Returning Immortal

Chapter 11 : Phantom Beast Forest

The cave was not in very good condition.

Some places were so narrow that one had to bend over to barely pass through, and not a few parts were submerged in water.

It was a natural cave with only minimal modifications.

But no one complained.

As they just moved their bodies without a word, an uphill terrain continued, and before they knew it, the group was able to get out through the rotten, hollow center of a huge tree.

The group, which had escaped the fortress through the underground cave, did not stop walking even after that.

Choosing only dark terrain where the moonlight did not shine, they reached deep into the Tian Shan in almost two shichen.

Glance.

Was it because Gwi Seongjin's movement speed was faster than expected?

A strange light flickered in Ne Jinja's eyes as he looked at Gwi Seongjin.

As far as he could tell, Gwi Seongjin's martial arts were at the early stage of the first-rate.

But looking at him running now, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he had surpassed the mid-stage.

Body movements that were far superior to his own internal energy...

It was an incomprehensible phenomenon.

As they went a little further in, a dense jungle blocked the group's path.

It was a place where even the moonlight had disappeared due to the thick fog.

"This area is called the Phantom Beast Forest. You must be careful as some of the barriers installed inside have collapsed and the monsters have been released."

Ne Jinja, who was standing close to Gwi Seongjin, muttered as if to himself.

Gwi Seongjin looked ahead with a strange expression.

Although his vision was dim due to the thick fog at night, Gwi Seongjin could easily identify the scenery.

It was thanks to his five senses being greatly enhanced when his spirit energy increased a few days ago.

The formation spread out in front of Gwi Seongjin now was clearly the Cloud and Mist Ghost Confusion Formation.

This formation formed its pivots with natural objects such as rocks and trees, and the path of life was also cleverly hidden in the cloud and mist, so breaking it was not easy.

However, it was not a sturdy enough formation to install a barrier inside, so there was a high possibility that the barrier stones would break on their own over time and the sealed monsters would rush out.

In the end, a barrier that should not have been installed was set up inside the formation.

'I don't know who installed the barrier and for what purpose, but since the monsters have been released and are roaming around, it won't be easy to pass through.'

Although he steeled himself inwardly, he couldn't help but be tense.

The danger began from the very entrance of the formation.

Crack. Snap.

A strange sound was heard in front of the group, who were breaking through the Cloud and Mist Ghost Confusion Formation without much difficulty with the power of the Raging Fire Divine Lord in the lead and Ne Jinja's guidance.

It was the sound of trees, more than an arm's span thick, being torn and broken.

Thump! Thump!

The sound of something approaching was also mixed in, and although it wasn't loud, it was terrifyingly dreadful.

"Everyone, move to the Gen direction!"

Feeling that something was amiss, Ne Jinja hastily changed direction, but the danger had already approached right in front of them.

"Kwwwwwaaaaang!"

With a pungent, gamey smell, a hairy monster with only one eye appeared, parting the jungle, then lowered its body and roared with an incredibly loud voice.

It was a size that shook the ground and made the sky tremble and cry.

Gwi Seongjin staggered.

But the Raging Fire Divine Lord in the lead did not.

As if he had known in advance, the Raging Fire Divine Lord, at the same time as the hairy monster appeared, flew up and split the monster's chest with his Sky-Piercing Halberd.

Rip!

The monster's belly was split open, and its hot internal organs poured out of its body.

Even so, the monster did not die.

Dragging its intestines on the ground, it approached and swung the club in its hand at the Raging Fire Divine Lord.

An immortal monster.

Fortunately, it was not.

Flash!

When its neck was cut off by the Sky-Piercing Halberd, which was filled with fire qi, the monster stopped its attack and searched for its head that had fallen to the ground.

Then, unable to find its head, it finally collapsed, and surprisingly, the size of the dead and fallen monster gradually decreased.

The form that was finally revealed was that of a small monkey, not very large.

Thwack!

The Ghost Medicine Hall Master kicked and shattered the monkey's head that had fallen to the ground.

Then, after rummaging through its brain with the sole of his shoe, he rubbed his shoe on the ground with a displeased expression.

