Chief, don't hit me in the face

Chapter 30: The Great Wilderness Sutra of Ten Thousand Spirits

Looking at the empty stone niche, Cao Ang and his group wore expressions of rage. “Damn it, we’re still too late!” Cao Xiong roared in fury, slamming his axe into the floor. Both the cracks in the stone niche and the gashes in the floor were fresh—no more than a few days old—indicating that the other party had fought a grueling battle to finally secure the secret treasure. “Who was it? Those Xia clan members?” Cao Bing analyzed. “Wipe them out and take back the treasure!” Cao Xu gripped his ox-horn longbow tightly. “Everyone, calm down. Let’s go back and discuss this first!” Cao Ang took a deep breath, suppressing the frustration and irritation churning inside him. What he found most intolerable was that it had taken the enemy at least three days to find the secret treasure, yet he hadn’t even noticed—it was utterly pathetic. “Could it be that half-blind guy who killed Cao Mu?” Cao Lan suddenly recalled the teenager they’d encountered a few days earlier—he was a ruthless one. “What kind of nonsense are you spouting? He’s a lone wolf—he’s probably dead by now. And even if he isn’t, if I run into him again, I’ll make sure he goes completely blind!” Cao Xiong cursed under his breath and spat out a thick glob of phlegm. “Whoever it is, if they stole our stuff, they’re going to pay the price!” Cao Ang was already plotting how to hunt down those Xia clan members—better to kill the wrong person than let the guilty one slip away. Hidden behind a pile of rubble, Xia Ye lay in quiet ambush. He waited a full ten minutes without spotting any enemies in pursuit, and only then did he feel safe enough to return to the stone hut. Lu Lingxi examined Xia Ye and, seeing that his injuries were minor, nodded: “You gave up? That’s the smart thing to do!” “We did it!” Song Guo boasted, spreading her little finger to form a victory “V” sign—a move she’d learned from Xia Ye. “Just managing to avoid the Headless Battle Spirit and snag that scroll is impressive enough!” Lu Lingxi praised him sincerely: “Once you break through to the Hun Yuan Realm, you might just succeed… Wait, what did you mean by ‘succeeded’?” “Of course it was Big Brother who got the scroll!” Song Guo beamed from ear to ear as she took a bite of a candied hawthorn on a stick. “Um…” Lu Lingxi was about to say it was impossible, but then she saw Xia Ye sit down casually by the campfire and pull a scroll from his robe. “How is that possible?” Lu Lingxi gasped, covering her mouth—her expression of shock was as if she’d just seen a field mouse pinning a lion to the ground and having its way with it! “Why not?” Song Guo pouted, clearly dissatisfied with that explanation. “I’m sorry, what I meant was…” Lu Lingxi was at a loss for words, unsure how to explain. In fact, she had easily dodged the Headless Battle Spirit’s attack, but the moment she touched the scroll, her spiritual sense was severely damaged by those spirit-summoning illusions! That was definitely not a phantom attack that a Body Tempering Realm minnow could withstand, yet Xia Ye had managed it—and with only minor injuries! “Luck!” Xia Ye explained offhandedly, running a finger over his eye patch. If it weren’t for his left eye, he would indeed have died. In the past, he’d found those light orbs a nuisance to his vision, but now he was actually grateful for them. “Eight light orbs left—I wonder what abilities they’ll hatch?” Xia Ye was eager to participate in the Blood Survival Trial—pushing the enemy base, destroying towers, seizing the building core, and then absorbing its energy to activate these light orbs. “Big brother killed the Headless Battle Spirit, too!” Song Guo said smugly. “What?” Lu Lingxi’s red lips formed an ‘O,’ and she looked at Xia Ye as if he were a monster: “How did you do that?” “It’s no big deal—I just used a secret artifact to keep it in check!” Xia Ye took a sip of brown sugar water and began studying the scroll. “That tactic is truly… brilliant!” Lu Lingxi was speechless; no amount of praise or flattery could adequately express how she felt at that moment. She had