Lu Xuanqing was not worried about the safety of her two grand-martial uncles. After all, very few things could threaten cultivators who had reached the nascent soul realm.
However, the matter of the Spirit-Devouring Beast concerned the very survival of the Heavenly Demon Sect. Lu Xuanqing's failure to return on time would certainly cause panic within the sect. Even if her two grand-martial uncles had not fully recovered from their injuries, they would emerge from seclusion early to find her and the Spirit-Devouring Beast first.
Given what Lu Xuanqing knew of their supernatural abilities, it was only a matter of time before they found their way to Connors Star. Yet there had been no word from them at all, and unease began to stir in her heart.
Could something momentous have happened in the outside world, something even more important than finding the Spirit-Devouring Beast?
What Lu Xuanqing wanted most now was to recover from her injuries as quickly as possible. Only when her strength had fully returned could she feel a little more at ease. After all, if something really had gone wrong, every extra measure of strength would give her another measure of protection.
However, Lu Xuanqing had yet to enter the golden core stage. Even at her peak, she could not cross the cosmos with her physical body alone.
In fact, even golden core stage experts could not endure very long in space with their bodies alone. Traveling between moons or planets was already their limit. Only nascent soul realm experts could truly transform their bodies into rainbow light and streak through the cosmos.
Though anxiety gnawed at Lu Xuanqing, she revealed none of it in front of Liu Xing. Fortunately, he seemed utterly carefree. Aside from asking about her injuries now and then, he never brought up when they might leave Connors Star.
Sometimes, Lu Xuanqing could not help wondering, Will I really be trapped on this Garbage Planet with Liu Xing for the rest of my life?
To be honest, although Lu Xuanqing found her days with Liu Xing quite entertaining, she would never agree to abandon the path to immortality and grow old on this Garbage Planet.
For all her wandering thoughts, Lu Xuanqing had no other recourse. She could only hope that some temporary business had kept her two grand-martial uncles from finding this place.
If all else failed, once Lu Xuanqing's injuries healed, she could send a flying sword out into the cosmos with a message asking her sect for help.
Though a flying sword could carry a message swiftly, it would still take at least ten days to half a month to travel from this frontier Garbage Planet to the Heavenly Demon Sect's mountain headquarters. There was also a chance that another cultivator might intercept it along the way. If it drew a powerful enemy instead of help from her sect, she would truly be left crying to an unanswering heaven and calling to an unheeding earth.
Liu Xing had been watching Lu Xuanqing in secret. When he noticed that she had been showing traces of agitation from time to time over the past few days, he knew she had run into some difficulty.
But Liu Xing was in no mood to help Lu Xuanqing solve her problem, because he had encountered a thorny problem of his own.
Whenever Liu Xing went hunting these past few days, he would spot small groups of three or five wild beasts fleeing from the northern end of the Frozen Earth Plains toward the warmer south.
Normally, it was perfectly natural for some wild beasts to migrate south with the changing seasons. Yet among these southbound beasts were creatures that should have spent their entire lives on the Frozen Earth Plains, such as Blue Ice Beasts and Tailless Wolves. Now, they too were desperately fleeing south alongside the other animals.
Stranger still, the fleeing groups kept growing larger. Eventually, hundreds of beasts of different species would mingle together and flee south without laying so much as a claw on one another.
Liu Xing had seen scenes like this before. Whenever swarms of Spotted Mice ravaged the Frozen Earth Plains, even the fiercest animals could only scatter and flee. But he had never seen every animal flee in the same direction like this.
Liu Xing had lived on Connors Star for eighteen years and possessed ample wilderness survival experience. He also knew that wild beasts often had an exceptionally keen sixth sense. Such unnatural behavior surely meant that some natural disaster was unfolding.
Something so far beyond ordinary experience left Liu Xing uneasy. After thinking it over carefully, he told Lu Xuanqing exactly what he had seen.
Although Lu Xuanqing had recovered less than half her strength, she was still far stronger than Liu Xing. Her only weakness was that her serious injuries prevented her from enduring a prolonged battle. Even so, together they were strong enough to roam Connors Star unchallenged. Even if they encountered a swarm of Spotted Mice, they could fight it head-on.
Liu Xing had told Lu Xuanqing about the beasts' strange behavior because he wanted her to accompany him to the northern end of the Frozen Earth Plains and see just what had changed.
With Liu Xing's familiarity with Connors Star and Lu Xuanqing's strength as a cultivator, together they could handle any danger on this primitive planet.
Already troubled and eager to stretch her limbs, Lu Xuanqing immediately agreed to Liu Xing's suggestion. Thus, as though heading out on another hunt together, the two left the Cave and raced toward the northern end of the Frozen Earth Plains.
Lu Xuanqing could now fly freely on the wind, moving even faster than Liu Xing could run at full speed. Had she known the route, she could easily have surged ahead of him.
A little over an hour later, they had traveled more than a thousand li north. The herds they saw along the way grew ever larger, and they even encountered a medium-sized swarm of more than three thousand Spotted Mice.
Even Liu Xing had never imagined that the Frozen Earth Plains, which usually seemed to harbor so few species, could hold so many animals. He had no idea where they normally hid. Now, as though they had all received some signal, they had emerged at once in unimaginable numbers.
All the wild beasts along the way treated the two people traveling against the tide as though they did not exist. Without so much as a glance, they kept their heads down and fled south. Even the famously gluttonous Spotted Mice were no exception.
Intensely curious, Liu Xing seized an opportunity to step forward and knock a Tailless Wolf over with a punch. Yet this exceedingly ferocious beast scrambled back up and continued fleeing south without pausing, showing not the slightest desire for revenge.
Now even Lu Xuanqing found it strange. She and Liu Xing exchanged a glance, then both turned their eyes toward the distant north!
PS: Still asking for recommendation votes!!!
To push onto the new book rankings, I'll post another chapter after midnight tonight. I hope all you brothers and sisters still online then will give me plenty of votes and support! Let me bow in thanks in advance.
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