Chapter 254: 230 Exploration

After running continuously for more than ten minutes, Zhang Rongfang suddenly slowed his steps and landed on a tree branch in mid-air.

The branch was covered with a large patch of gray-white spider webs, slightly fluttering in the wind.

In the center of the webs, a fist-sized spider with yellow-brown markings was sleeping soundly.

As it sensed a living creature approaching, the spider was about to get excited.

Suddenly, a big hand descended from the sky, precisely pinching its waist.

Then with a pull and a fling, a peculiar vibrating force separated the spider from the web and threw it a few dozen meters away onto an open ground.

Zhang Rongfang used the gray-white webs to cover his face, peering through the gaps towards the distant forest.

Most of his body was concealed by the trees, only his eyes could peek through the webs to observe.

In the distance, the forest ground was messed up with a large patch of carpet-like vegetation.

Some aerial roots, similar to those of banyan trees, hung down forming what seemed like curtain-like barriers, slightly obscuring the view.

Protruding tree roots were broken, vine flowers on the trunks scattered messily, and crawling insects and small animals dared not move.

About ten relatively slim trees were broken alive, clearing an area that seemed flat and spacious.

At this moment, more than ten figures, dressed in brown leather armor, surrounded a strong figure two meters tall, moving swiftly and engaging in a joint attack.

The figures held weapons in hand, including knives, swords, steel forks, hammers, iron paddles, and some were holding fishing nets made from thick ropes nearby.

Suddenly Zhang Rongfang’s pupils narrowed. He saw one person holding a long-barreled musket, ready to aim at any moment.

These people varied in size and height, comprising both men and women.

But everyone had one thing in common.

It was hatred.

When they looked at the person in the center, they all had a resilient, indescribably deep-seated hatred.

Zhang Rongfang’s gaze returned to the person in the center.

That was a Spiritual Vein.

He recognized it with just one look, not because of his remarkable eyesight, but because at that moment, the person was covered in wounds.

Silver threads flowed rapidly through the wounds, healing the scars.

The person was bare-chested, clearly having worn iron armor, but now only a few iron pieces hung at the waist.

Clang!

Suddenly, the person carelessly defended, and was struck hard on the back of the head with a knife by someone behind.

With a metallic clash, the Spiritual Vein staggered violently, finally unable to maintain balance, and fell forward.

Immediately, the surrounding fishing net was cast out, enveloping him.

The hammer wielder leaped forward, hammering down with full force.

His double hammers fell like raindrops.

Seeing the weight of those hammers, able to strike with such speed, he was clearly not a regular expert.

Zhang Rongfang watched as the Spiritual Vein was hammered to near death, dying immediately.

But this group did not relax for a second; instead, they dispersed, seemingly waiting for the corpse’s revival.

Indeed, not long after, the Spiritual Vein crawled back up slowly.

The second round began again.

Over a dozen people repeated the previous siege.

This time, the Spiritual Vein seemed to wise up, even at the cost of serious injury close to death, managed to hit two among them harshly.

One was hit hard on the head, bleeding from every orifice, falling dead on the spot.

The other’s chest was struck, the sound of a bone fracture spread, kneeling and unable to fight further.

The rest carried the two away.

The remaining continued to besiege the Spiritual Vein. Soon, they killed him once more.

Zhang Rongfang frowned as he watched from the branch.

When he killed Iron Daoist before, he did not wait till they fully recovered to kill them again.

These people, clearly filled with extreme grief for the one killed, why must they do this?

He could not understand.

As time passed by bit by bit.

Soon, the Spiritual Venin died and revived, revived and died, more than twenty times over an hour.

Every time revived completely, only to be killed again.

The revival interval was about five minutes.

And the besieging group, driven by the Spiritual Vein’s mutual demise tactic, killed alive five people.

Finally.

The forest gradually dimmed, and people around lit torches.

In the firelight, the protracted battle in the woods finally changed.

“Ding Hong! This is the last time!” A skilled handler of the fishing net shouted loudly from the outside.

Among the attackers, the strongest middle-aged man nodded forcefully.

“Everyone be careful! It’s the last time!”

Soon.

Bang!!

The Spiritual Vein was struck heavily on the back with a blade, knocked flat.

Subsequently, an iron paddle was smashed down, hitting the neck.

With a crack, the Spiritual Vein died on the spot.

“Retreat!!!” Ding Hong shouted sharply.

Everyone retreated in unison, running frantically far away without looking back.

Boom!!

In an instant, the entire Spiritual Vein exploded like a balloon from head to toe.

Countless silver threads surged from his body, shooting in all directions.

Two people couldn’t dodge in time and were pierced through the arm by the silver lines, their arm muscles wriggling and twisting on the spot.

The two let out a tragic scream, their bodies thudding to the ground with a bang. Their breath ceased.

A mass of silver threads pierced the ground, flying into the air.

Zhang Rongfang was horrified, staring intently at these silver lines as they shot out more than twenty meters, spreading like fireworks.

After the silver lines exploded, someone in the distance drew a bow and arrow. With a whoosh, an arrow hit the broken corpse of the Spiritual Veins.

Zhang Rongfang noticed that there seemed to be something special embedded in the shaft of the arrow.

