Rumble!
The thunderous crash of falling trees rang out one after another through the deep night.
In the sky, Zhou Chun rode a bamboo-leaf-shaped flying artifact in pursuit while controlling the two Moon Blades split from the Moon Blade Meteor Wheel to attack the Purple Flame Sable in turns.
The Purple Flame Sable truly was extraordinarily nimble. It darted and leaped through the mountain forest, repeatedly evading the Moon Blade attacks even while locked onto by Zhou Chun's spiritual sense.
But because it had to evade Zhou Chun's attacks, its speed inevitably slowed.
Thus, Zhou Zhengyong's Crimson Tail Monkey gradually caught up and joined the fight.
Nature always had one thing to counter another.
Although the Crimson Tail Monkey was not considered a particularly powerful beast among First-grade High-tier Demonic Beasts, it was perfectly suited to dealing with agile beasts like the Purple Flame Sable in the mountains and forests.
After it joined the battle, the Purple Flame Sable was first forced to drop the Flame Rat corpse clenched in its mouth. Then, while busy dodging the Moon Blade attacks, it was struck by a swipe of the monkey's claw, leaving a bloody claw mark on its body.
After being injured, the Purple Flame Sable dared not continue fighting Zhou Chun and the others. It wanted only to flee for its life.
It led one man and one monkey in a frantic dash through the pine forest, leaving Zhou Zhengyong, who was chasing on foot behind them, so far back that he was nowhere to be seen.
After crossing several mountain peaks in this manner, the Purple Flame Sable, now bearing several additional wounds, suddenly burrowed into a certain mountain cave and vanished directly from Zhou Chun's spiritual sense.
"Did it hide inside the cave? Then this is most likely its nest!"
Zhou Chun looked at the cave entrance at the foot of the rocky mountain wall before him, a solemn expression appearing on his face.
The cave entrance was not large. Only a seven- or eight-year-old child could crawl through it; an adult like him had no chance of entering.
Of course, through his spiritual sense probing inward, he knew that the interior space gradually widened. Farther in, there were even cave chambers large enough for a person to stand upright in.
The problem was that, with the thick rock wall and mountain blocking the way, widening the cave passage enough to enter the depths was simply not something that could be done in a short time.
And cunning rabbits had three burrows. Zhou Chun did not believe the Purple Flame Sable's nest had only a single entrance.
They had to prevent the Purple Flame Sable from escaping through another opening!
Without waiting for Zhou Zhengyong to arrive, Zhou Chun immediately used smoke to fumigate the cave, then flew into the sky to see where smoke emerged.
Sure enough, he quickly discovered three places where smoke was rising.
He had the Crimson Tail Monkey guard one location while he and the Rock Earth Turtle blocked the other two, preventing the Purple Flame Sable from slipping out through any of them before Zhou Zhengyong arrived.
However, the Purple Flame Sable was more patient than Zhou Chun had imagined. Even after Zhou Zhengyong arrived at the mountain, panting for breath, it never emerged from any cave entrance.
"Let's use poisonous smoke. I have dried Black Spot Stinky Leaf Grass in my Storage Bag. We can find some poisonous fresh leaves, burn them together, and toss them inside. I refuse to believe that beast can keep enduring it without coming out!"
After learning the situation from Zhou Chun, Zhou Zhengyong quickly proposed his method.
The Zhou Family's Monkey Garden had been reestablished. Zhou Zhengyong usually looked after the Monkey Garden and several other demonic beasts, so he kept various items for punishing and taming demonic beasts.
Thus, Zhou Chun was not surprised that Zhou Zhengyong had Poisonous Grass like Black Spot Stinky Leaf Grass in his Storage Bag.
At this point, Zhou Zhengyong personally got to work. He quickly gathered the materials, lit them, and threw them into the cave.
Yet what made him and Zhou Chun stare at each other in dismay was that even after all the Black Spot Stinky Leaf Grass had burned away, the Purple Flame Sable still showed no trace of itself.
"Could it have already been smoked unconscious inside?"
Zhou Zhengyong voiced his suspicion with a doubtful expression.
Zhou Chun thought the same, but he said aloud, "Let's split the mountain. There are still nearly two days left. If we only dig one passage, we still have a chance."
"Fine, then we'll split the mountain!"
Zhou Zhengyong gritted his teeth, knowing this was the only feasible method for now.
The two immediately moved a great number of broken stones to seal the other cave entrances, then placed large boulders outside the caves to press down over their openings.
Next, they had the Rock Earth Turtle and Crimson Tail Monkey take turns excavating one of the entrances.
When it came to digging, the Rock Earth Turtle was actually quite skilled. Its claws were extremely sharp and hard, and even solid mountain stone shattered with one slap.
Unfortunately, it was huge and could only help at the beginning. Afterward, they still had to rely on the Crimson Tail Monkey to dig with its claws.
For the sake of Zhou Zhengyong's not-yet-married wife, the poor Crimson Tail Monkey was completely reduced to a construction-site monkey, forced to keep digging earth and breaking stone with its two monkey claws.
Fortunately, after advancing into a First-grade High-tier Demonic Beast, it had awakened and mastered the Flame Claw spell, which let flames empower its claws and enhance their destructive power.
Otherwise, even with a demonic beast's physique far stronger than a human's, its claws would likely have been ruined before long.
Only after the Crimson Tail Monkey's mana and stamina had been drained dry and it truly could not dig any longer did Zhou Zhengyong put it into the Spirit Beast Pouch. Then he cast the Great Strength Technique on himself and personally began digging with tools in hand.
