Chapter 343: Chapter 60: The Secret Realm of the Giant Trees, Blue Mist
The Tu Family girl walked ahead on the mountain trail, with the four Sword Immortals closely following her.
“What is your name?” Ling Yunpo struck up a conversation.
“My name is Ah Ling,” the Tu Family girl said.
“Are you familiar with this place?” Ling Yunpo asked doubtfully.
“If I wasn’t familiar, why would you seek me out?” Ah Ling asked back with a giggle.
Ling Yunpo was rendered speechless by her retort and turned his head to look at Sima Changyan.
“Miss Ah Ling is said to have wandered into the mountains as a child and accidentally entered that secret realm,” Sima Changyan explained. “Later, she repeatedly entered the secret realm to explore, and has scoured most of the less dangerous areas clean.”
“Oh?” Ling Yunpo asked skeptically, “There are many snakes, insects, rats, and ants in the secret realm, and most of them are highly poisonous. How did Miss Ah Ling preserve herself amidst them?”
“We, the people of the Tu Family, understand all kinds of Gu insects better than you Han people,” Ah Ling huffed through her nose, saying, “If you don’t trust me and keep on asking questions, then I won’t lead the way anymore; you can go by yourselves!”
She turned to leave, but Sima Changyan and Duan Fenhai hurriedly played peacemakers and gestured to Ling Yunpo to make nice.
Ling Yunpo could only give a wry smile and stepped back to An Zhisu’s side, signaling that he had no intention of mistrusting the other party.
“This person…” An Zhisu frowned.
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Ling Yunpo was overjoyed, “Sister, did you notice something?”
“I just don’t get a good feeling about her,” An Zhisu replied.
Ling Yunpo: ………
So, anyone who is not nice to me is not a good person, right?
Although I am touched, that opinion isn’t very helpful.
“We’re here,” Ah Ling led everyone to a hollow in the mountain and suddenly said, “Cross through this cave, and you’ll reach the secret realm you spoke of.”
“But if you don’t go through the cave and instead climb over the mountain, you’ll find a regular forest on the other side.”
“Of course,” Sima Changyan said, “During the process of passing through the cave, there is actually a spatial transition that leads us into a separate Heavenly Grotto.”
“You cultivators speak such perplexing words,” Ah Ling said with a hand covering her mouth and a coquettish giggle, “One moment you call the inside a secret realm, the next a Heavenly Grotto. We just call it the big forest.”
Ling Yunpo kept quiet in the back, just listening to their conversation.
The cave wasn’t large, with the sound of accumulated water inside, and it seemed the ground was covered with moss, which was slippery to step on.
However, the Shushan Sword Immortals were all individuals with extraordinary root bone strength and exceptionally great balance, so they weren’t likely to fall.
Ah Ling, in her sturdy shoes, was also swift on the damp ground and soon led everyone through the cave.
After walking a few steps forward, the view suddenly cleared, and they found themselves in the midst of a giant forest.
It was called a “giant forest” because the trees here were unusually tall, easily reaching heights of thirty or forty zhang, and required three people to encircle them.
Coupled with the thick canopy blocking the view of the sky, the light around became much dimmer as well.
Ling Yunpo couldn’t help but be reminded of the Hundred Thousand Mountains in the Southern Border, the ancient forests… But though dense, the trees there were mostly within normal ranges, whereas the trees here were clearly different species.
He looked down at his feet and saw thick layers of fallen leaves everywhere, obscuring the soil beneath them.
Continuously, small black insects burrowed in and out of the leaf layers at his feet. Ling Yunpo looked closely and realized they were not ants but a species of beetle he had never seen before.
“Be careful,” Ah Ling said nonchalantly, “Although the corpse beetles won’t attack people actively, their bodily fluid contains poison.”
“If you’re unfortunate enough to step on them and allow the poison to seep through the sole of your shoe and touch your foot, you must amputate immediately to save your life.”
“Thank you for the warning,” Ling Yunpo replied sincerely.
To ordinary people, facing such a troublesome poison, the only option would indeed be a drastic one like amputation.
But a cultivator could use True Yuan to expel the poison, so there was no need to explain further to her.
