image [https://i.imgur.com/9n6xfZ7.jpeg]

There was one last person I had to talk to before I left and I managed to catch him as he took a break under a tree outside where the peaks of the sect blocked the horizon. Beautiful forests crawled up the mountains and a few of the sect’s buildings brought color to the landscape. It was an all-around peaceful moment.

It was a shame I had to interrupt his break. But I would make it quick.

“Nephew Peerless Resolve!” I said, passing him the details. “I’m going on a sect mission.”

After reading the jade slip, the corner of his lips turned down.

“I thought this would give you enough time to take care of those demonic infiltrators without worrying about my safety.”

“I doubt that I’ll ever stop worrying about your safety, Great Aunt Lin.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Is this something you need to do?”

I grinned. “Unless you have a few hundred flag sticks made from Golden Thunder Walnut just lying around to give to a poor disciple.”

He sighed. “I heard about the tree rot. It’s gotten to the point where it’s even affected our sect’s stores. The Formation Masters are all furious. Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives.”

“Those are either flimsy or they’re too expensive.” I pointed out.

“They work well enough for most students. But you aren’t one of them.” He tossed me a jade token. “Break this if you find yourself in so much danger that you can’t handle it by yourself. The Indomitable Will sect will always have your back.”

I grinned and threw the token into my spatial ring.

“I hope you’re not using this as an excuse to put off your tribulation.”

Did he just suggest that I was a coward? I puffed up my chest. “Of course not. By the time I return to the sect, I’ll have every item on my list.”

“So, you’ll call down your tribulation when you get back?”

I cleared my suddenly dry throat. “I may take a few days to organize things. But, soon after I get back, I’ll definitely go through it.”

He nodded sagely. “Cultivating your own path is a very personal matter. While I can help you here and there with resources and nudges in the right direction, it’s your choice how and when you face your tribulation.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

***

After I collected Little Spring and Clear Eyes, we headed out of the sect. Of course, I didn’t trust my enemies to let us be. I used the first few hours of our journey to employ every method I could think of to lose anyone following.

Maybe because of my paranoid precautions, but neither assassins nor young masters that deserved to be bullied showed up. Our trip was so quiet that I spent most of it discussing Nascent Soul techniques with Ghosty. I even recommended a few he could practice in his spirit orb. One was a shielding technique called the Bloom of the Night Flower that could even, for the smallest of moments, protect a Nascent Soul from an attack from an Immortal Bone Creation expert. Of course, it would make the practitioner nearly helpless for months afterwards, but it could save their life.

If Ghosty had learned it earlier, he wouldn’t have become a McGhostFace.

A few times during our trip, I even managed to sneak away to finish collecting the spiritual latex. The vulcanization process would have to wait since the white goop needed to soak in spiritual spring water to clear all the impurities.

Unfortunately, at the cautious pace I’d set, it took us all seven days to get to the opening to the forest instead of the five the black market dealer suggested.

When we reached our destination, the massive stone tiger head, the forest’s namesake and only entrance, had yet to open its maw. A messy line had formed, containing cultivators from all over the continent who weren’t shy about declaring their group’s allegiance through their uniforms.

A few Nascent Soul practitioners waited in front of the entrance. The crowd gave each of them at least six feet of space. I even noticed a Nascent Soul from our Beast Tamer Peak, Shadow Gopher standing up front with several other Nascent Souls from different clans and sects. Well, his name actually translated closer to Dark Mole, but I preferred my version better for obvious reasons.

Clear Eyes stopped at the back of the crowd where other Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment cultivators gathered. Here, there were teams wearing the uniforms from various sects, including some from the Untenable Sword, and the Three Leaves Swirling who liked to pretend they were our rivals.

To the side were a large number of groups ready to take advantage of the situation. I didn’t know who they were but they’d worn brown, dirt-stained clothes. Obviously, these orthodox practitioners had attempted to look like rogue cultivators. Their guise was, frankly, offensive. Did they think Rogue Cultivators didn’t know the cleaning technique?

