Chapter 180 – Encountering Danger in the Forbidden Area
Two months later.
A figure stood ramrod straight like a spear on a towering tree, and his gaze looked far towards the end of the luxuriant and boundless sea of trees with brows that were knit tightly together and a heavy mood.
This figure was naturally Chen Xi. During these two months, he’d experienced a few tens of desperate battles, and practically every day was passed by fighting and killing demon beasts. Although he couldn’t be said to be extremely dangerous, this type of frequent battles and killing had caused his combat experience to be more and more abundant, and he was already able to exert the entire might of the Golden Hall Realm.
At this moment, his long hair hung loosely on his shoulder, his figure even more wispy and extraordinary, and his pair of deep and clear eyes occasionally flashed with a trace of a fierce and sharp light that made him seem extremely cold and murderous, causing others to not dare come close to him.
Exactly what place is this? The spirit energy of the heaven and earth is so abundant, yet I’m actually unable to fly in the air? Chen Xi leaped down from the top of the tree, and his frown grew deeper as he looked at everything in his surroundings.
This place looked to be an extremely old and vast primeval forest, and every corner of it was filled with spirit energy of the heaven and the earth that was copious to the extreme. This spirit energy was dense to the point of transforming into strands and threads of milky white mist, and they drifted all around to cause the scene in the surroundings to be faintly visible, as if they were an illusion.
Moreover, even the most ordinary weed amongst the plants in this place contained abundant spirit energy, possessed very large leaves and thick roots, and they were more than ten times larger than weeds that were ordinarily seen. Chen Xi had once seen the most ordinary orchid actually grow to be over 30 meters in height, and it simply was soon to gain intelligence.
All of these weren’t important, the important thing was that this ancient forest was covered in the corpses and bones of wild animals, and there was no lack of some extremely formidable demon beast skeletons amongst them, causing it to be an extremely terrifying and tragic scene.
All in all, this was a forest with exceedingly copious spirit energy and flourishing plants, yet concealed beneath its beautiful appearance was ferociousness, brutality, and fatal killing intent!
“This ought to be a forbidden area, or perhaps it was set up by an expert from a long time ago. So long as the spirit energy of heaven and earth doesn’t disperse, the restrictions in his place will be able to circulate eternally. I’m afraid we’ve been trapped within it now.” Ling Bai nodded as he spoke, yet his expression was much more relaxed than Chen Xi.
“If I knew earlier, I ought to have journeyed through the sky.” Chen Xi sighed.
“Since we’re here, we may as well stay and make the best of it. Could it be that you didn’t notice that there are many precious treasures of the heaven and earth growing here? There are even many that have become extinct since long ago, like the Purpleshade Dragonmist Herb, the Clouding Divine Ironwood… All of these are great treasures for refining pills and refining equipment. This place is simply a natural treasure trove! If we don’t fiercely plunder it, then we’d really have let ourselves down.” Ling Bai grinned.
“Alright, we’ll gather as we go.” Chen Xi was greatly moved as well. The spirit energy here was dense to the point of transforming into mist, and the spirit herbs and spirit plants developed within it would naturally contain some existences that were precious treasures of the heaven and earth. Not only could they be exchanged for spirit liquid, they could also be used for himself, and gathering them was killing two birds with one stone.
Being within the forbidden area caused them to be unable to flee, causing Chen Xi and Ling Bai to already have to way of retreat, and they could only continue forward. All along the way, they would gather up any rare material that they saw, and they moved forward neither swiftly nor slowly, as it was for the sake of preventing any mishaps from occurring due to their speed being too swift. After all, the ground here was covered into dense bones of demon beasts, and there was surely a reason for their death.
After moving forward for around the time for an incense stick to burn, the two of them finally had a new discovery. The place they’d stopped was actually within a crack of a cavern!
Above them was endless pitch black rocks, beneath them was a ground covered in jagged rocks of peculiar shapes, and it was as if they were deep beneath the ground with surroundings that were completely dim and cold.
Before them was a crack that could accommodate a single person to pass through, and it was immeasurably deep. A strand of cold wind that carried along pure and thick spirit energy blew out from it, yet there was also a trace of a dense aura of death and blood.
There’s a draught!
Chen Xi couldn’t help but feel a trace of delight, as the presence of a draught showed that this crack ought to be connected to the outside world.
“Chen Xi, we have to be slightly careful. The aura of death that’s coming from that crack isn’t ordinary!” Ling Bai’s expression was serious as he spoke. He cultivated the Nirvana Sword Dao that was neither of death or rebirth and was completely clean, causing him to be extremely sensitive to auras like this.
