73: A forest full of dangers

thousand rain pear blossom needle (Green): A one-time-use, top-grade hidden weapon, forged by a master of hidden weapons in imitation of the Tang Sect. It guarantees death upon drawing blood within ten meters.

Qin Shi Lei had just used this one-time-use killing weapon to instantly kill Horse-Face.

Fearing he was too weak and might miss, Qin Shi Lei deliberately waited until Horse-Face was close before unleashing the thousand rain pear blossom needle.

At this moment, An Qian finally killed the last person. Turning around, she saw Qin Shi Lei and the others safe and sound, and her suspended heart finally settled.

Qin Shi Lei took out his short bow and handed it to An Qian. "You take this bow. If there are any more enemies, you can shoot them from a distance."

An Qian hesitantly took the short bow. "I've never shot an arrow before. I'm afraid I won't hit one out of ten shots."

Qin Shi Lei smiled encouragingly, "It's fine, just shoot."

After speaking, he took out a handful of crystals and began absorbing them.

He still had two or three thousand crystals on him, but he hadn't had time to absorb them. Now was a good opportunity to heal his injuries by upgrading with the crystals.

An Qian, meanwhile, took the short bow and tried shooting an arrow at a distant giant tree.

It hit the tree trunk directly.

She then tried shooting at a single leaf.

The arrow shot straight through the leaf.

"So my archery talent is this high too!"

An Qian's eyes shone with dazzling light as she fired ten more arrows in quick succession.

Every arrow still hit its target.

"You stinky bug, don't you dare appear again, or I'll definitely blast you," An Qian thought, recalling the glowing insect that had almost disfigured her.

As soon as she mentioned glowing insects, a swarm of them immediately floated in from the front left.

"Go to hell!"

An Qian quickly shot more than ten arrows, blasting those glowing insects one by one from a distance.

More than four hours later.

Qin Shi Lei finally finished absorbing two thousand crystals, reaching Bronze Two-Star.

Name: Qin Shi Lei

Level: Bronze Two-Star

Experience: 1 / 3000

Cultivation Method: Thunderous Nine Heavens

Combat Skill: Seven Stars Falling Across the Sky

His strength increased somewhat, but there was no qualitative change.

Since entering the Bronze Realm, activating the One-Punch Man ability could only increase his strength by nine times.

Qin Shi Lei speculated that even with One-Punch Man, he probably wouldn't be able to withstand a few attacks from the Great Peng Bird.

He tried moving his broken left arm and found that he could already pick up light objects like arrows.

After Zhang Xiaoli's treatment, drinking a bottle of healing potion, and healing through upgrading, his injuries improved greatly.

With all three methods combined, his injuries greatly improved.

The broken bones had already rejoined, slowly growing back together.

Qin Shi Lei could already walk independently, but he still didn't dare to exert force, not even able to fully draw a bow.

At this moment, Zhang Xiaoli also slowly woke up. "Qin Ge, how do you feel? I'll treat your injuries right now."

Qin Shi Lei took out a large handful of crystals and put them into her hand. "You should recover your mental energy first. We can talk about it later."

Zhang Xiaoli, whose head was still throbbing, had no choice but to sit cross-legged and absorb the crystals.

Qin Shi Lei looked up and saw several groups of dead glowing insects in the distance. An Qian was still enjoying herself, so he didn't bother her.

He also sat cross-legged, circulating Thunderous Nine Heavens through all his meridians, hoping to use his vital energy to accelerate the recovery of his injuries.

In the latter half of the night, Zhang Xiaoli treated Qin Shi Lei one more time, then took the short bow and took over from An Qian on night watch.

Qin Shi Lei had been using his vital energy to heal his injuries and unknowingly, it was already morning the next day.

Occasionally, a ray of sunlight shone through the gaps in the leaves, bringing a few streaks of light to the dim jungle.

From last night until now, they had occasionally heard eagle cries from above.

This indicated that the Great Peng Bird had not left, and Qin Shi Lei and the others truly dared not walk back out of the forest.

They could only walk towards the depths of the forest, with the sun at their backs.

Walking on the thick leaves, Qin Shi Lei always felt as if a pair of eyes in the forest were spying on them.

He looked around but found no abnormalities.

Behind them, countless vines slowly extended from the surrounding giant trees.

When Qin Shi Lei turned his head, the vines suddenly became motionless again.

"There are so many vines here, and they're really hard," An Qian, who was walking ahead, said as she cleaved a blocking vine with her sword.

Just then, a rustling sound arose.

Countless vines quickly wrapped around Qin Shi Lei and the others from all directions.

"Ah!" The first to be entangled was An Qian's mother, He Yiyao.

Next was Qin Shi Lei, whose injuries had not yet recovered.

An Qian's Bi Yue Sword danced into a curtain of swords, and countless broken vines continuously fell to the ground.

She could temporarily protect herself but was powerless to rescue her mother and Qin Shi Lei.

As for the vines surrounding Zhang Xiaoli, they stopped immediately upon contact with her.

Then they retreated into the distance.

Even the vines that had bound Qin Shi Lei and He Yiyao like a zongzi loosened and retreated into the distance.

An Qian asked, "Zhang Xiaoli, have you subdued these vines?"

Zhang Xiaoli shook her head and explained, "These vines have mutated, and there's more than one plant. My mental energy can only subdue the willow tree as a pet for now, so I can only make these vines retreat."

She paused, then added, "Let me lead the way. In this forest, my activated Wood Spirit Body has more of an advantage."

An Qian nodded and retreated to walk with her mother.

Some of those vines were just ordinary plants and still required Zhang Xiaoli to cut them open with her Tang saber to clear the path. A small portion that had mutated would automatically retreat and clear the way as soon as she stepped on them.

"Be careful!" Qin Shi Lei suddenly pulled Zhang Xiaoli, who was walking forward.

That feeling of being spied on returned.

Zhang Xiaoli looked left and right and finally found a patch of mushrooms ahead that looked strange.

Among those bright red mushrooms were several animal skeletons.

An Qian took out her short bow. "I'll shoot an arrow to see."

"Whoosh!"

She drew her bow and fired, and the arrow flew swiftly towards one of the palm-sized mushrooms.

"Bang!"

The mushroom that was hit exploded directly, and at the same time, a pink smoke dispersed, forming a two-meter-sized mist cloud.

"These mushrooms wouldn't be poisoning animals and then absorbing nutrients, would they?" An Qian said with a frown.

Now that they knew the enemy's attack method, everyone avoided those brightly colored mushrooms.

Next, they encountered another incident of plants harming people, though it wasn't as fierce as the vine attack.

But it happened very suddenly, giving everyone a deep understanding of the dangers of this forest.

Qin Shi Lei suggested, "Why don't we stay here for a while and wait for my injuries to heal before we set off again?"

Just then, they suddenly heard footsteps from ahead.

Qin Shi Lei and the others quickly hid behind a large tree. Then, thirty to forty people appeared in their line of sight.

On the periphery were a group of soldiers in camouflage, protecting four old men and a middle-aged woman in the center.

"How much longer do we have to walk? We've basically covered the entire forest in these three days, and more than twenty people have died. Do we have to wait until everyone dies before we can leave this ghost place?"

The middle-aged woman stopped and spoke discontentedly.

"Deputy Director Huang, only by surveying the east again can we choose the best escape route," the leading military officer frowned and patiently explained.

Crack!

He Yiyao accidentally stepped on a dead branch.

"Who's there?" The officer turned his head to look towards Qin Shi Lei's side.