223: Chapter 223 Hidden Mist Essence

Five hundred thousand li was the limit of Lin Qing's Divine Thought. By the time Lin Qing discovered the opponent, it was already lunging toward him, which indicated that the opponent's sensory range was even further than his.

Currently, Lin Qing sensed that the opponent's Realm was only Ninth Stage, but this unusual Divine Thought ability made Lin Qing have to be vigilant; if not necessary, Lin Qing did not want to clash with such an existence.

Moreover, Senior Sister Tao Tao was still by his side. If they were caught up to by the opponent, Senior Sister Tao Tao would naturally be unable to handle it with her strength, and at that time, there would be a risk of his strength being exposed.

Although Lin Qing's expression was calm, his movements were not slow. However, Senior Sister Tao Tao did not pay much attention to it, thinking that this was just Lin Qing's personality, so she said:

"Why are you in such a rush? Since we're already here, let's collect a few more Materials before heading back."

Since the two of them entered the Cangyun Mountains, the route had always been guided by Lin Qing. Lin Qing naturally intentionally avoided those Yao Beasts that had a bit of strength. Without knowing anything, Senior Sister Tao Tao actually developed the illusion that the Cangyun Mountains were nothing special, and now she completely lacked the nervousness she had at the beginning when she told Lin Qing not to stray too far from her.

Helpless, Lin Qing could only casually find an excuse to explain.

"Senior Sister, you don't know this, but I had a small gain from this battle. I plan to go back and cultivate in seclusion for a few more days; I should be able to reach the Eighth Stage Middle Stage."

"Really? That's great, then let's go back."

For a Cultivator, nothing was greater than their Realm. Since Lin Qing had already said so, Senior Sister Tao Tao naturally would not hesitate anymore, and she even suddenly became more anxious than Lin Qing.

Thus, the two began to retreat outside the Cangyun Mountains, but unfortunately, at this moment, they were traveling at Lin Qing's Eighth Stage speed. This speed was clearly insufficient to shake off the snake-shaped Yao Beast behind them. In just a moment, the opponent had already arrived thirty thousand li away from them.

Just as Lin Qing began to consider how to briefly separate from Senior Sister Tao Tao so he could go alone to kill the Yao Beast, a group of people intruded into his Divine Thought.

This was a five-person squad from a super power, two men and three women. Lin Qing had even seen one of the beautiful women before, right inside the Forbidden Ground of the Kunxu Secret Realm, though Lin Qing did not know what her name was.

This group's Divine Thought sensory range was clearly not as far as Lin Qing's. When Lin Qing discovered them, apart from the slightly familiar woman who seemed somewhat cold, the other four were chatting and laughing along the way.

Lin Qing intended to shift the disaster onto others, so he spoke up once again to guide Senior Sister Tao Tao.

"Senior Sister, let's go this way."

"Oh, okay."

Senior Sister Tao Tao still nodded blankly, then adjusted her direction to lead the way. Previously, when Lin Qing took her to investigate the situation near Zhou Rulong, they had taken many detours, and combined with the dense clouds and mist here, Senior Sister Tao Tao was actually already lost, but she didn't say so.

Lin Qing and the other began to move diagonally forward, and that five-person team cut in from the side, with the three forces forming a straight line.

In just a moment, that snake-shaped Yao Beast closed in within fifty thousand li of that team.

"Stop."

The cold woman in the team suddenly gave a low, anxious shout. The four people who were talking and laughing immediately stopped, and a female Cultivator asked in confusion:

"Junior Sister Qiyue, what's wrong?"

As soon as the words fell, the expressions of the four immediately became serious; clearly, they had also sensed the approach of the snake-shaped Yao Beast.

No one spoke again. They took out their weapons, began to adjust their respective positions, and guarded against the direction from which the Yao Beast was attacking.

The clouds and mist in the air became increasingly dense. The mountain rocks and ground that could originally be vaguely seen began to disappear, and in their field of vision, only the constantly churning white clouds and mist remained.

