Spirit Bamboo Slayer

Before long, Lin Jing left the Mission Hall with his freshly issued mission scroll.

With it, he could enter Golden Pearl Ravine and cut spirit bamboo as he pleased. Without this permit, however, he would be arrested for "damaging sect resources."

"That senior brother said cutting spirit bamboo with an ordinary Flying Leaf Technique takes a lot of effort. I wonder how the Red Flying Leaf will fare."

Neither Lin Jing nor the Pineleaf Squirrel took the Mission Hall senior brother's words to heart. He had been talking about spirit beast Pineleaf Squirrels. What did that have to do with their treasure beast Pineleaf Squirrel?

Since Elder Yu had entrusted them with this important task, they would cut enough spirit bamboo to deliver to him even if they had to go without food or drink.

Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel hurried to Golden Pearl Ravine without stopping, afraid of wasting too much time. After all, every ten stalks they failed to cut meant one less Spirit Stone.

After showing his mission scroll to the sect senior brother guarding the bamboo forest, he took the Pineleaf Squirrel into the sea of bamboo.

Walking into the forest, they tilted their heads back. Bamboo leaves blotted out the sky and sun, and each straight, towering stalk of spirit bamboo glowed with a deep, vibrant green that made the Pineleaf Squirrel drool.

"Squeak..."

"You're a squirrel, not a bamboo rat," Lin Jing corrected, patting open the cloth pouch hanging at his waist. With a sigh, the Pineleaf Squirrel immediately pulled out the precious Red Flying Leaf and hugged it to its chest.

Before it could use the Red Flying Leaf, however, Lin Jing bent down, picked up an ordinary bamboo leaf, and handed it over.

"This is a good chance to compare them. Let's see just how much difference there is in damage to spirit bamboo when you cast the Flying Leaf Technique with an ordinary bamboo leaf versus your Red Flying Leaf."

The Pineleaf Squirrel nodded and accepted the green bamboo leaf. Soon, with a bamboo leaf in one paw and the Red Flying Leaf in the other, its gaze sharpened as it fixed on the nearest stalk of spirit bamboo!

"Squeak!" Spiritual power erupted from it. With a flick of its little paw, it threw the bamboo leaf first. Green light flashed into the spirit bamboo with a swish. The stalk trembled slightly, but the leaf left only a minuscule nick before bursting apart.

The Pineleaf Squirrel frowned. This spirit bamboo really was tough. If they harvested it normally, even a full day here would leave them a long way from striking it rich.

It exchanged another glance with Lin Jing, then used the red leaf to unleash the Flying Leaf Technique this time.

"Squeak!" The Pineleaf Squirrel leaped from Lin Jing's shoulder and hurled the Red Flying Leaf. A crimson gleam flashed, and with a crack, the Red Flying Leaf passed straight through the stalk. Then... the towering bamboo toppled!

And that was not the end. Under the Pineleaf Squirrel's control, the Red Flying Leaf continued flying at tremendous speed. Crack, crack, crack! In the space of a few thoughts, it had severed several stalks of spirit bamboo. Such efficiency made both Lin Jing's and the Pineleaf Squirrel's eyes light up.

From this, they could tell that the damage the Pineleaf Squirrel could inflict with the Red Flying Leaf far exceeded even that of a mid-stage Qi Refining Pineleaf Squirrel. Beyond that, its flexibility with the Flying Leaf Technique was something ordinary Pineleaf Squirrels could never hope to match!

"We're rich!" Lin Jing exclaimed.

"Squeak, squeak!!" The Pineleaf Squirrel was equally thrilled. Controlling the Red Flying Leaf was exhausting, but the thought that all these stalks of spirit bamboo would eventually become its very own Storage Bag filled it with fierce enthusiasm. Its fatigue vanished, and it brimmed with energy.

"Let's not go back. We'll live here for now," Lin Jing suggested.

"I heard a stream earlier. There's water in this bamboo forest, which means there are fish. I'll eat grilled fish, and you can eat bamboo leaves. Let's see where our limits lie!"

The Pineleaf Squirrel froze. He had just said it was not a bamboo rat, and now he wanted it to eat bamboo leaves! Still, food was food. These spirit bamboo leaves had to be more nutritious than the leaves in the courtyard.

