Long Xiao and Xiao Ming followed Old Daoist Xiao, and after leaving the mountaintop, they quickened their pace.
Old Daoist Xiao and his disciple walked ahead, with Long Xiao and Xiao Ming closely pursuing them. Old Daoist Xiao walked faster and faster, only slowing down when Long Xiao and Xiao Ming found it difficult to keep up.
They covered dozens of miles of mountain roads in just one hour, and soon the four of them arrived at the foot of the cliff again.
Old Daoist Xiao maintained his speed. With him responsible for finding the Fire Qilin, Long Xiao and the others didn't need to worry, only having to chase the master and disciple from behind.
Another hour passed, and the four had traveled dozens of miles. The cliff became lower and the trees thicker, indicating they were nearing the end of the cliff.
Old Daoist Xiao stopped and calmly looked at Long Xiao and the other two.
Long Xiao and Xiao Ming were already panting, and they stopped to catch their breath.
Mei Ling giggled and said, "Two grown men panting after just a few steps, how do you cultivate?"
After Long Xiao caught his breath, he replied, "We don't cultivate; we are just ordinary martial artists."
Mei Ling turned to ask, "Master, don't martial artists cultivate?"
Old Daoist Xiao nodded and said, "Martial artists cultivate martial power, while cultivators cultivate their body and mind. There is an essential difference."
Mei Ling nodded and said, "I see. It's too weak for these two martial artists not to cultivate properly."
Long Xiao and Xiao Ming, who often fought dozens of people alone, felt aggrieved to be called weak by a little girl.
Old Daoist Xiao chuckled and said, "Mei Ling, don't say that. Martial artists and cultivators are incomparable, differing completely in both techniques and physique."
The more this topic was discussed, the more they felt looked down upon. Long Xiao hurriedly changed the subject, "Daoist Master Xiao, let's think about how to find the Fire Qilin."
Old Daoist Xiao nodded and said, "If we can't find it here, we'll have to move on. With so many people in the mountains, the Fire Qilin might have hidden itself."
The Qilin is both an auspicious beast and a rare creature, naturally different from other beasts, and very intelligent. Finding it would be difficult.
Long Xiao's goal was not the Fire Qilin itself, but rather the extremely pure fire-attribute qi.
"Daoist Master Xiao, didn't you say the Fire Qilin appears near extremely pure fire-attribute spiritual energy?" Long Xiao asked.
Old Daoist Xiao nodded thoughtfully and said, "Yes, that's right. We can just wait by the Qilin Cave, and we'll eventually encounter the Fire Qilin."
"Where is the Qilin Cave?" Long Xiao asked.
Old Daoist Xiao turned and pointed forward, "The first cave we passed when we arrived here is the Qilin Cave."
Long Xiao had been to the entrance of the first cave at the cliff before. Cold air emanated from the cave, so how could there be extremely pure fire-attribute qi?
"Daoist Master Xiao, are you sure? When we passed that cave yesterday, cold air was coming out of it," Long Xiao said.
Old Daoist Xiao looked at Long Xiao and asked, "Who is your master? How did he teach you? Haven't you heard of 'when things reach their extreme, they tend to reverse'?"
Long Xiao had never heard that extremely pure fire-attribute spiritual energy could manifest as cold air.
Seeing Long Xiao's disbelief, Old Daoist Xiao said, "Let's go, you'll see when we get there."
Following Old Daoist Xiao, they arrived at the entrance of the first cave below the cliff.
Standing at the cave entrance, both Xiao Ming and Long Xiao felt a chill. They looked back at Mei Ling, who seemed unaffected, as if the cold had no impact on her.
"Shall we go in and take a look?" Long Xiao suggested.
Old Daoist Xiao quickly stopped him, "Don't go in yet. Let's hide outside. When the Fire Qilin returns and enters the cave, we'll trap it inside."
Having already reached the cave entrance, Long Xiao wanted to see if there was any extremely pure fire-attribute qi inside.
Long Xiao looked at Old Daoist Xiao, who was smiling at him. Long Xiao immediately realized that Old Daoist Xiao suspected him.
"Daoist Master Xiao, where should we hide so as not to be discovered by the Fire Qilin?" Long Xiao asked.
Old Daoist Xiao scanned the surroundings and pointed to a nearby bush, "Let's hide in the bushes."
Everyone hid in the bushes. Old Daoist Xiao was responsible for monitoring the cave. Long Xiao and the others, with nothing to do, sat cross-legged on the ground and waited.
To avoid alarming the Fire Qilin, no one could speak. Long Xiao, idle, simply closed his eyes and began to study the "Dragon Scripture."
Due to the vast content of the "Dragon Scripture," Long Xiao had only read a little over half of the parts he could access. He hadn't yet read some ancient texts he considered useless.
The peculiar nature of the "Dragon Scripture" was that once Long Xiao opened a text, its entire content would be imprinted in his mind, becoming his knowledge.
Long Xiao randomly selected a text and opened it. Instantly, its content became his knowledge.
Long Xiao checked the knowledge that had appeared in his mind and found that this text was about refining qi.
The realization that qi could be refined almost made Long Xiao jump with joy. The title of this text gave no hint that it was related to qi, which was why Long Xiao had not opened it for so long.
In an instant, Long Xiao's understanding of qi made a leap forward. He now fully grasped the principle of "when things reach their extreme, they tend to reverse" that Old Daoist Xiao had mentioned, and he also understood why there was cold air in the Fire Qilin's cave.
Although he could refine qi and transform ordinary qi into extremely pure elemental qi, the refining process required a large amount of ordinary qi and was time-consuming. To quickly improve his strength, he still needed to find extremely pure elemental qi.
Everyone sat there motionless. They waited until early morning, but the Fire Qilin did not appear.
Except for Long Xiao, everyone else was disappointed. Seeing the sky begin to lighten, Long Xiao quietly said, "Daoist Master Xiao, the Fire Qilin might not be coming back. Let's go."
"Don't speak, something is approaching," Old Daoist Xiao whispered.
Peeking through the gaps in the bushes, the area around the cave was quiet, without a sound.
Long Xiao found it strange. He noticed that Old Daoist Xiao had retracted his emitted qi, so how could he sense something approaching?
About ten minutes later, Long Xiao saw a strangely-looking mountain goat walking cautiously forward, glancing around as if searching for something.
Just as Long Xiao was about to ask Old Daoist Xiao what kind of ugly goat it was, Old Daoist Xiao suddenly rushed out, shouting, "Surround it!"
Without time to think, Long Xiao followed Old Daoist Xiao, with Xiao Ming and Mei Ling behind him.
The four of them formed a fan shape to surround the goat. The goat, noticing people, turned to flee. At this moment, Long Xiao saw a faint red light emanating from the goat's body, accompanied by the presence of extremely pure fire-attribute qi.
With extremely pure fire-attribute qi, it was undoubtedly the Fire Qilin. Long Xiao quickened his pace to chase it.
Seeing Long Xiao accelerate, Old Daoist Xiao was startled. This speed was inconsistent with Long Xiao's strength; he shouldn't be able to move this fast with his abilities.
Long Xiao and Old Daoist Xiao were fast, but the Fire Qilin was faster. The two of them chased desperately, but the distance between them and the Fire Qilin continued to grow.
Soon, the distance between Long Xiao and the Fire Qilin was over a hundred meters. Old Daoist Xiao was closer, about sixty meters away.
Just as they were beginning to feel disappointed, several dark figures appeared and rushed towards the Fire Qilin. These figures moved far faster than Long Xiao and Old Daoist Xiao.
Old Daoist Xiao stopped and whispered, "Don't chase. You'll lose your life if you do."