"Master He never said that such a thing would happen in the ancient forest!"

Outside the mysterious mirror, a man in a white robe stood up angrily: "Now that this has happened, I'm afraid 40% of people will die there!"

Someone sighed and said, "What's more, the Xiaochongshan Secret Realm only allows Jindan-stage cultivators to enter. We can't interfere at all. We can only wait for the secret realm to close on its own in two days and send the disciples out. It's so dangerous, what should we do?"

He Xiaochen frowned, no longer as calm as before, and stared intently at the extremely strange scene of the ancient forest in the mysterious mirror: "Xiao Chongshan has been opened many times, and this situation has never occurred. The ten thousand year old dragon blood tree does not seem to be a spirit, but rather... possessed by a demon."

The scene was deadlocked for a moment. In the silence, a woman's leisurely and gentle laughter suddenly rang out: "Elders, you have too little confidence in your own disciples, right? Even though the changes in the ancient forest are dangerous, the ones sent into the secret realm are all top-notch young talents from various sects. If you can't even solve this problem, how can you find a foothold after leaving the sect and going down the mountain?"

The person who spoke was Qu Feiqing from Neon Island.

Her voice was lazy, and her right hand, which was as smooth as cream, was playing with her long hair. There was no trace of panic in her expression.

The female cultivator smiled and said, "The trapped disciples are not in danger of death at the moment. We might as well calm down and see how others will respond. I have met several interesting children, and I'd like to know how they will behave next."

The world of cultivation is full of strangeness and mystery, where opportunities and dangers often follow each other closely. In the process of spiritual practice, everyone will inevitably encounter life-threatening dangers. How to deal with them and escape from them depends entirely on personal luck.

The changes in the ancient forest are also one of them.

As soon as these words were spoken, a slightly hesitant look appeared on everyone's face.

"However, as soon as Ning Ning heard the news that her junior brother was in trouble, she entered the forest without caring about her own safety."

Qu Feiqing casually put a grape into her mouth, leaned lazily on the back of the chair, raised her eyes and glanced at Tian Xianzi: "The young disciples under Elder Tian Xian have a really good relationship."

Tian Xianzi smiled, also looking expectant: "As for Ningning, we can't expect her to play by the rules."

The female cultivator agreed with this and hummed softly.

=====

In the sea of ​​ancient trees and forests, blood is everywhere.

The thick crimson blood mist floated like smoke, lingering in the quiet air. The vegetation that originally emitted a faint blue or light green light seemed to be soaked in blood. Although it still emitted a dim light, it had turned into a depressing dark red.

Ningning was still trying to ask the system in her mind, but the latter seemed to be blocked and did not respond at all.

The further you go in, the more bizarre and terrifying the scene becomes.

The vines fluttered up and down, and several branches as thick as children's arms reflected the shadows of a group of crazy dancing demons, just like the hideous knuckles of evil spirits, constantly whipping the land.

Not only the vines, but even the flowers and plants seemed to have self-awareness. The petals opened and closed wantonly, and against the backdrop of the crimson light, they reminded people of red eyes that were peeking and blinking quietly in the dark.

After the great war between immortals and demons, the demon forces were severely damaged and there has been no news for a long time. However, the ancient forest, which is a place where spiritual energy gathers, is now producing endless demonic energy... The reason behind this is truly thought-provoking.

Ningning swung the sword again and cut off a vine that was attacking from behind.

From time to time, she could see disciples from various sects fleeing in a hurry around her, and she was the only one walking in against the crowd. The girl's figure was slender but firm, like a sharp sword, cutting a path in the red fog that was completely different from others.

--wrong.

There was another female cultivator walking in with her.

She was a girl wearing the uniform of the Wanjian Sect. She looked elegant and cold as ice. Her thin lips were pursed into a straight arc under her brows that were as sharp as the wind, and it was impossible to tell whether she was happy or angry.

She obviously noticed Ning Ning as well, and turned her head expressionlessly: "Wanjian Sect, Su Qinghan."

This was the first time they met, and the introduction came unexpectedly, but thinking of Su Qinghan's character setting, Ningning didn't find it that surprising.

As the daughter of an elder of the Wanjian Sect, this young lady was destined to be a favored child since birth, and naturally developed a proud and arrogant temperament.

She is a very typical swordsman, cold and quiet, she will draw her sword if she disagrees with someone, and she loves to challenge people to duel.

When dealing with people, he is very straightforward. He won't even look at people he looks down upon. On the contrary, if someone wants to get to know him, he will naturally strike up a conversation without hesitation.

Now everyone else was fleeing, and only the two of them dared to go against the crowd. Based on this point alone, Su Qinghan is willing to make friends with the other party no matter how good his sword skills are.

