Who let him join the Sword Sect?!
Chapter 74: Trap Card Activated! Little Fuji Makes a Big Contribution!

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Trap Card Activated! Little Fuji Makes a Big Contribution!

The story is not complicated.

The Hundred Demons Sect laid down a poison plot to besiege and kill the Ling Family at the Five Rams Slope mansion.

Qi Liu and Qi Qi were captured, Ling Liu and her remaining daughter were severely injured.

Seeing no hope in rescuing Qi Liu and Qi Qi, Ling Liu crushed the escape talisman and brought her remaining daughter to this secret realm.

This secret realm is where Ling Liu and her daughters woke up.

Ling Liu knew this place exceptionally well.

She immediately used the array in the secret realm to dream-lock Cold City.

Erasing traces of her family to prevent Qi Liu and Qi Qi from meeting any disaster.

"A while ago, mother could occasionally awaken and had the strength to make some arrangements."

"But she couldn’t do too much; otherwise, the illusion array would go wrong, and if the array broke, my younger sister and the others would be in danger."

Qi Yi, who had turned back into a Stone Pill, paused on Zhang Ze’s shoulder. At this moment, only he and the stone ball were in the stone chamber; everyone else had been sent outside by Qi Yi.

Such a cautious Qi Yi.

"The arrangements you’re talking about refer to the jade box in the old mansion and the restrictions in the Taoist Temple courtyard?" Zhang Ze asked.

"Exactly," Qi Yi replied.

Zhang Ze asked Aunt Niao about the timing of forming these arrangements.

Upon verification, it indeed matched the time those loose cultivators claimed to see the so-called Secret Realm Cave Heaven outside the city.

The fluctuations at the edge of the dream maze array made those loose cultivators mistakenly believe that a grotto heaven had appeared near Cold City.

"Why not seek help from the Sword Hall?" Zhang Ze asked.

Qi Yi was silent for a while.

"The reason those people could enter the Ling family mansion on Five Rams Slope was by using the waist tag from the City Lord’s Mansion, and I’m not sure about the Sword Hall..."

"Cold City is deep in waters, and we are afraid," Qi Yi didn’t finish the sentence.

Zhang Ze nodded, not dwelling excessively on the matter.

"How did you turn back into Stone Pills?" Zhang Ze asked.

Not only Li, but Zhang Ze was also very interested in this.

Qi Yi swayed as if pondering the words.

"We relied on this array, but I don’t know the specifics."

"Mother was severely injured at the time and had to maintain the array; continuing alone may have endangered her life."

"All five sisters wanted to share a bit more burden for mother, and then..."

"Then we became like this; our divine souls went out of the body and back into Stone Pills."

"And our bodies became purely spiritual objects to share the array’s burden with mother."

Zhang Ze looked closely only to find that the bodies of the five fledglings held a kind of crystalline clarity, more like some kind of jade rather than living entities.

"But it’s not a big deal," Qi Yi said breezily, "mother put the Dream Origin Pills into the jade box."

"I remember there were seven, enough for us five sisters and you; once things pass, we can change back."

Hearing this, Zhang Ze felt a bit awkward but eventually spoke the truth.

"Um, Qi Yi, there’s something I need to tell you."

"Yes, I’m listening."

"There’s no more Dream Origin Pills; my dragon ate them all."

"..."

"All gone?"

"Yes."

"None at all?", Qi Yi’s voice trembled.

"Yes," Zhang Ze nodded again.

"..."

"All right... being a ball temporarily isn’t so bad."

Qi Yi gave up on recovery.

As for the matters concerning the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror and the secret realm, Dream Origin Pills, and the array, Qi Yi knew nothing.

To uncover the truth, they must wait until Qi Liu and Qi Qi are rescued, the illusion array is undone, and Aunt Niao awakens to talk further.

Zhang Ze opened the system, looking at the task, "Snake with Three Heads," lost in thought.

This darn system always assigned tasks randomly.

Often it would give tasks unexpectedly at 6:30 a.m., like swinging a sword 3,000 times.

And the good tasks always required him to find on his own.

Specific task information and rewards frequently weren’t displayed.

But the task names were always aptly titled.

The task to clear the Demon Head of Hundred Demons Sect in the city was named "Snake with Three Heads."

"Does Madam Han Yao have three heads?"

"Or are there three Madam Han Yao’s?"

"Forget it, let’s wait and discuss after meeting with Lily and the others."

...

In the snake cave under the City Lord’s Mansion in Cold City.

Ling Qiliu and Ling Qiqi were very scared.

The two sisters huddled in the corner of the cave room, shivering together.

Ling Qiqi was so frightened that her Transformation Spell faltered again, revealing her bird feet.

Ling Qiqi wanted to speak, but Ling Qiliu covered her mouth.

Ling Qiliu reached out her other hand to press down on her sister’s leg, trying to get her to retract her feet.

"I’m cramping... it hurts, it hurts, ah!"

"Keep your voice down."

