Chapter 12

Facing the provocation of the Blood Shadows, the murderous intent in Luan Ya's eyes grew stronger, and she looked at the Lei Team.

The Lei Team's expression was normal, and he spoke lightly.

"Shi Zi."

Upon hearing this, Shi Zi didn't say a word, directly picked up his bow, and pulled it open in an instant to shoot an arrow toward the sky.

The speed was so fast that it set off a sharp whistling sound; his arrow was like a bolt of lightning, piercing through the eagle circling in the sky in an instant.

Blood flowers bloomed in the firmament; this eagle let out a miserable shriek and fell down, landing on the ground between the two teams with a 'bang'.

At the same time, one person in the Blood Shadow Team shook violently all over, spat out a mouthful of blood, and his complexion turned pale in an instant.

That was his eagle; unlike the dog Luan Ya raised, this eagle was controlled by his own spiritual energy fused into it; at this moment, under the backlash, his whole person suffered heavy injuries.

The others in the Blood Shadow Team were filled with murderous intent, but they were stopped by the Blood Shadow captain; he slowly stood up from the dog corpse, didn't look at Luan Ya, but stared at the Lei Team.

The Lei Team also looked at him coldly.

The two looked at each other for a long time, each snorting coldly.

"Let's go." The Lei Team spoke calmly and walked forward; Luan Ya and the others followed behind, and Xu Qing was also among them.

He felt the deep hostility between the two teams, so he turned his head and swept his gaze over those people in the Blood Shadow Team, seeing that they were waiting for Ma Si and Fatty Shan; unfortunately, these two would never appear again.

Xu Qing remained silent, withdrew his gaze, and followed the Lei Team and others, gradually leaving the camp.

The forbidden zone seemed not far from the camp, but in reality, walking there still had some distance.

After their group walked for about half an hour, they finally saw that pitch-black jungle from afar.

Looking from the outside, this forbidden zone jungle was boundless, not knowing how far it extended.

Now it was the time when the sun was high, the sunlight was rich, but inside the forbidden zone jungle, it seemed to be two worlds compared to the outside.

From afar, one could still see on the sky at the end of the jungle, storms seemed to be gathering, and streaks of lightning visible to the naked eye appeared dazzlingly within, giving the whole forbidden zone a feeling of mystery and danger.

Xu Qing looked at all this, following silently; on the road, no one in the Lei Ting Team spoke, but as the distance to the forbidden zone got closer and closer, Xu Qing keenly noticed that everyone's muscles began to gradually tense up, and he was the same.

Until the feeling of stepping into an icy cold world emerged throughout Xu Qing's whole body, and as all the warmth on his body was instantly cleared away, he entered the forbidden zone.

It was as if what was cleared away together was everything he saw in the normal world.

The familiar bone-chilling cold awakened his memories of the bloody rain in the ruined city.

So he took a deep breath, his inner vigilance was strong, his hand instinctively gripped the iron sign very tightly, just like when he was in the ruins.

The difference was, the city had broken walls and ruins, while here...

The trees were twisted like the shadows of evil ghosts, the mud was withered and rotten like the soil of the Yellow Springs, and the branches and leaves permeated like claws and teeth covering the sky.

But the people of the Lei Ting Team were clearly very familiar with this place.

They carried weapons on their backs, and the path they walked was clearly a place they often walked; every step had details; in some places, everything was clearly normal, but they jumped over them; in some places, it seemed dangerous, but they stepped forward.

There were also areas that they bypassed for no reason; just like this, they avoided some dangerous locations along the way.

Xu Qing followed behind, paying close attention, and remembered everything.

But he also discovered some strange things; it wasn't that the Lei Team led the way for the whole journey; sometimes it was Man Gui, sometimes it was Luan Ya, replacing each other.

Although the group's forward speed wasn't fast, the journey was considered safe except for hearing the roars of some fierce beasts from afar.

Even if there were some poisonous insects, they didn't approach after Luan Ya lit an incense stick.

Until they walked for about an hour, they, who had no words for the whole journey, stopped beside a mud puddle and let out a sigh of relief.

Xu Qing noticed Luan Ya took out some medicinal powder and sprinkled it into the mud; soon a group of poisonous insects drilled out from within, seeming to possess aggression, but her expression was normal; with a wave of her hand, she took out another kind of powder and scattered it; the poisonous insects were agitated, soon scattered, and the mud calmed down.

