost cheerfully:
"Look. Four Sabertooths coming our way."
"...What?"
He whipped his head around...
Thump.
Four massive shadows erged from the brush, silent as death.
Saberfang Spirit Beasts.
Fangs curved like sickles. Bodies large enough to crush trees with a swipe.
Two of them were at mid-stage Nascent Soul Realm.
One was late-stage.
And the last one... was terrifyingly calm, its fur streaked with silver-blue.
Peak Nascent Soul.
His pupils contracted.
"What the hell....."
Without hesitation, Fang Yuan grabbed Lin Zhaoyue’s wrist.
"Run!" he barked.
Lin Zhaoyue blinked as Fang Yuan’s fingers wrapped around her wrist, his grip firm, urgent.
And then, she smiled.
A slow, sultry smile that did not belong to soone currently being chased by four monstrous spirit beasts.
"Mmm~ so sudden, husband~," she whispered breathlessly, a small shiver running up her spine. "You’re grabbing so forcefully... I like it."
Fang Yuan didn’t even dignify that with a response.
His focus was locked ahead, spiritual energy flooding to his legs as he tore through the underbrush, yanking her along with him.
Behind them, the Saberfangs roared, the ground trembling with every step of their pursuit.
BOOM.
A tree splintered and collapsed as the peak-stage Saberfang leapt clean through it, maw wide, glowing qi threads around its fangs slicing through branches like paper.
"Stop talking," Fang Yuan growled, ducking under a low branch.
"Focus on running, or we’re both going to be spirit beast snacks."
But Lin Zhaoyue only giggled, eyes sparkling with excitent.
"Oh co on~ don’t be so cold! I’m treasuring this mont, you know? Hand in hand, life and death, running from beasts, so romantic. I wish this mont last forever."
He glanced sideways, deadpan. "You’ve got issues."
"Maybe~," she cooed, her steps light despite the chaos. "But you’re holding tighter than any man ever has. So I must be doing sothing right."
Behind them, the air howled as one of the mid-stage Saberfangs slashed out with its claw, sending a compressed wave of qi that split the ground apart.
Fang Yuan dodged to the left, pulling Lin Zhaoyue with him.
The impact landed where they had just stood, throwing dirt and stone into the sky like an explosion.
The late-stage Saberfang howled, its eyes glowing as it began gathering a beam of condensed soul qi in its throat.
Fang Yuan clicked his tongue, his body twisting mid-air as another devastating qi slash narrowly missed his shoulder.
The wind scread past his ears as he landed and rolled, never stopping.
"If you have any tricks," he snapped, "use them now!"
Lin Zhaoyue, unfazed even with four monstrous Saberfangs on their tail, only grinned like she was being invited to a dance. "Oh, I’ve got plenty."
"Then what are you waiting for?!" Fang Yuan barked, launching himself sideways as a tree behind him was ripped in half by the peak-stage Saberfang’s swipe.
This wasn’t a joke anymore, if it ever was.
That thing wasn’t just big. It was fast, unnervingly intelligent, and brimming with so much soul qi that Fang Yuan could feel his blood vibrating from just being near it.
He was a peak-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, powerful by mortal standards... but even he knew the truth.
A mid-stage Saberfang would give him a hard ti.
A peak one?
He’d be lucky to die with a whole corpse.
As he landed again and prepared to throw a talisman, he heard Lin Zhaoyue’s voice ring out behind him.
"Heavenly Timber—First Form: Wood Explosions!"
The world shuddered.
All around them, the trees suddenly pulsed, faint runes glowing along their bark, and then—
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
They detonated in rapid succession.
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