Chapter Ninety-Nine: Taken Away

“Senior Brother Xia, why did you suddenly think to ask about this?” Qu Yiqiu asked with curiosity.

Xia Changhan shyly tilted his head up. “Actually, I wanted to ask Junior Sister back at the main hall, but you left in such a hurry that I didn’t get the chance. By the way, the mine vein where the cultivation technique was lost—Senior Sister Qu, you just happened to be there too. What a coincidence!”

The mine vein where the cultivation technique was lost?

Qu Yiqiu couldn’t help but ponder his words. Suddenly, a flash of insight struck her mind as she recalled the demon cultivator she had defeated.

Seeing Xia Changhan about to leave, she hurriedly said, “Senior Brother Xia, can you describe what that little thief looked like? Maybe I have seen him before at the demon cultivator’s stronghold!”

Xia Changhan was slightly taken aback and replied, “That little thief’s appearance was fake. Even if I told you, Junior Sister, you wouldn’t recognize him. But the thief who escaped from the mine vein was skilled in earth escape techniques, making him stand out at a glance. Unfortunately, he’s already dead, so we couldn’t get any clues from him.”

“Two thieves?” Qu Yiqiu exclaimed in surprise.

“That’s right. The male thief in the mine vein was killed by a female thief. Junior Sister Jiang chased after the female thief but was tricked by her on the way!” Xia Changhan sighed with regret.

He had suspected the thief wouldn’t be easy to catch, but he hadn’t expected Jiang Shuangyan to fail to see the female thief’s true face.

Qu Yiqiu held her breath, silently taking out an ancient bamboo slip from her storage ring.

“Senior Brother Xia, does that cultivation technique really extend one’s lifespan? Has anyone practiced it before?”

Xia Changhan shook his head without hesitation. “It’s just a fragmentary technique. No one in this world has practiced it, but... I’ve heard that if the entire technique could be gathered, even a Qi-condensation cultivator could achieve a lifespan comparable to that of a Divine Transformation True Sovereign!”

He gazed longingly into the distance, quietly clenching the storage pouch at his waist.

Inside his pouch were half a scroll of the incomplete Great Prolonged Reincarnation technique and a beast skin map that concealed it.

“It’s an incomplete technique? No wonder it sounds so powerful. Leader Luo didn’t spend any effort trying to find it,” Qu Yiqiu suddenly understood.

Xia Changhan lowered his hand and smiled faintly. “Yes, it’s said that one of the bamboo slips of this technique was destroyed. Even if someone with great ability in the world gathered the remaining fragments, they couldn’t reconstruct its original form.”

“I see... Then why do you still want to search for it, Senior Brother Xia?” Qu Yiqiu asked the question that had been on her mind.

Xia Changhan smiled. “I want to study its contents. Rumor has it that the technique records another kind of primordial script, one not found in our world.”

“Senior Brother Xia is truly knowledgeable. I never knew about this,” Qu Yiqiu said as she unfolded the bamboo slip, looking at the strange tadpole-like characters. Indeed, they were a form of primordial script unknown to this world.

Xia Changhan smiled softly, pursing his lips. “Junior Sister Qu, if Master Mo emerges from seclusion, please inform me. My master has been concerned about Master Mo for a long time!”

Qu Yiqiu raised an eyebrow and rolled up the bamboo slip. “No problem. Thank you for answering my questions today, Senior Brother Xia.”

Xia Changhan politely cupped his fist. “Thank you as well, Junior Sister.”

---

Watching Xia Changhan’s retreating figure, Qu Yiqiu sealed the cave entrance completely.

“Benefactor, our clan also has a bamboo slip like the one you hold!” Ao Qian couldn’t contain herself and spoke up.

Qu Yiqiu paused as she was about to put away the bamboo slip, then joyfully unfolded it again, placing it before her. “Qian’er, are you sure? Is it the same writing?”

Ao Qian looked solemnly and nodded. “Yes, this is it. My father said it’s a useless heirloom passed down from our ancestors!”

“Useless heirloom?” Qu Yiqiu was stunned.

Realizing she had misspoken, Ao Qian covered her mouth with both hands and stammered, “No one has ever been able to assemble a complete bamboo slip. Even if they did, no one in this world could understand the characters.”

Qu Yiqiu smiled absentmindedly. “You’re right. No one in this world recognizes this script.”

But she was an exception.

Concealing her delight, Qu Yiqiu carefully rolled up the bamboo slip and stored it away.

Ao Qian, seeing that she wasn’t angry and still treasured the bamboo slip, thought of her great-grandfather who had gone mad over it.

“Benefactor... you must never study this bamboo slip. It will drag you into a demonic abyss!”

Qu Yiqiu blinked, puzzled. “Why? It’s just some writing.”

Ao Qian tilted her head. Actually, she didn’t know why either, but this slip seemed to possess a magical power that drove whoever possessed it to madness.

“My parents said it’s an evil object—you can look at it, even touch it, but you must never study it!”

Qu Yiqiu put it back into her storage ring intact and smiled. “Alright, I understand. I won’t study it.”

There was nothing to study anyway; she could already understand it.

Ao Qian breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you’re not interested. My great-grandfather perished because he meddled with it...”

As they spoke, a fiery red hibiscus flower fluttered over and landed on Qu Yiqiu’s shoulder, petals silently drifting down.

Qu Yiqiu was slightly startled. “This looks like Junior Brother’s transmission talisman.”

Ao Qian looked over curiously as the voice of Mu Yunjin came from the flower: “Senior Sister, where are you?”

Before the voice faded, the petals shattered into glowing specks and vanished.

Ao Qian reached out to catch a bit of red light, blinking in wonder.

The aura carried the scent of home!

“Junior Brother is looking for me. I can’t keep playing with you anymore,” Qu Yiqiu said, patting Ao Qian’s head.

Ao Qian nodded contentedly and obediently returned to her spirit beast pouch.

Qu Yiqiu hurried back, but Mu Yunjin’s cave was empty.

“Where could Junior Brother have gone?” she wondered.

Releasing her divine sense to search, she noticed three cups of spirit tea on the stone table still warm.

“Someone has been here!” she said without hesitation.

Immediately, she turned and tore open a swift-travel talisman, sticking it to herself, then dashed toward the foot of the mountain.

Mu Yunjin’s identity was special; he had no friends in the Tianyan Sect.

Who could have come to serve him tea?

Qu Yiqiu’s heart burned with anxiety, fearing Mu Yunjin might have encountered danger and that his true dragon identity would be exposed.

Zhou Chen lived on a gentle slope not far from the mountain’s base. From afar, he saw Qu Yiqiu speeding toward him and hobbled out with his cane.

“Senior Sister Qu, what’s happened?”

Within moments, Qu Yiqiu reached him and quickly asked, “Have you seen Junior Brother Mu go down the mountain? Or noticed two strangers?”

Strangers?

Zhou Chen paused in surprise. “Senior Sister Qu, are the two strangers you mentioned the Qu Clan Chief and Elder Li?”

“What? They came here?” Qu Yiqiu was shocked. “How did they get in?”

Zhou Chen looked bewildered. “Haven’t you met them yet? Junior Brother Mu was taken away by them!”