202: Chapter 202 Thanks, Brother Snake, for the seven areas.

Outside the passage was an unusually quiet forest.

Unlike the Blood Sacrifice Cave and Scale Sacrifice Cave from before, there was no overwhelming smell of blood, nor the damp, cold, fishy stench of scales here.

There wasn't even the roar of monsters.

There were only trees.

Dense, thick trees.

The trunks were a grayish-purple color, their surfaces covered with fine lines resembling blood vessels, while the leaves were a nearly transparent pale green. When the wind blew, the leaves rubbed against each other, making a rustling sound.

The sound was very soft.

Yet it inexplicably made one feel as if countless people were whispering in their ears.

Tang Zhiwei walked at the very front, her eyes much more serious than usual.

She had suppressed the silver bell on her wrist with Source Power, so it didn't make a single sound.

"Don't touch the plants here... the skin of all these plants is corrosive..."

The group continued forward along the forest.

Unsurprisingly, a river blocking their path appeared ahead again.

This river was narrower than the previous two, but the water was an eerie purplish-green, with a thin layer of pollen floating on the surface.

The pollen moved with the current, occasionally bumping against rocks on the bank, and a layer of tiny mold spots would immediately grow on the surface of the rocks.

Tang Zhiwei stopped, crouched by the bank, and watched for a moment.

"We cannot get close."

"The poison in this river is even more concentrated than the poison in the air just now."

Jiang Xuance's mouth twitched.

"Does this Island Master have some kind of problem?"

"Blocking every area with a river?"

Lu Cheng rubbed his chin.

"Perhaps the designer just really likes water-themed maps?"

They followed the riverbank to continue searching for the source.

Just like before, a cave was hidden at the end of the river.

The entrance of the cave was covered in grayish-purple vines, and fist-sized white flowers were blooming on the vines.

Those flowers had no pistils; instead, a thin slit split open in the center, looking like tiny smiling mouths.

The moment Tang Zhiwei saw those flowers, her expression changed slightly.

"Don't look for too long."

"There is mental poison in the flowers."

After she finished speaking, she raised her hand and scattered a pale cyan powder.

The powder fell around the group, forming a thin layer of medicinal mist, isolating the invisible toxins emitted by those white flowers.

A terminal notification popped up accordingly.

[Hidden Area Discovered: Poison Sacrifice Cave]

[Warning: High-Risk Target]

[Target Rank Assessment: Hua Hai Realm Peak]

Jiang Xuance looked at the terminal, already devoid of expression.

"I'm already used to it."

Heavenly King Lin carried his axe on his shoulder.

"What is it this time?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of branches rubbing against the ground came from deep within the cave.

A humanoid monster slowly crawled out from the darkness.

It looked like something pieced together from a human and a tree, its body surface covered in grayish-purple bark, with a slit cracked open on its chest, inside which thick green liquid surged.

The head had no facial features, only a blooming white flower.

In the center of the white flower, that thin slit slowly opened.

It looked like it was smiling.

Tang Zhiwei's eyes turned cold.

"Poison Demon."

"Don't let its pollen spread."

The Poison Demon suddenly raised its hand, and dozens of vines pierced out from the ground.

Xu Xinglan's Source Array instantly deployed, marking the movement trajectory of the vines.

Ye Beihan stomped down, and cold air froze the ground.

Gu Changqing slashed with his sword light, precisely cutting off the roots of the vines.

Tang Zhiwei directly threw out three black poison needles.

The poison needles were not very effective against a monster like the Poison Demon, but she wasn't aiming for damage; she was aiming for containment.

The three poison needles nailed into the edge of the white flower, and the speed at which the white flower released pollen immediately slowed down a notch.

Seeing this, Lu Cheng hugged Snow Spirit and stepped back.

"This is your specialty."

"Leave this one for Tang Zhiwei to handle."

Tang Zhiwei looked back at him and smiled very sweetly.

"Is Brother Lu complimenting me?"

Lu Cheng was dead serious.

"Stop talking nonsense, take this thing down first."

Although the Poison Demon was eerie, its weakness was very obvious.

It was afraid of fire.

Snow Spirit's Star Flame Fox Fire landed on the Poison Demon's chest, and the crimson-gold fox flames quickly spread along the texture of the bark.

Heavenly King Lin took the opportunity to smash half of its body with an axe.

