She was only fifteen years old, cultivating for less than a year. Even Bai Hong couldn’t look up to see the deity—what concrete repayment could Ding Qin make?
But this child had lost her parents young and suffered from her spirit vision, developing a character that was gentle outside but strong and stubborn within. Once she set her mind on something, even if she couldn’t accomplish it for the time being, she would keep it pressed in her heart. Like now—great demons like Jin Liushan were seeking shelter, and not one of the enlightened demon cultivators near Li Manor had chosen to descend the mountain. Ding Qin could have completely chosen to stay in Li Manor, safely passing through the Great Calamity under protection. Wouldn’t that be easier and simpler than coming out to take risks?
They had previously encountered Changpu by chance, which was an extremely special thing for Ding Qin. Because this was the first time High God Li Chi had actively asked her to do something—to have Changpu ignite her heart flame.
Changpu had used this to find Yang Cang, and High God Li Chi must have already contacted Yang Cang before this.
This master and disciple of the Mingdeng Sect were under High God Li Chi’s attention. Their appearance was like a corner of cloud occasionally dropping down from high heaven—the only place Ding Qin could touch.
“We don’t necessarily have to do anything, just… let’s not leave yet. I’ll pray directly to High God Li Chi about this matter and decide what to do after asking him, all right?” Ding Qin said softly. She had also recovered from the shock of her initial discovery. Such matters indeed weren’t things they should investigate, and she shouldn’t just go down to investigate knowing nothing. She wasn’t alone—Bai Hong was beside her, and the High God was behind her.
She only needed to tell High God Li Chi what she had discovered, and the High God would make the decision about the rest.
Bai Hong agreed with Ding Qin’s idea, and circled at high altitude several li away from the valley.
Ding Qin closed her eyes to pray.
The divine seal on her forehead glowed faintly. After transmitting what she had seen, she heard the deity’s voice.
“Do you want to go have a look?”
Ding Qin froze. The deity was asking what she wanted, but she didn’t particularly care whether she went or not. She gave the decision to the deity. “I… if it’s needed, I’ll go. If not needed, I’ll leave.”
The deity laughed once, saying warmly, “That is an abandoned scheme. Going to look is harmless, but don’t try to glimpse the karma behind it.”
Ding Qin opened her eyes, dazed, not knowing if she felt downcast or moved.
“What did the High God say?” Bai Hong asked.
“The High God said it’s an abandoned scheme, and going to look is harmless.” Ding Qin said.
“You have the right to make mistakes.” These were the High God’s final words.
People all grow up through stumbles and falls. Small children can make mistakes because their parents are there to catch them from behind. She could make mistakes because… Ding Qin bit her lip tight, her eyes somewhat red.
“I want to go down and look.” She said softly.
Bai Hong folded her wings and brought Ding Qin down. Whatever kind of scheme had once been laid there, since it had already been abandoned, there should be little danger now.
They didn’t land directly in the valley where people lived, but rather at the edge in the dense forest.
This valley’s topography was quite peculiar. At the valley’s very center was a small lake. Outside the lake in a ring was where people lived. Further out was a vast area of wetland swamp. The outer ring of swamp was mostly lake marsh where the ground had sunk into the lake water. Ancient trees of unknown age grew densely, with aerial roots hanging down like a forest and buttress roots crisscrossing like a net. On these woody parts near the water surface, layer upon layer of water marks remained from long-term soaking.
Transitioning from the outer ring toward the valley’s inner ring, the trees became increasingly sparse and short, until the swamp water receded, replaced by mud exposed above water with shrubs and green grass on the mud. The vast lawn looked quite beautiful in the sunset, but this didn’t mean it was solid ground that could be directly trodden upon—beneath this highly deceptive greenery, the mud was thick, sticky, and bottomless. Light-bodied birds and flying squirrels might still be able to perch on the shrubs, but larger land creatures that landed here would probably be swallowed by the mud marsh before long.
Only at the valley’s very center was the ground solid and walkable. This secluded tribe’s dwelling place was located here.
Water flows to low places. Ordinary large marshes have the lake marsh that gathers water at the low points, with the perimeter gradually rising to expose the ground. Here it was exactly opposite. The entire valley was like layers of steps, with irregular raised stone walls holding back the upper layer’s water, somewhat like artificially organized terraced fields. Between the stone walls only a few narrow waterways were left, cascading down layer by layer into small waterfalls, gathering into a small lake at the valley’s center, instead leaving the solid ground around the lake for the people here to live on. And the water in the small lake didn’t know where it went—it always maintained that level, neither drying up nor rising.
However, perhaps this wasn’t so inconceivable either. People with totems were already different from other mortals. Their bloodlines were tied to the totem—they could almost be counted as another species, naturally possessing some abilities similar to divine powers. Like the Tang people who had been destroyed long ago, who could grow wings from their shoulder blades and lived near active volcanoes.
Where Bai Hong brought Ding Qin down was right at the boundary between the outermost wetland forest and the inner ring’s velvety green grass marsh.
Before landing, Bai Hong had concealed her form. Her true body was too conspicuous—if she landed directly, even at the outer ring it would be eye-catching enough.
