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

Chapter 557 Demon Thorn Taro
Duan Rong stood there, his legs weak, a wave of nausea rising within him, and he barely managed to stop vomiting.

He turned his head and glanced at the eerie, black crystal-like opening behind him. He saw figures being flung out of the mirror, which shimmered with a chilling light, and falling to the ground like sandbags.

Several people, as soon as they hit the ground, collapsed and vomited, bile and snot streaming down their faces...

Duan Rong wasn't surprised by their reaction at all. He knew very well what they had experienced in the passage opened by the great formation. He had gone through the same thing.

It was like putting a person into a giant concrete mixer and turning it on full blast for a full hour.

Duan Rong was able to stop vomiting because there was practically nothing in his stomach. He had started fasting the day before entering the ruins of gods and demons, drinking only water.

Some of them had eaten quite a bit before setting off, hoping to conserve their energy in the ruins of gods and demons, but unfortunately, they had all vomited it all up.

Actually, their idea wasn't wrong.

Because the laws within the ruins of gods and demons are different, they cannot activate the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, nor can they utilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within the space. Furthermore, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within their dantian is very limited.

Within the ruins of gods and demons, their speed and combat power were suppressed by the distorted laws.

Moreover, if they cannot activate the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, they will not be able to ride the wind. Even if they could ride the wind, the limited amount of Yuan Qi in their Dantian would not allow them to fly very far. Therefore, physical strength is particularly important in the ruins of gods and demons.

During the training camp, Duan Rong ate lavish meals of meat and fish every day to replenish the blood and energy in his muscles. He only started fasting the day before departure.

After Su Xinjue was the last one to be thrown out, the eerie, black crystal-like hole behind them shook for a moment and then disappeared.

As soon as Su Xinjue came out, she vomited violently, her beauty vanished, and her face turned pale.

Before the others could react, Guo Tian, ​​the first to emerge, took out a map from his backpack, unfolded it in his hand, and began to compare it with the scene before him.

Guo Tian was not only the first to be dumped, but like Duan Rong, he also started fasting the day before.

Duan Rong then took out a map from the backpack behind him, unfolded it, and looked around at the scene before him.

He thought the place wouldn't be big since it was called a ruin, but once he entered, he discovered that this world seemed vast and endless, at least as far as the eye could see...

Actually, these ruins of gods and demons aren't that large, stretching only about a hundred miles. As a place, it's certainly not small, but as an independent world with its own laws, it's nothing special. Stretching for a hundred miles, it's only about the size of Xian Gu County.

The passage opened by the great formation threw them in from a relatively central location within the ruins.

Because the core place they were going to was the central altar within the ruins of gods and demons, where they would receive the blessings and nourishment whispered by the gods and demons.

From this relatively central location, looking up, one naturally cannot see the boundary of the ruins of gods and demons...

This place is a relic of gods and demons, with an eerie pale yellow sky above it, making one feel very oppressed when looking up.

All around, near and far, were collapsed rocks.

For a moment, everyone felt as if they were in a huge, chaotic jungle.

The collapsed rocks were enormous, resembling a series of small, continuous hills.

Although the surface of those scattered broken stones is old and mottled, you can still see many ancient and intricate carvings on the surface.

The area before us appears to be a very important architectural complex in what was originally a world of gods and demons.

However, after the decline of the Heavenly Dao and the collapse of its laws, this place sank underground after a series of changes.
After countless years of erosion, it has become so dilapidated!
The reason this world of gods and demons was ultimately preserved is because of the whispers of gods and demons at its central altar.

The whispers of gods and demons at this central altar are not only highly effective in preserving the laws within these divine and demonic ruins, but also greatly nourish the souls of cultivators in this realm. Similarly, even in the world of gods and demons, the whispers of gods and demons at this central altar are extremely important and have great effect on gods and demons as well.

This can be seen from these massive, mountain-like ruins alone, revealing the former grandeur and glory of this architectural complex!
Unfortunately, the original appearance of these building complexes can no longer be seen.

Within these ruins of gods and demons, not a single building remains; only scattered broken stones, piled up like small hills, tell the lament of bygone eras…

Du Wan glanced at Guo Tian, ​​who had been studying the unfolded map for a while, and asked, "Have you figured out where we are?"

Guo Tian remained silent with a stern face.

After ten days of intensive training, the personalities of the eight people had become quite clear. Guo Tian was taciturn and rarely interacted with others, but he was reliable in his work.

