The disciples of Ge Nan Academy all felt a chill run down their backs.
They turned to look, but found nothing amiss.
Seeing that everyone was distracted, Yan Jiaojiao raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, just feel a bit cold."
Yan Jiaojiao said, "Even if you feel cold, try not to use your spiritual power to warm yourselves. No one knows what we'll encounter in the secret realm, so it's best to be cautious."
"Yes."
Yan Jiaojiao confirmed the direction and handed out several sound transmission talismans to the group: "Maintain contact at all times. If you encounter people from other academies, don't engage them head-on. Remember, this is a points competition, not a combat competition."
"Yes."
Everyone knew that Yan Jiaojiao disliked fighting the most. After all, she wasn't fond of complicated matters and would be the first to charge forward if a direct confrontation was possible, without the slightest hesitation.
But now, they were all here on a mission. The most important thing was to bring glory to Ge Nan Academy. They couldn't just focus on fighting.
Seeing that everyone was in good spirits, Yan Jiaojiao waved her hand, and everyone followed their previous groupings. Wen Jinshu and Xiao Su's group, due to their weaker wood element, had an extra disciple, Wei Congling, assigned to protect the wood-element disciples.
The other group consisted of three people who could cooperate with each other and had faster travel speeds, making them suitable for relaying messages between the two sides.
Sheng Mo Bai had stubbornly wanted to join Yan Jiaojiao's group, but his strength was considerable. If he were with Yan Jiaojiao, one group would inevitably lack a combat power. Therefore, Yan Jiaojiao had ordered Sheng Mo Bai to join the other group.
Her group consisted of Jiang Yiling, Xu Changzong, and herself.
As Sheng Mo Bai left, he grumbled that Yan Jiaojiao was using her position for personal revenge, splitting them up because she didn't want to be in the same group as him.
Yan Jiaojiao remained silent in response.
The truth was indeed as he suspected, but she didn't want to hurt Sheng Mo Bai's feelings by saying it directly.
So, she had to let Sheng Mo Bai bear the slight.
"I'm afraid Junior Brother Mo Bai will be sulking with you all the way," Jiang Yiling could see Sheng Mo Bai's feelings for Yan Jiaojiao. He used to think they were a couple.
However, as they interacted more, he realized it was a one-sided affection, and since Jiang Yiling wasn't one to play matchmaker, he gave up trying to set them up.
"Let him be. As long as he can maintain his strong combat output while grumbling, that's good enough," Yan Jiaojiao said.
Jiang Yiling couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"If Junior Brother Mo Bai knew you described him like that, he'd probably be even more upset."
Yan Jiaojiao couldn't help but smile too.
In reality, everyone knew that Sheng Mo Bai had a good heart. Furthermore, Yan Jiaojiao wouldn't have been able to escape the Yan family so smoothly without Sheng Mo Bai's help.
Yan Jiaojiao kept all of this in mind. Kindness and friendship were easy to repay; anything else was a different matter.
As an ancient ancestor of a thousand years, Yan Jiaojiao truly had no desire to experience romantic love.
If she were to consider love—for some reason, Yan Jiaojiao's mind suddenly flashed with the incomparably handsome face of Dongfang Cangwu.
This man's appearance was quite to her liking, but his personality was a bit tsundere, sullen and reserved like Xiao Hei, which she found rather unimpressive.
"Is that the Soul Severing Grass?"
Xu Changzong, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, interrupting their thoughts.
Jiang Yiling and Yan Jiaojiao turned to look and indeed saw a familiar field of herbs. Yan Jiaojiao quickly opened the points table in her wooden token and confirmed that it was Soul Severing Grass, each plant worth a thousand points.
Yan Jiaojiao quickly led Jiang Yiling and Xu Changzong towards the herbal field.
"I never expected to find such a large field of herbs in this secret realm. It's truly astonishing."
Xu Changzong had extensive knowledge of herbs. Seeing such a vast herbal field, he professionally deduced that it was likely artificially cultivated.
"It appears someone resides in this secret realm. Can we still harvest this Soul Severing Grass?"
Soul Severing Grass had many uses, primarily for treating snake venom and poisons from the fangs of poisonous spirit beasts.
As long as these poisons did not reach the heart, the affected person could be saved with Soul Severing Grass, preventing them from meeting their maker.
Medicinal ingredients that were highly effective against toxins were generally very precious. In the secret realm, this was reflected in their high point value.
Yan Jiaojiao looked around and was about to speak when a group of people suddenly appeared behind them with a rustling sound. Without even looking at them, they headed straight for the Soul Severing Grass field—
"How fortunate! To find Soul Severing Grass!"
The group rushed directly into the herbal field, disregarding the seedlings below, and began rapidly harvesting the Soul Severing Grass.
Seeing the destructive force of the group, as if beasts had been released from their cages, Jiang Yiling and the others showed displeasure and anger.
"Hey, this herbal field clearly has an owner! Shouldn't you ask for permission before harvesting? And don't you see you're destroying this medicinal field? Do you have any humanity at all!"
"None of your business! I advise you to mind your own affairs!"
Those people from other academies completely ignored Jiang Yiling and his companions. They were here to gather resources, having planned beforehand to follow the major academies and pick up scraps, believing that as long as they obtained some good items, their trip would be worthwhile.
It had to be said that Yan Jiaojiao and their group were very lucky. They had entered together, while others were still searching for direction in the desert, Yan Jiaojiao and her companions had already found such a large field of Soul Severing Grass.
Each stalk of Soul Severing Grass was worth a thousand points. If they harvested this entire field, it would likely amount to nearly a hundred thousand points!
Moreover, Soul Severing Grass had high medicinal value. Once they left the secret realm and paid the required fees, they could take the Soul Severing Grass home.
Then, their academy could produce many pills to sell, and they would possess more and better equipment.
The more they thought about it, the more excited they became. They paid no attention to Jiang Yiling's attempts to stop them. To further showcase their arrogance, after harvesting the mature Soul Severing Grass, they uprooted the entire plant.
Soul Severing Grass was a spiritual herb with extremely stringent environmental requirements for survival. The moment it was separated from the soil, the entire plant lost its life.
"They're going too far!"
Even the usually aloof Xu Changzong was angered by the wanton destruction of the spiritual herbs. He angrily flicked a spiritual energy ball, but unfortunately, being of the wood element, the spiritual energy ball did not have much offensive power and was easily blocked by the other party.
"Hahaha… Everyone said that the disciples of your Ge Nan Academy were incredibly powerful, with all sorts of exaggerated tales. But it seems they're nothing special! Our academy's newly enrolled disciples can produce such spiritual energy balls. And yet, disciples like you can participate in the academy's team competition, hahaha, it's too funny. I see your Ge Nan Academy is truly finished!"