Chapter 273 - 275: Probing

Chapter 273: Chapter 275: Probing

"Young Master, you called for me?" the Black Bear Beastman asked, looking up from where he was half-kneeling on the ground.

Xi Yi glanced languidly at the man on the ground. "How is that matter I had you investigate?" he asked faintly. "Have you found that female Black Bear?"

"Young Master, I’ve led my men to search every nook and cranny of Black Bear Mountain, but we haven’t found the person you described," the man on the ground said, shrinking back fearfully.

"It’s been this long and you still haven’t found her? Guli, you’re not very competent, are you?" Xi Yi said, his tone teasing as he patted the beast skin he wore.

"Young Master, I’ve truly done my best. I’ve taken my men and practically turned White Bear Mountain upside down; we haven’t even spared the mouse holes. But the Black Bear you mentioned is simply nowhere to be seen. Young Master, could it be possible that the Black Bear was already gone? Is that why we can’t find her?" Guli was also frustrated; he had spent so much time and energy searching for that female Black Bear, all to no avail.

"Dead?" Xi Yi’s expression turned speculative. "That doesn’t sound impossible."

"Yes, Young Master. After all these years, it’s very possible that the Leader’s Wife’s mother has passed away."

Xi Yi said nothing, plucking a leaf from a nearby tree as he continued his questioning. "And the Face Loss Curse? Have you found who did the casting?"

The man kneeling on the ground shook his head again. "We don’t know who specifically did it. But according to the Great Witch’s recollections, very few people have mastered the Face Loss Curse. Other than his five direct disciples, no one else should know it. Fifteen years ago, one of his disciples, a woman named Hei Kui, left him and has yet to return. The other four disciples are still with him."

"In that case, this Hei Kui is most likely that Black Bear?"

"Yes. I would venture to guess that the Leader’s Wife’s Face Loss Curse was most likely cast by this female named Hei Kui as well."

"How interesting."

"Relay my orders. Have everyone conduct a full-scale search for this female Black Bear named Hei Kui. I want her found, dead or alive!"

"Yes, sir," Guli replied, bowing his head.

"Did we get a reply to the letter we sent?"

"We received a reply, Young Master. This is the one written according to your instructions." With that, Guli quickly pulled the letter from within his robes.

Just as he was about to hand it over, a clear voice rang out from a distance, tinged with a hint of amusement. "Xi Yi, what are you doing out here so late?"

Su Luoluo walked over, one eyebrow raised, a faint smile playing on her lips as she looked at Xi Yi and the man kneeling beside him.

Her gaze fell on the letter he had taken out. "And a stranger, too?" she said, her tone languid. "It seems rather lively here."

Guli froze, unsure of what to do. When Xi Yi saw Su Luoluo approaching, his eyes narrowed slightly, though his expression barely changed. In the next moment, he stood up and pulled Su Luoluo into his arms. "Luoluo, what are you doing here?" he asked in a low voice. "Why don’t you sleep a little longer?"

Su Luoluo met Xi Yi’s enchanting gaze and smiled. "I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d take a walk. I didn’t expect to find a stranger here. Aren’t you going to make an introduction?"

A smile danced in Xi Yi’s eyes as he nodded. "Of course. This is Guli. He brought us a letter from your mother."

Guli, quick on the uptake, immediately handed the letter to Su Luoluo. "Leader’s Wife, here is the letter."

Su Luoluo took the letter but didn’t open it immediately. Instead, she looked at Guli. "What did you call me? ’Leader’s Wife’?" she asked. Her eyes curved into crescents as she shot Xi Yi a meaningful glance. "It seems my Beastman is quite powerful."

Xi Yi chuckled, making no attempt to hide anything. "I manage. I just lead a small Black Bear Clan. If you’re interested, I can take you to see it someday."

"That impressive? Which Black Bear Clan?"

"The one in the Black Bear Mountain area," Xi Yi said nonchalantly, holding Su Luoluo. "As you know, it was just my mother and me—a widow and an orphan. We were easy targets for bullies, so we had no choice but to get tough."

