Chapter Fourteen: Crises Abound
"Purple crystal, what exactly is it? And what about that shadow with the meaning of evil invasion? Is the disappearance of the alienation point related to it?" "
Xu Qing couldn't figure it out. While he was lost in thought and analyzing, the figures of Captain Lei and the others returned from him one after another. Each of them stared at him as they passed by.
Xu Qing composed himself and a sharp light flashed in his eyes.
No matter what that is, it doesn't matter at this moment.
After the adjustment, it was his turn to continue.
Xu Qing stood up, wiped the iron stick against his body to make its cold light shine again. At the moment when the Cross passed by, he suddenly rushed out.
The speed was so fast that it approached the chasing wolves in an instant.
The sounds of fighting and screams mingled together, as if it were a baptism for the young man.
This enabled him to survive by opening his eyes to the deities and survive the blood rain. Amidst the scattered afterglow of the setting sun, he revealed his gradually sharpened sharpness!
This time, he persisted for a longer period.
Meanwhile, time gradually passed as the Thunder team kept retreating and taking turns to resist.
The setting sun vanished, the bright moon hung high, and night fell within the restricted area, but the sounds of battle continued.
Until... When their exhaustion reached its limit, all the white pills were consumed, and the concentration of heterosubstances in their bodies was approaching the critical point of alienation, dawn arrived.
The wolves finally began to disperse.
As the dawn broke, the last black-scale Wolf in the jungle of the restricted area gave them a tired look and vanished into the distance. The surroundings gradually fell silent.
Everyone was covered with thick plasma and was lying on the ground, panting for breath at this moment.
Xu Qing was no exception. Even with the recovery of the purple crystal, the mental tension still made him extremely exhausted.
"Finally... survived." Luan Ya, standing by, muttered to herself, struggled to get up, looked at Xu Qingshi and spoke softly.
Thank you.
The ghost was also panting and gave Xu Qing a thumbs-up.
In this night's battle, Xu Qing's actions and timing surpassed those of the Lei Team and the Cross Team. It could even be said that without him, some of them might have already been alienated before the wolves could disperse.
Only Xu Qing lay there looking at the sky, exhausted but also deeply puzzled in his heart.
During this night's battle, the rate at which foreign substances accumulated in his body was significantly slower than before.
Even he had a feeling that his heterogeneity was vanishing on its own all the time.
While everyone was taking a break, Captain Lei rubbed his eyebrows, his serious gaze swept over the people waiting at the cross, and then spoke hoarsely.
This incident can't be an accident. The continuous pursuit of the Black Scale Wolf seems more like something is attracting them. So, take out the foreign items you have obtained during this period. Let's examine them carefully. I suspect this... is caused by human factors.
As Captain Lei spoke, Cross and the others all agreed. So they all checked on their own and took out the external objects.
Xu Qing's heart also gave a jolt. While he was considering whether it was the iron block in Ma Si's belongings that was the reason, Luan Ya beside him suddenly let out a cry of surprise and pointed at the side of the barbarian ghost.
Among the items taken out by the barbarian ghost, there was a wooden box.
The wooden box was tattered and seemed to be corroding by itself continuously. A faint smell was wafting out. Due to the mixed scents in the jungle of the restricted area, it was hard to tell the difference without a careful smell.
"Why did this thing corrode by itself?" " The barbarian ghost was astonished.
Captain Lei immediately stepped forward, picked up the wooden box and handed it to Luanya. Luanya sniffed it carefully and nodded with a sullen expression.
How did you get this thing? Captain Lei looked at the barbarian ghost.
"I bought it at the camp stall the day I came back. It contained insect repellent powder..." " The barbarian scratched his head.
This is made from the feces of butterfly rabbits. It will ignite by itself when exposed to external stimuli and can attract scale-like creatures... The black-scaled Wolf is also a type of scale-like creature.
Luan Ya looked at the barbarian ghost and spoke slowly.
The barbarian ghost is staying there.
The atmosphere around instantly froze, and Xu Qing narrowed her eyes.
