Once Mo Yan obediently went off to meditate, Xie Zhaolin stopped overthinking.
She formed a seal with her fingers, letting spiritual energy flow slowly through her body. The yinsha qi at the bottom of the Blackwater Abyss kept gnawing at her meridians, and every round of meditation left her feeling sick all over.
She had to admit, this cursed place drained strength at an absurd pace—even with her current Foundation Establishment cultivation, she wouldn't last more than two hours if she went all out.
Half an hour later, she finally opened her eyes again. She was just about to send the five beast souls to scout the terrain when her gaze swept over Mo Yan, who was patching himself up in the corner, and her movements stilled.
He was using his teeth to rip cloth from his robe to bind a wound, but his eyes, as they flicked toward the cave entrance, were far too sharp and clear. That miserable appearance was just a disguise. The real Mo Yan was lurking right beneath the surface, calculating, watching.
Xie Zhaolin let out a soundless, icy laugh. He was a demon after all. Even with a slave contract shackled around his soul, his treacherous nature wouldn't just vanish.
She was about to give him a warning when she suddenly realized she'd overlooked something vital.
The slave contract might lock away his ability to actively transmit messages, but if his main body had some special method, there was no guarantee he couldn't be contacted through bloodline resonance or some other secret art.
Cold sweat prickled down her spine.
"Good thing I kept my eyes on him the whole time…" she thought. Even during her meditation, she'd had the beast souls standing guard. Even if he'd tried something, there'd been no opening.
Still, that wasn't nearly secure enough. Her fingertip tapped between her brows, and a strand of divine sense speared through the slave mark into Mo Yan's sea of consciousness.
She carved a new iron rule into the brand: without her permission, Mo Yan couldn't, by any method, in any form, under any circumstance, send a single shred of information to anyone but her.
It was branded into the deepest part of his Primordial Soul with merciless contract power. The moment he broke it, his soul would scatter instantly.
Mo Yan's cultivation stuttered. Sweat beaded across his forehead. He could feel the weight of the new restriction pressing down on him—it didn't just bind him, it severed every possibility of contact with the outside world. From now on, he couldn't even let his gaze linger with intent, much less transmit a message.
But outwardly he only frowned slightly before smoothing it away, calmly resuming his meditation, as if he'd expected this all along.
Seeing that, the corner of Xie Zhaolin's lips curled.
That was more like it. A slave should know exactly where he stood.
Satisfied, she closed her eyes again, sinking into meditation. With this new iron rule in place, even if the demons had some hidden backup plan, they were out of luck.
The following half month, she led Mo Yan and the beast souls through every inch of the cliff base. Twisting cave networks, dank pools, even cracks in the stone walls—nothing escaped their search.
Shuang Ling and Xue Xiao scouted from the skies. Dian Diao darted through narrow gaps with lightning speed. Bing Jing prowled the ground with Teng She slithering alongside.
Even the bee swarm spread across every dark corner, leaving no trace unchecked.
Mo Yan's strength was heavily suppressed, but he'd once been a Golden Core cultivator. His divine sense was far sharper than the average Foundation cultivator, and it proved useful more than once. And yet the results were dismal. Apart from a few wandering wraiths and some ordinary yin-attributed spirit herbs, they found nothing.
No Rebirth Flower. Not even a scrap of rare treasure.
"Master…" Mo Yan trudged over, shoulders slumped, his tall frame seeming almost hunched, "I… I really did see the anomaly with my own eyes…"
Xie Zhaolin shot him a cold glance. "So what?"
That single look made him shiver. He quickly stammered, "I mean… could it be… the giant lizard…"
"I know." She cut him off, eyes narrowing toward the dark depths of the abyss. "The problem is, where is it now?"
That same question had hounded her for half a month.
The heavily wounded giant lizard had vanished into thin air, and no matter how hard they searched, there wasn't even a trace left behind. She'd even wondered if it had already died, but Mo Yan swore that beasts of that level had insane vitality. It couldn't possibly have dropped dead so easily.
"Master, should we… maybe search one more time?" he asked hesitantly, exhaustion lacing his voice.
She didn't answer right away. Instead, she summoned the five beast souls closer.
Shuang Ling's silver tail had grown fuller, Xue Xiao's wings gleamed like forged steel, Bing Jing's icy armor was thicker, Dian Diao's lightning sharper, and Teng She's fangs glistened with venom. Devouring so many wraiths had made them all stronger.
"Last time," Xie Zhaolin finally said. "Check every spot we might've missed."
A day later, she stood in front of the cave where the lizard had first lurked, idly rubbing the storage ring on her finger. Still nothing. Her expression was dark as storm clouds, her eyes cold and sharp.
"Master…" Mo Yan started carefully, but went silent the moment he met her frigid gaze.
Inside, she was weighing the risks and gains.
Destroying the lizard's lair was the most direct way. Beasts were obsessively protective of their territory—tear its home apart, and it would have no choice but to show itself.
But the danger was huge.
If the lizard went berserk after being cornered, its strength could spike by thirty percent or more. She calculated quietly. Mo Yan, at best, could fight at the early Golden Core level now. The five beast souls were stronger, but against a raging giant lizard, they wouldn't last long.
And the lizard's condition was a question mark. If it was still as injured as before, then no problem. Mo Yan alone could put it down, just like last time. But if it had recovered even halfway…
Her gaze drifted to Mo Yan again.
The demon slave's aura was weak, his figure thinner under the gray robe. The constant trips through caves and cliffs had taken their toll. In a real battle, he'd be lucky to muster seventy percent of his strength. And then there was the lair itself. The rock walls were tough, smashing them apart would drain enormous spiritual power. A misstep could cause a collapse, burying them alive.
Most of all, she wasn't even certain the Rebirth Flower was tied to the lizard.
What if all of this ended up being a waste?
Her eyes grew colder as the calculations churned in her mind.