Chapter 72: The Missing Gu Xiaotu

  The night was chillingly cold, and Wang Yuanying sneezed, wrapping her clothes tighter around her. Sanbao, noticing this, immediately snapped her fingers, and a ball of emerald green fire flew from her fingertips, nding in the center of the yard. Instantly, a fire fred up, burning brightly in the middle of the yard.

  The fme at the heart of the fire was a deep green, burning fiercely, but it stayed in pce, neither spreading nor expanding. It seemed to have a will of its own, quietly burning, releasing waves of warmth into the yard just enough to chase away the chill of the night.

  "Wow, it's a spiritual fire!" Wang Yuanying's eyes brightened as she cheered and jumped into the yard, sitting next to the fire, warming herself and admiring Sanbao, "Sister, you can control spiritual fire? Aren’t you a Water Elemental abilities user? Could you be a dual-element practitioner with both water and fire abilities?"

  "Idiot!" Qin Liangguang immediately gave her a knock on the head, saying seriously, "This isn't a dual-element. Any abilities user above the fifth rank can practice other elemental techniques. But it depends on the individual's aptitude and the resources avaible for cultivation; not everyone can successfully cultivate other elements."

  "Wow, you're amazing, Sister!" Wang Yuanying's eyes shone with admiration as she looked at Sanbao.

  Sanbao felt a headache coming on, unable to hold back her frustration, "What 'Sister'? I'm only 20! Stop making me sound like I'm decades older than I am!"

  "Sorry, Sister... I mean, no, I’m sorry, younger sister!" Wang Yuanying quickly stuck out her tongue and apologized with a grin.

  Sanbao pouted, waving her hand in dismissal. "Forget it, I won’t hold it against you. Come on, let’s enjoy the warmth together."

  Everyone came out from the house and gathered around the fire. The campfire burned quietly between them, dispelling much of the coldness of the night.

  "Why don’t you show us your abilities?" Sanbao suggested, trying to lighten the mood. Her tone was casual, but inside, she thought it would be good for everyone to get to know each other better and stick together, especially since they were in a strange pce.

  Wang Yuanying stood up first, casually pulling out a weed from the yard. She threw it lightly toward the eaves of the house. The soft weed shot toward the wooden beams at an incredible speed, embedding itself deep into the hard wood, with only the tip of the stem exposed.

  "Flower picking and leaf flying, how amazing!" Sanbao excimed, cpping her hands in excitement.

  "I'm only at the te second rank," Wang Yuanying said with a smile as she sat back down next to Sanbao. "If I could reach the fifth rank like you, I’d be able to learn a lot more useful skills, like making a small sapling grow into a towering tree in the blink of an eye!"

  Sanbao, listening to her, thought back to the spiritual pnts she had seen in the Medicine Valley's cultivation fields. She suddenly realized that the Medicine Valley relied on Wood Elemental abilities to cultivate spiritual pnts, which were used to make medicinal pills. She made a mental note to "borrow" some pnt seeds from the Valley one day, and find a Wood Elemental abilities user to help cultivate them... As she thought this, she turned to look at Wang Suifeng.

  Wang Suifeng snorted, looking up at the night sky with a face that seemed to say, *What’s so surprising about this?* His expression implied that in their Medicine Valley, even a Wood Elemental abilities user above the fifth rank was hardly more than a caretaker in the spiritual pnt greenhouses.

  Sanbao shifted her gaze to Gu Xiaotu, asking, "What kind of powerful abilities do you have?"

  Gu Xiaotu smiled shyly, lowered his head, and began to chant a spell. Moments ter, the ground in the yard slightly bulged, and a half-circle of earth slowly rose, forming a dirt stove that enclosed the fire.

  He scratched his head and said, "Right now, I can only build some earthen walls, throw dirt blocks at people, or make mud hands lift things from the ground. Once I reach the fourth rank, I’ll be able to move through the earth."

  "Move through the earth?" Sanbao thought of the character "Tu Xing Sun" from the cssic novel *Investiture of the Gods*, who could burrow through the earth. Imagining someone suddenly emerging from the ground sent a shiver down her spine. She couldn't help but think that Earth Elemental abilities users who could use this power for sneak attacks would be nearly impossible to defend against.

  Noticing Sanbao’s sudden silence, Wang Yuanying patted Shi Mengsong’s shoulder and said, "It’s your turn now! Shi-ge, it’s time for you to show us your skills!"

  Shi Mengsong, who had kept a stern face, seemed to blush slightly. He picked up a stone from the ground, muttered a spell, and tightly gripped it in his hand. After a moment, he opened his hand, and the stone had turned into a small piece of unknown metal.

  "What’s this?" Sanbao asked.

  "My abilities aren’t strong enough yet; I can only perform this level of material transformation," Shi Mengsong replied indifferently. "Once I reach the sixth rank, I’ll be able to turn stones into gold."

  Sanbao looked at the piece of metal in his hand, but her mind wandered back to Wu Yuyu’s image. Little Yu had been by her side for so many years, even sacrificing herself to save her at the beginning of their journey. Now, she was forced to be separated from her due to some unknown conspiracy, never to meet again. Her eyes reddened, and her expression became somber.

  Wang Yuanying noticed her change in mood and gently asked, "Sister, what’s wrong?"

  Sanbao forced a smile. "It’s nothing... I just suddenly remembered an old friend."

  The firelight illuminated her face, and a glint of tears fshed in her eyes.

  Wang Yuanying didn’t ask further, and the group continued to chat casually around the fire. Time passed, and they didn’t notice when it grew te.

  Suddenly, Gu Xiaotu stood up, scratching his head awkwardly. "I drank too much water tonight, I need to go to the bathroom."

  Sanbao’s heart skipped a beat, and her mind instantly filled with scenes from horror movies. In those films, whenever someone left the group to go off alone, they were usually the next victim.

  With a tight chest, Sanbao asked, "Do you want someone to accompany you? It might be safer."

  Gu Xiaotu quickly waved his hand. "No need! I’m just going behind the house to take care of it. I’ll be back quickly, and I won’t go far." He gnced at the fire before turning to walk toward the back of the house.

  His voice gradually faded, and his figure disappeared into the darkness.

  The fire still flickered, seemingly unaware of his absence. The wind grew colder, and it caused the fmes to flicker erratically, casting alternating light and shadow on the faces of the group.

  Gu Xiaotu’s footsteps slowly faded into the night. Silence, like an inverted pot lid, suddenly covered the entire yard.