Zhu Yao felt a large wave of cold winds charging towards her, and it was both quick and hurried. She hurriedly swung her sword to deflect them, slashing apart the gathering shadows. However, she was not able to dodge all of them either. After slashing apart the ones at the front, the ones at the back came charging forward as well. The first few swings were still fine, but slowly, her strength began to dwindle. After scattering a few shadows, an ominous wind came charging towards her back. She instinctively shifted to the side, but she was still a step too late. An aching pain spread from her arm as something had pierced into it. It was as if something was trying to slice off a piece of her flesh.
When she turned to look, she saw a shadow was biting deeply into her arm, and her hand was already drenched in fresh blood. That figure merely revealed half of its face, but his appearance could be vaguely seen, and Zhu Yao was stunned after seeing it.
"Big sis!" Yue Ying was startled, hurriedly walking over.
Zhu Yao gritted her teeth as she passed her sword to her other hand and scattered the shadow. However, the bite was so deep, her bones could already be seen. This bite could not be compared to any of the injuries she suffered in the past, but back then, she still had her cultivation no matter how severe her injuries were, so she would have still been able to hold on even if she was bitten. Presently, with how her divine energy was suppressed, this pain clearly hurt even more. She could barely feel her own hand now.
"Big sis!" Yue Ying was a little flustered, as he hurriedly helped stop her blood from flowing out. Something seemed to be burning with his eyes.
"Yu Yao." Yu Yan's face clearly looked a little anxious as well, but he was being surrounded by a large number of shadows and could not push his way through.
"I'm fine." Zhu Yao solemnly said. "Don't lose focus." This wasn't the time to be worried about such things.
Zhu Yao's right arm was injured, and at this moment, she couldn't even hold her sword properly. However, she had no choice but to stand up again. The hell, you're bullying me because I'm not a leftie, right?
But it really hurts! She was basically using her own flesh and body to block attacks.
Most likely because of the stimulation from her blood, those shadows grew even wilder. Their terrifying screams grew sharper, causing one's skin to crawl. They seemed to be waiting for something, as they circled around their surroundings. Then, they once again attacked her from her back.
Zhu Yao had no choice but to shift to the side and hold up her sword again. With this action of hers, her blood began to pour out once more. Just as she was about to be submerged by an overwhelming amount of shadows, Yue Ying suddenly grabbed onto her hand, and his eyes instantly turned crimson red.
"Scram!"
In an instant, a dark aura that was even thicker that the shadows' was emitted out from his body, instantly devouring those shadows. The shadows revealed flustered looks, and the situation instantly flipped around. The shadows that were still anxiously targeting them before were now fleeing in all directions.
In just a few seconds, the area suddenly quietened down.
There was no longer any shadows in the air, but they were replaced by a devillic aura that was even colder and more terrifying than those shadows. Yue Ying was enveloped within the devillic aura, and what remained was a pair of crimson-red eyes filled with anger. The light coming from his eyes were enough to send cold shivers down everyone's spines.
Zhu Yao instantly calmed down and grabbed him with her other hand, desperately ignoring the devillic aura that was making her tremble. With a solemn voice, she said. "Yue Ying, I'm fine now! Everyone is fine now."
Only then did the anger in his eyes slowly extinguish, reverting back to their former clarity. The surrounding devillic aura then slowly began to return into his body as well, till they completely disappear. He lowered his head and looked at her hand which was dripping with blood. "Big sis…"
"I'm fine." Zhu Yao smiled at him. "Thank you." She never expected that even though these shadows were fierce, they could not match against devillic aura. It was no wonder Yue Ying was unmoving earlier. It wasn't because he was in a daze, rather, the shadows must have realized the aura emitted from his body and did not dare to approach him.
"Devillic aura!" Zhonggu Lu looked over with a stunned expression. "Could… Could you actually be…"
Even Nangong Cheng's face changed as well.
Zhu Yao sighed. It seemed like they couldn't hide it any longer. "That's right, Yue Ying is of the Devil race. The shadows earlier were chased away by him as well. What are you two planning to do?"
Zhonggu Lu and Nangong Cheng were stunned for a moment.
