Chapter 38 (Part 2)

“Heeheehee… Turn around and look at me…”

That familiar voice rang out again. Only this time, it was not speaking right by his ear, but scattered in every direction around him.

Song Yuanxi saw objects glowing faintly like fireflies in the darkness. They floated unsteadily in the air, and every time they flew in circles around him, eerie laughter like silver bells sounded.

Song Yuanxi looked at those little things causing mischief, and his heart instead settled. The more unknown something was, the easier it was to imagine wildly. Those wild thoughts were what gave rise to fear. Now that he had seen the real things, things he could see and touch, there was nothing to fear!

“I thought it was dragon mimics playing tricks. I didn’t expect it to be these things.”

Song Yuanxi reached forward and grabbed one of the glowing little things. Just as he was about to examine it closely, that little thing turned into specks of starlight in his hand and vanished.

As the light disappeared, he vaguely heard an oinking sound.

This was?!

It was still a pig squeal! These little specks of starlight were still dragon mimics?!

Song Yuanxi very quickly remembered what Song Miao had said when they first entered the abyss: “dragon mimics are crafty and ever-changing. They hide within nature, their moods are unpredictable, and they’re good at teasing people.”

“You pretended to be ghosts by my ear, turned into poop to disgust people, know sound attacks, and now you’ve turned into fireflies to make people lose their way… Fine. Then let me properly see what other abilities you have!”

Song Yuanxi pulled out eighteen spirit beast pouches in a row, determined to fight these dragon mimics to the end!

“If I don’t fill these spirit beast pouches tonight, then I, Song Yuanxi, will kneel down and call you Daddy!”

“Heehee… Come catch me… foolish human…”

What answered Song Yuanxi was specks of starlight that grew even brighter.

Song Yuanxi immediately closed his eyes and circulated the Yin-Yang Art. He sensed qi through qi, using his heart to experience the changes in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth around him. He had already achieved minor success in qi refining. As long as he quieted his mind enough, he could distinguish the subtle differences in the spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

Dragon breath was also a qi of nature. As long as it was qi, it had its own differences, and if there were differences, they could be distinguished.

This was the conclusion Song Yuanxi had come to after thinking hard for several days. Originally, he had decided to use it after thinking it through more thoroughly in a few days. Tonight, trapped and teased by these dragon mimics, he could no longer care about that!

“Yin and yang begin anew, cycling again and again. Heavenly yang qi flourishes, nurturing spirit as the upper… Heavenly yin qi weakens, nurturing spirit as the lower. Mixed and made manifest, mottled and chaotic, yet within chaos there is order…”

Song Yuanxi followed his qi-refining cultivation method and circulated spiritual energy through three full circuits. Afterward, he entered meditation. His divine sense gradually calmed within meditation, as though his heavenly eye had opened, reaching out to touch the spiritual energy around him.

Spiritual energy of heaven and earth, clean and pure. Absorb!

Turbid human qi, cast aside distracting thoughts. Exclude!

Qi of all things, some sinking, some floating… That’s it!

The person who had originally closed his eyes and entered meditation suddenly opened them at a certain instant, grabbing toward the left front with lightning speed. A miserable pig squeal sounded in the air, and a glowing object appeared out of hiding.

Song Yuanxi quickly opened a spirit beast pouch and threw the captured dragon mimic inside. As he closed the pouch, he did not forget to fling a slap at it. “You dared to tease me. Today, I’ll make sure all of you come and never return!”

The first one was not caught quickly. Song Yuanxi was fairly unfamiliar with sensing qi, but what was unfamiliar the first time became familiar the second. Cultivating a technique became easier the more one practiced it. He was already at the realm of minor success in qi refining to begin with. In the process of catching dragon mimics, as the technique guided spiritual power through his whole body again and again, it drove the circulation of his own spiritual energy faster and faster.

By the end, Song Yuanxi had even forgotten his original purpose. What he cared about more was where the gap lay each time he identified the qi of all things.

“Identification time: eighty breaths. There were three pauses in the middle. Spiritual energy was obstructed.”

“Identification time: sixty-five breaths. There was one pause in the middle. Spiritual energy was slightly blocked.”

“Identification time: forty-five breaths…”

The firefly-like light around him grew dimmer and dimmer. The pig squeals he could vaguely hear also became weaker and weaker. By the time he finished catching them, the pitch-black night had dispersed. What greeted him was clear moonlight, and the familiar path behind him had returned.

