by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
Although Little Snow had adjusted his attack, he had only adjusted it to the level that a normal Tendon Transformation expert wouldn’t die from it. However, if senior apprentice-brother Qi had been struck by it, then he would have immediately been sent off to his ancestors.
Long Chen quickly rushed forward and pulled senior apprentice-brother Qi out of the ground. Seeing how he appeared to be on his last breaths, Little Snow rubbed the ground with embarrassment.
“Hehe, don’t worry about it. In truth, I don’t really care that much about his life or death. I just want to ask him a few questions first.”
Long Chen fed senior apprentice-brother Qi a healing pill, and then like he was a dead dog, he pulled him toward the well.
With a crisp-sounding slap in the face, the intense pain awoke senior apprentice-brother Qi.
He saw in front of him a handsome face that had a smile that looked as if he had just been blessed by the heavens. It was a warm smile, one that could lift up the coldest hearts.
And yet senior apprentice-brother Qi couldn’t feel the slightest warmth from that smile. On the contrary, he felt goosebumps as if some demon was staring at him, just waiting to devour his life.
“What… what are you planning on doing?” Senior apprentice-brother Qi’s voice trembled with terror.
“Don’t worry. Although you wanted to kill me just now, I won’t kill you at this time. There are some things I want to ask you,” smiled Long Chen.
Senior apprentice-brother Qi edged backward, trying to maintain a distance from that fiendish face. His hand pressed into the ground, but then he suddenly realized something was wrong. He saw his right hand was completely bare, and his expression changed.
“You stole my spatial ring!”
Pow.
A slap in the face was his response. The breaks in his bones, which had only just begun to heal from the medicinal pill, broke once more, and senior apprentice-brother Qi screamed.
“Stole? This ring was always mine!”
Long Chen furiously slapped him in the face continuously. However, he tightly controlled his strength since he was afraid of killing him.
“Who let you be so high and aloof?!”
“Who let you indiscriminately kill the innocent?!”
“Who let you have poisonous intentions in your heart?!”
“Who let you… who let you… who let you…?!”
In the end, Long Chen didn’t even know the reasons he was making up. With a final slap, he said, “Who let you not wear a hat?!”
His final attack made senior apprentice-brother Qi faint. However, he didn’t faint from the pain, but from anger.
Long Chen once more fed him a healing pill and then woke him up with a slap. “I’m going to start asking questions, and you answer me. If you refuse to answer or answer beside the point, you’ll get a slap in the face as a reward.”
Senior apprentice-brother Qi was both shocked and infuriated. “You’re provoking my Wind Spirit Pavilion! You’ll regret it, you-!”
Pow. His reply was a slap in the face.
“Just wait to die! My Wind Spirit Pavilion will never let you off! Even your monastery can’t protect you!” raged senior apprentice-brother Qi. Obviously, he had recognized Long Chen’s robes.
Pow, pow, pow, pow…
Long Chen didn’t say anything. As long as he talked back, Long Chen would give him a slap in the face. After over ten slaps, senior apprentice-brother Qi once more fainted.
“Aowu!” Little Snow was getting impatient to the side.
“Don’t be impatient! We’ll just wait and mess around a bit. Back in Phoenix Cry, this bastard actually attacked me without even saying anything first. The grudge from back then had to wait until now. Now that I can finally take revenge, just let me play for a bit longer. Let me see just how hard his bones are,” laughed Long Chen.
Little Snow wanted to directly kill senior apprentice-brother Qi to get it over with, but Long Chen really would hate to part with him so soon. Beating him wasn’t his goal; his goal was to beat him until he was convinced.
With another slap, senior apprentice-brother Qi woke up again. This time he was much more obedient. He had finally realized that he had run into a ruthless person. His background was unable to suppress Long Chen.
Furthermore, he felt a profound sensation of terror. He was truly afraid Long Chen would kill him and then erase any traces of his actions.
Long Chen smiled with ridicule. Even with that level of intelligence, senior apprentice-brother Qi was still able to live up to now. His luck really had to be heaven-defying.
