Chapter 564: Bones

Guo Tian and Jiang Hanyan both looked at Duan Rong with appreciative eyes.

During their intensive training, Lin Youjian and Liu Su had indeed repeatedly warned them that inside the God-Demon Relic, they must advance and retreat together.

Furthermore, in several previous teams that entered the God-Demon Relic, nearly all members were wiped out because they harbored ulterior motives and plotted against one another; it could be called a painful, bloody lesson.

Although Lin Youjian and Liu Su had warned them as such, the eight of them had only begun to get to know each other during those ten days of intensive training, and some had not even met before; having hastily formed a team to enter the God-Demon Relic, it was inevitable that they would have misgivings and hold back.

Therefore, Duan Rong suddenly stepping forward just now to save Du Wan could be considered leading by example, instantly boosting the team's morale by a significant margin.

Once everyone had confidence and could face life and death together, advancing and retreating as one, it would be of great benefit to the survival of every person in the team.

Moreover, Duan Rong had just struck once to repel the Ghost Thorn Konjac, pulling Du Wan back from the gates of death.

Everyone present possessed quite good talent and could naturally see that the palm strike, while appearing casual, was actually incredibly precise in timing, force, and angle—sublime to the peak!

It was evident that Duan Rong's understanding of martial arts had reached some sort of inconceivable realm! No wonder he could cultivate by the Ancestor's side; it really wasn't just for show!

The usually taciturn and gloomy Guo Tian actually walked over, patted Duan Rong on the shoulder with his large hand, and grinned, "Duan Rong, well done!"

The group then moved within a safe distance, circling behind the boulder on the side of the road.

The several vines of the Ghost Thorn Konjac from earlier had extended about half a zhang; by circling past at a distance of nearly a zhang, it was impossible for the Ghost Thorn Konjac to attack them.

The group was not just curious about the Ghost Thorn Konjac; the value of this Ghost Thorn Konjac was quite significant, far exceeding that stalk of forty-to-fifty-year-old Silver-Edged Purple.

At the tips of the Ghost Thorn Konjac vines were the Konjac Flowers.

The pistils within the blood-basin-like open mouths of the Konjac Flowers contained potent poison; for any cultivator below the Dongming Realm, touching it meant death, so it was of great value in the outside world.

If the few of them joined forces and were careful, finding a way to sever those few Konjac Flowers, this thing would be far more precious than ordinary Divine Medicine.

When the group circled to the back and took a look, they immediately gave up hope!

The main body of that Ghost Thorn Konjac was already quite robust; besides the four vines that had just circled the boulder, there were four other vines tangled and intertwined. And these were just the large vines; there were many smaller vines hanging down at the root of the main body.

With such a mature Ghost Thorn Konjac, even if the eight of them joined forces, it would be impossible to take it down.

Du Wan suddenly said, "Look, everyone, the main body of that Ghost Thorn Konjac seems to be growing on a corpse. No wonder it could grow so robustly?"

Hearing this, the group looked closely and saw that the root of the Ghost Thorn Konjac's main body was indeed rooted in a mass of grey-white material protruding from the ground.

That object was clearly completely different in color from the surface soil, and it was no different in size from a human body; it really looked like a corpse.

Could it be that the reason this Ghost Thorn Konjac grew so robustly was because it had been absorbing the flesh and blood of a dead person?

However, if it were a corpse, it was very likely a fellow disciple who had entered the God-Demon Relic before. But twenty-nine years had passed; how could the corpse not have decomposed?

Xu Hui said, "That's not a corpse; that looks like God and Demon Remains!?"

"God and Demon Remains!?" Hearing this, everyone felt a shock in their hearts.

During the ten days of intensive training, Lin Youjian and Liu Su had spoken to them many times about God and Demon Remains.

There were God and Demon Remains inside the God-Demon Relic, and God and Demon Remains would not decay for ten thousand years; the surface was indeed grey-white, which was very similar to the thing where the Ghost Thorn Konjac's main body was rooted.

However, the body of a God or Demon was as tall as a mountain; even if it were remains, how could it be so small, no different in size from a human body?

"It really seems to be God and Demon Remains!" Du Wan had also reacted. If it were a human corpse, how could it have remained undecayed for so long? "Look, that seems to be a finger; from where I am, I can even see the broken fingernail!"

Someone had already crowded over to Du Wan's side and indeed saw, in the gap between the tangled vines, what was clearly a black-yellow broken fingernail the size of a human face.

