Chapter 797: Desolate Island Cave, Black Tree Monster (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Two quarters of an hour later, on the lake surface to the west of the "Taiyue Lake" desolate island, the huge monster king's corpse was already surrounded by schools of fish and those low-tier monsters that came smelling the blood.

It's just that after these fish and underwater monsters came to this vicinity, they didn't dare to get too close to fight for the delicious food before them.

The "Eight-Legged Monster King" before them was a very powerful Jin Dan monster king during its lifetime. Even though it was already dead, it still left behind a strong pressure, making them somewhat afraid to approach, and they could only circle around underwater nearby.

However, although most monsters still had a trace of fear for the fallen monster king, there would always be bold ones who dared to come out.

A fish monster, only at the mid-Qi Refining stage, circled a few times under the "Eight-Legged Monster King's" corpse, then suddenly jumped out of the water, opened its big mouth, and rushed directly at a long leg on the monster king.

Just when the fish monster was about to approach the monster king's corpse, a green sword light suddenly descended from the sky and pierced directly at this impatient monster. In just an instant, it left a big hole in its body.

Immediately after, a burst of blood water gushed out from mid-air and fell directly onto the lake surface below, dyeing the nearby area blood red.

When the corpse of this fish monster, which still had a trace of unwillingness in its eyes, fell into the water, other monsters and fish that smelled the scent swarmed over and soon gnawed it clean.

And that green sword light killed the fish monster and soon returned to the high sky, stopping beside a purple-clothed woman stepping on a flying sword in mid-air.

The purple-clothed woman killed the fish monster with one sword, immediately deterring other monsters nearby, making them only able to watch from afar and not dare to approach the monster king's corpse at will.

Seeing this scene, Li Xiuning, dressed in purple, also showed a few looks of satisfaction on her face, stepping on her flying sword and continuing to patrol the water surface below in the sky.

And on the "Eight-Legged Monster King's" corpse below, Song Qingming, holding a flying sword, was busy concentrating, classifying and collecting the useful materials on the monster king.

Just when the two were busy in the lake, an escape light suddenly flew from the sky in the east of the desolate island, approaching the location where Song Qingming and the others were.

"Senior Song, it seems like someone is coming from over there!"

Seeing this scene from afar, Li Xiuning, not knowing whether the other party was an enemy or a friend, immediately became nervous and shouted to remind Song Qingming below.

A moment later, a green escape light flashed, and Song Qingming's figure had already arrived in mid-air.

Seeing that the approaching escape light was clearly somewhat familiar, Song Qingming slowly showed a smile, threw the pair of eyes he had just cut from the monster beast to Li Xiuning on the side.

"No matter! It should be Qingyu coming. You've worked hard just now!"

"Thank you, Senior, for the generous reward!"

Receiving the monster beast materials given by Song Qingming, Li Xiuning felt a trace of joy in her heart and happily put the monster king's eyes into her storage bag.

Although this bit of monster beast material was not much, it was still something from the monster king. Even if she took it to the market, she could exchange it for two or three hundred spirit stones.

Li Xiuning didn't contribute much to the battle just now, only helping Song Qingming drive away some low-tier monsters from behind. Being able to get these rewards made her very happy at the moment.

While the two were talking, that green escape light soon arrived above the desolate island.

Before long, Song Qingyu, dressed in a green shirt and with a smile, flashed to the side of the two.

"Eh! I didn't expect Seventh Brother to be so lucky to be able to kill a Jin Dan monster king here. It seems that we are destined not to return empty-handed today."

"Regardless of whether there is a harvest or not, everyone shouldn't be too happy too early. This place is not a safe place with monster kings appearing. Let's hurry up and search for heavenly divine thunder and go back early!"

Seeing that Song Qingyu had arrived, Song Qingming looked at some monster beast materials still remaining below and decided not to waste too much time here, first going to search for the "Heavenly Divine Thunder" mentioned by Li Xiuning.

Not only were there monster kings appearing around this desolate island, but even the shadows of demonic cultivators had appeared, which made Song Qingming feel somewhat uneasy and he didn't want to stay here for too long.