After a while, Captain Lei shook his head.
The barbarian ghost was deceived. It's easy to imagine who could set such a trap for us in the camp.
"Blood Shadow Team!" The cross stood aside and spoke coldly.
"Blood Shadow Team has made such arrangements. It's hard to say they have no fallback plan, and we're not in good form at the moment..." Luan Ya hesitated and said.
"So, should we keep going to the picking site to complete the task or just leave? What do you think?" " Captain Lei looked up at the distance and slowly spoke.
Xu Qing looked thoughtful but said nothing.
The others also looked at each other for a while, and finally, Cross spoke with great difficulty.
"Captain, it's not far from our picking point here. Besides, everyone has suffered too much this time. If we come back empty-handed..."
Captain Lei fell silent, sweeping over the Barbarian Ghost and the Phoenix's tooth. The former lowered his head in guilt, while the latter looked reluctant. After a while, he let out a soft sigh.
"Keep going. When you reach the picking point, collect as soon as possible. Then everyone will disperse along different routes, leave separately, and meet at the camp." "
Team Lei scored the decisive goal. After a brief rest, everyone moved forward again in the jungle of the penalty area.
On the way, Xu Qing approached Luanya and took out the amber he had obtained from Pang Shan, asking what it was.
After seeing the amber, Luan Ya was startled. She took it and examined it carefully, informing Xu Qing that it was the venomous tail of the ghost-faced scorpion.
This scorpion is venomous, but not insoluble. It has excellent medicinal properties. After being poisoned, it can instantly unleash its potential, but this cannot last. Once it does, it needs to be detoxified immediately. Therefore, it is mostly kept as a pet and is quite valuable.
Xu Qing understood and, after expressing his gratitude, put it away.
Then everyone remained vigilant, closely observing their surroundings while speeding forward.
It was just that compared with before, this time they were more silent all the way.
Perhaps it was because of the appearance of the black-scaled Wolf yesterday that most of the other ferocious beasts in this area were driven away.
So as they walked along, the Thunder Team didn't encounter any danger. Just like this, after two hours, they finally reached the junction between the outer and deep parts of the restricted area.
The landscape here is no longer just jungle; some small hills and streams have also emerged. However, the water in the stream is black and undrinkable.
And in a place with thick jungle, there lies a small path. At the end of it, there is a different world, which turns out to be a small canyon.
When Xu Qing and the others entered this canyon, what caught his eyes was as if it were another world.
The upper part here is covered by thick vines growing all around, like a roof. The sunlight cannot fully reach in, and there are no big trees inside, with flowers and grass everywhere.
Fist-sized flowers of various colors fill the entire canyon, accompanied by many grasses that emit blue crystal light.
Each plant has seven leaves.
The light they emit is like stars, transforming the quiet canyon into a serene starry sky, presenting a very unique beauty.
Here are the picking spots that the Thunder Team once discovered, and each such picking spot is top secret and the foundation of the team's survival.
After arriving here, as the picking required special techniques, they did not let Xu Qing participate. Instead, they scattered and picked by themselves, which was faster and had no losses.
Xu Qing paid attention to their movements and did not force himself to join in. Instead, he sat cross-legged and silently inhaled.
After yesterday's battle, he found that his cultivation seemed to have improved a lot through continuous tempering, and now he had reached the critical point of breakthrough.
In order to have better survival skills in the upcoming crisis, Xu Qing didn't waste any time. Even within the restricted area, he still operated the Haishan Art within his body to absorb spiritual energy from all around.
With the emergence of psychic power, the wind rose in the canyon.
Captain Lei looked at Xu Qing and didn't try to stop him. He was well aware that on the way back, the possibility of being ambushed was extremely high. At this point, the growth of one's strength is the guarantee of survival.
Before long, during their picking, Xu Qing's body gradually began to make thumping sounds.
Waves of dirt gushed out from the pores of his sweat all over his body, melting the plasma on the outside. When it merged with the dirt, the flesh and blood all over his body were rapidly absorbing spiritual energy and being nourished to become increasingly tough.
