28: eerie blood mist

Seeing this, Su Ling didn't care about hiding his presence and hurriedly rose to retreat.

The blood mist spread, and without knowing its nature, avoiding it for now was the best course of action.

But just as he turned around, he saw that the path he came from was already shrouded in the blood mist.

Regardless of whether they were first-tier or second-tier Bloodthirsty Trees, they all began to secrete sap and release the blood mist.

Su Ling paused, quickly took out a Miasma-Warding Pill and swallowed it, threw out the wandering soul boat, and circulated his mana to ascend.

At this moment, he could no longer worry about the flying Yao Beasts that might be in the sky.

Fortunately, the blood mist had just started, and the wandering soul boat barely managed to dash out before the mist closed in.

Flying the wandering soul boat to a safe height, Su Ling breathed a sigh of relief and looked down.

He saw that Zhao Mo and the other two had inhaled too much blood mist; they had fallen into a frenzy and were running toward the second-tier Bloodthirsty Tree against their will.

Branches like pythons tightly entangled the three of them.

Fist-sized bulges rose on these branches, and the three people's bodies became visibly shriveled.

After a moment, they turned into mummified corpses and were discarded like trash by the Bloodthirsty Tree's branches, thrown onto the ground.

Roars and bird calls echoed from afar as the blood mist already began spreading outside the valley.

Strange-looking Yao Beasts dashed out from the mountain forests, charging straight into the valley under the influence of the blood mist.

They were then entangled by countless branches and gradually turned into mummified corpses.

The strongest group was allowed to pass all the way to the giant second-tier Bloodthirsty Tree to become its nourishment.

Su Ling looked in another direction; with his vision, he could see roughly one or two hundred miles away.

Everywhere he looked, there was a giant Bloodthirsty Tree every twenty miles.

Together with many shorter Bloodthirsty Trees, they covered an area of ten miles in radius.

At this moment, they were all releasing blood mist, gradually connecting into a dead zone spanning hundreds of miles.

Silently devouring Yao Beasts or Xuanming Sect Disciples.

Su Ling saw with his own eyes a wandering soul boat a hundred miles away that didn't have time to break out of the blood mist; it was entangled by branches hundreds of feet long and forcibly dragged back.

Seeing this, Su Ling could only sigh softly and steered the wandering soul boat to depart quickly.

He no longer thought about nether flowers or yin gui fungus for the time being.

Judging by combat power alone, Su Ling was confident he could kill a Bloodthirsty Tree even if its strength was comparable to the Middle Foundation Establishment Stage.

But this eerie blood mist was the Bloodthirsty Tree's true killing move.

Su Ling speculated that once the giant Bloodthirsty Tree in the center was attacked, the other Bloodthirsty Trees would release blood mist, unknowingly shrouding the surroundings.

It might even trigger a chain reaction from the other giant Bloodthirsty Trees.

Or perhaps, this was simply how the Bloodthirsty Tree groves fed.

Every so often, they would collectively release blood mist to attract nearby Yao Beasts.

However, Su Ling had no intention of verifying this hypothesis.

Whether there were nether flowers or yin gui fungus was one thing, but facing such a large-scale danger, there was really no need to take risks just to complete a mission.

Increasing his mana input, he steered the wandering soul boat to speed away from the Bloodthirsty Tree grove... Three months later, Su Ling arrived at a canyon area filled with jagged rocks.

By a rough estimate, he had traveled at least two thousand miles in a general direction during this time.

Because of this, Su Ling roughly judged that his initial teleportation location should have been in an area near the middle of the edge of the Yuanze Mountain Range.

Now, he was heading toward the center.

The battles he experienced along the way were far more than those of his past and present lives combined.

The black iron flying sword and mysterious armor shield had already been destroyed in a battle a month ago.

In exchange, he had three full Storage Pouches of second-tier Yao Beast parts and many Spirit Medicines he had never even heard of.

That's right, parts.