Once Zhou Zhengyong had also consumed more than half his mana and stamina, Zhou Chun took over and continued excavating.
After digging in shifts for a day, the Crimson Tail Monkey had recovered some strength and mana. It was released again to resume the digging work.
With the two men and one monkey digging in relay, they finally excavated a passage more than thirty zhang deep after roughly a day and a half.
At a depth of more than thirty zhang, the cave passage was wide enough for a person to walk through while bent over.
After discussing it, they decided that Zhou Chun would enter the cave to find the Purple Flame Sable while Zhou Zhengyong kept watch outside in case anything went wrong.
Inside the cave, Zhou Chun held a Sunlight Stone for illumination in one hand and the pitch-black iron shield artifact in the other, slowly advancing deeper one step at a time with his head lowered and body bent.
The Sunlight Stone in his hand was a peculiar stone unique to this world. It could absorb and store sunlight on its own, then release a bright radiance for illumination in dark environments. Thus, cultivators often used it for lighting in special conditions.
After slowly making his way step by step into the depths of the cave, Zhou Chun's spiritual sense, which he kept constantly alert, immediately discovered the Purple Flame Sable pouncing toward him.
He hurriedly activated the pitch-black iron shield artifact in his hand and placed it before himself. Still uneasy, he formed hand seals and cast the Five Elements Spirit Armor Art, wrapping himself in a golden-yellow and green three-colored spirit-light armor.
Boom!
A mass of purplish-red flames spewed from the Purple Flame Sable's mouth, sweeping straight toward Zhou Chun's face.
The pitch-black iron shield artifact blocked most of the flames, but the rest slipped through the gaps and licked at Zhou Chun behind it.
In an instant, Zhou Chun looked like a firefighter walking against a blazing inferno, his entire body swallowed by flames.
Fortunately, the scene only looked terrifying. In reality, the spirit-light armor protecting his entire body easily kept the flames and searing heat outside.
And Zhou Chun was not the sort to take a beating without striking back. Seeing that the spirit-light armor's defensive power was even more effective than he had expected, he immediately patted the Storage Bag at his waist and took out the Moon Blade Meteor Wheel.
The cave was too cramped for Zhou Chun to move freely, but it likewise restricted the Purple Flame Sable's agile movements.
Under Zhou Chun's control, the two Moon Blades attacked from both sides and swiftly severed the Purple Flame Sable's right hind leg.
Severely injured, the Purple Flame Sable seemed to know it was doomed. Its ferocity was aroused instead, and it suddenly lunged viciously at Zhou Chun, opening its mouth to spit out a head-sized fireball at him.
Bang!!
A violent explosion rang out from the depths of the cave, startling Zhou Zhengyong outside into straightening abruptly. His face full of anxiety, he stared at the cave entrance Zhou Chun had entered and paced in circles like an ant on a hot pan.
"He should be fine, right? Thirteenth Brother is so strong. Even late Qi Refining stage cultivators are no match for him..."
He muttered to himself, then quickly clenched his teeth and said with a resolute expression, "No. Even if I can't marry a wife, nothing must happen to Thirteenth Brother!"
Then, disregarding everything else, he crawled into the cave entrance after him.
When Zhou Zhengyong followed the passage deep into the cave and found Zhou Chun, he discovered that Zhou Chun was not only completely unharmed, but was actually using an artifact to dig through the cave.
At the sight, his expression first relaxed. Then he looked at Zhou Chun with curiosity filling his eyes and asked, "Thirteenth Brother, are you all right? What are you doing?"
"Brother Yong, why did you come down?"
Zhou Chun replied instinctively, then quickly guessed the reason himself. His heart warmed, and he waved a hand. "Forget it. It's good that you came down. Hurry and look at the unexpected discovery I made here."
As he spoke, he crouched down and selected several blackish-red stones from a pile of excavated rubble and dirt, handing them to Zhou Zhengyong.
"These are..."
Zhou Zhengyong looked at the ore in Zhou Chun's hand in surprise, took it, and examined it carefully.
After a moment, he said uncertainly in a low voice, "These stones seem somewhat like Crimson Radiance Iron Ore."
"Right? Brother Yong, you think they look like Crimson Radiance Iron Ore too, don't you?"
A sharp gleam flashed through Zhou Chun's eyes, and he spoke words that made Zhou Zhengyong's heart race.
"I suspect there's a mineral vein here that can yield Crimson Radiance Iron Ore!"
Zhou Chun and Zhou Yang had different starting points and different circumstances, so naturally their ways of handling certain matters would differ. I was writing two different protagonists, and I knew very clearly in my heart that I had to make that distinction clear. They could be similar in many ways, but they had to display differences in certain places. For example, although Zhou Yang had also transmigrated and been reborn, he had been reborn in the womb. In truth, he was no different from a native. Over more than ten years, he had grown up from childhood under subtle influences, with both parents being cultivators. The way he spoke and acted would certainly be exactly like a native's. Zhou Chun, however, had transmigrated as a soul and possessed another body. He had only been in the Cultivation World for a few years and had never personally received this world's upbringing, so his early actions and thoughts would inevitably retain traces of a modern person.
Some readers might say that certain modern terms in the book felt jarring, not realizing that this was precisely Zhou Chun's current uniqueness. Otherwise, would I use such modern terms when writing about the Desert?
Before you continue