Chapter 301: Surprise

Xu Chen was between laughter and tears.

True Monarch Guiling's face twitched violently; he was both shocked and pleasantly surprised.

He never expected that just after returning from Minghuang, he would encounter a True Immortal; it felt just like a dream.

That Xu Chen could chat with a True Immortal so easily and naturally made him even more incredulous.

Not to mention the past, in the entire Divine Continent Immortal World, no cultivator had broken through the Void to become an Immortal for over a thousand years, and naturally, there had been no word of any Immortals descending to the mortal realm.

"Little cultivator, shall we go now?" the woman asked while stroking the white fox.

Xu Chen hurriedly said, "Senior, please wait a moment. I would like to ask if these colorful plants are items from the Immortal World, and what their origins are?"

The woman shook her head and said, "I don't recognize these things either; I just felt they were strange and peculiar, which is why I stayed to examine them!"

Xu Chen felt a bit discouraged upon hearing this, but immediately felt even more astonished.

If even a True Immortal from Yueluntian could not recognize them, could they be species from above Wuxingtian?

Just as he was guessing in astonishment, two deafening "croak-croak" sounds suddenly came from the dirt cave under the Soul Returning Wood. Immediately after, two basin-sized toads jumped out; their entire bodies looked as if they were cast from gold, and their backs were covered in striking seven-colored raised spots, looking extremely terrifying with their bumpy texture.

Xu Chen was startled, but then realized these must be the two Seven-Star Golden Cicadas from before. He had not expected them to grow so large, and their colors had become so bizarre; the seven-star spots had turned into seven different colors, and the aura they emitted was also extremely strange and terrifying. It faintly carried a sensation that made the Soul palpitate; whether his gaze or Divine Sense landed on them, he would feel a needle-like stinging pain in his Soul, and even his blood Qi felt faintly out of control.

"This is... a Seven-Star Golden Toad?" True Monarch Guiling could not help but say in surprise.

Xu Chen nodded slightly and said, "Indeed. These were the two Seven-Star Golden Cicadas I brought back from Yuqing Hall, but they seem to have advanced. They weren't this big before, and their colors weren't this flashy."

The woman took a look and said, "They are just two ordinary spirit toads; what is there to be so surprised about?"

Xu Chen could only smile bitterly: "To a Senior, this kind of golden toad is nothing, but in the eyes of mortal cultivators, they are supreme treasures for cultivation and breaking through realms. It seems these strange plants are very suitable for the toads' living conditions; I can only leave them here for now!"

As he was speaking, the ground not far away suddenly shifted slightly, and then a huge, colorful, and terrifying snake head slowly arched out.

Actually, calling it "arching" was not quite right; it was as if it had suddenly grown out of the soil, appearing in the Medicine Garden out of thin air.

"Daoist Friend Xu, be careful!" True Monarch Guiling's expression changed drastically, and he stepped in front of Xu Chen to shield him.

Even the woman was startled by this suddenly appearing thing; she took a few steps back while holding the white fox, staring at the object with a surprised expression.

Xu Chen hurriedly laughed: "Senior, do not be nervous. This is also a strange type of plant; it has always liked to hide underground. It seems it only came out because it sensed my aura."

"Croak~ croak~" The two huge toads jumped in front of Xu Chen, revealing a very human-like expression of anticipation.

The huge snake head slowly stretched over, sniffed lightly at Xu Chen's feet, then circled around Xu Chen's body, sniffing all the way from his legs to his chest, and finally even used its head to gently nudge Xu Chen's Storage Bag, the snake face also revealing a hint of anticipation.

"What a strange thing; this poor Daoist has never seen such a creature that is neither spirit nor beast!" True Monarch Guiling said, his face full of shock.

Xu Chen rummaged through his Storage Bag and Profound Crystal bracelet, only to find that he was out of Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pills. He was about to spread his hands to show he hadn't brought any gifts, but then he remembered one thing, so he probed his Divine Sense into the Heaven-Suppressing Divine Stele and drew out a stream of Ghost Soul Water.

As the light blue liquid appeared out of thin air like a clear spring, the snake-headed plant and the two golden toads suddenly became violently restless, swarming toward the Ghost Soul Water and opening their mouths wide to begin swallowing it.

"Boom, boom~"

Accompanied by two tremors, two more almost identical huge snake heads emerged from the soil, and then, like giant pythons, they rolled and coiled as they joined the battle to snatch the Ghost Soul Water.

For a time, two toads and three large snakes engaged in a frantic scramble around this spring of water as if fighting for food. From time to time, they would bite each other, though they seemed to have a sense of proportion and did not bite to kill; it just made the whole scene more intense. Amidst the collisions and agitation, many plants in the Medicine Garden were knocked over and broken.

Seeing this, Xu Chen became nervous and hurriedly put the Ghost Soul Water away.

The two golden toads and the three python-like snake-headed plants then slowly calmed down, though their incomparably strange large eyes were all fixed on Xu Chen.

"Wu ya~" The white fox jumped out of the woman's arms, darted into the dirt cave where the two toads lived in a few steps, and soon came out holding a golden toad molt.

Xu Chen was stunned for a moment, then happily took the toad molt in his hand, only to find that the two toads had turned their heads to look at the white fox together, revealing a very angry emotion.

