79: Chapter 79 Earth Spirit Immortal Herb

Xia Shaoxin felt his body being pulled by a powerful force, as if he were dancing in a gale; their hands lost their grip and immediately let go.

He could not open his eyes and did not know where he was being swept away to.

The process was not long; it stopped quickly, and he fell from the air, rolling onto the grass, dizzy and disoriented.

Standing up and looking around, he found himself in a meadow; in the distance, there seemed to be a forest, but it was shrouded in fog, hazy and unclear.

"Senior Brother Shao, Senior Brother Liang—"

He shouted desperately, but no one responded.

He tilted his head to listen; there was no sound around him other than himself.

He hurriedly took out the map, feeling completely lost and not knowing where he was.

A strange panic rose in his heart; this was not what Elder Qian Yunchang had expected.

According to the plan, they should have been teleported to a Pavilion in the middle of the map, and then divided into ten groups to search in ten directions.

Where is the Pavilion?

Which area of the map am I in now?

The Teleportation Array in the well of Zhuyun Courtyard hadn't been used for hundreds of years, so it probably had some problems.

It was also possible that Liu Tingting was only at the Qi Refining Realm and could not perfectly activate the Teleportation Array.

Suddenly, his heart gave a sharp tug; this was the instinct of a Bug Catcher, sensing a threat.

He felt as if something was lurking in the dark, spying on him.

He quickly put away the map, drew his sword, and looked around.

There was a rustling sound in the distance, the sound of the wind blowing across the grass.

He stretched his neck, looking into the distance against the wind, but could see nothing.

The sound of the wind was the same as a normal breeze, yet he felt that it concealed some kind of threat.

Suddenly, the grass a zhang away parted to both sides, and a long, strip-like thing darted out.

A Hundred-Legged Centipede!

Before, Liu Tingting had read the book "Chronicles of Zhuyun Courtyard," which contained descriptions of a dozen or so monsters.

The other Senior Brothers listened, confused and muddled, but Xia Shaoxin listened with great interest, occasionally comparing them to the Poisonous Insects of Dawu Mountain.

He had never seen this kind of monster before, but today he recognized it at first glance.

It was four feet long with long, thin legs; when walking on the grass, it didn't even press the grass to the sides.

The wind just now had been brought by this bug, which was hiding under the grass, completely invisible.

This thing was not at all the same as a centipede, but because it was long and thin and had many legs, it was called a centipede.

This kind of bug had even greater strength than a King Cobra.

But Xia Shaoxin was not a Mortal; he was at Level 2 Qi Refining, so his movements were faster and his strength greater. When the Hundred-Legged Centipede lunged, he split it in two with a single sword strike.

Steady, accurate, and ruthless.

He was very satisfied with this strike; it was worthy of an excellent Bug Catcher.

At the same time, his heart settled down.

Elder Qian Yunchang was right; no one had come to clear this place for hundreds of years, but the monsters inside did not possess hundreds of years of strength.

He picked up the two sections of the Hundred-Legged Centipede from the ground and silently recited a spell, but he could not offer it as a sacrifice.

"Looking so strange, yet it's trash!"

He felt it was a pity and stomped the centipede flat, mixing it into a lump with the soil.

If a thing is useless, what is the point of its existence between heaven and earth?

Whoosh—

The wind suddenly blew from all directions.

He hurriedly stood up, sensing an even greater threat.

He saw that a zhang away, the weeds were flattening, and several Hundred-Legged Centipedes were lunging at him.

Gah!

He roared, brandished his sword, and hacked away with all his might.

He had encountered this situation a few times in Dawu Mountain; when he accidentally trespassed into the nest of Poisonous Insects, they would swarm him as if they had exploded.

Before seeing the Poisonous Insects here, he had felt terrified.

After killing one Hundred-Legged Centipede, he was full of confidence and fought calmly; his sword danced so tightly that not even a drop of water could pass through, and in the blink of an eye, he had killed more than twenty.

However, he heard an even louder wind sound coming from the grass.