Ningning smiled at her: "Xuanxu Sword Sect, Ningning. Hello."

Su Qinghan looked calm and nodded, "So you are Junior Sister Ningning from Elder Tianxian's school. I wonder why Junior Sister is entering the forest this time?"

"I heard that a fellow apprentice was trapped by a thousand-year-old dragon blood tree, and I want to rescue him."

She touched her nose a little embarrassedly: "I am doing this out of personal feelings, there is nothing to say. Senior Sister Su must be doing this to exorcise demons, right?"

Su Qinghan shook his head: "Junior Sister Ningning, there is no need to underestimate yourself. Being willing to take risks for your fellow disciples is something that not many people can do."

This girl speaks in a very literary way and doesn't seem like a swordsman at all.

"Now the ancient forest has suddenly changed and the evil spirit has overflowed. I heard that the dragon blood tree was the first to hurt people. This incident is likely related to it."

Su Qinghan added: "You are here to save people, and I am here to exorcise demons. I think our paths are different and our destination is the same, we both have to go to the dragon blood tree."

Ningning nodded and responded with "yes".

As the forest darkens, the demonic aura grows stronger.

By the time the two of them could see the vigorous branches of the dragon blood tree, the oppressive feeling brought by the demonic energy had become as thick as a physical entity, like a heavy rock pressing on the heart, making it difficult to breathe.

Compared with the Linhai's former glory, it has now become an inhumane purgatory.

The wriggling branches of the trees looked like thick snakes, some were lurking quietly underground, and some were suspended in the air openly. The blood-red mist gathered into pieces, making Ningning feel as if she was in a scarlet sea.

Several monks were wrapped in layers of vines, forming airtight cocoons. Su Qinghan whispered to her that this was the demon clan's way of absorbing spiritual energy. The people imprisoned would not die, but would become an endless source of nourishment.

As for the dragon blood tree in the center——

Ningning had never seen such a big tree.

The canopy of trees is so tall that it blocks out the sky and the sun, and it is emerald green. A strange deep red color seeps out from the tips of its leaves, as if it were injured and bleeding. The lush foliage was impenetrable, not a single ray of moonlight could get in. Beneath the cracked trunks were the thick roots of the ancient trees, which slowly opened like giant claws, grabbing the scarlet soil beneath the tree.

The density of the demonic energy was beyond her imagination.

Ningning frowned secretly. With the cultivation level of this tree, she was afraid that even if she and Su Qinghan joined forces, they might not be its match.

——After all, he is over 10,000 years old, so he must be quite capable.

She held her breath and concentrated, and her heart suddenly skipped a beat when she saw a scene not far from the dragon blood tree.

The young man in black was not completely surrounded by the vines, but was gritting his teeth and resisting with blood all over his body.

That was really Pei Ji.

Pei Ji’s current situation is not good at all, he has almost been forced into a desperate situation.

The vines grew stronger and stronger, attacking him continuously like a wave. Although most of them were cut off by the sword, a few still cruelly cut his skin, leaving a string of hideous blood marks deep enough to see the bone.

His eyebrows and eyes were not clear in the blood mist. Ningning could only see his dark shadow and the blood that splattered when his body was broken. The blood color was darker than the blood color spreading in the forest.

Pei Ji must have been physically exhausted and had very little spiritual power left. But even so, he was still fighting back desperately, with swords flashing everywhere and his back always kept straight, reminding people of a thin but tall pine tree.

Several long vines like poisonous snakes attacked from all directions, but Pei Ji's spiritual power was not enough to split the sword light.

The arms, calves and neck were tightly entangled by the vines, and the sharp thorns on the branches pierced the skin. He gritted his teeth without making a sound, still holding the sword tightly in his hand, and bloodshot in his eyes.

He was almost surrounded by layers of vines.

"Senior Sister Su."

Ning Ning pondered for a moment and said, "It will take some time to deal with the dragon blood tree. Before that, can you do me a favor?"

She thought for a while and said, "Sister, these naturally formed monsters are not very smart because they have not yet developed their intelligence."

=====

The dragon blood tree leisurely dealt with its new prey.

The winding branches dug into the flesh tightly, and more vines continued to emerge, like vicious dogs that had not eaten for a long time, scrambling for food.

The wounded young man was almost covered in blood. The long sword in his hand made a low humming sound, but he no longer had the strength to resist.

Seeing that there were more and more vines and were about to devour Pei Ji, suddenly a white sword light flashed not far away and pierced through the overwhelming blood mist.

The circling branches were stunned for a moment, then collectively changed direction.

