Mistakenly entered a snake's lair

  He walked cautiously all the way, Xu Ziqing was nervous. He had only been practicing for less than a year and his cultivation was only at the first level of Qi refining, but that striped snake had a hundred years of Dao heritage, even if he had talismans in his hand, he still couldn't help but feel apprehensive.

  It's not surprising that Xu Ziqing was nervous, he died at the age of 18 in his previous life and spent his whole life confined to a sickroom. In this life, he has only lived for thirteen years, all of which were spent in a small villa like a paradise on earth, so his heart is still that of an adolescent. Even if he appears more mature than his peers due to his age, it's not by much. The previous demonic snake was something he had never seen before, how could he not be afraid? But the two cultivators he met later were only slightly older than him and killed the demonic snake in a split second! It seems that the demonic snake, which was extremely ferocious to him, is actually quite ordinary in the eyes of an average cultivator.

  As he thought about it, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. Indeed, his strength was too weak, and in this secret realm, even that demon snake could easily deal with him. Who knew how many more ferocious and terrifying demons lay ahead?

  Let out a sigh, now it's already been separated from He Guan Shi, thinking about it is useless, might as well just walk slowly and avoid some people.

  Xu Ziqing just looked for places with sparse trees and shallow grass to try to move forward, holding a red talisman in his hand that had the effect of gathering his breath. However, its duration was too short, only able to last two hours at most. For now, he hadn't encountered any great danger yet, so he prepared first, if he were to encounter some life-threatening calamity, he could immediately use it to escape with his life.

  Hiding like this for a while, Xu Ziqing encountered new trouble.

  A mere Qi-refining cultivator, I'm still far from being able to abstain from food, and after walking for half a day, even if I'm lucky enough not to encounter any demonic beasts, my stomach is growling with hunger.

  Rubbing his already slightly sore lower abdomen, Xu Ziqing let out a bitter laugh and prepared to find something to eat.

  Fortunately, the spiritual energy in this secret realm is abundant, giving birth to many plants. Although not all of them are spiritual objects, all kinds of fruits and the like are grown big and full, with bright colors. Xu Ziqing only needs to explore around to see if there's any danger, then he can pick some to use.

  Right in front of a clump of grass, there were many thumb-sized strip-shaped fruits. Xuzi Qing walked over quickly and first released a ball of spiritual energy to probe, seeing that there was indeed no unusual phenomenon, before slowly walking over.

  He waited for a moment at the edge of the grass, then carefully used his spiritual power to pluck a fruit and rub it against the ground. Suddenly, a faint fruity aroma wafted up, which smelled somewhat familiar.

  Xu Ziqing thought carefully, and suddenly had an idea. He carefully observed the leaves, roots and stems of the plant again, and then remembered that it was recorded in "Ling Cao Tu Jian" (a book about spiritual herbs) as Coral Grass.

  According to records, Coral Grass is just an extremely ordinary spiritual herb with a very weak amount of spiritual energy. If it were in the secular world, it would be considered a good medicine that can quickly stop bleeding, but in the eyes of cultivators, it is completely useless. The "Spiritual Herb Compendium" also only included it because it indeed contains spiritual energy, and there was no extra introduction.

  At this time, the coral grass was still useful for Xuziqing. The fruit it produced was sweet and non-toxic, not as good as some spiritual fruits that could increase cultivation, but it was harmless to fill hunger.

  Since there was no danger, Xu Ziqing immediately took action and picked all the fruits. He then sat down on the ground and started eating quickly. Due to the urgency of time and the need to be vigilant around him, Xu Ziqing simply wiped the skin with his hand and stuffed it into his mouth. Anyway, there was little dust in the secret realm, so it didn't matter.

  Before long, the fruit was eaten up, and Xu Ziqing's growling stomach finally felt a little full. He patted his hands, stood up, and continued walking forward.

  According to the previous statement, the secret realm was opened for a total of three days. During these three days, all the cultivators tried their best to gain as many benefits as possible. Once the time was up, the secret realm would expel everyone and seal itself again.

  This is beneficial to Xu Ziqing, and it's extremely difficult for him to safely meet up with the others with his meager abilities. However, if he were to think of a way to hide in the secret realm for a few days until it closes, that would be much easier.

  Thinking so, Xu Ziqing pondered to find a cave to hide in, but this secret realm hid countless killing machines, and it was unknown where the monsters were hiding. In the deep mountains and green waters, there must be many lurking, still need to be cautious.

  Think well and do, Xuzi Qing just regarded this as a solo hiking trip, so he found a mountain peak that didn't seem too dangerous and went there to walk. On the way, I also saw some wild fruits that could be eaten, naturally picked many, wrapped with sturdy leaves, really not daring to delay for half a moment.

  But things can't always go as planned. Just as Xu Ziqing climbed to the top of the peak to search for a cave, he encountered a tiger rabbit the size of a small calf!

  This tiger-rabbit has a "king" character on its forehead, with tiger stripes all over its body and sharp teeth in its mouth. Although it is stout, it also has the agility of a wild rabbit jumping around. It looks like a man-eating beast, and when it sees Xu Ziqing climbing up the mountain, it pounces on him, taking him as its prey.

  Xu Ziqing didn't expect the rabbits in this secret realm to be so terrifying. As he frantically dodged, his sleeves and pant legs were torn apart by the tiger rabbit's sharp claws, almost scraping against his skin. In desperation, he slapped out a red talisman, which was an explosive flame talisman.