Gu Changqing's sword light pierced through the white flower.

[Hidden Exotic Beast Slain: Poison Demon]

[Points Gained: 300]

[Special Drop Obtained: Poison Core]

When the Poison Core hit the ground, the surrounding white flowers withered simultaneously.

Behind the cave, there was indeed another passage.

And indeed, there were murals again.

Lu Cheng looked at the walls on both sides, his eyes twitching slightly.

"Here we go."

"A signature feature of the Ten Thousand Sea Islands."

"Walk a few steps, fight a monster, then look at a horror painting of family ethics."

Heavenly King Lin didn't understand.

"What ethics?"

Xu Xinglan said calmly:

"He means that old couple is about to come out and sacrifice a girl again."

Sure enough.

On the mural, that old couple appeared again.

This time, they brought a little girl to the cave full of poisonous flowers.

In the picture, the old couple knelt before the Poison Demon and pushed the girl toward that huge white flower.

In the next picture, the girl disappeared.

In the crack on the Poison Demon's chest, a fruit beating like a heart had appeared.

Jiang Xuance felt his scalp tingle.

"How many times have these old things sacrificed people? How many children are there for them to sacrifice like this?"

They continued to move forward.

The subsequent exploration seemed to confirm Xu Xinglan's judgment.

After passing through the Poison Sacrifice area, they encountered the fourth river.

This river water was pale, as if soaked in bone powder, and the banks were piled with fish bones and animal bones.

In the source cave, a Bone Demon was guarding it.

The monster was composed entirely of white bones, with a mass of grayish-white soul fire suspended in its chest cavity. Every time its body was shattered, it would reassemble from the surrounding bone piles.

If not for Xu Xinglan locking onto the position of the soul fire and Gu Changqing piercing the core with one sword strike, they would probably have wasted quite a bit more time.

After the Bone Demon died, it dropped a grayish-white Bone Core.

The murals in the passage were still that old couple.

They brought the girl to the bone pile and sacrificed her to the white bone monster.

Further on, was the Tooth Area.

The river water there was floating with dense, sharp teeth.

Every time the water surface rippled, it made a clicking sound of teeth colliding.

A Tooth Demon was entrenched in the Tooth Sacrifice Cave.

It didn't have a complete body; it was like a giant ball of flesh pieced together from countless animal teeth, human teeth, and fish teeth, capable of crushing Source Power shields when it opened and closed.

Heavenly King Lin was almost bitten by it on his axe.

Fortunately, Ye Beihan froze half of its body, Snow Spirit used Frost Flame Fox explosions to blast open the layers of teeth, and Lu Cheng smashed his fist into the core, only then completely killing it.

The Tooth Demon dropped a Tooth Core.

In the murals, the old couple sent the girl to the sacrificial altar full of sharp teeth...

Fighting all the way down, the Dragon Country team's points rose rapidly.

Three hundred points per hidden monster, plus river investigation, cave cracking, and special core drops, one team's points had already exceeded the total amount that could be obtained in half an hour of normal exploration.

Jiang Xuance watched the numbers rising on the terminal, his mouth curling up involuntarily.

"Although this island is disgusting, the points are really generous."

Heavenly King Lin was loosening his shoulders.

"Come a few more, I think we can blow the score out of the water."

Xu Xinglan said calmly:

"Don't be happy too soon."

"The further we go, the more abnormal the area state becomes."

Tang Zhiwei also nodded.

"Poison, bones, and teeth have already begun to affect Source Power and Mental Energy."

"It will only get more troublesome later."

Facts proved that she was right.

After the Tooth Area, they came to the Snake Area.

The Snake Area river was the most eerie.

The water surface was pitch black, without any ripples.

But on the riverbank, there were snake sloughs everywhere.

Varying in thickness.

Some were only as thick as a finger, while others were like skin shed by giant pythons, hanging on tree branches and swaying gently in the wind.

Jiang Xuance stood by the river, looking at the opposite bank.

"Is it possible to cross the river directly?"

Heavenly King Lin also looked at the black river.

"This river isn't wide."

"I shouldn't have any problems jumping across."

Xu Xinglan frowned.

"I don't recommend taking the risk."

Lu Cheng thought for a moment and looked at a monster snake swimming in the mud not far away.

The snake had a triangular head and black bone spurs on its back, flicking its tongue while staring at them.

Lu Cheng raised his hand.

