Niu Dali was on the verge of tears. Was this entire thing designed specially just to mess with him? It wasn't easy for him to climb all the way down here and before he could even do anything, he was asked to climb back up!
"I don't need you to climb over a mountain of blades, but I need you to climb back up there and tell them our plan. Just pack the realgar into some large sacks and throw them down directly."
Seeing the unwilling look on Niu Dali's face, the Evolved Jing master looked at him with bad intentions.
"Haha! How well deserved!"
"Right, this opportunistic base fellow is finally tasting the bitter fruit of his own stupidity!"
The people around him were all snickering and rejoicing over the misfortune of Niu Dali. At the same time, they were secretly glad that they had not opened their mouths earlier.
Gritting his teeth unhappily, Niu Dali turned around and began climbing up the cliff again.
"Hmm, not bad, he's a pretty good seedling!" Zhang Mo nodded as he looked at the departing back of Niu Dali. Although he was a little too crafty for his own good, it wasn't a bad trait to have.
Once the decision was made, the Evolved Jing masters slowly came together to look for people they knew before moving away from the lake to sit down and wait.
Time passed and soon, about half a day had elapsed. The sun should have risen over the world outside by now.
At the same time, the poor Niu Dali had finally reached the top of the cliff. "D*mn his grandfather! When this Niu grandpa becomes an Evolved Jing master in the future and can beat that f*cker, I'll make him come here and climb up this cliff everyday! No, I'll make him climb it 10 times!"
As soon as he got out of the cave, the message about the realgar was quickly relayed to the people standing by outside the cave. A few officers immediately ran off to gather the realgar.
It did not take much time before several helicopters appeared on the horizon, each one carrying large crates filled with huge sacks of realgar powder!
Before long, sack after sack of realgar powder was brought into the cave and thrown over the cliffs.
At the bottom of the cavern, a small mountain of sacks had formed, covered in yellow powder which had burst forth from some of the broken sacks.
The situation resembled a busy warehouse, with a bunch of Evolved Jing masters acting as supervisors, shouting commands out from time to time. A large group of Dark Jing experts had been transformed into mere coolies as they trudged towards the lake with huge sacks over their backs.
Each sack of realgar was chucked unceremoniously into the lake as soon as it was handed over to another group of Evolved Jing masters beside the lake. At the beginning, there were no changes to the lake at all. But as more sacks were thrown into the lake, the originally clear water slowly grew murkier. A faint yellow mist tinged with a hint of scarlet spread though the lake.
Soon, countless bugs rose to the surface of the water, struggling desperately. These bugs were each as long as an index finger. Their bodies were protected by shiny red-and-black exoskeletons, and sharp, fearsome-looking pincers protruded from their mouths!
"Luckily we did not go into the water. Otherwise, even if the giant snake did not appear, these bugs would be more than enough to be of a huge threat to us!"
The Evolved Jing masters felt a chill run down the back of their necks as they looked at the blanket of fearsome bugs on the lake. There were so many that the surface of the lake looked like a single squirming, living being! With great enough numbers, even an elephant could be bitten to death by ants!
What more these terrifying looking strange bugs!
"Clan Head Zhou, this is truly a godly strategy!" Many experts clasped their hands respectfully at the Evolved Jing master from the Zhou Clan.
"If n
ot for the difficulty involved in transporting liquids like sulfuric acid down here, we would not have to resort to doing this," Zhou Neng replied expressionlessly. Don't think that because these people were behaving cordially right now they would give any leeway when it came to the time to fight for the Primordial Heavenly Tree.
"Everyone! Allow me to say a few words!" A strong-looking old man stepped forth. With his loud voice, he was able to attract the attention of everyone in an instant.
"I am Daoist Danxia from Dragon Tiger Mountain!" Everyone narrowed their eyes at this. Upon further examination, this old man was definitely a Peak level Evolved Jing expert! This old man seemed like someone with half a foot in the grave already, yet his body's capabilities haven't decreased by even a tiny bit. In contrast, his blood and Qi seemed to be incredibly exuberant!