"No wonder… No wonder he's the only one who can still use mystic arts." Zhonggu Lu muttered. They were unable to circulate divine energy, but devillic energy was not restricted.
Nangong Cheng looked at Zhu Yao, and finally let out a sigh. "So that's the case. Da… Daoist Yue, thank you very much. With that many shadows, I thought we were dead for sure!"
"Isn't your stupidity at fault here? Otherwise, why would we have encountered so much trouble?" Zhonggu Lu retorted.
"The hell, can you blame me for that? It's because that Mei Xue is too treacherous, alright?"
Zhonggu Lu immediately rolled his eyes.
It seemed like they were intentionally ignoring the fact that Yue Ying was a Devil. After all, everyone had come a long way together, and it would be best that a conflict wouldn't occur.
Zhu Yao heaved a sigh of relief, when a her right hand was suddenly held by someone. She could not help but let out a cold gasp. "Szz…"
"Don't move." A certain master glared at her unhappily, as he began to roll a white cloth around her injured arm.
"I'm fine, master. The blood has already stopped flowing. It will be fine in about an hour." After all, she still had a divine physique, such injuries would heal really quickly.
His eyes narrowed. "Mn?"
"Uh… Wrap it, wrap it then!" Wuuuu, master is angry at me again.
They did not stay around, instead, they took the opportunity when the shadows were scattered and hurriedly pressed forward towards their goal. Initially, they thought that they would at least encounter another two or three waves. Strangely however, they had rushed for two days straight, but not a single shadow came attacked them again.
Even if there were occasional misty shadows floating past, they completely ignored Zhu Yao's group and simply floated away after swaying about a few times. Zhu Yao thought that this was due to fear of Yue Ying's devillic energy, or there was simply too little shadows in their present surroundings. However, Yue Ying had clearly retracted his devillic energy and was not leaking out even the littlest bit. Furthermore, the sharp and terrifying screams in the air did not lessen that much either.
Zhu Yao's heart began to sink, as the guess she had continued to grow clearer. On the third day, they finally walked out of the sinister and terrifying territory, and they instantly saw the light in front of them. It was as if they had suddenly walked out of the darkness and into the light, as the sinister air was completely swept away, and what replaced it was a lush green forest.
"Great, we finally got out." Nangong Cheng said with joy. "We no longer have to be harrassed by those shadows. We're safe now."
"That might not be the case!" Zhu Yao clenched her fists, her worry grew heavier.
Nangong Cheng was stunned as he turned to look at her. "Dongfang girly, just relax. Look at this place, it's completely bright. Those shadows definitely won't come here. As long as we cross this forest, we will be able to reach the light that guides us to the realm of Gods. We are no longer in any sort of danger."
Zhu Yao turned to look at the darkness behind her, and then once again glanced at the greenery before them, frowning. "Do you guys know… what those shadows are?"
Nangong Cheng was startled. "What else can they be?"
"Sinister and ominous, undestroyable, being able to resurrect indefinitely, and carrying such immense hatred. With such characteristics, I can only think of a single thing."
Yu Yan frowned and coldly said. "Resentment!"
The group was stunned. Zhonggu Lu stepped forward. "How is that possible? Isn't resentment something that only exists in the Netherworld? Why would it appear in the Lightning Divine Tower? And on the final floor on the road to ascending into Gods nonetheless!"
"I've once visited the River of Forgetfulness in the Netherworld." To be exact, she met the River of Forgetfulness himself. "The River of Forgetfulness is the only thing that bridges the Three Realms, and it flows throughout every corner of the Three Realms, guiding those depressed souls back to the Netherworld and sending them to their reincarnations. Since the River of Forgetfulness can be found in all of the Three Thousand Worlds, then it can naturally be found in the Divine Realm as well."
Nangong Cheng grew even more confused. "What does these shadows have to do with the River of Forgetfulness?"
"All of the resentment of the Netherworld is being concealed in the depths of the River of Forgetfulness." Yu Yan continued with a solemn voice.
