Chapter 42: Secret Realm Opening: Entering the Secret Realm
The dizziness brought on by the intense spatial teleportation quickly faded, and Ye Li's feet landed firmly on the damp, soft ground. A biting chill and suffocatingly thick vapor instantly enveloped her, leaving her with nothing but white as far as she could see.
Thick fog!
The fog was even thicker than rumored! Even with her enhanced vision, she could barely see the area within five or six feet in front of her. Beyond that, it was a blurry, milky white. Even more frightening, when she tried to extend her spiritual awareness, it felt like it was trapped in a sticky quagmire, with immense resistance. Ultimately, it could only barely cover a ten-foot radius around her, and her perception became extremely blurry and obscure!
This mysterious realm of clouds and mist truly lived up to its reputation! This alone was enough to drastically reduce the combat power of most disciples, like a blind man touching an elephant.
Ye Li immediately activated the "Youhuan Emperor Scripture", and the extremely cold spiritual power flowed in his body, dispelling the pervasive damp coldness. At the same time, he pushed the "Breath-Containing Technique" to the extreme, and his entire aura instantly became almost invisible, almost blending with the surrounding mist.
She did not move rashly, but first quickly looked around.
Underfoot were slippery, dark green rocks covered with moss. Around them grew some strange ferns with thick, dark purple leaves. The air was filled with a strong humus smell and a faint, sweet, fishy fragrance.
There was no sunlight overhead, only endless white fog rolling in. All around was eerily silent, with only the occasional, indistinct sound of dripping water coming from far away, adding to the eerie atmosphere of the place.
Randomly teleported, she seemed to be sent to a remote corner of the secret realm where few people go.
"First determine the location and look for the reference points marked on the map." Ye Li calmly made a plan. Although the map provided by Lin Feng was rough, it roughly marked several possible landmarks.
She carefully chose a direction and performed Shadow Steps, silently exploring forward like a ghost in the mist. Each step was as light as a feather, avoiding making any sound.
The environment within the secret realm was bizarre and grotesque. She soon discovered that most of the plants here were unhealthy, over-nourished and plump, with strange colors, many of which had thorns or secreted mucus. Some twisted, dead branches, like ghostly claws, suddenly protruded from the fog, adding a touch of eeriness.
After walking for only a little over a mile, a slight "rustling" sound suddenly came from the fog ahead, as if something was crawling quickly on the moss!
Ye Li stopped instantly, pressed her body against a cold boulder, held her breath, and looked ahead sharply.
In the dense fog, several bowl-thick, grayish-white vines, almost blending in with the mist, moved silently across the ground and rock walls like living creatures! Their tips lifted like snake heads, trembling slightly, as if sensing something.
"Mist Hidden Vine!" Ye Li's heart trembled. This was a demonic plant unique to the secret realm, extremely skilled at camouflage and sneak attacks. Its vines were incredibly tough and contained a paralyzing toxin. Once entangled by it, it was extremely difficult to escape.
She restrained all her breath and remained motionless. The mist-hidden vines lingered nearby for a moment, seemingly finding no target, and slowly retreated back into the depths of the thick fog.
Only after it completely disappeared did Ye Li breathe a sigh of relief. Encountering such a formidable thing right after entering the secret realm was truly thrilling.
She continued on her way, even more cautiously. Along the way, with her powerful senses and exceptional agility, she avoided several hidden poisonous swamps (bubbling and emitting a foul odor) and a flock of strange birds that lived in the fog and cried like babies.
But at the same time, she also discovered some opportunities.
Beneath a leeward crevice, she discovered several shimmering, umbrella-shaped, purple fungi—"Purple Cloud Mushrooms." These were a rare ingredient in refining various detoxifying and tranquilizing elixirs, and she carefully gathered them.
A small piece of "moonlight moss" was found at the root of a dead, huge ancient tree full of holes. This moss is the material for making certain special talisman inks and emits a faint light at night.
Although these gains were not earth-shattering, they gave Ye Li a more intuitive understanding of the value of the secret realm. No wonder so many disciples flocked to it.
Just as she was carefully scraping off the moonlight moss, the fragment of the reincarnation mirror deep in her soul suddenly trembled very slightly, conveying a faint sense of desire pointing diagonally forward!
There's something!
Ye Li's heart moved, and he immediately followed the sensation and moved forward quietly.
Passing through a thicker, curtain-like wall of fog, the scene before her startled her slightly.