He could no longer fit things like flesh.

He could only store useful parts like horns, claws, fangs, and scales.

Su Ling now deeply regretted not spending more time learning the art of Artifact Refining.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be in such an awkward position now, staring helplessly at so many Artifact Refining Materials.

Fortunately, he had other gains along the way.

Half a month ago, two Third-tier Demon Beasts comparable to the Core Formation Stage fought a massive battle over a Gold Scale Fruit that had Body Refining effects. Eventually, both were heavily injured and killed by Su Ling's Ghost Soul Arrows.

Identified by the eye pattern on his palm, one of the Yao Beasts resembled a saber-toothed tiger and was called a Golden Bone Beast; its fangs were even more terrifyingly sharp and tough than the dark bone thorns Su Ling had used before.

The other Yao Beast resembled a crocodile and was called a Fierce-Toothed Crocodile; the layer of scale armor on its body was practically invincible.

Its defensive power was not inferior to that of the refined jade bone armor plate.

One was as swift as the wind, the other as steady as a mountain.

Both excelled in close-quarters combat, and the power of their innate Spells was at most comparable to Spells cast by a Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator.

They fought fiercely for a day and a night, and as many as dozens of Yao Beasts died from the collateral damage.

In the end, Su Ling managed to swoop in and reap the benefits.

Su Ling used crude Artifact Refining techniques to engrave formation patterns on the Golden Bone Beast's only remaining fang, using it as a bone thorn Magical Artifact.

As for the Fierce-Toothed Crocodile's scale armor, it was made into a simple leather armor.

Besides that, Su Ling also found two precious Yao Cores in the corpses of the two Third-tier Demon Beasts.

This made Su Ling even more frustrated by his lack of Alchemy skills.

He couldn't help but have the idea of finding a place to properly study Alchemy and Artifact Refining.

But it was just a thought.

Lacking a Pill Furnace and refining fire was like having a warehouse full of rice but no stove to cook it with.

However, the Third-tier Yao blood he collected brought Su Ling many surprises.

Using the Yao blood containing spiritual power, Su Ling spent several days and finally refined three Medium Grade Vajra Talismans.

After testing, they could completely block the attacks of a Middle Foundation Establishment Stage Yao Beast.

This gave Su Ling a bit more confidence for this Secret Realm trip.

The main reason he came to this canyon filled with giant rocks was for the ten thousand year jade marrow.

The canyon was full of caves, with a faint chill leaking out.

The overall terrain features were very similar to the karst topography of his previous life on Earth.

After observing carefully for three days, Su Ling finally decided to go deep and explore.

With a breath concealment talisman, a Medium Grade Vajra Talisman, the Fierce-Toothed Crocodile leather armor, and the Gold Bone Thorn circling him, and with a Miasma-Warding Pill under his tongue, Su Ling slowly stepped into one of the large karst caves.

After going hundreds of feet deep into the cave and killing several first-tier Shadow Bats, Su Ling gradually discovered that the internal structure of the cave was exceptionally complex.

After walking for just over a mile, he encountered two forks in the road.

To avoid getting lost, adhering to the 'right-hand rule,' Su Ling always chose to go right while using some Fluorite fragments to set up markers.

After traveling over a dozen miles, Su Ling felt he was already three or four miles deep underground.

But to his surprise, the Yao Beasts in the cave were exceptionally rare.

The most common ones were the Shadow Bats encountered near the entrance and a Crystal Cave Demon Spider comparable to the Early Foundation Establishment Stage, covered in obsidian-like scales.

Previously, Su Ling had been using his Divine Sense to scout the way forward; it was this Crystal Cave Demon Spider, which had evaded detection and suddenly pounced from the cave wall, that made him dare not rely entirely on Divine Sense anymore.

After killing the Crystal Cave Demon Spider in a narrow escape, Su Ling quickly released a lighting Spell.

Only then did he continue to explore deeper into the cave.