"You're saying, the River of Forgetfulness brought resentment into the Lightning Divine Tower?" Zhonggu Lu frowned. "However, even if those shadows are resentment, since we're already here, they wouldn't chase after us, right? Furthermore, after those resentment were chased away by Daoist Yue, they no longer appeared again. What does this have to do with the danger that you speak of?"
"Have neither of you felt anything strange about those shadows?"
The group exchanged glances, and even Yu Yan was confused as well.
"Master, I want to ask you something. In the Lower Realm, have you met someone that looks exactly the same as Sect Master Zi Mo?"
Yu Yan was stunned for a moment. As someone who was face-blind, Zi Mo's face was one of few that he remembered. After pondering deeply for a while, as though he had thought of something, he solemnly said. "There was a heretic practitioner who deeply specialized in the arts of transformation, and he was even capable of changing his aura. He once turned into Zi Mo's appearance and infiltrated my Ancient Hill Sect. He was then exposed by me."
"After that?"
"Naturally, he was killed."
"Did master personally do it?"
"Mn."
"As expected!" Zhu Yao sighed, and instantly a sense of powerlessness overwhelmed her.
"Dongfang girly, just what are you trying to get with those words of yours?" Nangong Cheng anxiously asked.
Zhu Yao turned to look at the four of them. "Did you all notice the appearances of the shadows formed by resentment?"
The group: "…"
"I saw them…" Zhu Yao solemnly said. "I saw a shadow that looked exactly the same as Zi Mo. That shadow was attacking my master. I even saw…" She turned to look at Yue Ying. "Xu Nuoyan! And he was attacking Yue Ying."
Her master and Yue Ying instantly widened their eyes. As though they had realized something, their faces instantly turned complicated.
"Just what do you mean?" Nangong Cheng was anxious. "And who is this Xu Nuoyan?"
"It doesn't matter who he is." Zhu Yao shook her head. "The important thing is, who they were killed by!"
Zhonggu Lu's expression changed. "You… You're saying, those resentment are formed by the people that we've once killed? And that is why they were desperately attacking us?"
"I wasn't certain in the beginning. However, have you all thought about why no other shadows attacked us again after those resentment were chased away by the devillic aura back then?" Zhu Yao analysed. "Because the other resentment aren't looking for us! They would only look for their creditors."
This was also why at the very beginning, those resentment only attacked the four of them and completely avoided her. Because she had never taken a single human life, so naturally, there did not exist any so-called resentment seeking her for revenge. After that, she took the initiative to attack them, and only then were they lured over.
"Why would the River of Forgetfulness simply send these resentment into the Lightning Divine Tower? Also, after being filled by resentment for so many years, why hasn't there been any signs of the Lightning Divine Tower collapsing?" Zhu Yao's expression grew heavier. "If my guess is correct, the final test of this Lightning Divine Tower is actually a tribulation, a tribulation of karma! From the many deeds that we'd planted back then, we will receive the corresponding karma. Most likely, from everything that a practitioner has done in the past, everything would be returned on this very floor."
"If that's the case… Do you guys still feel that the place before us is really safe?"
"…" Everyone's faces instantly paled.
Chapter 378: The Fate of the Scheming Mary SueAmong the people who could ascend and become Deities, which one of them would have clean hands? Especially in the case of such an environment where the strong would feast on the weak. Usually, the higher one stood, the more debts of blood he would hold, not to mention there were a Demonic Immortal and a Devil among them. Which one of them hadn't climbed up through a bloody slaughter?
"Dongfang girly, it might not be as bad as you say?" Nangong Cheng waved his hands without a mind and smiled. Just that that smile of his was clearly a little forced. "Look, we're already out of the territory. Even if those resentment originated from our killings back then, there shouldn't be anything else, right?"
"I don't know either. If this floor is truly a tribuluation of karma, then how could killings be the only deeds that we'd planted?" Zhu Yao shook her head. "In any case, being cautious isn't wrong. After all, the road to the Light of Guidance is still long!"
The group sternly nodded. Compared to the lax and joy earlier, they were now more vigilant and serious instead, as every single one of them pressed forward with a hundred and twenty percent focus.