"Does that mean I’m a Leader’s Wife?"

"Of course. You’re not just the Leader’s Wife, you’re also the mother of my future cubs." As he spoke, Xi Yi’s hands began to stroke Su Luoluo’s waist.

Su Luoluo gave him a light push, gesturing with her eyes toward Guli, who was still nearby. "Stop messing around. I still need to read the letter."

"I’ll read it to you." With that, he rested his head against Su Luoluo’s neck, wrapped his arms around her waist, and took the letter to read.

Seeing this, Guli didn’t dare disturb them any longer and beat a hasty retreat.

"Luoluo, I am doing well..." Xi Yi began to read from the letter, his voice magnetic, deep, and pleasant to the ear.

As Su Luoluo listened, she began to feel something wasn’t quite right.

’That damn Xi Yi was starting to get handsy with her.’

The blades of grass rustled, and before long, the two were tangled together.

...

「Tianwu Mountain.」

Fu Yao was meticulously building his nest, a feather held delicately in his beak, when a speck of mud suddenly fell from the sky, landing right on his choicest plume.

His iridescent eyes narrowed into vertical slits as he shot a cold glare at a nearby attendant. "Where did this mud come from?"

’It ruined his perfectly clean feather.’

The attendant quickly bowed his head. "Clan Leader, it’s from the Young Master. He has returned."

"He can be back all he wants, but what is he doing playing in the mud?"

"The Young Master went to the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pool. The mud is from his time in there."

"The Bone Marrow Cleansing Pool, you say? Did I hear you right? Fu Feng actually agreed to go into the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pool? Is he drunk or sleepwalking? Is that brat finally not afraid of dirt anymore?"

The Bone Marrow Cleansing Pool was an essential part of cultivation for the Dragon Sparrow Clan. The pool would manifest a reflection of what each person detested most. Anyone who could pass through it would be completely reborn, achieving a breakthrough in their cultivation.

When Fu Feng was little, Fu Yao had taken him there to try and accelerate his cultivation.

But who would have thought that upon seeing the yellow mud, the little brat had been so disgusted that he’d refused to enter, saying that making him cultivate in there was no different from a death sentence.

For all these years, he had refused to set foot in this place. It was so extreme that he required a path of beast skins to be laid out like a carpet just to walk past the area.

At his wit’s end, Fu Yao had no choice but to banish the boy to the Lower Domain in the hopes that he would become a little more normal.

"The Young Master’s expression was normal, I saw nothing amiss. After he returned, he instructed us not to disturb him."

"Well, what do you know. The sun must have risen in the west."

"It seems that trip to the Lower Domain was worthwhile."

’The Lower Domain is so filthy,’ he thought. ’He would have been forced to adapt whether he wanted to or not.’

"Where is the Lady? I have to tell her this good news."

"The Lady is in the bamboo forest, collecting bamboo rice."

The world around him was a sea of yellow muck. Fu Feng grimaced with every step, but he didn’t pull back.

The first step for a Dragon Sparrow to break through to the next Beast Rank was to overcome their greatest personal obstacle. For him, that obstacle was his inability to tolerate filth.

The moment he thought of Su Luoluo, and how his low cultivation left him unable to protect her, the filth around him seemed like nothing at all.

Forcing himself to ignore the mire, he centered his mind on his Dantian, sat down in a meditative posture, and began practicing his Qi Gathering mental method.

The feeling of the filth was a persistent itch in his mind, a crawling, tingling sensation. Fu Feng gritted his teeth and endured, picturing Su Luoluo’s radiant smile. He focused his qi in his Dantian, and slowly, his mind began to quiet.

Before long, he felt a pure energy flooding his body. His emerald-green feathers began to shimmer as if dusted with gold, emitting a dazzling light in the sun.

The chaos in his eyes cleared, and a sense of freshness washed over his entire being.

After shaking off the mud that had caked on his body, he flapped his wings and flew to the shore.

’I’ve broken through to the Sixth Rank,’ he thought. ’Now, it’s time for the next step.’