Chapter 297 - 142: Reincarnated Sword Immortal, Aunt Shui’s Mistake

Chapter 297: Chapter 142: Reincarnated Sword Immortal, Aunt Shui’s Mistake

Shui Miaozheng didn’t speak, her brow furrowed in concentration as she turned the ore demon over and over in her hands, examining it closely.

She then gathered the other trembling ore demons and inspected them in turn.

"These ore demons..."

She looked up, her eyes a mix of confusion and gravity. "Someone’s tampered with them."

"Tampered with?"

"Look."

Shui Miaozheng pointed to the rough, uneven stone patterns on the ore demon’s back and said, her voice heavy,

"These patterns aren’t natural. They’re runes that someone carved into them. Control runes, specifically. And judging by the technique and the marks, they were carved recently."

"So you’re saying someone found these ore demons before we did and controlled them?"

Jiang Mu’s expression flickered. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind.

’Who could it be?’

’The Red Umbrella Sect?’

’Or was it Yuan Qianfan from Black Mountain?’

’If it was them, what did they want with ore demons that can sense the ley lines of the earth?’

"Someone controlled them, yes."

Shui Miaozheng gently placed the ore demons back on the ground. They immediately huddled together again, trembling.

"But the technique used for these runes is crude. It doesn’t look like the work of a Major Sect—more like some quick and dirty unorthodox method. There’s no specific Divine Soul Mark left behind, so it’s very difficult to trace."

"Never mind. There are too few clues to work with, so there’s no point dwelling on it. Let’s focus on the task at hand and find that Wolf Demon."

"Can we still use these ore demons, then?"

Jiang Mu asked.

Shui Miaozheng nodded, her expression softening slightly.

"Yes, we can still use them."

"The control runes have already failed, and the internal Spiritual Power links are broken. It means whoever was behind this abandoned them after they were done."

"They just had the bad luck of being caught by an Earth Ghost Demon and tossed in here as emergency rations. All we need to do is apply a tracking Secret Skill and wipe away the leftover traces, and we’ll be able to command them."

Jiang Mu finally relaxed. "As long as they work."

The two of them returned the way they came, squeezing back into the narrow passage.

This time, Shui Miaozheng deliberately stepped aside, gesturing for Jiang Mu to crawl ahead of her.

Jiang Mu didn’t hesitate.

He crawled out of the opening. Outside, the downpour continued unabated.

A thick curtain of rain hung between the sky and the earth, washing the distant mountains into a blur of ink.

Jiang Mu noticed the damp patch on the back of Shui Miaozheng’s robes had vanished.

’She must have used her Spiritual Power to dry it,’ he figured.

But perhaps she had been a bit too hasty; the silk had shrunk slightly, pulling taut.

It clung to her, outlining a supple curve.

Shui Miaozheng’s expression remained unchanged. She casually reached back, hooked a fold of her dress with her fingertips, and gave it a gentle tug to straighten the fabric. Then, she let her hand drift down to smooth the hem.

The two returned to the mountain under the protection of the Cyan Luo Umbrella.

Shui Miaozheng released the ore demons, now enchanted with the tracking Secret Skill.

The little creatures, having received their orders, scattered in all directions like a brood of chicks freed from a coop.

Like pebbles tossed into a pond, they quickly vanished into the rainy mountain forest.

They were naturally sensitive to underground caves and passages.

Now, driven by the Secret Skill, their sole purpose was to find hidden caves emanating demonic energy or other unusual fluctuations.

They didn’t have to wait long.

About an hour later, a small ore demon came rolling down a slippery slope like a marble. It bounced off a rock by Shui Miaozheng’s feet and began to jump up and down excitedly.

"Found it!"

Shui Miaozheng’s eyes lit up.

Led by the little ore demon, the two of them passed through a patch of bushes, battered and bent by the rain, and found themselves at a hidden mountain spring.

Water welled up from a crack in the rock,

forming a small, clear pool. Ripples spread across its surface as the rain fell.

The little ore demon leading the way jumped into the spring. SPLASH!

It sank to the bottom for a moment before surfacing again. It then swam to the edge of the pool, next to a dark, bluish-green stone slab that was half-submerged in the water. It rammed its round body against the slab twice, then hopped on top and began to jump insistently.

"A mechanism?"

Jiang Mu raised an eyebrow.

Shui Miaozheng raised a slender hand and made a grasping motion in the air toward the slab.

CRASH!

The slab, along with the mud clinging to it, was ripped from the ground, revealing a pitch-black, vertical Earth Cave below.

A cool breeze carrying the faint scent of demonic energy drifted out from the hole.

Jiang Mu clicked his tongue in wonder. "Hiding this deep? What is this Wolf Demon, part mouse?"

The words had barely left his lips.

"AWOOOO—!!"

An enraged howl suddenly erupted from the depths of the Earth Cave.

It was followed by a cyan blur that shot out of the cave like a bolt of lightning.

The figure didn’t pause for a second.

The instant it landed, its claws dug into the earth, sending mud and water flying as it bolted madly for the dense woods down the mountain.

"Trying to run?"

Shui Miaozheng scoffed. Her raised hand, which had been held aloft, curled slightly as she pressed down through the air in the direction of the fleeing Wolf Demon.

HUMMM!

The curtain of rain within a ten-zhang radius seemed to freeze in an instant, the very air turning thick as glue.

The sprinting Wolf Demon slammed into an invisible wall. It let out a choked, pained howl as an immense force crushed it to the ground, sending a huge splash of muddy water into the air.

With another flick of her wrist, Shui Miaozheng dragged the Wolf Demon back through the air.

It landed in a heap in the mud before them.

Fat raindrops hammered down on its soaked fur, making for a pathetic sight.

"Ptuh!"

The Wolf Demon spat out a mouthful of mud and sand, then lifted its head.

Its glowing green eyes were filled with fury and indignation. It glared viciously at Shui Miaozheng, bared its fangs, and roared:

"You people from the Demon-slaying Bureau have gone too far!"

"Sending an Eighth Realm master just to kill a little Tier Five demon like me? Have you no shame?!"

"Who even does that?! This is just straight-up bullying!"