“Don’t worry, I promise I won’t kill you, and I never break my promises. Let me repeat myself: when I ask a question, answer. Otherwise, we’ll continue this face-slapping game. In any case, this is just leisure time. I’ll just treat it as practice,” said Long Chen indifferently.
Senior apprentice-brother Qi shivered uncontrollably when he heard that. He didn’t resist in the slightest anymore. Whatever Long Chen asked, he would obediently answer.
From senior apprentice-brother Qi, Long Chen learned that the Wind Spirit Pavilion was actually extremely powerful, not at all inferior to the Xuantian Supermonastery. It was no wonder he dared be so arrogant.
The Wind Spirit Pavilion’s disciples were all soul cultivators, and they were basically all Beast Tamers. Although they had few disciples, each disciple was extremely powerful.
The Wind Spirit Pavilion had the same system as the monasteries. There was a head pavilion, as well as branch pavilions. The branch pavilion that he and Meng Qi were in had over four hundred and seventy disciples that had entered the Jiuli secret realm.
Hearing that Meng Qi had also entered the Jiuli secret realm, a fire burned within Long Chen. Although his interaction with Meng Qi had been short, as time had passed, his longing for her had only intensified.
Previously, he had thought he had just been attracted by Meng Qi’s immortal, fairy-like temperament and beauty, that it was a kind of attraction based on looks. However, later he realized that it was actually a profound love that came from inside his heart.
Although Meng Qi had gone to withdraw from the marriage back then, Long Chen didn’t hate her in the slightest. In fact, he found her to be extremely kindhearted.
At that time, he had been an ant-like person, while she had been a heavenly genius. And yet, she had felt so many misgivings about breaking off their engagement all because she was worried about his honor and reputation. She had used the most tactful and gentlest way to express her wishes.
Even Long Chen didn’t know just when he had begun to feel such love for her.
However, now he had learned an extremely displeasing bit of information. That was that the Wind Spirit Pavilion had a certain disciple with an extremely high status, Feng Xiao-zi. Within the Wind Spirit Pavilion, his position was equivalent to the Xuantian Monasteries’ top disciple, Han Tianyu.
Feng Xiao-zi and Meng Qi were both peak geniuses of their generation and had been termed the Wind Spirit Pavilion’s golden couple.
That made Long Chen extremely uncomfortable, especially when he learned that Feng Xiao-zi was the Wind Spirit Pavilion’s young master. His background was extremely powerful, and it gave Long Chen a sensation of crisis.
Then he heard from senior apprentice-brother Qi that the pavilion master looked very favorably upon Meng Qi, and intended to play matchmaker for the two of them. Meng Qi had constantly been declining and trying to get out of it, however, under the pavilion master’s pressure, it seemed there was no way for her to refuse.
Fuck, you want to gang up on my fiancée? Do you think you can place your intentions on my woman?
Long Chen learned that Meng Qi had also entered the Forest of Darkness in search of opportunities. However, the Forest of Darkness was huge, and he had no idea where she was.
After asking some more, he realized senior apprentice-brother Qi knew nothing more that interested him. A brick beat him unconscious and also br
oke all four of his limbs. This was the same treatment he had given Jiang Yifan. Long Chen tossed a buck-naked senior apprentice-brother Qi down the well.
As for what those two naked men would do down in that well, Long Chen didn’t care. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with the two of them. In any case, he had already fed them medicines, and they didn’t dare yell. They should not even think about being able to leave for now.
Once more sealing the well, Long Chen patted his hands and began entering deeper into the Forest of Darkness.
Chapter 358 Once More Running Into Lu Fang-er
Within the Forest of Darkness, the countless ancient trees soared high into the sky, completely blocking the sun. Huge vines were like dragons as they coiled all around. As Long Chen progressed deeper, the light within the forest became ever more gloomy.
A person would naturally feel uncomfortable with their vision sealed by darkness. That kind of sensation provoked a natural fear.