Song Yuanxi held ten spirit beast pouches in his hands. The pouches bulged, stuffed with nearly one hundred dragon mimics. He sealed all these pouches shut and trapped them, then strung them together with thousand-li vines before winding them into a vine ball.

Whoosh—

With one kick, he sent it flying into the air.

Whoosh—

With another kick, he sent it flying a hundred meters away.

The dragon mimics in the spirit beast pouches wailed and screamed in terror. Yet to Song Yuanxi, those pig-slaughtering cries were the most wonderful music in the world.

“Never in my life have I felt pig squeals sounded this pleasant.”

That night, Song Yuanxi rushed to the place they had agreed on earlier and waited for Song Miao to arrive. However, he waited and waited until the sky had brightened, and still no one came!

“What’s going on? Where’s Song Miao?”

Just as he was thinking this, waves of shouting suddenly came from the distance. Those voices carried a bit of urgency, each one calling his name.

“Song Yuanxi? Song Yuanxi?”

“Song Yuanxi, where are you?”

“Song Yuanxi…”

“I’m here! Song Miao, I’m here!” Song Yuanxi’s eyes were sharp. When he saw the familiar figure, he quickly answered.

Song Miao looked up. Sure enough, it was Song Yuanxi, and he strode over with large steps.

Song Yuanxi was just about to greet him, but the other party anxiously asked, “Where did you go for these ten-plus days? The abyss looks ordinary, but danger is everywhere. Why were you running around blindly on your own?”

“I wasn’t running around blindly. I went to catch dragon mimics.”

Song Yuanxi handed over the vine ball. Under the other party’s hesitant gaze, he quickly took it apart, separating it into ten perfectly intact spirit beast pouches.

“I was bored, so I wove it casually.” Song Yuanxi scratched his head in embarrassment.

Song Miao accepted the spirit beast pouches and counted them. There were a total of one hundred and three dragon mimics. She was somewhat surprised by the other party’s catching ability. But there was not enough time, and they should leave, so she did not say much and pulled him along to quickly meet up with the team leader.

When Song Yuanxi boarded the flying boat and left the abyss, he was still astonished that he had vanished for more than ten days. Clearly, in his own understanding, he had only caught dragon mimics for one night.

What exactly was going on?

Song Yuanxi felt unbearably stifled. He really wanted to find someone to properly pour this out to, and incidentally have a round of analysis and discussion. But when he turned his head and looked at the unfamiliar faces sitting around him, his desire to talk instantly scattered.

Although they were all Song family disciples, they were strangers in the end. He had no way to bare his heart to them.

The one-month deadline arrived. Every Jin City family completed their “dragon-slaying” mission. When the number of dragon mimics was counted, the Song family, which had always ranked second to the Xu family in recent decades, surpassed the Xu family and leaped into first place.

As the Song family head, Song Dongyou was surprised. “We’re not the eternal second?”

Song family elder: “…Family head jests. Our Song family disciples are still very capable.”

Song Dongyou was quite curious. “The quantity should be about the same as last time. Since we actually managed to win, was there an advantage in quality?”

The disciples of the various families who went to the abyss to capture dragon mimics only knew one thing: to achieve victory, they had to capture more dragon mimics. As long as the quantity was high, they could win. However, the truth was that quality was more important than quantity.

Although they were all dragon mimics, quality was divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. One upper-grade dragon mimic could be worth hundreds of lower-grade dragon mimics.

The Song family elder could not help nodding and smiled. “That is indeed the case. Our Song family lads have no small ability. The dragon mimics captured this time were all of good quality, and there were even dozens of upper-grade dragon mimics. The Xu family is far behind us in quality.”

Song Dongyou was delighted in her heart. If it had not been inconvenient for her to appear in person as the family head, she really would have wanted to personally escort the dragon mimics to the Heavenly Chasm.

“Arrange a few domineering, courageous ones to represent the Song family and escort the dragon mimics to the Heavenly Chasm.”

With a wave of her hand, Song Dongyou happily made the decision.

Song Yuanxi was thinking about the Heavenly Chasm and took the initiative to apply to escort the dragon mimics, but Song Dongyou did not agree. She said bluntly, “That little body of yours won’t do. Merely at the fourth level of qi refining, it isn’t your turn to run wild. Wait until you… Eh?”

Song Dongyou took a focused look and confirmed that she had not seen wrongly. In only a few months, this boy Song Yuanxi’s aura had actually become even steadier. Although he was still at the fourth level of qi refining, his long, restrained aura was unexpectedly comparable to a late-stage qi-refining cultivator.

