Chapter 563: Ghost-Piercing Devil Taro

Duan Rong stood there with weak legs, a wave of nausea surging up; he barely managed to stop himself from vomiting.

He turned his head to glance at the eerie, black-crystal-mirror-like hole behind him, only to see one figure after another being flung out from the mirror that shimmered with a chilling light, dropping to the ground like sandbags.

A few people, the moment they landed, lay there and began to vomit, bile and mucus flowing all over the ground...

Duan Rong was not at all surprised by their reaction; he knew very well what those few had experienced inside the passage opened by the great array. He had come through the same way.

It was as if a person had been put into a large concrete mixer, then turned to the maximum setting and spun for a full hour.

The reason Duan Rong was able to stop himself from vomiting was that there was simply nothing in his stomach; he had started fasting the day before entering this God-Demon Relic, drinking only clear water.

Among them, some had thought about conserving their strength within the God-Demon Relic, so they had eaten quite a bit before setting off, but unfortunately, they had now vomited it all up.

In fact, their line of thinking was not wrong.

Because the laws within the God-Demon Relic were different, their Three Flowers Gather at the Crown could not be activated, and they could not utilize the Heaven and Earth Qi within the space. And the Heaven and Earth Qi within their dantian was very limited.

Within the God-Demon Relic, their speed and combat power were both suppressed by the distorted laws.

Moreover, with Three Flowers Gather at the Crown unable to be activated, they could not perform Wind Riding, and even if they could, the limited bit of Qi in their dantian would not allow them to fly very far; thus, physical strength appeared especially important within the God-Demon Relic.

During those few days of intensive training, Duan Rong had also eaten big meals of fish and meat at every sitting to ensure the blood-Qi in his muscles was sufficient. It was only on the day before departure that he began to fast.

After Su Xinjue was the last to be flung out, the eerie, black-crystal-mirror-like hole behind the group shook for a moment and then vanished.

As soon as Su Xinjue came out, she vomited wildly; her delicate beauty was gone, and her lovely face had lost its color.

While the few people here had not yet recovered their wits, Guo Tian, who had come out first, had already taken a map out of the backpack on his back, unfolded it in his hands, and began to compare it with the scene before him.

Guo Tian was not only the first to be flung out, but he was also like Duan Rong, having started fasting the day before.

Duan Rong also fished a map out of the backpack on his back, and while unfolding the map, he raised his eyes to survey the situation before him.

He had thought it was a relic, so he assumed the place was not large, but once he entered, he discovered that this world seemed vast and endless; at the very least, looking out with the naked eye, he could not see the edge...

In fact, this God-Demon Relic was not considered large, merely stretching for a hundred miles. As a place, it was naturally not small, but as an alien world with independent laws, it was nothing. Stretching for a hundred miles was just about the same size as Xiangu County.

And the passage opened by the great array had flung them into a relatively central position within the relic.

Because the core place their group was going to was the Central Altar within the God-Demon Relic, to receive the blessing and nourishment of the God-Demon Whisper there.

In this relatively central position, looking out, one naturally could not see the boundaries of the God-Demon Relic...

This God-Demon Relic had an eerie, pale-yellow sky above, and looking up made one feel very oppressed.

And all around, as far as the eye could see, were collapsed, chaotic stones.

For a moment, the group felt as if they were placed in a massive Chaos Stone Forest.

Those collapsed, chaotic stones were very large, like small, continuous mountains.

Although the surfaces of those scattered, broken stones were old and mottled, one could still see many ancient and complex carved patterns remaining on them.

This region before them seemed to be a very important architectural complex of the original God-Demon World.

It was just that after the Heavenly Dao fell and the laws collapsed, after a series of vicissitudes, this place had sunk into the ground!

After being eroded by who knows how many distant years, it had actually become this dilapidated!

The reason this God-Demon World could ultimately be preserved was because of the God-Demon Whisper from the Central Altar within it.

This God-Demon Whisper from the Central Altar was not only very effective for preserving the laws within this God-Demon Relic, but it also had great nourishing effects on the Divine Soul of cultivators from this realm. Likewise, even in the God-Demon World, the God-Demon Whisper from this Central Altar was an extremely important existence, and it also had great utility for the God-Demons.

This point could be seen just from these broken walls and ruins as large as small mountains, which showed the former grandeur and glory of this architectural complex!

It was just a pity that the original appearance of these architectural complexes could no longer be glimpsed.

Within this God-Demon Relic, there was not a single building left; there were only scattered, broken stones, piled up continuously like small mountains, telling the mournful song of the years...

Du Wan glanced at Guo Tian, who had been holding the unfolded map and looking at it for a while, and asked, "Have you figured out where we are?"

Guo Tian kept a straight face and remained silent.

