"Three days?" Wei Zhao broke into a sweat on the spot and hastily offered a placating grin and an apology. "My apologies, my apologies—I got a little too absorbed and lost track of it all."

"Never mind. There's no time limit on this business anyway, so let's just call it conserving our strength." Duanmu Yu waved a hand magnanimously, then her tone turned faintly envious. "Still, you really are something else. To slip into a state of emptiness so casually, even in a place like this—your comprehension must be extraordinary. Truly, no one could hope to match that."

Beyond emptiness lies sudden enlightenment. For any cultivator, such a state is a rare stroke of fortune; apart from a tiny handful, most people are lucky to enter it even a few times in a lifetime. Even Duanmu Yu had experienced it but once—and that single moment of empty-mind enlightenment had remade her utterly, propelling her in one bound to become the pillar and senior disciple of the entire Ye Ling Sect. One can well imagine how rare it is.

And yet here, in this place riddled with peril, Wei Zhao had slipped into that state with effortless ease. Truly, one hardly knew what to say.

"Just a lucky coincidence," Wei Zhao said modestly. Yet his whole bearing had clearly grown more radiant than before; plainly he had gained something from it—and not a little, at that.

"Don't give me that. If even a freak like you is this modest, how are the rest of us mortals supposed to live?" Duanmu Yu curled her lip, glanced at the sky outside, and said, "Going by the last two days, the tide should be turning soon."

"Good, then let's set out at once," Wei Zhao said with a nod.

That sudden brush with empty-mind enlightenment had cost them three whole days out of nowhere, and neither of them wanted to delay a moment longer. They hurried straight for the River of Spirit Consciousness. Duanmu Yu had already scouted the place over the previous two days and had laid out the stretch of riverbed to be searched each day; all Wei Zhao had to do was follow her.

With the first expedition behind them, this time the two moved with practiced ease, having gained some sense of how to tell the spirit grass apart. Their efficiency was plainly much higher. Last time they had explored less than ten li of riverbed before the tide returned; now, with more than half the time still to go before high tide, they had already covered ten li. Their progress far outstripped expectation.

At around fifteen li, Wei Zhao suddenly halted. Not far ahead, amid a dense cluster of water grass, stood a plant utterly unlike the rest.

It was dark all over. It had no leaves—only a single slender, supple stem, its surface densely bristling with thorns. Half hidden beneath the other grass and the silt, it looked unremarkable at first glance, yet it gave off an indefinable aura of danger. Anything that could make a hand as capable as Wei Zhao sense peril was certainly no ordinary plant!

"The Spirit Consciousness Herb!" Joy surged through Wei Zhao at once. Every feature of the plant matched Duanmu Yu's description exactly. Without question, this was the Spirit Consciousness Herb!

"Really?!" Duanmu Yu came rushing over at the sound of his voice, and following the direction he pointed, she examined the peculiar plant closely, comparing it feature by feature. Then ecstasy spread across her face. "Yes! Yes! This is it—this is the Spirit Consciousness Herb!"

Wei Zhao himself had not quite dared to be certain, but now that even Duanmu Yu said so, it had to be. "Let's dig it up quick," he said excitedly. "The way things look, the tide will be in any moment."

"Right!" Duanmu Yu nodded hard and hurried over to carefully clear the entire plant from the mud, only to find its roots buried deep beneath the riverbed silt. No matter how she tugged, she could not pull it free. And she was no less than a master of peak Foundation Establishment—it was enough to make one think she had gone mad.

"Cut the stem off first; I'll think of something for the roots," Wei Zhao said at the sight. With time to spare they might have worked out a proper method—a whole Spirit Consciousness Herb was better than one with its root severed, after all. But the tide was upon them now, and no one knew what the flood would bring. They would have to improvise.

"All right!" Duanmu Yu did not hesitate. She produced a small knife of antique design and made ready to cut the Spirit Consciousness Herb away.

But just then, a grotesque figure dropped from the sky. A surge of unmatched force swept the two of them off their feet, accompanied by a voice that made their ears prick up in recognition: "At last I've found you, Wei Zhao!"

"The Brain-Eating Bug!" Wei Zhao was aghast. They had barely found the Spirit Consciousness Herb, had not even had time to rejoice, and now at this final moment their old nemesis had tracked them down. What rotten luck—truly, no one could match it!

Duanmu Yu turned pale with fright as well. The Brain-Eating Bug was a being on par with the Water Lily Guardian; with her meager strength she was not even fit to serve as cannon fodder. How had this monster turned up now of all times?

Her eyes fell on the Spirit Consciousness Herb beneath the creature's feet. It had been within easy reach, and now it had been snatched away in an instant. The frustration was unbearable!

Wei Zhao regretted it just as bitterly. Had he known, he should not have been so scrupulous about propriety; the moment he spotted the herb, he ought to have taken it straight into his jade pendant's space and divided it with Duanmu Yu later. Then things would never have come to this pass. Now the Spirit Consciousness Herb lay squarely under the Brain-Eating Bug's foot, and there was no chance of retrieving it.

"I'll think of a way to hold it off. You go first," Wei Zhao said at once. This was no time to fret over the herb; a missed herb could be found again, but if they lost their lives here, there would be nothing left at all.

"But..." Duanmu Yu hesitated. She was a tough one, but she did not have Wei Zhao's readiness to let go. To simply walk away felt like a bitter pill. Yet against the Brain-Eating Bug's might she truly had no recourse, and could only nod through gritted teeth.

She immediately retreated toward the riverbank. But before she had taken two steps, a dozen or more formless wind blades came shrieking down in a blinding barrage—the innate skill of the ancient Goumang clan.

Duanmu Yu was terrified. Any single one of those wind blades could easily blast a Golden Core master to death, let alone a mere peak Foundation Establishment like her. Even Wei Zhao would not dare take such a ferocious assault head-on; if she wanted to survive, she would have to depend on herself.

At the critical instant, Duanmu Yu's figure abruptly dissolved into nothingness, leaving behind only a single leaf drifting slowly down—one leaf falls, and all the world knows autumn has come.

Only then did Wei Zhao breathe easy. Thank goodness Duanmu Yu was a talent in her own right; otherwise he would have had to watch helplessly as she met her end, and he would never have been able to live with himself.

"Oh? This human's a bit interesting too!" The Brain-Eating Bug wore a look of amused interest. (To be continued.)