Mu Xiaoyan was straightforward and talked non-stop along the way, with a hint of smugness on her face. But as she spoke, the girl's eyes darted around, as if she remembered something, and her gaze became strange as she looked at Zhang Ling.
"By the way, Big Brother, Sister Bai also asked about your situation before. Do you two have some unspeakable relationship?"
"The Bai family, are you talking about... Bai Xinyao?" Zhang Ling was taken aback and recalled a figure in his mind.
"If it's not Sister Xinyao, who else could it be? I know that you two were guarding the array hub at Hongyan Mountain together back then. You should be very familiar with each other," Mu Xiaoyan said with great interest.
"Hmph, you girl, don't make fun of me. Although I've met Miss Bai a few times, we don't have any relationship," Zhang Ling said with a dark face, shaking his head.
"Hehe," Mu Xiaoyan laughed disbelievingly.
After a while, they arrived at the bamboo forest and landed on the ground. Mu Xiaoyan took out a purple wooden token and cast a magic spell. A ball of purple light flew out, turning into strands of silk threads and rushing towards the front.
Instantly, the faint purple mist in front of them churned a few times, and the original bamboo forest environment revealed a small path paved with pebbles, leading to an elegant bamboo forest courtyard.
Mu Xiaoyan called out and went in casually. Zhang Ling scanned the area with his spiritual sense and followed.
The environment inside was quiet and secluded, with several bamboo buildings, rockeries, jade stones, and other objects. There was also a crescent-shaped pond with many low-level fish beasts.
As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw a giant ox with a black and blue body, a fourth-order demon beast, and a snow-white bird, also a fourth-order demon beast. In addition, there were two or three cute-looking second and third-order demon beasts, presumably all spirit beasts raised by this girl.
Mu Xiaoyan invited Zhang Ling into a pavilion, took out some spirit fruits and spirit wine, and chatted again.
Zhang Ling also asked about some interesting and strange things in the Immortal City, and time passed quickly. He also specifically asked about the situation of the Haoyuan Sect.
From this girl's mouth, he also obtained some more accurate information. After all, the information he had collected before was only some general news.
After an hour, Zhang Ling turned his gaze and looked outside the bamboo building, smiling and said, "It's about time, I should say goodbye."
Hearing this, Mu Xiaoyan was stunned and also looked outside. Seeing that it was getting late, her face flushed red and she nodded. Then, she took out a small fiery red jade token and handed it over.
"This is?"
"This is a Rhinoceros Jade, which can be used for communication. If Big Brother Zhang encounters any trouble in Yixia City, you can come to me. There is nothing I can't solve in this city."
"Oh, is that so." He didn't expect it to be this kind of thing, giving him a feeling of being taken care of. This girl's personality doesn't seem to have changed much in the past two hundred years.
"Don't underestimate me, Big Brother. Although your cultivation level is a bit higher than mine, I still have some power in Yixia City," Xiaoyan said, patting her chest heroically when she saw that he didn't seem to believe her. "Yixia City has been quite uneasy recently." Saying that, she frowned and reminded him.
"Not peaceful?"
Zhang Ling nodded and waved his hand, accepting the jade token.
In fact, he also noticed that something was wrong with Yixia City. Therefore, he secretly sensed it along the way and clearly sensed six or seven Nascent Soul cultivators.
Yixia City's(烟霞城: Yixia City) strength among the twelve Immortal Cities is not weak, but it can only be ranked in the middle. This city originally had four Nascent Soul cultivators stationed there.
Now there are several more, and there may be some that he has not sensed. It seems a bit unusual.
Of course, these have nothing to do with him. Zhang Ling only plans to stay for a day or two, search for some things that are useful to him, and then return to the Haoyuan Sect.
Zhang Ling put away the jade token given by Mu Xiaoyan and waved his hand. Several more things appeared on the table. Three jade bottles, a blue flying knife, and a black light shield about a foot in size.
"Big Brother Zhang, this is."
Mu Xiaoyan glanced at the things on the table, her beautiful eyes blinking.
Although the jade bottles were not opened, they were obviously some kind of elixir. The two magic weapons were even more straightforward, and it could be seen at a glance that they were high-quality magic weapons, of great value. For a Golden Core cultivator, it was already a big deal.
