Chapter 11: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Chapter 11: Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

"Over the mountain?"

"There seems to be a cave over there!"

"A cave?" The crowd erupted again.

Bai Li and Daoist Yuqiu both looked at Zhang Yan, who had come from over the mountain.

However, Zhang Yan had been rushing to snatch the Midnight Lotus and hadn't noticed any cave at all.

The thought made his face grow even darker.

"Could there be something hidden in the cave?"

"Was the formation protecting that cave?"

"Could it be some beast's lair?"

"Let's go check it out!" Someone bold made the snap decision.

Zhang Yan and the others barely hesitated before setting off together.

Whatever it was, they'd check it out first.

Things had come to this—no way were they letting the ordinary spirit herbs around the pond send them packing. Even if the cave held nothing, they would capture that Niu fellow and make him pay them back for the losses they'd suffered over the past ten-plus days.

They had not only missed the chance to enter the Ancient Wilderness Secret Realm but also used up a lot of elixirs and medicines. Some unlucky ones had even wrecked their magical tools in fights.

Rogue cultivators had a hard time accumulating wealth, and the greater the loss, the harder it was to let it slide.

Among the low-level rogue cultivators, a few were thoroughly frightened. After much hesitation, they decided to quit while they were ahead and slip away. Slipping away toward the exit when no one was watching, they chose not to wade into the muddy waters involving these high-level cultivators. Yet most hesitated a moment before deciding to follow the crowd toward the cave.

What if there was a treasure?

Cultivation, treasure hunting, and secret realm trials always came with risks and opportunities. If one clung to comfort and refused to take risks, how could their Cultivation advance further?

That was the frustration of cultivation, and its unavoidable truth. The path of immortal cultivation was inherently like this: it came down to strength, opportunity, and luck. Much of the time, it was a gamble on whether you dared to keep going.

They dared to keep going. However, Shang Yunduo, who didn't yet have that grit or mindset, now found himself in an awkward predicament.

In an instant, the group that had been fiercely fighting by the water's edge was almost all flying straight toward where he was hiding!

Shang Yunduo's first instinct was to slip away, but earlier he had managed to escape because no one was paying him much attention, and he had been hanging back. Now, with so many people heading his way, even a rabbit running by would be seen, let alone a big guy like him.

He absolutely had to learn a spell that could alter his appearance and prepare one or two concealment artifacts!

Stay crouched and not run?

If he stayed here suppressing his aura, he would look suspicious. Especially since these people had just discovered that the treasure they had fought over was a fake. They were bound to be in a foul mood. If he got mistaken for an accomplice of that Niu fellow, he would never be able to explain himself.

Shang Yunduo cursed Niu Chengdian a hundred times over in his heart, bitterly regretted coming to gawk at the excitement.

What to do now?

He couldn't stay crouched, and he couldn't just run. There was nowhere to hide except the mountain behind him, but heading toward the mountain would only put him on the same path as the crowd!

Not only would he end up at the same destination as them, but also the same as Niu Chengdian!

Shang Yunduo silently insulted that Niu fellow yet again.

After thinking it over, he decided to simply run toward the pond.

Whatever they believed; he would just pretend he had gotten lost and arrived late.

Shang Yunduo optimistically figured maybe they'd just ignore him.

They would pass by amicably—them to their cave, him to dig his spirit herbs—and no one would bother anyone.

But the moment he appeared, Zhang Yan and Bai Li, who were flying ahead, stopped, and the entire group halted.

Shang Yunduo: "..."

Well, now he looked like a villain standing opposite the crowd.

Before he could speak, Bai Li hit him with a question that left him baffled: "Daoist Shang, have you seen Old Tang?"

Shang Yunduo: "Huh?"

Bai Li: "Of everyone, whether here or not, only you could have stopped Old Tang from joining us."

Shang Yunduo: "…………?!"

Hey, wait...

Shang Yunduo was so shocked he forgot to maintain his aloof senior brother persona, and his eyes went wide.

What did he mean?

That was a bit too pointed!

Couldn't the man have simply gotten lost on his own?

They really overestimated him!

Shang Yunduo immediately denied it: "I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't seen him."

Zhang Yu, however, seemed to enjoy stirring the pot: "Haven't seen Daoist Tang? What about Daoist Yuezhuang or Daoist Niu? Daoist Yuezhuang was supposed to be coming from the direction you came from."

Shang Yunduo: "Haven't seen them either!"

Zhang Yu: "Then where did you disappear to earlier, Daoist Shang? You ran off on your own after entering the formation. Where did you go, and where are you coming from?"

As she spoke, she glanced at Shang Yunduo's storage pouch and raised an eyebrow with a smile.

Shang Yunduo felt a surge of frustration with no outlet. He coldly shot back, "None of your damn business!"

Zhang Yu: "You!"

Shang Yunduo cut her off: "What, you didn't get the Midnight Lotus, so now you're eyeing my storage pouch? Which fellow cultivator beat you, Daoist Zhang, and took the Midnight Lotus? Would you be willing to trade?"

He scanned the crowd and locked onto a seventh-layer Qi Refining cultivator standing near the front. "You, speak."

The man he pointed at looked bewildered and answered instinctively, "There was no Midnight Lotus. It was a fake."

Shang Yunduo declared: "Impossible! Absolutely impossible! You're all trying to fool me. Daoist Niu said it clearly—it was the Midnight Lotus!"

The seventh-layer Qi Refining cultivator muttered, "That Niu guy is nothing but a liar."

