There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

Upon entering the cave where the water element resided, Lu Qing felt the temperature drop rapidly, quickly reaching a level that made her feel extremely cold.

Fortunately, the Ice Elf Necklace's special effect allows her to avoid the effects of cold in cold regions, and instead increases her spirit attribute.

Lu Qing felt a surge of energy and then carefully observed the surroundings.

Inside the cave where the water element resided, the water flowed steadily and slowly counterclockwise around a central point. After searching carefully, Lu Qing quickly found the center point of the water's rotation in a pit below the water flow.

It was a huge block of ice, which made her recall what the dream message said about Fang Qingrou and Muir being frozen deep in Fanling Lake.

She reached out and gently touched the surface of the ice, feeling a chill in her palm, but the chill wasn't piercing; instead, it felt somewhat...gentle.

Lu Qing didn't know how to describe the feeling. She couldn't see the inside of the ice from above, even though the ice was very clear.

After all, it was stuck in a pit, and Lu Qing only saw part of it.

"Ling, can you see anything?" Lu Qing asked, looking at Ling floating beside her.

"Ling can only tell that this is ice made of water element, but can't see anything else!" For some reason, Ling suddenly said in a self-righteous manner.

"Is there any way to melt the ice here?" Lu Qing asked, tapping the surface of the ice gently.

"Hmm... If we use the power of fire element, it should be possible!" The light on Ling's body flickered slightly twice, as if she were deep in thought.

"Fire element..." Lu Qing frowned subconsciously and said, "Only by solving the fire element problem can we return here to melt the ice?"

"Ling'er doesn't know either, it's just that this is the only method I can think of!" Ling spun around rapidly in the air, saying with a bit of a headache.

"Then there's nothing we can do." Lu Qing said with some regret after hearing Ling's words.

"Wait, let me try." Just as they were about to leave, Lu Qing suddenly remembered something and said to Ling.

She took down the Wind Sprite Bow hanging behind her, and gently placed her right hand on the bowstring. Sharp gales gathered towards her from all directions without her noticing. Lu Qing's eyes narrowed, and she forcefully pulled the bowstring back.

The water in the cave suddenly accelerated, as if drawn by something, and converged beside Lu Qing. A wind element arrow with pale white air currents wrapped around its surface appeared on the bowstring of the Wind Spirit Bow.

[Wind Spirit's Loss: Gathering all the wind elements of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, unleashing its strongest attack after charging!]

"Om..."

The moment she released the bowstring, the water in the cave trembled violently, and almost in the blink of an eye, a sharp wind elemental arrow pierced the ice formed by the water element.

"Click, click..."

Pale white cracks kept appearing on the surface of the ice, but soon, a gentle force came from deep within the ice, cleaning the surface cracks clean like a rag.

"It's alright, let's go back." Shaking her head, Lu Qing put the Wind Elf Bow away.

She didn't just use the strongest skill of the purple item, the Wind Spirit Bow. In fact, she also used the blessing of the wind element, which greatly accelerated the speed of the arrow.

Even so, the Wind Sprite's Arrow failed to penetrate the ice formed by the water element. This was already the strongest penetrating attack she could unleash. If even this failed, she would really have no choice but to seek out the fire element.

Anyway, we'll have to find the fire elemental after all, so the order doesn't really matter. It just means we might have to trouble Bolton to hold out for a while longer.

.......

Meanwhile, on the familiar cliffs outside Storm Valley.

Maevelyn stood there, gently spreading her wings, mimicking the feeling of flying before. Perhaps feeling that her warm-up was about right, she suddenly took two steps forward, spread her wings, and jumped off the cliff.

"Huh...huh..."

Maeveline flapped her wings desperately, constantly searching for her balance. Instead of relying on the raging winds in the valley, she tried her best to use her own strength to fly.

The strong winds accumulated in Storm Valley will dissipate in a few days, at which point she will no longer be able to fly using the winds here.

By then, who will be able to help Lu Qing and Ling Fei reach the top of the sacred tree?

Maevelyn didn't know.

During this time, she actually felt some regret, regretting not having had more children. If only she had a daughter or a son...

"Oh no!" Just as Maevelyn was distracted, she lost her balance in mid-air and plummeted downwards at high speed.

Even though Maevelyn reacted quickly enough, she couldn't stop herself from falling from the sky.

With a series of crackling sounds, Maevelyn landed awkwardly on the ground.

"It failed," Maevelyn said, looking up at the sky with a hint of disappointment.

.......

"After getting used to the clear water flowing under the water eye, I'm actually not used to the water in Fanling Lake," Lu Qing said, looking at the dark lake water around her after emerging from under the water eye.

"Let's get out of here quickly..." Ling said, somewhat empathetic.

"Hey, watch out!" Ling suddenly exclaimed, as if she had noticed something.

Almost at the same time Ling spoke, Lu Qing also felt a deep-seated, dark malice.

[Intuition LV1-LV2]

Countless black silt surged from the ground, engulfing Lu Qing and Ling like a tidal wave. Without hesitation, Lu Qing used the [Underwater Dash] skill, using the burst of spiritual power to rapidly ascend.

"boom!"

Lu Qing burst out of the water, but an attack from underwater followed. Countless black tentacles, resembling silt, emerged from beneath the surface and shot towards Lu Qing as she leaped through the air.

Without hesitation, Lu Qing drew her two dark silver daggers and spun nimbly in the air, slicing all the tentacles that approached her in half.

"Ugh!"