It was not until the sound grew stronger and stronger, reached its limit, and then suddenly paused that a rumbling sound emerged in Xu Qing's mind.
All the blood vessels in his body suddenly swelled beneath his skin. At this moment, his flesh and blood were filled with psychic energy, as if they contained more astonishing power and speed than ever before.
All of this transformed into a sharp aura that enveloped him, and the spiritual energy fluctuations outside his body also spread in all directions.
The third layer of the Haishan Formula.
Xu Qing slowly lowered her head and opened her eyes.
The fleeting purple light in his eyes was visible to no one, but there was no joy of breakthrough in his eyes; instead, it was replaced by deep confusion.
What he looked down at was his own jumbled shadow in the scattered sunlight.
Just now when he was practicing, he clearly felt something was wrong. The spiritual energy he had inhaled and absorbed, after being separated by the Haishan Formula, nourished his entire body in its pure form.
And heterogeneous... Instead of flowing into one's own arm to form a point of alienation, it was... It flowed into one's own shadow.
Just like a shadow, it swallowed up that heterogeneous part.
After a long while, Xu Qing raised his head and suppressed all his doubts deep in his heart.
He glanced at the Lei Team and the others who were about to finish picking, his gaze extending into the distance, following the end of the canyon and looking deep into the jungle.
Faintly, he could see that far ahead, there seemed to be some buildings, as if a series of temples were connected into one, silent in the passage of time, exuding an ancient atmosphere.
"That's a building left over from an unknown era, and it's the farthest limit we scavengers can reach. It's beyond our reach, but if we encounter danger nearby, we can also go there to take shelter." "
After picking their own shares, the Thunder Team came to Xu Qing's side, followed his gaze towards the temple complex, and spoke slowly.
"Boundaries?" Xu Qing nodded.
Yes, some people say that in the past, the reason for the formation of this restricted area was that the deities looked at these temples. There were also scavengers who went there to explore, but there was nothing there except for the occasional appearance of a special small stone.
Captain Lei took out a part of the picked horse chestnut and put it in another leather bag.
How special? Xu Qing asked curiously.
Grind it into powder and sprinkle it on scars that haven't been formed for a long time. It can remove the scars without leaving any trace. However, it's of no use to us scavengers, but occasionally some important figures need it. After Lei finished speaking, he looked at Cross and the others.
At this moment, the Cross, the Barbarian Ghost and the Phoenix's Tooth had all been picked. Under the arrangement of the Thunder Team, each person took out a part and placed it in the leather bag held by the Thunder Team.
Finally, after dividing the clover, Captain Lei handed the leather bag to Xu Qing.
This is yours. From now on, everyone will disperse and leave, breaking up into smaller parts. The probability of getting out is greater. After Lei finished speaking, he looked at Xu Qing and gave him another map.
"Kid, my goal is too big. I'm bound to be the focus of the Blood Shadow's attention. And as the team leader, I also need to cover for you. You go out and wait for me at the camp as soon as possible."
Captain Lei spoke in a deep voice. Under the silent gaze of his teammates, he walked out of the canyon and vanished in a flash.
Xu Qing wanted to say something, but before he could utter it, Captain Lei had already gone far away.
Cross patted Xu Qing on the shoulder and left in the same way.
Finally, the Barbarian Ghost and the Phoenix Tooth each recounted their own experiences in detail to him and then left in a hurry.
Xu Qing silently watched them, put the seven-leaf clover away, and then turned back to look at the temple complex in the distance.
After a while, Xu Qing turned around, took a deep breath, and sped towards the entrance of the canyon. His speed was significantly faster after reaching the third level of his body refinement, and in an instant, he vanished at the entrance.
In the jungle of the restricted area, Xu Qing was like a nimble ape, constantly shuttling back and forth. He didn't follow the path he had taken but instead detoured along the map as marked.
He even distinguished crises based on the experience he had learned along the way. Occasionally, he encountered a few strange beasts, but all of them were successfully resolved by him.