"Croak croak~" The two toads let out a deafening roar of threat.

"Wu ya~" Xiaobai also let out a cry, not to be outdone, but its momentum was clearly much weaker. It scurried behind Xu Chen, staring at the dirt cave with its two ruby-like eyes, while constantly nudging Xu Chen's leg with its head.

Xu Chen understood instantly; he feared there were more toad molts inside the toad cave.

However, it was clear that these two toads were unwilling to let the toad molt be snatched away by Xiaobai.

Xu Chen used his Yuan Qi to wrap around and restrain the two toads in place, then probed his Divine Sense into the dirt cave. He was immediately dazzled by a golden spirit light; there wasn't just one toad molt inside, but a huge pile, almost covering the entire dirt cave which was over a zhang in size.

They had molted so much skin in half a year?

Xu Chen was both shocked and happy.

And what surprised him even more was that among these toad molts, there was actually a pile of golden, crystal-pearl-like things, each the size of a fist, piled together and emitting a faint aura of life.

"These are toad eggs?"

Xu Chen suddenly realized. After being surprised for a moment, he carefully used his Yuan Qi to roll out the few toad molts that were not piled with toad eggs from the dirt cave.

This thing was useless to him now, but in the current situation where Nether Beasts were rampant, the more of this Spirit Medicine that could improve the strength of low-to-mid-tier cultivators, the better.

He counted them; including the one Xiaobai had snatched out, there were eight toad molts in total, which meant this pair of golden toads molted once every month.

Moreover, the strength of the aura of these toad molts varied; clearly, the larger ones were fresher, and their medicinal properties appeared to be much stronger.

According to his judgment, the two largest ones had almost reached the state of Third-Tier Spirit Medicine.

That is to say, in half a year, the two golden toads had evolved from the First Stage to the Third-Tier, and had even begun to lay eggs and hatch.

Following the current situation, in a short while, perhaps hundreds of young toads would hatch, and they would not be ordinary degenerated toads, but at least golden toads that met the standard for medicine.

It seems that this Underworld Qi not only accelerated the growth of these strange plants but also caused the two golden toads to accelerate their evolution by countless times.

Recalling that Ghost Soul Water could open up spiritual intelligence, Xu Chen drew out another stream of Ghost Soul Water, letting it fall directly into the dirt cave to form a small pool of water, soaking the pile of toad eggs in it.

Ghost Soul Water itself had no toxicity or side effects, at least as far as he could perceive.

Furthermore, judging from the way the two golden toads and the snake-headed plants had scrambled for the Ghost Soul Water just now, these things could also sense the benefits through their keen instincts; otherwise, they would not have snatched it so frantically.

"Croak croak~"

After taking the toad molts and putting them into the Ghost Soul Water, Xu Chen released the Yuan Qi restraint. The two golden toads seemed to sense the aura of the Ghost Soul Water in their nest; they turned around and transformed into two golden afterimages, rushing inside.

Under Xu Chen's Divine Sense monitoring, he discovered that after the two golden toads went in, they lay down directly beside the Ghost Soul Water, curled up to protect the pile of toad eggs tightly, and had no intention of coming out again.

"Senior, please wait a moment. The plants in the Medicine Garden seem to have matured and dropped their seeds; I will tidy up and then we can go!"

Xu Chen turned to the woman and said, then released his Divine Sense to cover the entire Medicine Garden and the nearby hillsides.

Over the past half year, the fruits of most plants in the Medicine Garden had matured and fallen, and many plants had begun to wither. If he wasn't mistaken, the plants that had appeared near the small wooden house and on the mountain path were those that had taken root and sprouted from the fallen seeds; it seemed that after absorbing a large amount of Underworld Qi, some had begun to sprout and bloom again.

"These plants are truly strange; they can absorb Spirit Qi, they can absorb white Qi, and they can even absorb Underworld Qi. It is completely incomprehensible."

Given that all the plants across the mountains and plains have already died out, if these plants were allowed to continue growing, maturing, and spreading, I fear that before long, the entire mountain would be covered in them...

Xu Chen muttered to himself, discovering that on one shrub several feet tall, there hung a few sparse, vermilion-colored fruits with snow-white spots, each the size of a thumb and looking incredibly strange.

He stepped forward to pick these fruits and stored them in his bracelet; he also collected some remaining fruits or seeds of other kinds, and even plucked more than ten translucent fruits, resembling purple-gold grapes, from the vines on the Soul Returning Wood.

He had invested several hundred Spirit Stones into this Medicine Garden, which could be called a huge expense, and now that he had only harvested this little bit, it truly felt like his expenditures were exceeding his income; however, having a harvest was still better than having none, and these things might perhaps be clues to finding the origin of the Blue Jade Bead in the future.

After finishing the harvest, Xu Chen found quite a few colorful, cocoon-like objects on some stalks of grain that resembled corn; these were left behind by those insects when they spun their cocoons, but all these cocoons had already hatched into empty shells, which were actually quite decent Spirit Materials that could be used to make things later on.

As for the rest, there were no other special discoveries for the moment.

Although these plants possessed a powerful aura of life, he could not think of how to utilize them, and he still needed to hurry off to rescue the two senior sisters, so Xu Chen did not dare to waste time lingering.

(End of chapter)