Shang Yunduo: "Do you take me for a fool? Even if Daoist Niu is a liar, you all fought for so long over a fake flower? Ha, who would believe that!"

Everyone: "..."

They really wanted to shove that fake flower into his face.

The rogue cultivator who had burned the flower to ashes deeply regretted it.

Bai Li: "We were just about to go look for Daoist Niu. Daoist Shang, why don't you join us?"

Shang Yunduo: "..." No, I don't want to.

Zhang Yu: "Could it be that Daoist Shang has found some treasure and is in a hurry to leave?"

Was she planning to snatch his storage pouch as if it were the Midnight Lotus?

Even if he had something, he wouldn't admit it—let alone having nothing!

Shang Yunduo sneered: "You all couldn't find any treasure as a group, and you think I could find one alone?"

After retorting, he blended into the crowd and flew over to his junior brother. Now that he was part of the group, they couldn't single him out anymore!

Shang Yunduo asked in a low voice: "Is the Midnight Lotus really fake?"

Yan Jia, Wang Ming: "..."

Senior brother, you were hiding there just now—didn't you see?

Today's Senior Brother Shang seemed unusually talkative.

Wang Ming also whispered: "It's fake. It's just an ordinary lotus."

Shang Yunduo was puzzled: "So Niu Chengdian deliberately tricked us? What was he thinking?"

He really couldn't figure out what Niu Chengdian was trying to achieve by stirring up such a commotion.

What about Tang Huan?

Could it be that Tang Huan and Li Wuzi had learned some secret about Niu Chengdian from Li Wuzi and gone ahead to find him? If so, maybe Yuezhang Fairy was with them too.

But Tang Huan had two allies here—shouldn't he come to them first? Even if he was stronger than Niu Chengdian, being a ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivator, taking on three opponents alone was clearly a losing battle.

Hearing his question, the suspicions others had about him lessened somewhat.

Even Bai Li began to wonder if Tang Huan had overestimated himself and gone to settle a score with Niu Chengdian. Daoist Yuqiu had similar concerns and exchanged worried telepathic messages with Bai Li.

Bai Li comforted him: "Don't worry. You and I know best what Old Tang is capable of. No one in the Qi Refining stage can defeat him."

Daoist Yuqiu: "We still need to find him soon."

Bai Li nodded, but he remained suspicious that Shang Yunduo was hiding something. After all, why would he skip the Midnight Lotus and head to a secluded area as soon as he entered?

He secretly sent a message to Daoist Yuqiu: "Be careful of that Shang fellow. He might be in cahoots with Niu."

The Zhang siblings didn't think that way. They knew Shang Yunduo's background and only suspected that he had sneaked off earlier and found something good.

Zhang Yan sent a message to his sister: "Keep an eye on that Shang guy. Don't let him slip away alone."

Zhang Yu: "Got it."

Zhang Yan: "You're no match for him. I'll handle him when the time comes."

Zhang Yu snorted inwardly and sized up Shang Yunduo. Even through his robe, she could tell he was wearing quite a few artifacts. These inner disciples of the Large Sects really were... tsk.

The focus of all this attention, Shang Yunduo, was still pondering whether Niu Chengdian had discovered the Midnight Lotus was fake and slipped away without saying a word. Otherwise, wouldn't he be afraid after tricking so many people? Suddenly he heard Wang Ming's telepathic message.

"Senior Brother, were you looking for the person who ambushed us earlier?"

"Huh?" Shang Yunduo was startled, then made up a story: "No, I saw a patch of spirit herbs in the woods and went to pick them."

But Wang Ming's reminder made him remember that person.

He scanned the crowd. No, not him, not him either. The one who threw the dart was a fat man; those with similar body shapes didn't match in clothing color, and those with similar clothes didn't match in build. Could there be another person hiding in the valley?

Suddenly Shang Yunduo shivered. What if there was more than one?

The ones who knew about this place weren't just Niu Chengdian and Huang Gun. The "friend" who discovered the Midnight Lotus with them hadn't even shown up yet!

No.

He couldn't be alone.

If those people had come, there would certainly be more than one.

For safety, he really needed to stick with the group until they left here.

With various thoughts in their minds, everyone flew to the foot of the mountain. From afar, they caught the faint smell of blood, and the cave was surprisingly easy to find—there were signs of fighting all along the way. As they drew closer, they could hear sounds of clashing inside the cave.

Who was fighting whom?

Everyone instinctively thought it was Tang Huan and Niu Chengdian. Bai Li and Daoist Yuqiu charged in first, and before they could assess the situation, the others rushed in as well.

Yan Jia turned to Shang Yunduo: "Senior Brother?"

Given the situation, Shang Yunduo didn't hesitate: "Let's go! Inside!"

Since they were already there and had the advantage of numbers, they might as well go in and see.

The dark, gloomy cave was instantly illuminated by the glowing magical artifacts and treasures flying in. As they rushed deeper, Shang Yunduo and the others couldn't help but gasp—there was a pile of spirit stones covering the ground!

And Niu Chengdian and Yuezhang Fairy were right in front of the spirit stones, engaged in battle with a group of black-furred, tiger-leopard-like demon beasts.

"Yin Ling Beast?!" someone exclaimed.

"Yin Ling Beast? This is a Yin Ling Beast?!"

"Could this be the place where some cultivator or demon beast ascended?!"

Author's note:

Yunduo: At this moment, it's like a cat playing with a candleholder and casting a tiger's shadow. Meow meow meow turns into roar roar roar! Friends, be careful not to misidentify!

No prize quiz: Is Daoist Niu a good person?