As soon as he entered the forest, he felt as if he had entered the maw of a giant monster. Unknown dangers could pop up and devour his life at any moment.
Crunch.
An iron spear in Long Chen’s hand shot out. A spider that was around the size of a plate had stealthily appeared behind him and had just been about to attack him when Long Chen’s spear stabbed through it.
Suddenly, that black spider’s mouth opened and a white substance shot out at Long Chen. That white substance was a large net that quickly spread out.
Long Chen jumped in fright. Despite the fact that he had stabbed the spider through its vitals, it was still able to release such an attack.
He hastily dodged to the side. That net had reached a size of five feet, but it just missed Long Chen.
However, when the net flew by him, the air was filled with a disgusting stink, a stink that would make anyone nauseous.
“Even the spider web is poisonous!” Long Chen was slightly surprised. The creatures of the Forest of Darkness were truly too terrifying. All kinds of strange things continued to pop up, so many that it was impossible to defend against them all.
Just as he dodged the net, before he could even examine the spider, the spider suddenly exploded, and a dark liquid splashed out everywhere.
“Shit!” Long Chen instinctively summoned the blue flame of the Flame Salamander to cover his body.
That black liquid was instantly turned to vapor by the flame. But at the same time, an incomparably disgusting stench filled the air.
Long Chen immediately held his breath and rushed away. Several miles away, he wasn’t able to endure it any longer and began to vomit under a large tree.
“It was the Five-Flower Stink Spider… ugh.” Long Chen continuously threw up, his stomach feeling like a churning sea.
The Five-Flower Stink Spider’s abdomen had two poison glands. One was used for releasing a poisonous liquid to capture its prey.
But the other was used to secrete an incredibly disgusting stench. It was used to block opponents it had no chance of defeating. If a powerful Magical Beast wanted to eat it, it would release that stench. No Magical Beast would want to eat something so disgusting.
Long Chen was only able to recognize it because of the unbearable stench. Previously, he hadn’t paid much attention to the five-colored flower marks on its back.
“Shit, I was too careless. Shit, so unlucky- ugh!” Long Chen continued to puke. The Five-Flower Stink Spider was a special Magical Beast, and it was said to have been a rare existence even in ancient times.
It didn’t have a specific rank. It could even be said to be outside the classification of Magical Beasts. However, its stench was too powerful, and there was no antidote for it.
Although it wouldn’t stink a person to death, it could make someone vomit over and over. Even a powerful cultivation base wasn’t able to stop that.
Long Chen puked for over two hours. He had even puked up his bile, and tears were streaming out of his eyes. He appeared unbearably miserable.
“Good things can’t be kept for oneself. They have to be shared with good friends.” Long Chen clenched his teeth and returned to his original location where he had encountered the Five-Flower Stink Spider. Even now, Long Chen couldn’t help but have tears streaming down his face.
The stink in this area was just too dense. It wasn’t just smelly; it even provoked the eyes. Long Chen spread out his divine sense to search through the surrounding vegetation.
He saw many corpses of small insects that had all been suffocated to death by that stench.
Finally, he found the thing he was looking for. That was a black poison sac around the size of an egg.
The Five-Flower Stink Spider had two poison sacs. One would erupt along with its self-explosion. The other one was filled with its stinky fluid. That one was split into two layers.
The outer layer would explode, but the inner layer was much tougher and more supple. Normally, it wouldn’t be easily destroyed. And now, Long Chen ended up finding it intact.
As soon as he gathered that poison sac, Long Chen immediately fled. He then once more began to retch. Although he had nothing more to vomit up, he still couldn’t stop.
“This poison is way too abnormal.” Only after a long time did Long Chen manage to suppress his urge to vomit. He arrived at a river and washed his pale face.
Long Chen suddenly frowned. “Huh?” He walked forward three hundred meters and arrived at a corpse. “This is already the fourth corpse…” He couldn’t help but sigh. From this person’s robes, he could tell he was a core disciple of the Righteous path. His entire body was a dark purple, and he was swollen like a balloon as if he had been about to self-detonate.
