Chapter 17: Strength for Her Child

“Host, calm down. All the cultivators in here are at Foundation Establishment Stage. With the talismans you have left, as long as you don’t run into a dozen people at once, they can’t hurt you,” 006 said.

“Yes, yes, yes. As her Shizun, as her Mama, I can’t fall apart. I can’t drag Linlang down anymore. I have to protect her properly, and she mustn’t get hurt again!” Huo Zhi pinched herself as a mental pep talk. While maintaining her cultivation technique, she was slightly better than when she wasn’t actively circulating it and quickly calmed down.

Strength for her child—if she wasn’t strong, her daughter would be bullied!

While Huo Zhi was psyching herself up, Linlang’s face naturally showed no expression. This situation was within expectations. It probably wasn’t just Qin Ceyi anymore; other sects would likely catch wind and act too.

Fine, let them come in droves. She wondered if half a year would be enough time to reap the harvest.

“Linlang, don’t be afraid. Now that we know, we just need to disguise ourselves. No one will recognize my aura unless they already know me. Transform back, get dressed, and let’s leave this place.” Adjusting her own emotions, Huo Zhi turned and comforted Linlang, appearing incredibly composed and reliable.

“…Mn.” Linlang gave a one-syllable reply, watching Huo Zhi with a sense of wonder. What a quick change in demeanor—now she was all serious and had an elder’s air, comforting her with gentle yet firm words. She really did have two faces.

Huo Zhi turned to give Linlang space to change and saw the cultivator whose head had been burned to a crisp. He was still smoking, and the storage bags hanging from his waist were very conspicuous.

“Host, this cultivator has three storage bags. Also, his clothes and boots are custom-made with runic enhancements. All of it can be salvaged and reused,” 006 reminded Huo Zhi.

Huo Zhi shut her eyes, too afraid to look, feeling a bit squeamish.

The original novel mentioned that the cultivation world was a dog-eat-dog place and also described Mo Zhenfeng building his fortune by looting corpses and picking up gear. Now she’d stumbled upon such a situation, and she did want to loot him, but…

She was scared!

“All you have are basic talismans. A ten-meter Ice Escape Talisman is useless against real experts… Do you want Linlang to get hurt again? What noble reason do you have for not picking up gear?! Coward! Go!” Huo Zhi screamed internally, clenching her fists tightly.

“…Forgive me, forgive me!” After psyching herself up, Huo Zhi steeled her nerves and walked over. Moving as fast as she could, she grabbed the three storage bags and yanked them off, immediately retreating several steps. She stumbled back into a warm, solid body, which startled her. She spun around to see Linlang.

Linlang was already dressed, her hair in a high ponytail. She wore the red Talisman Robe Huo Zhi had prepared for her—a form-fitting martial outfit that perfectly emphasized her figure, slender waist and long legs. She looked coldly gorgeous yet dashing.

“Cough, well, he’s dead. We can’t let things go to waste. We need to wear veiled hats. Your red hair is too recognizable,” Huo Zhi said, snapping out of a one-second daze and steadying her expression. She pulled two veiled hats from her own storage bag.

“Mn.” Linlang nodded, taking the hat. She’d been thinking that if Huo Zhi didn’t know to loot the body, she would do it herself. She hadn’t expected Huo Zhi to know about looting.

Huo Zhi was holding all the storage bags. Linlang’s eyes flickered briefly. Well, fine. If she took them, she took them.

Linlang put on the veiled hat. The bamboo-woven hat was decorated with white gauze that reached her waist, covering her entire upper body once worn.

“Let’s cover this man with rocks so that…” Huo Zhi, having put on her own veiled hat, started suggesting to Linlang that they cover the cultivator’s corpse. But she was cut off by a rustling, scuttling sound. Turning, she saw that at some point, several fiery red, crab-like demon beasts had crawled out of the lava pool. Using their large pincers, they grabbed the cultivator and dragged him into the magma. Black smoke immediately billowed up, and the lava churned even more violently.

“…” Huo Zhi gasped, frozen in fear.

