I made the entire cultivation world cry

Chapter 128 Jade Bamboo Forest (Seeking monthly votes)
As night fell, the group of five finally left Xuandu Temple and arrived at the back mountain.

The path winds down the back mountain, and in the distance, the bamboo forest stretches for more than ten miles. Thousands of green bamboos stand straight up to the sky, their trunks as thick as ancient trees, and their joints gleam with a cold, jade-like light.

The night wind blew through the forest, but the bamboo leaves did not rustle or shake; only the bamboo shadows moved slowly on the ground, like some kind of living thing.

Tuk Tuk!

Tuk Tuk!

A series of knocking sounds came from deep within the bamboo forest, their rhythm subtly matching the heartbeats of Qin Yunze and his companions. Each knock made their souls tighten.

Qin Yunze stared intently at the bamboo forest and said, "That bamboo forest is strange. Let's rest here tonight and go in at dawn."

The group nodded in agreement, as if they had been granted a pardon.

They were exhausted; they had fought more battles in one day than in the previous year.

It was only at this moment that they realized that with Jiang Yi as their logistical support, the fighting was exhilarating, but the energy and spirit consumed could not be recovered through restorative energy replenishment and healing; it was a tension and exhaustion of the soul.

After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, they had gotten used to using meditation instead of sleeping, but at this moment, they were all so sleepy that they were yawning and wiping away tears, and they really wanted to get a good night's sleep.

The others found places to sit down and meditate. Zhang Jinling, carrying a yellow talisman umbrella, took out a demon spirit mirror and shone it directly on the red glass on Jiang Yi's shoulder.

Zhang Jinling was always the most wary of Jiang Yi. She had tried to see through Hong Li with her Heavenly Eye Technique, but she couldn't see through her. She had been fighting all day and only now had time to use the Demon Spirit Mirror.

【Crimson Fire Fox: Superior Mortal Rank】

[Attribute: Fire]

[Cultivation: Peak of Qi Training]

[Spells: Fire Claw (Low-Tier, Proficient), Fireball (Low-Tier, Proficient), Blazing Fireball (Mid-Tier, Beginner)]

Zhang Jinling frowned. So weak?
Unconvinced by the result, Zhang Jinling went to Zhang Jincheng to get another Demon Spirit Mirror and examined it again, but the result was the same.

"Is Senior checking out my Crimson Fire Fox?"

Jiang Yi leaned closer. She dared to put Hong Li in the open because she was well-prepared; she wouldn't let them see through her so easily.

Originally, Hua Gu had that storage ring to conceal her presence, so it would have been best to have Hua Gu accompany her. However, Hua Gu was, after all, a rare Lan Yao, and was too conspicuous.

In the end, Shang Shixu gave her an unknown little insect to temporarily parasitize Hong Li, sucking a little blood without harming her body, and allowing the demon spirit to see the form Hong Li wanted to present.

Jiang Yi doesn't yet have a thorough understanding of Shang Shixu's combat abilities, but the insects he raises are incredibly diverse, possessing all sorts of abilities, and are extremely useful.

Moreover, after several discussion meetings on the Qingdi Palace instance over the past two years, she found that Shang Shixu's thinking and intelligence were closest to hers, and his personality was also cautious and calm enough.

He has a very good temper and never argues or gets angry with anyone. He is always gentle, self-disciplined, and polite. He is mature and his mental age is far beyond his actual age.

As a side note, Jiang Yi once suspected that Shang Shixu had been possessed. Using Zhao Cangyun as an excuse, she had Xuan Hui check on him, but it turned out that Shang Shixu was the original.

Faced with Jiang Yi's question, Zhang Jinling put away the Demon Spirit Mirror and scrutinized him.

"I'm very curious. Your healing and recovery spells are powerful, and your Crimson Fire Fox is just an ordinary one. How did you manage to kill Qin Bai? Even if that idiot was useless, he was still a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

"Most importantly, the central Peach Blossom Spring of the Xuandu Mountain Secret Realm has been sealed off by the Cangling Sect. As a rogue cultivator, you don't even have the qualifications to enter the Xuandu Mountain Secret Realm, let alone enter the Peach Blossom Spring."

As soon as she finished speaking, the Qin siblings and Zhang Jincheng, who were meditating and adjusting their breathing, all looked at Jiang Yi and realized that they had overlooked the issues of access permissions to the secret realm and the closure of Peach Blossom Spring.

Jiang Yi chuckled, "When did I say I was a rogue cultivator? I can only say that I entered the secret realm with the young master of the Qi family who was seeking the Dao at the Cangling Sect."

It wasn't a lie; she did indeed encounter Qi Tian when she entered the secret realm, they entered one after the other.

"The Qi family?"

The group was surprised. There were four major cultivation families in the Cangling Sect territory. The Qin family and the Zhang family were not large in scale and relied on the Cangling Sect for survival, so they were considered subordinates.

The Qi and Zhao families have deep-rooted foundations and have business dealings with the Cangling Sect, making them partners.

Their social status is completely different.

Immediately, the men's gazes toward Jiang Yi softened, losing some of their disdain and becoming more cautious.

Jiang Yi continued, "Young Master Qi is now considered a disciple of the Cangling Sect's lineage. What difficulty would it be for him to enter a mere Peach Blossom Spring? Not long after Young Master Qi entered, we got separated. I somehow ended up at Mirror Lake and saw Qin Bai entangled in vines beneath the lake. I then helped him along, retrieved his belongings and the wooden plaque with the restriction, and then..."

