novelraw Chapter 180 - 178: Lure
Chapter 180 - 178: Lure
Just then, a streak of crimson light seeped out from the gaps in the giant ball of vines.
With a loud BANG, the giant vine cocoon shattered.
Countless vine fragments flew in all directions, dancing in the air like green snowflakes.
The powerful impact made the surrounding air tremble and rumble.
"You..."
The white-clothed, barefoot girl’s expression filled with terror, and she turned to flee toward the cave entrance.
However, Hu Qi did not give chase. He simply sneered.
"Scared now? It’s too late!"
As he spoke, he raised his palm and flicked a finger.
He aimed not at the girl, but at the rock wall to one side.
SWISH.
The air, compressed by this force, was like a spring pushed to its absolute limit. It shot forward violently, transforming into an astonishingly powerful cannonball of air.
BAM!
A muffled thud.
A hole instantly blasted open in the hard rock wall.
Strangely, however, dark red blood gushed out from it.
Just then, with a CRACK, the outermost layer of the rock wall broke away, and something enormous fell out.
It was a white snake over twenty meters long, as thick as a water bucket, and covered in silvery-white scales.
The snake’s body was coiled, its white scales shimmering with a cold light in the dimness, as if carved from the hardest jade.
The white snake’s eyes were like two giant pearls, emitting a faint, cold light that prevented anyone from looking directly at them.
At this moment, its mouth was open, revealing sharp teeth like daggers, dripping with clear venom.
HISS...
A miserable hiss escaped its mouth.
A fist-sized hole had appeared on its body, gushing blood.
At the same time, the moment this giant white snake appeared, the body of the white-clothed, barefoot girl dissipated like a wisp of green smoke, as if she had never been there at all.
After hissing, the white snake saw Hu Qi’s indifferent gaze.
Its body trembled, and it lowered its head.
"My lord, spare me... Don’t... don’t kill me!"
The pleasant voice of the white-clothed girl suddenly sounded from the snake’s mouth.
In its eyes, the person before it had momentarily transformed into a three-eyed giant snake, towering thousands of feet high and covered in Black Scales.
If it made the slightest move, it would be swallowed whole.
This pressure, coming from the level of its Bloodline, made it incapable of mustering any thought of resistance.
’Because it has been inhaling the fragrance of the Yun Shen Tea Tree and eating Spirit-Nurturing Tea for years, its intelligence has greatly developed, to the point where it can create an Illusion Realm...’
Hu Qi calmly glanced at it, seeing its reaction.
He only had to think for a moment to understand.
It was probably related to the Three-Eyed Primordial Snake Bloodline within him.
Although he didn’t know how strong a complete Three-Eyed Primordial Snake Bloodline was, he knew it was anything but simple just from the Illusion Mirrors he saw when his Bloodline’s completeness increased and his Talent awakened.
Although this white snake also had some miraculous qualities, it was nothing compared to his Bloodline.
"I’ll give you two choices. One, acknowledge me as your master. Two, die right now!"
Hu Qi said coolly.
Compared to other Exotic Beasts, this white snake before him seemed to have been nourished by the Yun Shen Tea Tree due to staying beside it for years.
This made it much more intelligent.
Not only could it speak and use Illusion Techniques, it could even mobilize the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy to attack.
In Hu Qi’s view, this already surpassed the scope of an Exotic Beast and was somewhat similar to the Spirit Monsters of legend.
This sparked a hint of interest in Hu Qi to study the creature’s physical structure.
"I will go with you... Master!"
The white snake’s head drooped to the ground.
"Very good. Don’t resist!"
Hu Qi’s figure flashed, as if using Shrinking Inches, and appeared directly in front of the white snake, pressing his palm onto its head.
The Twisted Light spread from his palm. In an instant, the ten-plus-meter white snake vanished without a trace, replaced by a Snake Bone Bracelet.
Hu Qi put it on his wrist.
He looked at the white bracelet and the Brass Bell at his waist, which had been transformed from the Black Stone skull.
’Experiments with the Black Stone skull during this time had proven that twisting a living being into an inanimate object and then changing it back would not harm it; it could still survive.’
’Perhaps I can use the Twisted Light to change the shape of those Exotic Beasts, shrink them down, and bring them back to the surface...’
A glint appeared in Hu Qi’s eyes.
However, doing so would consume a great deal of the Twisted Light. In his current state, covering a large number of Exotic Beasts with the Twisted Light would still be somewhat difficult.
But this wasn’t a problem for him.
As long as he perfected his Bloodline again or increased his strength, he could indirectly increase the power of his Talent.
He would be able to achieve that then.
Thinking of this, he looked at the Yun Shen Tea Tree before him.
He gripped the trunk. This time, nothing came out to stop him.
With a slight exertion of force, the entire ground where the tea tree stood seemed to tremble slightly.
The previously quiet Yun Shen Tea Tree began to shake violently, its leaves rustling with a crisp sound like porcelain clinking together.
"Hmm?"
This Yun Shen Tea Tree was as if it had grown into one with the earth, its sturdiness far exceeding Hu Qi’s expectations.
Noticing this, Hu Qi’s arm bulged slightly as he continuously increased the force in his palm.
The next moment, the entire cave shook violently, as if an earthquake had struck.
Following that, the connections between the tea tree’s roots and the rock crevices began to tear and loosen.
A large amount of soil fell, huge rocks were pried up from the ground, and rubble flew everywhere under the force of the impact.
The Yun Shen Tea Tree’s roots were also dragged out, revealing slender rhizomes that were each over ten meters long.
At the same time, a faint, orange-yellow light could be seen seeping out from the deep pit below.
Seeing this scene, Hu Qi’s expression shifted, a look of realization flashing in his eyes.