no idea what was going on in Xia Ye’s head—how he’d managed to come up with such an ingenious tactic. Over the past few hundred years, there had surely been plenty of lucky souls who’d made it to the underground district, but when it came to devising a tactic like this—and having the guts to attack the sacred artifact—Xia Ye was definitely the first. “It was just a fluke!” Xia Ye wasn’t proud. “You’re being too modest!” Lu Lingxi marveled. At such a young age, Xia Ye was already able to remain humble and composed; he was bound to achieve great things in the future. Though Xia Ye brushed it off with a casual remark about luck, Lu Lingxi—who had fought in the trenches himself—knew that courage, boldness, discernment, wisdom, and flawless execution were all indispensable. After all, that was no ordinary secret treasure scroll—it was the *Great Wasteland Scripture of Ten Thousand Spirits*, one of the three great ancient spirit-summoning scrolls. It represented the pinnacle of spirit-summoning arts and was a treasure coveted by countless spirit summoners! Xia Ye had obtained it! “The Great Wasteland Scripture of Ten Thousand Spirits? Hmm, it seems to have something to do with spirit summoning?” Xia Ye unrolled the scroll. It was covered with vertical columns, each about a thumb’s width wide, and within each column was a drawing of a different bird, beast, insect, or small bird. “Have you ever thought about it? What if the Headless Battle Spirit can’t be stopped? You’ll destroy this scroll!” Lu Lingxi asked. “Then so be it!” Xia Ye realized that even though the scroll was as thick as his wrist, he simply couldn’t seem to reach the end of it—it was truly amazing. “Uh.” Lu Lingxi was taken aback for a moment, then found herself both amused and exasperated, thinking to herself, If you destroy it, every spirit summoner in the world will come after you. “You seem to know a thing or two about it?” Xia Ye didn’t hide the scroll because he thought Lu Lingxi was a decent person, and since he wanted to recruit her, he naturally wanted to show his magnanimity. Otherwise, if he succeeded in recruiting her and then had to pull out the scroll to use it later, how embarrassing would that be! “It’s called the Great Wasteland Scripture of Ten Thousand Spirits. It depicts spirit beasts—as long as you offer a sacrifice, you can summon one to fight for you!” Lu Lingxi explained. “Really?” Xia Ye’s eyes lit up with delight as he quickly flipped through the scroll; it was filled with many powerful spirit beasts. “The more powerful the spirit beast, the rarer the offering required to summon it. Moreover, if your spiritual awareness isn’t strong enough, you’ll suffer a backlash. So, for the sake of your own life, you’d better start by getting familiar with the lower-level spirit beasts!” Lu Lingxi warned earnestly. “What are the offerings?” Xia Ye scanned the text. “Fresh blood and freshly severed heads—these are common offerings.” Lu Lingxi didn’t know much more than that: “You’ll have to figure out the rest on your own!” “Got it!” Xia Ye discovered that this scroll of the *Sutra of Ten Thousand Spirits* covered everything under the sun—it even included meditation techniques for refining one’s divine consciousness. He’d truly struck gold; he’d been worrying about how to advance his Divine Consciousness Realm! After all, without reaching perfection in the Divine Consciousness Realm, even if one attained the ninth stage of the Body Refinement Realm, one couldn’t enter the Hun Yuan Realm or become a quasi-hero. “By the way, aren’t you afraid I’ll snatch it away when you’re admiring it so brazenly right in front of me?” Lu Lingxi suddenly spoke, her expression turning fierce. “Huh?” Song Guo, who was munching on a candied hawthorn, frowned and grabbed the stone hammer. “Your acting is terrible!” Xia Ye burst out laughing as his finger landed on a row of squares containing a pattern—it was the headless battle spirit kneeling on one knee. Unlike the other patterns, it was emitting a faint glow. “Heh!” Lu Lingxi shook her head. This boy was far too observant—it would be difficult to scare him. “Be more careful in the