Deep within the Green Shade Mountains, a series of endless, low hills are shrouded in poisonous mist. This place is already in the heart of the mountain range.
Only by passing through these low hills can one truly enter the most dangerous area of the Green Shade Mountains.
Beyond the low hills lies a swamp like stagnant water. Strangely, the swamp exhibits three bizarre colors.
Black, red, and blue layers of earth, like blocks of color that do not mix, are forcibly fused together.
This area only grows low shrubs and withered yellow weeds. The atmosphere of decay and rot lingers here year-round.
Somewhere in the south, strange cackling sounds come from the poisonous mist. A group of crimson, bald-headed strange birds, flapping wings with few feathers, swoop down.
They open their sharp beaks and, while making strange noises, also eject long black tongues from their mouths, like a group of flying toads.
With a series of popping sounds, these strange birds' tongues easily penetrate into the swamp, grabbing many, many black fish from within.
For a time, the entire area is stirred into a muddy mess.
These strange birds are a local specialty, poisonous birds called Long-Tongue Kites. Most are second or third-order demon beasts.
Just as this group of Long-Tongue Kites was happily preying on its victims.
Without warning, a large area of muddy water was stirred up in the swamp, and a thirty to forty-foot-long green-scaled giant snake rushed out, spraying a large cloud of black mist. Thirty to forty Long-Tongue Kites were enveloped in it, one by one falling from the sky like inverted green onions.
The remaining Long-Tongue Kites scattered and fled. The green snake spat out more and more black mist.
In a short period of time, this group of Long-Tongue Kites, all floated in the swamp like drowned ducks, each one weak and powerless, with no strength to escape.
"Haha, Brother Wen, your Azure Scale Snake is indeed powerful. It easily solved this group of Long-Tongue Kites. With the poison sacs of these strange birds, we can lure out that Rainbow Toad Beast."
A laughing voice came from the fog. At some point, a ball of emerald green light appeared in mid-air, illuminating four cultivators in the green light. Judging by their cultivation levels, all of them were Golden Core cultivators.
Hearing his companion's praise, a middle-aged man dressed as a scholar with a beard and hair smiled smugly. "Junior Brother Wang is too kind. My Azure Scale Snake has only just advanced to the fifth order, and it's barely usable."
As he spoke, he cast a ray of spiritual light from his hand. The huge green-scaled snake flashed with green light and instantly shrank into a small snake the thickness of a finger, flying back into his sleeve.
Another dark-faced cultivator threw out a red light, which turned into a large net flashing with red light, grabbing all the Long-Tongue Kites floating on the swamp.
"Junior Brother Wen is too modest. The Azure Scale Snake is considered a gifted alien beast. If we high-level cultivators are not careful and get poisoned by its Azure Snake venom, we will be paralyzed. Moreover, it is proficient in concealment. Next, we will have to rely on Brother Wen's spirit snake to lure out that Rainbow Toad Beast."
The leader of the four was a yellow-faced old man with white hair. He also praised with a smile.
"Wen will definitely help Senior Brother kill that Rainbow Toad Beast. I only hope that after Senior Brother's cultivation greatly improves, you will not forget us," the middle-aged scholar also smiled.
"Haha, easy to say, everyone helps me obtain the Rainbow Toad Beast's inner core. After my cultivation greatly improves, I will definitely not forget…" The yellow-faced old man also responded with a smile.
But halfway through his words, he suddenly turned his head to look behind him, his face turning gloomy, and he shouted sharply, "Who's there? Get out here for me."
A green light flashed in the old man's hand, and he shot out a green, glittering flying knife, striking fiercely at a position thirty to forty feet behind him.
It was empty there, with nothing at all, but when the flying knife hit there, it made a crisp sound and was directly bounced away.
The fog rippled for a while, and a figure appeared there. It was a middle-aged man with graying hair, wearing a tattered blue robe.
The blue robe on this man was stained with blood, as if he had experienced a great battle.
Seeing the suddenly appearing man, the dark-faced cultivator snorted coldly. "What kind of petty thief dares to hide behind us senior and junior brothers? You're really courting death." He instantly released a crimson round bead, seemingly intending to attack.
The other two also glared angrily. The middle-aged scholar surnamed Wen released the Azure Scale Snake again, and the other person also took out a black lacquered jar, from which a swarm of black poisonous insects floated out.
Only the yellow-faced old man, who was the leader, felt that the blue-robed man gave him a dangerous feeling.
"Cough, cough."
The blue-robed man coughed a few times, as if not noticing the anger of the others, and made a dry, hoarse sound, "Where is the Rainbow Toad Beast you are talking about? Tell me the location."
Hearing this, the dark-faced cultivator sneered. "Hehe, you actually want to snatch our prey? Are you out of your mind?"
The moment the blue-robed man appeared, his divine sense swept over, sensing that his cultivation was around the late stage of the Golden Core realm. Although his strength was a little higher than his, they had four people on their side, and their senior brother had even reached the False Nascent Soul realm.