Yue Ying was their main battle force. As of now, he was the only one remaining who had the human GPS function, and so he took the initiative to walk at the front. Zhu Yao and her master was following behind, and they were responsible of inspecting the surrounding situation. Nangong Cheng and Zhonggu Lu on the other hand were at the back.
After maintaining their current formation well, the group finally walked into the large green forest. The forest wasn't actually really dense. Compared to the forests in the Three Thousand Worlds that were filled with spiritual and divine energy, this place was clearly a little dull, as though there wasn't any sign of life. The ground was filled with broken branches and dead leaves. Even the leaves on the trees had withered, and were at the verge of falling off.
They did not walk for too long when Yue Ying suddenly stopped. With a frown, he looked forward.
"What is it?" Zhu Yao asked.
He pointed to the front. "There seems to be something in front?"
The hell, so quick!
Their hearts suddenly tensed up, and after hearing carefully, the sounds of battle could be heard. They had initially planned on making a detour, but that place was somewhere they had to pass through no matter what. In order to prevent any incidents, they could not help but be more cautious of their surroundings.
The closer they approached, the louder the battle noises became. They had just walked a few meters when a large green field appeared before their eyes. A flustered voice crying for help could be heard.
"Save me. Hurry… Hurry and save me. Hurry and save me!!"
This voice…
They then got a closer look. Yo, it sure is a small world. Isn't the three men and one woman over there Mei Xue and her gang? Zhu Yao wondered if it was retribution, as they had once again encountered trouble.
A flower with the combined height of two people appeared on the field of grass. It had body dyed in bloody red, and its six wide-spread petals were as large as bathtubs. At the very center of the flower was actually a large bloody mouth, and sharp teeth were grown all around it. There were even thorny vines baring their teeth and dancing about in the air, their looks were especially terrifying.
Mei Xue and another man was being bitten by that flower, and half of their bodies were already in its mouth. The other two men were currently grabbing onto their hands, wanting to pull them out with all their might. Mei Xue had a fatigued look, and was already crying out from fear. Her hair was dishevelled and even her face was crumpled up. She was really crying now, losing all of the beauty of a pear blossom in tears. She was howling like a pig that was about to be slaughtered.
"Hurry, hurry and pull me out… Save me, hurry and save me!" As she waved about her hands, she hissed with her exhausted voice, crying out to the two men outside. The lower half of her body was already flowing out blood from the flower's bite, and it was surging out even more than a woman's auntie.
The two men outside grabbed onto each one of her arms and were using all of their strength to pull her out of the flower's mouth. However, because they could not use their divine energy, they did not dare to go too close either. Furthermore, that flower was twice the size of an average person in the first place, so though they did not let go, their efforts were not very evident. She was already beginning to slowly slide into the flower's innards.
The man that was similarly in the flower's mouth saw that this wasn't going to work out. Letting go of his hands, he then dragged Mei Xue's waist in the opposite direction. "Mei Xue, save me after you've safely left!" With a strong lift, he immediately threw her out.
The power of three people were clearly effective. Seeing that she had escaped the flower's mouth, the man joyfully reached out his hand, wanting to seek help. However, that flower seemed to be unwilling to see its prey escaping just like that. Its large mouth once again widened, and it then pounced forward.
It was unknown if she had done it with intention, but the moment Mei Xue got out, she suddenly sent a kick to the back, instantly kicking the man that was seeking their help into the flower's innards. That gigantic flower retreated a few meters because of the rebound as well, though it seemed to have swallowed the man whole.
This scene happened so quickly. The man that dragged Mei Xue out did not even have the opportunity to be surprised when he disappeared into the gigantic flower's mouth. Mei Xue and the other two men on the other hand took this chance to escape the flower's active range. Their faces were miserably pale, and they looked as if they had been utterly frightened.
The two men who went to save them had terrible expressions, clearly, they saw the earlier scene with their very own eyes. However, under Mei Xue's cries, the two decided to ignore it and began to console her instead.
"Mei Xue, we're fine now, we're fine now? Don't be afraid."
"But big brother Ye Yu…"
"He died to save you, and he definitely did it out of his own free will as well."