After doing this, everyone crouched down one after another, skillfully scooped up the mud, and smeared it all over their bodies.

"Did you remember the details on the road?" The Lei Team smeared his whole body while signaling Xu Qing to do the same.

Xu Qing nodded, scooped up the mud without hesitation, and began to smear it, while his gaze swept over Luan Ya; he felt the other party seemed to understand some poison arts.

"The places we jumped over and avoided were because the leaves were severely withered but intact, which means no fierce beasts have walked by, and there is an unknown."

"The areas we stepped directly onto were because there were fierce beast feces on the ground, and the biological instinct is to choose safe areas to excrete, so it means there is no excessive danger and man-eating mud pits."

"As for the range we bypassed, it's because of Man Gui's nose; his nose is sensitive and can smell the scent of some dangerous exotic beasts. You will learn a lot on this journey; remember as much as you can."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing looked at Man Gui, and Man Gui also turned his head at this moment, grinning at Xu Qing.

"As for this mud, it's a place containing night lizard skin damage that our team discovered many years ago; smearing it all over the body not only covers our scent but also has a certain deterrent effect."

"Forward is the direction we are going, and walking north, that is the Poison Dragon Pool; the forbidden zone jungle is spontaneously divided into several ranges by scavengers due to different terrains."

"The Poison Dragon Pool is one of them, but we are not going there this time." While the Lei Team was speaking, he had already finished smearing.

Xu Qing had already finished at this moment; when he stood up, Shi Zi, who walked past him, although he had questioned Xu Qing's following yesterday, still said a sentence with a cold face.

"Pay attention to your alienation points; the exotic quality in the forbidden zone is rich; you must pay attention at all times; once it exceeds the standard and alienates, no one can save you."

Xu Qing nodded; he had long sensed this point.

He could sense that the concentration of exotic quality in this forbidden zone was extremely high, but it was much weaker than at the peak of the city ruins.

It was just that he had accumulated quite a bit of exotic quality himself, so at this moment, even if he didn't cultivate, just breathing, the alienation points on his arm began to sting faintly.

So he took out a White Pill and placed it in his mouth, didn't swallow it, but held it to let it melt slowly.

Soon, everyone had finished smearing, the group looked at each other, and continued forward.

But it was somewhat different from the previous journey; for the next road, their speed was slower, and everyone took out their weapons.

Xu Qing swept his gaze over their weapons.

Man Gui had a refined steel shield and a mace, the Lei Team had boxing gloves, Shi Zi had a long bow, as for Luan Ya, she took out a serrated dagger, which was shining with a cold glint.

A few days ago, Xu Qing went out to keep watch on Fatty Shan and also had other gains.

Because his hearing was sharp, he heard many conversations between scavengers and learned a lot of information he hadn't known in the past.

For example, regarding weapons, he now knew they were divided into Magic Treasures, Talisman Treasures, and Heavy Treasures.

Among them, Magic Treasures belonged to legendary items and were quite rare.

It is rumored that every Magic Treasure exists with varying degrees of exotic quality pollution and will increase with use, making it extremely difficult to clear, so they basically belong to non-renewable resources, plus their immense power, naturally making them exceptionally precious.

Thus, a special existence called 'Treasure Raiser' was born; they were often raised by others since childhood, using their bodies to dilute the exotic quality of the Magic Treasures.

On this point, the Lei Team had also mentioned it before.

Besides Magic Treasures, there were Talisman Treasures and Heavy Treasures.

The former, Talisman Treasures, although also rare, were still items one could hope for compared to Magic Treasures; as for the latter, Heavy Treasures, they were common.

They were often weapons forged from special materials that ordinary people could also use.

Xu Qing felt that his iron sign might be a Heavy Treasure, and what these people in front of him were holding were clearly of this category.

Time passed slowly, and Xu Qing followed the Lei Ting Team, gradually walking further and further in this forbidden zone.

On the way, they also encountered some troubles, big and small, but most were handled by Man Gui alone.

Occasionally encountering stronger fierce beasts, Shi Zi's bow would shoot out.

As for Luan Ya's strike, it was mainly based on spell arts; she seemed to be able to carry out some kind of deterrence, making the arriving fierce beasts appear to have behaviors of stopping, not very flexible.

