Chapter 316
Chapter 316: Fearsome Grasslands (Part 4)
“Everyone, be careful! The area ahead is like the inner regions of the Yin Qi Graveyard, where the Level Two Yin Ghosts lurk. I want all of you to follow the team in front of you closely. Don’t lose track of them, and don’t break away from our present formation!” Yun Jiuge reminded all of the disciples behind her in a loud voice.
The lower-ranked disciples felt their knees go weak when they heard that the area before them was like the inner regions of the Yin Qi Graveyard.
They had never dared set foot in the Qi Graveyard’s inner regions before. A few times, they had encountered a Level Two Yin Ghost at the graveyard’s outer areas. But every single time that had happened, most of their teammates had just been wiped out instantly.
However, they couldn’t turn back now. All that they could do was bite the bullet and try their best to survive.
The deeper regions of the grasslands were filled with weeds as tall as trees. The disciples glimpsed numerous Blood Earthworms under the soil, but they looked nothing like the Blood Earthworms from before. Their bodies were about as wide as a grown man’s thigh, and their skin was rough and thick. Not only that, but they also possessed immense strength. It was evident that they were going to be extremely difficult to deal with.
Bing Xinlian waved about his Icy Frost Bone Spur, but the ice path he created was uneven.
Yun Jiuge and the rest of the disciples felt as though they were in a boat on choppy seas. Everyone had to strengthen their Icy Yin Qi Strikes on the ice path to ensure that it would not crumble.
However, by doing so, they inevitably used up more significant amounts of their spiritual power. Soon, many beads of sweat formed on Bing Xinlian’s flawless white forehead, and he stopped casting the Icy Yin Qi Strike for a moment to pop two Spiritual Revitalization Pills into his mouth.
Soon, there were casualties among the lower-ranked disciples. Fortunately, their teammates were able to remain composed. They did not kick up a fuss or create chaos for the rest of the disciples.
They knew very well that deaths were unavoidable now that they had made their way into deeper regions of the grasslands. If they had any chance of making it out alive, they had to move on and never look back.
When Yun Jiuge checked on the situation at the back of the formation, she knew that something had to be done at once. She turned to Bing Xinlian and demanded, “You possess a mutated Ice Spiritual Root, right?”
“That’s right,” Bing Xinlian replied and nodded. His spiritual root would have been treated as a treasure by the righteous sects, but in a faction like the Yin Corpse Sect, which practiced Black Magic, his spiritual root was regarded as trash. After all, it was not compatible with any of the techniques that they used in the Yin Corpse Sect!
There was nothing that Bing Xinlian could do about it. The Yin Corpse Sect was the only sect that he could join because his aunt was a part of it as well.
“Do you know how to freeze water into ice?” Yun Jiuge asked.
“Of course, I do,” Bing Xinlian shot back. He found Yun Jiuge’s question ridiculous.
The Ice Spiritual Root was derived from a mutation of the Water Spiritual Root. How could he not know how to control water?
“Alright. I’ll create a water path later, and I want you to try and turn that path into ice,” Yun Jiuge instructed.
Yun Jiuge’s proposed method was much more efficient, and it would also allow them to use less of their spiritual power. However, it required precise control from Bing Xinlian. She did not know if he was capable of it.
“Senior Brother Yun Jiu! Now’s not the time for him to try new things!” Little Fatty exclaimed hurriedly.
Thus far, they had been relying on Bing Xinlian’s Icy Frost Bone Spur to help create the ice path. Little Fatty knew very well that he would not be able to create the ice path all by himself without Bing Xinlian’s help.
“Nothing else matters right now. Just continue to do what you have been doing thus far,” said Yun Jiuge as she pulled out a glass bottle from her sack.
There was a green mist inside the bottle, and it was beautiful.
Little Fatty could not hide his curiosity and asked, “What is that?”
“Antiparasitic Spirits,” Yun Jiuge replied. She had especially refined them before setting off for the Secret Realm.
She had initially intended to use them against the poisonous mosquitoes or any other beasts that might attack her as a group inside the miasma. But she had changed her mind after sizing up their current predicament.
Now was definitely an excellent time to use the Antiparasitic Spirits against the Blood Earthworms. They were facing the wind at the moment, and the wind was blowing underneath them as well. These were the perfect conditions for pulling off her plan.
“Antiparasitic Spirits?!” Little Fatty restrained a laugh. He thought to himself, What an old-fashioned name!
Yun Jiuge ignored Little Fatty. She flung the bottle of Antiparasitic Spirits as far in front of her as she could.
The small glass bottle tumbled through the air. Right before it landed on the ground, a Bone Spur shrouded in black fog pierced it.