“Let’s go, quickly!” Linlang urged Huo Zhi as she saw one crab crawling onto the rock.

Neither of them had recovered yet, so fighting wasn’t ideal. Huo Zhi, also terrified of the crab that looked like it was made of red-hot iron, hastily grabbed Linlang’s arm and activated the Ice Escape Talisman.

Perhaps because the surrounding fire element was too strong and directly countered ice, the talisman that could teleport ten meters outside only managed five meters here. Including the activation time, it was actually faster to just run.

“Host, don’t use Ice Escape Talismans anymore. Ice-Type Spiritual Qi is extremely scarce in the Vermilion Flame Secret Realm. Use it as sparingly as possible. Think of those talismans as Spiritual Qi reserves. You don’t have any Ice Spirit Stones on you, and once depleted, they’ll be very hard to replenish,” 006 warned.

Huo Zhi didn’t need 006’s urging; she had no desire to use the Ice Escape Talisman anyway. The range was too short.

She simply pulled Linlang along and ran for a distance, reaching an area with more rocks and none of those creatures in sight. She breathed a slight sigh of relief.

“Let’s rest here for a bit.” Huo Zhi said to Linlang, first vigilantly checking the surroundings. Finding no suspicious creatures, she finally brought out the storage bags and examined their contents.

Two of the storage bags were filled with Fire-Type Spirit Plants the cultivator had harvested in the Secret Realm, along with some Fire-Type Demon Beasts—the crab from earlier was one of them.

The useful items were in the last storage bag: a map of the Vermilion Flame Secret Realm marking the characteristics of each zone and what was worth harvesting or hunting, plus fifty to sixty Yellow-Grade talismans and over ten Profound-Grade ones.

Among the talismans were Healing Talismans, Binding Talismans, Teleportation Talismans, Protective Talismans, and more.

“These talismans are slightly more advanced than our basic ones, mostly Fire-Attribute. You keep them and use them. These Teleportation Talismans are for critical moments. And this is a Protective Talisman—it can activate a Protective Barrier three times…” Huo Zhi selected some talismans to give Linlang and explained their functions.

Ding. Linlang’s Happiness Value: -5600, 006 reported.

Huo Zhi felt Linlang must like these talismans, so she gave her nearly all of them, keeping only two Binding Talismans for herself.

In no time, Linlang’s Happiness Value rose to -4900. Linlang was happy, so Huo Zhi was happy too.

Linlang silently accepted the talismans from Huo Zhi, a complicated feeling in her heart.

Even blood brothers would fight fiercely over spoils, yet Huo Zhi was generously giving them away.

Granted, most were Fire-Attribute, but many had additional properties allowing them to be activated regardless of the user’s Spiritual Qi attribute.

A Yellow-Grade Spatial Teleportation Talisman had a market price of around a hundred Spirit Stones. It could teleport an object weighing over two hundred pounds for at least ten miles—a lifesaving talisman. There was only one, and Huo Zhi gave it to her. Did she really trust that Linlang would grab her and take her along when teleporting?

There was also a Profound-Grade Protective Talisman that could withstand three attacks from an Early Core Formation cultivator. Huo Zhi gave that to Linlang too.

Previously, Linlang thought Huo Zhi’s kindness had ulterior motives. Huo Zhi’s mention of cooperating to escape had let Linlang rationalize her suspicions into a logical frame. But during this escape, Huo Zhi was willing to be captured rather than let Linlang be caught, and by the lava pool, her first instinct was to fling Linlang out first…

This had long since surpassed the scope of a mere partnership.

Now Huo Zhi was handing over practically every lifesaving talisman she found to Linlang. She really wasn’t treating her as an outsider.

Huo Zhi was affected by the Mother Talisman; she shouldn’t be susceptible to the Love Poison Talisman’s influence. In the previous life, Mo Zhenfeng had barely paid her any attention.

Could it be that Huo Zhi felt genuine feelings for her?