His silence meant he didn't realize it.

Everyone then turned to look at Duan Rong, because only the two of them had taken out the map and looked at it for a while, while the rest of the people had just finished vomiting.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Duan Rong shook his head and said, "There are scattered boulders everywhere, making it impossible to determine our location. Let's choose a direction and head in one direction. Only when we encounter a conspicuous landmark can we use that landmark to determine our location."

Upon hearing this, everyone secretly agreed, because the surrounding area was full of scattered large stones, making it impossible to distinguish any differences, so how could they determine the location?

Without knowing their location, they couldn't determine their route to the central altar!
Guo Tian closed the map in his hand and walked in one direction.

He clearly agreed with Duan Rong's statement and put it into action!
Everyone immediately followed, and the direction Guo Tianxuan was heading was already the most open in terms of terrain.

The open terrain provides a relatively wide field of vision, making it easier for them to determine their location.

The group walked on a "path" between two piles of collapsed rocks. What was a path to the gods and demons was actually a wide road to them, wide enough for four carriages to travel side by side.

On the broken bluestone floor, there were many tangled weeds.

As they walked, several people behind them began searching among the wild grass.

Perhaps a miraculous medicine is hidden among the wild grass.

If you collect the divine medicine and bring it back, you can exchange it for resources with the sect.

Duan Rong glanced at the clump of weeds at his feet and walked over with an icy expression. He had no interest in ordinary divine medicines. As he cultivated under the tutelage of the sect's patriarch, Lü Yinlin, resources were virtually unlimited for him.

The only two divine herbs he cared about were the Crimson Arrow Flower and the Azure Flame Grass. However, the Crimson Arrow Flower was quite easy to obtain within the ruins of gods and demons. According to Lin Youjian and Liu Su, twenty-nine years ago, the area near the central altar of the mysterious ruins was already covered with Crimson Arrow Flowers. Since this flower had already grown in abundance near the central altar, it was likely to be even more luxuriant now that twenty-nine years had passed.

Therefore, Duan Rong was no longer worried about the Red Arrow Flower; once they reached the central altar, they could naturally pick it.

The Jade Flame Grass is a divine medicine that thrives in extremely shady places. It cannot grow in bright light and can only grow well in dark places.

How could there possibly be a green flame grass among the roadside weeds in such bright sunlight?
After some investigation, they found a few rare medicinal herbs. However, due to their young age, their medicinal properties were weak, and their value was greatly reduced. Nevertheless, they still collected those rare medicinal herbs.

Lu Chu, who was walking in front, suddenly turned to look at the group of people dawdling behind him and said, "Stop wasting your time. What kind of miraculous herbs could there be here? Every group that comes here picks them up as they go! Even if there were a few miraculous herbs, they wouldn't be able to keep them!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was taken aback, realizing that Lu Chu's words made sense.

That's true. The passages that led to the start of the great formation, although the exits varied each time, were not far apart and were all within this area.

The terrain here is open, and countless people have walked this road, so the probability of the divine medicine remaining is indeed very low.

More importantly, they need to travel through this unfamiliar and complex terrain, reaching the central altar within a month to receive nourishment from the whispers of gods and demons, before returning to this place.

Because the passage at the beginning of the great formation will reopen in a month to guide them back; if they are too slow, they will miss it.

Once trapped in these ruins of gods and demons, there is almost no precedent for survival!
A day and night inside the Ruins of Gods and Demons is different from the one outside. Inside the Ruins of Gods and Demons, a day and night consists of eighteen hours, which is one and a half times the length of a day and night outside.

Based on this calculation, and according to the time system within the ruins of gods and demons, they only have twenty days to make a round trip.

The terrain was so harsh and chaotic, and it was a completely unfamiliar place. Moreover, they could not fly on the wind, and they could not use the little remaining spiritual energy in their dantian indiscriminately, because there were evil spirits in the ruins of gods and demons, and there might be other unexpected events. They had to preserve their spiritual energy to deal with the variables.

In other words, they could only use their physical strength to run a round trip in this unfamiliar and complex terrain, which was actually quite difficult.

Lu Chu's words were an urging for them to hurry up and not waste time.

The few people who had fallen behind also realized that they had only been excited and curious about the divine medicine at first. They immediately gave up their search and caught up with the group.