Even though the exclamation was brief, the giant snake seemed to sense something.

Madam Han Yao’s Lifebound Spiritual Snake slithered up to the Ling sisters, its deep purple forked tongue sweeping over their heads, the snake’s head bobbing up and down as it peered at them.

Poisonous saliva dripped at their feet, corroding the ground into pits and hollows.

"There’s nothing here, is it an illusion?" Madam Han Yao’s hoarse voice came from the snake’s mouth.

She sniffed again but still found nothing.

The giant snake retreated to the center of the stone chamber, straightening up, staring at the Demon Refining Array in front of it for a long time.

After counting the number of demon race statues in the array for the third time, Madam Han Yao confirmed again that there were exactly one hundred demon race statues in the array.

"What’s at Five Rams Slope?"

"The number of demon race figures in the array is indeed correct..."

Thinking to itself, its tail swiped across the array’s edge, thumping the ground and causing dust to fly within the cave.

"Filthy beast, stupid snake," a middle-aged cultivator’s figure flashed and appeared in the stone chamber, looking at the giant snake with a cold snort.

"None of your business. Have you found new prey?" the snake replied with equally harsh words.

After exchanging a few words, the two began to argue.

When there’s no talent, this is what it’s like.

Even though Madam Han Yao could take control of the two avatars at any time, whenever she was offline, the two would surely argue upon meeting.

Now, Madam Han Yao was being detained at the City Lord’s Mansion by Sword Hall Chief Lin Hai and Li Yueqi, leaving her no time to deal with matters here.

"Found a Great Demon I’ve never eaten, residing at an inn in the city."

The middle-aged cultivator hadn’t noticed the Fuji hiding on Lily, mistaking Lily for that Great Demon.

"When she leaves the city, find a place to capture her and add her to the array," the middle-aged cultivator’s avatar sneered.

"Why are you telling me this? That’s your business; I can’t leave here," the Lifebound Spiritual Snake said, twisting to reveal a terrifying wound.

The middle-aged cultivator’s lips trembled without retorting.

"I’m going to sleep. You check if there’s anything wrong with the Demon Refining Array, and when everything’s settled, go look at Five Rams Slope," the Lifebound Spiritual Snake coiled up again, its voice cold.

"Are you ordering me around?"

"A message from above says there’s an issue over there."

The Ling sisters, huddled in the corner, jumped at these words. Ling Qiqi, less skilled, revealed her original form from the waist down and her feathers stood on end.

"Did you let someone in?" The middle-aged cultivator, sensing something amiss, glared at the Lifebound Spiritual Snake.

"Do you really believe that? I’m the most afraid of dying. You must’ve brought something in," the Lifebound Spiritual Snake retorted fiercely.

The two avatars argued for a while longer without reaching a conclusion. The giant snake stopped paying attention to the middle-aged cultivator and returned to its usual resting cave to continue sleeping.

Though the middle-aged cultivator felt indignant, he dutifully checked the Demon Refining Array. Finding no anomalies, he turned to leave, intending to investigate the situation at Five Rams Slope.

After confirming that both monsters had indeed left, the sisters finally breathed a sigh of relief, leaning on each other and thinking of a way home.

They had lost track of how long they had been in this Demon Cave—half a month, a full month? They couldn’t remember.

On the day they were captured from home, they were brought to this Secret Realm. But just as they were about to be locked into the Demon Refining Array as the array’s center, something went wrong.

The two of them were suddenly ignored.

The middle-aged cultivator filled the array with two large azure stones and fiddled with them for a long time, only leaving when satisfied.

The confused Ling Qiliu and Ling Qiqi stayed there as if invisible, remaining all this time.

Although their lives were temporarily safe, they couldn’t find a way to escape.

Something seemed different today, as if those two monsters had sensed something.

Ling Qiliu took on the responsibility of an older sister, calming her sister down.

Rubbing her sister’s cramping bird feet, she softly whispered comforting words.

Just after calming her sister down, the two heard a greeting.

Ling Qiqi was startled again.

"Hello, I’m Fuji."

This time, Ling Qiqi was so scared she reverted to her original form, fluttering her wings and burrowing into her sister’s arms.

Ling Qiliu leaned against the corner, looking at the thumb-sized pale blue figure, "Who are you? How can you see me?"

Little Fuji tilted her head, "I told you, I’m Fuji."

"And shouldn’t I be able to see you?"

Fuji belonged to a unique group among the demon race. Perhaps because of the peculiar nature of fungal minds, she, like Zhang Ze, was unaffected by the Dream Maze Array.

Seeing the two remain silent, little Fuji turned to look at the Demon Refining Array, frowning.

"Lily was right, this Cold City is dangerous."

Little Fuji looked at the Ling sisters again.

"I followed that man here."

"I’ll take you away from here."

"Don’t be afraid, I’m super strong and great at digging!"

With that, little Fuji flashed a V sign with her fingers to the Ling sisters.

This gesture was taught to her by Zhang Ze.