Seeing that Xu Yifan seemed quite interested, the young man couldn’t help but advise him, “Don’t you dare go in there!”
Xu Yifan tilted his head. “Hm?”
“I heard a few cultivators at Foundation Establishment third layer went into the inner region, and just a few days ago only one of them managed to escape, the rest all died in there. You’re only at Qi Refining sixth layer. Going in would just be throwing your life away.”
Xu Yifan: “…”
Foundation Establishment only came after Qi Refining ninth layer. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators searching for treasure had died. For a Qi Refining cultivator to go in really would be no different from a death wish.
The inner region of Beiman Mountain was dangerous to begin with, even Golden Core experts wouldn’t dare venture in recklessly. Let alone during a special period like this.
The young man kept piling on, “Even I, at Qi Refining seventh layer, wouldn’t dare go. Even if you went and got lucky enough to obtain the rare treasure, the moment you stepped out of the inner region someone would immediately target you and try to kill you for it. With your low cultivation, you don’t have the strength for that. It’s best not to get involved.”
Xu Yifan: “…Thanks a lot.”
The young man scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. “No need to thank me.” After seeing the young man off, Xu Yifan went back inside and lay down on his bed again.
The villagers loved gossip, and they had all sorts of speculations about Xu Yifan. Some of it was so outlandish it was practically nonsense, but some of it was actually true.
For instance, Xu Yifan really was lazy and fat, he even rented his own house, and his cultivation was barely at Qi Refining sixth layer—quite low indeed.
But…
At this moment, in the outer region of Beiman Mountain, a large crowd of cultivators had gathered.
“Is there really a treasure in there?” someone asked doubtfully.
“No idea. No one’s actually seen it.”
“There should be something. That scene that night couldn’t have been anything else.”
“Thunder doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a rare treasure! Maybe someone was going through a tribulation in there!”
“You idiot, so many people saw it. You think we’re all stupid, unable to tell the difference between a tribulation and the omen of a treasure manifesting in the world?”
“The spiritual energy fluctuations that night were so massive, whatever this thing is, it can’t be simple.”
“Simple or not, I don’t know, but a whole group went in, and only two came back out.”
A cultivator, apparently a newcomer who didn’t quite understand, asked, “Then didn’t you all go ask those two what’s actually going on in there?”
The man who’d spoken earlier pointed. “See them? Those two right there. If you’ve got the guts, go ask them yourself. If you make it back, let us know too, we’re pretty curious ourselves.”
Everyone looked in the direction he pointed and saw only two corpses, missing arms and legs, lying stiff and straight on the ground, already rigid.
The two corpses wore the same uniform as several others nearby, suggesting they were from some sect.
They were already dead, what more could anyone ask them?
Xu Yifan had put on a concealment talisman and taken a breath-suppressing pill, and after listening for a good while off to the side, he walked over to the corpses to take a look. Judging by their cultivation, these two should have been at late Foundation Establishment stage. Their lips and nails had both turned black, suggesting they’d been poisoned before death. Combined with the fracture marks on their arms, their opponent was likely the Black-Spotted Poison Crimson Python.
He’d heard before that there was a Black-Spotted Poison Crimson Python at late Golden Core stage somewhere on Beiman Mountain. He hadn’t believed it at first, but now he did.
Demonic beasts at late Golden Core stage couldn’t yet transform into human form, but they already had awareness. Still, a demonic beast was ultimately a demonic beast, even with human-like awareness, they retained certain beastly instincts, such as territorial awareness and the instinct to guard their food.
The dead were clearly from some sect, that kind of person usually had backers, and killing the young ones would easily bring the old ones down on you. If it were merely a matter of trespassing on its territory, the Black-Spotted Poison Crimson Python probably wouldn’t have attacked.
Unless…
There was something good in its territory.
The thought made Xu Yifan excited, it hadn’t been in vain, coming all this way. The inner region was dangerous, and Xu Yifan didn’t dare get overconfident. Even with a concealment talisman and a breath-suppressing pill, a Nascent Soul cultivator might still be able to detect him if they came by, so he stayed on high alert.
For the sake of the rare treasure, Xu Yifan rarely worked this hard, he searched through the inner region for three days and nights straight. He ran into plenty of Golden Core–stage demonic beasts and high-grade demonic plants, but nothing that could be called a “rare treasure,” not even a hair of it. He never even caught sight of the Black-Spotted Poison Crimson Python.
