172: Encounter in the rainforest

The reason Xiao Shi chose the riverside was because he knew that there were relatively fewer trees there.

Most of the dangers in this Rainforest came from the trees.

Whether it was the strangeness of the trees themselves or the powerful creatures inhabiting them, they all posed a threat.

Avoiding them would make him much safer.

Immediately after choosing this fork in the road, Xiao Shi continued forward along the path.

As he walked, the sound of the river echoing in his ears grew louder and louder.

Soon, a relatively wide river appeared in Xiao Shi's line of sight.

The entire river, like the falling raindrops, possessed terrifying scorching power.

Xiao Shi stood by the river.

Even from a distance, he could already feel the terrifying scorching power within the river.

This made him realize that if he accidentally fell into the river, he would likely be scorched to ashes instantly.

For a moment, he dared not get too close.

The situation here was just as he had initially thought.

There were indeed relatively fewer trees here, which also meant significantly fewer raindrops.

"Could it be that the rainfall here mainly depends on the number of trees?"

Xiao Shi pondered this thoughtfully.

In places with more trees, the falling rain was clearly more frequent than in places with fewer trees.

Xiao Shi immediately followed the river, continuing his journey.

He only wanted to leave this Rainforest as quickly as possible.

As he continuously moved forward, he remained vigilant at all times.

Even when some special plants, suspected to be rare treasures, appeared nearby, he did not approach them rashly.

After all, for him, killing was enough to drop items.

There was no need to risk his life for these things in this perilous Rainforest.

Thus, with his cautious advance, the journey was calm and uneventful, and he did not encounter any problems.

But just as he was about to exit the river area, "Hmm?"

Xiao Shi suddenly turned his head as if sensing something.

He abruptly saw a small boat appear in the river.

The boat was not large and looked very ordinary, seemingly no different from a typical small boat.

However, Xiao Shi knew very well that with the scorching power of this river, an ordinary small boat would instantly be scorched to ashes.

The fact that this boat could travel safely on the river clearly meant it was not as simple as it appeared.

At the same time, three people stood on this small boat.

The leader was an old man wearing a coir raincoat and a bamboo hat, holding a wooden fishing rod, sitting on the boat and fishing.

His entire face was shrouded in the shadow of the bamboo hat, preventing Xiao Shi from seeing his features.

Behind the old man stood a boy and a girl.

Both children smiled, each holding an item.

The boy held a neatly folded, square set of Daoist robes, with a Daoist crown placed on top.

The girl held a whisk.

The moment he saw these three people, Xiao Shi's pupils contracted violently.

He was shocked to discover that he couldn't feel any trace of aura fluctuation from them.

In his eyes, these three people seemed like ordinary mortals.

Even through the Crimson Tiger Totem and the Scarlet Blood Demon Eye on the Crimson Tiger Totem, he couldn't detect any abnormalities.

It was as if they were ordinary people with no cultivation.

But Xiao Shi knew that ordinary people without cultivation could not possibly appear in this dangerous Rainforest, where even he needed to be cautious.

Nor could they navigate this river with its terrifying scorching power.

They must be immensely powerful individuals with such profound cultivation that he could no longer perceive any aura fluctuations from them!

This greatly astonished Xiao Shi.

The strongest person he had seen so far was Wu Muzhen.

But even Wu Muzhen would not make him unable to feel even a trace of aura fluctuation.

It was clear that the three people currently before him possessed cultivation and strength far surpassing Wu Muzhen!

These were awe-inspiring existences, even more powerful than Wu Muzhen!

Xiao Shi hadn't expected to encounter such powerful beings in this Rainforest.

And the moment he saw the old man and the children beside him, *Whoosh!*

Xiao Shi felt a blur before his eyes.

The next moment, he was horrified to find that he was no longer on the riverbank but had appeared on the small boat.

A sensation of tingling scalp immediately filled Xiao Shi's entire mind.

In front of such powerful and unknown beings, he had no control over his own life.

Life and death were entirely at the whim of others.

This feeling of weakness and powerlessness appeared for the first time in Xiao Shi's life.

