Chapter 4297 — How to Use Star-Ink Milk
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"What's that?" the great fire lion asked, puzzled.
"Actually, our coming here this time—we'd originally only taken a mission from the Three-Stacks Pavilion, to chase down a demonic cultivator in the Weihu Sea. But some complications arose along the way, and we drifted by turns into the nearby Zhen Duan Sea. Then we happened to hear that the miasma in the Lu Feng Forest had dispersed these days, so we followed the others in to seek treasure. We ran into Chang Daoping's party—the very lot you just sent packing—and they said there was a chance to obtain Star-Ink Milk, so we came here." In a few words, Wei Zhao laid out the whole sequence of events.
"Heh heh, we were each in our own corner of the world, yet fate insisted on throwing us back together—this is what they call destiny, sure enough," the great fire lion said happily.
"That it is. Oh, and benefactor, you two should take all of this Star-Ink Milk with you—though it may not be easy to carry. I'll have to think of some way to pack it up for you..." the great spider said, puzzling over it off to the side.
All told, there were several hundred bottles of Star-Ink Milk here, and they could not be tipped over, nor simply stuffed into some leather pouch. He had no idea that Wei Zhao possessed a heaven-defying trump card like the jade pendant space; for an ordinary person to carry it all away would be a considerable ordeal.
"Take it all?" Wei Zhao was startled, and could not help asking: "Isn't your chief task in guarding this place to gather Star-Ink Milk? Spirit beast stewards come by at regular intervals to collect it. If I carry it all off, won't the two of you be called to account?"
Wei Zhao truly did need Star-Ink Milk, and truly did want it. But if taking it meant that the great fire lion and the great spider would have to take the blame for him, that would be unreasonable. He would never do such a thing as to dig a pit for his own people.
"Of course not. We're the only two stationed here at the ruins. As for whether human cultivators have come in during this stretch, and just how many—if I don't say, and he doesn't say, then nobody else has any way of knowing," the great spider explained with a smile.
"Exactly. When the steward comes, we'll just say nobody's been by lately, and that'll be that. Surely he can't go asking one and all? Who has that kind of idle time!" the great fire lion chimed in with a laugh.
"But if I take so much all at once, wouldn't that suggest no one has come here for a long while?" Wei Zhao was still somewhat uneasy: "And even if he can't very well go questioning people, the moment he sees there's nothing here at all—if he really meant to look into it, couldn't he just glance at the altar to see how much Star-Ink Milk remains, and then know everything?"
"Not a chance. Benefactor, look at the rate the Star-Ink Milk drips—at its fastest, a bottle fills in two or three days. As long as a small half-pool is stored up, we spirit beasts wouldn't dare climb up for a close inspection—who isn't afraid of being struck by lightning? If you just stand outside the altar and look, a little more or a little less is very hard to tell," the great fire lion explained.
"Right. And after you've taken it, benefactor, it isn't as though we'll have no Star-Ink Milk at all. Give it a while, and once human cultivators from the other seas arrive, there'll be more again, won't there?" the great spider added in explanation.
"Other seas?" Wei Zhao was taken aback at once, and asked in surprise: "Human cultivators come from other seas too?"
"Naturally. The Lu Feng Forest is enormous, and the Zhen Duan Sea is hardly the only sea adjacent to it. Other seas lie in several directions, each with its own teleportation array. So long as we put out a map of the routes, human cultivators will come of their own accord," the great fire lion said with a chuckle.