Within the dense forest, mist and fog lingered.
The air was heavy with moisture and the cold was rising.
Du ke, whose whole body was invisible, was moving forward close to the ground, silently and without a trace.
"The smell is getting stronger, it must be just ahead!"
Smelling the increasingly rich scent in the air, Du ke was also extremely excited, he had finally found his dog!
This time after getting the dog back, he would have to keep an eye on it.
If this happened again, Du ke wouldn't be able to take it.
Damn it, it was his dog, how could he let others take it away!
If you think the dog is good looking and valuable, you just take it away.
I see your wife is as beautiful as a flower, should I take her away too?
However, while he was thinking this, Du ke's actions did not slow down at all. As he passed through the thick fog, his ears twitched and he suddenly stopped, staring intently ahead.
In the midst of the dense fog, several figures were walking back and forth.
Since cats are much smaller than humans, even adult cats need to look up at humans.
At this moment, Du ke was crouching under a tree, his ears folded back and his eyes narrowed to a slit, watching these figures and feeling their vibrations as they moved, listening to their voices.
"Hey, we were fine on Qingxuan Mountain, I don't know why we randomly came to this godforsaken Cloud Fog Mountain."
"You're right, the new year just passed, and the Spring Festival is coming up soon, I don't know what the sect leader was thinking, bringing us to Steaming Cloud Mountain like this."
"Although Steaming Cloud Mountain is one of the eight scenes of Yunzhou, it is always shrouded in fog and mist that never clears. Not only is it inconvenient to see, but the cold and dampness here is unbearable."
"We've only been on duty for half an incense stick worth of time, and my clothes are already wet!"
......
As they talked, Du ke's ears twitched and he carefully took a step forward, keeping his body close to the ground, moving his limbs slowly forward while keeping his tail and body parallel to the ground.
As he got closer, Du ke could also see the appearance of the speakers clearly.
Sure enough, there were three young men wearing matching uniforms, each holding a long sword, murmuring with their heads lowered.
After glancing at these three young men, Du ke went around them and continued forward.
Walking three to five meters away, a burst of lively voices came over. Looking again, Du ke's eyelids jumped.
Twenty to thirty people were busy around a clearing, tents had been set up, bonfires were ready to be lit, and wild beasts from the mountains that had just been bled were being skinned and deboned.
Although it looked chaotic, there was hidden order in the chaos.
Several tents had already been set up, and judging from their packages, they seemed to be prepared for a protracted battle.
"What's such a big battle preparation for?"
Before Du ke could figure it out, a shrill cry in the distance made him look over.
It was Thirteen's voice!
Following the sound, the cat found that the voice was coming from a tent. As soon as he reached the tent entrance, Du ke heard a strange laugh.
"Little doggie, don't cry or be afraid!"
"Come, let big sister kiss you!"
"If you let big sister kiss you, big sister will give you meat and milk!"
"Struggling? Struggling is useless, just give in to me!"
"Hahahahaha!"
......
While the creepy laugh that made the cat shiver kept coming out, the people in the camp seemed to take no notice of it, each minding their own business.
"Did Thirteen fall into the hands of some pervert?"
Poking his head into the tent, what Du ke saw was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl randomly stroking Thirteen.
Thirteen was being hugged around the chest by one of the girl's arms, while her other hand was restlessly stroking Thirteen's fur.
Thirteen struggled violently, but was completely powerless to resist, and could only let the girl have her way with him.
"Tsk, turns out it's just a little girl."
Du ke clicked his tongue, and walked casually towards the girl while sizing up the back of her head, his claws constantly extending and retracting.
"Knock her out directly and run away with the dog?"
As soon as this thought arose in Du ke's mind, he quickly killed it. "No, there are too many people here. Even if I knocked her out, we wouldn't be able to run far with just the dog's legs."
"It would also put us in greater danger."
"Especially since I still don't know the details of this place, it's even more inappropriate to make a move."
"I can only watch the situation for now, and act when the time is right!"
Giving up the idea of knocking out the girl, the cat simply squatted on the ground next to the girl, staring at her with deep eyes.
The girl was completely unaware of this, and simply kept teasing Thirteen.
At this moment, Thirteen had a look of utter despair on his face. Cat brother, where are you, come save your dog!
Otherwise, your dog's chastity will really be lost!
"Junior sister!"
The tent curtain was lifted, and a handsome young man with sword-like eyebrows walked in from outside. As soon as the youth poked his head in, he said, "Master is calling for you."