“Linlang, look at this map. So this place is called the Seething Lava Zone, and that thing earlier was a Lava Crab. It can be used to make fire-type Talisman Artifacts. It looked pretty terrifying, but this storage bag already has a few, so let’s not hunt them. Let’s check other areas. How about this place? Next to the Seething Lava Zone is the Fiery Trees and Silver Flowers Zone. It has lots of Fire-Attribute Spirit Plants and only one demon beast listed—Fire Ants…” Huo Zhi said, holding up the map.

“Mn.” Linlang nodded. The Underground Palace of the Vermilion Flame Secret Realm was in the Fiery Trees and Silver Flowers Zone; all the important treasures were there. If they could get in, it would be a significant opportunity.

The Vermilion Flame Secret Realm got its name because it was a spatial Secret Realm left behind by a fire-element great power. It contained scattered fire-element treasures, along with naturally occurring fire-type demon beasts, spirit plants, and so on.

Those were all surface-level things. The core was in the Underground Palace. If nothing unexpected happened, the people from the Artifact Talisman Sect had already found their way and would open the palace this time, taking many of its treasures.

The Seething Lava Zone was somewhat unstable and intensely hot. The rocks vibrated constantly, and lava flowed like water. After resting a bit, the two followed the map and headed toward the Fiery Trees and Silver Flowers Zone.

Huo Zhi remained highly vigilant along the way, afraid of more unknown creatures popping out.

They hadn’t gone far when Huo Zhi spotted two cultivators traveling together. The other party seemed to have spotted them too and was rapidly closing in.

The two cultivators moved extremely fast; Huo Zhi couldn’t evade them even with an Ice Escape Talisman.

“Linlang and I are both wearing veiled hats now. Those two are from another sect; surely they won’t attack us on sight?” Huo Zhi thought. By now, the two cultivators were within visible range. They seemed to be wearing Talisman Artifacts that boosted their speed. One of them, even faster, circled around and arrived behind them, effectively trapping them front and back.

“Fairies, we are the Twin Heroes of the Azure Profound Sect. I trust you’ve heard the name? We have no desire to be ruthless. Hand over your storage bags, and we’ll let you go,” the cultivator in front of them declared, clutching a talisman. His tone was quite arrogant.

“Brazen robbery!” Huo Zhi was alarmed.

“Host, this is the cultivation world. The law of the jungle rules. Even without that bounty order, two women with weak auras like you and Linlang—who wouldn’t try to rob you?” 006 retorted.

“…” Huo Zhi was speechless. These so-called Twin Heroes—she had no idea if they were strong or not; she’d never seen them mentioned in the original novel.

Strong or not, she had to brace herself and face them.

“Of course I’ve heard of the two esteemed Daoists’ great names. I admit my misfortune. Take the storage bags, just don’t harm our lives!” Huo Zhi said in a soft, yielding voice.

“Linlang, don’t be afraid. I’ll deal with them!” After speaking, Huo Zhi began moving her hands while transmitting this message to Linlang via Sound Transmission.

Linlang glanced at Huo Zhi’s slightly trembling legs, sensing her fear.

Linlang had detected these two cultivators long before, and guessed they would come to rob them.

Now that Huo Zhi was taking charge, Linlang didn’t act. She merely flicked her finger, sending a nearly imperceptible Nether Soul Thread from her fingertip into the fast cultivator behind them.

Huo Zhi had Binding Talismans. While putting on a show of verbal compliance, she secretly activated one beneath her hands.

“Move faster!” the cultivator in front urged.

Huo Zhi unfastened one storage bag and tossed it over. At the same moment, the Spiritual Qi Rope from the activated Binding Talisman shot out, entangling him. In her other hand, she had a Freezing Talisman; activating it, she threw it at the cultivator behind them.

The one blocking the front had been bluffing precisely to avoid wasting talismans. Seeing his reputation had worked, though still cautious, he hadn’t even activated a talisman for himself. Hearing Huo Zhi’s soft voice, he was even feeling a bit lecherous, already thinking about robbing them of more than just their belongings. He never imagined this soft-spoken female cultivator would act so ruthlessly, directly binding him!

