Lin Luoran looks around on the hilltop with fixed attention and tries to find out the source of the aroma, but she fails.

She has never smelt such kind of fragrance, which is a fusion of fruits, flowers, and herb. The scent is so attractive that it has several notes that create an accord. Lin makes a choice within a few minutes between going downhill and seeking the source of the fragrance.

Lingering here for a while may not delay my arriving at the spot if I hurry up when I descend later, Lin thinks. Then she begins to hunt for the scent around the hilltops.

The fragrance of the flower is vague and indistinct due to the blowing of wind so that it is difficult to fix its position. Therefore, Lin fails to find out the source within such a small place on the top.

Lin just instead tries to feel it with her heart by closing her eyes.

The sweet fragrance circles around her nose and then flies away. Lin tries her best to hunt for the route of scent with her nose.

Finally, the speed of the wind lowered, so she can clearly smell the sweet scent in the air. Then she closes her eyes and concentrates. Consequently, Lin finds the direction of the smell!

She suddenly opens her eyes and goes straight confidently to the cliff edge, with confusion disappearing from her face.

Looking down to the valley, as expected, she sees a cyan rock of three feet long hanging on the edge of precipice three meters lower than the top, which is very eye-catching.

A small plant clings a speck of dirt on the cyan rock; the stem takes on dark green with small and stretched branches and leaves.

It is a black flower with four to five petals, which looks like night-blooming cereus from far. The petals compact together, and the flowers haven’t opened; only a bud among the dark green leaves swings her body in the wind emanating burst of unique fragrance.

Lin Luoran manages to find out the source very hard, but she feels awkward now.

For one thing, it must take a lot of effort to pick since the cyan rock hangs on the cliff. For another, she doesn’t know the flower at all and hasn’t even heard of it, so Lin doubts whether it is poisonous since the color of it is kind of creepy.

However, there’s one thing Lin is sure of that the unique dark flower is unusual.

She can identify the Reiki of this plant. At the beginning of her hunting, there was nothing special, but now she pays attention to the cliff and finds that the flower is still there while there is no frog around it.

The black flower is either a dead thing, so it has lost vigor long ago, or it knows how to rein in Reiki. No matter it is a dead thing with such a unique fragrance or a flower that knows to restrain its Reiki, it attracts Lin.

Does black represent poison?

This is a serious question! An idea occurs to Lin Luoran when she observes the surroundings carefully: it is said in the novel that strange flowers and grass are usually guarded by fantastic beasts, while there is even no hair or feces of birds and beasts but a bare cyan rock

hanging over there.

Lin Luoran picks up a boulder and throws it to the cyan rock, but she doesn’t see any so-called “flower guarding beast” after waiting for a long time. At this moment, she ridicules herself for taking descriptions in the novel seriously.

As for how to go down there, a flash of wit comes to her: she bends and picks up a rattan that is two fingers thick and strong enough, then she ties one end to a big tree on the edge of the cliff and holds on the other end tightly. Then she jumps in the direction she is aiming.

The wind blows on her face harshly when she creeps down the vine. Fortunately, it is only a short distance. Lin Luoran falls on the cyan rock just like a fallen leaf.

It seems like the cyan rock is just a tip of a bigger rock exposed from the mountain. When Lin stands on the rock, it doesn’t even quiver, so it is evident that the rest part of it is embedded in the mountain.

At this moment, when approaching the flower, the sweet scent of it suddenly rushes to her nose, which tickles the nose. This gives a wonderful feeling like stepping on marshmallows.

Suddenly, Lin becomes alert and feels that the flower can poison people and bewitch the mind, so she must pick it up as soon as possible. Fearing the poison, she doesn’t pick up directly by hand. Instead, she rips down a section of the rattan and toss it toward the flower. The rattan brings up a burst of wind, and there’s a sound of the golden stone after hitting on the rock.