The inner region really was dangerous. In just these three days, he’d encountered more Golden Core–stage demonic beasts than he could count on both hands. Those cultivators had guts, daring to rush in here with only Foundation Establishment cultivation, no wonder none of them could get out.
On the fourth day, after wandering around, he came to a secluded lakeside. The lake water here was a deep, clear blue, and the shore was covered with second-grade spiritual herbs. Any ordinary cultivator who saw this would probably be overjoyed, sighing that the trip hadn’t been wasted. But amid this vast expanse of spiritual herbs, Xu Yifan caught the scent of a top-grade demonic plant.
The Southern Abyss belonged to the low-grade continents, extremely deficient in spiritual energy, which was why it was also called the Savage Continent. In such a remote place, could there really still be a living demonic plant?
A demonic plant alone would already be something, but this scent belonged to a top-grade demonic plant.
A top-grade demonic plant was no ordinary thing. Whether it concerned demon cultivators, human cultivators, or even rare treasures, once something was branded “top-grade,” its status became entirely different.
Xu Yifan had once read in ancient texts that tens of thousands of years ago, a top-grade Trumpet Demon Flower had appeared in Fangzhou, in the Central Heaven Territory. When that Trumpet Demon Flower reached the Deity Transformation stage, it slaughtered eighteen surrounding continents to absorb spiritual power, wiping out several sects. At the time, blood flowed like rivers everywhere, corpses littered the ground, and it nearly threw everyone into a state of panic.
Because of its monstrous crimes, that Trumpet Demon Flower was later sealed away by more than a dozen Deity Transformation cultivators working together, after fighting for ten days and nine nights.
If it had been just an ordinary Deity Transformation–stage demonic plant, why would it have taken more than a dozen experts of the same realm joining forces to subdue it?
Top-grade demonic plants and demonic beasts were usually of twisted temperament. If allowed to grow unchecked, chaos would surely follow across the world. That was why, from the moment most top-grade demonic plants and beasts came into being, Heaven’s Dao would send down countless lightning tribulations, attempting to strike them dead. And if cultivators spotted one, they would never let it go either.
Because of Heaven’s Dao’s restrictions and the persecution of cultivators, top-grade demonic plants and beasts had been extinct for nearly a hundred thousand years. And now…
Could it be that a seed left over from ancient times had sprouted?
The ancient texts only had a few scant lines recording demonic plants, but they specifically noted the “peculiar” nature of top-grade demonic plants, if one could be contracted… that would be wonderful indeed.
Xu Yifan could barely contain his excitement. He swept his gaze around and quickly locked onto his target.
It was a vine as long as a chopstick, entirely dark all over, with only two dark red leaves growing on it.
Demonic plants looked no different from ordinary plants on the outside. The biggest difference was that they could move, cultivate, had awareness, and would actively attack cultivators who entered their territory or who were useful to their cultivation.
But what plant was black?
…
The demonic plant stood upright among the cluster of spiritual herbs, this was the eighteenth day it had spent pretending to be one of them.
In its not-very-large brain, it vaguely knew someone was looking for it, but unfortunately those people were too dumb, they’d all walked right past it without recognizing it, and one by one they’d all been eaten by that big stupid snake in the lake.
Hahaha…
Just as it was feeling smug about this, it heard a voice say, “Found you.”
Hm???
The demonic plant instantly froze stiff. It used its spiritual sense to probe around, but detected no one within dozens of miles.
“You can’t see me,” the voice said again. “Quick, withdraw your spiritual sense, or you’ll get spotted by other cultivators.”
Cultivators at Foundation Establishment could use spiritual sense, it functioned as a cultivator’s second pair of eyes, though it could easily be detected by cultivators of higher cultivation.
The demonic plant immediately withdrew its spiritual sense.
Its own cultivation was only at early Foundation Establishment. The vast majority of cultivators who dared come into the inner region had cultivation higher than its own.
“Rumor has it top-grade demonic plants have been extinct for nearly ten thousand years,” the voice asked. “What’s your story?”
The demonic plant was truly frightened now.
That person actually knew it was a demonic plant!!
It was done for.
Just as Xu Yifan had said, top-grade demonic plants had been extinct for nearly a hundred thousand years. Present-day cultivators had no idea what a demonic plant even was, some hadn’t even heard of the term.