The fast cultivator behind them originally had time to react, but disturbed by Linlang’s Nether Soul Thread, he was frozen solid by Huo Zhi’s Freezing Talisman.

Having neutralized two cultivators in an instant, Huo Zhi’s heart pounded wildly. Her palms and forehead were drenched in sweat, but she couldn’t believe how smoothly it had gone.

“So I’m actually this badass!” Huo Zhi mentally praised herself, not daring to waste any time. She tightened the Binding Talisman’s restraint, quickly ran over, snatched the talisman from the bound cultivator’s hand, and then, with the ease born of experience, ripped the storage bag from his waist.

“You bitch! You’re asking for death!” The cultivator was so furious he tried to leap up, but Huo Zhi directed the Spiritual Qi Rope to wrap around his face as well, sealing his mouth shut.

Huo Zhi didn’t waste time on him and hurriedly ran over to the frozen cultivator.

Linlang watched from the side as Huo Zhi scurried back and forth, inexplicably finding it a little cute, as if there were an invisible tail wagging with joy.

She had been so clearly terrified just moments ago, yet now she was quite bold.

This woman…

The cultivator in the Freezing Talisman had simply passed out, which made things simpler. After breaking the ice, Huo Zhi took his storage bag and a belt that boosted speed, then dragged the two men together. Taking a special rope from a storage bag, she tied them both up securely and gagged the conscious one by stuffing his mouth.

After binding them, Huo Zhi retrieved the Binding Talisman—it still had a few more uses left.

With that done, Huo Zhi pulled Linlang away without looking back.

“Maybe I’m a born bandit. Damn, cold and ruthless—that’s me!” Huo Zhi thought as she expressionlessly led Linlang away.

“Host is mighty, host is the best! Linlang’s Happiness Value went up again, to -4600,” 006 reported.

As they moved, Huo Zhi sorted through the storage bags. These two were much richer than the first cultivator. They were full of spirit plants, spirit beast materials, and over a hundred talismans combined.

Huo Zhi once again divided the useful talismans. Giving talismans to Linlang increased her sense of security and raised her Happiness Value, so Huo Zhi naturally gave her more.

Then, amid a series of dings from 006, the Happiness Value shot up to -3900.

“This belt is for me?” Linlang asked when Huo Zhi, after cleaning it with a Cleaning Talisman, handed her the speed-enhancing belt.

It was a Profound-Grade Talisman Artifact built for continuous use, worth at least two thousand Spirit Stones. Speed-enhancing ones were particularly rare. Judging by that man’s earlier speed, it likely boosted speed by thirty to forty percent—another lifesaving treasure.

“You can’t transform into a Cinnabar Bird right now, and your cultivation is weaker than mine. So obviously, you use it. Don’t disdain it; it’s already cleaned. Wear it inside so no one notices,” Huo Zhi stated as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“…” Linlang said nothing, silently tying the Talisman Artifact around her waist.

Ding. Linlang’s Happiness Value: -3500, 006 announced excitedly.

Today was a bumper harvest for Happiness Value. Huo Zhi was quite pleased, though she didn’t relax on this front just because the value was still negative. She still needed to work hard.

The two continued their journey, encountering several groups along the way. If those groups avoided them or pretended not to see them, Huo Zhi wouldn’t provoke them. But if they came looking for a fight to rob them, Huo Zhi was definitely not polite.

After being the target of a few more holdups, Huo Zhi and Linlang accumulated a decent stock of various talismans. Huo Zhi’s confidence soared; she felt her combat ability wasn’t half bad.

They journeyed for five or six more days. As they neared the Fiery Trees and Silver Flowers Zone, they encountered another pair of cultivators traveling together. This time, it was a man and a woman.

While on guard, Huo Zhi was shocked when she saw the two’s faces. One of them was an old acquaintance: Mo Zhenfeng.

Upon seeing Huo Zhi and Linlang, Mo Zhenfeng’s eyes lit up slightly, and his sleeve twitched. Inside, his Fortune Guiding Talisman was trembling with excitement, pointing straight in Huo Zhi and Linlang’s direction.