However, matters of cultivation were mostly personal privacy. Song Dongyou had no intention of investigating and only waved her hand to have him leave.

Song Yuanxi failed to get his wish, and he felt somewhat regretful. Afterward, he was also lacking in interest toward participating in the competitions between families.

Song Miao was also not representing the Song family disciples in the competition. She was following the entire competition as logistical support personnel. Seeing Song Yuanxi drifting around all day like a wandering ghost, which was truly an eyesore, she simply pulled him over to work together.

While working, Song Miao asked about Little Yellow. She was truly very curious about that yellow brocade chicken.

Song Yuanxi pulled up a helpless smile. “The little guy is in a quarrel with me. It’s hiding in the spirit beast pouch and won’t come out.”

“You’re its master, yet you can’t even open the spirit beast pouch and get it out? Song Yuanxi, you really have a good temper.” Song Miao sighed with feeling. This was the first time she had seen someone be so tolerant toward a contracted beast. What contracted demonic beast was this? It was clearly a spirit pet.

A pet spoiled like an ancestor!

Song Yuanxi had hardships he could not speak of. He did want to pry open the spirit beast pouch, get Little Yellow out, and give it a proper lesson.

Unfortunately, as a Dafeng, it was gifted by nature. The opening of the spirit beast pouch was like the front door of its own home. If it wanted to close it, it closed it, as though it had been locked. He had no key. Unless the other party opened it from the inside, it was completely useless.

“Never mind that. Song Miao, tell me about the recent progress of the family competition…” Song Yuanxi changed the subject and chatted about something else.

Song Miao’s attention was quickly diverted, and she began telling him about the contents of the family competition.

At first, Song Yuanxi listened half-heartedly and treated it only as a way to pass the time. But as he listened, he gradually became invested.

“So that means things have now reached the white-hot stage, and it’s already time for Foundation Establishment cultivators from each major family to go onstage and compete?”

Song Miao nodded. “That’s right. But the Song family doesn’t have many Foundation Establishment cultivators. If the Xu family uses a wheel battle, we’ll most likely lose. Aside from ordinary combat, Foundation Establishment also involves assessment of pills, talismans, artifacts, and arrays. The Xu family has Sifang City at its back, and their family has many guest elders…”

The two compared the strength of the two families and analyzed how high the probability was that the Song family could win this family competition.

After a round of analysis ended, Song Yuanxi had no choice but to state a fact. “Without outside assistance, the Song family is destined to be the eternal second! Speaking of which, are our Song family guest elders that weak?”

Song Miao said, “The Song family is an illustrious clan. Even its branch lines disdain recruiting guest elders from outside on a large scale, so its development has not expanded greatly. But the Xu family is different. Their main family has declined, so they have no such concerns at all. Sigh, I suppose in this round of resource allocation in Jin City, our Song family will again…”

“Bad news! Bad news! The competition platform exploded!”

Before Song Miao finished speaking, a sudden urgent shout came from the entrance of the Song family estate. That person kept shouting, “The competition platform exploded,” and hurriedly rushed toward the main courtyard.

Song Yuanxi and Song Miao exchanged a glance. With great tacit understanding, they put down the work in their hands and rushed toward the main courtyard.

They had just stepped through the main courtyard gate when they heard Song Dongyou curse in a low, deep voice. “Which little bastard is tired of living? You dare smash the Song family’s venue!”

“Family Head Song, what happened?” Song Yuanxi quickly stepped forward to ask.

Song Dongyou casually grabbed Song Yuanxi as he walked over, picked him up, and flew straight toward the city center plaza. The speeding wind whistled past Song Yuanxi’s ear, while his other ear was filled with Song Dongyou’s muttered curses.

When they flew above the city center plaza, Song Dongyou directly swung her hand and flung him onto the competition platform with perfect accuracy.

That force could be called swift and fierce. It seemed soft, yet was also firm and powerful. The competition platform, which had originally been in chaos, was instantly interrupted by this throw. Everyone was forced to scatter, and they had no choice but to stop fighting.

Song Yuanxi woke from his daze. Only belatedly did he react and realize that Song Dongyou had used him like a firecracker and lit him off!

Although he did not feel any pain, standing there right in the center of the competition platform and receiving all kinds of looks from every direction made him feel completely depressed.

At this moment, socially anxious Song Yuanxi came online.

“Brother?”

