Chapter 270: Old Friends
She hadn’t let Shuitan do anything the entire time.
Seeing Song Jiulai’s Ice Soul Flower, Shuitan paused in thought before asking, "The little snake’s master used this for the exchange?"
Song Jiulai nodded, not bothering to hide it. "Yes."
Just like Song Jiulai, Shuitan immediately wondered if the master of Tang Valley was behind this.
Moreover, the other party’s strength was clearly above Song Jiulai’s.
Otherwise, why would his Sect Master have let it go so readily?
It had to be said that the players were starting to get a faint grasp of Song Jiulai’s temperament.
After this little interlude, Song Jiulai and Shuitan continued toward Tang Valley.
The Miasma in Tang Valley obstructed their vision, making it impossible to find their bearings.
They would have to carefully search for the whereabouts of the Phoenix Cry Bamboo that the Fifth Elder had mentioned.
Song Jiulai walked for a good while before stopping to look around. She had Divine Sense, after all. She suddenly halted. "I think we’ve just been walking in circles."
She had been observing carefully and was certain she had seen the petal markings on several of the trees before.
This wasn’t just bad luck; it was downright supernatural.
Shuitan’s expression grew serious. "Sect Master, have you figured something out?"
"Let me think... It feels like someone has set up an Array in Tang Valley."
Arrays were an Advanced Technique that only High-level Cultivators could master. An ordinary Cultivator would be lucky to know how to set up a simple Spirit Gathering Array.
Someone who had never encountered one wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, but Song Jiulai could vaguely sense the traces of flowing energy.
Shuitan remained silent, quietly waiting to hear what Song Jiulai had to say.
Meanwhile, Song Jiulai was urgently conferring with the system in her mind. ’Have we been caught in an Array?’
System: ’Probably.’
’Don’t give me ’probably’! Is there a way to break this Array?’
The system sighed. ’You’re a big girl now, an independent adult. You can’t keep running to me for everything! Do you think being called a "mama’s girl" is a compliment?’
"..."
For a moment, Song Jiulai seriously considered just giving up and waiting for the world to end on its own.
But then she considered that the system was managing three hundred players and had probably developed some occupational burnout. One had to have some basic sympathy, so she decided not to argue with it.
Song Jiulai shot back, ’If I understood this stuff, would I even be asking you?’
The system suddenly said, ’Let your child out.’
Song Jiulai didn’t get it at first. ’What child? Which child?!’
She had quite a few "children," after all.
System: ’...The one that’s still sleeping.’
Song Jiulai had a sudden realization, but she was still confused.
It was the scorpion!
Ever since they left the Secret Realm, the scorpion had been resting continuously.
It would only wake up occasionally to take a few sips of Song Jiulai’s blood before immediately going back to sleep.
Its entire existence was dedicated to living a life of leisure.
And there was nothing Song Jiulai could do about it.
’What use could *it* possibly be?’
As the words left her mouth, Song Jiulai suddenly remembered how the scorpion had run off on its own and bitten someone in the Secret Realm.
Song Jiulai later speculated that the victim might have been Little Cui.
She didn’t know if it was a coincidence or not, but how had the scorpion managed to find Little Cui in the first place?
Lost in thought, she rolled up her sleeve. The scorpion was still clinging to her wrist. She picked it up by the body and saw it was still asleep.
She gave it a shake, and without waiting for a reaction, tossed it onto the ground.
System: ’...You’re such a heartless mother.’
Heartless or not, Song Jiulai eyed the scorpion’s size and muttered, ’Do I feel like it’s gotten a little bigger?’
If she had that feeling, it probably wasn’t just her imagination. The scorpion had indeed grown a little.
The scorpion, having been flung to the ground, was jolted awake. It came to in a daze, shaking its head.
Its long tail shot up as it spun around twice in place, seemingly confused about what had just happened.
Song Jiulai heard a faint, high-pitched scream in her head. ’Oww, oww, that hurts!’
Anyone who didn’t know better would think Song Jiulai had done something terrible to it.
Song Jiulai pointed at the scorpion and said to the system, ’It’s gone this long without a name. Our family already has a Fa Cai and a Wangcai, so let’s call this one Lai Cai.’
System: ’...’
Song Jiulai knew Lai Cai was just playing dumb sometimes. Its behavior back in the Secret Realm proved it could understand at least some of what she said.
So she tried to communicate with it mentally. ’Lai Cai, last time in the Secret Realm, you were able to run off to other places on your own. Can you find the way out of here?’
The scorpion’s body twitched, its attention completely missing the point. ’What Lai Cai?’
’So it’s confirmed. It really does understand human speech.’
’It really was just playing dumb all this time!’
Song Jiulai replied, ’You’re Lai Cai.’
Lai Cai: ’...That’s an awful name! Awful!’
’Go on, stop whining and lead your mom out of here! Otherwise, I’ll just leave you here to fend for yourself and see how you like being abandoned.’
Lai Cai: ’...’
It was hard to say whether Song Jiulai’s threat finally got through to Lai Cai.
Its tiny body paused for a moment before it started crawling off in a particular direction.
Seeing this, Song Jiulai waved to Shuitan, who had been completely oblivious to the exchange. "Keep up."
Although Shuitan was baffled, he had the good sense not to ask unnecessary questions.
Any other player in his position would probably be asking a million questions, maybe even what Song Jiulai liked to eat.
All he saw was Song Jiulai summon a small, scorpion-like bug.
’As expected of this world’s Sect Master,’ he thought to himself. ’Even if she’s weak in the early stages, she still has plenty of tricks up her sleeve.’
’The system must have helped her out somehow,’ Shuitan mused, ’but there’s no telling what kind of support it actually provides her.’
’At the very least,’ Shuitan thought, ’there’s no way the Sect Master herself could have produced those 100 scrolls of the Palm Thunder Secret Technique. That had to be the system’s doing.’
’He was so certain for one simple reason—Song Jiulai was way too cheap.’
’He’d read plenty of novels, and combined with the analysis from the expert team back in the real world, he was sure Song Jiulai was on some kind of phased quest line.’
’And these quests would come with rewards from the system.’
’You had to hand it to the national team; they were reliable. Their guess was pretty much spot on.’
’Though, being right didn’t seem to be very useful at the moment.’
Up ahead, Lai Cai was leading the way, weaving back and forth until it was quickly out of sight.
But Song Jiulai’s connection to it remained.
In fact, by following its lead, the surrounding scenery finally started to change.
As they emerged from the forest of red flowers, the environment changed abruptly. The flower forest vanished, replaced by a dense, lush wood.
Leaves spiraled to the ground as the surrounding Miasma gradually receded. Song Jiulai let out a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the red flower forest.
Lai Cai didn’t stop up ahead. It kept crawling forward, changing direction from time to time, sniffing here and there. Song Jiulai had been about to chat with the system about Lai Cai when her extended Divine Sense suddenly discovered something interesting.
A few hundred meters ahead, two disciples were walking side by side. They were, of all people, Song Jiulai’s ’old friends.’
Yi Tianhe and Lü Rufeng!