Zhang Jinling was at a loss for words. The Five Elements Restriction was indeed quite powerful. The main problem was that while injecting true essence, one also had to face attacks from the creatures beneath the lake. It seemed reasonable that Qin Bai, that charlatan, couldn't withstand it.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. The most important thing is how to find the Azure Emperor Palace through the bamboo forest."

Qin Yunze stepped in to smooth things over, and Qin Yunyan chimed in, "That's right, we're all bound by the restriction tokens now, we're all in the same boat. The little sister is a nice person, so please stop being suspicious and targeting her."

Jiang Yi is currently very useful to the team, so they naturally want to keep her.

Zhang Jincheng remained silent. Zhang Jinling suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, not wanting to argue with Qin Yunyan, and continued to ask Jiang Yi.

How much do you know about this place?

Jiang Yi said, "I know almost nothing about them, I've only heard a few rumors about the Azure Emperor Palace. But today I encountered those sword puppets and demon children. After killing them, they didn't have any demonic seeds, so they weren't considered demons. Yet they were proficient in Taoist swordsmanship and talisman techniques. They should have originally been Taoists and Taoist children from the Xuandu Temple. But their appearance at this moment is very strange, resembling the demonized people described in the books. Do any of you seniors find this strange?"

The group didn't delve into the matter, since these things were all demonic creatures to them; killing them was all that mattered, nothing else.

Jiang Yi, however, was pondering what exactly caused this strange change.
The North Sea Demon Tide appeared suddenly five or six hundred years ago. Before that, there were no records of demons or such beings in ancient books.

"Young friend Jiang, this is for you."

Qin Yunze suddenly tossed a small piece of peach wood core to Jiang Yi, interrupting Jiang Yi's thoughts.

"This thing will surely help Young Friend Jiang advance his cultivation level further."

"Thank you, senior."

Jiang Yi held the peach wood core, smiled at Zhang Jinling who was still staring at her, and sat down in a place away from the four of them but still visible to them, to carefully examine the peach wood core.

This item was dropped after killing the Peach Wood Sword Puppet. It does contain an extremely large amount of wood-type spiritual power, which acts like a battery to support the Peach Wood Sword Puppet's activities.

It was much better than third-grade spirit wood, but Jiang Yi really didn't dare to absorb the wood spirit power inside. The reason was what she had just said: these peach wood sword puppets were strange, and she was afraid that she would also undergo a mutation after absorbing them.

For now, put her in a separate storage bag. We'll ask Xuanhui to take a look at her when we get out.

With Hongli keeping watch nearby, Jiang Yi took out a straw mat and a pillow made of second-grade spirit wood that she always carried with her, and started to sleep on the spot.

Within moments of lying down, his brows relaxed and his breathing became even.

Jiang Yi's completely unguarded demeanor surprised the four of them. Seeing that she was sleeping soundly, they felt that even the breeze blowing from her carried a drowsy power.

Qin Yunze covered his mouth with a handkerchief and secretly yawned.

Qin Yunyan's Flame-Tailed Fox sneaked close to Hong Li, trying to sniff Hong Li's buttocks, but was driven back by Hong Li's bared teeth and low growl, and left sullenly.

Nothing happened that night. The sun and moon circulated in the secret realm just like in the outside world. However, the group did not expect to encounter a cloudy day.

Low-hanging leaden clouds and dim sunlight created a heavy, damp atmosphere that made one feel as if they were drowning.

Outside the bamboo grove stands a weathered stone tablet inscribed with the three characters 'Jade Bamboo Grove'.

“This…” Zhang Jincheng’s bronze face suddenly turned red. “Azure Jade Bamboo! This is actually an entire grove of Azure Jade Bamboo, and even the bamboo on the edge is at least five hundred years old!”

Zhang Jincheng rarely spoke so much. Jiang Yi also stepped forward from behind the crowd. The bamboo was as green as jade, and golden veins could be seen under the translucent bamboo skin, like lightning sealed in jade.

Jiang Yi was shocked. It really was all Azure Jade Bamboo. The Ironback Mountain Bamboo Bear King was still guarding a few bamboo shoots that might not grow for a long time. Here, the Azure Jade Bamboo was just like an ordinary ornamental plant that was worthless, covering the whole mountain.

The difference between ancient times and the present is simply too great.

Qin Yunze's Surging Wave Ruler suddenly began to tremble on its own, and the water ripples on the ruler flowed wildly.

“Something’s strange,” he squinted, “these bamboos…”

"It's more than just strange!" Zhang Jincheng excitedly stroked the bamboo. "Ordinary Qingjin Jade Bamboo grows only one inch of golden veins every hundred years, but this one has at least three hundred golden veins! Any section of this, once refined, will yield a top-grade magic weapon!"

Just then, a crisp "creak" came from deep within the bamboo forest.

Everyone turned around in shock, only to see an old bamboo stalk suddenly snap in two, amber-colored sap seeping from the break. The sap twisted and turned like a living thing, forming several seal characters.

He who breaks the bamboo will die!

Upon seeing these four characters, Jiang Yi's eyes lit up, and she thought that she should help the four seniors pick more Azure Jade Bamboo to take back.

Nothing more than a kind and compassionate heart!
"elder brother!"

Zhang Jinling suddenly screamed and pulled Zhang Jincheng backward.

A gust of wind carrying a fishy smell blew through the forest, and suddenly the entire bamboo grove was filled with a soft "crackling" sound.

The bamboo joints all opened one after another, like eyes that hadn't opened for a thousand years. The dark green eyes with gold patterns rolled around and looked at them.

　I can start updating again after the holiday. See you tomorrow!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)