The female cultivator hadn't expected Zongfan to have a spirit pet at all, so she reacted on pure instinct and struck back with a sharp, forceful palm strike. Yu Zongfan's gaze darkened at once, his hand tightening on the hilt of his weapon. Bai Bai never attacked unfamiliar cultivators without cause, especially not someone who had appeared to be helping everyone present in the cavern.
So Yu Zongfan moved immediately, his movement a blur as he swung his sword to block the female cultivator's sudden attack. Bai Bai's target was clear and specific; it was the ceramic pill bottle clutched in her hand. With a single, precision swipe of a claw, Bai Bai crushed the vessel. Shards of porcelain scattered across the stone floor, and a single red pill about the size of a fingernail rolled out into the dust.
Bai Bai still wasn't satisfied with the destruction. It scurried down Yu Zongfan's arm, waving its little claws and baring its teeth, determined to smash that rolling red pill into powder.
The female cultivator was also at the Nascent Soul stage, but she wasn't a sword cultivator trained in the art of close combat. Yu Zongfan's heavy strike forced her back three steps, her heels skidding on the rough ground. When she saw the small beast going after the exposed pill, she panicked. Her face twisted as she reflexively threw out a yellow attack talisman.
Yu Zongfan didn't hesitate; he immediately followed up with another heavy sword strike to cleave the incoming energy. He then swept his wide sleeve and pulled Bai Bai out of the attack's explosive range. The talisman detonated with a sharp crack, and the red pill was blown into fine, useless powder by the force of the blast.
"What do you mean by this?" the female cultivator demanded through clenched teeth, her voice trembling. "I kindly gave you healing pills to aid your recovery. If you didn't want them, fine, but why did you order your spirit pet to destroy my medicinal pill?"
The loose cultivators behind her all looked grim, their hands moving toward their own weapons. They gathered behind her, emboldening her stance, and slowly began to close in on the four sect disciples.
Only then did Bai Bai poke its tiny head out from the safety of Yu Zongfan's sleeve. It zipped onto his shoulder in a flash, planted its paws on its hips, and started chittering and jumping in loud complaint. Only Yu Zongfan, through their shared bond, could understand the alarm it was raising.
"My spirit pet Bai Bai says that pill wasn't a healing pill at all," Yu Zongfan said. His face sank, the lines of his jaw tightening. His sword was already in his hand, the blade humming with blue spirit power. Yu Jiajia took one look at the situation and knew there was something very wrong with this loose cultivator alliance squad. She made a subtle hand signal to her companions. Zhao Yunhai and Jia Yushu also drew their swords and took up advantageous positions to surround the group.
The other cultivators who had fought together against the insects earlier weren't idiots either. They had also sensed something was off in the tense air. One by one, they waved their hands and threw the pill bottles they had been given back at the squad. Those people clearly had misgivings, but they still reflexively caught the bottles that were tossed back toward them.
Yu Jiajia's eyes flickered with a cold light. She snapped out a thread of sharp spiritual power and shattered one of the returned pill bottles while it was still in a loose cultivator's hand. The expressions of those people changed drastically in an instant. They retreated at once, dodging the shattered bottle as if it were lethal poison. At that point, what more was there to say? If there wasn't a problem, why would they avoid their own healing pills?
"Leave the female cultivator alive. Kill all the others!" Yu Jiajia's jade like face was icy as she spoke, her tone cold and final. Yu Zongfan, Zhao Yunhai, and Jia Yushu didn't hesitate for a second and immediately launched their attack.
That group clearly knew they had been exposed. They didn't try to stand and fight it out. Instead, they threw out several smoke and attack talismans to block everyone's path, then rushed straight for the cavern entrance.
But Bai Bai was already guarding the way. Even though Bai Bai was primarily a treasure seeking mouse, it was also a third rank high level spirit beast with sharp instincts. Its claws were as sharp as daggers, and its speed was terrifying to behold. During the earlier standoff, it had already received its master's silent instructions and gone to squat at the entrance.