Source Power swirled.

Before the monster snake could react, it was forcibly snatched over by him.

Monster snake: "Hiss!"

Lu Cheng looked at it.

"Brother, let me borrow you to test the path."

Lu Cheng swung his arm.

The monster snake drew a graceful arc and was forcibly thrown toward the opposite bank.

As soon as its body touched the space above the black river water, before it had even truly fallen into the water, the entire snake body instantly stiffened.

The next second.

Without a sound.

It turned into ash.

There wasn't even a scream.

The ash fell into the river, not even causing a ripple.

Everyone was silent.

Heavenly King Lin silently retracted the foot he was preparing to jump with.

"I think taking the long way around is quite good."

Lu Cheng nodded.

"Mature."

Jiang Xuance looked at the snake that had disappeared and said seriously:

"Thanks to Brother Snake for the contribution made to scientific research."

The way to pass the Snake Area was still to find the cave.

A large number of strange snakes were entrenched in the Snake Sacrifice Cave.

Some of these snakes had three heads, some had forked tails, and some even had patterns resembling human faces.

The big monster in the deepest part was a Snake Demon, half-human and half-snake, with hair made entirely of tiny snakes.

Its abilities leaned towards binding and petrifying gaze.

Lu Cheng didn't let it perform much, personally went up, and punched the guy to death.

[Hidden Exotic Beast Slain: Snake Demon]

[Points Gained: 300]

[Special Drop Obtained: Snake Core]

The murals in the Snake Sacrifice passage were the same as before, still the sacrifice of the little girl...

After passing through the Snake Sacrifice Cave, everyone walked out of the exit.

Outside was a mist.

A very thick mist.

The vast white mist shrouded the dense forest, and the air was so damp it felt like it could be wrung out.

Just as Lu Cheng stepped out, his footsteps suddenly paused.

It was too quiet around.

He turned to look at the group.

Then he discovered that Heavenly King Lin, Gu Changqing, Xu Xinglan, Tang Zhiwei, Jiang Xuance, and Ye Beihan had all stopped in place.

Their eyes were dull, as if they had suddenly lost focus.

Heavenly King Lin's lips moved.

"Grandfather... I won..."

Gu Changqing said in a low voice:

"Master... I did not retreat."

Xu Xinglan's eyes were hollow, muttering:

"The array heart is not here... No... did I calculate wrong?"

Jiang Xuance reached out his hand, as if touching something that didn't exist.

"Red-Armored Zheng... don't go far..."

Ye Beihan stood straight, his voice low.

"The Northern Frontier... it is still snowing."

Tang Zhiwei's eyes trembled slightly, softly chanting:

"Tang Family... it wasn't me..."

Lu Cheng's eyes turned cold instantly.

Did they get hit?

No monsters... no attacks.

The moment they walked out of the cave, everyone was pulled into some kind of illusion?

Snow Spirit raised her head from his arms, light flashing in her ice-blue eyes.

"Daddy."

"They have fallen into an illusion."

Lu Cheng asked in a low voice:

"Can you break it?"

Snow Spirit's two tails gently unfurled.

"Leave it to me."

She jumped to the ground and tilted her little head up.

The next second.

A crisp chirping sound came from her mouth.

"Ying..."

The sound was very soft, yet it was like starlight falling onto the surface of a lake.

Illusion Sound · Star Fascination.

This was originally an ability used to make enemies hallucinate and become mentally confused.

But at the same time, it could also disrupt the structure of illusions forcibly imposed by others.

A circle of silver-blue sound waves spread out from Snow Spirit.

The mist gently vibrated.

Everyone's eyes gradually regained focus.

Heavenly King Lin suddenly came to his senses, almost swinging an axe out.

"Who?!"

Xu Xinglan's face turned slightly pale, and she immediately looked down to check her terminal.

Ye Beihan was silent for a long time before saying in a low voice:

"Illusion."

Lu Cheng looked at the group.

"Be careful to guard your minds."

"The monsters in this area are very strange."

Snow Spirit jumped back into Lu Cheng's arms, her tail gently brushing his wrist.

"There is something in the mist."

Xu Xinglan's terminal finally scanned a life signal.

Within the mist, clusters of transparent shadows slowly emerged.

They looked like jellyfish.

Floating in the mist, their bodies transparent, almost blending in with the mist.

Nine long, slender tentacles hung down from below.

