Chapter 569: Ghost Infant

The thick darkness beneath the feet of the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit seemed to have shrunk by a circle, but at this moment, it was no longer emitting wisps of white smoke.

Its rotting eyeballs rolled around the water pool, as if searching for something.

The "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit wandered around the pool once, finally stirred up a gust of yin wind, flew out of the circle of light illuminated by the torch beside the pool, and headed toward a certain spot in the darkness.

As it left, the rotting eyeballs of the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit swept over the direction in which Duan Rong and the others had fled, but it flew off in another direction into the darkness instead.

Clearly, Duan Rong's Soul Piercing Needle had made it feel somewhat threatened, so it avoided Duan Rong and the others. But in truth, Duan Rong only had one Soul Piercing Needle left; condensing a Soul Piercing Needle was quite time-consuming and not easy to replenish, and he had only been forced to exhaust almost all his ammunition just now to deal with this "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit.

After Duan Rong and the others and that "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit had all left, the area beside the water pool returned to silence, with only the torch stuck in the rock crevice burning with a whooshing sound...

The few maggots that had fallen to the ground and were rolling about turned into black water shortly after the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit left. These maggots fed on yin energy, and now that the thick darkness had moved away, their lives could no longer be sustained.

Just then, a splash of water suddenly sounded by the pool, breaking the deathly stillness.

Under the light of the torch, a wet, curled-up thing was seen crawling up from the edge of the pool.

That thing was about the size of a newborn infant, only its head was disproportionately large and its limbs were thin, but what was terrifying was that its entire body was a deep, bruised blue color.

The two eyeballs on its head were even eerily large, but what was frightening was that the surface of those pitch-black eyeballs was covered in dripping red bloodshot veins; at this moment, it was curled up, looking up into the darkness.

In the water pool where Duan Rong and the others had just drunk water, a Ghost Infant Evil Spirit had been hiding, unknown to them.

The Ghost Infant raised its head vigilantly, scanning the surrounding darkness; it seemed to be afraid of something, keeping its body curled into a ball, as if ready to jump back into the pool to hide at any moment.

The light from the nearby torch shone on its wet body. It watched for a while, seemingly confirming there was no danger, then suddenly crawled using both hands and feet toward a spot in the darkness. Its hands and feet flickered and alternated with the agility of a rat, and with a swish, it moved as fast as a ghost, burrowing into the darkness and disappearing from sight.

The speed of this Ghost Infant was quite astonishing, and the direction it darted into the darkness was exactly the direction in which Duan Rong and the others had fled.

The Ghost Infant was actually avoiding the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit; it had been hiding in the pool and knew that the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit had not gone in the direction of Duan Rong and the others.

The Ghost Infant had just jumped into the pool and hidden at the bottom before Duan Rong and the others arrived, specifically to avoid the search of the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit.

This Ghost Infant Evil Spirit was actually poisonous, but Duan Rong and the others had arrived right on its heels after it jumped in, so the toxins had not yet had time to spread.

The Ghost Infant was hiding deep at the bottom of the pool, while Duan Rong and the others were drawing water from the surface, so they had not actually been poisoned; however, if anyone had drawn a second cup of water at that time, they likely would have drawn poisoned water.

Once they drew poisoned water, the Silver Cup would have turned black, and they would not have drunk it.

This was also why Xu Hui was responsible for testing the water source and had equipped everyone with a Silver Cup—these were all lessons learned from past experience!

Although the Ghost Infant had hidden in the pool, the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit had still followed the scent it left along the way and found the pool. Seeing a group of people by the pool, which was exactly where the Ghost Infant's scent had vanished, it had transformed into the appearance of Su Xinjue to approach and investigate.

In fact, if Duan Rong had not seen through its identity, it would have left after just one round of investigation.

Although Evil Spirits are born resentful and poisonous, the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit only wanted to find the Ghost Infant as quickly as possible and did not want to create extra trouble!

Duan Rong and his group were running wildly through the darkness.

When they rested by the pool, it was the darkest moment before dawn; now, after a bout of wild running, the surrounding darkness had quietly receded, and it was already broad daylight.

Inside the God-Demon Relic, the pale yellow sky appeared once again.

Everyone was running until they were panting, and they looked up at the pale yellow sky above. They had previously hated this eerie sky, as it always gave people a sense of uncomfortable oppression, but now they felt that this pale yellow sky seemed quite lovely, possessing a unique charm as a landscape.

The group couldn't help but look at each other and smile; although the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit was terrifying, they had at least not lost anyone by the side of that pool.