Just as Song Yuanxi was awkwardly curling his toes nonstop, a voice like the sound of nature descended.

This familiar voice, this familiar tone!

Song Yuanxi abruptly lifted his head and looked toward the source of the voice. Sure enough, among the crowd, he found that familiar face. It was Song Yuanruo!

At this moment, Song Yuanxi did not wonder at all why Song Yuanruo was on the competition platform. He only cared about rushing over like the wind, directly crashing into the other person’s arms and giving him a huge bear hug.

“Little brother, my dearest little brother, your brother missed you to death!”

As soon as his words fell, an urgent shout sounded from behind him. “Everyone, this person was thrown down by the Song family head. He and the person who disrupted the competition platform are in the same group. The Song family can’t wash its hands of this matter!”

“Who dares harm my elder brother!”

Song Yuanruo directly pulled Song Yuanxi behind him with a backhand motion, shielding him at his back. The longsword in his hand instantly came out of its sheath, pointing at everyone before him.

At this drawn-swords moment, Song Dongyou flew down from midair. She walked straight in front of Song Yuanruo, but her gaze met the person behind him.

“This person. You know him?”

Song Yuanxi nodded frantically. “I know him, I know him! This is my younger brother from the same mother, Song Yuanruo. Family Head Song, my brother is a good person!”

“That heavenly prodigy of the Song family?”

After confirming Song Yuanruo’s identity, Song Dongyou very naturally protected him behind her, turned her head, and said to the heads of the various families, “A misunderstanding! This is a disciple of my Song family. There must be a reason he smashed the competition platform. I will personally handle this matter. As for the losses caused to each family, the Song family will take full responsibility.”

“Family Head Song, you think a single word about taking responsibility for the losses will settle this? That’s not how this matter is calculated. That kid suddenly barged onto the competition platform and caused a junior from my family to be seriously injured. You think you can send us away with some spirit stones? Not a chance!” Someone refused to accept it.

Song Dongyou looked along that person’s line of sight. Sure enough, she saw three to five disciples from various families lying below the competition platform, more or less injured. One of them was relatively serious, with what seemed to be damage to the dantian.

She was just about to take out pills as compensation when a voice rang out behind her.

“This matter was not done by me. They joined forces to activate the Myriad Forms Array on their own, and because their cultivation was insufficient, they suffered a backlash. They brought it on themselves.”

Song Yuanruo pointed at three of the people who had fallen and said one by one, “He was the array eye. He stood at the life gate. And he guarded the death gate…”

Song Yuanruo was quite accomplished in arrays. A mere Myriad Forms Array that changed form could not hide from his eyes at all.

Along with his detailed explanation, the expressions of the three people who had fallen grew uglier and uglier. In the end, they unexpectedly could not bear it and sprayed out a mouthful of blood before thoroughly fainting.

Song Yuanruo glanced at them, nodded, and said, “Blood surging through the meridians, blood color dark red turning black. This is a natural phenomenon caused by backlash from an array.”

Song Dongyou looked at the not-quite-natural expressions of the various family heads. How could she not understand what had happened? These crooked melons and cracked dates had seen that they could not beat the Song family disciples one-on-one, so they simply teamed up to play tricks, using underhanded moves on the competition platform in an attempt to win by surprise.

“You bunch of wretched things! You actually dared scheme against our Song family. Today, I, Song Dongyou…”

Song Yuanruo suddenly pulled the person beside him, walked over, bent down, and said a few words. Song Dongyou put away her cursing stance, changing it to settling accounts later.

“Today, my Song family has matters to handle. As for the accounts with your families, we will calculate them afterward!”

Song Dongyou had the Song family elders continue presiding over the competition platform, while she grabbed one person in each hand, carrying Song Yuanruo and Song Yuanxi as she flew away from the city center plaza.

She had come in a hurry and left in a hurry.

On Song Miao’s side, she was just preparing to go out when Song Dongyou returned again. When she left, she had carried one Song Yuanxi. When she came back, she was carrying two people.

Song Dongyou carried the two of them inside in a rush, then flung each of them onto the two nearest seats. She turned her head, her gaze direct as she looked toward Song Yuanruo.

At the same time, she asked through divine sense transmission, “Song Yuanruo, explain yourself clearly. Demonic creatures invading… What does that mean?”

That gaze carried pressure, and at the same time was filled with warning. Song Yuanruo did not doubt at all that if he said even one wrong sentence, the other party would not hesitate to “tear” him apart.

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