"Argh!" Qiao Lingzhi screamed in pain after her right arm was broken, causing her to fall to the ground and curl up in pain. "Shit! This snake attack is much harder than metal."
*Swoosh... Swoosh...*
Even though Dongfang Xu's consecutive attacks hit the giant snake's head, his attacks were in vain, and its tail moved to attack him really fast.
*Bam*
However, Dongfang Xu managed to avoid it and landed beside Qiao Lingzhi, and he immediately picked her up and carried her up another tree. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, but the snake's attack broke my right hand." Qiao Lingzhi answered as she endured the pain.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of a flute, which caused the giant snake to fall into a daze, and it did not attack them again.
Qiao Lingzhi let out a sigh of relief after she saw that Guo Peng had managed to save Nangong Nichang, and they were a little far away from them. "What should we do now? Nichang's song techniques can't possibly stop that snake for too long, and we can't possibly defeat it with just the four of us."
"En, I agree with you." Dongfang Xu looked at the giant snake as he fell into deep thought. 'What should we do now?'
On another tree, Guan Peng concernedly asked her sect sister. "How is your condition, Nichang? Can you support us in defeating the snake?"
"No." Nangong Nichang answered by shaking her head. "Some of my bones, including my ribs, were fractured from the snake's attack earlier, and I couldn't fully concentrate on playing my songs, so we should leave this place before it returns to its senses."
Guan Peng nodded in agreement and signaled his two other friends to leave the area, and the two of them immediately moved towards them. "Let's go right now."
"Where are we going now?" Qiao Lingzhi asked him.
"Hmm?" Guo Peng carried Nangong Nichang as he answered Qiao Lingzhi's question. "Let's go to the inner area of this forest; I'm sure the snake won't dare chase us. Even though we have the artifact from our master, you guys still have to be careful."
"Okay."
The four of them dashed away to the deeper area in the forest, and Nangong Nichang also activated her artifact. "Where is Ouyang Hong? Why are there only three of you?"
"Tsk! Don't ask about that coward! He left us to save himself." Qiao Lingzhi replied with a furious look.
"I see."
Suddenly, they heard rustling sounds from behind them, and they saw the giant snake chasing them very quickly.
"Shit! Let's move faster!" Dongfang Xu said to the three, and they immediately increased their speed, but they kept looking back to check the movement of the giant snake.
Nangong Nichang started playing her flute again, and she did so to hinder the giant snake from chasing them, but the effect of her song couldn't stop it for too long.
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Above the sky, Zhou Yu observed the four people as she muttered to herself. "Even though their cultivation is still at the Soul Realm, their mentality is very good, and they are loyal to each other, except for that kid who ran away. Besides, they also come from those first-grade clans, so it would be a shame if they had to die in the hands of that snake. If Ling Yun could establish a good relationship with them, then that would be advantageous for him."
At first, Zhou Yu couldn't care less about those disciples, but she immediately checked their situation after Ling Yun used the vermilion bird of the Beast King Fist, especially since his attack caused chaos among the beasts in the forest.
"Hehe." Zhou Yu giggled and waved her hand. "I will save the four of you from that giant snake, but I will direct you all to Ling Yun's location, and I hope you guys will become his allies in the future."
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"Huh?" The four people immediately stopped after they saw the snake acting strangely, and Dongfang Xu asked them. "Did you guys see anything? Why do I feel like something is blocking the snake?"
"I didn't see anything." The two women agreed with Guan Peng, for they could not see the void walls created by Zhou Yu to block the giant snake. "Xu! Try attacking the snake with your arrow."
"All right." Dongfang Xu immediately shot a qi arrow towards the giant snake, but his attack confused them because it hit his body.
Qiao Lingzhi raised her eyebrows. "Why can't the snake move forward even though your attack can hit it?"
"I don't know myself." Dongfang Xu answered with a shrug. "Anyway, we don't need to think about that snake for now, and we have to quickly find a safe place to treat both of your injuries, so we can continue to complete our task later."
