The Legendary Great Adventure of the Broken Senior Sister

The hunt within the Grey Needle Forest was a one-sided slaughter from the very beginning.

It was destined to be a slaughter.

The reason the Mountain Spirits in the forest could roam across various parts of Qiongzhou, stirring up endless trouble, was not because they were particularly powerful—aside from their mysterious leader, the rest of the adult specimens were generally only equivalent in strength to rogue cultivators who had just reached Foundation Establishment.

In fact, under the current environment of the Nine Provinces where the Human Dao reigned supreme, it was difficult to find many powerful monsters in the wild. The centuries-old Tree Demon in the Grey Needle Forest could already be considered a protected relic.

As for the size of their tribe, at most, it numbered only thirty or fifty, and that was accounting for the inevitable presence of the elderly, the weak, the women, and the children.

Therefore, based on the intelligence and deductions of Liu Cheng, in terms of pure frontal combat power, this group of Mountain Spirits might not even be a match for the combined strikes of a few young masters from the noble families.

It was just that they were too good at hiding. That mysterious, mutated Mountain Spirit leader seemed to possess a transcendent ability for divination. Furthermore, it had mastered a peculiar, bewitching demonic art within the Grey Needle Forest, leaving the Monster Hunting Squad—who possessed strength several times greater than theirs—with no path to the heavens and no door into the earth.

However, once those two barriers were lost... when facing a formidable enemy, this group of Mountain Spirits was nothing more than fish on a chopping block.

Zhu Ying did not elaborate on the details of her hunt, but even between the lines, it was not difficult for the listener to grasp the despair of those Mountain Spirits.

Just as the Mountain Spirit tribe was completely off guard, the nightmare descended quietly.

Afterward, no matter how they fled or how they hid... the nightmare always followed like a shadow.

The tribe leader's ability for precognition and the protective illusions granted by the forest could not hinder the nightmare in the slightest.

Once the tribe revealed even the slightest lapse, she would strike like thunder, claiming her prey. She would strike and leave, never lingering.

Pursuit was entirely meaningless, for even the most seasoned warriors of the tribe could not catch a trace of their opponent. It was as if this Grey Needle Forest, which should have protected them, had turned to protect their enemy instead.

Zhu Ying's hunting was decisive and restrained. She was not greedy for more, nor did she linger in battle, yet she never missed a single opportunity. Although she hunted alone, she was seemingly unstoppable.

And she was destined to be unstoppable.

Because she was the head disciple of the Gujian Sect of Yan Mountain; and because the demonic bloodline she inherited belonged to the lineage that once stood at the very top of the food chain.

Although, hundreds of years later, the demon race was nearly extinct, and Zhu Ying, as a descendant of a Great Demon, had switched to the path of immortality and strictly adhered to the teachings of the Human Emperor, sitting on thirty-nine layers of the Human Dao Seal at a young age and becoming a victim of standardized education...

Yet, the power deep within her bloodline always existed. And Zhu Ying had never struggled with or rejected this power.

Facing a Zhu Ying who was rigid but not pedantic, persistent but not lacking in wit, the fate of the Mountain Spirits was naturally destined from the start.

Until an accident completely disrupted everything.

The Mountain Spirits had captured a hostage.

A lone rogue cultivator who, after being kicked out of the Monster Hunting Squad, had unfortunately lost her way in the forest.

"Her name is Su Qiluo. She is a second-generation disciple of Suxin Garden, which is under the jurisdiction of Liuxiang Pavilion. She was born into an ordinary family of Desolate People craftsmen. Because she possesses a fourth-grade Spirit Root and a delicate disposition, she was spotted by True Person Xuanyu of Suxin Garden and taken as a disciple."

"She achieved Foundation Establishment after eighteen years of cultivation. Her talent is not bad, and she is skilled in sewing and tanning... but she is truly ignorant of actual combat. In eighteen years of cultivation, she has never once fought anyone."

"In fact, her joining the Monster Hunting Squad was entirely an accident. It happened because she had a falling out with True Person Xuanyu and was acting out of spite... ahem. In any case, she was completely unprepared for the series of events that followed."

"She got separated and lost, had the misfortune of running into a Mountain Spirit, and was captured alive without putting up almost any resistance... When I found her, she was hanging from a tree, crying."

"Mountain Spirits are cruel by nature. They kept her alive, not out of mercy, but to use her as a hostage to force me to surrender. If I showed even the slightest resistance, they threatened to carve up her flesh and gouge out her eyes and nose."

"Fortunately, I had happened to capture a Mountain Spirit cub the day before. If that group of Mountain Spirits dared to harm her, I would carve up its flesh and gouge out its eyes and nose."

"Although Mountain Spirits are brutal and ignorant, they are exceptionally protective of their young, so a deal was barely possible. After some trouble, I finally managed to trade for that girl... Su Qiluo."

"It's a pity that after saving her, I suddenly had an extra burden. While I had no trouble protecting myself, it became difficult to approach the hunt without being detected... This girl really knows how to cause trouble."

As she spoke about Su Qiluo, although Zhu Ying's tone was indifferent and hinted at annoyance, her face was already brimming with a faint smile.

Clearly, even though that unlucky little weaver was a handful, she had managed to win Zhu Ying's favor.