After the arrow hit the corpse, the silver lines became even more frenzied.

But soon, after more than ten breaths, all the silver lines gradually fell, turned black, and then turned into black ashes, blown away by the wind.

Zhang Rongfang was dumbfounded.

He had never imagined that such terrifying and dangerous things were hidden inside the body of Spiritual Veins.

By now, everything had settled down.

The group of people who ambushed Spiritual Veins finally let out a long sigh of relief.

Even Ding Hong, who had the greatest speed and strength, the most skillful moves, and the greatest power, was now pale and extremely depleted.

Yet he still forced himself to direct the others to clean up the aftermath and quickly retreat.

From afar, Zhang Rongfang looked over and saw a series of attributes displayed above Ding Hong’s head.

’Ding Hong—Life 18-21.

Martial Arts: Unknown Cultivation Technique – Super Grade External Medicine, unknown number of uses.

Cultivation of Literature: Unknown Cultivation Technique.’

Zhang Rongfang had no intention of showing himself for direct communication.

He was here quietly treasure hunting, and the fewer people who knew, the better. It was just that the scene of this group besieging Spiritual Veins attracted his attention.

He had never thought that Spiritual Veins could be besieged like this by ordinary people.

Although it looked extremely difficult, in fact, they succeeded.

This group of people…

Zhang Rongfang firmly remembered the person named Ding Hong.

Judging from their cooperation, their attire, and their proficiency in ambushing Spiritual Veins.

These people were treating Spiritual Veins like a monster to ambush…

After the group completely left, Zhang Rongfang slowly pinched the spotted spider that had just crawled back and flung it into the distance again.

Marking this position on the tree branch, Zhang Rongfang descended and continued to explore elsewhere.

In the following days.

He kept exploring and searching in the forest, focusing on the marked points on the map.

But after entering the forest, the details on the map were extremely rough, making it hardly possible to identify specific routes.

This caused Zhang Rongfang to have no harvest for several consecutive days.

Instead, he encountered the group that ambushed Spiritual Veins several more times.

And after reaching completion of the Hidden Moon second layer of Golden Toad Skill, Zhang Rongfang clearly felt his appetite increase significantly.

Moreover, he could now easily eat and digest previously hard and dry things.

At the end of January.

The outskirts of Citong, at the Four Seas Restaurant.

Two robust, crew-cut men were sitting at a dining table, eating the dishes on the table while occasionally glancing at another small food stall opposite the restaurant.

“Pingyuan, you see this guy wandering around aimlessly every day, yet he seems like his strength keeps rising. How come?” one man shook his head and sighed.

“That’s why he’s called a genius. Among millions nationwide, only one can be chosen by the Great Dao Teaching as a Daoist. That old man Yue said he was a closed-door disciple. Now he made an exception and accepted an open-door disciple because of this guy.”

The man named Pingyuan chuckled.

“If everything goes well, in twenty years, perhaps only one person in our Snow Rainbow Pavilion could compare to this guy,” the previous man sighed.

“Alright, stop the nonsense. Keep a close watch. This guy might have secrets. Whether it’s the Eastern Sect’s secret stash, it depends on our surveillance during this time,” Pingyuan reminded.

“Hmm, don’t worry. In the future, we’ll certainly be insignificant in his eyes. But for now… Hehe, killing him is like slaughtering a chicken!”

The two men stopped talking.

The task from above was to monitor whether Zhang Ying was involved with the Celestial Maiden’s secret stash.

If he’s involved, get the stash and deal with Zhang Ying.

If not, everything remains the same, just report the information regularly on a periodic basis.

At this time, above the small pond.

Zhang Rongfang was eating spicy tofu cubes, contentedly watching as a new attribute point appeared on his attribute panel.

Five days.

This layer’s improvement shortened the time by two whole days. By the fifth day, a new free attribute point was generated.

Ever since witnessing the process of Spiritual Veins being ambushed in the woods, he had been simulating in his mind whether he could step up and intercept Spiritual Veins.

Could he withstand the final silver line explosion?

The speed of that explosion was comparable to a bullet. Without advance warning, no one could dodge it.

For the past two days, he had been thinking about how to handle this matter.

While also starting to prepare the third layer of herbs for the Golden Toad Skill.

Taking the opportunity for just obtaining the real secret manual, regardless of Sensing Sect’s intentions, he aimed to improve as rapidly as possible until he could no longer improve.

The Golden Toad Skill, such an accelerating cultivation technique, should be maxed out if possible.

“Brother, greetings.”

Suddenly, a silhouette approached him, bowed with fists cupped, and smiled.

This person wore a wide-brimmed black leather hat, sported a horseshoe mustache, had a square face, and his eyes were gentle. Though his legs were not long, they were extremely sturdy. He wore ordinary cloth garments resembling those of a peasantry laborer.

He seemed unremarkable.

“Sir, anything you need?” Zhang Rongfang asked puzzledly as he stood up and cupped his hands in return.

“Brother, a few days ago, you must have seen our incompetent young man in the woods. Nineteen people ambushed a beast, and some lost their lives…”

This person sighed, and what he said shocked Zhang Rongfang’s heart.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep