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Chapter 25: A Pack of Dogs

Yun Ruoyan quickly forgot about the beastkin siblings as she forged onward with Lin Qingxue and Lin Qingchen.

“Ruoyan, look at all the core essence herbs growing here! Think of how much core essence powder we can make!” As soon as the trio rounded another corner and saw a lush patch of greenery up ahead, Lin Qingxue’s eyes spotted something valuable.

Core essence herbs were the vital ingredient for creating core essence powder, an inferior version of the core foundation pills that had the miraculous ability of being able to bring back the dying. However, because of how easy it was to manufacture in bulk, its use was far more widespread.

For example, during this expedition, just about everyone had brought along a few pills or medical supplies with them in case of dire need, and core essence powder was all but a necessity.

And because of the opening of the imperial realm, the whole kingdom’s stock of the powder was in short supply.

“Let’s get a whole bagful! I’m sure Grandfather’ll be very pleased to see all these ingredients.”

“Yep! Luckily, we have this storage pouch, or we wouldn’t be able to carry all these herbs back with us.” Lin Qingchen patted her bag of holding.

The bag that Lin Zainan had given her was able to store things up to ten times its size, but it was incomparable to Yun Ruoyan’s pocket dimension.

“Mistress, mistress,” Qiuqiu’s voice piped up from Yun Ruoyan’s mind once more.

“What’s the matter?”

“You should store some of the herbs in here too! Who knows if you’ll be able to use them someday?”

Yun Ruoyan had been focusing on her surroundings, and she hadn’t thought of this point. When she was little, she was told that she had the talent to become a pillmaster, but the talent had faded after her poisoning.

But now that her grandfather was helping her come up with an antidote, wasn’t it possible that her pillmaking talent could be restored? In that case, she could become a pillmaster, just like her grandfather!

She already had a top-grade furnace in her pocket dimension, so as long as she prepared some herbs, she’d be able to practice making pills too.

“Alright, let’s make the most of this opportunity and gather some herbs for myself.”

While Lin Qingxue and Lin Qingchen weren’t paying attention, she also gathered some herbs and placed it into her pocket dimension.

“Shh.” Lin Qingxue suddenly made a shushing gesture. “There’s a big fat bunny over there.”

Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen looked toward her finger. Approaching the herbs was, as claimed, a big fat bunny, lowering its head to chew on the herbs.

“It’s a magical beast,” Lin Qingchen whispered, “One that was fed on core essence herbs.”

“In that case, it must be both tasty and nourishing! I’m going to go for it!” Lin Qingxue unsheathed her twin daggers once more and shifted slightly in the direction of the bunny.

Suddenly, the bunny’s ears moved, evidently having detected her motion. It raised its head, its red eyes staring all around, before it suddenly fled into the woods nearby.

“Hey, don’t run!” Lin Qingxue shouted as she ran into the woods.

“Qingxue, come back!” Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen quickly called out from behind her, but she had vanished into the woods in an instant.

Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen quickly followed suit.

“Bunny, if you keep running, I won’t go easy on you.” Lin Qingxue’s voice came from their front, and the two girls quickly ran toward the source of the voice.

“Qingxue, stop chasing after it! It’s dangerous!” Lin Qingchen slowly fell behind, panting. On the other hand, Yun Ruoyan’s body was lithe and light. She soon caught up to Lin Qingxue, but the scene in front of her left her mouth agape!

Lin Qingxue clutched the bunny in her hands, facing a pack of over twenty magical beasts that appeared to be hunting dogs.

“Long-maned firehounds!” Qiuqiu exclaimed. “Pack creatures by nature. Although they’re low-tier, their numbers shouldn’t be underestimated.”

By this time, Lin Qingchen had rushed over, and she too stilled at the sight.

The three girls held their breath as one.

Lin Qingxue slowly turned toward her two sisters, revealing a despondent and pleading expression.

“Qingxue, release the bunny,” Yun Ruoyan quickly murmured. If the bunny could distract the hound pack’s attention for a moment, they would have a chance to escape.

Given their strength, they would be seeking death if they tried to face the pack head-on.

Lin Qingxue nodded obediently and loosened her grip. Freed, the bunny quickly jumped out of Lin Qingxue’s lap, hurriedly running away from the predators ahead of it.

But the hounds moved even more quickly, and one of them leaped out of the pack and caught it in its mouth in the blink of an eye. As for the rest of the hounds, they continued staring at the three girls as they slowly encircled them.

Yun Ruoyan, Lin Qingchen, and Lin Qingxue stood back-to-back, each girl unsheathing their weapon. Yun Ruoyan’s was a regular sword from her family stock, Lin Qingxue’s a set of twin daggers, and Lin Qingchen’s, a whip she kept around her waist.

Lin Qingxue and Lin Qingchen were both fifth-rank blademasters, and, in terms of cultivation alone, should have been stronger than the third-rank Yun Ruoyan.

However, Yun Ruoyan’s cultivation seemed to belie her actual strength. Given her childhood reputation of being a genius cultivator, the Lin sisters still thought very highly of her, even if her talent had supposedly drained away.