And just as Xiao Shi's mind was shaken, an ancient, vicissitudes of life voice, seemingly imbued with the passage of long years, suddenly echoed in his mind.

"Young friend, there's no need to be nervous."

As the ancient voice emanated, Xiao Shi's vision blurred again.

He found that a tea table had appeared on the small boat, and he was now sitting before it, with a steaming cup of tea placed in front of him.

The old man sat at the other end of the tea table, but with his back to Xiao Shi, not turning around.

The two children stood respectfully at either end of the tea table, still holding the Daoist robes and crown, and the whisk.

"My encounter with you, young friend, is fate; I'd like to invite you for a cup of tea."

The old man's voice was not transmitted like a normal person's but echoed directly in Xiao Shi's mind.

Xiao Shi looked at the teacup in front of him and the tea within.

Just by looking, he couldn't see any difference.

It seemed to be just ordinary tea.

His heart pounded, and he could clearly feel that the other party bore no ill will.

After all, a terrifying existence like this, if it wanted to harm him, could probably turn him to ashes with a single thought.

There was no need to specifically invite him for tea.

Although Xiao Shi couldn't fathom the other party's intentions, regardless, he could only obediently pick up the teacup in front of him and take a sip.

The tea had a predominantly fragrant and sweet taste, with a slight bitterness.

After drinking it, Xiao Shi didn't experience any particular changes.

It seemed to be just an ordinary cup of tea.

And after drinking this cup of tea, Xiao Shi's vision blurred again.

Immediately after, he found himself no longer on the boat but back on the riverbank.

When he turned to look, the river was calm, and the small boat was no longer visible.

Everything that had happened before felt like a dream, leaving Xiao Shi with a sense of daze.

However, he was certain that everything that had occurred was real, not just a false dream.

"What kind of existence was that?!"

Xiao Shi's mind was greatly shaken.

He had encountered many powerful individuals during this time, but he had never met such a mysterious and powerful being!

The feeling the other party gave him was completely incomparable to the powerful individuals in Tian Dou Province today.

Even the Crimson Tiger Totem on his back couldn't detect any aura fluctuations from the other party.

It seemed the other party had already reached some transcendent realm.

"Could this be an existence from the Upper Three Realms of martial arts?"

Xiao Shi speculated.

He knew that the entire martial arts path was divided into the Lower Three Realms, Middle Three Realms, and Upper Three Realms.

However, existences in the Upper Three Realms were extremely rare.

Let alone in Tian Dou Province, there were no Upper Three Realms existences even in the entire Star Luo Territory.

Xiao Shi felt that this mysterious powerful being was very likely an Upper Three Realms existence.

Of course, this was just his conjecture, as he had never seen such a powerful being before.

And just as Xiao Shi was speculating about the strength and cultivation of this mysterious powerful being, his powerful senses suddenly detected that someone was rapidly approaching from not far away.

This was different from when he had sensed the small boat earlier.

Now, he was sensing them normally.

And through the sensed auras, he could distinguish that those rapidly approaching him were several Blood Martial Realm martial artists.

Xiao Shi's eyes narrowed slightly, and he moved.

While hiding to the side, his entire body directly vanished into the Taiyin.

Soon, four figures quickly arrived from the distance.

They transformed into four Blood Martial Realm martial artists, clad in blood-red clothes, with blood-colored stripes on their faces, exuding an astonishingly fierce aura.

Through the pupil of one of them, Xiao Shi clearly noticed that this person's pupil was identical to that of the unknown strange bird resembling an owl that he had encountered earlier!

Upon arrival, this person's brow furrowed tightly.

"Where is he?" he asked, looking around in confusion.

According to his tracking, the person should have been here.

But now that he had arrived, there was no one in sight.

"Could your tracking be wrong?" the other three asked, frowning.

"Impossible!" he denied, shaking his head.

His tracking couldn't be wrong.

Although he couldn't track the exact location of the target, he could track a certain range.

Now, according to the feedback from his tracking, the person was nearby.

But there was no one in sight here... which was very strange.

