A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 437: Such Causes and Such Fate

Duan Rong shuttled through the dark forest.

Although the place where the Black Fire Lotus was located was still on the edge of the Dark Forest, it was much deeper than the place where Duan Rong had hunted Yuan Beasts before. Therefore, Duan Rong was more careful at this time, and his spiritual sense had been fully released to cover the surroundings.

He had not encountered any accidents along the way, and he avoided all the Yuan Beasts, big or small.

He didn't come here to hunt and kill the Yuan Beast this time, and didn't want to cause any trouble.

Moreover, there is still a lot of flesh and blood of Yuan Beasts in the black jade pool of the secret training room that has not yet been refined.

Duan Rong locked the direction and moved forward.

After a while, I suddenly saw strange lights and shadows appearing and disappearing in the gaps between the trees in front of me.

Duan Rong immediately stopped and hid behind a big rock, his eyes flashing.

The strange light and shadow flickered back and forth in the forest like a fleeting light...

Moreover, that place was quite far away from Duan Rong, and was even beyond the range of his spiritual sense. It was only because the Dark Forest was already dark that Duan Rong could see it from afar.

Duan Rong hid behind the big rock and was extremely alert.

Fan Hongjiao once said that in the dark forest, the strange plants are more dangerous than the Yuan beasts.

"What is that strange light flickering between the trees ahead?"

Duan Rong crawled on the ground and slowly sneaked towards that place.

Soon, the spiritual sense had covered the area.

I saw that it was a cliff with a black hole on it, which seemed to be the cave of some kind of beast.

And below the cliff is a deep pool.

The pool of water was covered with pure black lotus flowers, lotus leaves and lotus pods.

The lotus leaves and lotus pods were fine, they were just as black as ink and there was nothing strange about them.

But the lotus flowers dotted among the lotus leaves and lotus pods, some in bud, some in full bloom, and some withering, their stamens and petals were all burning with a rich black fire.

A light breeze blew, and the black lotus swayed gently in the wind...

The shadow of the black fire kept flickering, like a dancing ghost.

When Duan Rong's spiritual sense detected this place, he breathed a sigh of relief. He thought he had encountered some evil spirits, but it turned out to be the place where the Black Fire Lotus was.

However, this black fire lotus is also quite strange. The fire shadow looks really creepy from afar in the dark night.

Duan Rong stood up and walked slowly towards here, but his spiritual sense was always exploring the surroundings and he did not dare to relax at all.

Duan Rong walked closer, hid behind a big tree, and looked towards the cliff and the deep pool.

The pool of water was covered with pure black lotus leaves and lotus pods, dotted with black fire. In the endless darkness all around, the strange scene in front of him made Duan Rong feel cold all over.

This seemed to be an illusion that could only appear in the deepest hell, but now it was unfolding so realistically before his eyes.

Duan Rong's eyes moved and he stared at a lotus pod that was peeking out from between the lotus leaves at the edge of the pond closest to him.

The black lotus pod was bulging and the lotus seeds were full. They were exactly the seeds of the black fire lotus that he wanted to obtain.

Although the lotus pod seemed not too far away from him, only about two meters away, Duan Rong did not move over to pick the lotus pod. His eyes were fixed on the pool full of lotus leaves and the cave on the cliff, his cold gaze flickering back and forth.

He knew that the seeds of the black fire lotus were very important to the fire toad in the pool and the fire weasel in the cave on the cliff. That thing would be of great benefit to the growth of these two Yuan beasts.

They will never allow anyone to pick them and take them away.

Wu Shidao's records only said that the fire toad and fire weasel were difficult to deal with, but he did not record their abilities in detail.

Duan Rong was not prepared to go up rashly, after all, there were two Yuan beasts here. And his soul illusion, Yinghuo, could only control one Yuan beast at present.

In other words, he had to rely on his strength and kill another Yuan Beast before he could safely pick the lotus pod.

"Let's first understand the habits of these two Yuan beasts..." Duan Rong stood there, muttering to himself.

At least we have to see their appearance, so that we can play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, and decide which Yuan Beast to control with spiritual illusion and which Yuan Beast to kill with real strength.

Obviously, it would take a lot of time to observe the two Yuan beasts, so Duan Rong decided to find a place where it would be convenient for observation.

He chose a good location and was about to hide in the crown of the big tree, but suddenly he found that the big tree seemed to have been burned, and then grew lush branches and leaves again.

Therefore, a large section of the trunk is actually hollow.

Duan Rong smiled slightly.

If you hide in the trunk of a tree, your vision will be better than if you were in the crown and observing through the gaps between the branches and leaves.

He moved his body and, like a ghost, entered the burning hollow tree trunk.