This was why they’d both listened to her so obediently.

Yun Ruoyan looked at the hound pack without blinking. One of the larger ones’ eyes suddenly glimmered, and Yun Ruoyan caught the movement of the light.

That hound went directly for her, and Yun Ruoyan immediately triggered her battle intent.

The magical beasts were intelligent, and they even had the ability to identify their opponents’ cultivation. This hound must have seen that Yun Ruoyan’s cultivation was the lowest of the three, and had targeted her specifically because of it.

Unfortunately, the opponent it had chosen was actually the strongest.

Afraid that the hound would accidentally hurt her two sisters, Yun Ruoyan didn’t use her footwork to dodge the attack. Instead, she parried with her sword.

Yun Ruoyan’s sword clashed with the hound’s claws. She didn’t want to borrow the bracelet’s power unless it was absolutely necessary. After blocking its claws with her sword, she lifted her leg and kicked it in its exposed underbelly.

The hound flew a few feet up into the air and landed in a heap on the ground, keening. Rapidly, the other hounds split up into three groups and began attacking each girl separately.

Lin Qingxue and Lin Qingchen both drew their weapons and began fighting with the hounds. Hounds were quickly flung aside left and right, but the others in the pack would swiftly take its place.

Based on their cultivation, it wouldn’t be a problem for any of them to take on two or three hounds at once. With six or seven, however, they would fall almost immediately if their endurance were to give out.

Furthermore, it was steadily getting dark, and the territory would only get more dangerous past nightfall.

It looks like I’ll have to use the bracelet’s power. After kicking yet another hound aside, Yun Ruoyan twisted the bracelet on her wrist.

Under Qiuqiu’s guidance, Yun Ruoyan had gradually become able to use the bracelet’s strength at will. As she twisted the bracelet, a gust of strength permeated Yun Ruoyan’s body.

When the larger hound pounced on her once more, Yun Ruoyan herself leaped up and impaled the hound with her sword.

“Ah!” Right then, Lin Qingxue suddenly screamed.

Yun Ruoyan quickly shook the hound’s corpse aside as she turned back. Lin Qingxue was being simultaneously attacked by five hounds. The sixth was in the air, aiming at her petite waist.

Yun Ruoyan was about to save her, but the three of them had each split up during the fighting, and she wouldn’t be able to reach her in time.

Lin Qingchen, who was slightly closer, was herself besieged by the hounds.

Yun Ruoyan looked on in despair as the hound approached when, all of a sudden, a sharp arrow came flying from behind Lin Qingxue’s shaking body. Whistling through the air, it struck the pouncing hound’s neck, and it fell to the ground mere inches from Lin Qingxue.

Quickly after, a shadow darted out from the woods---it was none other than Zhuo Yifeng, whom they’d separated from not long prior! His movement was rapid, and his arrows swiftly pierced the persistent hounds, killing them in one shot.

Rapidly, four had died at his hands.

Tired after the seemingly endless fight, Lin Qingxue and Lin Qingchen’s stamina gave out. They huddled together as they struggled against the hounds’ onslaught.

Accessing the bracelet’s power once more, her sword cutting the wind itself, Yun Ruoyan rapidly killed the hounds that surrounded her.

Yun Ruoyan and Zhuo Yifeng gradually grew closer, one with her sword and the other with his bow. Finally, as night fell, they finally finished cleaning up the last of the hounds.

“Qingxue, Qingchen, are the two of you alright?!” Yun Ruoyan sheathed her blade as she headed over to her sisters.

“Yes, we’re fine,” Lin Qingchen answered.

On the other hand, Lin Qingxue walked to Zhuo Yifeng’s side and said, “You’re injured!”

Zhuo Yifeng glanced at a scratch on his wrist. “It’s just a little wound, don’t worry about it.”

“A little wound?! There’s so much blood!” Lin Qingxue hurriedly took out a bottle from her pouch, poured the powder in it on Zhuo Yifeng’s wound, and bandaged it with a handkerchief.

Yun Ruoyan looked on as Lin Qingxue treated Zhuo Yifeng, asking coolly, “Why have you followed us here? Where’s your sister?”

“We didn’t follow you!” Zhuo Lin’er’s small body popped up from a nearby brush, and she walked to Zhuo Yifeng’s back.

“What a coincidence it must have been!” Yun Ruoyan clearly didn’t trust the duo: after all, they’d gone in two separate directions, so how had they ended up together in the end?

“Ruoyan...” Lin Qingxue gazed at Yun Ruoyan beseechingly.

Yun Ruoyan relented. “Regardless, I really am grateful for your help. Otherwise, my sister would have been gravely injured.” As she said this, she handed the beastkin siblings a pouch.

“This is core essence powder. We’ll be in the territory for at least ten days, so I’m sure it’ll come in handy.”

The two siblings were dressed so roughly that she almost couldn’t bear to look at them. Although core essence powder wasn’t much to her, it was surely an invaluable commodity to them.