"That's right, he won't blame you. He will definitely be able to pass away peacefully knowing that you're safe."
"He died for a purpose, and with that, he died with honour!"
The surrounding five spectators instantly carried darkened expressions, feeling as though they had swallowed crap.
"The hell. I'm sorry, I need to puke a little." Zhonggu Lu turned around and retched.
"I've never seen something so disgusting, and such a disgusting Deity practitioner." Nangong Cheng could not help but retort as well. "Dongfang girly, are all you Deities like this? Fortunately, I'm a Demonic Immortal."
The corner of Zhu Yao's lips twitched. "This is my first time seeing such an incredible Deity practitioner, alright?" Please apologize to all of the Deity practitioners in the world, hey!
"It's you people!" Mei Xue was stunned, a hint of fluster flashed across her face.
"We meet again." Nangong Cheng coldly snorted. "Is this what's known as retribution for one's actions? Mei Xue, it's time we settle our past debts."
The other two men's expression changed as well, as they wielded their weapons one after another and looked at their with alert expressions.
"If you want to harm Mei Xue, you should first ask the sword in my hand."
"Hmph, you group of losers still dare to spout such presumptuous words. Mei Xue, don't need to be afraid, we definitely won't allow them to touch you the slightest bit."
The two of them had determined looks as they firmly protected Mei Xue between them, who had a frail and fearful look on her face. However, the two of them understood that in term of numbers, they were basically not their match. They had no choice but to guard Mei Xue at the center and began to retreat.
Unfortunately, before Nangong Cheng could even make a move, with a sudden swoosh, two enormous vines suddenly pierced out from beneath the three's feet, reaching up to a height of two meters. The vines twirled at the top and then suddenly split open. Instantly, two blood-coloured man-eater flowers, that looked exactly the same as the one before, bloomed. They then pounced towards the three of them.
Just as the three of them were once again about to enter the flowers' mouth, Mei Xue who was standing in the center and was nearest to the flowers, suddenly screamed.
"Ah!~!!" She pushed out her two hands at the same time, successfully pushing the two into the incoming flowers' mouths, while she herself had rolled out of the range of the two flowers.
Before the two men could even react, while their pledge was still echoing in their ears, they were personally pushed into the gates of hell by their beloved. They did not even have the time to question her, as they disappeared within the enormous flowers with faces of utter disbelief and shock.
Zhu Yao wondered if they could still truly say that they died for a purpose, and hence died with honour!
Mei Xue did not even turn to look at the two of them. After crawling up, she instead ran towards the direction of Zhu Yao's group, as though she had discovered the danger of the grass plains and was trying to escape. Unfortunately, she was still too slow.
A few red vines charged out from the ground, instantly wrapping around Mei Xue's body and trapping her where she stood. The bloody red thorns on the vines stabbed directly into her flesh, punching several holes in her body.
Her face instantly paled, her eyes were filled with fear. She struggled wildly, wanting to crawl towards them. "Save me… Please, save me… Save me…"
Zhu Yao frowned and turned her head away. Yue Ying and Yu Yan did not have any reaction, while Zhonggu Lu simply rolled his eyes. Nangong Cheng even spat heavily in her direction.
If she hadn't schemed against them time and time again to steal their Nascent Divided Pearls, they might have pitied her a little. But now… even if there was something wrong with their brains, they wouldn't lend a helping hand, especially after seeing her unhesitantly pushing out even her own male companions. Calling her snake-hearted would even make snakes look bad!
Mei Xue did not struggle for too long. The vines wrapping around her body continued to increase, and fresh blood poured out from the holes in her body, which were then absorbed cleanly by those green vines. Mei Xue's initial world-class appearance began to age at an astonishing speed, and in just a few moments, she had already turned into a white-haired old lady. Her body was also drying up at a speed visible to the naked eyes. As though the nourishment from her body was being absorbed, the vines began to turn greener and were even glowing with a faint glistening light.
Red flower buds began to pop out from the vines, and they crawled across the entire vines. They watched as the buds grew even larger, to the size of a fist. With a slight twirl, blood-coloured flowers that looked like red gems instantly bloomed. However, those flowers were different from the man-eater flowers from before, and only had five petals. Yet they looked as if they were formed out of crystals.