The dragon blood tree lives for tens of thousands of years and requires a lot of spiritual energy, so there are not many trees growing next to it to avoid depriving it of nutrients. In the circle of light green grass, stood a young girl.

Ning Ning raised her chin and smiled coldly: "I thought it was a big monster, but it turned out to be just a tree. If I kill you, will the abnormality end?"

Yellow-mouthed kid!

The branches and vines crawling on the ground suddenly stood up upon hearing this, and all flew into the air in an attacking posture. Ningning became the target of everyone's criticism, but she was not afraid at all. Instead, she drew her sword with a calm expression.

The fight with Pei Ji had consumed most of its patience. This time the vines did not attack one by one, but gathered into a huge net and rushed straight towards her.

When he was about to touch her, Ning Ning smiled unexpectedly, and said in a deep and crisp voice: "Senior Sister Su, it's now!"

——It’s a fraud!

The vine's movements suddenly stopped, and without thinking, it ignored her existence and turned around in a hurry.

Sure enough, another female sword practitioner was running towards somewhere quickly with a long sword in hand. Look at the direction she's heading...

It was the prey it had just captured!

This trick of luring the tiger away from the mountain will be useless to it!

Dozens of long vines, like sharp blades drawn from their sheaths, attacked the swordsman who appeared later. Su Qinghan's expression remained unchanged as she silently recited the sword formula in her heart. In an instant, a strong energy surged and the sword light split into six light blue shadows, surrounding her in the center.

A cold wind blew and the sword flashed.

The sword energy was as surging as a river. Wherever the sword wind reached, there was a faint shimmering light on the water, like a dragon raising its head in the water. However, in a blink of an eye, most of the vines were cut off.

The dragon blood tree was completely enraged, and the blood-red color of its leaves became more obvious.

However, just as it was about to use all its strength to teach this ignorant little swordsman a lesson, it suddenly felt another sharp sword wound on its body without any preparation.

It was exactly in the direction where its new prey was.

The branch suddenly cut through the air, turned to look at the source of the pain, and let out a sharp scream similar to a roar.

——Ningning came to Pei Ji at some point, the Star Mark Sword in her hand shining brightly.

The dragon blood tree finally understood.

Just when it thought it had cracked the plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain and focused all its energy on dealing with the sword cultivator who appeared later, the abandoned bait actually...

He actually broke through the layers of restraints on Pei Ji.

This is Ningning's strategy, which takes advantage of the inertial thinking that everyone has.

There is also a slight IQ deficiency of a natural elf.

Judging from the overwhelming demonic energy around it, the power of the Dragon Blood Tree is unfathomable. These vines must be just simple appetizers. If they were to have a head-on conflict with it, I'm afraid the plot would have to be changed.

It's called "No One Survives Extra Story: Ancient Forest and Sea".

So she first acted as the bait in the plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain, and when the time was right, she deliberately shouted loudly to divert the dragon blood tree's attention to Su Qinghan.

The dragon blood tree thought that it had uncovered the plan, and would subconsciously treat her as bait with no threat, thus relaxing its vigilance on Ningning and making Su Qinghan the primary hunting target.

But it would never have imagined that the first person who rushed out to act as bait was actually the one who really wanted to rescue Pei Ji.

Let it taste the sweetness first and make it think that it is in control of the situation. In this way, the dragon blood tree will believe in the scam.

It’s a pity that Dragon Blood Tree has never played e-sports, so he will never know that the scientific name of this wave is “You hold on, I’ll steal the home base.”

=====

Pei Ji bit his tongue hard, and his scattered consciousness finally became clearer.

The vines have covered both eyes. Everything within his field of vision is dark, and there is a long, piercing roar in his ears. He can't hear anything.

There was unbearable pain in the places where the vines had scratched me, and every breath brought about a heart-wrenching pain. The boy's dark pupils were as deep as a dark pool, with a hint of resolute cruelty flashing across them.

Pei Ji never shows mercy to his enemies, and he will be ruthless to himself without hesitation.

The current situation is desperate. If you want to break free, you have to fight to the death, gather all the remaining strength into shape, and pierce the vines in one fell swoop.

However, his body could not bear the burden now. Once he used that method, his internal organs would be severely damaged, and his life or death would be left to fate.

The taste of rust in his mouth became stronger and stronger, and Pei Ji sneered at himself.

He had no other choice.

Without family or friends, and without any chance or secret method to rely on, he had long been accustomed to struggling back and forth between life and death, barely holding on to this rotten life full of holes.

Like when he was a child, he encountered a pack of wolves in the mountains, was locked in a dark room by his mother without food or water for three days and three nights, and encountered a monster on the way to Xuanxu Sword Sect to become an apprentice, and could only fight for his life with an iron sword.