His divine sense swept over the corpse and didn’t find any injuries on his body. Once more sweeping his Spiritual Strength carefully over the corpse, he noticed the color at his neck was quite a bit darker than the other parts of his body.
“If there was a puncture on his neck, it’d be hard to see after all this swelling. It seems the most likely scenario is that he was bitten by a mosquito-like creature… and from his posture, it seems he collapsed extremely naturally without any struggle. His face isn’t warped at all… so even when he was about to die, he didn’t sense any danger. The Forest of Darkness really is terrifying,” muttered Long Chen.
He had been in the Forest of Darkness for only five days now. Not only had he gathered various precious medicinal ingredients, but he had also run into all kinds of bizarre Magical Beasts. They had possessed a myriad of attacking methods. It was possible that something as insignificant as a small caterpillar could take his life here.
This was the fourth corpse he had run into so far. Two had been Righteous disciples, while two had been Corrupt disciples. However, they hadn’t died from fighting, but to the indigenous inhabitants of the Forest of Darkness.
This person’s death was especially terrifying. He hadn’t sensed even the slightest bit of danger before dying.
Long Chen shook his head. As a fellow member of the Righteous path, he dug a hole for him so his corpse wouldn’t rot in the wilderness. It was better for the dead to rest within the earth.
It was said that when a person died, their spirit[1] didn’t die. This so-called spirit was a kind of hidden consciousness. It was something completely unrelated to the soul or divine sense. It was a kind of vague, almost unreal sort of thing.
Once a person died, if they were buried underground, then their spirit would also be buried. It would follow the earth to enter a different world. They would be reborn in that other world.
There was also another saying that when the spirit was buried, it would be absorbed by the great earth, similar to how fallen leaves return to the roots. It was a kind of cycle of life. In the end, they would be reincarnated as people.
If the corpse was left in the wild, it would cause a person’s soul to fly away and their spirit to scatter. They would completely vanish from the world. Long Chen had no idea whether these legends were true or not.
However, he didn’t care. In any case, he wouldn’t just watch as a person was tossed to the side like a dead dog.
After burying the person, Long Chen continued forward. Now he was even more cautious than ever.
Suddenly, a distant angry roar rang out. That seemed to be the roar of a Magical Beast. Long Chen immediately began rushing in that direction.
After hundreds of miles, Long Chen slowed down and began to stealthily approach. There was an open space ahead where angry roars were coming from.
It seemed it wasn’t just one Magical Beast. As he approached, he felt the ground constantly quivering from a battle.
Only when he got even closer did he see that there were four Magical Beasts attacking one Corrupt disciple.
This Corrupt disciple was on the Chosen-level. His aura was astonishing as he fought against four Magical Beasts.
Of those four Magical Beasts, two were at the early third rank, while the rest were at the early fourth rank. They were working together extremely well as they assaulted the Chosen.
Of the two fourth rank Magical Beasts, one was a Golden-Scaled Bull. Those golden scales gave it an extremely high defensive ability. It also had two golden horns that were facing off against the Chosen.
The other fourth rank Magical Beast looked like a leopard, but as he stared at it, Long Chen continued to feel something was off. Only later did he notice that it seemed more like a house cat.
Then when he saw that cat’s tails, he finally realized it was a Two-Tail Spirit Cat. Although it wasn’t specialized in defense, its attack speed was fast like the wind and as rapid as lightning.
The Golden-Scaled Bull and the Two-Tail Spirit Cat were working together, one on offense and one on defense. As for the third rank Magical beasts, they were just assisting from the side. The four of them had surrounded the Chosen, and loud explosions continuously shook the sky.
Seeing all this, Long Chen immediately knew there had to be a Beast Tamer nearby. He looked around and quickly noticed the master of these Magical Beasts.
When he clearly saw who that master was, Long Chen couldn’t help but smile. Surprisingly it was someone he hadn’t seen in a long time, Lu Fang-er.