Chapter 233: Goodbye Zi Yi (3.5k)
In the afternoon of the next day, under the twilight, three figures were stretched particularly long, reminiscent of the desolate atmosphere of “The wind whistles and the Yi River is cold.”
Su Jiu stood in the wheat field, holding her phone. After checking the time, her gaze was fixed on the huge gap in the pigeon coop. She turned her head and whispered to Bonnis behind her, “Just turn into butterflies. Those Gugu birds are about to come out!”
“Okay.”
Without any fuss, Bonnis nodded slightly, closed her eyes, and under the curious gaze of Xiao Qiqi, her body slowly transformed into butterflies. Then, a swarm of butterflies hung around Su Jiu’s neck like a necklace.
Su Jiu’s waist-length green silk turned silver-white in a moment, and a powerful aura surged from her body. Her body actually floated an inch off the ground. Her hair, scattered over her shoulders, gently brushed against her white dress with a cinched waist, possessing an inexplicable beauty.
“Dong…”
She extended a finger and pointed into the void, causing ripples to appear in the air. A two-meter-long blood-red longsword materialized beneath her feet. She then tilted her head towards Xiao Qiqi, who was staring in stunned silence, and smirked, “Get on! Time is almost up!”
At this moment, if one only looked at Su Jiu’s appearance, there was a hint of a Great Duke of the Blood Clan.
“Holy crap, junior schoolmate, your special effects are pretty intense!” After examining Su Jiu’s ensemble, Xiao Qiqi couldn’t help but smack her lips. Su Jiu’s aura was far higher than that of an ordinary Battle King.
She was joining forces with her this time, and her senior’s strength would also benefit her.
“It’s alright. The reason I released my aura was to deter any lurking monsters. Speaking of which, have you prepared the tracking chip, senior schoolmate?” Su Jiu glanced at her, smiled, and then asked earnestly.
“Piece of cake. However, I don’t know which one is the leader bird, so I haven’t installed them directly on them. If I choose randomly, the error rate is too high.” While lamenting, Xiao Qiqi was not slow. She quickly stepped onto the sword’s back and continued speaking.
Su Jiu nodded gently. In this regard, Xiao Qiqi should know much more than her, so listening to her was always the right choice.
“This is a special signal chip that can receive signals even in strong magnetic fields. We should be able to find their destination based on the signals. I’ll look for those leader birds later and plant the signal transmitters into their bodies.”
She sat cross-legged, took out three small alchemical chips from her backpack, inserted the chips into three tiny black bullets, and then loaded the bullets into the magazine. She spun the barrel of the gun and said.
“Use your energy shield well! We might face other monsters later, and I can’t take care of you, senior schoolmate.”
Su Jiu glanced at the time on her phone, immediately put it away, and looked calmly at the pigeon coop.
“Don’t worry, junior schoolmate… I’ve been through many high-difficulty missions. I haven’t died in all these years, so I’m not a novice.”
Following Su Jiu’s gaze, Xiao Qiqi waved her hand, chuckled, and her body was covered with arcs of lightning. She then straightened her expression and said seriously, “This morning, I specifically dissected a Gugu bird, and I discovered something very interesting… Not only were the Gugu birds’ bodies not destroyed by spores, but due to the influence of the active spores, they were more robust than any Gugu bird I had dissected before!”
Understanding Xiao Qiqi’s implication, Su Jiu’s gaze shifted slightly to her. Her eyebrows twitched, and her eyes narrowed. She said with some gravity, “Senior Schoolmate Xiao, you mean they’re acting as accomplices… These Gugu birds are unintentionally being used as henchmen by the plant demons?”
Shaking her head slightly, Xiao Qiqi’s expression became more solemn than ever. She adjusted her thick-rimmed glasses and said in a deep voice, “No… I have a feeling that the strange behavior of many monsters might not just be due to hallucinations.”
“Perhaps… I mean, perhaps it’s not just the Gugu birds that are acting as henchmen! The fact that many monsters went mad and broke through the defenses without preying on Gugu birds in large numbers, but instead ensuring their smooth departure, already indicates many things.”