"Since you call me Big Brother, I, as the Big Brother, can't show nothing, right? These are three bottles of Shuiyun Pills that enhance spiritual energy, and two magic weapons. They may be of some help to your current cultivation," Zhang Ling explained casually.
Hearing about the Shuiyun Pills, Mu Xiaoyan opened her mouth slightly and exclaimed, "Shuiyun Pills, are they fourth-grade pills? The two magic weapons are also high-quality magic weapons. It seems that Big Brother has a lot of wealth." She couldn't help but look at Zhang Ling strangely again, then lowered her head slightly, her cheeks slightly red.
Thinking about the communication jade pendant she had just taken out, compared with these things, it had no practical use at all. Mu Xiaoyan felt a sense of shame in her heart.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something. Zhang Ling smiled. "Don't have any worries. These two magic weapons were obtained by chance. They don't match the cultivation techniques I practice, and it's useless to keep them on my body. Now it's cheaper for you, girl."
Hearing him say that, Mu Xiaoyan's expression returned to normal, and she also smiled playfully. "Then I, Little Sister, will thank Big Brother."
"Alright, it's about time, I still have some things to do, so I'll take my leave first." Zhang Ling also stood up, waved his hand, and walked towards the outside of the house. Mu Xiaoyan also quickly got up to see him off.
The two walked outside, Xiaoyan opened the formation and followed a small path out of the bamboo forest. Zhang Ling's body flashed with yellow light, and he planned to fly away. Suddenly, a buzzing sound came from Mu Xiaoyan's body.
Zhang Ling couldn't help but look down and saw Mu Xiaoyan's expression change slightly. She took out a scarlet red thing from her waist.
Upon closer inspection, it was a scarlet red jade token, about an inch in size and two feet wide, with some carvings of birds and beasts on it, emitting some cyan fluorescent light, flashing as if warning something.
This was also a communication talisman, and the buzzing sound was coming from this jade token. Mu Xiaoyan quickly cast a magic spell on it and checked the information in the communication talisman.
Seeing the girl's expression, it seemed that something had happened. Zhang Ling was not in a hurry to leave and waited aside.
He knew the dangers of the Immortal Cultivation World and generally would not interfere in other people's business, but this girl, Mu Xiaoyan, could be regarded as one of his few old friends. She was like a girl next door.
When he first stepped into the Immortal Cultivation World, he often frequented the bookstore opened by Old Man Mu, borrowing some Immortal Cultivation classics. He received a lot of help. If something really happened, he might be able to help.
The sound transmission talisman is the most common means of communication in the Immortal Cultivation World, and it is also the lowest-level and most common means. The quality of the sound transmission jade token in Mu Xiaoyan's hand is much higher.
Zhang Ling glanced at the scarlet red jade token in Xiaoyan's hand. The style was the same as the communication jade token he had just given him.
This kind of high-grade transmission jade token is generally specially refined and cannot be compared with ordinary transmission jade tokens. Generally, only close friends or relatives will communicate with each other. The transmission distance is not only very long, but the speed is also very fast.
After a while, Mu Xiaoyan finished checking the information, and her brows furrowed even more.
"What happened?" Zhang Ling asked softly.
The calm voice entered Mu Xiaoyan's ears, calming her mind. Mu Xiaoyan pursed her lips and said, "Big Brother, a friend of mine is trapped in a dangerous place, and their life is in danger. I don't know if Big Brother can rescue them with me."
"Is it far from here?"
Hearing the question, Mu Xiaoyan was stunned. She had originally expected that she might be rejected, but she didn't expect Zhang Ling to ask this.
"It's not too far, about five thousand miles. The location is a place called the Soul-Bewildering Forest in the Black Cloud Desert. It's a well-known area nearby. My friend went there to explore treasures a few days ago, and invited me to join them, but I had the task of guarding the teleportation array these days, so I refused. I didn't expect them to encounter danger and send me a distress message."
Zhang Ling thought for a moment and remembered such a place.
The Soul-Bewildering Forest is not a dense forest in a mountain, but an area of strange rocks in the desert. It is covered in yellow sand all year round. Low-level cultivators may get lost in it, but it is not too dangerous for Golden Core cultivators.
"Let's go."
Zhang Ling nodded and agreed. As for the possible dangers, he directly ignored them. It was not that he was arrogant, but that ordinary dangers were no longer in his eyes.