So, was this good mood of my senior sister's upon returning from the hunt also because of Su Qiluo?

Thinking of this, Wu Ming couldn't help but look at Zheng Lingxi, who was standing to the side.

Second Senior Sister, your status is being shaken!

Zheng Lingxi, however, seemed completely oblivious. She just widened her eyes, listening intently as Zhu Ying recounted the rest of the story.

After rescuing Su Qiluo, Zhu Ying had temporarily given up on hunting and chose to escort her out of the Grey Needle Forest first... But after walking for two days straight, not only did they fail to leave the forest, they almost got lost!

The mist shrouding the forest clearly hadn't dissipated. Although Zhu Ying could track the location of the Mountain Spirits and hunt them individually, she couldn't find her own way out.

Consequently, Zhu Ying had to change her strategy, attempting to find other lone rogue cultivators in the forest—at least to entrust the little burden clinging to her side so she could free up her hands to continue hunting.

Trapped with no way out, the only solution she could think of was: perhaps if she slaughtered that group of Mountain Spirits entirely, the mist in the forest would dispel on its own.

And that was when she found a woman from the Yuan Family who specialized in alchemy and medicine.

"That person was Yuan Wan'er, a concubine-born daughter of the Dongjun Yuan Family. Although she could barely be considered a member of a noble family, she wasn't accepted by Liu Cheng and the others, simply because her nature was... well, extremely absurd! They were in the middle of a monster hunt, trapped in a maze, yet she was already getting tangled up with two men in their party! They had only just met!"

Mentioning Yuan Wan'er, Zhu Ying was clearly grinding her teeth, but beneath that irritation, there was no real malice in her eyes.

"Although I don't like those three, they... their behavior was absurd, but they weren't malicious people. And the fact that they survived in the forest alone for so long shows they at least have the ability to protect themselves. After weighing my options, I decided to entrust Qiluo to them for the time being."

"That Yuan woman, for all her absurdity, knew the difference between right and wrong. She promised to protect Qiluo and gave me many of her personal medicinal pills... When those two men saw that, they inexplicably felt a sense of rivalry and scrambled to offer their own treasures, almost handing over the very items they relied on for their own protection."

"I picked a few practical items and set off again... Fortunately, there were no more setbacks this time. After a few days, I finally managed to scatter the Mountain Spirit tribe completely. It's a pity I couldn't bring the ringleader to justice."

"When the Mountain Spirits were completely routed, the mist in the forest suddenly dissipated. Afterward, those Golden Core guardians who had been missing for so long appeared one after another. They quickly found Liu Cheng and the others who had been lost for ages and conveniently wiped out the remaining Mountain Spirits."

"I didn't participate in that part... However, it is said that even with the Golden Cores stepping in directly, the leader of the Mountain Spirits still managed to escape. I don't know what kind of background it had. I hunted no less than twenty of its kin in the forest, yet I never found an opportunity to strike at the creature itself."

"In short, while the Monster Hunting Decree wasn't fully accomplished and had some regrets, the hunt had dragged on for too long. Furthermore, we did obtain tangible results; the number of Mountain Spirit corpses collected was higher than expected. So, after some discussion, those noble young masters decided to announce to the outside world that the mission had been a complete success..."

"Of course, there are many trivial details, such as covering up the infighting within the team... I really couldn't be bothered to argue with those people; they can say whatever they want. I simply returned to the prefecture city with the squad, collected the reward I was owed, bid farewell to Qiluo and Wan'er, and came straight back to the mountain."

With that, the legendary grand adventure of this chaotic senior sister finally came to a close.

As a polite and well-mannered listener, Wu Ming promptly handed his senior sister a cup of tea. Zhu Ying smiled as she took it, but after only a single sip, she set the cup down, her eyes burning with anticipation as she awaited her master's response.

The long story she had just told was not meant to show off her skills—in fact, she hadn't even mentioned exactly when she had broken through to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, as if the breakthrough itself was of no consequence to her!

The truth was that the experiences of this past month contained many oddities that left her completely baffled!

First, why exactly did those young masters from the noble families, led by Liu Cheng, come in the first place? A mere Demon Hunting Decree could never have such a great appeal!

Second, what was the deal with the illusions inside the Grey Needle Forest? It would be one thing to trap a group of juniors at the Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining stages, but how could it cause Golden Core protectors to lose their way as well?

Moreover, even if not even a Golden Core cultivator could escape, how could the outside world not notice that the Monster Hunting Squad had lost contact? Did those noble family ancestors not know to come and rescue them?

Finally... that group of Mountain Spirits was also quite strange. Although Qiongzhou was plagued by demons and evil spirits from time to time—even forcing the various prefecture and state governments to issue Demon Hunting Decrees—they were mostly creatures that had attained the Dao by pure coincidence, or great demons that had snuck in from Minghai Guixu.

Indigenous demon clans like the Mountain Spirits, which were born and raised locally and possessed a certain level of intelligence, rarely provoked humans, especially by committing crimes across multiple locations. That in itself was extremely abnormal!

Regarding this, Gu Bai fell silent for a moment before giving his answer.

"Ying'er, it is possible that you... have experienced an Immortal Mansion."