“…”
Listening to her words, Su Jiu’s eyelids drooped. Her white hair flew in the wind, brushing against the silver strands in front of her eyes. She could feel an unprecedented pressure washing over her.
A few minutes later, with a “bang!” and a sky-shattering explosion, countless Gugu birds rushed out of the pigeon coop. As they spread their wings, they formed streaks of white shadows, like a white beast devouring the twilight, covering the entire sky of red sun, a truly spectacular sight.
“Sword, rise!”
A blood-red glint flashed in her eyes, and Su Jiu continuously formed hand seals. She stomped her thick-soled shoes, and a light red energy wave rolled outwards. The wide flying sword beneath her feet vibrated and turned into a crimson stream of light, soaring into the sky, chasing after the Gugu bird flock.
Far in the sky, a bloody stream of light chased the Gugu flock like a shooting star. Its astonishing speed attracted the attention of many monsters and even humans. However, sensing the awe-inspiring aura emanating from it, the preying monsters showed signs of fear.
“This distance… Senior schoolmate, can you reach them?”
Using external Qi to completely block the sound of the wind, she asked behind her. Su Jiu formed her index and middle fingers into a sword shape and hooked them upwards, slowly approaching the leader birds of the Gugu flock.
There were several lord-type Gugu birds that were significantly larger than ordinary Gugu birds. Their wings shed a lot of golden powder, and Su Jiu could feel that they were at least Intermediate Stage Warriors – this was very abnormal, as domesticated Gugu birds could never reach Warrior Class!
This was the result of continuous cultivation in the Dragon Country’s animal husbandry sector.
“No problem! Junior schoolmate, remove your external Qi in a moment. I’m ready.” Xiao Qiqi held her handgun with one hand supporting her other arm, aimed at the leading Gugu birds.
Su Jiu glanced at her, waved forward gently, and only maintained her energy shield. After the outermost energy shield was removed, a massive airflow rushed towards them with a whooshing sound.
“Retreat!”
She gently tapped forward, creating a blood-red barrier to block the incoming wind pressure. Su Jiu put one hand behind her back and used the other, her two fingers forming a sword shape, to control the direction. Her white dress fluttered, exuding the elegance of a sword immortal.
“Bang bang bang!”
Impressed by Su Jiu’s power, Xiao Qiqi took a deep breath. Her glasses reflected the light as she fired three shots in succession, hitting two different leader Gugu birds, with dull thuds of flesh impact.
However, because the bullets were very small and contained some anesthetic, the leader Gugu birds were merely startled and flew further away. After all, the aura emanating from Su Jiu was too strong, so they couldn’t possibly attack Su Jiu.
Although Xiuren Town was not large, it did not mean that the surrounding mountain ranges were small. To avoid alerting the enemy, the two slowed down their speed and followed the Gugu bird flock closely according to the received information, flying for another hour or two.
As night fell, some bolder War General Level monsters began to dare to provoke Su Jiu, seemingly forgetting who was the true king of the night.
The peculiar ferocity and rationality of the Blood Clan in the night were infinitely amplified. After another series of battles, Su Jiu obtained some small snacks in the form of Magic Crystals, but was forced to distance herself from the Gugu bird flock.
Discovering that they had entered the depths of the mountain range, Su Jiu’s expression became solemn. She could sense human presences in this forest, as well as the probing gazes of some War General Level lords.
“They’ve stopped, about five kilometers to the northwest. How about we get down and walk? Flying at high altitudes at night is still too dangerous,” Xiao Qiqi’s voice came from behind Su Jiu. She was holding an alchemical item resembling a mobile phone, her gaze fixed on it, speaking with a solemn expression.
After communicating with Xiao Qiqi, she discovered that they were not far from the Gugu birds’ location. They were all stopped like a cliffside.
“We’ve been targeted already?”
