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

Chapter 563 Ghost Infant
The dense darkness beneath the "ghost bride's" evil spirit seemed to have shrunk, but it was no longer emitting wisps of white smoke.

Its rotting eyes circled the edge of the pool, as if searching for something.

The evil spirit of the "ghost bride" lingered by the pool, then finally stirred up a gust of cold wind, flew out of the circle of light illuminated by the torches beside the pool, and headed towards some place in the darkness.

As it was leaving, the "ghost bride's" evil, rotting eyes swept over the direction Duan Rong and the others had fled, but it flew away in another direction into the darkness.

Clearly, it sensed a threat from Duan Rong's Soul-Slaying Daggers and thus avoided them. However, Duan Rong only had one Soul-Slaying Dagger left. The condensation of Soul-Slaying Daggers was quite time-consuming and replenishing them was not easy. But just now, in order to deal with this evil "Ghost Bride," Duan Rong had to use up almost all his ammunition.

After Duan Rong and his companions, along with the evil "ghost bride," left, the area around the pool returned to tranquility, with only the torch stuck in the crack of the rock burning brightly...

The few maggots that had fallen to the ground and were writhing on the ground turned into black liquid shortly after the evil spirit of the "ghost bride" departed. These maggots fed on yin energy, and now that the dense darkness had receded, their lives could not continue.

Just then, a sudden splash broke the deathly silence by the pool.

In the firelight, a wet, curled-up creature could be seen crawling up from the edge of the pool.

The thing was about the size of a newborn baby, except that its head was large and its limbs were thin. What was terrifying was that its whole body was a dark bluish-black color.

Its two eyes on its head were eerily large, but what was truly terrifying was that the surface of those two dark eyes was covered with bright red blood vessels. At this moment, it was shrinking back, raising its eyes to gaze into the darkness.
Unbeknownst to them, a ghostly infant had been hiding in the pool where Duan Rong and his companions had just been drinking.

The ghostly infant cautiously raised its head, looking around at the darkness. It seemed to be afraid of something, its body curled up in a ball, as if it were ready to jump back into the pool to hide at any moment.

The torchlight shone on its wet body. It looked around for a while, and as if to make sure there was no danger, it suddenly used its hands and feet to crawl towards a certain place in the darkness. Its hands and feet moved nimbly, just like a mouse. In a flash, it disappeared into the darkness like a ghost.

The ghost baby's speed was astonishing, and the direction it darted into the darkness was precisely the direction Duan Rong and his companions had fled from.

The ghost baby was actually hiding from the evil spirit of the "ghost bride." It was hiding in the pool and knew that the evil spirit of the "ghost bride" had not gone in the direction Duan Rong and the others were going.

The ghost baby had jumped into the pool and hidden at the bottom just before Duan Rong and the others arrived, in order to escape the search of the evil spirit "Ghost Bride".

This evil spirit was actually poisonous, but as soon as it jumped in, Duan Rong and the others arrived right after, and the poison didn't even have time to spread.

The ghost baby hid deep at the bottom of the pool. Duan Rong and his companions were taking water from the surface, so they were not actually poisoned. However, if someone had taken a second cup of water, they probably would have gotten poisoned water.

Once they obtain the poisoned water, the silver cup will turn black, and they will not drink it.

This is why Xu Hui was in charge of testing the water source, and each of them was given a silver cup – all based on past experience!
Although the ghost baby hid in the pool, the evil spirit "Ghost Bride" still followed the scent it left behind and found the pool. It saw a group of people by the pool, which was the place where the ghost baby's scent disappeared. So it transformed into Su Xinjue's appearance and approached to investigate.

In fact, if Duan Rong hadn't discovered its identity, it would have left after only one round of investigation.

Although evil spirits are inherently vengeful, the "ghost bride" evil spirit only wants to find the ghost baby as soon as possible and does not want to cause any further trouble!
Duan Rong and his group ran wildly through the darkness.

They rested by the pool during the darkest hour before dawn. After a frantic run, the surrounding darkness quietly faded away, and the sky was already bright.

Within the ruins of gods and demons, the pale yellow sky reappeared.

The group, panting from running, looked up at the pale yellow sky above. They had previously disliked this eerie sky, which always gave them a sense of unease and oppression, but now they found it rather charming, a unique and beautiful sight.

The group exchanged smiles. Although the "ghost bride" was terrifying, at least none of them had died by the pool.

