Chapter 101: Seeking

A swift horse galloped, and Lu Ye sat firmly on its back, his posture as steady as a stake. He had never ridden a horse, but he had ridden a tiger before. Amber's gait was far rougher, so the horse's movements didn't bother him at all.

After half a month of recuperation, his injuries had almost healed. Lu Ye had planned to bid farewell to Hua Ci today, but the embarrassing incident last night left him unsure how to explain things to her once she was sober. So, he simply left.

He was going to find Yiyi and Amber.

Half a month ago, when he was pursued by Dong Shuye, Amber played a crucial role in his safe escape. If it hadn't carried Lu Ye in a desperate dash, he would have had no chance of crossing that flat plain. Amber was already injured when they separated. Lu Ye didn't know the extent of its injuries, or even if it was alive, but he felt compelled to confirm its fate himself.

Riding upstream along the river, Lu Ye simultaneously cultivated by refining spirit pills and used his spiritual power to nourish the small bell artifact.

A day later, he gazed at the cascading waterfall below. He dismounted, tapped the horse with his scabbard, and the startled animal bolted, quickly disappearing from sight. Once in the mountains, horses were useless and had to be released.

Below the waterfall lay a large pool, where the roaring water plunged, creating splashes. Lu Ye had previously leaped from the top of that waterfall into this very pool. To find Amber's trail, he needed to return to the area above the waterfall.

As he surveyed the terrain, he suddenly heard a splash. Turning his head, he saw someone emerge from beneath the water. The person saw Lu Ye and immediately grew wary. In the Spirit Stream Battlefield, unfamiliar cultivators typically reacted this way upon meeting. No one knew which faction the other belonged to, and assuming equal strength, neither would easily reveal their allegiance.

Looking at the person, Lu Ye recalled that when he had jumped into the pool, there had been another person underwater, seemingly gathering something. That person had been unlucky, however, severed into pieces by Dong Shuye's golden arcs, which had inadvertently allowed Lu Ye to escape. Now, he was here again, and he saw another person. It seemed there was indeed something useful for cultivators underwater; otherwise, so many people wouldn't be coming here.

The person slowly came ashore, keeping his gaze fixed on Lu Ye. The other person's cultivation was at the third-level, which Lu Ye didn't pay much mind to. He glanced at the top of the waterfall and asked, "Brother cultivator, if I want to go up, which way should I take?" Both sides of the waterfall were sheer cliffs, seemingly offering no climbable points.

The person stared intently at Lu Ye for a moment, then pointed in a direction: "Ten li away, there's a path up the mountain."

Lu Ye nodded, "Thank you!" and headed in the direction the person indicated. As they passed each other, the person remained tense, slowly relaxing only after Lu Ye's figure disappeared from view.

More than half a day later, Lu Ye returned to the top of the waterfall. He retraced his steps, investigating the path he had taken. The spells cast by Dong Shuye, a seventh-level cultivator of arcane arts, were incredibly powerful, so various traces from the chase still remained along the way.

A moment later, Lu Ye knelt before a concave pit. It was a crater formed by a large fireball, and the surrounding trees were burned to ashes. It was here that he had separated from Amber. Recalling the scene, he slowly paced to a spot about a dozen zhang away. He saw no bones, which eased Lu Ye's mind. It seemed Amber was not dead.

There were large patches of dried blood on the ground, extending in one direction, surprisingly leading towards the waterfall. Lu Ye's heart grew heavy, as if he were reliving the scene. At that time, he had been thrown off Amber's back by Dong Shuye's spell, and Amber had also lost consciousness. He fled without checking Amber's injuries because, in his mind, Dong Shuye was specifically after him. Staying with Amber would lead to both their deaths, but if they escaped separately, Amber would have a chance to survive.

But after Amber awoke, it surprisingly followed the traces on the path, evidently trying to find him. Following the faint bloodstains on the ground, he indeed arrived at the waterfall. There was a large pool of darkened blood on the ground, indicating Amber had clearly lingered there for some time. Although he had glimpsed the bloodstains when he passed by earlier, he had assumed it was his own blood and hadn't paid much attention. Only now did he realize it was Amber's blood.

Lu Ye continued to follow the bloodstains forward. He lacked experience in tracking, but fortunately, as a cultivator, his eyesight and perception were far superior to ordinary mortals, which allowed him to barely continue. By evening, Lu Ye followed the intermittent clues to a cave entrance, where the last traces of blood vanished.

With a nervous heart, he softly called into the cave: "Yiyi, Amber!"

"Roar!" A beast's roar accompanied by a foul stench filled the air, and a black panther darted out. Lu Ye's long saber flashed from its sheath, and with a swift strike, the black panther's head flew off. Its muscular body collapsed to the ground, fresh blood gushing everywhere.

Lu Ye's expression darkened. He had clearly followed the clues to this spot, yet there was no sign of Amber or Yiyi, only the black panther that had emerged. This gave him a bad feeling. If Amber hadn't come here on its own, it might have been dragged by another fierce beast.

He put away his long saber and entered the cave. Concentrating spiritual power in his eyes, he immediately saw a pile of white bones at the back of the cave, which intensified his already grim feeling. With heavy steps, he walked forward and knelt before the white bones to examine them carefully.

A moment later, Lu Ye let out a sigh of relief. These were not Amber's bones; Amber's skull was larger. By now, it was getting late, and it was impossible to continue the search. Lu Ye could only rest here for the night.

It was now certain that Amber had not died then and had indeed visited this cave; the scattered bloodstains along the path were the best proof. But it must have left again quickly. As for where it went, he could only investigate thoroughly tomorrow.

After nightfall, Lu Ye ate his fill and continued cultivating. He had already opened thirty-six spirit apertures. Having traveled all day, he lacked the energy to break through the barrier of the thirty-seventh aperture and had to wait until night. Now, opening new apertures was much simpler and easier than when he first began cultivating. This was because he had abundant spiritual power to expend, and his spiritual power was very pure, providing a natural advantage and increasing the efficiency of opening apertures.

In just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the barrier of the thirty-seventh aperture shattered with a roar, and spiritual power flowed into it. The rest was simple: he just needed to continuously refine spirit pills, aided by the Spirit Gathering Inscription, to fill this spirit aperture with spiritual power before proceeding to the next.

The Gluttonous Feast cultivation technique could automatically refine and absorb the medicinal power of the pills, and the Spirit Gathering Inscription likewise didn't require his concentration. So, Lu Ye took out the small bell artifact and continuously used his spiritual power to nourish it.