A roar came from underwater, and the dark lake seemed to come alive. Soon, a monster covered in putrid mud emerged from the water.

"Wow!"

The Mud Monster suddenly spat out a large mouthful of dark mud that hurtled towards Lu Qing, but she dodged it in mid-air using [Psychic Dash].

Then Lu Qing fell below the water's surface, and countless mutated piranhas that had been preparing for a long time pounced on her.

"Gah!" Looking at the piranhas swarming around her, Lu Qing roared with her lips open.

The lake trembled violently, and the surface of the water sank in a large circle centered on Lu Qing. Countless mutated piranhas were thrown into the air and sank into the water with their eyes rolled back. Among them, a blue-level mutated piranha king slowly sank into the water and was killed by Lu Qing's deafening roar.

[Dragon's Roar + Mental Shock]

[Magic Element +390]

[Congratulations to the player for completing the Hunter's Trial: Slaying a blue-level beast!]

------------

Chapter 564: The Face of the Spirit Frog

Suddenly, Lu Qing sensed something and subconsciously looked up at the area below the water's surface.

The mud monster's enormous body slowly writhed at the bottom of the lake, and suddenly it sprayed out countless dark energy needles!

There was no room to dodge; a sharp, dark energy needle pierced Lu Qing's shoulder. Fortunately, the silver-gray evening breeze had amazing defensive capabilities, and the attack did not pierce through her shoulder.

Lu Qing summoned the Guardian's Shield, then put on the Guardian's Mask. With a flash of dazzling white light, a silver-white suit of armor appeared on her body.

[Underwater dash!]

The spiritual power beneath Lu Qing's feet suddenly erupted, and even in the water, it did not affect her movement speed at all. She pushed forward against the constantly falling dark energy needles, and with one swift stroke, she drew the greatsword from her waist and pierced a mutated crab blocking her way into the ground.

However, the mutated crab did not die. Instead, it turned into a wriggling mass of mud, enveloping Lu Qing!

A huge shadow loomed over her. Lu Qing looked up and saw that the giant mud monster had appeared in front of her at some point, its enormous body pressing down on her like a melting ice cream.

Suddenly, Lu Qing's armor disappeared, and the mud monster that had been binding Lu Qing suddenly realized that it had lost its target.

Lu Qing's body transformed into a pool of bright red blood, quickly moving beneath the mud monster. The moment Lu Qing deactivated the [Crimson Pool], she leaped high into the air from the ground.

[Super Jump!]

Two dark red lights flashed, and a sharp, blood-red hunting knife pierced through the mud monster's chest. Lu Qing raised her right hand, and with another blood-red hunting knife, she flicked upwards, pulling out the dark red flesh crystal that had been pierced through the mud monster's chest.

"Waaaaahh ...

After Lu Qing pierced the flesh crystal, the mud monster's body began to disintegrate rapidly, turning into a puddle of vengeful mud within minutes.

[Magic Element +800]

[Soul +1300]

"Great! We finally destroyed it!" Lingjian said as the mud monster's enormous body gradually disintegrated.

"Phew..." Lu Qing breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the mud monster's corpse in front of her, asking, "What exactly was that thing?"

"It's the one I suspected before, the bad guy who polluted Fanling Lake!" Ling said, her body flashing with light, looking quite angry.

"It's really ugly, and the stench of the void emanating from it is absolutely awful!" Ling commented, looking at the mud monster's corpse.

“It really does smell awful.” Lu Qing nodded in agreement.

“Speaking of which…” Frowning, Lu Qing took the pierced flesh crystal in her hand and examined it carefully, saying, “I feel that this thing doesn’t seem to be something that natural life could produce.”

"And why is this guy able to provide so much magic energy and soul?"

“This crystal…” Hearing Lu Qing’s words, Ling floated to the crystal in her hand and examined it carefully for a moment: “Hmm… Ling’er can’t figure out what this is either.”

"However, I do know some of the reasons why there are so many magic elements and souls..."

The light on the spirit's body flickered rhythmically as it said, "This behemoth's body was formed after devouring countless creatures. Furthermore, its soul is also fragmented and damaged, like...like..."

Ling hesitated for a moment before speaking, then said, "It's like several rags sewn together!"

“Several rags sewn together…” Lu Qing looked thoughtfully at the blood and flesh crystal in her hand, becoming even more certain that this mud monster was not born naturally.

Souls mixed together, flesh crystallized, mindless monsters that devour other living beings... This familiar style is undoubtedly the work of the Guiji Cult.

If this was indeed done by the Guiji sect, what was their purpose?

"Would it reduce the Sacred Tree's self-regulating ability?" Lu Qing thought back to Archbishop Angus, who was entrenched inside the core of the Sacred Tree. She wondered if their actions of purifying the four elements here would be noticed by him.

Shaking her head, Lu Qing looked at the mud monster's corpse and said, "Since this guy polluted Fanling Lake, now that it's dead, won't the lake water recover quickly?"

"Yes, it won't take long to recover." After a pause, Ling added, "The water element has a strong self-regulating ability, but I don't know why it froze itself."

"Hmm." Lu Qing nodded absentmindedly. She was still worried about Fang Qingrou and Muir's situation and wondered how they had been frozen.

"Let's go back first." She sighed and looked at Lingdao.

The two left Fanling Lake and returned to the spot where they had first met Bolton.

However, when they returned, they found the atmosphere here was a bit strange. A large number of Bui were gathered around the edge of the lake, looking down at Bolton who was lying in the middle.