Lin Feng sneered, "Not a chance. I'm afraid the junior brother won't make it out of the Barren Lands alive."
Lin Feng and his two companions—Lin Feng himself at Level 7 Foundation Establishment, with the other two being at Level 5 Foundation Establishment and Level 4 Foundation Establishment respectively—had seen that Meng Bai was a stranger and assumed he was merely at the Early Foundation Establishment stage, which was why they dared to make a move.
With the day drawing to a close, Meng Bai had no desire to waste breath and prepared to strike immediately. He certainly did not want to spend the night in the Barren Lands. Although the Barren Lands were completely safe during the day aside from their desolate nature, nighttime was a different story entirely.
Meng Bai drew his sheathed sword and slashed at one of them. The single sword strike carried no grand mountain-and-sea illusions, yet it was blindingly fast and painfully accurate. Before the man at Level 5 Foundation Establishment could even dodge, his heart was pierced straight through.
Seeing this, Lin Feng roared in fury, "Audacious!" He whipped out a small banner and waved it toward Meng Bai, unleashing countless slicing blades of wind in an instant.
Meng Bai felt a mild surge of surprise. *A Medium-Grade Magical Artifact.* This was quite a fine item, worth around forty spirit stones, though it would be somewhat difficult to unload within the Taixu Sect.
Easily dodging the wind blades, Meng Bai thrust out his sword once more. Ever since comprehending the Sword Heart, dealing even with a Late Foundation Establishment cultivator felt completely effortless to him, requiring no flashy manifestations at all.
A flash of sword light later, a head rolled to the ground. Right before his death, Lin Feng was struck with utter terror; he could never have imagined that a mere Early Foundation Establishment cultivator could be so terrifyingly powerful, leaving him without even the time to attempt an escape.
Seeing Lin Feng killed, the disciple at Level 5 Foundation Establishment lost all will to fight and turned to run. In a magical duel, turning one's back to the enemy was the ultimate taboo.
With a mere flick of Meng Bai's sword light, the man at Level 5 Foundation Establishment was likewise left behind in the Barren Lands forever.
Meng Bai stepped over to Lin Feng's corpse and picked up the small banner, which was a Medium-Grade Magical Artifact. "I'll find a chance to sell this at the black market." This magical artifact was of no use to Meng Bai; its only value lay in being traded for money.
As for their storage rings, Meng Bai left them untouched. A typical cultivator's storage ring was protected by restrictions that could only be opened by its original owner. The moment the owner died, the spatial dimensions within the storage ring would self-destruct, sending the items inside tumbling into spatial turbulence—unless one specifically set up an array to stabilize the space prior to the killing.
Having disposed of the three men, Meng Bai resumed his journey and finally arrived at Plum Blossom Peak before nightfall.
Plum Blossom Peak spanned one hundred and eighty miles and soared a thousand zhang into the sky, piercing the clouds. The spiritual energy on the mountain condensed into mist, creating a breathtaking, ethereal scenery akin to an immortal realm.
As dusk fell, it was no longer suitable to ascend the mountain, so Meng Bai decided to find a place to stay at the foot of the peak. At the base of Plum Blossom Peak lay not barren wilderness, but Plum Blossom Town. Small towns like this within sects were generally meant for the family members of sect disciples and ordinary mortals, and could be found at the foot of every inner peak.
Plum Blossom Peak itself was connected to a Tier 6 spiritual vein. Due to protective arrays, the concentration of spiritual energy increased the higher one went. Such a high concentration of spiritual energy was far from beneficial for Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment cultivators; only at the foot of the mountain, where the concentration was limited to a Tier 1 spiritual vein, was it suitable for Qi Condensation cultivators and mortals to reside.
The small town housed a modest inn. Entering the establishment, Meng Bai spoke up, "Innkeeper, give me a top-tier room."
An innkeeper at the Qi Condensation 3rd Layer emerged from the inner room and smiled apologetically, "My apologies, esteemed immortal, but our top-tier rooms are fully booked for today. We only have a side room left. Would that be acceptable...?"
Without wishing to make things difficult for the innkeeper, Meng Bai replied, "A side room will do!"