"Lasting Flowers!" Zhonggu Lu suddenly widened his eyes, his face instantly changed. "The pollens of these flowers carry a dangerous poison. Breathing it in would damage one's primordial spirit and cause one to suffocate."
When Zhu Yao heard this, she immediately held her nose and mouth. The rest did the same as well.
As expected, the sharp flower petals let out a bright flash of red light, and after a few crisp crackling noises, they began to explode and instantly turned into red powder. The powder filled the entire sky, and then they sprinkled down onto the ground. Under the light from the sun, it was as if red stars were raining down.
Fifteen minutes later, those red powder finally sank into the grass field and disappeared without a trace. Mei Xue whose appearance could no longer be discerned had already been completely absorbed into the Lasting Flowers' vines. Suddenly, with a loud boom, the Lasting Flowers and the other gigantic red flowers began to sink back into the earth. Even the holes that they appeared from had disappeared without a trace.
The area in front of them turned into a flat and quiet field of grass, as if the earlier catastrophe had never happened.
Chapter 379: Realizing an Incredible SecretWhen it came to Mei Xue's retribution, Zhu Yao was still sighing at how things turned out in the beginning. Out of rationality, she still silently lit a row of candles for Mei Xue in her heart. However, immediately after, she could no longer rationalize her thoughts.
She suddenly recalled. Momma's egg! How are we going to pass this grass field!? In other words, they were going to encounter those strange flowers beneath the earth as well. Recalling that enormous flower which didn't even burp after swallowing one of them whole, she could not help but tremble. She wondered if it was too late for them to make a retreat?
"The strange flowers and plants underneath the earth are definitely not limited to just that breed earlier." Zhonggu Lu's expression was especially terrible to look at. "Also, I can sense that these flowers most likely possess sentience."
"Sentience." Zhu Yao was stunned. "You're saying those earlier were all flower spirits?"
Zhonggu Lu nodded, a hint of doubt surfaced on his expression once more. "I'm a Plant Immortal, so I can naturally sense them. However, those flower spirits are a little different from flower spirits that cultivate normally. They seemed to be even more… violent than the rest."
The rest were all stunned for a moment. Spirits that were formed by plants usually had gentler and warmer personalities. After all, plants were creatures that were the hardest to develop sentience with. Also, compared to human practitioners and demonic beasts, they needed an extremely long time to grow, and they were not able to even move in their preliminary stages. That was why they would not develop any impatience, let alone violence.
"Take that Lasting Flower for example. Formerly, it's a Resident Flower. Only after developing sentience would it mutate into a Lasting Flower." Zhonggu Lu explained. "Also, it's extremely hard for such flowers to grow, and so it's extremely rare for one to cultivate into a spirit."
Zhu Yao's heart sank. Suddenly, she thought of something. "Then what are those three man-eater flowers called? Do you know what effects they have on practitioners?"
Zhonggu Lu's expression changed, and he lamented in dissatisfaction. "You Deity practitioners are really… Why do you all first think of their effects when spiritual herbs are brought up?"
"Don't care about that right now, just tell me."
"The other breed must be the Heavenly Immortal Herb." Zhonggu Lu pouted, but he still answered. "Though, the Heavenly Immortal Herbs are usually spiritual herbs that would only grow up to a few inches tall. I wonder why they could become so big. As for what effects they have on practitioners, I don't know either. I've never eaten them anyway."
"Resident Flowers can be used to refine the Immortal Pellet." Yu Yan suddenly said. "This pellet can resurrect a dead person and allow his or her bones and flesh to regrow. As long as his soul does not dissipate, no matter how severe his injuries are, they can all be restored in just a single incense worth of time."
The hell, it's that overpowered?
"As for the Heavenly Immortal Herbs, it can be used to refine Realm Crossing Pellets. Taking one will enable a practitioner's cultivation to immediately improve by a large realm."
"A large realm!" Zhu Yao was stunned. "In other words, in the Lower Realm, if our initial cultivation is at the Nascent Soul stage, eating it will allow one to immediately become a Demigod? And if one is a Demigod, then he or she can immediately ascend?"