"Gekekeke. I thought something plausible would come out, but it was just a baby monkey. Divine Lord, please continue to advance."

As if it was a pity to have delayed time because of just one monkey, the group quickly moved forward again.

Gwi Seongjin's gaze, who was flying, lingered on the monkey's brain for a moment before falling away.

The strange behavior the Ghost Medicine Hall Master had just shown.

It was to infer its meaning.

Although something came to mind, Gwi Seongjin quickened his pace without a word.

As they walked a little further, the trees became even more lush.

The fog and the forest obscured the view to the point where he couldn't see well even one zhang ahead.

Gwi Seongjin, who had carefully observed the group as they walked, was convinced that there was no one among them who had learned immortal arts.

He had checked several times just in case, but it was the same.

As the forest grew denser and the view became darker, Gwi Seongjin secretly deployed his spiritual sense.

At that, the creatures hidden in the darkness were clearly detected by his spiritual sense.

Even the grasshopper hidden behind a tree over seven zhang away could not escape his spiritual sense.

Gwi Seongjin, who had become accustomed to the method of sensing things with his spiritual sense, narrowed his detection range.

At that, he could detect up to a maximum of twenty zhang.

Then, a surprising thing happened.

As he moved forward while deploying his spiritual sense, a strange creature was discovered in his detection range.

It was a large monster that looked like a snake.

The monster was now targeting his group.

But Gwi Seongjin's group hadn't even noticed that the monster was hiding.

'How do I let them know this fact?'

Gwi Seongjin's eyes, who was conflicted, widened.

It was because the hiding monster's form had momentarily disappeared.

What was even more surprising...

Was the fact that the disappeared monster had approached to within five zhang before he knew it.

Seeing it crouched low in a dense part of the forest, its intention to ambush was clear.

Just as Gwi Seongjin was about to shout...

"A cunning demon!"

The Raging Fire Divine Lord, who was in the lead, let out a lion's roar and shot forward a flame that blazed like the flames of hell.

Then, riding the flames, he soared into the sky and swept across the forest where the monster was hiding with his Sky-Piercing Halberd.

Formidable internal energy.

A huge flame billowed like a wave, and the burnt trees exploded like fireworks, then scattered black ash and fell back to the ground.

At that very moment.

A shadow with a horn on its head shot up from within the red flames.

But the length of the shadow was enormous.

Even though it had soared up for a long time, the tail of the shadow was still on the ground.

"That is a Single-Horned Red-Scaled Snake! But its size..."

The Ghost Medicine Hall Master, who had cried out the monster's name, lowered his voice with an unsure face.

Looking at its appearance, it was undoubtedly a Single-Horned Red-Scaled Snake.

But originally, the Single-Horned Red-Scaled Snake was not that big.

No matter how big it was, its length did not exceed one zhang.

But the monster in front of them... seemed to be at least six zhang long.

Regardless of the Ghost Medicine Hall Master being flustered because he didn't know the monster's identity, a tremendous bloody battle was now unfolding before their eyes.

Whoooosh!

Although it wasn't a peerless divine weapon, the Sky-Piercing Halberd, which was said to be as hard and sharp as one, charged at the monster with formidable speed.

At that, the monster, which twisted its body like a coiling dragon, opened its mouth wide and spewed black poison liquid at the Raging Fire Divine Lord like a storm.

The grass and trees touched by the poison qi disappeared, emitting black smoke, and the rocks covered in the poison liquid also melted into a black mess.

The Raging Fire Divine Lord, who noticed that the poison qi spewed by the monster was unusual, flew up into the air, creating a blade screen with his Sky-Piercing Halberd.

Then, he twisted his body continuously in the air to avoid the poison qi, then flew as if grazing the air and thrust the Sky-Piercing Halberd, which had a crimson lightning flickering on it, into the monster's head.

Drip.

However, perhaps because it was a glancing blow, the Sky-Piercing Halberd slid off the monster's head.

The Raging Fire Divine Lord pulled the Sky-Piercing Halberd and cut the monster with the crescent blade attached to the side, but this too missed futilely...

