Chapter 63: Good People Are Always Deceived
She didn't know what the Dongling Spirit Grass looked like, but it was definitely a plant that grew in the soil. The Night Pearl was taken away by Wang Zhi. Now there was no light source, and Ruan Xing had never learned fire magic, so she could only grope around on the ground bit by bit.
"Jian Lai, help me find it too."
A young man in pure white appeared from the air, and two people were checking on the ground on the other side of the river.
Ruan Xing didn't know why, but always felt something was wrong. Why did Wang Zhi let him do the dangerous part by himself? Wasn't he afraid that if he took the Dong Ling Xin Grass and didn't help him, he would just run away from the underground river?
Moreover, since he asked her to pick the herbs, why didn't he describe the herbs to her before leaving the Night Pearl to her? It would be a waste of time to search aimlessly like this.
This doubt flashed through her mind, but Ruan Xing didn't have time to think about it. There were still roars from the fighting in the cave passage, and the whole cave seemed to be shaking. She was really afraid that the cave would be collapsed by the snake before she found the spirit grass.
Ruan Xing was lying on the ground, feeling around with her palms. Suddenly, Jian Lai called her over through the mind link. Ruan Xing stood up and quickly ran to Jian Lai's side. She squatted down and felt the empty space next to him.
What you touch is a cold, hard object, but it is shaped like leaves and flowers.
Is the Soul-piercing Grass so hard?
Never mind. Maybe it’s because there’s no sunlight in the cave. Anyway, the plants and animals in the immortal world are not very scientific.
Ruan Xing reached out and touched the root of the tree, and tried to pull it out with all her strength but failed. She was so anxious that she used all her strength, stepped on the ground and pushed forward, leaning her body backward.
Suddenly, it seemed as if the demon snake had used some powerful move, and the whole cave shook. Ruan Xing lost his balance and fell to the side.
However, surprisingly, she did not let go when she fell to the ground, and the hard spiritual grass moved half a circle with her movements.
Whose good spiritual herbs are not dug out but twisted out? Are you a screw?
Finally figuring out the method, Ruan Xing twisted it three or four times in this direction in annoyance, and the spiritual herb was pulled out.
The moment she pulled it out, the earth shook, the water tumbled, and the stone walls and rock tops collapsed.
Ruan Xing could only insert his sword into the cracks in the ground to barely stand firm, but the ground under his feet began to disintegrate, and cracks broke the ground apart. He ran towards the turbulent underground river without looking back.
In this chaotic situation, she had no way of using the sword control technique. She put the spiritual herbs into the storage bag and shouted anxiously, "Sword!"
Jian Lai understood her meaning, picked up Ruan Xing, jumped up, and jumped back to the cave entrance on the other side.
Although Jian Lai's ghost escape technique cannot carry others, his speed is very fast when he does not use the technique, and he is not affected by space at all.
As they got closer to the cave entrance, Ruan Xing could still hear the demon snake's loud hissing, and the demon snake was still banging against the stone walls of the cave frantically, struggling non-stop.
Ruan Xing knew that going through the cave was not a good way to go, but she had no choice but to go in this direction. The underground river had completely collapsed like a torrent. She was only at the eighth level of Qi training and was still a mortal. Jumping down would definitely be a dead end.
It would be better to go back, maybe there is still a chance of survival. Although Wang Zhi seemed to have cheated her, the spiritual herb was still with her. If she didn't go out, Wang Zhi wouldn't get any benefit. Therefore, she thought that Wang Zhi should still be waiting for her at the entrance of the cave, and kill the demon snake together.
Let Jian Lai return to his hidden state, and Ruan Xing began to run towards the other end of the cave.
They had to run as fast as they could, as the torrent of the underground river was about to surge up, and in about a quarter of an hour or so, it would fill up the entire cave.
The stone walls around the cave were all covered with traces of the demon snake's violent passing. There were also clumps of white mucus on the ground, which often left Ruan Xing with nowhere to step. She ran for a while before finally seeing the tail of the giant monster.
A demon snake clad entirely in black was coiled in the center of the cave, its scales emitting a dark golden sheen. The originally rugged and cramped cave had changed its appearance, and the surrounding rubble seemed to have been knocked down by it.
Since Ruan Xing first saw the demon snake, there were more wounds on its body.
As if it smelled Ruan Xing's breath, the demon snake raised its huge head and turned around, looking at her with its scarlet vertical pupils. The unique fishy smell of blood from the demon beast rushed straight to its crown.
Hmm... Damn, is this demon snake learning from a weasel? They are not from the same family.
Ruan Xing frowned, tore off a piece of her skirt and covered her face as a simple mask, then drew out her dagger, and the tip of the sword, with its spiritual power, pointed directly at the demon snake.
