Chapter 1026: Fleeing Red Spider Lily
Eden glanced at the place where the six-armed general had collapsed, feeling everything to be extremely unreal. That six-armed monstrosity they had no choice but to hide together from had actually collapsed? Was he dead, injured, or just asleep?
The ridiculous and dispersed train of thought lasted mere moments. Eden suddenly recalled the blooming and wilting of the other shore flowers, as well as their source.
He quickly contained his confused thoughts and jumped down from the tree, using this demonic energy to shield his body as he ran in the opposite direction of the flowers.
At this moment, the absurd feeling in his heart grew even stronger. If he hadn’t seen it clearly, Eden would have never believed the Red Spider Lily would appear in the Great Maelstrom.
Each Grand Magnum was a national superweapon, capable of suppressing a direction on its own. It was also something that couldn’t be lost. Reportedly, the owner of the Red Spider Lily was an ordinary girl without any origin power—how could the Empire let such a person bring the magnum into the Gream Maelstrom? Even a famed demonkin scion like him was finding it hard to adapt to the environment here; how did that human get through everything?
At the same time, a different, insuppressible notion popped up in his head: this was the best time to rob the Red Spider Lily! Eden’s name would go down in history if he could get his hands on this Grand Magnum. His status in the demonkin race would also surge sharply!
But those dreamy prospects didn’t affect Eden as he kept on running swiftly. The might he had witnessed just now was even greater than the legends spoke of. He probably couldn’t take even ten of those flowers, let alone the hundreds blooming in the air just now.
Merits were good, but he would need to be alive to take them. No matter who was in charge of the Red Spider Lily, Eden was sure they wouldn’t hold back after discovering him.
At this moment, Wei Potian and Zhao Yuying were stunned as they watched the withering red spider lilies in the distance.
“Ruoxi!” Zhao Yuying jumped up and rushed toward the flowers like a madman. A shocked Wei Potian also gave chase from behind.
Zhao Yuying came to herself after a period of sprinting, quickly retracting her aura and switching to stealth movement. Wei Potian ran alongside her in silence, but Zhao Yuying didn’t reject him short of giving him a glare.
Zhao Yuying recalled that Zhao Ruoxi would usually become exhausted after firing a single round. That was why the clan always had experts guarding her. But she was in the Great Maelstrom right now, which meant that the two experts probably weren’t by her side.
The forest was full of danger. Zhao Yuying didn’t want to mess up and attract wild beasts to Ruoxi’s location.
The six-armed general’s massive body was lying on the ground, his arms twitching from time to time. The monster’s eyes, however, had lost their luster and were merely staring at the vast sky. Zhao Ruoxi was hopping about on the massive body, seemingly searching for something.
There were several pouches hanging at the six-armed general’s waist, which Zhao Ruoxi opened up one by one. Most of them were filled with dried beast meat, as well as some unidentifiable stones and pieces of wood. The girl didn’t even look at those things, but she cried out in joy when she found a jar of white-fruit wine in one of the pouches.
“Ruoxi, put that down. You can’t drink it!” Zhao Yuying could no longer worry about anything else as she called out from afar.
Zhao Ruoxi was startled. Her hands shook for a bit and almost dropped the jar on the ground. She looked in the direction of the voice and saw Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian charging over.
Her expression was almost a bit panicky. Several red spider lilies bloomed around her, carrying her entire person into the air.
Zhao Yuying was anxious. “Ruoxi, stop! Where are you going?”
But Zhao Ruoxi wasn’t about to listen to her. The flowers bloomed and withered through the air as the girl vanished into the depths of the forest, traveling countless times faster than Zhao Yuying.
When the latter arrived beside the six-armed general, Zhao Ruoxi was nowhere to be found, leaving her dumbstruck.
Wei Potian caught up and stood beside Zhao Yuying. “It seems she doesn’t want to see you.”
“Why?” Zhao Yuying was puzzled.
Wei Potian shrugged. “How should I know, but she has to have a reason. We can’t help it if she doesn’t want to see us.”
Zhao Yuying stamped her feet. “But she’s in danger right now!”
“The power of the Red Spider Lily is still active, and you also saw its might. So, the one in danger isn’t her but us.”
In the Great Maelstrom, one would have to leave immediately after using an origin gun or risk attracting danger. With that, Wei Potian pointed at the six-armed general’s corpse. “Do you want to check him for anything? You’d better do it now, we don’t have much time left.”
Zhao Yuying was still a bit unresigned. She glanced at Zhao Ruoxi’s direction before letting out a sigh. She had no choice but to accept Wei Potian’s suggestion to collect spoils from the six-armed monster.
There was nothing of great value in the six-armed native’s pouches; others were simply unrecognizable. Wei Potian’s storage space was really tight and simply couldn’t fit that many things. Due to its large build, it was impossible for the six-armed general’s weapons to fit inside the spatial gear.