No one will care even if this life dies. There is no salvation or miracle in the world. He can only rely on himself.

The bloodshot at the bottom of the eyes became thicker and thicker, like spider silk covering the entire pupil. Pei Ji had a cold expression as he silently recited the magic formula in his mind, feeling the spiritual energy gradually surging up through his damaged meridians and skin.

My whole body was burning and I was almost losing consciousness due to the pain.

The sea of ​​consciousness of the young man was shaking, and the fingertips of the young man with cold eyes moved slightly. He was about to activate his spiritual power when he suddenly saw a flash of white light in front of him.

It was actually a majestic sword light.

——The snow-white sword light was like silver streams falling from the sky, and the star points connected into a line were as bright as pearls. It broke the vines that bound him tightly in one fell swoop, and also cut through the silent darkness that shrouded Pei Ji.

The sword wind was so strong that the crushed branches rose up one after another. The wind, blood, and stars shone in the distance. In his blurred vision, he saw the girl's black hair blown by the wind.

And eyes brighter than the moonlight.

Pei Ji's heart, which had been silent for a long time, suddenly beat violently.

"Ah, Junior Brother."

Ning Ning looked up at him, secretly relieved, but on the surface she still insisted on being the villainous female supporting character, and raised a smile from the corner of her mouth: "You still have a breath left, you're not dead, right?"

"Yes, it's Ningning, wuwuwu!"

The Cheng Yingjian in his heart almost cried with excitement: "She actually came to save you, Pei Ji! She, she, she actually!"

she--

Pei Ji had a splitting headache. Why did she come here?

It was clear that when the previous incident happened, he did not see the figure of this fellow sister nearby.

Before this thought faded, the boy suddenly widened his eyes.

Ningning held his back and pulled him into her arms.

Although it was a completely routine action without any romance, it still made Pei Ji hold his breath reflexively.

The hideous blood stains from the wound were all on her chest, but Ning Ning did not show any disgust. Instead, she said to him carelessly, "Hey, I didn't come here to save you on purpose. I just happened to see a pitiful guy who looked familiar, so I decided to help him out - do you understand?"

She had a scent of gardenia that didn't match the smell of blood.

As she spoke, her clear and warm breath fell on his ear, like a faint electric current, spreading from his earlobe to his heart.

Pei Ji lowered his eyelashes and hummed softly.

The dragon blood tree noticed Ningning's actions and knew that it had been deceived, and was furious.

Suddenly, there was a loud wind in the forest, and blood-red resin oozed out of the tree trunks out of nowhere, as if they were crying blood, which was extremely weird.

Hundreds of vines rose into the air, no longer pointing their spears at Su Qinghan, vowing to kill the swordsman who had tricked them.

But she would never just sit there and wait to be beaten.

After realizing that its home has been robbed, the Dragon Blood Tree will definitely give up on Su Qinghan and attack her again.

Ningning had thought of this a long time ago, so she asked Su Qinghan to run as far away as possible when the monster was lured away, buying time for her and Pei Ji to escape.

The bad thing about trees becoming spirits is that they have wooden heads and are never very smart.

"It might be a little bumpy, so hold on tight."

Ning Ning exchanged a glance with Su Qinghan in the distance, put her hands on Pei Ji's back, and said in a brisk and loud voice: "Let's go."

As soon as he finished speaking, a white light appeared under his feet.

Fortunately, there is sparse vegetation around the dragon blood tree, so he can fly with the sword effortlessly.

The sound of the wind and the girl's voice filled his eardrums, and Pei Ji heard her speak seriously: "Don't be so self-indulgent as to think that I am good to you. I will charge you for saving people. You can decide how much spirit stones to pay."

Ningning was still trying her best to establish her character when another sword light appeared silently beside her. The one standing on the sword was Su Qinghan who had escaped easily.

The young swordsman took a quick look at her and Pei Ji, and said with a look of understanding: "Is this the junior brother you insisted on saving even at the risk of your life?"

The Star Mark Sword shook violently.

However, the straight-forward senior sister of Wanjian Sect didn't notice that Ningning's face looked strange at all, and continued to speak with a little envy: "Before, I was wondering why Junior Sister Ningning would go to the trouble of rushing to save him. Now I see that the two of you have a very good relationship. Unlike my junior brother, he is very naughty all day long and makes people worry——"

At this point, he suddenly raised his voice in confusion: "Strange, why is Junior Sister's face so red? Could it be that she was poisoned?"

Ningning tried hard to force an awkward yet polite smile.

She just wanted to wave goodbye to this beautiful world.

Senior Sister Su, do you know?

In fact, you, this annoying little goblin, are the most poisonous.