LABMY CH108.2

His eyes sparkled with curiosity and confusion. “I’ve never heard of anything that’s closely related to an alchemist.”

Jian Yuanbai chuckled, “The one who waters the spiritual plants in an alchemist’s herb garden.”

Mu Jingzhuo’s smile instantly faded, while a girl at the neighboring table couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Noticing the two of them looking her way, the girl blushed and quickly waved her hands. “Sorry… I… I won’t laugh anymore.”

The girl wasn’t exactly breathtakingly beautiful, but her shy and innocent demeanor, coupled with her rosy cheeks, gave her a certain charm. Dressed in the signature green robe of an alchemist, it was clear she belonged to the Alchemist Guild.

“I’m Wu Ningning. Are you two also heading into the Yunding Mountain Range?”

Jian Yuanbai merely nodded and replied indifferently, “Mm.”

“Yes, my name is…” Mu Jingzhuo hesitated for a moment. “I’m Jian Mu, and this is Senior Mo Liu.”

At the mention of his infamous name, Mu Jingzhuo quickly changed his mind and borrowed his master’s surname instead.

Hearing this, Jian Yuanbai’s hand, which was pouring wine, paused for a moment. He lifted his gaze and gave Mu Jingzhuo a deep look.

At that moment, the system suddenly chimed in, “Oh? This Wu Ningning is one of the future wives of the protagonist, Long AoTian.”

With access to the entire plot, the system naturally knew the names of Long AoTian’s future harem. Wu Ningning was one of them.

However, watching Wu Ningning repeatedly sneaking glances at Jian Yuanbai instead of Mu Jingzhuo, the system couldn’t help but feel amused.

After all, Mu Jingzhuo was still young and delicate, while Jian Yuanbai was tall, handsome, and exuded a powerful aura. Naturally, he was more attractive.

The system’s unexpected remark caused the strange feeling in Jian Yuanbai’s heart to dissipate, only to be replaced by something even more complicated.

Wu Ningning, noticing Jian Yuanbai’s cold response, bit her lip in disappointment. But she quickly added, “If you’re heading into the Yunding Mountain Range, it’s best to buy a map.”

“I happen to have an extra one. Consider it my apology for laughing at you earlier.”

Through years of exploration, cultivators had discovered a relatively safe route through the Yunding Mountain Range. Many mercenary groups had even marked the locations where demonic beasts frequently appeared.

However, these maps were drawn with blood and lives, making them extremely valuable and expensive.

Before Mu Jingzhuo could respond, Jian Yuanbai coldly cut her off, “No need. I’m a mercenary. We’ll buy one from the Mercenary Guild ourselves.”

Unexpectedly, Wu Ningning’s eyes lit up. “Senior is a mercenary? That’s perfect!”

Her cheeks flushed slightly as she continued, “I was just about to hire a mercenary group to escort me through the Yunding Mountain Range. Since I’ve met you here, would you be willing to escort me for a generous reward?”

Jian Yuanbai’s brows furrowed. This female cultivator… not only trying to offer a map but now wanting to use this as an excuse to tag along with his Little Spoon?

Absolutely not.

“I already have a client,” Jian Yuanbai replied coldly, deliberately omitting that his “client” was the young man sitting beside him.

Mu Jingzhuo was about to speak when Jian Yuanbai suddenly picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and brought it to Mu Jingzhuo’s mouth. “Eat.”

“I can eat by myself,” Mu Jingzhuo protested, annoyed.

Using his own chopsticks to feed him, and even bringing the food directly to his mouth — what kind of weird habit was this?

Mu Jingzhuo glanced at Wu Ningning and was about to explain when Jian Yuanbai raised his voice, “Waiter, one serving of Crystal Crunch Meat. He’s paying.”

Mu Jingzhuo’s eyes widened. “Are you insane? I don’t have that kind of money!”

Crystal Crunch Meat was from a mid-tier aquatic beast. The meat was sliced into thin, translucent pieces, with beautiful floral patterns visible on each slice. It was tender and crunchy, hence the name.

Though it was only from a mid-tier beast, its price was outrageous — one serving cost a thousand mid-grade spirit stones.

Seeing Mu Jingzhuo panic, Wu Ningning’s face turned even redder from embarrassment. She didn’t dare approach anymore and quietly dragged her little apprentice back to her seat.

Jian Yuanbai, satisfied with driving her away, placed the Crystal Crunch Meat in front of Mu Jingzhuo and said, “I was joking. I’ll pay.”