There was also a three-man mercenary team dressed in blood red who studied everyone with narrowed eyes. These guys took their jobs seriously. The younger two were twins at Foundation Establishment. The older one, who was at the beginning of Golden Core, had a pale scar across his neck.

With all of these representatives from nearby sects, clans, and mercenaries, this looked like the perfect place for a main character to accidentally start some trouble. Exactly where we didn’t want to be.

“You see all these people?” I gestured to everyone in front of us.

Mad Tongue nodded. “It will be hard getting past them to get deep into the forest.”

I snorted. “Who said that we’re stopping here?”

With the confidence of a once near-immortal, I strode past all of them. Since he was used to me, Little Spring calmly followed without question.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Clear Eyes, on the other hand, bent over as if trying to sneak across a theater. “Senior Lin!” he whispered. “We’re getting weird looks and making everyone angry. Shouldn’t we stay back there?”

I raised a brow at him. “If all these people go ahead of us, what will we find when we make it in?”

“Plants?”

I gave him a grim look. “Not the ones we’re looking for.”

He sighed with exasperation. “We can’t just cut in line.”

“What does everyone say about the Indomitable Will sect?”

“That we have each other’s backs.”

“That’s right.” I walked right up to Shadow Gopher and grinned.

The man looked thoroughly confused and stroked his beard while trying to place me.

::Greetings Junior.::

He coughed. ::Great Martial Aunt Lin?!::

“I knew you were smart.” While he never reached Immortal Bone Creation in my past life, he had been one of the Peak Masters for a short time. Idiots rarely ended up in that position.

He straightened his back and looked around him to see if anyone was watching. “This isn’t a good time. I won’t be able to babysit you.”

::I’m sorry Senior, but the Cunning Mountain sect is here, and we can’t allow them to find the treasure our diviners told us about.::

I chuckled. ::Don’t worry. We’re just having you drop us off along the way.::

::What treasure are you looking for?:: Little Spring asked.

Gopher’s stressed eyes relaxed when they saw the kid. ::I’m not sure myself. I was only told that it would appear deep in the forest. Whoever finds it will become an unprecedented powerhouse unknown to the mortal plane.::

Huh. I hadn’t actually remembered anything like that in my last life. But all of those so-called unbelievable treasures the diviners predicted would throw the world into upheaval were just somewhat useful trinkets. I knew that because Bloodsword usually got his hands on them. He always showed them off to me. I didn’t know why since I’d always glance at the amazing treasure, then create something better or more cost-effective within a decade.

Of course, by then he had the next powerful ancient tool.

Sometimes I thought Bloodsword may have tried to kill me on purpose because I frustrated him by always making his hard-earned scores obsolete within a few decades of obtaining them.

Well, that didn’t matter anymore since I had to deal with Little Spring and not that soul-fucked donkey brain.

The eyes of the tiger head suddenly burned with golden light. Its jaws shook. Small rocks on the side of the cliff dislodged and fell down. Inch by inch, its disturbingly realistic rock maw opened. Our rivals stirred.

image [https://i.imgur.com/n0wMAEK.jpeg]

“Where do you want me to drop you off?”

“Just towards the middle of the—“ I was going to say outskirts, but Shadow Gopher grabbed us with his spiritual energy and ran so quickly that cracking sounds came from my body-cultivation-enhanced skeleton and the light dimmed.

Since even my vision darkened, it didn’t come as a surprise when Clear Eyes passed right out.

Little Spring blinked rapidly, obviously trying to fight the impossible. Since he only had one form of body cultivation, I guessed he wasn’t faring as well as myself.

Then we suddenly stopped and Shadow Gopher vanished from sight, leaving us surrounded by tall trees and grasses.

Goddamn it. Where were we?