During this period, Xu Qing also struck once, grabbing a poisonous snake that shot over from behind and crushing it directly.

And after dealing with these, and discovering that Xu Qing could follow from beginning to end without making any beginner mistakes, the gaze Shi Zi looked at Xu Qing with had less scrutiny, and he also imparted some experience to him.

"Kid, this forbidden zone seems dangerous, but for those of us who have been struggling here, as long as we don't encounter three situations, it is basically safe."

"You must remember these three situations."

"The first type is strange exotic beasts from the depths of the forbidden zone that have come to the outer area; this situation is not very common, and the range we operate in is actually just the outer area of the forbidden zone."

"But once encountered, it is incomparably dangerous, because we only understand the habits and abilities of the outer exotic beasts, and the forbidden zone is too large; the exotic beasts inside are diverse, and their abilities are varied; a slight lack of attention is death."

"The second type is singing." Speaking of this, Shi Zi's expression revealed wariness.

"There is a saying circulating in the forbidden zone here; it is said that singing will appear here, and those who hear the singing are one in a hundred; it's just that I have never heard the singing; among us, the only one who has heard the singing is the Lei Team."

Xu Qing looked at the Lei Team.

The Lei Team didn't speak, just looked up at the depths of the forbidden zone, with a faint complexity in his eyes.

"Let me say the third type." Luan Ya beside him smiled and looked at Xu Qing.

"Kid, the third type of danger here is very common, and that is the fog."

"Once the fog comes out, it's like a person becoming blind; one will definitely get lost, and the fog generally exists for a long time; once one loses direction here and cannot walk out in time, being trapped in the forbidden zone, with the corrosion of exotic quality, one's own exotic quality naturally rises gradually, and this also often represents the arrival of death."

"But there are two ways to resolve it; one is fire, and the other is those who are born with or acquired, those with powerful spiritual power."

"The former treats the symptoms but not the root cause; although fire can disperse the fog in a small range and restore vision, the fog is strange, and fire is hard to last long; as for the latter, often one or two can appear in the camp every few decades; most of these people leave quickly and have better development."

"There is also a fourth type of danger, and that is encountering malicious ambushes from hostile parties." Man Gui, who was clearing the way in front, said in a muffled voice.

Luan Ya beside him was just about to speak, but at this moment, the Lei Team, who was looking at the distance of the forbidden zone, suddenly changed his expression and gave a low shout.

"Quiet!"

The next instant, Shi Zi drew his bow, Luan Ya's eyes revealed a ghostly glint, Man Gui's whole body expanded, and Xu Qing's hair also stood up in an instant; a strong threat suddenly came from the pitch-black jungle in the distance.

Soon, streaks of ghostly glints appeared in the pitch-black; those were pairs of eyes, carrying indifference, carrying icy cold, gazing at the group.

There were extremely many eyes.

And with the appearance of these eyes, giant wolves covered in black scales all over, with bodies the size of water buffaloes, walked out slowly.

Looking around, the number was at least several tens, and even further away, there seemed to be more, probably not less than several hundreds.

And every wolf, the spiritual energy fluctuations emitted from its body, reached about the second layer, making Man Gui and the others change their expressions one after another.

"Black-Scaled Wolf Pack!"

"They generally only live at the boundary between the depths of the forbidden zone and the outer area, not in this range; how could they run here!"

Shi Zi's pupils contracted, and Luan Ya beside him also had a somewhat pale complexion.

It was really because they knew very well that although a single Black-Scaled Wolf didn't count for much, if it were such a number, it would be a severe test for them.

The most important thing was that the exotic quality in the forbidden zone was rich; once the spiritual energy in the body was consumed too much, one could only absorb the spiritual energy from the outside to supplement it. And besides fighting, it was inevitably too late to separate the exotic quality; if so, the exotic quality in the body would accumulate extremely quickly, and the risk of alienation would increase infinitely.

Xu Qing's breathing also became slightly rapid; the pressure from the wolf pack was immense.

"You retreat first, I will block them for a while."

While everyone's heart and mind were shaken, the Lei Team spoke in a deep voice and walked out slowly.

A spiritual energy fluctuation that exceeded Shi Zi by at least double erupted from his body as the Lei Team moved forward.

Those wolves also paused their steps and stared at the Lei Team one after another.