During the ten days of intensive training for the eight people, everyone's personality had been figured out more or less. Guo Tian was taciturn and basically did not pay much attention to people, but he was reliable in getting things done.

His silence meant he had not figured it out.

The group then turned their heads to look at Duan Rong, because only the two of them had taken out maps and looked at them for a while; the rest of the group had just finished vomiting.

Seeing the group looking at him, Duan Rong shook his head and said, "There are scattered giant stones everywhere; it is impossible to determine our position. We should just choose a direction and walk. Only when we encounter some conspicuous landmark can we use that landmark to determine our position."

Hearing this, the group secretly agreed, because the surroundings were all scattered large stones; there was simply no difference to be seen, so how could they determine their position?

Without determining their position, they could not fix a route to set off for the Central Altar!

Guo Tian folded the map in his hand and walked in one direction.

He clearly also agreed with Duan Rong's statement and expressed it with action!

The group immediately followed; the direction Guo Tian chose was already the direction with the most open terrain.

With open terrain, the field of vision was relatively vast, making it more convenient for them to determine their position.

The group walked on a "small path" between two piles of collapsed, chaotic stones; to the God-Demons, it was a small path, but to them, it was actually a spacious road, with more than enough room for four carriages to travel side by side.

On the broken blue-stone floor, there were many messy wild grasses.

As the group walked, a few people behind had already started searching among the wild grasses.

Among the wild grasses, there might be Divine Medicine mixed in.

If they picked Divine Medicine and brought it back, they could exchange it for resources with the Sect.

Duan Rong looked at the clump of weeds by his feet and just walked past with a cold expression. He had no interest in ordinary Divine Medicine; he cultivated beside the Ancestor of the Sect, Lv Yinlin, so for him, there were simply no restrictions when it came to resources.

The only two types of Divine Medicine he cared about were the Red Arrow Flower and the Green Flame Grass.

However, the Red Arrow Flower was quite easy to obtain within the God-Demon Relic; according to Lin Youjian and Liu Su, twenty-nine years ago, the area near the Central Altar of the God-Demon Relic was covered in Red Arrow Flowers. Since this flower was already growing in patches at the Central Altar, now that twenty-nine years had passed, it would likely be even more lush.

Therefore, Duan Rong was no longer worried about the Red Arrow Flower; once they reached the Central Altar, they could naturally pick it.

As for the Green Flame Grass, it was a type of Divine Medicine that was extremely shade-loving; it could not grow at all in places with bright light, and it could only grow well in dark, gloomy places.

How could there be Green Flame Grass among these roadside weeds where the sky was so bright?

After some investigation by the group, some people really did find a few stalks of Divine Medicine that were not very old; however, because they were not old, their medicinal properties were weak, and their value was greatly discounted, but they still collected those few stalks of young Divine Medicine.

Lu Chu, who was walking in front, suddenly turned his head to look at the few people who were dawdling behind and said, "Stop wasting time there; what kind of Divine Medicine could there be here? Which group of people hasn't been like you, picking as they walk! Even if there really were a few stalks of Divine Medicine, they wouldn't be left behind!"

Everyone heard this, their expressions stunned, and they all felt that what Lu Chu said made sense.

It was indeed so. Although the exits of the passage where the great formation began differed each time, they were not far apart and were all in this area.

The terrain here was open, and this path had been walked by who knows how many people; the probability of Divine Medicine remaining here was indeed not high.

More importantly, they needed to travel through this unfamiliar region with complex terrain, reach the Central Altar within one month, receive the nourishment of the God-Demon Whisper, and then rush back here.

Because the location of the passage where the great formation began would reopen after one month to guide them back; if they were slow, they would not make it in time.

Once trapped inside this God-Demon Relic, there was almost no precedent for survival!

Furthermore, a day and night inside the God-Demon Relic were different from the outside. Inside the God-Demon Relic, a day and night was eighteen hours, which was one and a half times that of a day and night outside.

Converting it this way, according to the time inside the God-Demon Relic, they only had twenty days to make a round trip.

The terrain was so harsh and chaotic, and it was a completely unfamiliar place; moreover, they could not fly by riding the wind, and the little remaining Heaven and Earth Qi in their dantian could not be used recklessly, because there were Evil Spirits inside the God-Demon Relic, and there could also be other accidents, so they had to preserve their Heaven and Earth Qi to deal with variables.

That is to say, they could only use pure physical strength to make a round trip in this unfamiliar place with complex terrain, which was actually quite difficult.

Lu Chu speaking like that was to urge them to hurry and not waste time.

Those few people who had fallen behind also realized this; they had merely been a bit excited and curious when they first saw the Divine Medicine, but at this moment, they immediately gave up searching and caught up with the team.