future. It’s best to keep things like this hidden. If someone recognizes it, you’ll be hunted down!” “Thanks!” Xia Ye admired Lu Lingxi even more. She was an intelligent, beautiful woman with a broad-minded and unassuming demeanor. If he’d known earlier that this was one of the Three Great Ancient Spirit-Summoning Scriptures, he definitely wouldn’t have given it up. The Great Wasteland Scripture of Ten Thousand Spirits was undoubtedly a divine-level treasure, containing far too many mysteries of spirit-summoning to unravel in a short time, so Xia Ye decided to set it aside for now. “Let’s go find some ingredients and cook up a feast to celebrate this bountiful harvest!” Xia Ye snapped his fingers. “Woof!” Song Guo let out a cheer and, scampering on her little legs, immediately followed behind him. After a flurry of activity! The firewood crackled and popped as it burned. Once the spring water in the clay pot came to a boil, she tossed in the mushrooms and wood ear fungus they’d picked, added the wild scallions and ginger cut into sections, and seasoned it lightly. Next, she chopped up the wild pheasant and threw it all into the pot to simmer. “When it’s almost done, add the wild greens and salt. Remember, don’t add the salt too early, or the meat won’t tenderize properly!” Xia Ye shares her secrets. “Mm-hmm! Song Guo nodded. Soon, a rich aroma wafted through the air, and the little girl couldn’t help but take a deep breath. “Mushrooms and pheasant broth are nature’s MSG—they bring out the savory flavor in food.” Xia Ye brought over the bird eggs Song Guo had collected, chopped the wild onions with his survival knife, added salt, and stirred. “Young man, that’s no way to waste salt!” Watching Xia Ye keep using salt—he’d already gone through enough for five people—Lu Lingxi felt a pang of regret. Salt was a strategic resource; normally, when tribe members went out, they’d add just a pinch to their water each day to replenish salt levels, and they’d never dare put it in their food because it was so expensive. “Mm-hmm!” Song Guo also realized what was happening and quickly grabbed the bamboo tube holding the salt—eating like this was practically a crime. “Ha!” Xia Ye grabbed the salt tube and tossed it to Lu Lingxi: “It’s yours!” Lu Lingxi was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled softly, rolling her eyes: “You’re certainly generous, but even though there’s a lot of salt here, it’s not enough to recruit me!” The beautiful woman dressed in green could tell that Xia Ye was planning to recruit her. “Who’s trying to recruit you? I’m just giving it to you!” Xia Ye pursed his lips. Now that he’d mastered the method for purifying salt, even if he couldn’t sell it for profit, it was more than enough for his own consumption. “Mmm!” Ah-wu puckered her lips, reached into her pocket, pulled out a lump of salt the size of a walnut, and stuck out her tongue to lick a small bit. That’s how the tribe eats salt. “You little rascal, once we get home, I’ll make you plenty of salt and build you a salt bed—you can sleep on it every day if you want!” Xia Ye gave the little girl a light tap on the forehead, casually picked up the salt lump, glanced at it, and tossed it aside. It was yellowish and full of impurities—eating too much of it would kill you. “Hehe!” Song Guo beamed with delight, but she still ran out, picked up the lump of salt, carefully wiped off the dirt clinging to it, and tucked it into her pocket. She patted her little hands together, finally feeling at ease. “Making salt?” Lu Lingxi raised an eyebrow. Isn’t salt mined from salt mines? Could it actually be made? But this must be a closely guarded secret, so although she was curious, she didn’t ask. By the campfire, several stones had already been arranged to form a platform. Xia Ye placed the bronze plate on top. Once it was heated, he picked up the goatskin water bag filled with oil, pulled out the wooden stopper, and poured some onto the plate. “What is this?” Watching the golden liquid drip down and, as it was heated by the bronze plate, give off an enticing aroma, Lu Lingxi couldn’t help but ask—she was simply too curious.