Chen Xi nodded and held his sword in his hand before walking into the crack. The more he walked in, the stronger the draught was, and at the end, Chen Xi had no choice but to circulate his True Essence to withstand the terrifying strength of the draught, causing his expression to become serious as well. After all, he’d comprehended a complete Wind Dao insight, yet was actually unable to walk freely through this crack, and this was simply an unbelievable incident!
“Wait! This is… Profound Balance Heavy Iron!” Ling Bai suddenly exclaimed out in surprise, and he leaped off from Chen Xi’s shoulder to practically lay on the ground as his hands grabbed tightly onto a pitch black rock.
This stone that Ling Bai called a Profound Balance Heavy Iron was only the size of a goose egg and completely smooth, and it was like a cobblestone that was ordinarily seen, yet Chen Xi couldn’t help but instantly feel curious when he saw Ling Bai’s appearance that seemed as if he’d obtained a precious treasure. Could it be that this thing is a rare treasure as well?
“What is this thing?” Chen Xi squatted down and stretched out his hand to grab it. However, to his shock, he was actually unable to pick up an inconspicuous little stone!
Heavy!
Chen Xi exerted extremely great effort before finally being able to pick up this metal that was like a stone. At the instant it entered into his hand, it was as if he was holding up a small mountain that weighed 50,000 kg, and it caused him to have no choice but to utilize his Shaman Energy before being able to firmly grasp it in his hand.
This weight of this Profound Balance Heavy Iron had surpassed all of the metals that Chen Xi had seen, and solely this aspect was sufficient for it to be called a rare treasure.
“This Profound Balance Heavy Iron is a material used to refine heaven-rank Magic Treasures, and it’s extremely precious. Don’t think that it’s small, if it’s mixed into a flying sword, it would at least cause the might of the flying sword to rise explosively by 20%!” Ling Bai leaped up to descend onto Chen Xi’s palm before looking at it as he shook his head and sighed. “Unless I attain the Rebirth Realm, otherwise, I’m unable to eat it right now. Alas, what a pity.”“Eat?” Chen Xi’s heart shook. If this treasure were to be eaten, that would be a great loss! Chen Xi hastily flipped his hand to instantly put away the Profound Balance Heavy Iron, and then he swept the ground with his gaze. Unfortunately, he didn’t notice another Profound Balance Heavy Iron again.
“Let’s go, perhaps there are more miraculous treasures within.” Chen Xi laughed with slight anticipation before continuing to head in deeper.
However, Chen Xi didn’t walk for long before stopping suddenly, and Ling Bai said in surprise and bewilderment, “What’s wrong?”
“There’s something approaching…” Chen Xi was just speaking when his expression abruptly went slightly grim. “Shit, it seems to have noticed us. What a swift speed!”
At practically the instant he finished speaking, Ling Bai’s pupils abruptly constricted, and he firmly locked onto a black dot that was swiftly enlarging ahead.
Swift!
The swiftness of this thing was like a bolt of lightning as it swiftly appeared before them, and then it suddenly twisted its wings to stop without the slightest sign. From extreme speed to extreme stillness, it happened in practically an instant, and the conflicting feeling gave rise to a strong visual impact.
“Dammit! It’s actually a Snowshadow Butterfly!” Ling Bai’s expression darkened and became flustered and exasperated, yet his voice contained a trace of deep fear.
Chen Xi didn’t understand what exactly the Snowshadow Butterfly was, but its terrifying speed that was unparalleled instead caused his nerves to instantly became greatly strained.
Whoosh!
Something flashed before his eyes, and he instantly lost the figure of the little thing. Chen Xi was instantaneously shocked in his heart and practically unconsciously, his figure abruptly curled and bent up to hold his knees and form a ball.
At practically the exact same time, a cold light flashed at where he was standing.
Chen Xi was immediately shocked in his heart, if it wasn’t for his soul being sufficiently strong, and he’d always been vigilant towards this little thing, he’d probably have lost his life on the spot in that instant earlier. Because the place that cold light flashed past just happened to be the spot his throat was at earlier!
After leaving the Wanderingcloud Sword Sect and entering the depths of this jungle for two months, it was already fairly rare for a demon beast to bring such a threat to him. However, at this moment, this little thing that was called a Snowshadow Butterfly by Ling Bai had a speed that was so swift, it even surpassed the speed of sound, and it was even slightly swifter than when he executed the Divine Windwing Flight with his entire strength!
Swoosh!
A cold light shot over explosively once more, and it flashed right by Chen Xi’s neck. The bone piercing sharp killing intent caused his hairs to stand on end, and he once again lost the Snowshadow Butterfly’s tracks.
Up until this moment, he actually still hadn’t seen the appearance of the Snowshadow Butterfly clearly!
Whoosh!
Ling Bai attacked, his 10cm figure instantly transformed into a wisp of dazzling golden light that slashed towards the spot before Chen Xi’s eyes.
Ding!