I spread out my divine sense and immediately realized that he dropped us off close to the middle of the forest. We were thankfully still on the outskirts.

Fuck, couldn’t Shadow Gopher have waited for me to finish my goddamn sentence? At least we weren’t in any danger yet.

I also sensed two of the spiritual plants to the east that I needed to pick up.

And there! Further east from those and a little to the north was a beautiful, ancient Golden Thunder Walnut tree. Its canopy stretched so high and wide that I should be able to chop off a few of its branches to make flag sticks.

But before we left, I had to fix a problem.

The kid gently rocked Clear Eyes. He did not wake up. Not giving up, he shook the sword cultivator so hard that he made the grass flatten.

“Move,” I said, getting my junior brother to withdraw.

I pulled out my acupuncture needles, dipped them in spiritual spring water and placed them on top of his head, on the back of his neck and between the thumb and forefinger.

Then I removed them and counted backwards from ten.

Right after I said one, the teen sucked in a huge breath and sat up.

“Ah!”

I flicked his glabella. He scowled at me.

“Relax. You’re not dead.”

He rubbed his forehead. “Where are we?”

“Far enough that we made everyone eat our dust.” I ignored the confused looks they gave me. “But we can’t wait around here. We’re too close to the middle of the forest.”

I jumped onto a massive nearby stump, put my hands behind my back like the cultivation master I was, and addressed Little Spring and Clear Eyes. “The location of the two spiritual plants we need is on the path to the Golden Thunder Walnut tree. They are hot items for Foundation Establishment level alchemists so, if we want this trip to pay for itself and more, then we’ll have to grab them as we go. That said, speed is more important. If we can’t get them quickly, then leave. The tree is our primary goal.”

“What if we get separated?” Little Spring asked.

“Use this map. We’ll rendezvous at the big tree.”

Using the same telepathic transmission technique I used for speech, I sent both of them a detailed map of the area. It appeared similar to the navigation programs from my past-past life, only this one showed trees and plants instead of buildings. I’d added a line showing the fastest route and a separate circle around the largest tree nearby.

Little Spring closed his eyes to review the information internally. Mad Tongue, on the other hand, had his wide open along with a gaping mouth.

What an awkward teen. It wasn’t like I didn’t send... wait... this was the first time I’d sent him a map. It was Fairy Swift Dove who received it during the Demonic Vine and we hadn’t needed one for the Crab Mission.

I coughed delicately and gave him more time.

“If you’re done reviewing, let’s move. We can’t let our headstart go to waste.”

Then I used Consistent Step, Impossible Leap to follow the line I’d mapped out. The others quickly joined me.

***

The first plant we were collecting was a Sapphire Fire Orchid. It only grew in shadowy forests like this one. Ironically, it required a lot of sun to grow, so not only did it need to be surrounded by large trees, it also had to be in a place where the light regularly broke through the canopy. In this instance, that was near the root of a thick pine tree.

Clear eyes stopped and looked around, likely making sure no enemies were nearby.

I pulled out my weapon and delivered a few slashes of sword Qi to the ground around the roots. When that was done, I sent it into the space.

Mad Tongue coughed. The disbelief on his face was priceless. “Ah, Senior Lin, shouldn’t we use a jade box?”

Actually, seeing my Black Market Dealer’s bag that could carry spiritual plants had given me an idea. Before the mission, I’d messed with a storage bag to make it feel identical. It didn’t actually have those properties, but it would feel identical. “I created a bag that can transport spiritual plants without encasing them in jade. It's like a Beast Tamer’s transportation box.”

The teen looked curious. I knew that look. That was not a good expression for this too-observant guy to have, so I quickly pointed toward the next flower and started to run.

He caught up. “Can you make me one?”

I eyed him. “Can you afford it?”

He opened his mouth, then probably realized he couldn’t afford it and stayed quiet. Thank fuck!

I swear, if we one day got caught with Little Spring’s space, it would be by this sword cultivator.