This action seemed to be regarded as a provocation by the demon snake. It was staying in the underground river, and suddenly two little creatures came to steal things from its home. As the owner, it wanted to drive away the thieves, but it didn't expect the other party to be so arrogant. They directly took a third-grade talisman and slapped it in the face. It really didn't take the snake seriously. It angrily spit out its tongue and hissed at Ruan Xing, and opened its bloody mouth and stepped forward to swallow this little thing into its stomach.
Although the cave passage had been widened a lot by the demon snake, it still could not withstand its big movements and seemed even more sluggish and clumsy. Ruan Xing easily dodged the attack by stepping back.
But she couldn't retreat any further, the water was gradually rising up and soaking her shoes.
After taking a deep breath, Ruan Xing shouted, "Brother Wang Dao, are you still there!?"
The snake's body blocked the passage and obstructed Ruan Xing's vision. She could not see what was happening behind the snake.
Fortunately, the next moment, Wang Zhi's somewhat worried voice came from the other side, "I'm here, Brother Ruan, are you okay?"
"No, shall we work together to take down this demon snake?"
"Of course we have to do it as soon as possible. My formation can no longer control this demon snake. Once it escapes, this cave will completely collapse. Daoist friend, have you already got the Cave Spirit Grass?"
"I got it. Why didn't you tell you that the soul grass in this cave looks like this? It's like gold and iron. It doesn't look like a plant but more like a mechanism." Ruan Xing said with a frown. Now the water level has spread to her calves.
There was no light source in the cave, and Ruan Xing relied entirely on the light of a night pearl that emerged from the gap on the opposite side. Although she could not see the situation behind her, the water flow had told her that the underground river behind her might have been completely blocked by the collapsed rocks. She was now really in a dilemma.
However, Wang Zhi on the other side laughed with a relaxed tone, "I'll feel relieved once I get it."
Then, Ruan Xing glimpsed through the gap and saw that the faint light source was gradually moving away.
Ruan Xing was horrified, "Brother Wang Dao, don't you want to get rid of the Soul Grass?"
Wang Zhi's voice gradually faded away with a hint of joking, "This is for you, Taoist friend. You can play with it to kill time when you get bored on the road to the underworld."
Shit! I was fooled by this guy. Ruan Xing, a little Karami at the eighth level of Qi training, naturally had no chance of winning against a foundation-building monster. Even if the opponent was already injured, she could not find any chance of turning defeat into victory. If she did not do something, the next result would be either being drowned by the torrent rushing up from behind or being swallowed by the monster snake.
So Ruan Xing no longer hesitated and took out from her storage bag the preparation she had made for this trip to the secret realm, a third-grade talisman.
Unlike Wang Zhi's third-grade thunder and fire talisman, Ruan Xing's first consideration was her own safety. Her funds were limited, so her priority was to prepare things for escape and self-protection. A third-grade earth escape talisman was her trump card.
However, this black water lake is particularly strange. It is impossible to develop spiritual consciousness, and the geology seems to have imposed some special properties, making the effectiveness of the earth escape talisman not very high.
If it was on the ground, Ruan Xing's earth escape talisman could at least travel seven or eight miles in a breath, but in this cave, not only did she only move a distance of several dozen feet, she also only stayed underground for less than a second before bouncing out.
She disappeared underground, but it seemed as if she didn't.
Because her current position is right between the demon snake and Wang Zhi.
Wang Zhi looked surprised and said, "I underestimated you."
Ruan Xing felt a little regretful. This simulation was destined to end in failure. She had not even used half of the day she bought with one point, but she had to obtain enough information within a limited time.
She took out the Hole Soul Grass and threw it on the ground, saying in a cold voice, "This is not the Hole Soul Grass you mentioned, right? You tricked me into coming here and pulled it out, and now you want to kill me to silence me. What is your purpose?"
This Hanshan Secret Realm was clearly a lawn mowing ground for low-level cultivators, but how did it get mixed up in strange things when it came to her?
She clearly just came here to see the monsters and earn some spirit stones.
Wang Zhi had a look of regret and guilt on his face. "I'm so sorry. You're still so young. I didn't really want to choose you. It's just that I've been waiting for many days and there's really no one suitable to take the blame for me. If your cultivation is too low, no one will believe you."
He snapped his fingers, as if to release the formation that trapped the demon snake. The demon snake behind Ruan Xing hissed in pain and rolled over, but it was no longer trapped in the same place. Instead, it quickly rushed towards the entrance, and alongside it went the torrent of high spirits and jubilation.
"Just go with peace of mind." Wang Zhi said with pity.
"Are you mentally ill?" Ruan Xing said angrily. She took a step forward and was about to fight Wang Zhi. Suddenly, an idea flashed in her mind and she looked down at her feet.
