What Are You Doing In Here

Suddenly, the earth trembled violently. Outside the Spiritual Plant Garden, countless beams of radiance shot into the sky, and within that light, bolts of lightning raced wildly.

Immediately after, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi began to churn violently.

The thick fog that had shrouded the perimeter of the Spiritual Plant Garden rapidly dissipated under this celestial anomaly.

"What's going on?" Su Shi'er sensed trouble and quickly asked Shen Miaoyin.

"Not good! The garden's formation is about to be broken! Fu Boren has quite the nerve, actually daring to hand the Purple Lightning Sword to his disciples for the trial."

Shen Miaoyin's expression shifted. Seeing the flickering lightning outside, she immediately understood.

"Purple Lightning Sword? A low-grade Spirit Artifact? Then we need to get out of here!" Su Shi'er recalled as well. As he spoke, he scooped up the Fire Cloud Python's corpse, skin and flesh still attached, and stored it in his ring. He hurried over to Shen Miaoyin.

When Fu Boren had publicly displayed the Purple Lightning Sword, he had been there too. The might of that lightning sword had left a deep impression on him.

"It's too late. To break the formation and leave, I'd need at least three days to recover my cultivation."

"For now, the only option is to find a place to hide temporarily."

Shen Miaoyin shook her head, her face also troubled.

Her injuries were far from healed; she had no strength left to fight. If they ran into anyone from Tianhua Peak now, it would be a dire situation.

Especially since one of them was carrying a low-grade Spirit Artifact.

Her gaze swept the area, and she quickly walked toward the pile of boulders where the Stone Orchid Flowers grew. She gathered all the flowers in one motion, then slipped into the crevice where Su Shi'er had hidden earlier, rapidly concealing her aura.

"Hide?" Su Shi'er's mouth twitched in frustration.

But he knew he had no choice now.

"That spot of yours isn't safe. I'd advise you not to hide there!"

He quickly warned Shen Miaoyin, then walked over to the boulders. Using the White Mist Sword, he cut open a patch of ground and, in a few swift motions, dug out a crude burrow, then crawled inside.

Over five years, he had matched wits and strength with all kinds of demon beasts, and had unknowingly accumulated quite a bit of experience.

"Not safe?" Shen Miaoyin raised an eyebrow, then immediately caught on.

Without the Cinnabar Fruit Tree, this area full of boulders would undoubtedly become the most conspicuous spot.

Seeing Su Shi'er already expertly burrowed into his hiding hole, she was about to follow his example.

Suddenly, a violent surge of energy rippled from outside the Spiritual Plant Garden.

"Damn, the formation has been broken!"

She muttered a curse, gritted her teeth, and without a second thought, squeezed into the narrow hiding spot right after Su Shi'er.

"Hey, what are you doing in here?" Su Shi'er was about to block the entrance when he felt a weight press down on him—a delicate body landing right on top of his.

He hadn't considered Shen Miaoyin at all. This burrow was meant for him alone.

Hiding by himself was fine, but with Shen Miaoyin squeezing in, they ended up face to face, nose to nose, pressed tightly together.

Even through their clothes, Su Shi'er could feel the cold yet warm temperature radiating from Shen Miaoyin's body.

This stirred an odd feeling in Su Shi'er's heart.

"Don't talk. Quickly conceal your aura. Someone's coming in!" Shen Miaoyin warned him swiftly. In the darkness, her expression was far from pleasant.

She, the dignified Peak Master of Tianyin Peak, a cultivator on the verge of stepping into the Golden Core realm, was now crammed into a hole with some junior at the Qi Refining Stage Four.

Su Shi'er didn't overthink it. The moment Shen Miaoyin spoke, he sealed the burrow's entrance shut.

At the same time, as the formation was completely broken, hundreds of figures surged in through the main gate of the Spiritual Plant Garden in a mighty tide.

Leading them was a young man in a fiery red robe, appearing to be around thirty years old.

The man wore a crimson garment with Dark-patterned Cloud Sleeves, exuding a faint, cold aura. His eyes were like an eagle's—sharp, proud, and unruly. Beneath his narrow, phoenix-shaped eyes and high-bridged nose were thin lips curled with arrogance.

His appearance and demeanor were like an unsheathed sword, sharp and piercing.

In his hand, he held a purple lightning-colored sword—none other than Fu Boren's low-grade Spirit Artifact, the Purple Lightning Sword.

If Shen Miaoyin were here and saw this young man, she would recognize him at a glance. This was no mere handyman disciple or newcomer, but the top-ranked formal inner disciple of Tianhua Peak—Ye Liangchuan!

The other disciples all gathered around Ye Liangchuan, their attitudes reverent.

Ye Liangchuan's true cultivation was at the Qi Refining Stage Perfection. With his talent and level of cultivation, he was considered the disciple most likely to achieve Foundation Establishment within the sect in recent years.

Under Ye Liangchuan's lead, the group eagerly charged into the Spiritual Plant Garden. The moment they entered, they began searching rapidly.

But when they saw the empty garden, everyone froze, stunned.

"Elder Martial Brother Ye, this... this Spiritual Plant Garden is a wasteland?" one disciple turned to Ye Liangchuan and called out in a trembling voice.

As soon as that disciple spoke, many in the crowd turned pale.

Among them, quite a few were at the Qi Refining Stage Six.

The reason they had recklessly rushed to this garden was for the abundance of spiritual plants inside.

If they got their hands on the spirit herbs, one share each, they would surely secure their promotion to formal disciples.

But now, the Spiritual Plant Garden actually had no spiritual plants?!

For them, this was nothing short of a devastating blow. They had to remember, the trial was already more than halfway through!

"How could this be? Is this really the Spiritual Plant Garden?! Not a single spiritual plant?"

"No, look over there—it looks like traces of someone fighting a demon beast!"

"But... wasn't it said this Spiritual Plant Garden had a Cinnabar Fruit Tree guarded by a Second-tier Demon Beast?! Which trial disciple has the skill to sneak into the Spiritual Plant Garden without a sound, and even kill that Second-tier Demon Beast before we got here?"

"Can't say for sure. Among the Yun Ge Seven Peaks, which peak doesn't have some hidden card? Take Tianyin Peak—they cultivate through formations; there might well be formation experts who slipped into the trial. And Tianshu Peak—a group of Qi Refining Stage disciples actually managing to fly on swords—that's definitely not normal..."

As they spoke, the Tianhua Peak disciples pressed deeper, staring at the cracked earth and blood-splattered ground inside the Spiritual Plant Garden, each one shouting in shock.

At the center, Ye Liangchuan's brow furrowed into a deep crease. The next moment, his gaze turned cold, and he said sharply:

"It looks like someone beat us to it!"

"But the blood on the ground isn't dry yet, and the soil is still freshly turned. As for this big pit, no need to say—it's definitely left by the Cinnabar Fruit Tree. That person can't have gone far!"

"From now on, everyone mobilize. Any disciple from other peaks within twenty li of the Spiritual Plant Garden—none are to be let off! Dig three feet into the ground if you have to, but find that person!"

Ye Liangchuan held his sword in hand, speaking coldly, his tone exceptionally icy.

As he spoke, he himself arrived near where the Cinnabar Fruit Tree had originally stood.

And this spot was the closest to Su Shi'er and the others.