"Ah, I just sat down less than an incense stick worth of time after coming back, what does father have to do now?"
The girl was a little reluctant. The youth revealed a gentle smile and comforted her, "It must not be anything bad!"
"Alright, let's go then."
The girl picked up Thirteen and followed the youth out of the tent, with Du ke trailing behind them.
With his innate perception that was as clear as dust in sunlight, ordinary martial artists in the outside world simply could not see or sense him.
Moreover, martial artists in the outside world had varying levels of attainment, and the innate realm seemed to be very rare.
As long as they were not in the innate realm or enlightened realm, they could not see him.
When he followed the girl and the youth into the central tent in the camp, Du ke also saw a mature middle-aged man with extraordinary temperament sitting cross-legged on a cushion, with a long sword resting on his knees.
"Ling'er."
As soon as the middle-aged man spoke, the girl holding Thirteen pouted.
"Father."
"The situation in Steaming Cloud Mountain is chaotic now, don't run around recklessly."
Seeing his daughter like this, the middle-aged man sighed. When will this girl grow up?
"But I'll be bored if I stay here all the time!"
The girl called Ling'er puffed up her cheeks very reluctantly.
"That doesn't mean you can run around recklessly. Barbarians have infiltrated Steaming Cloud Mountain, and now countless masters are looking for them. People from all ways and schools have come, if your skills are lacking, encountering righteous people is fine, but if you encounter those with malicious intent, and get taken away..."
"Father, senior brother is with me, nothing can happen to me right?"
Ling'er hid behind the youth Ziyin, who timely spoke up, "Master, I am watching over junior sister, nothing will happen to her."
"Humph, you're just indulging her!"
The middle-aged sect leader shook his head. Hearing the matter dismissed, Ling'er immediately giggled.
"Master, how long do we have to stay in Steaming Cloud Mountain?"
Ziyin softly asked, while Ling'er noisily spoke up as well, "That's right, father!"
"The Spring Festival is about to start, I made plans with my little sisters to go play at the festival, how long do we have to stay here?"
"At least three to five days, up to half a month, depending on how long it takes them to find that barbarian!"
The Qingxuan Sect leader sighed, and Ling'er tilted her head, "Father, is that herb the barbarian was carrying really that important?"
"Tongue Grass is not that important, what's important is the Primordial Pill in the Yun family's bounty."
Stroking the long sword on his knees, the Qingxuan Sect leader murmured, "There are only two ways to achieve the Primordial Realm!"
"The first..."
Before the Qingxuan Sect leader could speak, Ling'er immediately interrupted, "The first is to comprehend the meaning through concentrating one's divine will, and perceive the rhythm of heaven and earth. When one's spirit and meaning take shape, it breaks through the chaos in one's body, generating primordial energy, and returns the acquired to the primordial!"
"The second is using pills as a ladder, borrowing the power of pills to break through the barriers to the primordial realm."
"Father, you've said it so many times, I've memorized it all."
Ling'er looked extremely annoyed at her father's long-windedness.
"We came into Steaming Cloud Mountain for the Tongue Grass right. Get that Tongue Grass, take it to the Yun family in exchange for the Primordial Pill."
"What's with all this hemming and hawing?"
"You're still young and understand nothing," said the Qingxuan Sect leader.
The leader of the Qingxuan Sect coldly snorted, "If you want to obtain that Mock Tongue Grass, you must take down that barbarian!"
"But that barbarian is not someone who can be killed easily, is he?"
"Not to mention his overbearing peerless martial arts cultivated since childhood, he was raised by a bear in the mountains since he was little, with instincts close to a beast's. He also has innate divine strength."
"If we want to take him down, we must make thorough preparations. Setting up camp is only the first step!"
"Junior sister, don't be impatient. The master naturally has his plans," the youth Ziyin gently persuaded his junior sister Ling'er, but the girl simply rolled her eyes. "What plans?"
"Relying on that sword of his that hasn't been drawn in over ten years?"
"You brat, I nurtured this Qingxuan Sword for decades with the Qingxuan Sect's sword nurturing arts. You can say it's closely bonded with my life.
While it remains sheathed it is harmless, but once I draw it, its power will shock the world.
No matter how overbearing that barbarian's martial arts are, they cannot withstand the might of my one sword strike.
The key to this is not something that you can understand!" After the Qingxuan Sect Leader said this, the cat's whiskers twitched as it looked at the treasured sword on his knee.
Bonded with his life?
Can it be refined?