"It's the same in the Divine Realm as well." He added. "This is a divine herb in the first place."
"…"
Yu Yan frowned. "Though, the recipes for these two pellets have long disappeared. I've never heard of someone capable of refining it in the Divine Realm, let alone the Lower Realm."
Was this Mei Xue's cheat? She could refine Realm Crossing Pellets and immediately raise her level. This cheat was much more incredible than hers. It was no wonder her level was 1 while the others were all at level 2 when they first met in the second floor. Most likely, her cultivation had all come from eating pellets and medicine. Her foundation was not stable, and coincidentally, Lightning Divine Tower forbid dru- ah pui, forbid taking herbs?"
"Dongfang girly, have you thought of something?" Nangong Cheng took a step forward and said. "Share it with us so that we can come up with plans together."
Zhu Yao felt like crying. "I just thought that, if this floor is truly the tribulation of karma, then all of the plants here are most likely materialized by the pellets that we've eaten before."
"It… It can't be!" Nangong Cheng was a little anxious. Who wouldn't eat pellets or medicine all their path of cultivation? Even Zhonggu Lu, a Flower Deity, had swallowed high-ranking spiritual herbs in order to raise his cultivation as well. "Aren't spiritual herbs supposed to be sentienceless? Also, when we gather them, we've never met any resistance either."
"You already mentioned that they're spiritual herbs." Zhu Yao rolled her eyes. "That proves that they must contain spiritual and divine energies. Where do they come from? Do you think they would enter these herbs by themselves?"
"…"
"People with divine or spiritual energies in their bodies can be considered practitioners. Then, plants with divine or spiritual energies, can also be considered as sentient spirits. Though, the differences would simply lie in how long it has been since they blossom." The same logic applied to how demonic beasts would have higher level of intelligence as their ranks increased. "Also, all pellets and medicines possess their own pellet poison, and this applies to divine herbs as well. Theoretically speaking, the bodies of spiritual herbs contain the purest divine or spiritual energies, so they should be able to take in energy just like spirit stones. Then why would they contain poison? And where does the poison come from? Could the so-called pellet poison is actually the final retribution by those herbs that had just awoken their sentience but has no means to fight back?"
The group was instantly silent.
"Dongfang girly, from how you're putting it, I'm starting to feel anxious!" Nangong Cheng's face instantly drooped down. He glanced at the field of grass before them, and then silently took a step back.
"There's no need to worry." Yu Yan said with a calm look, as he stroked his disciple's head. "If this grass field is truly testing one's karma with spiritual herbs, then we master and disciple have never eaten a single medicinal pellet. I believe passing this stage wouldn't be hard."
"Oh right!" Zhu Yao said with a enlightened expression. "Then why are we being afraid!?"
"I've never eaten one either!" Yue Ying immediately raised his hand and expressed himself.
"Good job." Zhu Yao stroked his head.
Her beating little heart instantly calmed down. She felt rather domineering all of a sudden.
Nangong Cheng and Zhonggu Lu: "…"
We ate them before, hey! Where's the promised love between teammates? Don't speak as if you three are the only ones here, hey!
"Dongfang girly…" Nangong Cheng pitifully tugged Zhu Yao's sleeves, and his hand was instantly shoved away by Yue Ying with a scornful look. My big sis's sleeves is mine! "What about us? What should we do?"
Zhu Yao was stunned, and only then did she regain her senses. "Oh right! I forgot you guys were still here."
"…"
From Mei Xue's situation earlier, those spiritual herbs seemed to appear based on the amount of aggro accumulated. The more one ate, the more frequent they would appear. "Come, tell us what medicine and pellets you two have eaten. How many flowers have you all destroyed? Just how many youthful spiritual plants have you all harmed altogether?"
"Uh…" Why did he feel as if he was a greedy beast now? "Not… Not… Not that much?" What's with this sense of shame I'm feeling all of a sudden? "I'm a Demonic Immortal. You should be aware that demonic beasts don't know how to refine medicine at all in the Lower Realm. When we encounter spiritual herbs, I would usually swallow them whole."