Danxia Zi continued after everyone's gazes had turned to him. "In order to prevent people from rushing to steal the Primordial Heavenly Fruit later on when everyone else is fighting the savage beasts, I am setting down the rule that before the savage beast is dealt with, no one may step past this line! Whoever violates this rule will be chased down by me and killed!"
A condensed ray of Qi burst out of Daoist Danxia's finger, drawing a 10-zhang-long line on the ground!
Just that action alone was enough to cow most of the experts in the crowd. The old daoist's inner strength had been trained to such a high level that it could be condensed into an actual weapon, capable of killing from 10 zhang away!
Many of the experts quickly reined in their greed as they turned their gazes to the powerful experts behind the old daoist. Quite a number of people had the same idea—to steal the fruit while everyone else was engaged in the fight. But now that the top tier experts had laid down the rules, anyone who still dared to harbor skewed thoughts was basically seeking death!
"Of course, once the giant snake is dealt with, we will split the loot with everyone based on your level of your contribution! That enormous snake has lived for god knows how long, and must have eaten quite a number of Primordial Heavenly Fruits to grow to such a level.
The blood and flesh of this creature is sure to contain large amounts of pure energy, which will be very useful for everyone!"
Wielding the carrot in one hand and the stick in the other, Daoist Danxia was able to grab the attention of everyone in an instant.
Most of the martial experts quickly fell into deep thought. There were only those few Primordial Heavenly Fruits available. As such, the probability of getting one successfully among so many competitors cannot be guaranteed. As opposed to that, it might be better to just cooperate in slaying the snake! If they can get a sizable portion of the flesh and blood of the snake, the trip would not have been in vain.
In that moment, a great number of people toned down their ambition and considered the matter seriously. After all, they were all martial practitioners from the same region.
There's a saying: "The runaway monk can't run away with the temple". If one brings trouble to the family, they would turn into a sinner! Furthermore, the monk might not even be able to run away successfully!
Of course, there were still a few solitary experts who remained dead set on the Primordial Heavenly Fruit. 'As long as I can grab a Primordial Heavenly Fruit, I'll go into closed-door cultivation immediately. When I emerge as a Xiantian expert, who would still dare to chase after me for my life?!'
"Sha!"
A gigantic head suddenly burst out of the water. A pair of cruel eyes surveyed the people on the bank coldly.
Although the realgar did not pose any danger to it, the substance still caused it a great amount of annoyance.
Thus, it decided to get rid of all the pesky humans in one shot so that it could go back to sleep peacefully!
The gigantic body of the snake swayed powerfully as it swam towards the bank. The martial experts on the bank readied themselves and quickly backed off from the bank.
The snake beast might have an enormous body, but it was not slow at all. Within half a minute, it had swum onto the bank!
Its two meter thick body was like a solid wall, stretching 30-40 meter long!
Even more shocking was the middle section of the beast. A pair of gigantic bulges over two meter wide protruded out of its back!
"This is no longer a regular savage beast! It's more like a Teng Snake!"
Everyone gasped aloud with shock as a burning desire surged in their hearts. If this was really a Teng Snake, the trip over here would really not have been in vain!
"Kill!"
Daoist Danxia was the first one to shout the command for attack. An irregularly shaped weapon which was as tall as a person had also appeared in his hands!
This weapon was the temple treasure of Dragon Tiger Mountain! According to the legends, this weapon was forged from the remains of a meteorite which was found during the Yuan dynasty! After undergoing 10 years of refinement and forging, this Vast Sun Disk was born!
It could break through any obstacles and slice through metal like mud!
A layer of golden light shrouded the Vast Sun Disk in Daoist Danxia's hand, giving off a sharp and piercing light!
Of the over 50 experts, over half of them immediately released their raging blood and Qi as they charged towards the gigantic snake!
These experts might not be a match for the snake in the water, but on land and with the advantage in numbers, they did not fear the beast at all!
[1] TL/N: This legendary creature's names include teng 螣 "a flying dragon" (or te 螣 "a plant pest") and tengshe 螣蛇 "flying-dragon snake" or 騰蛇 "soaring snake".