Chapter 12

To avoid drawing attention and making anyone suspect that Cloudsky Sect had already secured the spirit plants, Ye Zhenzhen deliberately dawdled. She claimed she needed a peaceful little nap, successfully slowing Cloudsky Sect's treasure-hunting team.

By the time everyone else had entered the spirit fruit grove, the four of them finally arrived.

Tall, luxuriant spirit fruit trees rose before them in layer upon layer, and a fresh, sweet fragrance filled the air. Spirit fruits of every dazzling hue shone with spiritual energy. They looked like little sprites dancing among the branches, their gleam enough to set hearts racing.

"What genius sword cultivator? All I see is a useless fool who took this long to break out of an illusion."

"Exactly. And he's dragging two deadweights along. What treasure does he expect to get?"

"If you ask me, Cloudsky Sect is getting weaker by the day. It should step down from its place among the five great sects and let our Thousand Mechanisms Palace take over. Right, Senior Brother Jiang?"

Jiang Kui and the disciples beside him had begun mocking Ye Qinghui and the others again, utterly unaware that the people they sneered at had already cleared out every spirit plant while they themselves had found nothing.

Shen Xingyan watched silently from the sidelines without saying a word.

The man in white robes embroidered with red sword patterns, who had defended them earlier, stepped forward again. "What are you lot shouting at a gentle young woman and a child for? It's not as if you've found any treasure yourselves."

"Lu Lingxuan, mind your own business. We weren't talking about you." Jiang Kui folded his arms and shot him a warning glare.

The man did not back down in the slightest. "If you've got any skill, stop flapping your lips. Let's see who can pick the Millennium Phoenix Spirit Fruit. That'll decide the real winner." Phoenix Spirit Fruits brimmed with spiritual energy and could aid cultivation. A Millennium Phoenix Spirit Fruit was rarer still: a treasure that gathered vast spiritual power within it and could help a cultivator break through a bottleneck and advance when it mattered most.

"Fine. We'll compete. I'll make sure you lose so badly you can't argue." Jiang Kui had no interest in trading more barbs. Finding the Phoenix Spirit Fruit Tree with the disciples beside him was far more important.

Lu Lingxuan? Isn't he the young master of Spirit Sword Manor, and another of Senior Sister's future suitors?

Spirit Sword Manor has a monopoly on the materials, forging, and sale of swords. They're famously filthy rich throughout the Cultivation World. I hear they have so many Spirit Stones they use them to build walls.

I really want to make friends with someone that rich!

Ye Zhenzhen's thoughts made Ye Qinghui's lips curl into a smile. Ye Qingyao lowered her head shyly, while Ye Qingchuan silently clenched his fists. As the heroine of the original book, Senior Sister certainly had no shortage of suitors.

Everyone had only just scattered in different directions to search for spirit fruits when a flock of enormous birds with seven-colored feathers flew overhead. Their wings stretched five or six meters across.

"What beautiful birds! Their feathers have seven colors. They're almost as magnificent as Phoenixes." Exclamations rose from the crowd.

Some people itched to make a contract with one and take it home as a mount. What an impressive sight that would be! Others wanted to pluck their feathers and auction them off, or have them made into dazzling feathered robes that buyers would fight over.

Beautiful things, however, were often poisonous. The true hunter always appeared in the guise of prey.

While everyone was entranced by the birds' dazzling colors, the giant creatures beat their seven-colored wings rapidly overhead, scattering shimmering powder into the air.

The world before them turned strange and kaleidoscopic, flickering with an unnatural light.

Oh no, they're Illusion Birds!

Their wings scatter Illusion Powder. It traps people in seven-colored visions, robs them of their sense of direction, and makes it hard to tell truth from illusion. Then they're lambs awaiting slaughter.

Sure enough, once the giant birds had scattered their Illusion Powder, they opened their long beaks to reveal mouths full of fangs and attacked the cultivators caught in their illusions. Those with weaker cultivation lost themselves completely in the seven-colored visions and could no longer defend themselves. Before long, the birds had torn them apart and devoured them.

"These birds appear and disappear like ghosts. How do we deal with them?"

Put on the Artifact Masks we prepared first. Then combine Fire-Controlling Talismans with the Fire Spirit Grass we just found and throw them at the birds' wings.

Ye Qinghui first fitted a tiny Artifact Mask over Ye Zhenzhen's face, then put on his own. Following Ye Zhenzhen's advice, the group advanced while hurling Fire-Controlling Talismans and Fire Spirit Grass at the Illusion Birds.

Those beautiful, seven-colored wings were impervious to blades and spears, yet the Fire-Controlling Talismans, bolstered by the Fire Spirit Grass, burned their feathers to ash. The rich aroma of roast squab filled the air. Who would have thought birds so large could smell so tempting when grilled?

That smells so good. I want roast squab.

That's exactly how it should be, sizzling with oil. The skin would be wonderfully crisp, the meat inside tender and juicy. Brush on a layer of Cumin Powder and take a bite—the flavor would linger on your lips and teeth.

Longing shone in Ye Zhenzhen's eyes, and drool all but pooled on the ground.

Birds had explosive tempers. Seeing their companions roasted, the others bristled with fury and rushed to attack without a thought for their own safety. One after another, they became grilled birds with scorched wings, bearing no resemblance to their former splendor.

Stripped of their beautiful feathers, the Illusion Birds drooped as though sunk in despair. They wailed incessantly overhead, without even the heart to attack the cultivators anymore.

They're so ugly now. They look like giant plucked chickens. I can't bear to look.

Behold the importance of feathers to a bird's looks. Hahahaha!

The Illusion Powder from earlier still floated in the air, so everyone but the four of them remained trapped in visions. Some wore strange smiles, others looked crazed, and one person chased a bald bird shouting, "Beauty, wait for me!" Another swung a sword wildly at empty air.

"Quick! Pick the Millennium Phoenix Spirit Fruit while we have the chance!"

They searched the spirit fruit grove from end to end before finally finding the ancient, mysterious Phoenix Spirit Fruit Tree of legend. As the saying went, "A Phoenix roosts only in a Phoenix Tree." The Phoenix Spirit Fruit Tree's trunk and its lush branches and leaves closely resembled those of a Phoenix Tree, but it held an added measure of spiritual grace and majesty.