THDP Ch 120 Part 1 – Mysterious Forest (I)

 April 25, 2023April 16, 2023By koffeam

For a moment, Meng Qi was moved. It was just a moment ago that she had the desire to see Yun Qingyan’s primordial spirit, wanting to see whether it looked like the cute Xiao Qi. Such a thought, originally just fleeting, immediately emerged again with Ji Wujiong’s unexpected words, causing Meng Qi to recall Xiao Qi’s clear blue eyes, fluffy fur, and his pair of small, semi-circular ears…

Meng Qi’s hands, hanging by her side, flinched subconsciously.

Ji Wujiong’s lips rose in a smile as a glint of amusement passed through his eyes. When he spoke again, however, his tone was much more serious, “How is it? Aren’t you curious too? This is such a profitable exchange, don’t you agree? As long as I let go of this bamboo slip, none of the people here will compete with you for this, right?”

“No.” Meng Qi shook her head, “I can’t involve others.”

“I can’t do this,” Meng Qi repeated, firmer. There was a frown on her beautiful face. She hesitated for a moment, but when she was about to hand the bamboo slip to Ji Wujiong, another hand suddenly stretched out and gently pushed her wrist down.

“Wait a minute.” Qin Xiumo nodded to Meng Qi.

Ji Wujiong’s expression suddenly sank, and he looked at Qin Xiumo coldly. Except for Meng Qi, he disliked everyone here, so he naturally did not show a good face to Qin Xiumo.

“Meng Qiqi.” Qin Xiumo continued, “Before entering the Starfallen Sea, our group discussed the distribution system for the spoils. It’s the same as we have done after defeating the snow fang bees, so you won’t object, will you?”

“No.” Meng Qi shook her head.

“In that case.” Qin Xiumo said lightly, “We should follow our rules.”

He continued after a pause: “This time, Sikong Xing and Meng Qi contributed the most. Sikong Xing was the main force in eliminating the snakes, while Meng Qi’s array not only helped Sikong Xing successfully overcome her tribulation but also turned it into our help.”

“Yes!” Sikong Xing’s eyes lit up, “Without Meng Qiqi, I would not have succeeded in transcending the tribulation, let alone dealing with those snakes.” She continued: “The snakes were in the middle of turning into a dragon, and the golden-scaled snake that led them was already at the sixth rank.”

The charming girl raised her dainty jaw and looked at Ji Wujiong as she spoke, “Even if you are a powerhouse in the Void Comprehending stage, snakes are cunning by nature. You may not be able to deal with them easily, let alone take over their storage space. Many mutant beasts would destroy their storage space upon death, and the only reason you could take it out safely was that the golden-scaled snake had died suddenly.”

“That’s right.” Qin Xiumo chimed in, “It was Meng Qi and Sikong Xing who killed the snakes, and we contributed too. You commanded the snow wolves to hold down the snakes and bought time for us, allowing Meng Qi and Sikong Xing to make preparation for the attack. Plus, you also found the storage space and took it out, so you three deserve equal credits.”

He paused and continued: “According to the rules of our team, the three of you can claim one item first, and you also get an additional claim on whatever you discover. Moreover, regardless of specific team rules, the general understanding is that the loot would be distributed by taking account of individual needs.”

Ji Wujiong sneered, but said nothing.

“So Meng Qiqi…” Qin Xiumo turned to look at Meng Qi, “You, Sikong Xing, and Ji Wujiong have the right of first choice. If you want, you can get this bamboo slip.”

“I see.” Meng Qi nodded. In fact, the distribution method Qin Xiumo explained was no different from what she brought out before. However, the added rule of taking individual needs into account was truly out of her expectation.

In fact, Meng Qi didn’t have many experiences going out with a group of people like this. She was basically a solo cultivator, as the person with whom she had cooperated the most and spent the longest time together was only Yun Qingyan. But Yun Qingyan was not someone who cared about such details and neither was Meng Qi, so she was indeed inexperienced.

Qin Xiumo took the storage space from her hand: “I’ll take a look first.” As his words fell, he quickly scanned over the stash, “There are two jade slips, each containing an unidentified spell… it seems that we have to visit Beyond The Heaven later day and request an appraisal. Among these four magic weapons, one is useful for spell cultivators, and the other can be used by medical cultivators. As for the remaining two, they are life-saving defensive tools, but both are damaged and need repair. From these two long swords, I cannot sense any aura from one, and the other has only half of it. Lastly, there are several rare materials that are hard to find in Three Thousand World.”

Finished listing the loot, Qin Xiumo said, “Meng Qiqi, Sikong Xing, and Ji Wujiong can choose first.”

“I choose the bamboo slip.” Meng Qi said.

“Okay.” Qin Xiumo nodded.

Sikong Xing hesitated. None of the magic weapons and tools were useful to a demon cultivator like her, so Su Junmo picked one among the rare materials that could assist her cultivation.

Ji Wujiong took the two jade slips and casually tossed them into his storage space.

As the only sword cultivators in the group, Xu Zijun and Qin Xiumo each took a sword.

Xue Chengxuan asked for the magic tool that could be used by medical cultivators, while Li Che took the defensive one.

The rest were kept with Qin Xiumo, to be divided evenly after they left the Starfallen Sea.

Qin Xiumo put away the rest of the loot, including the body of the golden-scaled snake, into his storage space. The aftermath of the battle left a huge amount of snake corpses, which was a precious material by itself. As the group started collecting the corpses, Meng Qi drew a Hundred Ghosts And Hundred Charms and threw three profound-grade spirit stones into it.

Once activated, thousands of white puppets poured out of the array, quickly recovering all the galls from the snake corpses within half an incense stick of time, leaving Meng Qi with a big box full of snake galls. Although not on par with the gall of a golden-scaled snake, these things were taken from mutant beasts of Starfallen Sea, so they were precious enough.

The box of snake galls was handed by Meng Qi to Qin Xiumo for safekeeping, to be divided evenly once they returned to Three Thousand Worlds.

Seeing this, Ji Wujiong almost laughed in anger. That was his Hundred Ghosts And Hundred Charms Array, yet Meng Qi used it like it was nothing, but what could he say? He didn’t teach her — all Meng Qi did was watch him using the array and figure the rest out by herself, which was allowed by the three realms’ standard and thus could not be categorized as stealing someone’s teaching — a rule set by the ancestors tens of thousands years ago, probably to ensure that inheritances would not be easily cut off and could continue to grow.

But then again, who would have imagined that Meng Qi would be able to learn an array like the Hundred Ghosts And Hundred Charms just by looking at it from a distance?!

As Ji Wujiong watched the white puppets run all over the ground, he was both amused and annoyed, and couldn’t help but curse loudly inside — why didn’t he meet Meng Qi, this talented seed, earlier?! She is simply the best candidate to continue his mantle!