After greeting Song Qingyu, Song Qingming took Li Xiuning back to the "Phantom Boat," and soon the three turned into escape lights and disappeared from where they were.

A moment later, under a cliff in the middle of the desolate island, a flash of spiritual light suddenly appeared with a few figures.

Scanning below, Li Xiuning soon found a pitch-black cave in the weeds on the cliff wall, turned to Song Qing

"Senior, this is the place. This cave is quite large inside and has many side passages. That white light is in the deepest part of the cave, estimated to be five or six hundred zhang away!"

"Hmm! Finding the place is enough."

Seeing Li Xiuning confirm the location of the cave, a slight look of satisfaction appeared on Song Qingming's face.

After scanning the surroundings of the cave, Song Qingming first cast a spell to release several "Golden Illusion Butterflies" to guard the entrance, then nodded to the two people beside him and walked into the cave first.

Seeing this, Li Xiuning and Song Qingyu immediately followed one after the other, and the three of them soon walked into this pitch-black cave.

As soon as he entered the cave entrance, Song Qingming felt gusts of cool wind blowing from inside. Just from this point, he could judge that Li Xiuning's words were not false; although the outside of the cave looked unremarkable, the space inside was definitely not small.

Taking out a night-luminescent pearl to illuminate the surroundings, the three of them walked forward lightly for about a hundred zhang, when Song Qingming, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped his steps.

"Senior, what's wrong?"

"It seems like something is flying out from ahead, and there are quite a lot of them. Wait a moment here to see the situation before deciding!"

As soon as Song Qingming finished speaking, he immediately put away the night-luminescent pearl in his hand.

Afterwards, spiritual light flashed on his body, and his natal magic treasure, the "Five Elements Divine Light Mirror," immediately flew out, manifesting a relatively dim spiritual light shield that protected the three of them within it.

Li Xiuning had almost lost her life in this cave before. Hearing Song Qingming say that something was flying out from inside, a look of nervousness suddenly appeared on her face. Not daring to say more, she could only carefully look toward the depths of the cave ahead.

Standing to the side, although Song Qingyu's face was very calm and she had no look of worry, the three natal flying swords in her body had already been summoned by her spell and were quietly circling around her side.

Not long after the three of them hid to the side, a very noisy "squeaking" sound came from the depths of the cave, drilling into their ears and making the three of them feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"Be careful! The ones coming are Ice Blood Bats. As long as we don't make a sound, they shouldn't discover us."

As soon as Song Qingming finished speaking, a large number of black birds appeared in front of them flying out of the cave, followed immediately by a large swarm of "Ice Blood Bats" flying past the sides and above the heads of Song Qingming and the others.

These "Ice Blood Bats" were just relatively ordinary low-tier demonic beasts; most were still in the Qi Condensation stage, and only a small number of larger ones had advanced to the Foundation Establishment realm.

"Ice Blood Bats" generally only know a few low-tier spells, spitting ice arrows to attack enemies. They are not considered powerful characters among demonic beasts and would not pose a great threat to a Jin Dan cultivator like Song Qingming.

It was just that the number of "Ice Blood Bats" before them was in the hundreds or thousands, which was really too many, and dealing with them would be quite troublesome. Song Qingming did not want to waste time on these demonic beasts, so he chose to avoid them directly.

After waiting for a good while, once the last "Ice Blood Bat" flew out of the cave, the somewhat uncomfortable sound gradually disappeared, and the three of them stood up.

"Eh! When I came last time, I didn't encounter these Ice Blood Bats. Could it be that they came here later?"

Seeing the swarm of "Ice Blood Bats" just fly past, a look of doubt suddenly appeared on Li Xiuning's face, and she spoke with lingering fear.

Although these "Ice Blood Bats" didn't count for much in front of Jin Dan cultivators like Song Qingming and Song Qingyu, they were definitely not something a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator like Li Xiuning could deal with at will.

At that time, Li Xiuning, who was already somewhat seriously injured, was hiding from the Demon King in this cave. If she had encountered the situation just now, it would have been very difficult to escape easily.

With her strength, once discovered by these bloodthirsty "Ice Blood Bats," the outcome could be imagined; it would have been impossible to have a chance to escape this deserted island.