Now that someone actually showed up to escape, Bai Bai lunged without hesitation. It was a blur of fur and claws, striking at throats, dantians, and lower bodies with lethal precision. Its usually tiny claws now had extended nails flashing with a cold, metallic light.
Because Bai Bai blocked their only escape route, their pace slowed just enough for everyone else to catch up. The companions of the female cultivator were all killed in the ensuing struggle, and the Nascent Soul female cultivator herself was seized and captured.
The instant she was seized, a vicious, desperate glint flashed in her eyes. In the next moment, she flicked out a hidden red pill from her sleeve, shooting it directly toward Yu Zongfan's chest. Jia Yushu, who was standing right beside him, intercepted the strike with a quick movement of his sword, and the pill turned into a cloud of red powder.
Yu Jiajia immediately placed her hand on the woman's head, her eyes narrowing as she prepared to search her soul for answers. The other party reacted faster than she could strike and self detonated her sea of consciousness. Fortunately, Yu Jiajia withdrew her divine sense in time, or she would have been injured by the spiritual backlash as well.
The woman's Nascent Soul left her dying body and fled desperately toward the exit, only to be crushed into glowing fragments by Bai Bai's waiting claw. At this point, the entire group claiming to be from the loose cultivator alliance was wiped out completely.
"Let's leave here first," Yu Jiajia said, her voice echoing in the hollow cave. After two consecutive, exhausting battles, everyone was drained of energy. The spiritual energy in this Cavern Heaven was almost depleted by the broodmother, which wasn't suitable for their recovery. They were also worried that if the other side had failed once, they might send more people to intercept them on the way back. So they quickly withdrew from the Cavern Heaven blessed land.
It was at this moment that Jia Yushu sensed something was seriously wrong. Midway through the journey, his face turned pale and clammy as he said his spirit roots had a problem.
That admission scared everyone badly. Jia Yushu had a single wood attribute spirit root and was a key disciple cultivated by the Jia family with great effort. How could his spirit root have an issue now?
Yu Jiajia immediately told everyone to stop in their tracks and had Jia Yushu examine his spirit root internally. His voice trembled with fear as he told them the terrifying result. His spirit root was actually dissolving away.
Not only didn't he believe it himself, but Yu Zongfan, Yu Jiajia, and Zhao Yunhai didn't believe it either. The three of them took turns probing his body with their divine sense, examining Jia Yushu's spirit root with great care. They all reached the same grim conclusion.
"It had to be that female cultivator. Otherwise, she wouldn't have blown up her sea of consciousness so quickly. She was afraid I would search her soul and find the truth," Yu Jiajia said, her expression icy and hard.
"But why Yushu? The rest of us are fine," Zhao Yunhai asked, his voice low with concern. They had all checked their own spirit roots immediately upon seeing his condition and found no problems, which was why he asked the question.
Yu Zongfan lowered his eyes and thought carefully about every detail of the capture. His pupils shrank as the realization hit, and he spoke at once. "Her target was me."
"Her target was Yu Zongfan," Yu Jiajia said at almost the same time, her gaze shifting to the second disciple.
"The last pill she fired was blocked by Yushu for me. The problem lies with that specific pill," Yu Zongfan said through gritted teeth, his fists clenching at his sides.
Jia Yushu's face grew even paler as the minutes passed. He could feel his wood spirit root continuing to dissolve into nothing, and the speed of the process was slowly increasing.
At that moment, Yu Zongfan's sword pendant trembled lightly against his waist. It was a message from Lü Se, informing him that Tian Lu Zhēnzūn was about to hold a Mahayana ceremony and urging him to return to the sect as soon as possible. That message and the mention of his master jolted him awake from his shock.
"We're heading back to the sect right now. If we can't solve this problem ourselves, the Ancestor and our masters definitely will."
Just then, a Void Refinement cultivator from the Shadow Division who had been secretly guarding them revealed himself from the darkness. He first stabilized Jia Yushu's dissolving spirit root with a surge of profound energy, then immediately escorted the group back to the sect. That was why, even though they were far away, they returned to the sect ahead of Wei Xueru.
Problems they couldn't solve, their Ancestor and their master definitely could.