Duan Rong hid inside the tree trunk. The vital energy on his fingertips flashed slightly and he tapped the trunk three times in a row. Immediately, three small holes appeared on the trunk in front of him.

Duan Rong could see almost the entire area in front of him through the three small holes.

After he hid inside the tree trunk, he withdrew his exploring consciousness.

After he entered the dark forest, he used his spiritual sense to explore as much as possible. However, the black fire lotus was located quite deep inside the forest, so it took a lot of energy to use his spiritual sense to explore all the way.

So he withdrew his spiritual consciousness and took a rest. If necessary, he would use the soul illusion technique.

Moreover, since he was hiding in the tree trunk, which was so secretive and not dangerous for the time being, there was no need to keep his spiritual sense open to detect him. That would only make him more likely to be exposed.

Duan Rong withdrew his spiritual sense and stared at the quiet pool of water through the small hole in front of him. He knew that the fire toad was hiding deep in the pool.

Just as he was staring at the pool of water, suddenly a spiritual sense passed through his head, apparently sweeping across the crown of the tree.

"Someone?!"

Duan Rong shrank his head in shock and immediately held his breath.

Almost at the same time, he looked through the small hole in the tree trunk and saw a figure flashing out from the edge of the dense forest diagonally opposite.

The figure was slender, holding a long sword and wearing a light green dress.

The flame shadow on the black fire lotus reflected her cold and beautiful face.

"Is it Lu Qingzhu!?" Duan Rong looked surprised.

Lu Qingzhu stood not far from the pool of water, like a lonely flower in the darkness.

Duan Rong stared at her for a while, and began to doubt. Why did Lu Qingzhu come here? It couldn't be that she came here to hunt the two Yuan beasts, the Fire Toad and the Fire Weasel. Even Wu Shidao marked those two Yuan beasts as difficult to deal with, not to mention that Lu Qingzhu had not yet advanced to the Cyclone Realm.

Duan Rong suddenly noticed that Lu Qingzhu's gaze was fixed on a black lotus pod beside the pond not far from her.

"She also came here for the Black Fire Lotus's seeds?!"

Just as Duan Rong was wondering, Lu Qingzhu had already dodged and hid in the crown of the big tree beside her.

The branches and leaves of the big tree swayed for a while, and then fell silent. Lu Qingzhu had obviously scanned the area with her spiritual sense just now, but when she scanned the place where Duan Rong was hiding, she only scanned the lush tree canopy with her spiritual sense, and did not notice that the trunk was hollow.

Although the tree had been burned, its branches and leaves were still very lush, covering the exposed part of the hollow trunk that had been burned. It was indeed difficult to find it unless you got close and took a look.

Duan Rong hid in the tree trunk, his eyes flickering. Since Lu Qingzhu also came for the seeds of the black fire lotus, and he was hiding in the hollow tree trunk without being exposed, he could just sit back and reap the benefits without making any noise.

After Lu Qingzhu dealt with the two Yuan beasts and left after picking lotus pods, he could go out and pick lotus pods.

He didn't believe that Lu Qingzhu could pick all the lotus pods in this pond.

Just as Lu Qingzhu hid in the tree canopy, about half an incense stick later.

Suddenly, bubbles began to emerge from the lotus leaves in the pond. Then a lotus leaf somewhere by the pond began to sway, and a dark shadow crawled out from the edge of the deep pool.

The thing was soaked all over, and was as big as two sturdy men stacked on top of each other. Its back was covered with festering sores.

The fire toad had red eyes and was crawling on the edge of the pond. Suddenly, it opened its mouth wide and a fiery red tongue slid out, grabbing a lotus pod and rolling it back into its mouth.

The fire toad swallowed the lotus pod and cried out in satisfaction. At this moment, the dense branches and leaves in the tree canopy not far away trembled and a slender figure jumped out.

The fire toad noticed the moment the figure leaped out. Its red eyes flashed with a hint of anger, and it was obviously very angry that someone had disturbed it while eating.

But just as it was about to stick out its tongue and roll towards the person in the air, a flickering glow suddenly appeared in front of its eyes.

The glow is like a firefly in the dark night.

When Duan Rong saw the flickering firefly light from the small hole in the tree, his heart trembled.

"Is it Firefly!?"

"Lü Qingzhu has also learned the art of soul illusion!"

At this moment, Duan Rong finally understood why Lu Qingzhu came here like him to pick the seeds of the black fire lotus.

It turned out that she had already achieved the eleventh level of the Taizang Sutra and was about to practice the twelfth level.

No wonder, the last time she met Lu Qingzhu in the dark forest, she was alone.

She also used Mars to hunt and kill the Yuan beast, so one person was enough.