Hearing the doubt in Li Xiuning's words, Song Qingming also knew what she was thinking. He nodded with a smile and said: "There is never a lack of coincidences in the world. Perhaps this is your stroke of luck!"

"Senior is right. If it weren't destined by heaven that my life should not end, I wouldn't have met you in the end!"

Hearing this, Song Qingming nodded slightly without saying more, took out the night-luminescent pearl again, and continued to carefully explore the depths of the cave.

The "Ice Blood Bats" that appeared suddenly just now had already proven that there were many dangers hidden in this cave. Song Qingming and the others did not dare to be careless at this moment, so they deliberately slowed their pace.

After the three of them passed through several side paths and walked forward for several hundred zhang, the front suddenly opened up, revealing a huge cavern. Immediately after, a medicinal fragrance wafted from afar, directly entering the noses of Song Qingming and the others.

Arriving here, Li Xiuning hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Senior, this is the place! It was here that I saw that white light and was attacked by that tree demon."

"Hmm! You stay here, we'll go in and take a look!"

After scanning the pitch-black cavern ahead, Song Qingming nodded slightly, letting Li Xiuning wait in place while he and Song Qingyu walked slowly forward together.

Standing at the entrance of the cavern, Li Xiuning saw the pitch-black darkness ahead. Apart from the faint light emitted by some spiritual herbs, she did not see any other light, and she could not help but feel a bit worried.

From the first time Li Xiuning came here until now, at least seven or eight years had passed.

After such a long time, even the nearby Demon King had been replaced. Whether the "Heaven and Earth Divine Thunder" she had seen with her own eyes was still here, Li Xiuning had no certainty in her heart. This time, coming to search for treasure, if she could assist Song Qingming in successfully finding the "Heaven and Earth Divine Thunder" he wanted, then Li Xiuning, having rendered a great service, would certainly be able to leave a good impression in the eyes of the several Jin Dan ancestors of the Song family.

As long as she could enter the eyes of the Song family's ancestors, the days ahead for her and her martial sister would certainly be much easier in the Song family and even in the entire northeast of the Wei nation.

But if Song Qingming and the other were to come for nothing and find nothing.

Although Song Qingming had said beforehand that he would not blame her for it, if she wanted to find someone to help in the future, it would be somewhat difficult to ask.

Just as Li Xiuning was staring intently ahead, Song Qingming and Song Qingyu had already arrived at the location of the spiritual herbs in the depths of the cavern.

After a brief scan, seeing that the scene before them was about the same as what Li Xiuning had described, the entire depths of the cavern were covered with dense patches of various spiritual herbs.

These spiritual herbs were of various qualities and types, some of which even Song Qingming had never seen before. However, their medicinal age was generally not high; they were basically all first or second-grade spiritual herbs, with no high-tier spiritual herbs above the third grade.

The spiritual energy in the depths of the cavern was also much richer than outside, at least at the level of second-grade top-quality, which was why it could cultivate so many spiritual herbs.

"I really couldn't tell; so many spiritual herbs could grow in this unremarkable cave. It seems this place hasn't been entered by anyone for a long time.

Seventh Brother, it's really a waste to leave these spiritual herbs here. Since we've come, let's not be polite."

Seeing the many spiritual herbs before her, a trace of joy appeared on Song Qingyu's face. With a wave of her hand, she collected all the spiritual herbs closest to her into the storage magic tool at her waist.

Seeing this, Song Qingming also smiled slightly, patted his waist lightly, summoned "Jin Feng" hidden in the spirit beast bag, and directed it to help collect the spiritual herbs.

He himself stood in the middle, carefully staring at the medicinal field ahead, searching for the white thunder light that Li Xiuning had mentioned.

Just as Song Qingyu and "Jin Feng" were rapidly harvesting the medicinal field like a wind sweeping away clouds, a very faint "hissing" sound suddenly came from the depths of the medicinal field ahead.

A moment later, the feet of "Jin Feng," who was picking spiritual herbs in front, were suddenly entangled by something, and then the whole person was pulled toward the depths of the medicinal field by a great force.