“Didn’t your father give me three high-grade spirit stones? Consider this me sharing one with you.”

Mu Jingzhuo, with his cheeks puffed up as he chewed the crunchy meat, mumbled, “Then why not just give me the spirit stone directly?”

“Spending a thousand mid-grade spirit stones on one dish is insane.”

Jian Yuanbai nodded with a good temper. “Fine, I’ll give you another one later.”

After successfully sabotaging one of Mu Jingzhuo’s future wives, Jian Yuanbai felt that compensating with a meal was only fair.

As he watched Mu Jingzhuo happily eating, Jian Yuanbai thought to himself, Having too many wives is bad for Little Spoon anyway. It’s better to nip these things in the bud.

Mu Jingzhuo eyed him suspiciously and warned, “Whatever you’re thinking… it’s absolutely impossible.”

He would never wear that blue dress.

No matter how many spirit stones, it wouldn’t be enough to buy back his dignity.

Jian Yuanbai, seeing that Wu Ningning had already left, felt even more pleased. “Hurry up and eat. After this, we’ll head to the Mercenary Guild to buy a map.”

The sudden change in topic left Mu Jingzhuo momentarily confused.

After leaving the Mercenary Guild, Mu Jingzhuo carefully examined the map.

Based on the marked routes, they couldn’t take the most direct path through the Yunding Mountain Range, as this season was when the Herding Ape Beasts entered their mating season.

The beasts, usually scattered, would gather in large numbers during this time, completely blocking the direct route through the mountains. The only option was to take a detour.

If they moved quickly, they could cross the Yunding Mountain Range in ten days and pass through two cities before reaching Wuwang Peak.

Mu Jingzhuo calculated the time and let out a sigh of relief. “No matter what, I can definitely reach Wuwang Peak within a month.”

Jian Yuanbai nodded but quietly asked the system, “Wait, isn’t this progress a bit too fast? Weren’t we supposed to go through a long journey of trials and growth?”

The system replied sarcastically, “In the original plot, yes. But you’re the one who told Mu Jingzhuo to come find you at Wuwang Peak. Naturally, he’s heading there directly now.”

“Even without the Cloud-Stepping Foal, you could still take a flying boat. The distance between Taishi Mountain City and Wuwang Peak isn’t that far to begin with.”

“What’s done is done. Just go with the flow. Deviations from the original plot are normal. As long as the final outcome remains the same, it doesn’t matter.”

The system, feeling rather smug, thought to itself: Once Mu Jingzhuo reaches Foundation Establishment and starts practicing the “Body Tempering Technique,” things will get interesting.

After all, the system had seen the illustrations in that ancient scroll when Jian Yuanbai read it — and it was eagerly anticipating the “suffering” Jian Yuanbai was about to witness.

For the system, there was nothing more entertaining than watching Jian Yuanbai suffer.

Mu Jingzhuo had a suspicion in his heart, and his eyes lit up with excitement. “Let’s go take a look.”

“Hold on tight.” Jian Yuanbai picked him up, leapt into the air with the agility of an arrow soaring through the sky, and landed steadily at the entrance of a cliff cave, a hundred meters away.

As they ventured inside, they indeed saw a Cloud-Stepping Foal and, beside it, a peculiar-looking fruit surrounded by soft, cloud-like white fluff.

The Cloud-Stepping Foal, despite being a low-level demonic beast with no ranking, possessed the ability to walk on air — something that even many mid-tier demonic beasts couldn’t achieve. Legend had it that this was due to the foal carrying the bloodline of the mythical beast, the Qilin.

In the eyes of mortals, the Qilin was a divine beast, but for cultivators, it was merely a high-tier demonic beast.

Whether the Cloud-Stepping Foal truly carried the Qilin bloodline remained unknown, but the fact that it could locate the Golden Cloud Qilin Fruit was undeniable.

The fruit, wrapped in white, cotton-like fluff, faintly revealed a trace of golden light from within.

Mu Jingzhuo chuckled, “This time, we really have to thank that young city lord for sending the Cloud-Stepping Foal right into our hands.”

The Golden Cloud Qilin Fruit was a treasure that could help cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage advance by half a realm. Unexpectedly, they stumbled upon it with such ease.

Mu Jingzhuo carefully plucked the fruit and handed it to Jian Yuanbai. “Here.”

However, Jian Yuanbai didn’t accept it. Instead, he turned to look at the newcomers.

“Captain, Young Captain! It’s those two from yesterday!” Standing at the cave entrance was the mercenary who had persistently tried to buy their foal the day before.

