Su Luo had no idea what it was thinking. The two of them simply cooperated, fighting the Gold-Eating Ant as it shrieked and thrashed. Before long, the creature was covered in blood.
During the skirmish, Yu Linlang was knocked a step back by the roar of the Gold-Eating Ant. Her reaction was just a fraction of a second too slow, and the ant seized the opportunity to raise its feelers and lunge toward Su Luo.
Wan Lingyue screamed, "Watch out!"
To everyone's surprise, Su Luo stood her ground. Raising her index and middle fingers together, she muttered an incantation and instantly flung an Explosion Talisman. The talisman landed precisely on the Gold-Eating Ant, flared with light, and detonated.
The Gold-Eating Ant took the full force of the blast, rolling over and letting out a cry of agony. It struggled to rise, glaring at Su Luo with intense hatred before charging forward with a fierce screech.
Su Luo's expression remained unchanged as she tossed out another one.
"Boom!"
Two more feelers were blown off the Gold-Eating Ant. It shrieked in bitter resentment, wishing it could tear Su Luo apart and devour her.
"Here you go!"
Giving it no chance to close the distance, Su Luo swiftly threw two more Explosion Talismans in rapid succession.
"Boom! Boom!"
Yu Linlang had long since been blown off to the side by the shockwaves, while Wan Lingyue stared at Su Luo with wide, astonished eyes.
Tens of millions of years had passed since the ancient great war. As spiritual energy gradually depleted, genuine cultivation geniuses had become exceedingly rare, and various clans and sects fought tooth and nail for resources. Consequently, many specialized professions had also declined—particularly Talisman Masters and Pill Masters, whose training required astronomical sums of money. Most people preferred to become Sword Cultivators or weapon refiners, as those two paths were at least slightly less costly.
The drastic drop in the number of Talisman Masters had driven the price of talismans sky-high, sometimes pushing the cost of a single intermediate talisman up to two hundred mid-grade spirit stones.
Su Luo had just used at least four Explosion Talismans! How could she possibly have so many? Was she absurdly wealthy?
Roar—!
Amidst the repeating blasts, the Gold-Eating Ant lost all its feelers and its tail was blown off. Covered in blood and at the very end of its strength, it propped itself up, desperate to charge forward and drag Su Luo down with it in mutual destruction.
Su Luo could not help but admire the sheer persistence dictated by the plot. She quickly hurled her very last Explosion Talisman. Once the ant was blasted to the point where it could no longer crawl, Yu Linlang flicked her whip forward and strangled the life out of it.
No matter how unwilling it was, the creature finally died.
"Phew..."
Su Luo wiped the sweat from her brow, letting out a long breath of relief while secretly thanking her lucky stars.
Fortunately, she had sought out these two companions. Without Wan Lingyue's array and Yu Linlang's whip, she wouldn't have been able to defeat the Gold-Eating Ant even with her Explosion Talismans. The thing had been unimaginably tenacious!
"Is it really dead?"
Yu Linlang loosened her grip on the whip, then gave the carcass an uneasy lash just to be sure. Seeing that it remained completely motionless and thoroughly dead, she finally relaxed.
She turned to praise Su Luo. "I had no idea, Junior Sister Su! To think you were willing to use five Explosion Talismans!"
What was wrong with using five Explosion Talismans? Was that strange?
Su Luo looked somewhat baffled.
In her past life, she had taught herself talisman-making. However, because Ning Wanshuang was always by her side, she had kept her skills hidden and never used them in front of others. Reborn into this world once more, she had found herself lacking any suitable treasures and had hastily whipped up four Explosion Talismans on the spot just to handle the emergency.
Still, Su Luo didn't ask too many questions. She simply smiled and spun a white lie. "These were a reward from my master. If the situation hadn't been so extraordinary, I wouldn't have wanted to use them either. But I only had five to begin with, and now they're all gone."
Regardless of anything else, hiding one's true strength before attaining absolute power was always the right choice.
"I see." Yu Linlang suddenly understood.
"All right, stop grilling Junior Sister Su."
With a gentle smile, Wan Lingyue smoothly deactivated the array and put away her Compass before walking over.
Su Luo cast a curious, lingering glance at the Compass in Wan Lingyue's hand, a flicker of thought in her eyes.
According to Wan Lingyue, this array was called the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Array, designed primarily to isolate sound, trap enemies, and prevent outside interference. This explained why no one had come running despite the massive commotion they had made while killing the Gold-Eating Ant.
A spark of interest ignited in Su Luo's eyes.
The original owner had been a Sword Cultivator with virtually no talent in the discipline, and shortly after she switched to studying talismans, Su Luo had transmigrated into her body. As an art student in her past life, she had naturally gravitated toward talismans without a second thought. She had dedicated a great deal of effort to studying them and achieved some modest results, but she had never touched the field of arrays.
Yet, judging by this display, arrays were genuinely useful. If she had the chance in the future, she would definitely like to give it a try.