Meanwhile, he also noticed his own shadow in the sunlight many times, a strange look flashing in his eyes.
He had already tried. Whether it was absorbing spiritual energy or taking deep breaths, the heterogeneous substances contained in all things, after entering his body, gradually poured into his shadow just as he had felt when he had broken through before!
If we trace back, this incident began to occur after the purple crystal emitted a cold current.
It was not until he reached the third level of the Haishan Art that it became increasingly evident.
My own shadow, it seems, after the purple crystal swept away the shadow of the black-scaled Wolf... Mutated.
This strangeness made Xu Qing's eyes gradually narrow.
He rolled up the sleeve of his left arm and looked. There was only one distorted spot on his arm, which was now extremely faint. If one didn't look closely, it was hard to notice any trace.
According to this development, the heterogeneity within his body will gradually decrease until it reaches a state of purity and perfection.
And this kind of perfection... Xu Qing had seen on the bamboo slips of the Haishan Formula that only those of extremely noble status in the origin of the human race on the Wanggu Continent could enjoy it.
What is the function of purple crystal? Xu Qing murmured and squatted on a branch, staring blankly at the sky for a while.
After a long while, he touched the place where the purple crystal was buried in his chest, remained silent for a moment, then raised his head and suppressed all his doubts in his heart. His figure flickered and he slipped into the jungle to continue moving forward.
Although the alien no longer posed a threat to him for the time being, this was just one of the many dangers in the restricted area. On the road ahead, Xu Qing still encountered some crises.
For instance, at this moment, he saw two alienated bears whose auras surpassed those of Captain Lei.
On the back of this kind of bear lies a huge, colorful spider. Countless silk threads spread out from the spider's abdomen and enter the bear's body, as if controlling it.
This made the two violent bears lose control of themselves while running.
The trees were smashed directly by them. If they encountered other strange beasts blocking their way, they would also be torn in half directly. Their brutality was extremely obvious.
If it weren't for the fact that their pursuit target was a red tiger and they didn't pay attention to Xu Qing, and Xu Qing also fled in a hurry at the first moment, it would have been extremely dangerous.
And the dangers from the restricted area are not limited to this.
An hour later, Xu Qing was carefully looking around at a tree canopy when he saw from afar a creature that seemed not to be in the jungle.
It was a creature that exuded ice all over its body and was as huge as a mountain peak... Jellyfish.
It emitted a faint light all over its body and drifted past in mid-air above the restricted area.
The translucent body, as the sunlight pierced through, revealed countless rotting corpses of strange beasts inside.
A large number of tentacles were swaying, and each tentacle was covered with strange eyes. However, most of these eyes were now closed and not open.
At this moment, it leisurely flew towards the depths of the restricted area. Where the jungle passed below, it was instantly frozen, and all existence could not escape the cold disaster.
The aura within it was so powerful that it far surpassed Xu Qing's. In Xu Qing's perception, even those two violent bears were extremely vulnerable in front of this jellyfish.
Even at this moment, just by taking a distant glance, Xu Qing's body stiffened, and a strong sense of crisis welled up in the depths of his soul.
It was not until the jellyfish vanished into the distance that Xu Qing let out a breath and looked at the frozen jungle area in the distance with a pounding heart, like a straight line stretching into the depths.
"If the direction of this jellyfish is here..." Xu Qing took a deep breath.
He understood that in this perilous jungle of the forbidden zone, he had some advantages over others because of the fact that his heterogeneity could be absorbed by shadows.
But this advantage now merely enables him to stay in the penalty area for a longer time.
Unless one day I become stronger, only then will this advantage be infinitely magnified.
After a while, when Xu Qing left, he was more cautious in this restricted area.
In this way, time passed, and soon the sun would set, leaving only the afterglow to illuminate it.
More and more roaring sounds gradually came from the jungle. Xu Qing, who was speeding inside, silently estimated the position on the map in his heart and knew that if he had traveled all night, he should have been able to reach dawn