The three nodded and continued on their way straight away, but they were completely unaware of Zhou Yu's action of directing them to Ling Yun's location, and she kept the beasts away from them.
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Sometime later, they began to realize the strangeness of their situation, and Qiao Lingzhi asked them. "Hey, guys! Don't you find this forest strange? I can detect the presence of many strong beasts in all the areas we passed before, but none of them attacked us."
"Shouldn't you be happy about this? Or do you want those beasts to attack us?" Dongfang Xu asked as he raised his eyebrows.
"Tch! Stupid!" Qiao Lingzhi shouted at him. "I certainly don't want to be attacked by them, but our situation is really weird! Almost all the beasts in this forest are active types, so it's really unnatural if they don't attack us."
"Lingzhi is right." Nangong Nichang finally spoke. "I don't know what actually happened in this forest, but I also feel strange about the calmness of the beasts."
"Could their strangeness have something to do with the cultivator who used the vermilion bird technique earlier?" Guan Peng asked as he looked towards the heart of the forest.
Nangong Nichang nodded and spoke to them. "I also think that the strangeness of those beastis has something to do with that cultivator, and I feel that someone or something is deliberately leading us to that person, so we'll probably know the answers once we find that person."
"So we're really going to go meet that person? What if he turns out to be a heretical cultivator?" Dongfang Xu asked them again.
Guan Peng answered him straight away. "We have no other choice now, so we have to move forward."
"I agree!" Qiao Lingzhi said with a raised hand.
Nangong Nichang also agreed with them. "Whatever happens later, we have to meet that person first, especially since we don't have any returning jades to return to the sect."
"That's true." Dongfang Xu replied with a heavy sigh. "I still don't understand why our master sent us here to look for something unknown, and he also forbade us from bringing returning jades."
The other three people could only remain silent after hearing that, especially since they themselves also couldn't understand their master's intentions.
"It's getting late, so let's continue our journey, and I hope that person is not a heretic cultivator, or we will be doomed." Guan Peng said as he moved away with Nangong Nichang in his arms, and their two friends immediately followed behind.
"Haha." Zhou Yu laughed contentedly as she appeared at their previous location. "I really like their character and instincts, and they can still think with a cool head, even though they realize something unusual about their situation."
"Hmm?" Zhou Yu suddenly raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "It seems that Ling Yun has grown impatient with those beasts, or else he would not activate his chaos dragon bloodline."
After that, Zhou Yu disappeared from the place, and she went straight back to Ling Yun's location.
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[Ding]
[Quest: Killing Two Hundred and Fifty Beasts in the King Realm and Above]
[Status: Done]
[Reward: Battle Gift Pack x5]
"Phew." Ling Yun let out a sigh of relief after getting the notification, and he immediately canceled his half-dragon form. He then looked up at Zhou Yu and asked her. "Where have you been?"
"Haha." Zhou Yu laughed before telling him. "Because of your previous actions, many powerful beasts fled in fear towards the outer periphery, and a giant snake in King Realm almost killed four disciples of the Heaven Secrets Sect, so I went there to save them."
"Oh?" Ling Yun was taken back for a moment. "Are they okay now?"
"Yes." Zhou Yu then pointed in a certain direction. "I deliberately directed them to this place to meet you, and they will arrive soon."
"Hmm?" Ling Yun immediately frowned and asked her again. "Why did you direct them here? If they were here, I couldn't train freely."
Zhou Yu sighed softly before conveying her idea. "Ling Yun, you are a newcomer to the upper realms, and you don't have too many connections yet. Although the Tang Clan is on your side now, it is not enough, and you must establish good relationships with other cultivators."
"Well, that's true." Ling Yun replied with a nod. "But-"
"You don't need to worry about those disciples, for I have already checked their character." Zhou Yu directly interrupted Ling Yun. "Besides, they come from first-grade clans, so they could be useful for you later."
Ling Yun nodded in understanding. "All right, I believe you. So where are they now?"
"They'll be here in a few minutes."
- To Be Continued -
