What Are You Doing in Here?

Suddenly, the earth trembled. Outside the Spiritual Plant Garden, countless shafts of brilliant light shot skyward, lightning racing through them.

Then the Spiritual Qi began to churn violently.

The thick fog surrounding the Spiritual Plant Garden rapidly dispersed beneath this Heaven and Earth Phenomenon.

"What's happening?" Su Shi'er felt a surge of dread and hurriedly asked Shen Miaoyin.

"This is bad! The Spiritual Plant Garden's formation is about to break! Fu Boren has some nerve, giving the Purple Lightning Sword to a disciple to bring into the trial."

Shen Miaoyin's expression changed. The moment she saw the lightning flashing outside, she understood.

"The Purple Lightning Sword? A low-grade Spirit Artifact? Then let's go!" Su Shi'er remembered it at once. As he spoke, he swept the Fire Cloud Python's corpse into his Storage Ring, skin and flesh together, then hurried to Shen Miaoyin.

He had been there when Fu Boren displayed the Purple Lightning Sword. Its power had left a deep impression on him.

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

"For now, we can only find somewhere to hide."

Shen Miaoyin shook her head, her face troubled.

Her wounds had yet to heal, and she was in no condition to fight. If they encountered anyone from Tianhua Peak now, their chances of survival would be slim.

Especially when one of them carried a low-grade Spirit Artifact.

Her gaze swept the area, and she hurried to the Boulder Pile where the Stone Orchid Flowers grew. She gathered every flower, slipped into the crevice where Su Shi'er had hidden earlier, and quickly suppressed her aura.

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

Still, he knew they had no choice.

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

After warning Shen Miaoyin, he went to a boulder. He cut through a patch of ground with the White Mist Sword, scraped out a rough little burrow in a few strokes, and crawled inside.

Five years of matching wits with all manner of Demon Beasts every day had taught him plenty without his realizing it.

"Not safe?" Shen Miaoyin arched a delicate brow, then understood.

With the Cinnabar Fruit Tree gone, this patch of boulders had become the most conspicuous spot in the garden.

Seeing how deftly Su Shi'er had burrowed underground, she was about to follow his example.

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

"Damn it, the formation's broken!"

With a low cry, she gritted her teeth. There was no time to think. She followed Su Shi'er straight into his cramped hiding place.

"What the—what are you doing in here?" Su Shi'er was about to cover the entrance when a weight dropped onto him, a slender body pressing against his own.

He had never considered Shen Miaoyin when digging it. The burrow was meant for him alone.

It was barely large enough for one person. With Shen Miaoyin inside, they lay face-to-face, nose to nose, pressed tightly together.

Even through their clothes, Su Shi'er could feel the strange mix of coolness and warmth radiating from her body.

An unfamiliar feeling stirred in his chest.

"Quiet. Suppress your aura—someone's coming in!" Shen Miaoyin warned at once. In the darkness, her expression was far from pleased.

She was the mighty Peak Master of Tianyin Peak, a cultivator on the verge of reaching the Golden Core realm. Yet here she was, crammed into a hole with a junior at Qi Refining Stage Four.

Su Shi'er gave it little thought. As soon as she spoke, he sealed the burrow's entrance.

At that same moment, the formation shattered completely, and hundreds of figures poured through the Spiritual Plant Garden's gate.

At their head was a man who looked to be in his thirties, dressed in a fiery red robe.

He wore red robes with Dark-patterned Cloud Sleeves, and an air of cool indifference hung about him. His eyes were hawklike, sharp and proud; beneath his narrow, upturned eyes and high nose, thin lips held a trace of arrogance.

His looks and bearing made him seem like a Precious Sword drawn from its sheath, its edge laid bare.

In his hand was a purple, lightning-hued sword: Fu Boren's low-grade Spirit Artifact, the Purple Lightning Sword.

Had Shen Miaoyin seen him, she would have recognized him at a glance. He was no servant disciple or newcomer, but Ye Liangchuan, the foremost official inner disciple of Tianhua Peak!

The other disciples clustered around Ye Liangchuan, every one of them deferential.

Ye Liangchuan's true cultivation was at Great Perfection of the Qi Refining stage. With his talent and cultivation, he was among those most likely to achieve Foundation Establishment in the sect over the next few years.

Led by Ye Liangchuan, the group charged eagerly into the Spiritual Plant Garden and began searching as soon as they entered.

But when they saw the empty garden, they all froze, dumbfounded.

"Martial Brother Ye, why... why is the Spiritual Plant Garden a wasteland?" a disciple asked, turning to him with a trembling voice.

At his words, many faces in the crowd went pale.

Quite a few of them were at Qi Refining Stage Six.

They had rushed to the Spiritual Plant Garden at any cost for the great quantity of Spiritual Plants inside.

With a share of the harvest for each of them, promotion to Official Disciple would have been certain.

But now, there were no Spiritual Plants in the garden?!

For them, it was a devastating blow. The trial was already more than halfway over!

"How can this be? Is this really the Spiritual Plant Garden? There isn't a single Spiritual Plant!"

"Wait, look over there. Doesn't it look like someone fought a Demon Beast?"

"But... wasn't there supposed to be a Cinnabar Fruit Tree here, guarded by a Second-tier Demon Beast? Which trial disciple could sneak into the garden without a sound and kill that beast before we arrived?"

"You can't be sure no one could. Every peak of the Yun Ge Seven Peaks has a trick or two up its sleeve. Tianyin Peak follows the path of formations; they might well have sent someone skilled in them into the trial. And Tianshu Peak's Qi Refining disciples can ride swords through the air. That's hardly ordinary..."

As the Tianhua Peak disciples pushed deeper into the garden, they saw cracked earth and blood spilled everywhere. Cries of shock rose from the group.

At their center, Ye Liangchuan's brows drew together. A moment later, his gaze turned cold, and he said sharply:

"Looks like someone did get here before us!"

"But the blood on the ground hasn't dried, and the soil has just been turned. As for that great pit, it must be where the Cinnabar Fruit Tree stood. Whoever did this can't have gone far!"

"Starting now, everyone spread out. Don't let a single disciple from another peak within twenty li of the garden slip away! Dig three feet into the ground if you have to—find them!"

Ye Liangchuan spoke with cold detachment, sword in hand, his voice icy.

As he spoke, he reached the spot near where the Cinnabar Fruit Tree had stood.

It was also the closest spot to Su Shi'er and Shen Miaoyin.