That Bone Spur was Yun Jiuge’s third Bone Spur, and it was capable of emitting poisonous gas. Yun Jiuge had never had a chance to use it before today.
The green mist inside the bottle pervaded the air, but its diffusion was restricted by Yun Jiuge’s Poisonous Gas Bone Spur, which constantly moved around in the air.
Before long, the green mist took on an elongated shape and solidified itself into many small green clouds. Then, the rain started to fall from the green clouds.
The rain droplets were a dark green color, and they went pitter-patter as they danced on the ground. The ferocious Blood Earthworms turned into puddles of blood the moment they came into contact with the dark green rain.
In the blink of an eye, the ground underneath the ice path became a river of blood.
At the sight, Little Fatty’s jaw dropped so far that an egg could have fit inside his mouth.
He thought to himself, Oh my god! Those Antiparasitic Spirits are so powerful!
At that moment, Little Fatty recalled a rumor which had described Senior Brother Yun Jiu as a Poisoner.
He had heard those rumors a long while back, but they had long since died down due to the fact that Senior Brother Yun Jiu did nothing but lock himself in his room and cultivate all the time.
Bing Xinlian could not help but swallow a mouthful of saliva after seeing what Yun Jiuge was capable of. He was confident that no one here would be able to withstand the attack that Yun Jiu had just unleashed.
“Don’t just stand there! Hurry up and turn all this blood into ice!” Yun Jiuge shot a warning glance at Bing Xinlian while thinking furiously, Why is he spacing out at a time like this?
“Ohhh!” Bing Xinlian snapped out of his reverie at once and immediately sent his Ice Energy toward the blood.
This time, Bing Xinlian did not just freeze up a wide area. Instead, he was even more precise with his usage of Ice Energy. He made sure to only freeze up the blood and nothing else.
The river of blood slowly hardened into ice before merging with their ice path.
They were not able to widen their existing ice path significantly, but Yun Jiuge was still pleased with the results.
“Let’s move!” Yun Jiuge continued to use the Antiparasitic Spirits and her Poisonous Gas Bone Spur to create numerous rivers of blood as they traveled onward.
Bing Xinlian was tasked with turning all those rivers of blood into ice.
Little Fatty, on the other hand, was in charge of killing the Blood Earthworms that somehow managed to escape Yun Jiuge’s attacks. The rest of the lower-ranked disciples were just instructed to follow carefully behind the three of them.
The group continued to run for some time. Eventually, they all made their way out of the grasslands alive.
Several disciples shed tears of joy when they saw the barren earth in front of them. They could not believe that they had managed to escape death.
“It’s not safe here. I want all of you to continue moving forward just a little bit more!” Yun Jiuge hurriedly urged.
Now is not the time to relax. No one knows whether the Blood Earthworms will pounce on us again, she thought to herself.
By then, quite a few disciples had collapsed to the ground. However, they quickly jumped to their feet and continued moving forward after hearing her words.
Su Junqing and the rest of the higher-ranked disciples were resting near a pile of rocks that were about 1 mile away from the grasslands when they heard the sound of scattered footsteps in the distance.
“Go and take a look,” Su Junqing ordered Broom Eyebrows Chen with a gesture.
“Yes,” Broom Eyebrows Chen replied. Even though he was extremely exhausted at the moment, he would not dare disobey Su Junqing.
He slowly dragged himself up a pile of rocks before peering into the distance. What he saw next nearly caused him to fall off the crags.
“What’s wrong?” Su Junqing asked.
“The lower-ranked disciples have all made their way out of the grasslands. There are about 700 of them in total,” replied Broom Eyebrows Chen in utter disbelief.
He was convinced that only the disciples who were a part of the elite team like him could make their way out of the grasslands in one piece. The lower-ranked disciples should all have perished there!
“How is that possible?” Su Junqing demanded. He was shocked as well.
The Blood Earthworms that lurked in the deeper regions of the grasslands were similar to a Level Two Yin Ghost. No one here would have survived their attacks if not for his Demonic Flower Bone Spur.
“It’s true. Come and take a look for yourself if you don’t believe me,” Broom Eyebrows Chen answered.
The Liu Sisters were already scrambling up the rock pile before Su Junqing could even move a muscle. When they saw Yun Jiu’s cold and alluring face, they became so emotional that they nearly cried.
They’d always known that Yun Jiu would not die in the grasslands because of how powerful he was.
“Senior Brother Yun Jiu! There are people on top of that pile of rocks!” Little Fatty yelled out.
“It’s the Liu Sisters,” Yun Jiuge answered. She had excellent eyesight and was instantly able to recognize the ruby ornaments that the Liu Sisters wore on their heads.
“We’ve finally caught up to them!” The disciples became energized and made their way toward the pile of rocks straightaway. It was not long before they met Su Junqing and the others.