Perhaps the most valuable spoil of war was the corpse itself, but how were they to know which part of the six-armed general was valuable and which parts were just useless flesh?
Going with her instincts, Zhao Yuying slashed at the six-armed general’s chest. The heart of such an incomparably powerful giant creature had to be valuable.
But unexpectedly, this slash only left a shallow mark on his chest! It would seem she hadn’t even cut through the monster’s skin!
Zhao Yuying hadn’t imagined the native’s body would be this strong, even after death. It seemed as though digging the heart out would be a fairly strenuous undertaking.
It was at this moment that a series of rustling sounds echoed in the woods. Even Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian couldn’t help but feel their blood run cold.
“What is that?” Zhao Yuying asked.
“I don’t know, but it sure isn’t anything good.” Wei Potian’s expression was unsightly.
The sounds approached from afar, and soon, several beetles crawled out from the forest. The insects were the size of a fist, with a scarlet compound eye on their heads and a shocking proboscis. Their movements were also extremely fast, only a bit slower than Wei Potian.
The beetles ran straight over to the six-armed general’s body, followed by a dark swarm of even more bugs.
Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian noticed that things weren’t looking good. She grabbed a couple of random stones from the general’s pouch and then fled with Wei Potian in tow.
At this point, the rustling sounds had grown as loud as a raging storm. The two didn’t dare linger and kept on running until they could no longer hear anything.
Fortunately, it was just as the duo had predicted—the beetles were here for the six-armed general’s body. Had that not been the case, the two of them would’ve been in great danger. Such an insect tide was one of the scariest types as any level of fierce beast could be reduced to a skeleton within moments.
Zhao Yuying glanced behind her, seemingly still worried.
“What do we do now?” It was rare for her to ask. During the series of recent matters, Wei Potian had displayed a degree of reliability and intelligence that made her see him in a new light.
Wei Potian gave it some thought. “Let’s just find a way to return to the starting region, and then discuss what we should do. The frigid night alone makes it hard for us to remain in this area for long. And I really don’t want to experience another six-armed monster or those beetles.”
Zhao Yuying nodded in agreement.
“What will we do afterward?” she inquired.
“We’ll have a lot of choices at that point. I have a Storm Pearl, so I can try my luck at the Constellation Well. The Pond of Life isn’t far off at that point, but it depends on you whether or not you want to go.”
At the mention of the Pond of Life, Zhao Yuying seemed quite hesitant. Ladies would suffer ten times more embarrassment after losing control inside the Pond of Life. Even though Wei Potian would be around, he might not be able to defend himself when the time came. Hence, experts had always quietly avoided the Pond of Life throughout history.
The Pond of Life was the best place to test one’s willpower. Which expert wasn’t proud of their own willpower? Only when entering the Pond of Life would they realize how weak they were. Some had mentioned using the pond to train one’s willpower, but people only supported the notion verbally. No one really volunteered.
After a long period of deliberation, Zhao Yuying laughed wryly. “I’ve encountered some things in the past. I’m a bit… like that. I probably won’t be able to pass the test of willpower.”
Wei Potian nodded, but he didn’t try to pry into her history.
…
Back in the Heavenschild Pasture, the old man was showing Qianye’s group to the plantations.
Close to the small hut was a vast meadow. There were a couple dozen small trees growing amidst the grass, with cherry-red fruits hanging from their branches. The skin of the fruit was decorated with speckles of gold.
The old man said, “This is a star cherry tree. These trees are already mature, but the others are still growing. Star cherry requires almost a hundred years to mature. Can you guess where the medicinal part is?”
Qianye said, “It must be the fruit?”
“It’s the leaves,” said Ji Tianqing.
“The root?” This was Li Kuanglan’s thought.
The old man laughed while stroking his beard. “Neither, it’s the trunk.”
The old man arrived before a star cherry tree that was around his height and said while stroking the trunk, “This one is completely mature. We need to cut off all the branches and leaves during the harvest, leaving only the trunk. As for the fruits, they are so poisonous that we can’t even touch them, let alone eat.”
Qianye noticed that even the old man was cautious not to touch the fruits. He couldn’t help but feel shaken and become more vigilant.
The old man pulled his hand back and smiled at the trio. “This one is ready for harvesting, want to try?”
“Let me.” Ji Tianqing was unwilling to pass on this opportunity.
She drew a combat knife and then turned back to ask, “How should I go about this?”
“Cut it down at the ground level, and then shave off the leaves.”
Ji Tianqing nodded—her knife moved like lightning and struck the root of the tree. “Clang!” The sound of metal striking metal echoed in the area. The tree trunk had an extra scratch now, but the attack didn’t even penetrate the bark.