After the Gold-Eating Ant was slain, Yu Linlang borrowed Su Luo's sword to carve the carcass into three portions. The two of them took a share each, and the remaining portion belonged to Su Luo.
"You should put your share away as well, lest others see it and try to rob you. This creature's remains are prime material for weapon refining and fetch a high price."
Su Luo didn't rush to pack it away. Instead, she asked, "Senior Sisters, might I propose a trade?"
The two women had just stashed the Gold-Eating Ant into their Storage Bags when they froze at Su Luo's words.
"What is it?"
Wan Lingyue immediately guessed what Su Luo was thinking. "You want to sell this Gold-Eating Ant to us?"
"Yes. Just as Senior Sister Yu said, carrying this around makes me far too conspicuous, and it's bound to attract unwanted attention. Since both of you still need materials, I might as well sell it to you in exchange for some spirit stones."
Wan Lingyue nodded. "What you say makes sense."
Yu Linlang immediately chimed in, "That's wonderful! How many spirit stones do you want?"
Su Luo smiled. "I don't really know the market rates. Just pay me according to the going price, Senior Sisters. I trust you."
Since she was planning to leave the Tianyiji Sect, she needed supplies, and spirit stones were indispensable. Goodness knows how dirt-poor the original owner was! Aside from a tiny handful of spirit stones and a sword, her mustard seed space contained nothing but talisman-making supplies.
Yu Linlang immediately looked at Wan Lingyue. "This Gold-Eating Ant came at the absolute right time; we happen to need it for weapon refining. How much do you think is fair?"
Wan Lingyue pondered for a moment and said, "If Junior Sister Su took her share to the open market, she could probably get around two thousand mid-grade spirit stones for it. In that case, how about we give you two thousand five hundred mid-grade spirit stones?"
Su Luo's mouth twitched.
That was two hundred fifty with an extra zero tacked on—should she be happy about this?
"Then many thanks to both Senior Sisters."
Unlike the original owner, Wan Lingyue and Yu Linlang were weapon refiners with deep pockets. The two of them quickly produced two thousand five hundred mid-grade spirit stones, and Su Luo swept her hand, gathering them all into her Storage Bag.
Once the transaction was concluded, the three of them cast a Cleansing Spell, and their clothes were instantly as clean as new.
Seeing that it was getting late, Su Luo stretched out her left hand. "Senior Sisters, the hour is growing late. Let's head back together."
Who knew what kind of spirit beast might pop out halfway? It was safer to stick with them.
"Let's go!"
Yu Linlang dusted off her clothes and strode forward. Wan Lingyue and Su Luo exchanged smiles and hurried to keep pace.
Not long after the three of them departed, the Cloud-Winged Bird beat its wings and soared into the distance. Before long, it flew toward a certain peak, darted straight into a cavern halfway up the mountainside, and barged into a cave draped in barriers.
The cave was chillingly cold, and deep within lay a pool of blood. The Cloud-Winged Bird landed lightly at the edge of the pool, folded its wings, and chirped a few times at the figure lying submerged in the water.
The person in the pool was resting with eyes closed, their features blurred by the rising mist. One could only guess from their delicate facial contours that they were a youth of tender years.
Roused from his rest, the youth's butterfly-wing-like eyelashes fluttered. When he opened his eyes once more, his deep, dark pupils instantly transformed into the color of fresh blood, resembling an unfathomable abyss—mysterious and eerie.
While resting with his eyes closed just moments ago, the youth had already seen everything that had transpired through the eyes of the Cloud-Winged Bird.
"To think they could cooperate to kill a Gold-Eating Ant—she has some brains. How did she know a Gold-Eating Ant would appear? And how on earth did she get her hands on five Explosion Talismans? Qingyazi certainly wouldn't have given them to her. This Su Luo... her secrets are piling up..."
The youth sat up straight. The blood in the pool rippled with a bizarre luminescence as he sighed, producing a lovely, melodious voice—though the words themselves were hair-raising.
"I've never seen anyone quite like her. She really is quite interesting. Should I turn her into a puppet toy?"
The youth murmured softly, then slowly rose from the blood pool. The streams of blood flowing over his skin vanished into thin air in the strangest manner.
Next, the youth's tall frame shrank bit by bit, and the Adam's apple on his neck disappeared. By the time he donned his garments and put on his veil, he had completely transformed into a cold and mysterious young maiden.
Had any outsider been present, they would instantly have recognized this person as the Tianyiji Sect's most beloved junior sister—Ning Wanshuang.
The youth turned his head, casting an icy gaze at the Cloud-Winged Bird, and gave a cold command: "Go keep an eye on her. Dig up her secrets."
The Cloud-Winged Bird chirped twice, spread its wings, and flew back out.
The youth remained standing in place, lost in thought. After a long while, he reached out and brushed his fingers across his eyes. The moment his hand pulled away, those dark pupils had transformed once more into bright, captivating amber.