Chapter Five: Conflict

Mu Yunjin turned around and saw her, her voice soft and sweet, “Senior Sister, I still have a sect task left to do.”

Qu Yiqiu strode forward. “Give me the task token. I’ll do it for you. When you’ve fully recovered, you can return another task to me.”

Mu Yunjin scratched her head in confusion. “Alright. Senior Sister, where did you go today?”

“I attended a lecture at the Hall of Hundred Arts,” Qu Yiqiu replied, taking the task token.

The task was to gather three stalks of immortal ganoderma grass from the Azure Origin Cliff within half a month, with a reward of three low-grade spirit stones.

Seeing the name Azure Origin Cliff, Qu Yiqiu suddenly remembered how Mo Qingli had found him at the foot of the cliff. She asked offhandedly, “Junior Brother, you didn’t get all those injuries from falling at Azure Origin Cliff, did you?”

Mu Yunjin lowered his head in embarrassment and replied in a small voice, “There was a first-tier whip-tailed snake hiding beside the immortal grass. I didn’t notice it, got badly hurt by it, and tumbled down the cliff…”

Qu Yiqiu stared at him in disbelief. “You got badly wounded by a first-tier whip-tailed snake?”

Impossible. He was a dragon, his body covered in scales as tough as armor. How could a mere snake reduce him to this state?

Mu Yunjin’s face flushed red as he stammered, “I had just started channeling spiritual energy into my body then. I couldn’t defeat it.”

“No, that can’t be. Come with me.” Qu Yiqiu pulled Mu Yunjin into the cave dwelling and set up a small soundproofing array.

“Junior Brother Mu, there’s no need to lie to your senior sister. I won’t tell anyone about your true identity. Now, quietly tell me—who really did this to you?” Qu Yiqiu gazed intently into his eyes.

Mu Yunjin’s cheeks burned as he replied, “Senior Sister Qu, it really was the whip-tailed snake. No one came to save me. I lay at the bottom of the cliff for days, my injuries worsened, and I nearly died. Master was the one who rescued me.”

Qu Yiqiu stared into his clear eyes for a long moment before finally releasing him, muttering to herself, “Could it be that he’s still too young, so his scales aren’t yet tough enough to withstand the snake’s blow?”

“No, that’s not right. Ordinary beastkin are born with bodies as sturdy as foundation-establishing cultivators. How could he be so weak?”

Qu Yiqiu paced back and forth before Mu Yunjin, frowning, unable to make sense of it all.

“Senior Sister…” Mu Yunjin tugged at her sleeve in fear.

Qu Yiqiu stopped. “What is it?”

Mu Yunjin pointed cautiously toward the sky outside and murmured, “It’s getting dark. I should go back.”

Qu Yiqiu’s brow twitched. She waved her hand. “Go on, then. I’ll think this through alone.”

“Mm, Senior Sister, you should rest early.” Mu Yunjin flashed an adorable smile and turned back to his cave dwelling.

Watching his retreating figure, Qu Yiqiu suddenly noticed something odd—there was no trace of demonic energy about him.

Even when he was gravely injured and unconscious, she hadn’t sensed the slightest hint of it.

As far as she knew, only demon cultivators at the golden core stage could conceal their demonic aura so thoroughly.

Mu Yunjin’s situation was exceedingly rare.

Qu Yiqiu began to suspect that Mu Yunjin was not as simple as he seemed.

According to Mo Qingli’s conjecture, Mu Yunjin was a fledgling dragon, born from absorbing the essence of heaven and earth and the sun and moon, with no parents. Yet, over the past few days, many contradictions had emerged around him.

He could remain unconscious with no demonic aura leaking out, slip past Mo Qingli’s examination, and yet could not defeat a first-tier whip-tailed snake, even falling off a cliff as a result.

For all these things to happen to a dragon at once was simply too strange.

Qu Yiqiu gazed at Mu Yunjin’s cave with growing doubt in her heart.

“The truth cannot be faked, nor can falsehood become truth. Not many days have passed since his rescue—I’ll go to Azure Origin Cliff myself tomorrow and see what I can find!”

Clutching the task token, Qu Yiqiu slipped it back into her storage pouch.

Dawn’s first light split the long night.

As usual, Qu Yiqiu first visited Mu Yunjin’s cave—seeing him fast asleep, she quietly departed.

Azure Origin Cliff was not far from the Heavenly Evolution Sect.

With the Wind-Walking Technique, Qu Yiqiu reached the summit in less than an hour.

Scanning the location marked for the immortal ganoderma grass, she advanced with care.

The weeds atop the cliff grew taller than a person—such places were ideal for snakes, insects, rats, and other beastkin to lurk.

Most were only first-tier, but in great numbers, even she would be hard-pressed to handle them. She moved cautiously, careful not to disturb them.

Before long, she spotted a slope on the cliff. At the base was a deep ravine—surely the very spot where Mu Yunjin had fallen.

Qu Yiqiu, muttering an incantation, wrapped herself in a protective shield.

Pushing through the brush, her keen eyes caught sight of three slender green tips of immortal ganoderma grass poking out at the edge of the slope.

“So that’s where they grow—no wonder Mu Yunjin fell.”

Remembering the whip-tailed snake said to lurk nearby, she deliberately tossed a stone with spiritual energy into the left thicket.

She waited silently for a quarter of an hour, but there was no movement at the end of the slope.

“Maybe I threw it too far, outside its territory?” Qu Yiqiu whispered, picking up another stone and hurling it closer to the patch of immortal grass.

This time, she glimpsed a gray shadow at the edge of the slope.

It looked triangular—likely the snake’s head—but it only flickered into view for a moment before vanishing back into hiding, showing no inclination to come out.

She hadn’t expected the whip-tailed snake to be so cunning, and Qu Yiqiu was at a loss.

Below the edge of the slope was a deep ravine. Foundation-building cultivators could not fly on swords—if she fought there, she was likely to fall and be injured herself.

She had come to complete the task and uncover the truth, not to repeat someone else’s mistake.

After surveying the area, she drew a bow and arrow, picked up a hefty rock, and hurled it beside the immortal grass.

Bang!

This time, the commotion was significant. The whip-tailed snake was startled out, revealing a body nearly three meters long.

Its cold eyes glinted as it flicked out a black tongue.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Qu Yiqiu had already drawn her bow to the fullest. Three arrows shot out in quick succession, giving the snake no chance to retaliate.

In just a few breaths, the whip-tailed snake collapsed.

Before she could approach, a thick tail swung out from the edge of the slope, striking her squarely in the waist.

Qu Yiqiu cried out in pain, hastily tumbled aside, and loosed another arrow.

The sharp arrow lodged in the thick snake’s tail, and Qu Yiqiu finally saw her foe clearly.

It was as thick as a barrel, stretching more than nine meters long, its jaws agape to reveal two sharp venomous fangs as it stared at her with icy malice.

“Damn, that’s no first-tier whip-tailed snake—that’s a second-tier beast fit for foundation-building cultivators!” Qu Yiqiu turned on her heel and ran.