At the same time, Song Qingyu, who was not far from "Jin Feng" in the depths, also discovered the abnormality on the ground ahead and immediately flew into mid-air with a tip of her toes.

Just as Song Qingyu moved away from the ground, three or four black vines under her feet followed and shot into mid-air, rolling directly toward her location.

Seeing this, Song Qingyu's face turned cold. Then, with a light lift of her right hand, her natal flying sword, the "Xuanming Jin Guang Sword," shot out several sword lights, directly cutting those black vines into several sections.

What surprised Song Qingyu was that after the black vines were cut, clusters of red liquid flowed out directly, as if it were the blood of a living person, which looked somewhat creepy.

After those black vines were cut off by Song Qingyu, they seemed to know that the newcomer was powerful and suddenly shrank back, disappearing without a trace a moment later.

Meanwhile, "Jin Feng," who had been pulled into the depths of the medicinal field not far away, under Song Qingming's order, also struggled to tear off the black vines at his feet and flew back to Song Qingming's side.

From the moment "Jin Feng" and Song Qingyu were ambushed to the time they broke free, it had only been a moment. This somewhat noisy spiritual herb field instantly returned to calm.

Standing not far away and seeing this scene, Song Qingming's face also revealed a slight smile, and he took a step forward, actively walking toward the depths of the spiritual herb field.

"Seventh Brother, that guy should be hiding under the medicinal field. We must find a way to force it out first!"

"No need to worry. No matter where it hides, its roots must be at the spiritual eye of this spiritual vein. As long as we find the spiritual eye, it will naturally have to appear."

Unlike living creatures like demonic beasts, after a spiritual tree gains sentience, its main body is still difficult to escape the supply of spiritual energy from the earth vein and cannot move too far away.

Some high-tier spiritual trees, even if they cultivate to the Nascent Soul transformation realm, still need to protect and hide their main body. Otherwise, once found by someone with ulterior motives, the supply of spiritual energy would be cut off, and all their cultivation would soon be lost, leaving them at the mercy of others.

Although Song Qingming had not clearly seen the specific cultivation of that tree demon just now, judging from the spiritual energy of the earth vein here, he could still infer that the tree demon's cultivation should be at most the Jin Dan realm.

Therefore, he no longer had too much worry in his heart and stepped forward, preparing to take the initiative to try to find it first.

Although this tree demon's combat supernatural powers were not very strong, its hiding and escape techniques were still very powerful; once in danger, it would escape deep into the ground.

If its main body could not be found, even if Song Qingming and the other had powerful supernatural powers, they would have no way to deal with it for a while.

After walking around the depths of the spiritual herb field, Song Qingming suddenly flew into mid-air, then cast a spell to throw out several formation flags that landed in the spiritual herb field, quickly setting up a small "Spirit Gathering Array" in the field.

Afterwards, Song Qingming cast a spell to activate the "Spirit Gathering Array" before him, beginning to gather the spiritual energy around the medicinal field, and soon locked onto the location of the earth vein's spiritual eye here through the flow rate of the spiritual energy.

"This is it. Qingyu, try going down. As long as we find the spiritual eye, I'm not afraid that guy won't come out!"

As soon as Song Qingming finished speaking, the magic power in the hands of Song Qingyu, who was in mid-air, moved, and the five "Xuanming Jin Guang Swords" beside her merged into one, transforming into a giant flying sword more than a zhang tall.

"Sword Slashes in Eight Directions!"

Then, under Song Qingyu's direction, the "Xuanming Jin Guang Sword," carrying a powerful momentum, fell rapidly toward the ground pointed out by Song Qingming.

The next moment, a loud "Boom" sound came from the ground below, and rocks flew everywhere, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

Li Xiuning, standing near the cave entrance in the distance, had just steadied herself when she saw the aftermath carrying dust and smoke coming toward her, and she hurriedly cast a spell to release a shield to block it in front of her.

After the dust and smoke dissipated, a large pit four or five zhang deep was revealed on the ground.

Feeling the spiritual energy in the pit before them becoming increasingly intense, Song Qingming nodded slightly to Song Qingyu in mid-air again, and the latter once again cast a spell to control the "Xuanming Jin Guang Sword" beside her to fall down.