She stood with Ding Qin on the buttress roots of an old tree. Ding Qin had originally been looking toward the dwelling place at the valley’s center, but suddenly seemed to discover something. Sensitively withdrawing her gaze, she instead looked toward the dense forest behind them.
“You noticed too.” Bai Hong said.
On that green grass marsh, some giant rocks and round logs were scattered. Those shrubs’ growth seemed completely random but actually just happened to shield certain directions—they had been intentionally planted in those positions.
These rocks and diagonal round logs just happened to form a path that seemed broken but was actually connected, allowing people to travel between the valley and the outer wetland forest.
Bai Hong’s landing spot wasn’t randomly chosen. They were standing right at a node of this path. From here outward into the wetland forest, a path that had already been opened was similarly hidden, connecting this secluded tribe with the outside world.
Such paths in the valley weren’t limited to just one, but each was extremely hidden. They hardly used any human construction—completely formed by natural rocks, fallen giant logs, the massive root systems of trees, and vines among the branches and leaves. Unless one had grown up here from childhood, been led by elders to walk every path, and knew the environment here inside and out, ordinary people would never be able to find such paths.
The paths in the dense forest were even harder to distinguish than those on the open grass marsh. Ding Qin also didn’t find them all at once. But since there were paths on the grass marsh connected here, they couldn’t just end for no reason—the dense forest must have paths connected to them.
“Someone’s coming.” Ding Qin said.
Her gaze fell deep in the densely packed forest. Under the magnificent light and shadow of crisscrossing branches and vines, a group of people carrying covered baskets on their backs were rushing this way along the hidden path. They walked and jumped on wide, solid tree roots, sometimes using vines and aerial roots hanging down from tree trunks. Agile almost like mountain apes, though there were four people in the group, each person stepped on or climbed the same tree roots, and always maintained a distance from the water surface.
The semi-turbid swamp water made it impossible to see clearly what was moving underwater. Vines hanging in the water were blown by the wind, stirring up irregular ripples. The swamp forest was quiet, but quiet didn’t mean safe—quiet would conceal danger.
This group of people quickly approached Ding Qin and Bai Hong’s position. The lead among the four was a lean man. When still a long distance from the forest exit, he suddenly made eye contact with Ding Qin through a gap in the trees, and his pupils couldn’t help but contract. But he had been maintaining a forward rhythm, so this meeting of eyes through the gap was just a flash.
This was a distance where ordinary people’s eyesight could hardly see clearly, yet the lean man stopped decisively, quite certain he had seen something. He turned back and said something to the three people behind him. They used another language, not communicating with the outside world. Not knowing what they discussed, the group then accelerated and continued this way, just slightly changing their formation.
“They saw me.” Ding Qin said.
“Let’s wait here.” Bai Hong said.
Since they had already been discovered, moving again might arouse even greater vigilance from them. Better to wait here.
The closer to the center section, the sparser the forest. This small group quickly reached a position where they wouldn’t be unable to see each other due to trees blocking the view.
The lead lean man stopped, asking warily in an oddly accented official speech. “You are…”
Before he could finish his question, he was interrupted by a huge splash.
Due to the sequence of their movements, when the lead lean man stopped, the person at the rear of the group had just leaped from a tree root.
This was a sturdily built middle-aged man with a fierce scar on his left forehead extending down to cut through half his left eyebrow. In mid-air, he reached out to grasp a thick vine ahead, but just then something underwater bumped the vine. The vine swayed, and the broken-browed man’s hand grabbed empty air. His body began to fall downward due to lack of momentum.
From the water surface that had been calm all along, an iron-armored crocodile wrapped in demon qi suddenly shot out, pouncing fiercely at the broken-browed man. Its giant mouth gaped wide, revealing a mouthful of ferocious sharp teeth. If bitten by such a mouth, even bones would probably break!
But the broken-browed man showed no panic. Instead, a cold smile appeared on his face. The person in front of him was gripping a sturdy hanging aerial root, already prepared to turn back and grab the rear man. The broken-browed man didn’t use his strength to escape the crocodile’s jaws, but instead applied force with his arm and twisted his waist, kicking squarely between the giant crocodile’s eyes!
This kick had great force, shocking the person pulling him into releasing his hand. The broken-browed man also simultaneously released his grip. He no longer needed his teammate’s support and directly used the force from kicking the giant crocodile to climb onto a nearby tree.
The giant crocodile was also dazed by this sudden kick and crashed into the water, splashing up a large spray.
Besides the lean man, another person in the group also turned back, quickly pulling out several fish bladder water balls and throwing them into the water. Those water balls seemed to contain some kind of herbal juice and were skillfully burst directly in the water, instantly dyeing this stretch of water gray-green. Densely packed strange fish immediately floated belly-up to the water surface, each with mouths full of fine, sharp teeth that could probably tear off a chunk of flesh from any prey they bit!
Though these strange fish had been numbed by the medicinal juice, their tails were still struggling hard to move—it seemed they would recover before long. He and another person took out arrow-like weapons and rapidly shot dead the strange fish floating up one by one.