The end of each tentacle was slightly forked, like a snake's tongue.

[Exotic Beast Discovered: Mist-Tongue Jellyfish]

[Ability Tendency: Mental Hallucination, Dream Poison Parasitism]

[Danger Rank: Varies from Kai Mai to Hua Hai Realm]

The Mist-Tongue Jellyfish didn't pounce directly.

They just floated in the mist, tentacles swaying gently.

But with every sway, familiar voices would ring in everyone's ears.

Relatives, mentors, friends, enemies.

Those voices were indistinguishable from real to fake, like fragments fished out from the depths of memory.

Xu Xinglan immediately deployed a Mental Stability Source Array.

Tang Zhiwei distributed a second kind of medicine.

"Hold this in your mouth."

"This one is for clearing the mind."

Jiang Xuance's mouth twitched.

"How much medicine did you bring?"

Tang Zhiwei said with a smile:

"Enough to let you be poisoned three times and saved back each time."

Jiang Xuance: "Thanks, but no need to be so considerate."

The Mist-Tongue Jellyfish's abilities were very troublesome.

Snake language entering dreams would make people hear the call of familiar people...

Leading the way in the mist would lead people to the distant black river...

Dream poison parasitism would leave a dream of being devoured by a nine-headed snake in the mind...

If one got hit too deeply, their Mental Energy would decrease after waking up.

The Dragon Country team advanced cautiously, Snow Spirit constantly used illusion sounds to disrupt the mental fluctuations in the mist, Xu Xinglan used the Source Array to mark the positions of the jellyfish, and Gu Changqing and Heavenly King Lin were responsible for quickly killing the targets that approached.

Ye Beihan's cold air was also very useful here.

After the mist was frozen, the transparent bodies of the jellyfish would briefly manifest.

The group cleared the way all the way, finally arriving at a cave by a black river.

In the cave, there was a lake, and in the center of the lake, a giant Mist-Tongue Jellyfish was floating.

Its body was almost the size of a small building, and countless human faces vaguely appeared in the transparent umbrella cap.

The eight huge tentacles hanging down below, like eight snake tongues, gently touched the surface of the lake.

Every time it touched, a reflection of a person would appear on the lake surface.

Those reflections were all people familiar to everyone in their hearts.

A terminal notification popped up.

[Hidden Exotic Beast: Dream Demon · Mist-Tongue Mother]

[Rank: Hua Hai Realm Peak]

[Special Status: Dream Sacrifice Pollutant]

[Kill Points: 300]

[Warning: Mental Pollution Intensity is Relatively High]

Heavenly King Lin took a deep breath.

"Another Hua Hai Peak."

The battle broke out very quickly.

The Mist-Tongue Mother had almost no physical defense but possessed extremely strong mental interference capabilities.

It made Heavenly King Lin see the disappointed eyes of the Old Ancestor of the Lin family.

It made Gu Changqing hear the sound of his sword breaking.

It made Xu Xinglan see her own deduction failing, leading to the total annihilation of the team.

It made Tang Zhiwei see countless cold eyes in the secret room of the Tang Family.

But every time before an illusion could form, Snow Spirit's chirping would tear open a crack in advance.

"Ying!"

Star Fascination Illusion Sound spread again and again.

Silver-blue starlight flickered in the mist.

Lu Cheng's Yueyao Pulse glowed in his eyes, forcibly locking onto the mother's core.

"Found it."

He took a step forward.

The surface of the black lake exploded instantly, and nine tentacles rolled toward him at the same time.

Lu Cheng's fist shone with crimson-gold light.

He threw a punch.

Boom!

The entire black lake shook.

The Mist-Tongue Mother's transparent body split open from the center, and those blurry human faces inside shattered like foam.

[Hidden Exotic Beast Slain: Dream Demon · Mist-Tongue Mother]

[Points Gained: 300]

[Special Drop Obtained: Dream Core]

The thick fog began to dissipate.

Everyone stood on the shore of the black lake, silent for a while.

Seven consecutive areas.

Blood, Scale, Poison, Bone, Tooth, Snake, Dream.

Every area had a strange river.

Every area had a sacrificial cave.

In every cave, there was a pollutant of Hua Hai Realm Peak level.

In every passage, there was a mural of that old couple sacrificing a girl.

Jiang Xuance rubbed his temples.

"How many areas are there in total here?"