Under the pitch-black night, Li Hongyuan's nerves were stretched to the limit.
Seeing that Qingqing had not yet emerged, he couldn't help but complain inwardly, women are truly unreliable.
"Crackle—crackle—"
The sounds grew more frequent. Li Hongyuan could no longer bear it and shouted, "Who is playing tricks? If you don't come out, don't blame me for being impolite!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a flock of jackdaws startled and flew from the dense forest. A small, snow-white beast leaped out, hopping along. In no time, it had scampered far away.
Li Hongyuan breathed a sigh of relief. "So it was just these beasts—"
Before he could finish, Li Hongyuan felt a chilling sensation on his back. He hastily drew his sword and slashed behind him, but missed. A streak of emerald light sliced through the darkness, and a sharp pain shot through the back of his neck.
Before losing consciousness, Li Hongyuan only saw a pair of eyes so cold they were frightening.
"Why did you knock him out?" Yue Jun pulled Li Hongyuan's spirit plant from the ground and directly summoned his spiritual fire to burn it.
The spirit plant, with its mature intelligence, struggled to break free, but Yue Jun held it tightly. In a short while, it had turned into a pile of ashes.
Although Li Hongyuan had signed a master-servant contract with the spirit plant, its destruction still had a significant impact on him. Even in his unconscious state, he writhed in pain.
"Bai Shen Nü, I'm asking you a question," Yue Jun said coldly.
Bai Shengyi shot him a cold glance. Her icy gaze was like a deep, wintery pool.
Yue Jun's breath hitched involuntarily. Then, he quickly regained his composure and said irritably, "Don't forget our cooperation."
"Heh!" Bai Shengyi sneered. "I thought Yue Shen Nü had forgotten? We are merely cooperating. I am not your subordinate, so why should I obey your commands?"
Yue Jun, in the wrong, forcefully explained, "I meant that knocking him out was too lenient. Li Hongyuan and the others abandoned us and fled privately. We should have given him a good torment!"
Bai Shengyi, too lazy to decipher Yue Jun's self-righteous thoughts, simply left him with a remark and walked towards a cave entrance not far away.
"You cooperated with Li Hongyuan too?"
Without cooperation, why demand others not to run?
Remember, everyone is a competitor.
Han Bei, seeing that Bai Shengyi had entered the cave, also followed silently.
Wu Qun, watching Yue Jun about to spew fire, cautiously advised, "A Yue, don't mind Bai Shen Nü's words, she isn't singling you out."
Yue Jun said coolly, "She just can't stand me."
If he still didn't realize that Bai Shengyi harbored hostility towards him, Yue Jun would have lived hundreds of years in vain!
But what angered him was not that. It was the sudden realization that when he and Bai Shengyi had discussed cooperation and sworn oaths, he had clearly been tricked by Bai Shengyi!
Yue Jun had never suffered such a hidden loss.
He thought of the oath he had sworn that day. If he won, he would have to protect Bai Shengyi as well... Yet, he felt that Bai Shengyi was also after the Heart of the Divine Wood. Wouldn't that mean he had unknowingly helped his opponent significantly?
Truly cunning!
Yue Jun cursed irritably, a murderous glint flashing in his eyes as he stared at the cave.
The cave was clearly dug in a hurry and was quite small. Bai Shengyi had to stoop slightly to avoid hitting her head.
However, soon, a vein of ore, glittering like a coiled dragon, appeared before her.
"Why don't we see that Qingqing Shen Nü?" Han Bei, not daring to be careless, had been worried about a surprise attack from Qingqing since they entered. Yet, after scanning the area, he couldn't see anyone.
The leading green-green spiritual light returned to Bai Shengyi's body. Bai Shengyi frowned slightly; her divine sense had clearly been lingering in this place before.
"Bai Shen Nü, look quickly, there's a spirit plant that has gained sentience!" Wu Qun exclaimed. "It should belong to Qingqing Shen Nü."
"Did something happen to her?" Han Bei couldn't help but guess.
Cultivators in the Green Glory Minor World took pride in nurturing spirit plants, some raising them as combat companions, others as reserves of spiritual power. In short, the purposes were varied, but the only commonality was that spirit plants were their second lives. Generally, no one would easily abandon their spirit plants.
Qingqing, as a Shen Nü of the Divine Temple, was even less likely to abandon her spirit plant.
"There are no signs of a fight here." Bai Shengyi circled around, her gaze finally falling on the Wood God Stone ore vein not far away. Why did she seem to vaguely see Qingqing's figure in the center of the vein?
Before Bai Shengyi could get a closer look, she saw Yue Jun step forward and walk directly towards the center of the vein, completely blocking Bai Shengyi's line of sight.
"Why bother with so much?" Yue Jun casually raised his eyelids and snorted, "Is it not good to have one less competitor?"
"Indeed, let's quickly obtain the Wood God Stone." Wu Qun looked at the vein and smiled with immense joy. Who would have thought that their West Divine Temple would have such a day of glory!
He had brought honor to the West Divine Temple.
Wu Qun continued, "After we collect it, we should hurry to the entrance and guard it. As soon as the barrier at the entrance opens, we can quickly leave. Our team only has two Shen Nü. In the end, whether Yue or Bai Shen Nü wins, as long as the other person is protected, both of you will survive. Hurry, let's get started."
Wu Qun even urged Yue Jun, "A Yue, don't stand there blankly, hurry up."
Yue Jun looked at him with a speechless expression.
Han Bei fell silent. He felt that his earlier secret wariness of Wu Qun was rather foolish.
Bai Shengyi couldn't help but curve her lips into a smile.
As expected, Wu Qun was the most naive among the four of them. He actually still believed that she and Yue Jun would truly help each other!
"Why are you all looking at me?" Wu Qun noticed that everyone was staring at him without making a move. After a moment of thought, he realized, "Oh, is it that you don't know how to extract the Wood God Stone? Let me demonstrate."
Saying this, he perked up again, clearly pleased by the situation where everyone else was clueless.
Yue Jun cursed, "Idiot."
"A Yue, what did you say?"
Wu Qun hadn't heard clearly. He had already sent his spiritual power towards the ore vein. However, the moment his spiritual power entered the vein, it was like a stream flowing into the sea, instantly swallowed whole.
Wu Qun's face turned pale, and he immediately tried to withdraw his spiritual power. But the ore vein, like a magnet attracting iron, held his spiritual power firmly. His spiritual power within his body flowed uncontrollably towards the vein!
"Help... Help me!"
Han Bei immediately sensed something was wrong with Wu Qun. "Something's happened! Yue Shen Nü, Bai Shen Nü, don't touch the ore vein for now!"
In the short time it took him to speak, Wu Qun's face had turned ashen, and he was half-kneeling before the ore vein.
Bai Shengyi moved forward with a swift step and slapped the back of Wu Qun's hand, emitting a powerful shockwave that directly shattered Wu Qun's spiritual consciousness. She then stuffed a Spirit Nourishing Pill into his mouth.
"Don't speak, concentrate on repairing your spiritual consciousness."
Just as Wu Qun was about to thank her, he heard Bai Shengyi's words and immediately complied.
Half an hour later, he opened his eyes from his meditative state. His first words were, "The ore vein devours spiritual consciousness along with spiritual power!"
He was still reeling from the shock, his words rapid and filled with unease.
This turn of events made him feel even more unsettled than the previous spirit beast tide.