Dual Cultivation In Martial Peak

Chapter 61: A Plan

"This place doesn't seem to have any separation between day and night..."

"... And it feels so different from the outside world. We'd need to count the days we've been inside, or we might lose track of how much time has passed."

Hu Jiao'er and Hu Mei'er examined their surroundings, somewhat excited as they searched for any immediate dangers, but after not finding anything, the two of them sighed in relief, relaxing a bit.

The place they had just arrived occupied a very large area, and every group of young cultivators that entered were randomly scattered. The only people initially placed together were those who rode on the same duckweed.

That was part of the information the Hu Sisters had recently learned from Ling Tai Xu, and judging from their current circumstances, it appeared to be accurate.

"Jiao'er, here."

At Su Mu's sudden callout, Hu Jiao'er turned around, watching as the former tossed the Universal Bag that Ling Tai Xu had previously given to him towards her without any consideration.

"What's this for?" Hu Mei'er asked, catching the Universal Bag in her hands.

"Since the two of you don't have anything to store your belongings in, this should do a decent job, so I gave it to you." Su Mu replied without thinking about it much while lightly raising his right hand.

"You don't need it?" Hu Jiao'er asked.

"Not really." As Su Mu said that, the Demon Mystic Tome appeared inside his right hand, and he nodded to himself, commenting. "It's good that it still works here."

"First, at least make sure that your storage device is working before giving the other one over to us, or else, wouldn't it be troublesome for you to go around without a storage device?" Hu Jiao'er asked, watching as the Asura Sword appeared from within the Demon Mystic Tome.

"Unlike you, I don't plan on collecting blood beads from cultivators and monster beasts to raise my cultivation." Su Mu held the Asura Sword in his other hand, looking at it for a few seconds with slightly narrowed eyes. "It's not that the Artifacts themselves are being suppressed by this place, but it's blocking the connection between the owner and the Artifact, making it impossible for them to utilise their Artifacts."

That was something interesting.

Generally, Artifact Suppressing Arrays would target the Artifacts themselves rather than blocking their connection with the owner.

"Then, how can you use the Demon Mystic Tome, Su Mu?" Hu Mei'er asked, slightly tilting her head in confusion.

"According to Ling Tai Xu, this place only hindered the use of offence and defence-based artifacts, and artifacts that are meant to store items don't fall under those two categories, so they're still usable."

Not to mention, the Demon Mystic Tome was not an artifact, but a large piece of Soul Stone cut out to hold the Demon Eye of Annihilation, and it wasn't necessarily an artifact, similar to storage rings.

"I see." Hu Mei'er nodded, understanding what Su Mu was talking about, and then, she asked. "If that's the case, do you plan on exploring the formations of these Artifact Suppressing and Blood Bead Condensing Arrays?"

The Hu Sisters were aware that while Su Mu had brought them here for them to gain experience, he had something that he also needed to do in his mind, so the sisters were aware that they wouldn't stay together inside the Nether Mountain for long.

But even then, the Hu Sisters didn't mind this one bit, not wanting to hold back Su Mu from achieving his goal in this place.

"Indeed. For all I know, I might end up stumbling upon something that'll be helpful for the current me, and the Blood Bead Condensing Array interests me a little." Su Mu replied.

He wanted to compare the efficiency of the Blood Bead Condensing Array with the Secret Technique that he had—something that served a similar purpose to the Blood Bead Condensing Array, something that he planned on using himself in the future.

"Regardless of where you go, make sure to take care of yourself." Hu Jiao'er commented.

"If there's anything we can help with, just ask." Hu Mei'er added.

"I'll keep that in mind." Su Mu smiled at the Hu Sisters, placing the Asura Sword inside the Demon Mystic Tome before summoning a normal sword from it, hanging it on his waist, and then, he turned towards Hu Jiao'er. "Jiao'er, open the Universal Bag and point the entrance towards me."

Hu Jiao'er did exactly as she was told to, watching as several items came out from the Demon Mystic Tome before entering the Universal Bag.

Most of these were things that belonged to the Hu Sisters that they had previously given Su Mu to store inside the Demon Mystic Tome for their journey—from spare clothes to extra swords.

Hu Jiao'er also placed the pills that were given to her by Xia Ning Chang into the Universal Bag, and following her, Hu Mei'er did the same, only keeping the bare minimum with her.

Since Hu Jiao'er was the stronger one, it was already decided that she'd be the one holding the Universal Bag, and there was no reason for any discussion.

With all the things done, the three of them were ready to part ways for some time before reuniting again, and Su Mu continued as the Demon Mystic Tome disappeared from his hand, being stored inside his body. "Just because the two of you are strong, don't take this challenge lightly, and make sure to cultivate as much as possible, but don't end up going overboard."

"We know." Hu Jiao'er nodded, knowing that Su Mu was being considerate of their safety.

"I'll keep both myself and Big Sis safe, so you can go ahead and rest assured." Hu Mei'er added with a big smile.