Stepping into the side room, Meng Bai sighed inwardly, *It seems there are still quite a few people coming to Plum Blossom Peak if even a small inn like this is fully booked.*
With that, Meng Bai lay down on the bed and drifted into sleep as he began his cultivation.
Early the next morning, Meng Bai leveraged the morning sun and entered Plum Blossom Peak.
Peak sprites generally only frequented the lower reaches of Plum Blossom Peak, which was why the peak only opened its lower sections to outer disciples; anything beyond the lower reaches remained restricted. Nevertheless, even the lower section covered a vast expanse—so large that an ordinary mortal could not walk across the entire area in a month.
Meng Bai had good luck; on the fourth day, he encountered a peak sprite. Upon finally spotting one, Meng Bai realized that stealing this Hundred-Flower Dew was not nearly as easy as he had thought. The peak sprite was minuscule, and it had taken Meng Bai four days of searching, relying entirely on his Sword Heart's perception, to finally locate it. Ordinary outer disciples would likely have to expend a tremendous amount of effort just to find one.
Even so, Meng Bai exercised extreme caution, trailing far behind the sprite and maintaining a wide distance so that even if he lost track of it, he would not be discovered. Because peak sprites communicated with one another, if his intentions were exposed, his entire trip would be wasted.
The peak sprite spent the entire day gathering nectar among the flowers and was just about to return to its hive when an outer disciple suddenly jumped out from the nearby flower bushes, attempting to grab the sprite. Startled, the peak sprite suddenly sped up and darted away.
Cursing angrily, the outer disciple muttered, "What rotten luck."
Meng Bai frowned. Through his Sword Heart, he had sensed this outer disciple long ago, but out of caution regarding the peak sprite, he had avoided a direct encounter. Never had he imagined this outer disciple would be so reckless.
Now that the sprite had fled, even the perception of Meng Bai's Sword Heart could no longer track its whereabouts. Although his Sword Heart could suppress a hundred miles and perceive the minutest details, peak sprites were naturally tiny and possessed the innate ability to blend into nature; once they gained distance, finding them again was exceedingly difficult.
Keeping a distance from the outer disciple without being detected, Meng Bai simply turned and left. Arguing served no purpose; it was better to make use of the remaining daylight and try his luck at finding another one.
An hour later, relying on the perception of his Sword Heart, Meng Bai was fortunate enough to locate another peak sprite.
This time, without the interference of other disciples, Meng Bai followed the sprite all the way to a primary nest of the peak sprite colony. From a distance, he also spotted a small puddle of Hundred Flower Dew resting on a tree stump directly beneath the hive.
Judging by the amount, there was enough to fill seven or eight bottles!
A gleam of delight flashed in Meng Bai's eyes. He produced an Invisibility Talisman and pasted it onto himself, then took out a specially formulated incense and placed it beneath the hive. This incense would temporarily plunge the entire peak sprite colony into a deep slumber.
Following Senior Brother Liu's advice, Meng Bai took seven parts and left three behind, filling only five bottles.
Senior Brother Liu had explicitly warned him to always leave some Hundred Flower Dew behind at the site. If one took it all, and the queen bee of the peak sprite colony happened to wake up early and discover all the dew gone while detecting a stranger's scent nearby, it would easily issue a "Riverside Bounty Hunt" in peak sprite version!
Although this bounty was restricted to Plum Blossom Peak, no one knew how many peak sprite colonies populated the mountain. They could immediately pinpoint your location, and since Plum Blossom Peak was massive, failure to evacuate the mountain immediately meant that this "Riverside Bounty Hunt" could cost a Foundation Establishment cultivator his life!
Having secured the Hundred Flower Dew, Meng Bai made his way back toward the exit of Plum Blossom Peak in high spirits.
Right at that moment, Meng Bai sensed a female figure enter the range of his Sword Heart.
Recognizing the woman instantly, Meng Bai knew her to be Qin Yu's cousin, Qin Pianran.
Qin Pianran was running desperately, her small face already pale and her steps unsteady, clearly indicating that her spiritual power was nearly exhausted. Even so, she dared not stop, for right behind her swarmed countless peak sprites.
The tiny bodies of the peak sprites revealed bright red eyes as they relentlessly pursued Qin Pianran. It was obvious that this young girl had been slapped with a "Riverside Bounty Hunt"!