Earlier, Du Wan had mistaken that fingernail for a human face. Once Xu Hui pointed it out, he looked carefully and finally recognized it as a broken fingernail.

The fingernail of those God and Demon Remains was the size of a human face, and its black-yellow color, appearing and disappearing in the gaps of the vines, did indeed look very much like a human face.

"Looking at it from here, it really does look like a face!" Lu Chu couldn't help but exclaim.

Du Wan said, "Right? I took one look just now and thought it was a corpse!"

The group looked at the black-yellow fingernail that resembled a human face and all sighed in amazement!

What they marveled at was not only that it looked exactly like a human face, but that a single finger of the God and Demon Remains was actually the size of a human body.

Imagining from this, one could see how unimaginably tall the body of a God or Demon must have been.

Guo Tian said, "Let's go. Since we can't take those Konjac Flowers, let's not waste time here."

Hearing this, the group nodded and continued to walk forward along the main road.

When the group turned to leave, Duan Rong still stood there, staring blankly at the root of the Ghost Thorn Konjac's main body.

Seeing Duan Rong still standing there, Du Wan turned back and shouted, "Duan Rong, let's go!"

"Oh, coming!" Duan Rong replied, then turned and headed toward the team.

The reason he had lingered was that he saw a few stalks of Green Flame Grass growing in the shadows at the root of the Ghost Thorn Konjac's main body.

Green Flame Grass thrives in the shade. When mature, the flowers it blooms resemble green flames, hence the name.

But those few stalks of Green Flame Grass had only just poked their heads out to reveal flower buds. From the moment the flower buds appear until they bloom into a mature plant, the Green Flame Grass requires at least ten years of growth.

Duan Rong could only stay in this God-Demon Relic for a total of twenty days. With the flowers of these Green Flame Grass stalks not yet bloomed, it was useless for him to pick them!

The group continued to walk forward, and after walking for a distance, they suddenly saw a tall boulder lying in the middle of the road.

Weeds grew on the edges and top of the boulder. It was clear that the boulder had been lying there for who knows how many years!

Having learned the lesson from being suddenly attacked by the Ghost Thorn Konjac from behind a boulder earlier, the group circled far around the boulder.

As soon as they circled past the boulder, they couldn't help but stop in their tracks!

Behind the boulder sat a skeleton. In the black soil beside the skeleton, a Taiyi Order had also fallen!

"Is it a fellow disciple!?"

The group walked over and looked at the skeleton.

From the waist up, the skeleton had turned black, especially the skull, which was as dark as ink. Below the waist, the blackness gradually faded, and by the ankle bones, it was already emitting a chilling, shimmering white light.

Duan Rong's eyes flickered; this person had clearly died of poison!

Moreover, that poison was quite formidable. Who knew how many years had passed, yet the ground where the person sat remained barren, tinged with a pitch-black color.

Lu Chu said, "This is the remains of a fellow disciple! Who knows how many years the body has been exposed here! Why don't we collect and bury it."

Lu Chu made this suggestion, but the group remained silent, feeling a sense of shared grief.

Duan Rong said, "That would be unwise. Senior Brother Lu, have you forgotten what you said earlier: when things are abnormal, there must be a demon. Since it is the remains of a fellow disciple, why has no one buried it before, leaving it exposed here all this time? This poison is clearly extremely potent; I fear touching it would mean instant death! Look at the soil beneath the skeleton—it's pitch black and barren!"

At this moment, everyone also noticed the abnormality. It was indeed as Duan Rong had said. One must know that the poisonous substances within the God-Demon Relic were not ordinary poisons; their toxicity was fierce, on the same level as a Divine Medicine.

Duan Rong continued, "Although the ankle bones of that skeleton shimmer with a white, cold light and seem as if they haven't been tainted by poison, the ground near those foot bones is also completely barren! Moreover, I have only been standing here for a short while, and my nose has already started to itch!"

Upon hearing this, everyone realized it, and all sensed an abnormality in their throats and noses; Lu Chu, who was standing the closest, had even started to have a runny nose.

Lu Chu immediately jumped away, no longer caring about mourning his fellow sect member, and just kept wiping his nose.

They had only been standing there for a short while and had inhaled some of the air near the skeleton, yet their noses already showed abnormalities; one could see how fierce that toxicity was!

Everyone avoided it for fear of being too slow; who would still mention the matter of collecting and burying the skeleton?

(End of this chapter)