The dark green plant was raised by the soil washed by rainwater to the cyan rock, so it didn’t strike root deeply. Lin Luoran exerts great effort on the rock, then the dirt was loosened by dozens of lashes. Seeing this Lin lashes directly to the root, and the end of the mountain vine deftly makes a circle firmly enclosing the root of the black flower. Lin shakes her wrist which passed her strength along through the rattan, completely separated the root and the rock!

Lin Luoran pulls the rattan back, and then the dark green plant with soil flies towards Lin. But she doesn’t dare to catch it directly. Instead, she puts the exotic plant into her space.

Lin Luoran breathes a sigh of relief. She cannot be regarded as a cultivator just yet, but she is indeed a martial arts master now. This is not a good place to observe this unique flower. Lin Luoran remembers the sound of the golden stone when the rattan hits the rock, guessing that this rock, too, might be an odd thing, so she wants to take it away together.

Lin Luoran stamps her feet on the stone, but the stone stands still. Maybe the part stuck to the mountain is huge, which makes it hard to dig it out without tools.

Lin Luoran hesitates for a while, thinking that her Dad may worry about her if she doesn’t appear at the appointed spot, so she decides to come back later when there is another chance.

She grabs the rattan, takes a deep breath, thrusts her foot tips against the rock, jumps up lightly, and scratches the surface of the cliff turning over herself to the top of the mountain.

Since lingering for a while, Lin Luoran moves faster when descending. She is afraid that her father might be worrying about her. As the saying goes, it’s easier to go up than to go down. Thinking about Dad, Lin rushes and jumps through the mountains and doesn’t stop until she gets to the col. Waiting there, she doesn’t notice that the clothes have been torn by the branches until she tidies herself.

Guess mom’s gonna nag again. Lin Luoran thinks while she utters a sound to her Dad, who is waiting for her at the col.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I found a few monkeys just now and ran away after them…” Lin Luoran says. Her father will worry about her if she tells the truth.

It is a dry season in fall, so they should be careful to be on guard against mountain fire. Mr. Lin snuffs the cigarette in his hand and takes out the food they bring as lunch.

Mother has made those rice balls with some leftover beef and dishes from last night. Father usually eat without heating while now he is with his dear daughter. So, he picks some large leaves, wanting to heat the rice balls.

There is no doubt that a picnic is fun, but Lin Luoran feels a little restless after getting the unique cliff flower, worrying that something dangerous may happen.

She may turn her nose at such kinds of intuition before. However, she doesn’t dare to look down upon this feeling after getting the beads that have raised her spiritual sense.

We’d better leave early. Lin Luoran persuades her father to not heat the meal, saying that she wants to experience the hardship of life. Father Lin has no choice but to share the cold rice balls with his daughter, and the two go back as they eat.

Along the way, Lin Luoran not only picks some rare herbs for herself but also collects many common medicinal materials for her father. They fill not only their baskets but also an additional bag brought by Lin’s father.

One hour after they left the col, a rustle comes from the brushwood, where a stout red body partly is hidden and partially visible in the bushes.

The bushes and brushwood cover most of its body. The part exposed can be seen with a delicate pattern on the surface.

The thing doesn’t reveal its large triangular head until it crawls to the mountaintop where there are much few bushes—a red boa constrictor that is as thick as a human thigh. It breathes and sends out a stinking smell to the grass. A few minutes later, the green turns to sallow.

The closer to the mountaintop, the more anxious the red snake is, so it speeds up.

In a moment, the boa moves to the cliff where Lin Luoran stands. Its large head looks down on the edge of the cliff.

The rock was littered with debris without the unique flower that can help it to rise in rank.

The red snake is so angry. However, there is no imprint left. Consequently, it can't track down the flower.

The serpent sticks out its tongue and raises its tail to hit a tree on the cliff, and the tree that is big enough for one person to hug with both arms splits down the middle of the trunk.

Meanwhile, Lin Luoran feels a little bit nervous for no reason. At this moment, she has passed over the mountain that is much far away from here and picks up her speed with her father.