Alongside the mercenary were five others, including a stern-looking middle-aged man with an imposing aura and a young man by his side. These two were presumably the captain and young captain of the One-Eyed Mercenary Group.

A total of six people: two at the Nascent Soul stage, three at the Golden Core stage, and the young captain at the Foundation Establishment stage.

The middle-aged man stepped forward and extended his hand toward Mu Jingzhuo. “Young man, as long as you hand over the item in your hand, we won’t make things difficult for you.”

“I know the person beside you is a Nascent Soul cultivator, but we have two Nascent Souls and three Golden Cores here. You won’t be able to escape.”

“We are from the One-Eyed Mercenary Group. We always keep our word. If we say we won’t harm you, we won’t.”

Jian Yuanbai secretly transmitted his voice to Mu Jingzhuo, “In a moment, I’ll collapse this place. You take the Cloud-Stepping Foal and escape during the chaos.”

As he spoke, he discreetly handed a round object to Mu Jingzhuo. “When the cave collapses, throw this out and shout loudly.”

Mu Jingzhuo grew anxious and wanted to tell Jian Yuanbai that this wouldn’t work, but as a high-level Qi Refining cultivator, he couldn’t use voice transmission. Speaking out loud would only alert the enemy.

A sense of helplessness surged through Mu Jingzhuo once again.

Jian Yuanbai smiled faintly, “We can give you the item. As long as you let us go, everything is negotiable.”

The captain of the One-Eyed Mercenary Group nodded. “Of course.”

Mu Jingzhuo sneered inwardly. “Of course, my ass.” Once they obtained the treasure, they would surely kill them to prevent any leaks.

After all, the Golden Cloud Qilin Fruit couldn’t be consumed immediately after acquisition.

At Jian Yuanbai’s signal, a powerful spiritual pressure erupted, causing the spiritual energy around the cliff to surge wildly. Just as the mercenaries’ expressions changed and they rushed forward, Mu Jingzhuo hurled the object in his hand. “If you want it, go jump off the cliff and get it!”

The captain of the One-Eyed Mercenary Group reached out to stop it, but Jian Yuanbai intercepted him with a sudden flash of movement.

The other mercenaries leapt onto their flying eagles and dove down in pursuit. “Captain! That’s not it! The item is still in their hands!”

By then, Mu Jingzhuo had already mounted the Cloud-Stepping Foal and dashed off in the opposite direction at lightning speed. He couldn’t fly higher, as leaving the cliff’s altitude would cause him to plummet.

Flying in the air would be too conspicuous, so he could only dive into the dense forest to conceal himself.

From afar, Mu Jingzhuo glanced back. Jian Yuanbai was being relentlessly pursued by the mercenaries. Although Nascent Soul cultivators could traverse the air, the mercenaries were clearly forcing him to descend.

To prevent the mercenaries from chasing him, Jian Yuanbai didn’t even attempt to escape.

The Cloud-Stepping Foal was incredibly fast, and in mere moments, Mu Jingzhuo had lost sight of the battle behind him.

“Damn it!” Mu Jingzhuo cursed under his breath. After temporarily escaping danger, he stopped atop a tree and quickly pulled out a small medicinal pouch from his belt, gritting his teeth as he poured the powder all over his clothes.

Back at the cliff, Jian Yuanbai smiled faintly as he faced the One-Eyed Mercenary Group surrounding him.

“We won’t kill you,” the mercenary captain said coldly. “But if your friend doesn’t come back to save you, I can’t guarantee you won’t wish you were dead.”

Jian Yuanbai chuckled. “He doesn’t need to come back.”

The only reason he told Mu Jingzhuo to run was that he couldn’t reveal his true strength in front of his “little spoon.”

He twisted his wrist. “After all, the ones who will die… are you.”

Just as Jian Yuanbai was about to unleash his suppressed Great Ascension-stage spiritual pressure, the ground suddenly trembled violently. A massive cloud of dust surged toward them from the distance.

Amidst the dust, a white horse emerged. Mu Jingzhuo, hunched low on the Cloud-Stepping Foal, suddenly appeared in the forest, charging forward at breakneck speed. Branches slashed across his face, drawing blood, yet his eyes gleamed with determination.

Behind him, hundreds of berserk Red-Eyed Ape Beasts were chasing in a frenzy.

The One-Eyed Mercenary Group, stunned, turned to flee.

“Get on!” Mu Jingzhuo shouted as he raced to Jian Yuanbai’s side and grabbed his hand.