By this time, it was already broad daylight, which not only improved visibility but also suppressed the evil spirits' malevolent power during the day, making them less violent and potent than at night. In other words, with daylight, they were much safer.

Everyone looked back at the path they had come from, and found no unusual figures, indicating that the evil spirit had not followed. They all breathed a sigh of relief.

Su Xinjue was also panting heavily from running, and the torch in Jiang Hanyan's hand beside her had been extinguished.

Su Xinjue blushed slightly because she noticed that Guo Tian and Du Wan were staring at her blankly, as if there was something on her face.

Su Xinjue touched her face and asked, "Why are you all looking at me?"

"You don't know yet, do you?" Lu Chu looked at Su Xinjue and said, "The evil spirit by the pool approached us by transforming into your appearance!"

"Take my look!?" Su Xinjue was taken aback, her face turning somewhat pale.

Lu Chu said, "That's right! If Duan Rong hadn't seen through it, and I was the closest at the time, I might have already died by that pool!"

As Lu Chu spoke, he glanced at Duan Rong with gratitude in his eyes.

The others also looked at Duan Rong.

Guo Tian, ​​who was usually taciturn, looked at Duan Rong and said, "Duan Rong, at that time we were all bewitched by evil spirits and knelt there. It seemed that only you were fighting against the evil spirits and later you woke us up. What happened in between?"

All they remembered was the "ghost bride" evil spirit appearing by the pool. They saw a face deep in their hearts, and then their memories went blank. When their memories returned, it was the "ghost bride" evil spirit screaming, and white smoke was rising from the shadows under its feet. It was clear that it had been injured by Duan Rong, which gave them a chance to escape.

Duan Rong said, "Let's go. I'll tell you as we walk."

During the day, the view was clear and far-reaching, so unlike at night when they would march in formation, they walked around Duan Rong and began to tell them about the strange and fierce battle by the pool.

Duan Rong spoke calmly, trying his best to explain the characteristics of the evil spirits he had discovered to his fellow disciples.

Everyone's eyes widened as they listened, especially when the red veil spinning in the night sky was mentioned, and the ghostly face under the veil that looked exactly like their own. Everyone was shocked!

Duan Rong, without any hesitation, told them that the true form of the evil spirit was the dense darkness beneath its feet.

However, Duan Rong didn't elaborate on how he injured the evil spirit's true form, and the others tacitly refrained from asking further. Du Wan exclaimed, "The evil spirit's true form is actually that dense mass of darkness beneath our feet! It's truly unbelievable!"

As Du Wan spoke, she looked at Duan Rong with considerable admiration.

After hearing Duan Rong's story, the others were also greatly impressed by him.

Moreover, Duan Rong's ability to deal with evil spirits was a source of reliance for them. After all, if it weren't for Duan Rong, they might all have died by the pool last night.

However, Su Xinjue, hiding behind the crowd, looked at Duan Rong with a struggle in her eyes.

Duan Rong not only saved them from the evil spirits but also shared his experience with them. Moreover, Duan Rong clearly possessed some method for dealing with evil spirits; they were constantly at risk of being attacked on their journey, and Duan Rong was clearly a reliable asset. But could she really disregard her master Shen Tu Ying's orders?!
Unbeknownst to Su Xinjue, Duan Rong had been watching her struggles all along. She thought she was in the shadows, but in reality, Duan Rong had been noticing her ever since the day she entered the training camp.

After that, the group continued on their way. Perhaps it was the lingering effect of the evil spirits they had encountered the night before, but they were all somewhat frightened, and even their movements as they picked the divine medicine became much smaller.

The group was no longer sparse; everyone was now relatively close together.

Taking advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention, Duan Rong suddenly flipped his hand and took out the blood-red veil that he had picked up from the ground by the pool the night before when he left.

Under the bright daylight, the object was still as red as blood. Duan Rong folded it up and held it in his hand, carrying it behind his back. As he walked, he watched the movements of the others, thinking to himself, "Reading the spirit of the artifact!"

The next moment, a data panel with a faint glow appeared before his eyes.

Duan Rong's face showed a moment of astonishment!
The reading failed! This is the first time he has ever failed to read a spirit artifact! At most, he had failed to devour it, or the spirit artifact was just a blank slate. He had never experienced a reading failure before.