And at this moment, it was broad daylight; not only was the visibility better, but the yin-evil power of Evil Spirits would be suppressed during the day, not as violent or fierce as it was at night. In other words, now that it was broad daylight, they were much safer.

Everyone looked back at the path they had come from, and neither far nor near did they discover any abnormal figures, showing that the Evil Spirit had not pursued them, and everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Su Xinjue was also panting from running, and the torch in Jiang Hanyan's hand beside her had been extinguished during the run.

Su Xinjue's face flushed slightly, because she noticed that Guo Tian, Du Wan, and the others were all staring at her with blank expressions, as if there were something on her face.

Su Xinjue touched her own face and asked, "Why are you all looking at me?"

"You don't know yet, do you?" Lu Chu also looked at Su Xinjue and said, "The Evil Spirit by that pool turned into your appearance to approach us!"

"Turned into my appearance!?" Su Xinjue was startled, her face turning somewhat ugly.

Lu Chu said, "That's right! If Duan Rong hadn't seen through it, I was the closest at the time, and I might have already died by that pool!?"

As Lu Chu spoke, he looked at Duan Rong with gratitude in his eyes.

The rest of the group also looked at Duan Rong.

Guo Tian, who was always reticent, looked at Duan Rong and said, "Duan Rong, at that time we had all fallen for the Evil Spirit's trick and were kneeling there; it seems you were the only one fighting the Evil Spirit, and later you woke us up. What happened during that time?"

Everyone only remembered the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit appearing by the pool and seeing a face from the depths of their hearts, after which their memories went blank. When they regained their memories, it was the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit screaming, and wisps of white smoke were emerging from the black shadow beneath its feet; clearly, it had been injured by Duan Rong, which gave them the opportunity to escape.

Duan Rong said, "Let's go. I'll tell you as we walk."

During the day, the view was clear and vast, and they did not need to march in formation like at night. At this time, they surrounded Duan Rong and walked forward, and Duan Rong began to tell them about that strange and intense battle by the pool.

Duan Rong spoke in a calm tone, trying his best to clearly explain the characteristics of the Evil Spirit he had discovered to his fellow sect members.

Everyone listened with wide eyes, especially when he spoke of the Red Bridal Veil spinning above the night sky and the ghost face beneath that veil that looked exactly like them; everyone was greatly alarmed!

Regarding the fact that the Evil Spirit's true body was the thick darkness beneath its feet, Duan Rong did not hide it and told them as well.

However, Duan Rong did not speak of how he had injured the Evil Spirit's true body, and the group tacitly did not ask further.

Du Wan exclaimed, "The Evil Spirit's true body was actually that thick darkness beneath its feet; it's truly inconceivable!"

As Du Wan spoke, she looked at Duan Rong with quite an admiring gaze.

After hearing Duan Rong's account, the rest of the group was also deeply impressed by him.

Moreover, the fact that Duan Rong could deal with Evil Spirits was also a form of reliance for them. After all, last night by the pool, if it hadn't been for Duan Rong, they might all have died there.

However, Su Xinjue, hiding behind the crowd, had eyes full of struggle as she looked at Duan Rong.

Duan Rong had not only saved them all from the hands of the Evil Spirit but also shared his experience with them. Furthermore, Duan Rong clearly possessed some means of dealing with Evil Spirits; they might encounter harassment from Evil Spirits at any time on this journey, and Duan Rong was clearly a reliance for them. But could she really ignore the orders of her master, Shentu Ying?!

Su Xinjue did not know that Duan Rong had been watching her struggling gaze the whole time. She thought she was in the shadows, but in fact, ever since the day she entered the intensive training, Duan Rong had begun to pay attention to her.

Afterward, the group continued on their way; perhaps it was the aftermath of encountering the Evil Spirit last night, but they were all a bit terrified, and even their movements in picking Divine Medicine became much more cautious.

The team was no longer scattered, and everyone was basically not far from each other.

Taking advantage of when no one was paying attention, Duan Rong suddenly flipped his hand and took out the Red Bridal Veil, as red as blood, that he had picked up from the ground by the pool when he left last night.

At this moment, in the bright daylight, that thing was still as red as blood. Duan Rong folded it and clutched it in his hand, keeping it behind his back, watching the movements of the others as he walked, while secretly saying in his heart, "Spirit Reader!"

The next moment, a data panel flashing with a faint fluorescent light appeared before his eyes.

Duan Rong's expression was one of astonishment!

It actually failed to read! This was the first time he had ever failed to use the Spirit Reader! Before, at most, the Devouring Artifact Spirit had failed, or the Spirit Tool was simply blank; a failure to read had never occurred before.