Lin Jing's and the Pineleaf Squirrel's eyes... lit up once again!

One week later!

The senior brother guarding the bamboo forest suddenly felt that something was wrong. Sitting cross-legged in his bamboo hut as he cultivated, he remembered something.

"Didn't a junior brother enter the bamboo forest a few days ago for a harvesting mission? How come they haven't come out all this time?"

"He really is hardworking," he remarked. Looking at the pastries on his table, he decided to visit this junior brother. Being assigned a mission by Elder Yu meant the junior brother possessed considerable talent and potential. With such diligence in carrying it out, his future prospects were even more boundless. He was worth befriending.

Carrying the pastries, he entered the bamboo forest. As he ventured deeper, his eyelid twitched. The ground beside the path was bare, nothing like the sea of bamboo he remembered.

In its place lay piles of neatly bundled spirit bamboo. One pile... another pile... and another.

"What happened?!" He froze. He distinctly remembered letting in only one junior brother and his Pineleaf Squirrel over the past few days. Why did this look as though the entire Pineleaf Squirrel clan of Pine Forest Peak had come to clear the land together?

"Junior brother, where are you?!" Whirlwinds curled around his feet as he activated the Wind-Walking Technique. Instantly light as a swallow, he began searching for Lin Jing and his companion. Before long, he found the Pineleaf Squirrel eating bamboo leaves... and Lin Jing giving it a massage.

"Senior brother... did you need something?" Lin Jing looked up, stopping the Spirit-Nurturing Art he was using, and turned toward the forest guardian, whose mouth was twitching.

"You two cut all of this?" His face was filled with disbelief. Looking at the utterly exhausted third-level Qi Refining Pineleaf Squirrel, whose eyes nonetheless shone brightly, he could not believe it for the life of him.

"Yes." Weariness showed on Lin Jing's face.

"Well..." The forest guardian fell silent for a moment, then asked, "Did Elder Yu say... how many stalks of spirit bamboo he needed?"

Lin Jing shook his head. "Elder Yu never said. But the Rising Dragon Festival is such an important celebration. Surely the more spirit bamboo, the better? Only then can we make more Bamboo Mechanical Dragons and make the festival livelier."

"I'll go ask Elder Yu..." Thoroughly uneasy, the forest guardian scratched his head, turned, and left. He was afraid-afraid that if Lin Jing stayed in the bamboo forest any longer, this sea of bamboo would disappear entirely.

As soon as the forest guardian left, Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel sped up their harvesting as though facing a formidable enemy.

The outer sect, Mechanism Workshop!

Although the outer sect's Elder Yu primarily cultivated the Beast-Taming Way, he was also a mechanism fanatic who loved researching mechanisms.

Outside the workshop hung a plaque that read, "Mechanical Beasts are beasts too."

At that moment, he was drinking tea and chatting with another elder. Had Lin Jing been there, he would certainly have recognized Elder Mo, who had left the sect several days earlier.

"I'd only just returned to the sect, and you stopped me before I could even fly to Lotus Peak. Is there something important?" Elder Mo took a sip of tea and looked at him.

Elder Yu chuckled and stroked his beard. "A month ago, you placed that boy with the longevity body you found in the outer sect and asked me to take good care of him. I've been very attentive. I even tailored a sect mission to harvest spirit bamboo specifically for him. Shouldn't you thank me? One Spirit Stone for ten stalks of spirit bamboo-for an outer sect disciple, that's like pies falling from the sky!"

"Heh! You expect thanks for such a trivial matter? Spare me. With their cultivation, how much spirit bamboo could they possibly cut?" Elder Mo snorted.

"You think I don't know how stingy you are?! Out with it. Which resource in my collection has caught your eye?"

"What do you mean, stingy? I've merely saved a little to research Mechanical Beasts for the sect..." Before Elder Yu could finish, an immortal crane landed outside the workshop and delivered a letter.

Elder Yu opened it, and his expression instantly changed. "Are you sure you brought back someone with a longevity body, not a wood god body?"

"What's wrong?" Elder Mo asked, puzzled.

"The forest guardian says the disciple carrying out the harvesting mission in the bamboo forest has nearly cut down the entire outer perimeter!" Elder Yu's scalp prickled.