Didn’t she… put on a water-repellent talisman? Why did the black water still wet her shoes, socks, and clothes?
She looked at Wang Zhi again, but his clothes were clean.
"It's a little too late to realize it now." Wang Zhi shook his head with some regret, turned and left. Looking at the empty door left behind Wang Zhi, Ruan Xing's short sword surged with spiritual power, and she used sword techniques to fly over to hit him. However, her wet dress was too heavy, and she couldn't even fly one meter away.
The water reached the waistline, and the bloody mouth of the demon snake was close at hand. The torrent rushed over violently, and Ruan Xing crashed into the stone wall. The dagger in his hand fell out of his hand, and in an instant he felt the black water penetrate into his mouth and nose. He struggled in pain for less than a moment, and then his eyes went black before he entered the belly of the demon snake.
[End of simulation]
Ruan Xing suddenly opened his eyes, gasping for breath. His senses seemed to still be stuck on the pain of suffocation and being squeezed by a huge force. He couldn't even hold on to the sword in his hand and almost dropped the flying sword.
The memories obtained after real-life simulation and text simulation are indeed different. The pain of death in the former feels much more real than that in the latter.
After a moment, Ruan Xing came to her senses and looked around. She was still on the flying sword heading to the Hanshan Secret Realm.
Ruan Xing stood on the flying sword and couldn't help but get angrier the more he thought about it.
Are you crazy? The booklet that Xuanbing Sect gave her said that the survival rate of Hanshan Secret Realm was 99%, and the only one who died among 100 people who entered was herself who went astray while practicing. What could be the purpose of this public secret realm that has been plundered by Xuanbing Sect for thousands of years and hundreds of times and can only be used to harvest leeks?
Is she so unlucky that something with such a low probability happened to her?
But it is true that picking spiritual herbs in the Hanshan Secret Realm is like screwing screws in a factory compared to modern times. Only those who have practiced Qi at the third, fourth, or fifth level would come to earn the income from these dozen or so low-grade spiritual stones. She, who is at the eighth level of Qi training, does stand out here.
But what can I do? Is it her fault that she has such a high level of cultivation?
In the world of immortal cultivation, she is the only one who has reached the eighth level of Qi training and has never seen a monster or entered a secret realm. But she is only a six-year-old baby and has only been cultivating immortals for three days since she started as a mortal.
But... that black water lake and that demon snake in the foundation-building stage are not something that low-level Qi training cultivators can handle...
Who is this Wang Zhi? Why did the Xuanbing Sect ignore the Black Water Lake and the demon snake and instead turn the secret realm into a paradise for low-level Qi training monks?
But these are not what Ruan Xing wants to know. She just wants to rush to Wang Zhi and fuck him.
However, Ruan Xing had no experience fighting against cultivators, and Wang Zhi's cultivation was higher than hers. Apart from knowing that the other party knew how to set up formations and had a thunder and fire talisman in his hand, Ruan Xing knew almost nothing about him.
She doesn't even know how Qigong practitioners fight. Why not find someone to practice with first?
After taking a breath, Ruan Xing chose to start the real-life simulation again.
This time, it also took her an hour to reach the Hanshan Secret Realm, but she did not waste time at the stalls. She saw Wang Zhi in the crowd, who seemed to be selecting goods but was actually observing other cultivators. She did not pay much attention to him. Before the other party noticed her, she quickly walked to the secret realm portal, handed fifty low-grade spirit stones to the disciple of Xuanbing Sect, and received a booklet.
She crossed the light gate alone, and this time she was teleported to a meadow, and there were other monks not far away.
Ruan Xing used his spiritual sense to probe a little and found that it was a female cultivator at the fourth level of Qi training. She was squatting on the ground, tinkering with something seriously.
Ruan Xing walked over and felt a little confused for a moment.
The nun was turning the soil with a hoe, and she dug up a piece of damp black mud with red ring-shaped creatures wriggling on it. The nun skillfully picked them up with a pair of tongs and put them into a wooden box.
I know that low-level monks are down-to-earth... but this is too down-to-earth...
Ruan Xing asked hesitantly, "My fellow Taoist, are you... digging for earthworms?"
"What are earthworms? I'm digging red nematodes." The female monk was a little surprised. She used the tongs in her hand to stir the tangled red creatures in the wooden box. "Yes, the quality is pretty good this time. After the shells are dried, they will definitely sell for a good price!"
Thanks to the book friend 20190210134618809 for the reward~
Thanks for the reward of 2100 from Tianchangdijiu~
Thanks to Lililiyr for the monthly ticket~
Thanks for the monthly ticket of 2100 from Tianchangdijiu~
(End of this chapter)