After slashing down three or four times in succession with her natal flying sword, the deep hole was already more than ten zhang deep, and soon a large cluster of golden spiritual light appeared before the eyes of Song Qingming and the other.

"Hehe! Finally found you."

Seeing a small section of black spiritual wood covered under the golden light cluster, Song Qingming immediately guessed that this should be the main body of the demon tree just now, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

Just as Song Qingming wanted to step forward and approach the golden light cluster, dozens of black vines suddenly emerged from under the ground, blocking Song Qingming's path.

Not long after, a large black tree more than ten zhang tall, covered in vines, quickly appeared from the ground, carrying a trace of white thunder light, and began to launch an attack on Song Qingming and Song Qingyu, who was still in mid-air.

"This is! High-tier Divine Thunder, it really is on you."

Seeing the cluster of white thunder light on the trunk of the black tree, which was precisely the high-tier Heaven and Earth Divine Thunder that was his greatest goal for this trip, Song Qingming was incomparably happy in his heart.

This trip was finally not in vain!

The white thunder light before him was far more powerful in aura than the low-tier divine thunder Song Qingming had found before; it was at least a high-tier divine thunder that only a Jin Dan cultivator could cultivate.

As long as he could absorb and refine this level of divine thunder, the "Heaven-Devouring Thunder Control Art" that Song Qingming cultivated would certainly be improved by a large margin, and perhaps he would have a chance to enter the mid-stage of the Jin Dan realm directly.

The only thing that made Song Qingming somewhat strange was that the supernatural powers and techniques cultivated by the tree demon before him were clearly all wood-attribute, and he did not know why it could nurture this kind of high-tier Heaven and Earth Divine Thunder.

Although there was still some doubt in his heart, seeing the high-tier Heaven and Earth Divine Thunder he had been thinking about right before his eyes, Song Qingming could not care to think about these things.

After casting a spell to release his natal magic treasure, the "Five Elements Divine Light Mirror," Song Qingming and Song Qingyu, who was still in mid-air, launched an attack on the black tree demon together.

In the cultivation world, the lifespan of spiritual wood is far longer than that of human cultivators or demonic beasts. As long as there is a sufficient supply of spiritual energy, some high-tier spiritual wood can even grow and survive for tens of thousands of years.

Although spiritual wood has a long lifespan, its cultivation speed is naturally much slower than that of human cultivators. Although the black tree demon before them had survived for at least a thousand years, its cultivation was currently only at the peak of the early Jin Dan stage.

Moreover, compared to humans and demonic beasts, the black tree demon, which had gained sentience from vegetation, had slightly inferior supernatural powers and magic power.

Facing the siege of Song Qingming and Song Qingyu, who both had late-stage Jin Dan combat power, this black tree demon was simply unable to parry, but in order to protect its main body from harm, it had no way to choose to retreat and flee.

Even the black vines entangled with white thunder light could not withstand the sharp sword light controlled by Song Qingyu. After fighting for not long, most of them were cut off by her, and the ground was already flowing with blood.

Meanwhile, Song Qingming controlled the "Five Elements Divine Light Mirror" to shoot out Profound Yang flames to continuously burn the main body hidden in the spiritual eye, which also made the wounds on the black tree demon difficult to heal quickly, and its aura became weaker and weaker.

In just less than half a quarter of an hour, this black tree demon was on the verge of death under the siege of the two members of the Song family, completely losing its ability to resist and collapsing to the ground.

"Eh! Seventh Brother, why is there a cultivator's skeleton here?"

After knocking down the tree demon, just as Song Qingyu was about to step forward to check the Heaven and Earth Divine Thunder above the trunk, she suddenly saw another figure beside the white light. Walking over to look, she discovered that it was actually a withered corpse.

Hearing what Song Qingyu said, Song Qingming immediately followed over. Scanning the corpse of the cultivator, which had been entangled by black vines on the trunk for who knows how many years, a trace of doubt also appeared on his face.

"This corpse hasn't completely rotted even now. Could it be that this person was a Jin Dan cultivator before he died?" (End of chapter)