"If Mei'er says so, I can truly rest assured." Su Mu replied with a smile, causing Hu Jiao'er's lips to twitch a little.

Hu Jiao'er understood that Hu Mei'er and Su Mu were doing this on purpose to mess with her, and she continued. "I'm sure we have more important things to do than having a conversation like this."

"That's true." Su Mu said before stepping forward and hugging Hu Jiao'er, surprising the latter, but she didn't resist, quietly hugging Su Mu back.

After hugging Hu Jiao'er for a good few seconds, Su Mu gave her a light kiss, before doing the same with Hu Mei'er, whose kiss lasted a bit longer because she was a bit reluctant to let go.

"While gaining experience is important, if things turn out too difficult for the two of you to handle, I'll help you, so don't worry about that." Su Mu explained, and the Hu Sisters smiled at him.

Naturally, Hu Mei'er and Hu Jiao'er were aware of that even if Su Mu hadn't said it out loud, and then, they replied in unison. "Thank you."

Su Mu smiled back at them, and soon, Hu Jiao'er and Mei'er watched as his figure suddenly disappeared after waving at them once.

After a few seconds of Su Mu's disappearance, Hu Mei'er turned towards her elder sister. "Big sis, help me scout the area."

"Sure." Hu Jiao'er watched as Hu Mei'er lightly jumped towards her, with her feet landing on the former's palm before she pushed her little sister high up in the air.

'There we go. Big sis really is amazing.' Within a few seconds, Hu Mei'er appeared several hundred meters above the ground without using any of her True Qi, only relying on Hu Jiao'er's physical strength.

Since Hu Mei'er's cultivation was lower than Hu Jiao'er's, she'd need to use her True Qi sparingly to not rely on her elder sister's True Qi, which would in return not drag both of them down.

That was exactly what had happened during the Heaven's Cave Inheritance, and Hu Mei'er wouldn't repeat the same mistake twice.

Hu Mei'er was very serious about increasing her cultivation during this trip to the Nether Mountain, both for herself and her companions.

'Divine Eyes.' Hu Mei'er activated her Divine Eyes, rotating her body to see every direction, allowing her to cover more than half of the place they were in, giving precise locations of all the cultivators and monster beasts in their location.

Of course, she was also seen by some other cultivators, but at this distance, Hu Mei'er wasn't worried about them recognizing her face, and she planned on changing locations immediately after scouring the area.

No one here except Su Mu could use Divine Sense to scout the area, and with that in mind, Hu Mei'er's Divine Eyes were the best scouting technique for the current situation.

A few seconds after she was done analysing the situation, Hu Mei'er's body landed back on the ground, and she turned towards Hu Jiao'er. "Let's go, Big sis."

"Alright." Hu Jiao'er didn't ask any further, following behind her little sister as both of them activated their movement techniques, going through the path Hu Mei'er had determined to be the safest.

"The cultivators are randomly scattered throughout the area, and there are some really strong monster beasts, too, but I'm taking us to a group of 5th Order Monster Beasts." Hu Mei'er explained after the two had moved a good distance away from their previous location.

5th Order Monster Beasts were comparable to True Element Realm Cultivators, similar to Hu Jiao'er and Hu Mei'er.

"But..." Hu Mei'er continued. "A group of four cultivators are observing that group of monster beasts, and from their formation, it looked like they wanted to ambush and kill whoever would come to hunt those monster beasts. And from what Senior Ling previously told us about the various forces here, they are from the Thunder Valley."

From what Hu Jiao'er remembered about Thunder Valley, the disciples they sent were on the 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3rd Stages of the True Element Realm.

Certainly, while it'd be a considerable amount of work for Hu Jiao'er to defeat all four of them at once, considering that everyone had some trump card up their sleeve.

She was sure that she could do it, but exhausting herself so early wouldn't be a good idea.

Not to mention, Hu Mei'er wasn't a close combatant, but an archer, so her close combat strength was slightly lower than her actual realm of cultivation, similar to Xia Ning Chang, who wasn't a combatant.

"Big sis, I have a plan..." Hu Mei'er turned towards Hu Jiao'er, and then, she proceeded to explain what she wanted to do in this situation.

After listening to her little sister's plan, Hu Jiao'er had to admit that she had never expected such a cruel and devious plan to come out of Hu Mei'er's mouth, being the kind and naive girl she was, especially towards people they had nothing to do with, at least for now.

"You've matured a lot, Mei'er."

"Ehehe." Hu Mei'er giggled in response.

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A/N:

1800 words.

I know, it's a short chapter, but I plan on posting another chapter tomorrow (24 hours) as well, so it'll balance out, cause the fic's been dead after my exams ended in the Powerstone department.

The Hu Sisters getting the deserved screen time for a few chapters (I'm trying to imitate mangas where they give each character different chapters) before we go back to what Mc's up to, followed by the mandatory lemon.

For those who forgot their cultivations:

Hu Jiao'er- 7th Stage True Element

Hu Mei'er- 4th Stage True Element