Moreover, seeing that this person was already seriously injured, he was definitely not a match for their four. How dare he snatch prey from their hands?
However, before the dark-faced cultivator could finish his thoughts, a bright light suddenly flashed before his eyes, as if he saw something shooting over.
His face stiffened, and before he could see clearly what it was, he only felt his eyelids were extremely heavy, and his whole body lost strength. In a daze, his gaze fell on the three senior brothers beside him, and their faces were actually filled with horror.
Before the dark-faced cultivator could figure out what was going on, he lost all perception of the outside world. He fell into a long sleep.
In the horrified gazes of the yellow-faced old man and the other two, the dark-faced cultivator's good head flew up, spurting out a splash of blood. The headless corpse fell from the sky, and with a splash, fell into the swamp, splashing mud everywhere.
Only then did they see clearly that the thing that instantly killed the dark-faced cultivator was a diamond-shaped object, like a thin scale.
The scale flashed, turned into a blue light, and directly merged into the blue-robed man's body.
"We have no intention of offending you. Senior, if you want to know the location of the Rainbow Toad Beast, we will tell you immediately, we only ask for…" The yellow-faced old man's face turned pale, and he quickly shouted loudly.
The old man now knew what the dangerous feeling he had just felt was all about. The blue-robed man in front of him was definitely not just a Golden Core cultivator as he appeared on the surface. He was definitely a Nascent Soul-level existence.
The blue-robed man just smiled strangely, stretched out a withered arm, his arm covered with blue scales like a claw.
Seeing such a strange hand, the old man and the other two felt a thud in their hearts. Could it be that the person in front of them was not a human cultivator?
The blue-robed man shook his arm slightly, and three blue light scales popped out from his hand, flying straight towards the yellow-faced old man and the others.
The faces of the three changed drastically. The old man reacted the fastest, opened his mouth and spat out a ball of green light, wrapped himself in it, turned into a green shadow, and fled directly behind him.
The other two were not slow either, and immediately fled in opposite directions to the left and right.
These three were not weak, and their escape speed was also very fast. However, in front of a Nascent Soul expert, it was still difficult to escape.
The blue-robed man flashed a few times and caught up with the yellow-faced old man who had fled first, suddenly appearing in front of the old man.
He stretched out his hand and grabbed into the void, casting a blue light giant claw condensed from spiritual power, and with a gentle scoop, he grabbed the old man in it.
The yellow-faced old man was unwilling to be captured, shouted loudly, and sacrificed three green light flying knives, wanting to break through the blue light giant claw.
However, it was all in vain.
A blue scale was imprinted on his forehead, flashed slightly, and the scale merged into his forehead.
The yellow-faced old man immediately felt weak all over, and just as he was about to say some words of begging for mercy, his gaze met the emotionless eyes of the blue-robed man.
The blue-robed man's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he directly released his powerful divine sense and began to search the old man's soul. After a moment, he obtained the information he wanted.
At this time, the other two who had escaped also returned to his side.
The other two scales were also branded on the heads of these two people, covering their faces with a layer of clear light. Their eyes were dull and extremely wooden, as if they had lost their minds.
"It's only to blame your bad luck that you let me hear the news of the Rainbow Toad Beast. With this beast's inner core, the materials for my advancement can be considered complete. With this beast's inner core, to neutralize the accumulated decay wood energy in that abandoned mine, I am at least half sure that I can advance successfully. Hmph, when I advance successfully, I will definitely go back and destroy that old geezer," the blue-robed man looked at the three people who had been controlled by him, and muttered expressionlessly.
"Old thing, dreaming of relying solely on bloodline power to live forever in the lower realm, I'll see how long you can last," the blue-robed man said, laughing loudly.
He laughed quite exaggeratedly, and vaguely visible under his tattered blue robe, revealed his withered yellow chest and abdominal muscles. Unlike ordinary people, his body looked extremely shriveled, like a dry corpse.
After laughing a few times, the blue-robed man regained his calm. Looking at the yellow-faced old man and the other two whose faces were covered with blue light, he waved his hand, "Go."
The three flew away in three different directions, disappearing into the poisonous mist.
The blue-robed man also swayed, leaving in place.
Several hours ago, he sensed that the siblings had also chased here.
Therefore, he temporarily controlled the actions of the Golden Core cultivators he encountered along the way with secret techniques, turning them into distraction clones to interfere with tracking.
This kind of puppet is not a real clone, but it is controlled by his blood energy scales and divine sense power.
It can only allow these cultivators who are controlled by him to be active for a period of time. After the time is up, these people will not die directly, but will become demented idiots.
But this is not what the blue-robed man needs to consider.
Their Dragon family cultivators have a special bloodline, especially their direct descendants, who can sense each other's positions through bloodline secret techniques.
So, to get rid of the pursuit of his clansmen, he can only use some clever methods to interfere.
As long as he can buy himself a few days, allowing him to advance successfully. Even if the pursuers arrive, there is nothing to fear.
……