On the data panel, the four glaring red characters "Read Failed" were flickering incessantly. Below them was a note: This object is formed from Evil Spirit energy and is not a physical Artifact; it cannot be read!

"Formed from Evil Spirit energy!?" Duan Rong looked at the small text of the note, his heart stirring involuntarily.

He had originally snatched this strange Red Bridal Veil on a whim, wanting to understand the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit better by devouring its Spirit Tool.

But he hadn't expected the reading to fail!

Actually, he should have realized sooner: since this strange Red Bridal Veil flew out from the dense darkness at the feet of the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit, and could even return to that dense darkness, how could it be an Artifact?

Although he had a real tactile sensation while clutching it in his hand now, this object was formed from Evil Spirit energy and was clearly not an Artifact.

Since he could not read the Spirit Tool, Duan Rong tossed the Red Bridal Veil into the backpack on his back. Although this object could not be read, once it lost that ghost face, it seemed the "Ghost Bride" Evil Spirit could no longer control it. Duan Rong decided to find an opportunity to study it and see if it had any other uses.

The group continued to walk forward, and Duan Rong continued to watch for traces of Green Flame Grass along the way!

Duan Rong suddenly discovered that not far away, Guo Tian was also observing something in a shaded place. His gaze shifted, and he walked over, saying, "Brother Guo, what are you looking for?"

Upon hearing this, Guo Tian turned his head, smiled faintly, and said, "Green Flame Grass? Du Wan has already told us. Don't worry, everyone is looking together; we will definitely be able to find it!"

Duan Rong's heart stirred. Just a short while ago, Du Wan had already quietly told everyone about this matter.

Duan Rong said, "Brother Guo, thank you! I am indeed looking for Green Flame Grass!"

Guo Tian looked at Duan Rong and said, "Duan Rong, we are the ones who should be saying thank you. You saved our lives and are our reliance; this little thing is the least we can do."

Duan Rong's lips moved slightly, not knowing what to say for a moment. At this time, Guo Tian looked at him with a solemn expression; this person was usually taciturn and spoke his mind directly.

Guo Tian said, "Duan Rong, thank you for saving me by the pool. If there is a chance, I will definitely repay you!"

After Guo Tian finished speaking, he turned and walked forward.

Guo Tian was a man of mettle, and the "repay" he spoke of was actually a very heavy word.

Duan Rong looked at Guo Tian's back, suddenly feeling that these fellow disciples were actually all worth befriending.

Several hours later, the group suddenly arrived at a place where three sides were blocked by high, mountain-like collapses of rubble, as if they had reached a dead end.

They stopped there to rest for a while and took out the map to study it.

Guo Tian looked at the map for a while, then suddenly pointed to a place where the rubble had collapsed like a high mountain and said, "According to the map's markings, climbing over here leads to a main road. However, the map has some notes here suggesting not to climb over, because there are many adult Ghost Thorn Konjac in the crevices of the rubble; if you climb over directly, you will be attacked!"

Jiang Hanyan had not been looking at the map, and upon hearing this, she asked, "Are you saying we should climb over, or not?"

Climbing over leads to the main road, but climbing over leads to encountering Ghost Thorn Konjac; this sounded contradictory!

Guo Tian, however, did not have a good look for Jiang Hanyan and said coldly, "Can you let me finish what I'm saying?"

Jiang Hanyan shut her mouth; she knew she had spoken a bit too hastily just now.

Guo Tian continued, "The map's notes say that the space beneath the collapse is actually empty. You can drill into the stone crevices and pass through the space beneath the collapse; this way, you can avoid the Ghost Thorn Konjac's attacks."

Lu Chu also held the map and looked up, saying, "Yes. The notes do indeed say that. This is experience summarized by those who came before us. I think we should follow what is written on the map."

Upon hearing this, no one had any objections. Suggestions that could be written into the map must be very reliable; unless necessary, it was best not to change them randomly.

Guo Tian put away the map, stood up, and said, "The space beneath the collapse might not have very good visibility. I think we should proceed in our nighttime formation."

Duan Rong said, "I agree with this. Everyone should line up in formation; if an accident occurs, it will be easier to respond!"

Over these past two days, Duan Rong and Guo Tian had implicitly become the souls of their group. Beyond ability and intelligence, more importantly, both were very steady and could give people a sense of reliability and security.

Perhaps because of this, when the group split into teams for night watch, the two of them were the leaders of their respective groups. This was a subtle influence, and everyone recognized the two of them quite well.

(End of this chapter)