Chapter 551: Rabbit Thief!
Reaching the icy hill where he had left Zhu Lian to recover her strength just a few minutes earlier, Xuan Hao found a place not too far away from her.
"I should have Feng Chen send someone over to help her get back to the sect…" Realizing that he would not be able to follow the three demonic cultivators if he also had to guide Zhu Lian safely back to the sect, Xuan Hao took out his communication talisman before contacting Feng Chen. Having him send over someone to help get Zhu Lian back to the sect safely.
Even if she should be fine as long as she didn't encounter anyone in the Nascent Soul Realm with bad intentions, Xuan Hao did not want to take the risk!
"Hm… It should still take a few days before anyone arrives at the borders to the Frozen Wasteland…" Muttering this to himself as he said this, Xuan Hao shook his head and threw these thoughts to the back of his mind before sitting down to cultivate while waiting for Zhu Lian to finish absorbing the spirit stones, he had handed over to her.
Cultivating on the frozen tundra was something he had already wanted to try the moment he realized just how much easier it was to improve his ice domain inside the Frozen Wasteland. Doing it while waiting for Zhu Lian was something Xuan Hao was more than happy to do.
As for the location of the spirit mine he had received after completing the quest, Xuan Hao doubted that he would be able to do anything by himself, as he did not really have any experience when it came to setting up any sort of mine. Be it a spirit mine or one for spiritual metals…
For this reason, he planned to give the location to Elder Song after returning to the Flying Sword Sect. After all, he would be able to put the information to use and set up a proper mining operation and establish a new spirit stone mine.
Thinking about it, it was a good idea to leave something like that to Elder Song… Hopefully, he would not end up with too much work on his hand and in turn neglect his granddaughter. In the worst-case scenario, he could always look after Song Jia for Elder Song.
Turning his attention back onto cultivating, Xuan Hao felt himself merge together with the surrounding environment as he felt the cold wind blow past him while a few young snow-white rabbits curiously peeked their heads out of the snow to inspect the two people that had suddenly appeared on the icy hill where their burrow was located.
Following this, Xuan Hao felt his senses spread out in all directions as he fully immersed himself in the environment of the Frozen Wastelands. Along with this, Xuan Hao also felt his comprehension of the Dao of Ice increasing, which in turn caused the strength of his ice domain to increase.
Even if the increase in strength was miniscule and almost impossible to detect over such a short period of time, Xuan Hao still managed to feel it, as he understood just how great it was for him to cultivate in such an environment filled with ice and snow.
Maybe the reason why his sword domain grew stronger faster than his ice domain, was because he spent most of his time cultivating inside a sword sect where most of the people walked the path of the sword?
Shaking his head as he felt these distracting thoughts enter his mind, Xuan Hao emptied his mind before fully immersing himself in comprehending the Dao of Ice that was seemingly ever present across the Frozen Wasteland.
…
Time slowly passed as Zhu Lian finished absorbing the spirit stones Xuan Hao had handed over to her.
"Ouch!"
Getting up from the frozen ground beneath her, Zhu Lian could not help letting out a small yelp of pain as she felt pain spread through her entire body. After having spent the last few hours absorbing the spirit stones that Xuan Hao had given to her, she had completely forgotten about the current state of her body!
For this reason, the pain had caught her by surprise, causing the small yelp of pain earlier to escape from her lips as she stood up.
Even though her physical body was still in a bad state at the moment, Zhu Lian soon concluded that she could still move around by herself without any trouble through the support of her cultivation base. Fighting someone at the Core Formation Realm should also be possible, as for someone at the Nascent Soul Realm… In her current state, it would be best not to fight someone at the Nascent Soul Realm!
If she really was unfortunate enough to encounter someone in the Nascent Soul Realm who had bad intentions-
"Ah!" Suddenly remembering that she was not alone, Zhu Lian looked around herself before finally finding Xuan Hao silently meditating a few meters away from her.
Seeing him, Zhu Lian did not know what to feel as she remembered what she had gone through over the past few days. From getting hunted down by demonic cultivators to getting trapped inside an ancient formation and the mysterious crack that suddenly appeared beneath her when she was trapped inside the ancient formation… Too much had happened over the past few days and Zhu Lian felt happy knowing that it should be over.𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
Even the pain constantly spreading through her body didn't hurt so much after this realization!
"You finished absorbing all the spirit stones?" Before she had time to think about anything else, Xuan Hao suddenly opened his eyes as he asked this.
"Yes!" Nodding her head up and down rapidly like a young child in acknowledgement of his question, Zhu Lian could not help feeling a bit embarrassed upon realizing how immature she was acting.
Feeling the embarrassment getting even worse upon noticing Xuan Hao's weird look after seeing her childish act, Zhu Lian could not help but wanting to find a hole to jump into a burry herself out of sight.
Swish~
Luckily, this did not last for long, as a snow-white rabbit suddenly dashed towards them before it ate the spirit stone, she had just finished absorbing. After closer inspection, there was still a tiny amount of spirit energy left in the spirit stone before the snow-white rabbit had swallowed it.
Zhu Lian and Xuan Hao were both baffled upon seeing this scene. Wondering where the snow-white rabbit had grown so courageous. Even daring to charge in and snatch away the almost empty spirit stone.
Even if the amount of qi it had absorbed was miniscule, it should still be enough to allow the snow-white rabbit to transform from an ordinary mortal animal into a demon beast!
Swish!
After having consumed the almost empty spirit stone, the snow-white rabbit quickly disappeared back into its burrow only a few meters away from their current location.
Neither Zhu Lian or Xuan Hao knew what to say at the display of both courage and speed of the little rabbit. At least it helped Zhu Lian, as she no longer felt the embarrassment, she had felt just a moment ago.
"Let's get going, I will be taking you to a small city located close to the edge of the Frozen Wasteland. One of the other Core Elders will come and pick you up after a few days."
Feeling a bit disappointed when she heard that Xuan Hao would not be the one to take her to the Flying Sword Sect, Zhu Lian recalled the three demonic cultivators who had also been inside the mysterious crack.
Could it be that those three were still following her even after the bug used to track her had been killed by her?
Then again, those three should not be any threat to someone like Elder Xuan…
Thinking this to herself, Zhu Lian decided not to pry into why Xuan Hao was leaving her in the hands of one of the other core elders instead of just escorting her to the Flying Sword Sect by himself.
Whoosh~
Seeing that Zhu Lian understood that he had something to do and didn't complain over the fact that he was essentially going to leave her alone to fend for herself for a few days in the small city he and Feng Chen had decided to be the safest option for her to stay alone in her current condition, Xuan Hao didn't bother wasting any more time, as he took to the sky before flying in the direction of the small city in question. Wanting to get it done as quickly as possible so he could return back to the location of the three demonic cultivators and find the location of the Frost Devil Sect!
…
Thump!
"The person who will come looking for you is called Zu Fei; she looks like this-"
Whoosh~
Conjuring forth a small image with his qi of Zu Fei, Xuan Hao didn't explain any further as he jumped back into the air before rushing back towards the Frozen Wasteland after making sure Zhu Lian understood what he said and had memorized the image of Zu Fei he had conjured.
Swish!
"…"
Seeing Xuan Hao quickly disappearing into the distance, Zhu Lian let out a soft sigh before finding a secluded location close to the entrance of the small city to quietly meditate. Waiting for Zu Fei to show up and at the same time making sure that her body's situation didn't end up worsening any further during the next few days she would have to wait.