"The hell, you actually swallow them alive!" Before Zhu Yao could even speak, Zhonggu Lu had already retorted. "You're so murderous and violent! You're actually a beast like that!"
"Tch, you sound as if you haven't swallowed one before." Nangong Cheng glared at his good homosexual buddy. "When you first materialized into a human form back then, didn't you destroy an entire mountain peak worth of spiritual herbs?"
"That was subjugation based on my beauty!" Zhonggu Lu praised himself as he stroked his cheeks with his muscular arms. "That was a battle concerning us Flower Deities, you don't understand!"
"That battle was a little too intense, don't you think? After all, you did swallow the flowers, their leaves, and even their roots. More importantly, you didn't distinguish them by gender, and took them all in. You're too much."
"We Flower Deities don't distinguish ourselves based on gender in the first place! We can be either a man or a woman!"
"May I ask just how are you a woman with that body of yours?" This daddy here has never seen such a muscular lady before, alright?
"You still dare to speak of it!? Your race allows you to choose a gender when taking up a human form in the first place. I already told you to become a female beastie, yet you chose to become male! Now that things turn out this way, you're blaming me for it!?" Who doesn't know how to argue and fight back, huh?
"Isn't it all because you said you can choose your gender when you're taking up a human form too? Otherwise, do you think things would have turned out this way?"
"You're clearly the one at fault!"
"It's you!"
"It's you!"
The group of three spectators: "…" They seemed to have found out something incredible.
The two's argument on heartlessness, shamelessness, and nonsense lasted for exactly two hours, and Zhu Yao lost interest after watching for fifteen minutes. With her master and Yue Ying, they inspected the strange grass field before them.
The matter of throwing aside Nangong Cheng and Zhonggu Lu had never crossed her mind. After all, this tribulation of karma was just a guess she made. Though theoretically speaking, their family… ah pui! She, her master and Yue Ying had never eaten any pellets, but that did not mean they had never harmed any flowers or herbs. At the very least, she had caused the deaths of many cactuses in the modern era. If this grass field even took that into consideration, they she would be stabbed to death!
So they still had to look at this from a long-term perspective. However, they walked around the sides a few times, but they did not discover any loopholes. They couldn't make a detour around either. She immediately squatted next to it and silently dug a hole in the grass field with the size of a face, wanting to find out just what was being hidden underneath. However, it was all but a fruitless effort, as there was nothing to be found. Could these mutated flowers and plants simply like to play tricks? Why not dig a tunnel through then?
"There must be something unique hidden in this grass field." Yu Yan squatted down and held up his disciple's hands which was still trying to dig even deeper. Then, he filled the hole back. "It seems it will only activate once we truly take a step into it."
"…" So you're saying tunnels are useless?
"Most likely, the things that appear after entering it, are different from person to person." Yu Yan continued.
"Different from person to person…" Zhu Yao was stunned. "You're saying there's a formation underneath."
"To be capable of enveloping such a large grass field, materialize so many strange plants and flowers, and not to mention targeting different people with different plants, I'm afraid it's not something formations are able to do."
"Then…"
"Laws." Yu Yan solemnly said. "Only the laws of the heaven and earth can see through a person's everything. And only laws can materialize those unreasonable creatures."
"Laws of the heaven and earth…" Zhu Yao suddenly thought of Realmspirit. These so-called laws are made by that bastard, aren't they? Why do I suddenly feel like I'm about to get trolled?
"In any case, we can only figure out the situation by entering it." Yu Yan reached out his hand and held hers, tightening his grip. "This might be a hard battle. Are you prepared?"
Zhu Yao nodded heavily. "Mn." Since they were already here, they had to reach the goal no matter what.
She took a deep breath and held tightly onto her master. Just as she was about to step into the grass field, she suddenly thought of something. She turned to look at the male and male (female and female) leads that were still acting out their drama, and the corner of her lips twitched. She then spoke to the person that had long been waiting next to her.
"Yue Ying, bring them over as well."
Yue Ying's eyes shone and happily raised his leg. With a kick, he sent the two people that were still in a heated argument into the field.