"Don't move! If either of you moves again, you'll both die!"
A Huo wanted to save Chen Mu, but when he heard the shout, he had no choice but to stop.
Just then, a woman in a gauzy purple dress came running over from the distance. She wore a veil over her face, and her figure was graceful and her manner dignified. She didn't look like someone from the Wilderness.
"Senior sister, what happened? Why is there such a big fire here?"
"Hmph!"
The woman holding a sword to Chen Mu's neck wore a gauzy blue dress. She kicked him to the ground and said angrily,
"What terrible luck! These two little brats destroyed the Ice Soul Grass we'd been guarding for half a month, all to kill the Yin Baleful Intent Demonic Tree!"
"What?!"
The woman in purple hurried to check beneath a large tree nearby. A moment later, an angry expression appeared on her face as well.
"Damn it! Without the Ice Soul Grass, what are we supposed to tell Master when we get back?"
The woman in blue's face was as dark as still water as she stared fixedly at Chen Mu.
"Who are you? What tribe are you from?"
If Chen Mu and A Huo hadn't been so strong at such a young age, making her worry about offending some powerful force behind them, she would have killed them both with her sword long ago.
But Chen Mu knew full well that he had no powerful background. Most of Chen Village's wealth had been built up by him.
Hearing the woman in blue ask that, he didn't dare answer.
"Speak! Or I'll kill you right now!"
The woman in blue spoke sharply, already growing impatient.
Chen Mu's thoughts raced, and he had no choice but to say, "Who I am isn't important! What matters is that you've lost the Ice Soul Grass. Even if you kill us, it won't do you any good."
The woman in blue's face turned cold, and she was about to strike.
"Wait! I know there's something nearby that might make up for your loss!"
Chen Mu hadn't expected the woman in blue to be so ruthless, so he hurriedly added that.
The woman in blue finally stopped. "What is it?"
"Holy Soul Grass!"
Chen Mu spoke as if he knew exactly what he was talking about.
By then, the other woman in purple had also come over and heard what Chen Mu said. She excitedly grabbed the woman in blue. "Senior sister, Holy Soul Grass is far more precious than Ice Soul Grass! If we can bring it back, Master not only won't punish us, but might even reward us."
A trace of excitement also appeared in the woman in blue's eyes. She said coldly to Chen Mu, "Speak! Where is the Holy Soul Grass?"
In truth, Chen Mu had no idea where to find Holy Soul Grass. But yesterday, he had discovered a waterfall nearby where a large crowd had gathered, apparently digging for some heavenly treasure. To make it more enticing, he simply claimed it was Holy Soul Grass, the most famous treasure on Ghost Yin Mountain.
"It's in that direction, but there's a very powerful demonic beast guarding it. We knew we had no hope, so we left."
Chen Mu still looked like a young boy, after all. He spoke with such composure and knew that a demonic beast guarded the Holy Soul Grass that the woman in blue immediately believed about eighty percent of what he said.
"Come on! Lead the way, and don't try any tricks. If there really is Holy Soul Grass there, I'll let you go."
Chen Mu immediately got to his feet and brushed the dust off himself.
"Big sisters, my younger brother and I only came to Ghost Yin Mountain to gather Soul-Hosting Wood.
"How about this? Let my brother take some Soul-Hosting Wood and leave first. His cultivation is too low. If he comes along, I'm afraid he'll only hold you up."
The woman in blue looked A Huo over and sneered. "You've got quite a few tricks up your sleeve! You can take some Soul-Hosting Wood, but neither of you is leaving. Don't worry. With my junior sister taking him along, your brother won't hold anything up!"
Chen Mu had no choice but to shrug indifferently and tell A Huo to get the Soul-Hosting Wood.
A Huo's sword was exceptionally sharp. The charred trunk was like paper beneath its blade, and in less than five minutes, he had cut out four or five pieces of heartwood.
"A Huo, that's enough!"
Seeing that A Huo wanted to take more, Chen Mu called for him to stop.
A small piece of Soul-Hosting Wood was actually enough to make the printer. He had only taken this much as a precaution.
After they had collected the Soul-Hosting Wood, the women in blue and purple each grabbed Chen Mu and A Huo by the shoulder respectively, carrying them along.
Both women were evidently Martial Masters and moved at incredible speed. In less than half an hour, they reached the waterfall where Chen Mu had spotted the crowd the day before.
"Someone's there!"
The woman in blue was a Martial Master expert, as expected. As soon as he arrived near the waterfall, he heard voices and immediately pulled Chen Mu to a high spot to hide.
"This... I don't know either. I came here ten days ago, and there was no one here then."
Chen Mu hurriedly explained.
His original plan had naturally been to make the woman in blue fight that crowd. He hadn't expected it to fall through just like that, and felt somewhat disappointed inwardly.
The woman in blue glanced at him but didn't say much. She pulled Chen Mu along, slowly approaching the crowd.
"Roar~~!"
A furious roar rang out in the distance. A giant bear covered in golden fur burst out from inside the waterfall and began fighting the dozen or so warriors in animal skins surrounding it.
"It's an Earth-Splitting Bear! There's actually an Earth-Splitting Bear guarding this place. It looks like this little fellow was telling the truth!"
The woman in purple spoke excitedly.
Earth-Splitting Bears were proud by nature and disliked cold, Yin spiritual materials. In all of Yin Ghost Mountain, there were hardly any things he cared about, so the possibility that Holy Soul Grass was inside was undoubtedly very high.
"Let's go! The Holy Soul Grass is very likely inside the waterfall behind the Earth-Splitting Bear. Let's hurry, before it gets taken."
The woman in blue acted decisively. She dropped Chen Mu, then leaped across the tree trunks a few times and rushed into the waterfall with the woman in purple.
Chen Mu breathed a sigh of relief and led A Huo down from the tree. They found a dense thicket nearby and hid in it.
"A Mu, aren't we leaving?"
They had been lucky indeed to survive this calamity, and even A Huo was a little shaken. If the Earth-Splitting Bear hadn't happened to burst out just then, it was hard to say whether those two women would have let them go in the end.
"Heh! As the saying goes, fortune and glory are found in the jaws of danger. I want to see whether what they're fighting over really is Holy Soul Grass."
It was the first time Chen Mu had suffered such a great loss at someone else's hands, and he was now full of resentment toward the woman in blue. With the allure of the Holy Soul Grass as well, he decided to stay and watch how things unfolded.