When an ear piercing sharp sound of collision resounded out, Chen Xi felt a wisp of sparks flash before his eyes, and it pierced his eyes to the point of being unable to keep them open. At this moment, he’d already broken out in cold sweat from his shock.
Ding! Dong! Cling! Clang!
Ling Bai who’d transformed into the Seventhgold Swordbamboo moved freely like a bolt of lightning and emitted bright lights shot out from all over its body, yet his speed was instead unable to keep up with the Snowshadow Butterfly, causing signs of danger to appear instantly.
After Ling Bai absorbed the body of the Six-Winged Blood Dragonbat, his current strength was already equal to a Golden Core Realm cultivator. However, at this moment, he seemed to be in such a sorry state, and it caused Chen Xi to not dare look down on the Snowshadow Butterfly and be as if he was facing a great enemy.
This crack was only able to allow passage for a single person, its space was narrow and cramped, and for the sake of making it not affect the battle, Chen Xi executed the Grand Astral Palm right away to fiercely slap and grab towards the rocks on both sides.
Rumble! Rumble!
Under the Grand Astral Palm’s matchless force, the surrounding rock wall instantly transformed into rubble as dust rose in clouds. In an instant, the location Chen Xi was at had been broken open to become a space of 300 meters. But his way of retreat had already been completely closed off because it had already been filled with rubble.
At the same time, Chen Xi’s mind was unprecedentedly concentrated as the vast energy of his Divine Perception covered out as he tried his best to search for that wisp of afterimage that was difficult to catch.
Perhaps it was because of his mind being concentrated, or perhaps it was under the stimulation of danger, the energy of Chen Xi’s Divine Perception was actually barely able to follow the speed of this Snowshadow Butterfly.
At this moment, he’d clearly seen that this Snowshadow Butterfly was only palm size and completely snow white, its wings thin to the point it was almost translucent, and the edges of its wings were sharp like blades and suffused with a metallic sheen. Its pair of antennae that were fine like hair lightly swayed as its figure vanished swiftly like a ghost.
Its speed was truly too swift!
Even if Chen Xi was barely able to follow its speed, he was still unable to attack it, as this Snowshadow was simply a king of extraordinary speed.
Chen Xi didn’t dare hesitate in the slightest, and in fact, the situation didn’t allow him to hesitate in the slightest. This Snowshadow Butterfly was able to attack a few tens of time as every breath of time passed, and an attack rate like this had already deeply threatened the lives of Ling Bai and himself.
“Dui Sword of Marsh!” Instantly, countless cold sword shadows took form as the sharp sword energy crisscrossed both horizontally and vertically to form an image. In the image, marshes covered the entire area, slowly flowing as they emitted a strand of slow and thick energy that was like glue that caused everything to slow down and become sluggish.
The sky, the space, the surroundings, everything at the scene seemed to have fallen into a marsh, being glued and slowed, and so long as one fell into it, the person would surely be minced into nothingness by the countless sword lights.
The Dui trigram represented Marsh, and the Dui Sword of Marsh slowed everything down with the sticky energy of water, causing others to be as if fallen into a marsh and unable to struggle free nor resist it, and in the end, they would face extermination.
Under the stimulation of his desire to live, the sword strike of Chen Xi’s had already utilized his entire strength without holding back in the slightest, and the entire space was filled with sword images which reflected a marsh.
Instantly, the Snowshadow Butterfly’s figure appeared in the sky, seeming to have been grabbed by a shapeless hand, and it caused its speed to reduce greatly. It seemed to be exceedingly terrified, yet its pair of eyes instead emitted an awfully savage and ferocious gaze.
Whoosh!
A light sound was heard, and then the Snowshadow Butterfly was already torn into pieces and scattered all over the ground by Ling Bai.
The two of them looked each other in the eyes, and both of them have an appearance of having a lingering fear in their hearts.
“We’ve finally killed this detestable little thing.” Ling Bai let out a long sigh as he flew to the ground and picked up a pair of translucent wings that were suffused with a metallic sheen, and then he smiled. “The Snowshadow Butterfly is a primordial variant. In the Top 100 Poisonous Insect Chart, it’s the only insect without venom, yet is a formidable existence that’s ranked at number 39. Its own strength isn’t strong, yet its speed is matchlessly swift, and it’s called the shadow assassin amongst demon beasts. All of this is because of this pair of wings, and it’s an extremely rare treasure with immeasurable worth!”
“The demon beast that’s ranked number 39 is already so formidable?” Chen Xi gulped down a mouthful of saliva with slight difficulty. He was truly unable to imagine how formidable the poisonous insect that was ranked first would be.
Ling Bai nodded, and then he seemed to have realized something and spoke as he stared blankly. “I’ve forgotten to tell you something.”
“Speak.”
“The Snowshadow Butterfly… is a demon beast that lives in groups!”