Chapter 72: Seventh-Two: Many Strange Occurrences in the Gloomy Mist

The group led by Chengkai fell into the Firefly Swamp, where weeds grew everywhere, mud pits were found at every turn, and countless low-lying pools of water made it so that one would sink deep into the mire if even the slightest bit careless.

Even more dangerous was the fact that above this dim swamp, fireflies were scattered everywhere, either clinging to the grass or flying in the air; looking out, the ghostly green specks of light were boundless and extremely eerie, and if one walked through them, they would fly up in swarms, dazzling the eyes.

It was already difficult to find a path in the darkness, and with it being a swamp, plus the individual specks of light confusing their vision, the four people led by Chengkai could only carefully probe the way with their swords; several times they walked until there was no path left, but when they wanted to turn back, they could not find the original route, and after going back and forth, none of them knew where they were, nor did they know what to do, only walking on numbly.

Come to think of it, Chengkai would rather have encountered some vicious beasts in his heart—things he could see and touch; whether he could beat them or not was another matter, but at least it would be clean and decisive. Their current situation truly lived up to the phrase "dragging one's feet," making one feel unbearably irritable.

And just at this moment, one of the people walking at the very end suddenly let out a loud cry, scaring the three in front so much that they nearly stumbled into a mud pit, while that person sat down on the ground all at once, face full of terror, pointing at the water and speaking with a tremble:

"Eye... eye... in the water... there's a big eye in the water!"

Chengkai and the other two heard this and immediately became alert, but when they looked in the direction the person was pointing, there was nothing there, only a patch of darkness.

"Awei, you aren't being bewitched by these fireflies and seeing an illusion, are you!" one of them said, and then moved to help the person sitting on the ground up.

But the person sitting on the ground called Awei had no intention of responding to the one trying to help him up, only staring wide-eyed at the direction he was pointing—he had clearly seen an eye as large as the mouth of a vat open for a moment beneath the fireflies; it was definitely not an illusion.

"No! I didn't see wrong! There was definitely an eye that glared at me!" Awei trembled as he shouted.

Just then, there seemed to be some sound in the water, but it returned to silence in an instant; yet even so, it was heard by Chengkai, who instinctively felt that there must be something here, so he hurriedly pulled the two people beside him to crouch down and gestured for silence.

However, the surroundings were deathly still, which was hair-raising.

Just when the few of them thought it might have been fish or shrimp in the water acting up, they saw a large swarm of fireflies fly up, and the water also churned.

Borrowing the light of the fireflies, Chengkai looked intently and saw a giant creature swimming in the water, its body like a giant Snake, covered in scales.

At this moment, a long whistle was heard, the surface of the water exploded, and the giant creature in the water soared out; its body was like brocade, its claws like long oars, its neck had white patterns, its long mouth was like a crocodile's, its eyes were like lamps, and there was a short horn on its head.

It was actually a giant Flood Dragon!

I don't know what kind of fate this is; Liu Xia never even imagined that he would encounter Banxia in the final martial arts trial. This is just great—there is only one mystery for each checkpoint; could it be that he has to fight four women for it? This is too contrary to the way of a gentleman!

The place where Long Qi and the other three were was the Foggy Forest within the Mountain and River Map; the trees here were towering and lush, blocking out the sky and sun, and only occasionally could a few beams of light fall, sprinkling onto the forest mist, looking like a fairyland at first glance.

But in such a dense mountain forest, not a single bird's chirp could be heard, only the sound of everyone stepping on fallen branches and withered leaves, which scared Zhao Wuyang so much that he grabbed onto Xin Yi's robe sleeve and refused to let go.

While groping along, they heard a rustling sound from not far away, and the four of them faced a formidable enemy, hurriedly drawing their blades.

However, just as the sound drew near and the four were about to charge forward, they saw a streak of Talisman fire strike; it didn't hit anyone, but it gave Zhao Wuyang a fright.

"The one using the Talisman... is a person..." he whispered into Xin Yi's ear.

Xin Yi just touched his head and smiled upon hearing this: This silly boy probably doesn't know yet that some traps can also fly Talismans... Talisman? Are there other Outer Disciples who can use Talismans? Unless...

He looked toward Long Qi and Liu Xia, and both of them had knowing expressions; seeing this, Zhao Wuyang suddenly remembered Banxia, who practiced with him at the Xianyun Abode.

But this fog was too thick, and one really couldn't see very far; if they really met Banxia, he didn't know if it would be good or bad.

Just then, the voices of two women came from ahead:

"Did you hit it? Did you hit it?"

"How would I know? It's my first time using a Talisman."

This voice... it really was her.

Liu Xia sighed in his heart: This woman is truly like a ghost that won't go away...

Long Qi heard the voices and hurriedly called out to greet them; the forest was thick with fog, and it wouldn't be good if a few more Magic Charms flew over. He knew Banxia; calling her a hothead wouldn't be an exaggeration.

When Banxia heard Long Qi calling her, she felt like a fish finding water and hurriedly ran toward the sound, shouting, "We're saved, we're saved! Lianqiao, we're saved!"

When the two sides met, they realized that only the two of them were left in Banxia's group, and the other two had long since been separated and were nowhere to be found.

Banxia was also helpless; it was agreed that the four would travel together, but they walked too fast and she didn't keep up, so she wandered alone in this fog for half a day, not expecting to encounter Lianqiao, who had also failed to keep up and was wandering alone, not long after.

Hearing her words, Long Qi and the other three were speechless; no wonder the elders often said that birds of a feather flock together. With Banxia being so careless, it was likely that this Lianqiao and the two who got separated were the same; to think they didn't even know they had lost people...

These two had finally seen each other and were unwilling to walk any further, only discussing waiting until the time for the martial arts trial was up to leave this ghostly place, not expecting to run into Long Qi and the others.

Long Qi was a bit surprised; Magic Charm arts were such difficult things, and Lingxiang had only been teaching them to chant Magic Charms for two or three days, yet this girl Banxia could already fly Magic Charms. Thinking that he hadn't been able to manifest Magic Charm power even after learning for more than half a month, could it be that that girl Lingxiang was intentionally holding back and hadn't taught him properly?

In fact, Banxia could only use low-level Magic Charm arts like the Fire Charm for now. Last night, she thought that since she already understood the general principles, she might as well try drawing two, which would count as preparation for the martial arts trial. At first, she drew a Speed Charm and a Child-Mother Charm, but they had absolutely no effect.

However, she was already very satisfied with being able to use the Fire Talisman; after all, her own cultivation was at that level, and one cannot eat hot tofu in a hurry, right?

So yesterday, she drew a stack of Talismans like Fire Talismans and Wind Talismans; although not every one of them could have an effect, they were close enough.

Hmm? Wind Talisman?

The crowd only saw Banxia take out a stack of Yellow Paper, pinching the Wood Spell and testing them one by one, while chanting spells in her mouth; she looked exactly like a fake Daoist priest swindling people down the mountain, and her appearance was quite comical.

Just when Zhao Wuyang was dumbfounded, thinking that this girl might be possessed, he saw Banxia's robe sleeves fluttering, and in an instant, a strong wind blew up, fallen leaves swirled around her, and before long, the surrounding fog was blown away.

The Talisman Paper in her hand turned into sand and dust, dissipating with the wind, and when the flying leaves all fell, the Talisman art finally stopped.

When Banxia opened her eyes, she saw the few people with disheveled clothes; at this time, Lianqiao was smoothing out her hair blown by the wind and complained loudly:

"Banxia, can't you give a heads-up next time you perform a spell?"