Stealing Luck from the Heavenly Dao's Favorite

Wei Yunting and Wei Zonghan quickly figured out what had attracted the pack of Green-Eyed Wolves and immediately set a plan in motion.

Wei Yunting first ordered the others to extinguish the campfire. Then, with a pained expression, she took a Qingfeng Talisman from her storage pouch and used it to disperse the lingering scent left behind by the burning Lingjue Wood. Gradually, the wolves circling the barrier formation became less agitated.

Wei Zonghan followed up by tossing the remaining piece of Lingjue Wood out of the formation. His intention was to lure the pack further away, so he channeled spiritual energy into the throw. The charred piece soared nearly eight hundred meters, which was close to his limit.

Unfortunately, the chunk of wood ended up smacking right into the head of little chubby Wei Zonghao. He immediately clutched his forehead with one hand and covered his mouth with the other, not daring to cry out.

Even so, the soft hiss of pain was enough to rouse Wei Yunxi. Her gaze dropped to the blackened wood lying beneath the tree, and she turned to look at Zonghao.

Lowering his hand, Zonghao whispered in a small voice, "I don't know what happened. It just fell from the sky and hit me."

Wei Yunxi instinctively sent out her spiritual sense and instantly caught sight of the Green-Eyed Wolves that had been surrounding Wei Yunting's group. Now, they had turned and were sprinting in her direction.

She quickly climbed down the tree, retrieved the charred wood, and stowed it into her storage pouch. Then she used a Dust-Cleansing Talisman to erase all traces before climbing back up.

"Brother Zonghao, do you have any Concealment Talismans?"

He nodded and pulled out two first-rank concealment talismans from his pouch.

Yunxi took one and slapped it onto her chest without hesitation, gesturing for Zonghao to do the same. She also held up a finger to her lips, signaling for silence.

Zonghao had already heard the disturbance in the distance. He immediately followed suit, clutching the tree trunk and even slowing his breath.

Moments later, the Green-Eyed Wolves arrived beneath them. Two wolves sniffed around where Yunxi had just been, but thanks to the Dust-Cleansing Talisman, they found nothing.

Eventually, the wolves howled and led the pack back toward the formation, resuming their siege.

Wei Yunxi watched them leave, her heart brimming with satisfaction. Just from the scent clinging to that piece of wood, she had already deduced why Wei Yunting's group had been attacked.

The burned wood was Lingjue Wood, known to soothe spirit beasts in labor. It was highly prized by male spirit beasts as a resource to store. Clearly, someone in the group had mistaken it for an ordinary twig, brought it back, and even lit it for warmth. No wonder the wolves had come in droves.

She had a hunch the culprit was probably Wei Yunqing. The girl had only been cultivating for three months. Reaching the first stage of Qi Refining was already impressive for her, but when it came to identifying spiritual herbs or beasts, she couldn't compare to someone like Yunxi.

After all, Wei Yunxi had received personal tutoring from the Feng family. The very first step in alchemy training was learning to recognize all spiritual plants within the Weiyu Realm. If you couldn't even identify herbs, how could you possibly refine pills?

The Feng family even had a specialized herb-sorting room, where she could study actual samples. That made memorizing them far easier.

Earlier, she had decisively gone down to retrieve the item because she'd recognized the faint, sweet fruity scent of the Lingjue Wood. Her instincts had reacted instantly. She picked it up with the intention of using it to mess with someone.

Of course, she didn't share any of this with Wei Zonghao. In truth, she had wanted to store the item in her pendant's inner space—it was more secure—but with Haoran Sect cultivators secretly observing, she decided against it. Better to play it safe. It had fallen from the sky, after all. She was just picking it up.

The Green-Eyed Wolves, unable to find what they were searching for, became furious. Feeling tricked by two-legged beasts, they renewed their assault on the formation.

Unaware that their plan had failed and that the charred wood was now in Wei Yunxi's possession, Wei Yunting and Wei Zonghan could only continue feeding low-grade spirit stones into the formation disk, hoping to hold out until dawn.

This time, however, Wei Yunting didn't spend her own resources. She turned to Wei Yunqing first and asked her for spirit stones.

Wei Yunqing understood that this whole disaster had been her doing. If she didn't contribute, she might be kicked out of the formation altogether. After hesitating for a long time, she finally handed over one low-grade spirit stone, her heart aching the entire time. Then she sat silently in a corner, cross-legged in meditation.

Wei Yunting didn't say much. She placed the stone into the formation's socket and resumed watching the wolves outside.

None of the six could truly settle into cultivation that night. With a pack of wolves staring them down, how could anyone focus? At best, they could close their eyes and try to rest.

—

By sunrise, the Green-Eyed Wolves gave up. They had failed to break the formation and now had to retreat. These wolves were nocturnal. With the light of day rising, they slunk back to their territory to rest.

Once the entire pack had left, the six finally exhaled in relief.

Seeing how exhausted everyone was, Wei Yunting knew it wasn't realistic to move forward immediately. She said, "Let's rest for one hour, then continue. To avoid delays, we'll push an extra hour later today."

No one objected. Most of them had only just begun cultivating. Like ordinary people, they still needed food and rest. Without it, their bodies wouldn't be able to keep up.

—

Wei Yunxi and Wei Zonghao didn't have that problem. They'd already gotten three full hours of sleep. After a simple breakfast of Fasting Pill and red fruit, they climbed down the tree and resumed their journey.

"Little Sister Yunxi, do you think we'll catch up to Big Sister Yunting?" Zonghao asked.

"I'm not sure, but as long as we keep moving, we probably will," Yunxi replied with a flutter of her long lashes.

In truth, she had no intention of getting close to Wei Yunqing, the walking disaster magnet. So she quietly led Zonghao on a detour, steering them away from the area where Wei Yunting's group was resting.

Once they left Wei Yunqing behind, their pace improved noticeably. Yunxi wanted to avoid being caught up again, and Zonghao, worried that moving in a pair might attract lurking beasts, unconsciously sped up as well.

The two of them hiked for most of the morning. By the time they reached a small stream, Zonghao could walk no further. He plopped down and groaned, "Little Sister Yunxi, let's take a break."

Truthfully, Wei Yunxi was exhausted too. Her mind insisted she could keep going, but her child-sized body had long reached its limit.

She dropped down beside him. After about fifteen minutes, she stood and fetched water from the stream. After drinking a few sips, she handed the waterskin to the chubby boy. Once he'd had his fill, she began picking inconspicuous little weeds from the creek's edge.

Zonghao, now re-energized with water and two pieces of dried meat, looked at her curiously.

"Little Sister Yunxi, what are you doing?"

"I'm gathering Weiwei Grass."

"What for?"

"If you grind it and smear it on your body, it hides your scent. Animals in the mountains will mistake us for plants. It works just like a Concealment Talisman."