He knew something was wrong; he had truly fallen into the nest of Poisonous Insects!

Sure enough, a dense swarm of Hundred-Legged Centipedes surged over; the grass was finally pressed down, clearly revealing trails of their advance.

Damn it!

Xia Shaoxin cursed, not daring to linger in battle, retreating while fighting.

Before he knew it, he stepped onto a bare patch of ground, and those Hundred-Legged Centipedes suddenly stopped, circling in front of him.

He was very surprised; he looked down and found that the soil under his feet was very unusual.

Black soil.

His suspicions were greatly aroused.

Black soil is usually fertile, so it should be lush with vegetation, not barren.

Moreover, this patch of black soil was a very standard circle.

Those Hundred-Legged Centipedes stopped at the edge of the black soil, not daring to come in.

"Could there be a problem underneath?"

He suddenly noticed that the soles of his shoes were black, and something like black oil had stained the uppers.

A flash of inspiration struck him; could the "earth spirit immortal mushroom grass" be underneath?

According to what Liu Tingting had read, the earth spirit immortal mushroom grass was highly poisonous; where it resided, within a radius of one zhang, no grass would grow, and no living creature dared to step foot.

This patch of black soil was about two zhang in diameter, fitting all the characteristics.

He hurriedly took out his dagger and carefully dug at the center of the black soil, where it was darkest.

After a few stabs, he dug a small pit, and black liquid quickly seeped out from the surroundings.

He dared not use the dagger anymore and switched to his long sword.

Elder Qian had been negligent; he should have issued a hoe.

After digging half a foot down, he saw something the size of a fist and hurriedly switched back to the dagger to dig.

Before long, that black lump was revealed; it was a completely pitch-black poisonous fungus.

It had a very short stem and a large cap.

Xia Shaoxin carefully used his long sword and dagger to dig it out; without even taking a close look, he silently recited the spell and offered it as a sacrifice immediately.

Many new pieces of knowledge instantly appeared in his mind.

Before he could properly comprehend this knowledge, the Hundred-Legged Centipedes on the periphery became restless, constantly probing forward.

It turned out that after the earth spirit immortal mushroom grass was dug away, it no longer secreted black liquid, and the liquid originally in the soil was absorbed by the earth.

The black soil under his feet gradually turned pale, becoming normal soil.

Xia Shaoxin did not want to be surrounded; he chose the direction with fewer centipedes, leaped with all his might, jumped out of the encirclement, and ran wildly.

The Hundred-Legged Centipedes were enraged and pursued him frantically.

The sound of the wind drew closer to his ears, so he had to stop and backhanded several sword strikes.

The centipedes had light bodies; despite being several feet long, they could step on blades of grass half a person's height and lunge over.

His hands and the back of his neck had already been bitten a few times.

It was extremely itchy.

This level of toxicity was considered non-toxic in the eyes of a Bug Catcher.

He just didn't know if their poison had any lingering effects, so he dared not be bitten easily and attacked desperately.

Suddenly, two people charged out from the side.

It was none other than Senior Brother Shao and Senior Brother Liang.

"Senior Brother Shao, Senior Brother Liang, I've finally found you!" Xia Shaoxin was overjoyed.

The two Senior Brothers had glazed eyes, like two ruthless machines, angrily hacking at the Hundred-Legged Centipedes.

They didn't even care when severed limbs fell onto them.

Xia Shaoxin admired them greatly; the two of them had grown up in the Chiyan Sect and probably had never seen such disgusting monsters.

A normal person would get goosebumps the first time they saw them.

With the two Senior Brothers at the Middle Stage of Qi Refining joining the fray, he hardly needed to do anything; soon, flashes of sword light passed, and the remaining Hundred-Legged Centipedes were all hacked to death.

"These monsters aren't very strong, just very annoying. Thank you both for your help." Xia Shaoxin said happily.

Senior Brother Shao Junwei frowned deeply, staring blankly at him, and suddenly, with a retching sound, began to vomit.