Nodding in agreement, Su Jiu and the two quickly landed. Her gaze swept over the dense jungle around them, her brows furrowed. A blood-red light flashed in her eyes, and with a rub of her fingernails, she unleashed a blood-red sword energy.
“Screech—”
The next moment, the sound of a giant object falling echoed. Xiao Qiqi’s heart trembled. She shone her flashlight over, and with the light, a giant black tiger claw was revealed in the bushes, but it was already lying on its side…
Su Jiu was not particularly worried about these low-level monsters. In such semi-deep mountain ranges, humans were often more terrifying than monsters. In novels, people walking in such places were often the hardened veterans of the Adventurer’s Guild, who would do anything for enough profit.
Just like the two adventurers she encountered before, they likely ambushed their companions and then intended to devour them on the way back…
However, since they didn’t make a move, Su Jiu was not a world police, and she wasn’t going to eliminate evil – after all, the ones they killed were adventurers who lived by the sword, not civilians.
Following the route indicated by the chip, the two of them continued to explore, killing more monsters along the way, and had already reached nearly half of the intended distance.
“Wait for me for five minutes…”
By a small stream, the two rested briefly. Xiao Qiqi began to test the nearby water sources for spores to determine how the monsters were controlling other monsters.
As Xiao Qiqi conducted her experiment, Su Jiu’s neck suddenly snapped up, and her gaze quietly fixed on the jungle in front of her, she said softly, “There’s a smell of blood.”
“What’s wrong? Are monsters fighting each other?” Sensing that the atmosphere was not right, Xiao Qiqi’s expression tensed, and the movements of her experiment involuntarily slowed down.
“Someone is running this way from ahead. It seems like quite a few people are following behind. If we don’t interfere, they won’t actively provoke us,” Su Jiu said softly, seemingly unwilling to interfere. Being chased in such deep mountains and old forests, apart from feuds, was likely due to adventurers having unequal distribution of spoils and then stabbing each other in the back.
She would only intervene if she had a saintly heart.
As Su Jiu and the two were talking, two staggering figures suddenly appeared at the end of the forest path, and not far behind them, many black shadows flickered. The chilling killing intent could be sensed even from afar.
As the figures fled faster, Su Jiu finally saw the two figures clearly: two women. In the darkness, their clothing was unclear, but judging by their figures, they looked like young girls.
The two girls were clearly injured. One of them had a green light flashing on her hand, like a Priest. She was supporting the other girl, who was holding a sword, and they were constantly accelerating outwards. It was precisely because of this dragging that the shadows behind them caught up, “whoosh!” they swept forward, surrounding the two women.
Sensing the killing intent around them, the green light in the Priest’s hand flickered and extinguished. In the absence of blinding light, she suddenly discovered Su Jiu and the two standing by the river. Like a drowning person catching a lifeline, she shouted, “Senior, save us! We were tricked by scum from the Adventurer’s Guild!”
“Please, don’t interfere! We are handling a private matter, not some scumbags from the Adventurer’s Guild!”
A muscular figure appeared behind the girl. He touched his hat, squinted through the moonlight at the clean-clothed Su Jiu and the two in front of him, and said with some apprehension.
It seemed a bit familiar? Had she seen him somewhere before? However, anyone who could remain so calm in such a place was either brainless or truly capable.
It was better not to cause trouble.
“This has nothing to do with us…” Su Jiu raised an eyebrow, glanced at the flower hat on the muscular man’s head, and said lightly, then made way for them.
The flower hat man breathed a sigh of relief, then flashed a sinister smile at the two girls, a hint of greed surging in his eyes.
“Senior, we are from Magical Capital University on a mission. My grandfather is Dean Zichen. If you save us, he will surely reward you handsomely.” As the man approached, the Priest girl’s eyes widened with fear, her teeth trembling slightly. She quickly looked up again and shouted loudly.
Hearing her words, Su Jiu was stunned for a moment, then looked over. Her half-closed eyes gazed at the two girls, and her voice contained a hint of surprise:
“Dean Zi’s granddaughter?”