Thwack!

In the end, the Raging Fire Divine Lord, who was hit by the monster's tail, was thrown to the ground and rolled around in a miserable state.

"Such a trivial creature..."

Ne Jinja, who was about to run forward, suddenly stopped his feet.

"Leave that one to me."

The Raging Fire Divine Lord, who had stood up in an instant, blocked him.

The Raging Fire Divine Lord was a giant of a man, seven chi tall.

As he stood tall and glared at the monster, the aura of an overlord overflowed from his entire body.

Whoosh.

The internal energy that rose above his head scattered in all directions like flames, and the Sky-Piercing Halberd in his hand heated up red like lava.

A completely different momentum from the beginning.

He had released all the internal energy that he had partially restrained to generate Pure Yang True Qi.

Dudududu. Paat!

The moment his internal energy reached its peak, the Raging Fire Divine Lord shot up into the night sky as if bouncing.

Then, he split the monster's head like lightning with his Sky-Piercing Halberd.

As red flames poured down like a meteor shower, the monster stuck out its head and collided with the Sky-Piercing Halberd with its bare body.

Clang.

But an unbelievable result occurred.

The Sky-Piercing Halberd was blocked by the monster's horn.

A peerless master of the Luminous Cult had infused his entire body's internal energy into a weapon crafted with all his might, but he couldn't even cut off a single horn of a beast...

It was something no one would believe.

But this was a clear fact.

The monster's black, shiny horn was still majestically attached to its red head.

Even the Ghost Medicine Hall Master, who was watching the fight with a tense face, was biting his lips with an expression that said it was ridiculous.

But the attack was not a complete failure.

Although he couldn't cut off its head because of the horn, the impact was not small, and the monster was constantly staggering its upper body like a reed in the wind.

It was to the extent that the poison liquid it was spewing from its mouth was scattering in all directions.

"Oh, oh! This is troublesome."

As the drops of poison liquid flew towards the group, the Ghost Medicine Hall Master, who had been just watching from behind, stepped forward.

Then, he shook his hand and sprinkled something.

Psssss.

The poison liquids that came into contact with the powder he sprinkled turned into blue smoke and disappeared without a trace.

At that time, a loud explosion erupted from the direction where the Raging Fire Divine Lord and the monster were fighting.

The Raging Fire Divine Lord had finally succeeded in striking the neck of the monster, which had been shocked and revealed an opening, with his Sky-Piercing Halberd.

Kieeeek.

Screaming, the monster fell to the ground.

However, its neck was not cut off.

Only a few of the red scales covering the monster's body had fallen off.

Whoosh!

Boom!

The Raging Fire Divine Lord, who had seized the opportunity, succeeded in his attacks several times.

Even so, the monster did not die.

Even when he poured his internal energy into its body, the monster did not fall.

Its movements had only slowed down a little.

Swish!

The monster, which was rolling on the ground, shook its tail and sent a large rock flying at the Raging Fire Divine Lord.

It still had the strength to struggle.

Meanwhile, Gwi Seongjin was watching the fight with the rest of the group.

Gwi Seongjin's cultivation was still insufficient, so he couldn't observe the movements of the Raging Fire Divine Lord or the monster in detail.

Especially now, at night and with the thick fog, he could only grasp the general situation.

So he deployed his spiritual sense and witnessed a strange phenomenon.

He already knew that the monster was emitting internal energy from its entire body.

It was a startling thing, but not impossible.

Legends about such demonic beasts and creatures were already widespread among the common people.

But this monster possessed another ability.

It could concentrate its internal energy on the part that was about to be attacked.

The reason the monster didn't die even when the Raging Fire Divine Lord attacked the same spot repeatedly was precisely because of that.

But it was not an immortal being, and the monster was now very tired.

The liquid in its poison sac had also run out, and now it couldn't even perform a poison liquid attack.

Its operation of internal energy had also almost reached its limit, and because of that, the monster had exposed its weakness to Gwi Seongjin's spiritual sense.

Gwi Seongjin had discovered a part of the monster's body where no internal energy was flowing at all.

(End of Chapter)