He met Lu Qingzhu both times when he came down to the Dark Forest. I wonder if this is fate?
However, Duan Rong was still very curious.

He believed that he was able to cultivate the Taizang Sutra to the twelfth level in such a short period of time by devouring tree spirits.

The light threads contained in the tree spirit are exactly the same light threads that the four great statues peeled off and extracted from the thick fog in their sea of consciousness when they were practicing the Taizang Sutra.

These two kinds of light threads are the same source of soul.

Therefore, during the practice, the light threads within the tree spirit were directly absorbed by the Taizang Sutra.

It was thanks to this opportunity that Duan Rong was able to quickly accomplish the Taizang Sutra, which was originally extremely difficult to achieve.

Then how did Lu Qingzhu accomplish the eleventh level of the Taizang Sutra and learn the soul illusion technique of Mars in such a short time?
Duan Rong suddenly remembered something Zhu He had said to him.

Zhu He said that Lu Qingzhu had the sect's ancestor behind her, so as her teacher, she had to give her some leeway.

"The ancestor of Taiyi Sect, Lu Yinlin!"

Obviously, Lu Qingzhu was able to achieve the eleventh level of the Taizang Sutra because the ancestor of the Taiyi Sect must have used some means to help her practice.

At this moment, at the edge of the Black Fire Lotus pool, the fire toad was like a petrified being, motionless, with its tongue hanging at the corner of its mouth.

Lu Qingzhu's figure was like a ghost, flashing in front of the fire toad. The sword shadow flashed, and with the infusion of vital energy, he cut open the belly of the fire toad.

The gushing blood sprayed all over her face.

The most powerful feature of this fire toad is its tongue. It is difficult for warriors to get close to it and they are often forced to retreat.

The biggest weakness of this fire toad is its belly, which is the softest part of its body, and it is not covered with tumors like its back.

The fire toad's internal organs and dirty blood were all over the ground. It was already dead and could not be deader. At the edge of the pool, a strong smell of blood filled the air...

Just after the fire toad died, a red shadow suddenly jumped out from the dark cave on the cliff.

The shadow was like a ball of fire, moving as fast as a ghost, and attacked Lu Qingzhu at the edge of the pool.

It was another Yuan beast, the Fire Weasel.

The fire weasel and the fire toad had been together for many years and had already developed feelings for each other. Seeing the fire toad die, they became even more furious.

After Lu Qingzhu killed the fire toad, he held a long sword and stared at the cave.

She knew that the fire weasel would smell the blood and come out to attack.

This was also the plan she had thought of before, to first use Mars to kill the fire toad, and then fight with the fire weasel.

The fire weasel flickered around Lu Qingzhu, just like a ball of fire dancing around her in the dark night.

Lu Qingzhu's heart sank a little bit. The speed of the fire weasel was so fast that even though she had swung her sword to the extreme, she still couldn't hurt it at all.

Lu Qingzhu quickly adjusted her tactics, switching from offense to defense. She believed that the fire weasel's strange speed could not be maintained forever.

Sure enough, after the fire weasel surrounded her and attacked her several times, its speed seemed to have slowed down a bit.

After the fire weasel slowed down, Lu Qingzhu suddenly attacked, fiercely striking the fire weasel with the sharp edge of his sword, putting the fire weasel in danger.

Suddenly, Lu Qingzhu stabbed the fire ferret's neck from behind with a sword. It seemed that he was about to succeed, and he stabbed the fire ferret's vital part.

But at this moment, a large ball of thick yellow gas suddenly spurted out from the fire weasel's butt.

Duan Rong was in the tree hole, and through the small hole he saw a thick yellow gas that instantly enveloped Lu Qingzhu.

The fire ferret's fart is its killer move!
The moment the yellow gas came out, Lu Qingzhu held her breath, but it was too late. Although only a thin gas rushed into her nasal cavity.

But she still felt like vomiting from the smell and almost couldn't hold her breath.

The fire weasel's fart is not only extremely smelly, but also has a strong anesthetic effect.

Lu Qingzhu's eyes turned black, and the hand holding the sword became weak and limp.

At this moment, the fire weasel's sharp claws slashed towards her throat.

At the moment Lu Qingzhu fainted, he saw a figure jumping out from a tree trunk not far away.

There was actually a person hiding in that tree trunk? !
But no matter whether the man was trying to save her or harm her, it was too late, because the fire weasel's sharp claws were only half an inch away from cutting her throat.

"Am I going to die?"

At the moment when Lu Qingzhu was about to die, a dark-faced figure seemed to be standing in front of her, looking at her with a beautiful smile.

She laughed and cursed, "It's you again," and then fainted.

(End of this chapter)