Even the penetration power of their Divine Thought began to drop significantly; their original Divine Thought coverage range of about fifty thousand li was now less than ten thousand li.

"It's here."

Rustling sounds began to appear all around. The five people stood back-to-back, forming a circle, their left hands forming incantations and their right hands holding blades, ready to strike at any time.

"Disperse!"

Someone shouted loudly, their Spiritual Qi surging around them. A visible ripple spread from the center of the five people to the surroundings. The originally dense clouds and mist were briefly blown away by this ripple of Spiritual Qi, and the giant snake's figure was completely exposed.

At this moment, the giant snake's body was coiled in circles, surrounding the five people in the middle. Its body was as thick as an ancient tree of ten thousand years, and cloud-like patterns were imprinted on its smoky-grey scales. Its yellow vertical pupils, larger than a house, were staring fixedly at the five people in the middle, its scarlet, slender tongue flicking up and down in the air.

"Ah, go to hell!"

Perhaps they had never seen such a large Yao Beast, or perhaps it was an inexplicable fear of snake-like creatures; in any case, a female Cultivator in the team exclaimed, then swung the long sword in her hand, and a Sword Qi dozens of zhang wide flew out.

Boom—!

The Sword Qi struck directly on the giant snake's forehead, emitting a dull roar. The giant snake's head was blasted back a great distance, but unfortunately, apart from that, it did not cause any substantial damage.

The giant snake seemed to be stunned, shook its head, then opened its big mouth, let out a sharp hiss, and lunged directly at the team.

The five did not dare to take it head-on and hurriedly scattered to the surroundings. The giant snake's body began to move again, and the surrounding clouds and mist became dense once more.

Unlike before, this time the giant snake's figure disappeared directly from everyone's Divine Thought, as if it had merged into the surrounding clouds and mist.

It takes a long time to tell, but in fact, all of this happened in a flash of lightning and flint; everything happening here was still within Lin Qing's Divine Thought.

Lin Qing did not speak and continued to follow Senior Sister Tao Tao, head down, moving forward. He had already guessed the giant snake's identity; it was none other than what the Yintian Mist Marrow had transformed into.

Through the clash between the five people and the giant snake just now, Lin Qing had already seen the giant snake's specific strength—it was very average! If those five God Realm Cultivators attacked with full force, they should be able to contend with the opponent for a bit.

But if Lin Qing wanted to catch it, it would not be that simple, because the method the giant snake used to escape into the clouds and mist later was something even he could not see through.

No longer paying attention to the two sides fighting, Senior Sister Tao Tao and Lin Qing quickly flew out of the Cangyun Mountains. Under Lin Qing's intentional or unintentional urging, the two did not linger outside and spent another half a day returning to Wanyan Spirit Pavilion.

At the entrance of the Task Hall, after Lin Qing finished handing over the corpse of the Stone-Scaled Cloud Civet, he walked out of the hall, and Senior Sister Tao Tao was waiting there.

"Senior Sister, thank you for your trouble this time. I need to go back and cultivate in seclusion for a period of time immediately. After I leave seclusion, I will come to thank you in person."

Senior Sister Tao Tao waved her hand.

"What kind of thanks? This is all what a Senior Sister should do. Go quickly and cultivate in seclusion."

The two parted ways there. Lin Qing circled around the Sect for a long time before finally sneaking into the teleportation array once again.

After several transfers, Lin Qing left the last teleportation array and soared into the air again, flying toward the Cangyun Mountains. On the way, he took out Sun Shaoping's communication token.

"Shaoping?"

Sun Shaoping's voice quickly came out from the token.

"I encountered the Yintian Mist Marrow..."

Lin Qing explained the matter of the giant snake. He was a Ninth Stage Perfection Formation Master and could set up many Formations to deal with this giant snake, but this giant snake was truly strange, and he was not sure if a Ninth Stage Formation could be effective, so he wanted to ask Sun Shaoping.