On the data panel, four glaring red characters flashed incessantly: "Read failed." Below was a note: "This item is formed from evil energy and has no physical form; it cannot be read!"
“Transformed from Yin and evil energy!?” Duan Rong looked at the small characters in the annotation and his heart skipped a beat.

He originally picked up the strange red veil on a whim, intending to learn more about the evil "ghost bride" by devouring its spirit.

But unexpectedly, the read operation failed!
In fact, he should have realized earlier that since this strange red veil flew out from the thick darkness under the feet of the evil "ghost bride" and could even return to that thick darkness, how could it be an object?
Although he could feel the real substance in his hand, this object was formed from evil energy and was clearly not a physical object.

Since he couldn't read the spirit of the artifact, Duan Rong casually tossed the red veil into his backpack. Although he couldn't read it, it seemed that once the ghost face was gone, the evil spirit of the "ghost bride" couldn't control it anymore. Duan Rong decided to find an opportunity to study it and see if it had any other uses.

The group continued forward, with Duan Rong still keeping an eye out for any trace of the Azure Flame Grass along the way!

Duan Rong suddenly noticed that Guo Tian was also looking around in a shady spot not far away. His eyes lit up, and he walked over and asked, "Brother Guo, what are you looking for?"

Upon hearing this, Guo Tian turned his head, smiled faintly, and said, "Azure Flame Grass? Du Wan has already told us. Don't worry, we'll find it together!"

Duan Rong's heart skipped a beat. Not long ago, Du Wan had already told everyone about this matter without making a sound.

Duan Rong said, "Brother Guo, thank you! I am indeed at the Jade Flame Grass!"

Guo Tian looked at Duan Rong and said, "Duan Rong, we are the ones who should be thanking you. You saved our lives and are our support. This is just a small favor we could do."

Duan Rong's lips moved slightly, but he didn't know what to say for a moment. At this moment, Guo Tian looked at him solemnly. This man was usually taciturn, and when he spoke, he spoke his mind directly.

Guo Tian said, "Duan Rong, thank you for saving me by the pool. If I have the chance, I will definitely repay you!"

After Guo Tian finished speaking, he turned and walked forward.

Guo Tian is a man of courage and integrity; the word "still" he used was actually a very strong one.

As Duan Rong watched Guo Tian's retreating figure, he suddenly realized that all of these fellow disciples actually had something to offer in terms of friendship.

Several hours later, the group suddenly arrived at a place where three sides were surrounded by collapsed, towering rocks, as if they had reached a dead end.

They stopped there, rested for a while, and took out the map to study it.

Guo Tian studied the map for a while, then suddenly pointed to a spot where boulders had collapsed like a mountain, and said, "According to the map, there's a main road if you climb over here. However, there are some annotations on the map here, suggesting that you don't climb over, because there are many mature Ghost Thorn Arums in the gaps between the collapsed boulders. If you climb over directly, you'll be attacked!"

Jiang Hanyan hadn't looked at the map, and upon hearing this, she asked, "So, are you saying we should flip it or not?"

The road leads to the main road, but if you go over it, you'll encounter the devil's tongue. It sounds contradictory!

Guo Tian, ​​however, gave Jiang Hanyan a cold look and said, "Can't you let me finish what I have to say?"

Jiang Hanyan shut her mouth, realizing she had spoken too hastily.

Guo Tian continued, "The map's annotations say that the area under the collapse is actually hollow. You can crawl through the cracks in the rocks and pass through the space under the collapse to avoid the Ghost Thorn Arum's attacks."

Lu Chu, holding the map, looked up and said, "Yes. That's exactly what the annotation says. This is the experience summarized by our predecessors. I think we should proceed according to what's written on the map."

No one objected to this suggestion. Any suggestion that can be included in the map must be very valuable; unless absolutely necessary, it's best not to make arbitrary changes.

Guo Tian put away the map, stood up, and said, "The space under the collapse might not be very visible. I think we should proceed in formation at night."

Duan Rong said, "I agree with that. Everyone should line up in formation so we can respond to any unexpected situations!"

Over the past two days, Duan Rong and Guo Tian have become the soul of their group. Besides their abilities and intelligence, what's more important is that both of them are very calm and composed, giving people a sense of security.

Fortunately, because of this, the team split into groups for nighttime security, and the two of them became the leaders of their respective groups. This was a subtle influence, and everyone respected them greatly.

(End of this chapter)