The demonic plant, in a small, milky, babyish voice, said with not much confidence, “I’m not a demonic plant. I have no great height, no fragrant flowers, I’m just an ordinary, unremarkable little grass.”
Xu Yifan: “…”
What grass could talk? Tell me that.
A gust of cool wind blew past. Xu Yifan pointed at the little grass swaying in the wind nearby and said, “Normal grass moves when the wind blows.”
The demonic plant looked around, that was indeed true!
It immediately started swaying, its vine twisting this way and that. Xu Yifan’s mouth twitched. “…The wind stopped.”
The demonic plant, not quite understanding what that meant, kept swaying.
“Normal grass doesn’t move when there’s no wind.”
The demonic plant looked around again, that was indeed true!
It immediately stopped moving.
After a moment, Xu Yifan said again, “The wind’s back.”
The demonic plant immediately started swaying again.
“The wind stopped.”
The demonic plant, panting, stopped.
A moment later it heard the voice say again, “The wind’s back again.” Before it could even catch its breath, it immediately started swaying again.
“The wind stopped.”
“The wind’s back again.”
“The wind stopped again.”
“The wind’s back yet again.”
Back and forth several times, Xu Yifan was thoroughly amused, and then a little troubled.
This demonic plant’s intelligence was truly worrying! This didn’t seem like a top-grade demonic plant, more like a top-grade idiot.
But then Xu Yifan thought about it, it had only sprouted on the eleventh of last month, and had then been struck by lightning for half the night. He didn’t know how it had survived, but once it grew a bit more, surely it wouldn’t be this foolish.
Xu Yifan pulled out a bottle of pills from his spatial ring. The moment he opened the cap, a fresh fragrance immediately drifted into the air.
The demonic plant, seeing the green pill appear out of thin air, immediately swayed its vine-body, like a drunkard who’d had too much to drink.
“Want to eat it?” Xu Yifan asked.
The demonic plant clearly had no facial features, yet Xu Yifan somehow seemed to hear the sound of it swallowing its saliva.
Spirit Plant Pills held a fatal attraction for demonic plants—Xu Yifan had only meant to test it out, never expecting it would actually work on a demonic plant too. Seeing that the demonic plant made no sound, he furrowed his brow and poured two more pills into his palm.
The demonic plant swayed even more violently, as if it had downed several more jin of strong liquor.
But it still didn’t make a sound.
Xu Yifan waited a moment, then put the pills back into the bottle and sighed, “Never mind then. A gentleman doesn’t force others [1]doesn’t press someone into doing something against their will jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3015875_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3015875_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. If you don’t want to eat it, I’ll be on my way.” He turned and started to walk away. The demonic plant instantly panicked:
“Eat, I want to eat.”
“You didn’t want it when I offered it just now,” Xu Yifan said, not stopping his steps, his voice growing distant. “Now I don’t feel like giving it to you anymore.”
The demonic plant was silent for a moment. It seemed it didn’t expect this kind of move.
Xu Yifan took two more steps, and behind him erupted a sky-shaking, earth-shattering wail [2]an exaggerated, over-the-top cry jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3015875_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3015875_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
“Wuuuuu…, I want to eat, I want to eat…”
The corner of his mouth curled up slightly. He sighed as if helpless, and turned back.
“Why are you crying?”
“I… I want to eat it.” the demonic plant said between sobs.
“I could give it to you,” Xu Yifan crouched down and said with a smile, “but only if you form a contract with me. Then I’ll give it to you.”
“What’s a contract?” the demonic plant asked in its soft, milky voice.
“It means from now on you have to listen to what I say.”
The demonic plant wasn’t very smart, and on top of that, it had suffered a lightning tribulation the moment it was born, so the inherited memories it received weren’t complete. But it vaguely sensed that this “contract” thing wasn’t good, once it formed a contract with someone, it would suffer greatly.
“Then I don’t want it.” it said.
Its tone was resolute, as if it had quite some backbone.
“Oh! What a shame,” Xu Yifan popped a pill into his own mouth and crunched it loudly. “This candy bean is really damn delicious, sweet, mm, with just a bit of sourness too. It really tastes great.”
He heard the demonic plant swallow its saliva again, and then it asked him, “What’s sweet, and what’s sour?”
“Not telling you.” Xu Yifan said. “But since I feel sorry for you, I can give you one to eat.”
References[+]