Book 5 Chapter 5 (Part 1) Monsters Cannot Be Judged By Their Appearance

  Here, we only slept for a few hours. At dawn the next day, it was still dark and hazy, but we hastily departed without waiting for anyone else. We were well aware that once the Demon Lord returned to the Demon Realm, no one would be able to rescue Ju Danmei again.

  Before departure, Mouse King drew a rough map on the ground. To get to the Tomb of Flowers, he had to go to the Snowy Mountain first. From here to the Snowy Mountain, passing through the Sinking Sand River, Jade Spring Mountain, Stone Ghost Mountain, Flame Peak and nearly a hundred other big mountains, without stopping or resting, it would take at least half a month.

  "It's too slow, isn't there a shortcut?" I frowned and asked. Next month, the moon will be full again, and the Tianxia will disappear once more. The Demon Lord may return. We only have one month to make the round trip.

  The old mouse drew another piece of land near our thicket and replied, "Yes. After leaving the thicket, cross the quicksand river, and to the north there is a small path leading to a large flower field. However, it's easy to get lost there, and there are many flower spirits in the flower field who like to play tricks on people. But after passing through the flower field, you will reach the Snow Mountain of Shooting Stars."

  "Then let's take this small path." I said without hesitation, and Hai Ji and Gan Ning both nodded in agreement. As for the flower spirit, if even they couldn't handle it, not to mention that Ye Liu Bing. Following the shortcut indicated by Mouse Gong Gong, we would arrive at She Gong Xue Shan in just seven days.

  On the road, we hastened our pace. When we were hungry, Mouse would find some wild fruits or catch small birds and beasts to fill our stomachs. According to him, in recent years, the Demon Master had almost subdued all the major demons in the Demon Realm, and the remaining minor demons had surrendered one after another. Including Ye Liu Bing, there were originally ten great demon kings in the Demon Realm, each occupying a region. Later, three were killed by the Demon Master, four were subdued, and Afanti, Ku Qi, and Tulufan, three demon kings refused to surrender, and their whereabouts are still unknown today.

  "Tulufan has already died at the hands of the Demon Lord." I sighed, wiping away the sweat beads on my forehead. Despite the dense foliage above, I could still feel the scorching sunlight. Unlike Hongchen Tian, the daytime in Moxiantian was extremely hot. Because in the sky, three dazzling suns had risen one after another!

  The old mouse took a large banana leaf and fanned me diligently, saying: "As I said, the demon master gets angry, the consequences are very serious. Young master is best not to provoke him. You were not always bullying the weak and fearing the strong in your previous life, how did you become this way in this life, becoming a bit dull?"

  "Hai Ji glared at him: 'What do you know? The dragon butterfly of the previous life was sinister and cunning, but now Lin Fei is clever and brave, a hundred times stronger than before!'"

  I felt a warmth in my heart. I pinched the sharp ears of Old Mouse: "We'll fight with wits, not force. Don't worry, to save Ji Danmei, we don't necessarily have to clash head-on with Ye Liu Bing."

  As we ventured deeper into the jungle, we often encountered ferocious beasts. Some hid in tree holes and suddenly pounced on us; others were agile like a phantom, swooping past the treetops, leaving no time to see their appearance. These strange creatures were bizarre and unlike any I had ever seen before. But when they met me, it was their misfortune - I skinned them, gnawed at their flesh, and devoured their internal organs until I was full.

  Just as they were about to leave the last thicket, Old Mouse became fully alert, plucked a whisker and put it in his mouth. After blowing on it for half a day, the whisker transformed into a small grey mouse that scurried down to the ground and ran straight ahead.

  "Master, there are several terrifying monsters nearby. Let the little mouse scout ahead first, and we'll follow behind." The old mouse carefully tread on the thick fallen leaves, taking one step at a time, looking around three times, his pointed ears twitching from time to time. This forest was particularly quiet, with ancient trees towering into the sky, extremely sturdy, several people couldn't even wrap their arms around them.

  A little mouse was passing by a giant tree with red dates when suddenly, the dense branches and leaves "swished" down and wrapped around the little mouse, rolling it up. In the deep shade of the tree, a big black hole appeared, swallowed the little mouse, and then hid in the treetop again.

  I struck without hesitation, aiming at the giant tree with a pulse-cutting knife. The golden knife energy flashed by. The trunk of the tree split open, spewing out bright red sap.

  The old mouse stared at the splattered tree sap on the ground. His face changed, and he hastily retreated: "It's a Blood Tree Centipede! Young Master, quickly dodge!"

  The red sap flowed like a small centipede. No! The sap wasn't flowing, it was crawling! They turned into living blood centipedes, dozens of feet moving at an astonishing speed, and in the blink of an eye they were by our feet, arching their bodies, opening their mouths, and biting down with a pair of venomous fangs like curved hooks.

  The princess slashed out the meridian knife, and the golden light of the knife changed from one to two, two to four, transforming into layers of knife shadows that cut through the blood centipedes. Blood splashed everywhere, and the blood centipedes shattered into tiny droplets of blood, but the blood droplets splattered on the ground transformed into hundreds and thousands of blood centipedes, forming a crimson circle that pounced towards us.

  "These blood centipedes are indestructible, the only way is to cut down this Blood Centipede Tree! And then dig up its roots and burn them away! Must burn it clean!" Mouse Lord fled with his head in his hands, his voice came from a distant place, he ran so fast that he was gone without a trace. Wow, when encountering danger, he only knows how to save himself, is this my loyal servant?

  "Hu", Gan Ning swung his sword scabbard, and a jet of water shot out, stabbing towards the giant tree. The dense branches curled down, wrapping around the long sword like an octopus. Gan Ning let out a clear whistle, and the water seemed to take on a life of its own, quivering elegantly as the leaves fell off one by one, dropping to the ground, and transforming into thick, long

  I seized the opportunity, turned my left arm into an iron axe, and used all my strength to chop.

