Within the complex mountains, Hou Qing was leading the party while checking the path with a map he had received from the sect. They slashed through thorny bushes, leapt past cliffs, and climbed over ranges, but they were still far from their destination even after hours of walking under the heat of the midday sun. Their robes were soaked from their sweat, and a river stream could be seen some distance away, its crystal clear water a perfect resting location for the party to refresh themselves.
"Sh*t, I desperately need to wash my face. I'm sweating so much!" Qian complained as he rushed towards the stream. Lyu, however, made a sudden stride forward and grabbed Qian by the collar of his neck, stopping Qian in his tracks.
"Are you crazy?" Qian angrily yelled out.
Lyu's response was cold, "You're the one that's crazy. Do you want to die?"
Qian looked at the stream. The water was so clear that he could even see through to the bottom; nothing could possibly go wrong. "Are you kidding me? There is nothing wrong!"
Lyu did not respond. Instead, he looked around before stopping by a small snake on a nearby tree branch before placing his thumb and forefinger precisely on the upper third of the snake's body. Even as the snake struggled, it was unable to escape from Lyu and he then brought the animal over to the stream. Pressure surged through Lyu's fingers as he cut the snake into two, and its upper body fell into the water followed by the remains of its corpse.
Both parts of the snake body writhed and twisted while its blood tainted the clear waters.
In moments, something transparent and the size of small shrimps emerged in large groups within the seemingly safe stream. There were hundreds of thousands of these small creatures greedily attaching themselves to the body of the snake corpse, their tiny bodies taking on shades of red as they absorbed the flesh and blood from the snake. They were tiny little fish no larger than a small pinky.
The entire river stream was actually home to an enormous number of these transparent fish. Without a closer look, they were indistinguishable from the body of water, and only when they were feeding would they turn into the color of their prey's blood.
Seeing this, everyone except for Lyu felt an overwhelming sense of dismay, their lips and mouths drying up.
"Um… Shixiong Lyu, thank you." Qian in particular was especially thankful, and the look of fear lingered on his ferocious face.
"These are fish that have been contaminated by Demonic Qi. Although they don't have any specific cultivation levels, they travel and hunt in large groups and are extremely dangerous; if I didn't stop you right there, you would have become a set of bones by now. There are plenty of things like these in this Mount Miasma, so if you don't want to die, listen to both me and Shixiong Hou!" Lyu emotionlessly explained while both Qian and Zhao nodded their heads.
Fang Xing, however, looked on towards Qian as though it was a great pity he had been saved.
"What are you looking at? Little bastard, I'll feed you to the fish if you keep on looking at me like that!" Qian kicked Fang Xing again after sensing the gaze directed at him.
"Shut up. We need to keep going!" Hou Qing ordered as he took the lead once more, Qian and the rest of the party following behind.
The truth was, Fang Xing was indeed disappointed at the fact Qian had been stopped. Others might not have known it, but Fang Xing had in fact noticed the strange fish inside the stream well before anyone else. The entire Mount Miasma housed millions of insects and animals that were different compared to their ordinary counterparts, a result of the Foundation Stage Beast's death that had resulted in the overflowing amount of Demonic Qi. It had contaminated all that was alive, and even though these creatures had minimal cultivation, they all had various levels of Demonic Qi.
This Demonic Qi was—to a degree—similar to regular Qi, and it could also trigger the [Book of Revelation]. As soon as Fang Xing had entered the mountain, it was the same as entering the Pavilion of Spiritual Tools all over again; all of the information including the habits and preferences of every creature he walked past was instantly made available to him. With this, as soon as he had grown close enough to the river stream, he had recognized the presence of these strange fish—these so-called Fanged Minnows—and had been hoping to see a good show when he saw Qian on his way to becoming their feed. It was unfortunate that this had been stopped by Lyu.
'They sure are prepared for this. Gotta come up with a plan quick, or I won't be able to escape anymore!' Fang Xing considered his current situation while looking around him, utilizing the [Book of Revelation] to its maximum potential. He hoped to find some kind of advantage from the surrounding environment that would somehow act as a key to his escape.
As the party prepared to continue onward, some broken vines could be seen scattered in front of their path and it seemed as though these trees had been struck by lightning. There had been heavy rain within these mountain ranges, and it just so happened that the remaining vines were hanging lifelessly in a puddle that had by now turned into a black swamp, its terrible stench filling everyone's nostrils. Everybody was on high alert as they walked past such a swamp, just in case something was about to come flying out of it to attack them.
In fact, by now, everyone had become overly suspicious of everything. The forest had many more surprises for outsiders than they had ever considered.
Nobody would have imagined that in the next moment, Fang Xing would slip himself right into the swamp along with a loud shriek, as though he had lost his balance and fallen in. Fang Xing waved his hands in desperation for help while there seemed to be an unknown force tugging him downward. Fang Xing was nearly in tears, as only his head had managed to keep from being swallowed up by the filthy swamp.
"Haha…." the rest of the party laughed at the sight of the mud-covered Fang Xing.
"Help me! Help me! There's a monster pulling me down there!" Fang Xing screamed in desperation as though struggling to fight an unknown terror beneath him.
"Hehe, swamps have a natural suction, there is no monster!" Lyu let out a laugh as he grabbed on to Fang Xing's collar and began pulling him out like he was harvesting a giant carrot.
"But— but… there was definitely a monster. Ah, I think something bit me…." Before Fang Xing had calmed down, he wiped his hands all over his face, turning the only clean part of him as dirty and filthy as the rest of him.
"Stop smearing it all over yourself, will you? You smell bad enough already!" Qian once again kicked Fang Xing while giving a sly smile. "I can throw you into the stream here for a good wash, though."
Fang Xing gave a horrified expression and subconsciously moved closer towards the only other second-tier: Zhao.
"That was just a regular swamp. Nothing has bitten you; it's fine, let's go!" Lyu interrupted.
From that time onward, Fang Xing appeared extremely timid as he looked around himself in alarm. As they had arrived close to another part of the same river stream, Fang Xing grew even more nervous and began clenching tightly onto a corner of Zhao's robe in front of him, as if he was afraid Qian would really throw him in. Zhao, on the other hand, glanced at Fang Xing with disgust before slapping the arm away from his robe.
As the stream came within stepping distance, Fang Xing let out a scream as he pointed to a hilltop. "G— Giant Snake!"
Startled, everyone looked up at where Fang Xing was pointing, and it was at this exact moment that Fang Xing sent a clean stab right into the lower abdomen of Zhao before carrying him with himself into the river stream.
SPLASH
Before Hou Qing and the rest of the party had had time to react, the pair had both jumped into the water.
On the water's surface, wave after wave rippled across as schools of the Fanged Minnow rushed excitedly towards the splash for their feed. In mere moments, the crystal-clear water was turned blood-red as the fish sucked and stole tiny bites from their delicious lunch.
"Ahhhhhh—!" With an outcry of devastation and pain, someone came into view as he twisted and struggled to keep the fish away from him.
That someone was none other than Zhao.