Chapter 304: Profound Que

This continued for six days.

After all her hard work, Jing Shu had only managed to collect a single Wood Element Essence.

Here, she could only sense Wood Qi, and her progress was extremely slow. At this rate, she would be lucky to find four or five essences in the entire thirty-day period.

And this was only because she cultivated the Cyan Bird Immortal Talisman. The Cyan Bird had achieved its Dao on the Green Fall Immortal Wood, giving it a natural affinity for the Wood of the Five Elements.

Forty-nine days wasn’t a long time, and it was quickly slipping away. ‘I shouldn’t have followed Jing Shu for so long,’ Chen Qingyang thought.

Suddenly, he sensed the flicker of a strange flame to his left. Its aura was incredibly dense. Based on his experience, a Fire Element Essence was most likely there.

It was a shame. Even at such a close distance, Jing Shu, lost in the darkness, seemed utterly oblivious. She was focused only on following her Cyan Bird’s guidance in the opposite direction.

His Conscious Fish was already full, so he couldn’t take anything more himself. Chen Qingyang grew frantic as he watched the excellent opportunity about to slip away.

Then, a sudden realization struck him. He cursed himself for being an idiot, wanting to smack himself on the head.

He could see it but couldn’t take it; Jing Shu couldn’t see it but had plenty of room to take more.

‘Why am I so fixated on Wood Element Essence? I can just find the Fire Element Essence and then figure out a way to lead her to it.’

‘If I can’t speak, I can just make some other kind of disturbance!’

Immediately, his Conscious Fish moved in the direction where he had sensed the Fire Qi. Maintaining a certain distance from Jing Shu, it suddenly flashed.

Sure enough, the movement immediately alerted Jing Shu. She glanced over. ‘A shining golden flame… could it be a Fire Element Essence?’

She started to follow it, but found it strange that the flame always kept a certain distance from her. Continuing forward, she saw a vast cloud of fire materialize in the darkness.

Overjoyed, Jing Shu lunged toward it. There, embedded in the void, was a gem spitting flames. It was a Fire Element Essence.

She pried it loose and stored it away with her Universe in the Sleeve.

After wandering around the cloud of fire for a while longer with no further discoveries, she pressed onward.

She continued to feel her way through the darkness, losing track of how much time had passed. Then, she saw another speck of fire glittering in the distance, just like before.

As she followed it again, the flame seemed to possess a will of its own, always maintaining a set distance from her.

Jing Shu defiantly pushed onward. But after this game of cat and mouse repeated four or five times, she began to hesitate.

She started scanning her surroundings as the Cyan Bird above her radiated a dazzling light.

Chen Qingyang immediately understood. ‘I led her a bit too far this time, and now she’s getting suspicious. She’s a smart woman, after all.’

‘We’re almost there; I can’t let her stop now.’ He made the flame flash again, shining with an even more intense light, and held it still as if it were stationary.

After careful consideration, Jing Shu followed. This time, she quickly locked onto the flame with her Divine Soul, forcing Chen Qingyang to continue hurtling forward.

He hadn’t expected Jing Shu to pursue him so relentlessly. One chasing the other, they continued until he plunged into another cloud of fire, concealing his presence.

Jing Shu halted at the edge, not daring to charge in rashly. At this moment, Chen Qingyang felt like a eunuch in a brothel—anxious yet utterly helpless. He could only wait.

But just then, another person charged in from the side. His Qi Mechanism was formidable and his Cultivation was high. Without the slightest hesitation, he was about to crash right into the cloud of fire.

This was the opportunity Chen Qingyang had been circling for so long. How could he let someone else snatch it away at the critical moment? With extreme ruthlessness, he launched an attack at the newcomer.

A dragon’s roar suddenly echoed in the man’s ears as a fiery draconic shape appeared before him, followed by a searing pain in his mind. His Xuanji Gang Qi erupted instantly to block the blow. But the attack was too fierce; he was still rocked by the impact, his entire body aching and his Meridians grievously wounded.

Clutching his head, his expression turned utterly ferocious. “What little rat dares to ambush me!”

His attack successful, Chen Qingyang turned and plunged into the cloud of fire. After a few twists and turns, he once again used the ubiquitous Five Elements Fire to conceal himself.

In doing so, he obtained 1,984 Immortal Seedlings.

‘He couldn’t be blamed. The guy was trying to steal his Immortal Fate!’

Fortunately, seeing the commotion, Jing Shu made a split-second decision. She reached out, pried the Fire Element Essence loose, and secured it in her Universe in the Sleeve.

The ambushed man failed to catch the Conscious Fish and turned his rage on Jing Shu. “You little bitch, you dare sneak attack me!”

Seething with Evil Qi, he performed Sacrificial Refinement on a Flying Sword. It circled around him, glowing with a fiery light—a truly formidable sight!

Jing Shu was furious as well. Her Cyan Bird swelled to dozens of feet in size and materialized around her. “Pah! What uncivilized brute is this, spouting nonsense? Tell me, how exactly did I sneak attack you?”

Seeing that her True Skill didn’t resemble the technique used in the ambush, the man swallowed half his words and even recalled his Flying Sword. “Hmph. Even if it wasn’t you, you must be colluding with someone, deliberately obstructing my path!”

“Heh!” Jing Shu sneered. “Bullshit. As if I’d give you the time of day, let alone obstruct your path. I just saw a flame flickering and followed it here. After it vanished inside, I didn’t dare enter, thinking it was a trap. Who asked a reckless mutt like you to be so stupid?”

‘She looks so gentle and kind, but she doesn’t hold back one bit when she’s cursing someone out.’ Chen Qingyang was genuinely worried they would start fighting. If they did, Jing Shu would be the one to suffer.

The man’s expression flickered indecisively. He was partly unnerved because he knew he wasn’t in the right, and partly because his Cultivation gave him no clear advantage. “What flame? That’s ridiculous… In my opinion, either some Five Elements Qi has gained sentience, or some scoundrel is pulling strings!”