Chapter 58: Extreme Contrast

Feng Zi traveled along the long-abandoned road, weaving through the dense forest in the mountains.

Just as he had expected, the Martial Master leading the group of Martial Artists was simply unable to reach full speed; that head of the Ying family had not yet ascended the mountain!

Fortunately, Feng Zi had anticipated this, constantly using the dense trees to conceal his tracks.

For a Martial Master moving at full speed—especially Feng Zi, who had cultivated the Ten Thousand Mile Walk—the speed was so great that ordinary Martial Artists could not even imagine it.

After a full night of traveling, Feng Zi was now approaching the place where that dim cyan stream of light from his memory had fallen.

But his footsteps did not quicken; instead, they grew slower and slower, and he even subconsciously gripped the precious bow in his hand—

As Feng Zi drew closer to the location in his memory, he realized that the surrounding trees had long since been reduced to bare branches, or were even so withered they no longer seemed to possess any life!

"This isn't right... even on the coldest days, the trees in Baishan Jun do not shed all their leaves."

Feng Zi cautiously looked around, unable to help but frown, and muttered to himself:

In his memory, no matter how cold the winter was, the mountains of Baishan Jun were never lacking in greenery!

After a moment of thought, he subconsciously drew an arrow from his quiver, wanting to check the condition of one of the large trees.

But before Feng Zi's wrist could even exert a hint of force, to his shock—

That giant tree, thick enough for three or four grown men to join hands around, silently turned into fine powder!

"What the hell..." Feng Zi looked at the arrow in his hand in surprise, then pinched a bit of the pale powder that couldn't even be called "sawdust," remaining silent for a long time.

A moment later, he performed a similar experiment on several other giant trees nearby:

The result was exactly the same.

"There are only two possibilities for this phenomenon—either some unknown, powerful existence has completely plundered the life force of this place;

"Or, there is another equally powerful, unknown existence that has 'poisoned' the life force of this place to death!"

Looking at the scene of "death" that had already engulfed the surroundings, Feng Zi speculated.

Although it sounded incredible, and these two judgments had no solid basis, after all, as a Martial Master, he was completely incapable of doing such a thing.

But facing such an unnatural scene, Feng Zi could only change his line of thinking.

And now, a more serious question lay before him:

Should he continue deeper to seek that ethereal "opportunity"? Or should he retreat now to protect himself?

From a rational perspective—and from an emotional perspective as well—facing this dangerous place that was clearly unsafe, any normal person would choose to retreat.

Naturally, this was also what Feng Zi was thinking.

Yet at the same time, his intuition grew increasingly strong:

It was as if he would regret it for the rest of his life if he gave up this opportunity!

Looking at the unnatural scene before him, Feng Zi could not help but secretly wonder if his own thoughts were already being manipulated by that unknown "opportunity."

But after a not-so-intense weighing of the pros and cons, he still resolved to continue deeper:

At worst, he would just stake his own life and gamble on this round!

Feng Zi understood that on the ever-changing path of cultivation, there was never a shortage of accidents, and it was impossible for him to be fully prepared before taking action every single time.

What's more, he was currently only a mere Martial Master:

Perhaps in a small county town, a Martial Master could do as he pleased, but in the chess games of big shots at a higher dimension, a Martial Master did not even have the qualifications to be a chess piece!

Otherwise, why had the order in Daishan County and Yuanping County along the way already collapsed, while the higher-level Yangquan City, and even Baishan Jun, had yet to step in?

Since that was the case, even if the probability was slim, Feng Zi was still willing to gamble his life.

With his mind made up, he was no longer confused and strode forward.

After walking for another distance, perhaps five miles, or maybe ten—

On this road that had lost its color, even Feng Zi lost his grasp of distance.

Without any warning, a beautiful sea of flowers filled with cyan blossoms suddenly crowded his vision!

It was so abrupt, yet so beautiful, that Feng Zi could not help but be stunned for a moment, intoxicated by the beauty of this sea of flowers.

But Feng Zi was, after all, firm of mind; he quickly reacted and wondered:

"Strange... how could such beautiful flowers bloom in the dead of winter, and in such a bizarre place? They even formed a sea of flowers of such scale?"

While pondering, Feng Zi leaned down, picked a cyan-green flower, and examined it carefully in his hand:

This nameless flower looked very delicate, as if it would die with a gust of wind, but in reality, it possessed a toughness beyond what ordinary people could imagine—

Just from a moment of carelessness, the tiny serrations on the edge of the petals sliced his fingertip!

Feng Zi naturally noticed this and exclaimed: "How is this possible?!"

Ever since becoming a Martial Master, Feng Zi's physical body had become extremely tough; although his skin could not be called impervious to blades, it was as hard as stone.

Yet now, a seemingly ordinary flower had sliced his fingertip with ease!

Before Feng Zi could examine the flower closely, in an instant, he felt a sharp pain from the wound on his fingertip, which then became so numb he could feel nothing at all.

"Poisonous?" Feng Zi realized this immediately, his heart jolting with shock.

In an instant, ahead of his own consciousness, his body instinctively expelled the toxins from within.

By the time Feng Zi realized this, the wound on his fingertip had already quietly closed, leaving not even a scar.

Sensing the bizarre nature of this flower, Feng Zi immediately heightened his vigilance.

He cautiously tossed the flower in his hand far away and walked through the flower patch on tiptoe, to prevent these poisonous flowers from slicing him again.

Finally, in the center of the sea of flowers and the withered giant trees, Feng Zi saw an ancient tree that blocked out the sky and was full of vitality.

But before Feng Zi could set his mind at ease, he suddenly saw:

A giant cyan snake, thicker than a water bucket and at least a hundred zhang long, hung its head low, coiling around that ancient tree full of life!

The presence of this giant snake was so powerful that Feng Zi could not muster the courage to contend with it at all.

In an instant, Feng Zi's hair stood on end, and he wanted to retreat, fearing he would disturb that oppressive giant cyan snake.

But then, reason regained the upper hand in his mind:

If that giant snake were a living creature, he feared he would have already entered its territory, and turning around to leave now would not save him from death!

Suppressing the fear in his heart for the moment, Feng Zi plucked up his courage and walked forward a few more steps, only to discover that the giant snake did not resemble a living creature at all, as if it had been dead for a very long time.

With his heart full of trepidation, he stepped forward a few more paces, yet the giant snake still did not take any action.

Not until Feng Zi arrived under the tree did the giant green snake remain motionless.

It was precisely at this moment that Feng Zi, whose entire focus had been drawn by the giant snake, discovered—

Beneath the head of that giant snake, a woman dressed in a green skirt lay under the tree, her upper body leaning against the thick trunk.