"I knew that Big Brother would help Little Sister." Mu Xiaoyan immediately smiled when she heard him agree. She quickly took out a white bag and threw it into the air. The mouth of the bag opened all at once, and with a soft cry, a white bird flew out, spread its wings, and turned into a giant bird ten feet in size.
It looked like a giant eagle, but its snow-white feathers emitted white light in the sun, without any impurities. Its strength was not weak, it was a fifth-order demon beast.
With Mu Xiaoyan's mid-Golden Core strength, being able to own a fifth-order spirit beast was considered not weak among her peers.
The white eagle circled in the air, landed beside Mu Xiaoyan, rubbed against her, and croaked. It seemed to have a very good relationship with its master.
"Little White, I'll have to trouble you next." Mu Xiaoyan also touched the white eagle's head and whispered a word of advice.
The giant white eagle tilted its head and cried out, spread its wings and flew into the air, turning into a white rainbow and soaring into the sky. It also somersaulted in the air, seeming to want to throw Zhang Ling off. This caused Mu Xiaoyan to shout, "Little White, fly steadily."
"I made Big Brother laugh, this guy has been spoiled by Little Sister."
"It's okay." Zhang Ling naturally didn't care about these.
Then Mu Xiaoyan introduced the specific situation. The friend she wanted to rescue was a Golden Core cultivator surnamed Wu, and there were three other companions, all of whom were also cultivators of the same rank.
One of them accidentally discovered an ancient cultivator's cave in the Soul-Bewildering Forest, so they entered it to search for treasures. Currently, they seem to be trapped by the formation in the cave. That's why they sent out messages for help, hoping that other cultivators would come to rescue them.
When flying to the outer city, Mu Xiaoyan suggested that there were two or three familiar friends in the city and planned to invite them to rescue them together.
But Zhang Ling interrupted her, making the girl hesitate. Zhang Ling didn't want to contact too many unrelated cultivators.
Then he slightly showed his strength, released the double-tailed cat, and a group of hundreds of thousands of earth spirit bees. This dispelled Mu Xiaoyan's worries.
Hundreds of thousands of earth spirit bees are enough to rival two or three Golden Core cultivators.
In addition, the double-tailed cat had obtained the assistance of the ghost monkey's yin fire during these few days, and the fire spiritual power all over its body had been balanced. It was no problem to show its sixth-order strength.
Traveling at full speed, the white eagle's speed was extremely fast. At full speed, it was much faster than the escape light of an ordinary late-stage Jindan cultivator. It only took a little over an hour to approach its destination.
At this time, they appeared in a desert area with blazing sun and yellow sand. This is the Black Cloud Desert west of Yixia City.
This Black Cloud Desert is a buffer zone between the Twelve Immortal Cities and the alien demons. The area of ten thousand miles can only be regarded as the periphery. The coverage area of this desert is extremely large, and the distance between the vertical and horizontal lines is more than one hundred thousand miles.
Speaking of which, this is Zhang Ling's second time coming to this area. Back then, he and Dongfang Ya escaped from the underground Yin River and came to the Black Cloud Desert.
But they only stayed in it for a few days before returning to the Immortal City without going deep.
Originally, this time he came back to cross this Black Cloud Desert, but he didn't expect to be accidentally teleported to the northernmost part. It's really a twist of fate.
Suddenly thinking of Dongfang Ya, Zhang Ling felt quite emotional.
After flying for a while, Mu Xiaoyan pointed to the front and shouted, "Big Brother Zhang, we're here."
Zhang Ling saw from a distance that the yellow sand was filled with yellow mist covering a large area, like a sandstorm. A wisp of his divine sense had also been released early to scan the environment inside.
It was dim and yellow inside, with many weathered huge rocks, like countless pillars standing in the middle. I don't know how many there are. You can also hear the sound of wind passing through it, forming some strange sounds.
After entering it, Zhang Ling increased the strength of his divine sense and paid attention to the surrounding situation at any time. The situation in the area within a hundred miles of the release of the divine sense was imprinted in his mind, but apart from discovering some small amounts of earth snakes, sand rats, and other low-level demon beasts, there were no major discoveries.
This area is not small, and it will waste a lot of time to find a few monks. Fortunately, Mu Xiaoyan has a way.
I saw the girl turn slightly, took out a sachet from her arms, shook it and said, "Big brother, wait a moment, I happen to have something in my hand that can sense the location of my friend."