However, according to what Miss Ah Ling said, accidentally stepping on these beetles would indeed be a nuisance.
“Can we use Sword Control here?” An Zhisu asked aloud.
“We can, but it’s not suitable,” Sima Changyan responded. “There are many snakes above in the canopy, and controlling swords in the forest makes it easy to be attacked.”
“Even if we pass through the canopy and come into the open air, the view is obstructed by the woods and we can’t see what’s on the ground, which is pointless.”
“Indeed,” Duan Fenhai agreed.
Everyone continued to move forward, with Ah Ling deliberately choosing a small path where the ground was higher, hence fewer crawling beetles and relatively safer.
But safety wasn’t the only concern for the Shushan Sword Immortals, so they all released their Divine Sense, continuously scanning their surroundings.
“Huh?” Ah Ling suddenly exclaimed, ran to a tree by the roadside, parted the vines twined around the roots, and took out the polygonum multiflorum, brushing off the dust on it before turning with a smile and said, “Do you want it? If you do, I’ll sell it to you.”
“If it’s not a polygonum multiflorum aged over a thousand years, it’s meaningless to us,” Sima Changyan declined politely.
“Alright then.” Ah Ling put it away, and as she was about to stand up, a yellow and black spider suddenly crawled out from behind the tree and lunged straight at her face.
Before she could even scream, the sound of a sword’s ring was heard, and the spider was already nailed dead to the trunk.
By the time everyone had reacted, An Zhisu had already shot out her sword, killing the venomous spider.
“Thank you,” Ah Ling came back, still in shock, and thanked An Zhisu.
“Be careful,” An Zhisu said indifferently, as she casually withdrew the Flying Smoke Sword.
The blade quivered, emitting high heat and blue smoke, flinging the poison clean off it.
The poison fell onto a pile of fallen leaves and immediately corroded through them.
“Are these spiders common in the secret realm?” Duan Fenhai asked seriously.
“Quite a few,” Ah Ling replied, “but they mostly dwell in the lower branches. As long as you don’t get close to the trees, you generally won’t be attacked by them.”
Everyone looked ahead again and indeed, except near the path, the rest of the area was filled with trees.
To avoid getting close to the trees, one would have to keep to the path, otherwise it was simply impossible.
After traveling along the small path for about half an hour, Sima Changyan suddenly said:
“It’s over there.”
Following his pointing, they saw a vast expanse of green fog in the depth of the jungle ahead.
“That’s miasma!” Ah Ling exclaimed in shock, “You want to go into the miasma?”
“Correct,” Duan Fenhai inquired, “do you have any way to get in?”
“I think that’s courting death,” Ah Ling bluntly said. “However, torches can disperse miasma—although only a small portion around.”
“And if the wind blows the miasma directly at us, even if we light torches, we can’t guarantee we won’t breathe any in, so in the end, it’s still like courting death.”
The group exchanged glances for a moment and had a rough idea in mind.
According to the records, this pale green miasma was actually the turbid Qi of Yimu belonging to the Yin aspect of the Five Elements.
Although inhaling miasma is harmful to cultivators, such an environment often facilitates the growth of various spiritual objects, and since wild beasts dare not enter, the likelihood of it being plundered beforehand is also lower.
Not to mention that this is a secret realm; if the previous lord of the secret realm wished to cultivate any Wood System Spirit Grass, then planting it in miasma would also make perfect sense.
“In that case, let’s light the torches and go in to explore,” Duan Fenhai decided after some thought. Since torches could disperse miasma, they might as well all go in together.
If they accidentally got poisoned, with brother Ling who had high resistance here, it would still be possible to take out a Detoxifying Elixir to treat everyone in time.
Sima Changyan had no objections, and An Zhisu, as long as she could accompany her junior brother, had no objections either.
So they had Ah Ling wait outside while each of them took out their Fire System Magical Treasures and activated them, stepping into the green fog.
Ah Ling watched as they were swallowed by the mist.
After about a quarter of an hour, she took out a plump round ball from her sleeve, bit her fingertip, and smeared her blood on it.
The ball immediately sprouted limbs and transformed into the shape of a wild rabbit, running into the mist with a speed almost indistinguishable from a real rabbit.