After walking for a while, Du Wan suddenly looked at a spot by the roadside and slowly walked over, laughing as she went, "Brother Lu, what you said is indeed reasonable. But, you know, there are always exceptions in this world. Look, isn't there a silver-edged purple vine here?"

Upon hearing this, everyone paused slightly and looked toward the roadside where Du Wan was heading.

Beside a huge, broken rock crashed to the side of the road, a purple-red violet with silver edges grew alone, its entire body a deep purple, adorned with silver edges, swaying gently in the breeze...

Judging from its condition, it's at least forty years old.

Du Wan had already approached the silver-edged purple herb, bent down to pick it, and said with a smile, "This is the first aged divine herb, a good start indeed!"

As soon as Du Wan finished speaking, a vine as thick as an infant's arm suddenly shot out from behind the boulder beside her. At the top of the vine, a large, blood-red flower, vibrant and glistening like a blood-red skull, suddenly bloomed, as if a monster had opened its blood-red maw, and rushed towards Du Wan's face.

"Watch out!" Lu Chu shouted.

Hearing Lu Chu's warning, but the gaping maw was already about to cover his face, and the incident happened so suddenly that Du Wan had no time to react. Moreover, he was slightly bent over, trying to pick the silver-edged purple plant, and his posture was not conducive to dodging...

Du Wan's face turned deathly pale with fright, because in that instant, he recognized what that gaping maw was and smelled the strong, pungent stench.

It's a devil's tongue! It's highly poisonous!

Du Wan felt a chill in her heart and instantly prepared to retreat!

However, within the ruins of gods and demons, his cultivation level was suppressed by the mutated laws, and the vines that the Ghost Thorn Arum lashed out were extremely fast; he was clearly a step too slow!
The moment Du Wan leaped backward, she knew she was too slow!

A trace of sorrow flashed in his eyes as he regretted not listening to Lu Chu's advice. He had always been very proud of himself, believing that he was exceptionally talented and intelligent. He never imagined that he would die here so soon after entering the ruins of gods and demons.

Just then, a dark shadow swooped down from above his head. Just as the gaping maw was about to cover his face, a hand flashing with cold phosphorescence struck the gaping maw directly, sending it and its vines flying backward.

Before anyone knew it, Duan Rong was already wearing phosphorescent gloves and standing beside Du Wan.

Just now, Duan Rong didn't use any Yuan Qi at all; he used a grappling technique!

In that split second, Duan Rong relied solely on his physical strength and profound understanding of martial arts techniques, because luck had already run out.

Everything happened so fast!
Everyone stood there stunned, and Du Wan was especially terrified, her face turning deathly pale.

Just as Duan Rong swatted away that vine, three more vines sprang out from behind the boulder by the roadside.

Everyone was startled and quickly put some distance between them.

Fortunately, the vines were only about half a zhang long; any further and they would be beyond its attack range. After flailing around wildly, the vines retreated behind the boulder.

Only the purplish-red, silver-edged violet tree beside the boulder remained, swaying gently in the breeze...

At this moment, everyone finally understood why there was a mature medicinal herb here that was forty or fifty years old. It was because behind the giant rock nearby, there was a highly poisonous Devil's Rosa rugosa!

The Demon Thorn Arum is covered in poisonous thorns and entwined with vines. Once you get close, your attack and speed, which are suppressed within the ruins, are no match for it.

Looking at Du Wan, whose face was deathly pale, Lu Chu said, "Something is definitely amiss here!"

Du Wan nodded in deep agreement; he had almost died there. He turned to Duan Rong with grateful eyes and said, "Brother Duan, I owe you my life!"

Su Xinjue stood there, staring blankly at the phosphorescent silk glove on Duan Rong's right hand. This was the first time she had ever seen Duan Rong's attack method!

She was quite surprised, because she had been observing Duan Rong during the training camp. She had never seen Duan Rong carry a weapon, and she had been wondering what kind of concealed weapon he used?
She never imagined it would be gloves!
Duan Rong said, "Do you remember what Instructor Lin said during the training camp? In the ruins of gods and demons, fellow disciples are your greatest support. If you don't share life and death, none of you will make it out!"

As Duan Rong spoke, he suddenly turned to look at Su Xinjue. Su Xinjue slightly turned her head to avoid Duan Rong's gaze. Duan Rong flipped his hand, and the phosphorescent glove on his right hand disappeared.

(End of this chapter)