  Only to see the red charm floating in mid-air, and the next moment a cluster of scarlet flames shot out, directly hitting the tiger and rabbit's body! The tiger and rabbit were shocked, immediately jumped up, but was splashed by this cluster of flames, the flames suddenly burst open, "bang!" Issued a loud explosion sound!

  The tiger rabbit wailed incessantly, immediately rolling on the ground, but the spark did not go out. In an instant, it was burned to death with its skin cracked and flesh burst!

  Xu Ziqing didn't expect the Blazing Talisman to be so powerful, and he couldn't help but feel a little sorry. However, this was not a place where either of them could show mercy, and even if the tiger's corpse was terrifying, it could only end like this. Letting out a sigh, he didn't think about taking the tiger's body to eat, but instead simply drew another talisman and quickly climbed up the mountain.

  After meeting the tiger rabbit, things went smoothly afterwards, and no more dangers were encountered. Xu Ziqing wandered around the mountain waist for a while, but couldn't find the cave, which made him feel somewhat disheartened. As the sky was about to darken, making people inevitably anxious, Xu Ziqing thought for a moment, then climbed higher again.

  After searching carefully for about half a time, I finally found a cave on the right side of the cliff, which was about three feet high and only allowed one person to enter. The width was also just enough for a slender figure to squeeze in. Xuzi Qing was extremely happy, he was only thirteen years old now, and his body was short and small, so he found a stone to step on, held the entrance of the cave with his hands, propped himself up and crawled inside.

  After entering the cave, Xu Ziqing felt that everything around him was blurry and he couldn't see things clearly inside the cave. Because this place was on the shaded side of the mountain, the light was even dimmer. He didn't think much about it, used his hand to feel the wall of the cave, which was a bit damp, and then touched the ground, which also had some muddy marks.

  This made Xu Ziqing somewhat uneasy, the cave in the mountain, if it was ownerless it would be fine, but if there were monsters living inside... However, thinking that this place was narrow and the outside sky had already darkened making it even more dangerous, he could only take a risk.

  After some thought, Xu Ziqing stood up and walked step by step into the depths of the cave, supporting himself against the wall. Fortunately, there was no smell of blood in the cave, so it was unlikely that any large ferocious beasts lived there, and since there was no smell of food either, it seemed that no ferocious beasts had eaten inside the cave before.

  The cave didn't look particularly spacious from the outside, but it was quite deep. Xu Ziqing walked forward for about 50-60 meters before reaching the bottom. There were no forks in the road inside the cave, only this one path, which wasn't straight and had several bends, but the cave was indeed safe. Xu Ziqing smiled slightly and sat down cross-legged with a sense of relief.

  He had been a bit uneasy in his mind before, but gradually calmed down. After all, he was also a person who went with the flow, and his temperament was calm and peaceful. Although he didn't dare to make a breakthrough in this place, he could take the opportunity to absorb more spiritual energy, which wouldn't hurt either.

  One night till dawn, quiet and soundless.

  The light outside grew brighter, and some of it seeped into the cave. Xuzi Qing opened his eyes, with a hint of green flashing in them, a sign that the wood element's spiritual power was circulating.

  After the spiritual energy circulated in the body for eighteen small weeks, those acupuncture points that had not been opened up seemed to have softened a bit. Although it was still early days before they were fully opened, there was a glimmer of dawn.

  Qing Mang finally retracted, revealing Xu Ziqing's pair of clear and warm eyes. He looked around, but was somewhat astonished. It turned out that on his left side, there was a pile of black objects. Last night, he couldn't see clearly, but now in this dim light, he could make out some outline.

  After all, he was just a young man, and he walked over with some curiosity, stretching out his hand to touch. But he thought better of it, stopping just short of making contact.

  Nor is it known whether it's poisonous...

  A thud in her heart, she didn't dare to touch it anymore, but looking was still okay. Xuzi Qing squatted down to take a closer look and only then discovered that there were scales reflecting black light.

  Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the pile of objects was actually in a long strip shape, with scales connected to leather, as if it had all fallen off together. This gave him an idea.

  It's probably... snake shedding its skin.

  Then it was a snake tongue, such a large piece of snakeskin, and the scales on its feet were as big as half a fist. Imagine what the body of this snake must be like. It's even possible that it's a mythical creature!

  Could it be a snake den in this cave?

  Xu Ziqing was greatly startled, and he recalled that the cave was narrow and winding, with a curved tunnel. At once, his mind matched the guesswork one by one. He hastily stood up, pulled up his legs, and walked out of the cave.

  He was lucky or the snake had taken a different route, for it did not return last night, but who knows when it will suddenly appear again? I really dare not delay another moment, this cave is absolutely impossible to continue living in.

  The farther he went, the more spider silk and horse tracks appeared. When Xu Ziqing came in, he leaned against the right side of the stone wall, so he didn't see that on the left side of the ground, many withered bones were scattered about. Looking at the distant years, it was strange that there was no stench.

  On the ground, snake-like crawling marks meandered, and some scales were scattered at the corners. Xuzi Qing walked faster and faster, and eventually broke into a run, rushing straight out of the cave!

  At this moment, a strong foul smell suddenly came, and sand and stones flew about, while in the sky, a strong wind suddenly sprang up.

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