Chapter 73: Guiding the Blade of Wind

Yu Yan cast a sidelong glance at Zuo Changyu.

That word “mess” sounded rather unpleasant to her.

However, the use of “we” meant that Zuo Changyu had already, perhaps unconsciously, regarded her as one of his closest allies. Yu Yan nodded. “Yes, we definitely need to do it.” Otherwise, how else would she and Yun Duo’er escape the instance?

“It’s just a matter of how to go about it. I need to give it some thought.”

Zuo Changyu sensibly fell silent.

Yu Yan tossed him a piece of Gu Diao meat.

Zuo Changyu: “...”

What did that mean? Had he somehow offended Yu Yan again? Although Gu Diao meat could enhance his abilities, the ordeal he’d just survived had left him with no courage to try it again so soon—oh, the agony! Couldn’t she at least let him recover for a couple of days?

With a face full of mixed misery and reluctant delight, Zuo Changyu took the Gu Diao meat, torn between dread and temptation.

“What’s with that look?” Yu Yan rolled her eyes. “This is fifth-grade Gu Diao meat. You’ve already refined seventh-grade, earth-level Gu Diao meat—absorbing this one won’t cause you any pain. Your third-grade ability is still a bit weak. In a while, I’ll need you to deal with those two little Fire Tuos.”

“Eat this Gu Diao meat and refine its energy—it’ll be safer.”

Zuo Changyu was half-convinced, half-skeptical.

He trusted Yu Yan not to deliberately set him up.

But if she would spare him any suffering—Zuo Changyu didn’t believe it for a second! Glancing down at the Gu Diao meat, his usually expressionless face, a mask he wore before his comrades, now flickered with a range of emotions.

In the end, the promise of increased strength won out.

Zuo Changyu took a tentative bite, bracing himself for agony by mentally donning his mask of pain.

However, after a while, nothing happened in his stomach. Not exactly nothing—a gentle, warm, slightly swelling current of energy began to flow along the pathways carved out by the seventh-grade Gu Diao meat in his body.

Surprisingly... it was actually rather pleasant?

Yu Yan could hardly bear to look—the expression of sheer enjoyment on his face was absurd.

While Zuo Changyu refined the Gu Diao meat, Yu Yan checked her own supplies. Only a little sixth-grade Fire Rhinoceros Horn remained, and her Yuye Arrowroot leaves, which she used as weapons, were missing a piece from the eighth-grade set. The ninth-grade ones, however, were still intact.

After all, top-tier earth-level spiritual materials are not so easily damaged, even without a smith’s refining touch.

Yu Yan was never so reckless as to challenge the might of a celestial-level beast with them.

As for the rest of her materials, none were as handy or useful as those two. Yu Yan frowned; a truly skilled artificer would require several months to cultivate. She couldn’t keep using high-tier spiritual materials as weapons every time.

It seemed the first thing to do after finding her kin was to cultivate a dedicated team artificer.

A good weapon could often turn the tide of battle with unexpected results.

Some could even multiply one’s combat strength!

“Yan-sis, I’m ready.”

Zuo Changyu had finished refining a large piece of fifth-grade Gu Diao meat, his abilities narrowly advancing to the fourth grade. All the bones in his body crackled with power; both his strength and spirit were more vigorous than ever! Right now, even if Yu Yan asked him to face the two young Fire Tuos, he’d be ready.

Even if her command was to take on the only adult Fire Tuo head-on, Zuo Changyu would probably do so without hesitation.

Such is the confidence that comes with a sudden surge in strength! Alas, this confidence is illusory and fragile—a truth Yu Yan, with her many ascensions, knew all too well.

“Wait here,” she instructed. “I’ll draw the big Fire Tuo away.”

“When I do, you keep the two little ones occupied—don’t let them interfere.”

“It doesn’t matter if you kill them or not, just make sure they’re held off until I finish the big one.”

“No problem, Yan-sis!” Zuo Changyu replied, full of confidence.

What were two fledgling birds, after all? Even if they were the offspring of fifth-grade Fire Tuos, so what? Now that he was a fourth-grade ability user, subduing them would be a piece of cake! Yu Yan neither affirmed nor denied his bravado; some walls must be hit before one learns their hardness.

Having used Windstep so frequently and with such regularity, it was now as natural as moving her own limbs.

With a thought, wind energy surged through Yu Yan’s body, her speed more than doubling. She left a tiny gap in the mental energy shielding her body—immediately, the unique aura of a fourth-grade vein-strengthened user leaked out wildly, attracting the attention of the nearby adult Fire Tuo.

Its amber-brown eyes fixed on Yu Yan’s direction, chilling and unblinking.

If its mate weren’t out searching for blood and the area unsafe, it would never allow an enemy to lurk so near the nest. Yet if it left, the two young ones would soon become prey for other instance monsters.

As Yu Yan drew closer to the nest, the adult Fire Tuo’s feathers bristled, clearly on the highest alert!

“Hiss—”

Its reddish-brown wings fluttered, unleashing a serpent of flame.

The fire serpent coiled around the nest, then shot straight toward Yu Yan’s “location.” The intense burst of fire energy distorted the very air. Having long since left that spot and concealed her presence, Yu Yan clicked her tongue in awe.

This was definitely a ranged-attack Fire Tuo.

Yet the fire serpent it unleashed differed slightly from the one she’d encountered the first time.

The first Fire Tuo she’d met was at least seventh-grade and above! But the fire serpent it unleashed—by the measure of pure energy density—was actually similar to this one? Yu Yan found it incredible. Thinking back to the two Lightning Yongs she’d recently slain, she realized the same problem existed.

Despite being only fifth-grade instance monsters, their attacks were on par with sixth or even seventh-grade.

Otherwise, even with their speed advantage, Yu Yan, who possessed the illusion skill, would not have ended the battle drenched in blood.

Coupled with their abnormal, solitary behavior, abandoning the safety of living in groups...

Yu Yan’s mind began to piece together some theories.

But those could wait until after she had slain this Fire Tuo.

Yu Yan raised her brows—the Fire Tuo before her clearly hadn’t fully refined this pure energy. Its fire serpent attacks, while fierce, were poorly controlled. The spot where she’d released her aura was a good dozen centimeters from where the blast actually landed.

For a fifth-grade instance monster, such a huge error was simply impossible.

To confirm her suspicions, Yu Yan intermittently released her aura three more times—of course, each time she moved immediately to a new hiding spot.

Sure enough, with each attack, the Fire Tuo’s serpent of flame missed, deviating by several or even a dozen centimeters.

Yu Yan’s heart settled. This time, after releasing her aura, she stood her ground, launching several wind blades toward the Fire Tuo’s nest, even dispelling the illusion that cloaked her figure.

After rigorous practice, her wind blade skill was now much more flexible and cunning in both use and angle of attack.

Where once she could only launch a single volley in a fixed direction, she could now control the subtle trajectory of up to nine blades simultaneously.

If she reduced the number to just one, she could even guide it—an unexpected boon, perhaps because the meat she’d refined from the Qu Ru was ninth-grade, and the wind blades produced by ninth-grade Qu Ru naturally possessed a homing function.

With conscious training, Yu Yan had developed this ability!