After walking for another stretch like this, Du Wan suddenly looked at a spot by the side of the road and walked over slowly, laughing as he walked: "Brother Lu, what you said is indeed reasonable. However, things in this world often have exceptions. Look, isn't there a Silver-Edged Purple here?"

Everyone heard this, their footsteps paused slightly, and they looked toward the side of the road where Du Wan was walking.

They saw that beside a huge broken stone that had fallen by the roadside, a purplish-red Silver-Edged Purple was growing all on its own, its entire body deep purple and dotted with silver edges, swaying in the breeze...

Looking at its quality, it was at least forty years old.

Du Wan had already walked close to that Silver-Edged Purple, bent down to pick it, and laughed: "This is the first piece of aged Divine Medicine, it can be considered a good start!"

Just as Du Wan's voice fell, suddenly a vine as thick as an infant's arm darted out from behind the giant stone nearby. At the head of the vine, a large blood-red flower, bright and dripping with red, suddenly bloomed like a blood-colored skull, and like a monster opening its blood-basin mouth, it covered Du Wan's face.

"Careful!" Lu Chu shouted.

Hearing Lu Chu's warning, that blood-basin mouth was already about to cover his face, and the incident was sudden; Du Wan had no time to react at all, and furthermore, he was slightly bent over at this moment, wanting to pick that Silver-Edged Purple, so his posture was not conducive to dodging...

Du Wan's face had already turned deathly pale with fright, because in that instant, he had recognized what that blood-basin mouth was, and he smelled a thick, fishy stench.

It was Ghost Thorn Konjac! It contained deadly poison!

Du Wan's heart turned cold, and in an instant, he wanted to use his movement technique to retreat violently!

But inside the God-Demon Relic, his cultivation realm had been suppressed by the mutated laws, and the speed of the vine whipped over by the Ghost Thorn Konjac was extremely fast; he was clearly a beat too slow!

The moment Du Wan executed his movement technique to leap backward, he knew he was too slow!

A flash of sorrow passed through his eyes, and he regretted not listening to Lu Chu. He had always thought highly of himself, feeling that his talent was excellent and that he was clever; he really had not expected that he would die here just after entering the God-Demon Relic.

Just at this moment, a black shadow was seen slashing diagonally down from above his head. Just at the moment when that blood-basin mouth was about to cover his face, a hand flashing with cold phosphor light directly slapped onto that blood-basin mouth, slapping that blood-basin mouth along with the vine so that it flew backward.

Unknown to anyone, Duan Rong was already standing beside Du Wan, wearing the Phosphor Silk Gloves.

In that instant just now, Duan Rong had not used any Qi at all; he had used a Capture technique!

In that split second, Duan Rong used pure physical strength and a profound understanding of martial arts moves, because there was no time to circulate Qi.

Everything happened too fast!

Everyone was stunned there, and Du Wan was even more terrified, his face white enough to be frightening.

Just at the moment Duan Rong slapped that vine away, three more vines darted out from behind the giant stone by the roadside.

Everyone was startled and quickly pulled away.

Fortunately, those vines were only about half a zhang long; any further and it would exceed their attack range. After a flurry of dancing about in the surroundings, the several vines retracted behind the giant stone.

Only the purplish-red Silver-Edged Purple beside the giant stone remained, still swaying gently in the breeze...

At this time, everyone finally knew why there was a mature Divine Medicine of forty or fifty years of age here. Because behind the giant stone next to it, there was a highly poisonous Ghost Thorn Konjac!

The Ghost Thorn Konjac was covered in poisonous thorns, and its vines were tangled; once one got close, with the attack and speed of the Qi Cyclone Realm suppressed within the relic, they were simply no match for it.

Lu Chu looked at the deathly pale Du Wan and said: "When things are abnormal, there must be a demon!"

Du Wan nodded, expressing deep agreement; he had almost died there just a moment ago. He turned his head and looked at Duan Rong with a grateful expression, saying: "Brother Duan, I owe you my life!"

Su Xinjue stood there, staring blankly at the phosphor-flashing Phosphor Silk Gloves on Duan Rong's right hand. This was the first time she had seen Duan Rong's means of attack!

She was quite surprised in her heart, because during the intensive training, she had been observing Duan Rong. She had never seen Duan Rong carry any weapons, and she had been wondering what kind of secret weapon Duan Rong used.

She would never have thought that it was actually gloves!

Duan Rong said: "Do you still remember the words of Instructor Lin during the intensive training? Inside the God-Demon Relic, fellow disciples are the greatest reliance. If there is no heart to share life and death, none of you will be able to walk out!"

When Duan Rong said this, he suddenly turned his head to look at Su Xinjue. Su Xinjue turned her face slightly to avoid Duan Rong's gaze, and Duan Rong flipped his hand, and the Phosphor Silk Glove on his right hand had already disappeared.

(End of this chapter)