  The giant tree shook violently and split open a very deep mouth, with blood gushing out and turning into even more blood centipedes that swarmed towards us in dense clusters.

  "Little rascal, you and Gan Ning just focus on chopping down trees, I'll deal with these crawling creatures!" Hai Ji took out the golden conch and blew it lightly, releasing a glittering golden network that instantly enveloped all the blood centipedes. The blood centipedes inside were like fish trapped in a net, unable to escape no matter how hard they struggled.

  Branches wildly rolled towards us, the scabbard of Gan Ning's sword flew about, and the boundless sword energy continuously chopped up branches and leaves. I aimed at the wound on the trunk, and with a fierce swing of my axe, struck again.

  With a loud "boom", a deafening roar came from the depths of the tree shade, and the giant tree shook violently. The branches and leaves stretched out to both sides like an open umbrella, revealing a large hole at the top of the tree. The roar was coming from inside the hole. On either side of the upper end of the hole, two inky black beads were embedded, blinking and emitting an eerie glow.

  I didn't have time to think much, the third axe chopped towards the trunk. "Whoosh", the axe grazed past the trunk and this one inexplicably chopped empty air.

  I clearly saw that when the axe chopped past, the tree trunk twisted and dodged the axe. At this moment, the branches suddenly bent and turned into writhing tendrils, the leaves transformed into scales, and two rows of curved hooks emerged from the trunk. The entire large tree coiled up, twisted, and then dived down violently, turning into a terrifying giant centipede! The inky black beads were its eyes! The big hole was its mouth!

  I immediately retreated, my axe transforming into a giant shield to protect my entire body. My right palm struck out with the Pulse Slashing Knife. The centipede's body swayed, avoiding the knife energy. Gan???? took advantage of the momentum and swung his sword scabbard, cutting off dozens of legs.

  The giant centipede let out a loud roar, its massive mouth open wide, spewing out a mouthful of crimson sand. I employed the Mirror Pupil Secret Technique, reflecting all the cinnabar back at it, striking the giant centipede with a series of loud cracks, causing it to shudder in pain. The giant centipede seemed to be enraged, furiously counterattacking, its curved hooks on its belly swinging out in unison, sending nearby trees flying and mud splashing everywhere.

  "Hai Ji suddenly said: 'You see, this centipede can only stay in its original place!'"

  I also realized that the lower body of the giant centipede was exactly like a tree, rooted in the soil, and it couldn't move at all. It relied on its upper body to move around, so its attack range was only over ten zhang away. Gan Ning quickly retreated, retreating to a position twenty zhang away from the centipede, and three thousand Weak Water Swords were drawn out of their scabbards.

  A brilliant rainbow flashed, and the sword's edge accurately cut into the wound of the giant centipede. With a loud crash, the giant centipede was severed in two, its upper half heavily falling to the ground, stirring up a bloody rain. As soon as the Blood Tree Centipede was severed, the blood centipedes in the meridian network instantly turned into blood water.

  I gazed at the dazzling sword light that slowly disappeared into thin air, and I couldn't help but feel envious. Gan Ning had his Three Thousand Weak Water Swords, Hai Nu had her Golden Spiral Shell, even that young master Sakura had a broken knife... if only I could get my hands on a suitable weapon, how cool would that be?

  "Little rascal, what's wrong with you? Quickly dig out the lower half of your body and burn it away!" Hai Ji said. I deployed my Armed Aegis Technique, transforming my arm into a hoe, digging open the mud and excavating the crimson roots that were tangled inside. This was strange enough - clearly a centipede, yet it had tree roots. The roots were long and deep, extending several hundred feet underground, with red eggs stuck to them.

  I circulated the Pure Yang Flame Heart Method, spewing out a mouthful of Samadhi True Fire, and the tree roots began to burn, emitting the aroma of roasted meat. I walked up to the corpse of a half-severed giant centipede, squatted down, tore open its belly, and searched for the inner elixir, but after searching for half a day, I still couldn't find it.

  Looking at the charred tree roots, Hai Ji smiled and said: "The monsters of Mozitian are indeed rare, coming once is also a gain in experience. Hmm, there are still a few tree roots here that haven't been burned."

  No sooner had the words fallen than I heard Gan Ning shout, "Lin Fei, be careful!" A strong gust of wind blew across my face, and the half-dead centipede's body suddenly stood up, its eyes glowing with a fierce black light. Its huge mouth opened wide and bit towards me. The fresh blood around us began to twist and flow, as if it was going to transform into countless blood centipedes once again.

  I was shocked, in a state of urgency, three dragon butterfly claws simultaneously extended, the green claw wrapped around the centipede's head and neck, the blue claw rapidly froze it, and the red claw extended backwards, aiming at the remaining roots on the ground, spewing out a fireball.

  The remaining tree roots were immediately burned by the fierce flames, "plop", and the centipede finally fell down. The fresh blood also stopped flowing instantly. I was frightened out of a cold sweat, kicked the centipede's corpse hard with my foot, and said: "No wonder Master Mouse said to burn the tree roots clean, it turns out this guy can fake death."

  "Hey, where's that mouse spirit of yours? Why isn't it here?"

  "This timid fellow has been scared away. If we didn't need him as a guide, I would have kicked him out." I shouted at the top of my lungs: "Mouse Sir, come out quickly, the Blood Tree Centipede has been killed by us!"

  He shouted several times, but didn't hear Old Mouse respond. Gan Ning's eyebrows furrowed as she gazed out with her clear and transparent lotus eyes, then frowned and said, "He's in trouble." She darted off towards the north.