’So that’s how it is. This Yun Shen Tea Tree is situated on a Fire Spring, drawing on the power of the entire spring to sustain itself. No wonder the Primordial Energy here isn’t particularly dense.’
When he first arrived at this cave, he had noticed that while the Primordial Energy was denser than in other places, it was still limited.
Logically, it should have been impossible to nurture such a powerful Treasure Medicine here.
But now, everything made sense.
The energy source of a Fire Spring in the Inner Earth World comes from the Earth Core itself.
It could be said to be the most fundamental place in this world.
Besides carrying geothermal heat, it naturally also carried dense Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy.
With the Yun Shen Tea Tree rooted in it, it naturally grew very well.
Looking at the Yun Shen Tea Tree in his hand, Hu Qi used his Spirit Devouring Talent, wanting to see if he could directly drain the tree dry.
But the result proved he was overthinking it; he couldn’t do it at all.
This was also within his expectations.
He reached out and grabbed a jade-like leaf. The leaf was extremely tough, but he still managed to tear it off.
He glanced at it before casually tossing it to the ground.
Then, with a flash of Twisted Light in his hand, he shrank the entire Yun Shen Tea Tree to the size of his palm.
His figure moved, smashing directly through the rock layer above and rushing out of the nearly collapsed cave.
He grabbed the middle-aged man who had run to the side due to the cave-in, and his figure sped toward Black Stone City in the distance.
...
「A short while later.」
Outside the collapsed, rubble-filled cave entrance, the figures of Wu Yu and Changzhu appeared.
The two exchanged a look.
Wu Yu waved his hand.
True Essence Power condensed, forming a giant hand that directly cleared away the rubble.
Then, their figures entered through the cave mouth.
The first thing they saw was the deep pit emitting a glow. As they approached, a wave of heat washed over them.
"There’s a Fire Spring here?"
Wu Yu frowned slightly.
This wasn’t his first time entering the Inner Earth World, so he naturally knew about such things.
He just didn’t understand why the other party had come here. Could it be just for this Fire Spring?
It should be known that such things were what ordinary people in the Inner Earth World relied on for survival.
But for the Black Blood Species, it was nothing special, as Fire Springs were not rare.
"Hm? What’s this!"
Just then, Changzhu, who carried a Giant Sword, let out a cry of surprise. She bent down and picked something up from a rock crevice.
Wu Yu looked over at the sound.
He saw Changzhu pinching a tender, emerald-green leaf in her hand.
Compared to an ordinary leaf, the only difference was that its color was exceptionally translucent, like colored glass.
After getting a clear look, his expression changed slightly.
"This is Spirit Tea!"
Beside him, Changzhu nodded and sniffed it lightly.
Then she nodded seriously.
"There’s no mistake. This is a leaf from the Spirit Tea."
As her words fell, a fiery glint appeared in both of their eyes.
’They hadn’t expected such a surprise.’
Originally, the two of them had come in search of a Treasure Medicine called Celestial Spirit Earth Milk.
Its effect was to enhance a Secret Martial Artist’s True Essence and had a certain refining effect on Divine Soul Power.
Unfortunately, they had found nothing after so many days.
They had already given up hope.
But they never expected to encounter a Treasure Medicine like Spirit Tea.
The effects of Spirit-Nurturing Tea.
As disciples of the Seven Upper-tier Schools, how could they not know?
This was a powerful Treasure Medicine that could help a Qi Dao Grandmaster nurture their mind and spirit.
Even they had only heard of it, never seen it.
A Treasure Medicine of this level had long since vanished from the surface world.
To think they would discover it here.
Compared to this, the Celestial Spirit Earth Milk was not even worth mentioning.
After all, to a Qi Dao Grandmaster, there was no Treasure Medicine more precious than Spirit Tea.
Even though the two of them were considered top-tier geniuses within the Seven Great Schools, they had no confidence in whether they could break through to the Refining God realm.
One must know that breaking through to Refining God required not only sufficient aptitude but also a certain degree of opportunity.
But now, things were different.
With Spirit Tea, it was not impossible for them to set foot in that realm within their lifetimes.
"Judging from the break on the leaf, it must have just fallen off. That Yun Shen Tea Tree has very likely fallen into the hands of that Middle Black Blood Species."
Changzhu turned the leaf over in her hand and spoke in a low voice.
She looked at Wu Yu.
"Wu Yu, what are you going to do?"
Based on her understanding of Wu Yu, he would definitely be tempted, just as she was.
"Naturally, we’ll take it. Leaving it in that thing’s hands is a complete waste of a treasure.
Only in our hands can it display its greatest effect."
Wu Yu didn’t hesitate at all.
His eyes flickered.
"However, with our strength, it won’t be difficult to kill it and seize the Spirit Tea.
But doing so will inevitably alert the Food Master of the Dense Forest Realm. Therefore, we must wait a little longer..."
Then, Wu Yu explained his plan.
The day after tomorrow was their agreed-upon departure time.
At that time, they would make their move and then head for the agreed-upon lake.
If they happened to encounter the Food Master, they could have Fa Ji and the others block it for them.
Although the Food Master was powerful and seemingly invincible, as disciples of the Seven Great Schools, they naturally had some trump cards. If they combined their efforts, it wouldn’t be difficult to hold on for a short time and save their own lives.
Once they left the Inner Earth World, they would be completely safe.
With the protection of that personage from the Federation, the Food Master wouldn’t dare to pursue them.
As for whether the Spirit Tea would be completely eaten by the other party, the two were not worried.
Spirit Tea was good, but one could eat at most one or two leaves a day.
Any more would not only be unbeneficial but could even be harmful.
Changzhu did not object to what Wu Yu said.
Afterward, the two briefly discussed the matter, put on disguises, and headed for Black Stone City.