"He must be here!" the Blood Martial Realm martial artist, clad in blood-red clothes with blood-colored stripes on his face, asserted, beginning to search carefully.

Xiao Shi stood not far from them.

He could not only see their actions but also clearly hear their conversation.

He wasn't worried that his location would be found by them.

After he had vanished into the Taiyin, as long as he didn't actively attack these Blood Martial Realm martial artists, they wouldn't be able to find him.

Through observing these Blood Martial Realm martial artists, Xiao Shi discovered that they were all Blood Martial Realm martial artists from Demonic Path forces!

He wasn't very surprised by this, as he had known early on that many Demonic Path forces in Tian Dou Province were located in similar environments.

After all, only in such places could they avoid attacks from the Orthodox Faction.

"This person can actually track me?"

Xiao Shi's eyes narrowed slightly, and he instantly realized that this was due to his previous killing of that strange bird.

This strange bird was a beast raised by the other party.

Both sides could share vision.

That is to say, when Xiao Shi entered this Rainforest and was seen by the strange bird, he had already entered the line of sight of this Blood Martial Realm martial artist.

Whether he killed that strange bird or not, he had already been targeted by the other party.

Xiao Shi gently closed his eyes, checking his own condition.

He needed to know how the other party was tracking him.

Through continuous self-examination, Xiao Shi soon discovered that some blood-colored threads had inexplicably appeared in his body.

It was clear that these blood-colored threads had silently infiltrated his body after Xiao Shi killed the strange bird, making him completely unaware.

The other party was tracking him through these blood-colored threads in his body.

This was clearly a unique method of the Demonic Path forces.

Xiao Shi immediately had a thought, using his Natal Martial Blood to cleanse his body.

*Whoosh!*

As his Natal Martial Blood swept through, it instantly cleared the blood-colored threads from his body.

"Hmm?"

The Blood Martial Realm martial artist, who had been sensing Xiao Shi's location based on his tracking, suddenly frowned.

He found that his perception of Xiao Shi was instantly severed, and he could no longer track him.

"Damn it!" The Blood Martial Realm martial artist's face darkened.

He instantly realized that he had been detected by the other party, and not only detected, but his tracking had also been broken.

This situation was very rare.

Among the Orthodox Faction, very few people could break this kind of tracking method.

"The fat sheep that was within my grasp just slipped away!" The Blood Martial Realm martial artist was very unwilling.

The other three also realized that the target had been lost.

They weren't too concerned about it, just smiled.

"Even if he slips away from you, he won't be able to leave this Rainforest. This is our territory."

Xiao Shi was not in a hurry to leave at this moment.

Through the conversation of these people, he had already learned that there was a Demonic Path force present here.

Everyone who entered the Rainforest would attract the attention of this Demonic Path force.

And people from the Orthodox Faction like him, upon entering the Rainforest, would inevitably be attacked by these Demonic Path forces.

Just as people from Demonic Path forces would be collectively attacked when entering the territory of the Orthodox Faction.

This made this Rainforest even more dangerous.

"In other words, I've now entered a wolf's den, so to speak."

Xiao Shi clearly realized his current predicament.

However, he showed no panic.

As long as he remained in the Taiyin state and these people couldn't detect him, it wouldn't be difficult for him to escape this place.

Thinking of this, Xiao Shi's gaze involuntarily focused on the four Blood Martial Realm martial artists.

He began to ponder whether he could kill all of them!

Xiao Shi was unwilling to miss such an opportunity to kill Blood Martial Grade martial artists.

Especially since his demand for Blood Martial Grade items was still very high.

*Whoosh!*

Immediately, Xiao Shi instantly used the Scarlet Blood Demon Eye, which was integrated into the Crimson Tiger Totem, to examine the Natal Martial Blood within the bodies of these four Blood Martial Realm martial artists.

Under the scrutiny of the Scarlet Blood Demon Eye, he could clearly see the Natal Martial Blood within the bodies of these four Blood Martial Realm martial artists.

He immediately saw that the Natal Martial Blood within the bodies of the Demonic Path forces' Blood Martial Realm martial artists was very different from that of the Orthodox Faction's Natal Martial Blood!