Ahead lay a rare, slightly thinner patch of clearing, a rare sight. In the center of the clearing lay a small, unassuming pool of water. The water was as black as ink, yet emanated a startling chill, forming a layer of frost around the edges. And right at the edge of the pool grew three strange, ice-blue grasses, their forms resembling ice sculptures. Each leaf seemed to be adorned with ice crystals.
"Ice crystal grass! And it's at least five hundred years old!" Ye Li's eyes flashed with surprise! This is a top-grade auxiliary material for refining high-level ice-type pills and tempering ice-type magic weapons! Its value far exceeds all her previous gains!
However, her joy did not last for a second, as an extremely dangerous premonition suddenly came over her!
Without thinking, the Shadow Step instantly burst into its extreme, and the body rushed backwards as if it had no weight!
Almost as soon as she left her spot, the ground where she had been standing suddenly exploded! A giant tail, as thick as a bucket, covered in pitch-black scales, emitting a foul odor and an extremely cold aura, swept past! The force was so great that the strong wind it brought even temporarily dispelled the surrounding fog!
boom!
The huge rocks collapsed and a deep trench was plowed out on the ground!
Ye Li steadied himself, looked carefully, and his heart sank.
From the dark, cold pond, a massive, ferocious head slowly emerged! It resembled a python, but it wasn't. A pitch-black fleshy crest crowned its head, and its vertical pupils, a deadly grayish-white, fixed their gaze on her. The demonic energy emanating from it had reached the peak of the second stage, equivalent to a human cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Condensed Veins Realm!
A black water snake! A mutated one, one with a strong cold poison!
It had clearly been lurking at the bottom of the pond, guarding the three ice crystal grasses! The Samsara Mirror sensed both the spiritual grass and this terrifying guardian monster!
"hiss--!"
The Black Water Mystic Serpent let out a terrifying hissing sound, its massive mouth opened, revealing its pale fangs. A stream of inky black venom, tingling with chilling cold, shot towards Ye Li like a sharp arrow. Its speed was astonishing!
Ye Li's pupils shrank slightly, and she didn't dare to take it head-on. This cold poison was obviously very powerful! She stepped forward, her figure flashing left and right like a ghost, narrowly avoiding the venomous spray.
Hiss, hiss, hiss!
The venom fell on the ground and rocks, immediately corroding deep holes and instantly condensing into a thick layer of black ice crystals!
What a horrible poison!
The attack missed, and the massive Black Water Mystic Snake suddenly burst out of the pool, carrying a sky full of black water spray and a biting chill. Like a black mountain range, it pounced towards Ye Li! Its bloody mouth was big enough to swallow her whole!
The speed, strength, and toxicity have all reached an extremely terrifying level!
Ye Li's eyes were icy, knowing full well that she could not defeat the enemy. If she was entangled or hit, the consequences would be disastrous!
Without hesitation, she immediately activated a "Fog-Breaking Talisman"!
The talisman spontaneously combusted without fire, transforming into a clear, misty wave of light that spread out in all directions! The dense fog around them was instantly dispelled over a radius of more than ten feet, and the vision suddenly became much clearer!
With this brief moment of clear vision, Ye Li saw the trajectory of the black snake's attack! Instead of retreating, she advanced, her body sliding at an incredible angle, right under the snake's ferocious jaws! At the same time, she pointed her fingers like swords, the icy blue light on her fingertips condensed to the extreme, and fiercely pointed at the black snake's relatively vulnerable seven inches!
"bite!"
There was a crisp sound like hitting metal! A huge recoil force came from the fingertips! The defensive power of the scales was far beyond imagination! Ye Li's finger, which was concentrated with all his strength, only left a white dot on the scales, failing to break the defense!
Instead, her fingers were numb from the shock!
"What a strong defense!" Ye Li was secretly shocked and used the force to float backwards.
The black snake felt pain and let out an angry roar, then its thick tail swept across again, blocking all her escape routes!
At the critical moment, Ye Li suddenly threw out two "Xuanbing Explosive Talismans"!
The talisman hit the huge tail of the black snake accurately!
Boom! Boom!
Two violent explosions rang out! An extremely cold air erupted instantly, shattering countless ice spikes! The black snake's tail was instantly covered by a thick layer of ice, and its movements suddenly froze!
Now is the time!
Ye Li's eyes flashed with brilliance, and his left hand, which had been gathering strength, suddenly swung out!
Instead of attacking the black snake, he hit the pool of water next to the three ice crystal grasses!
A gentle force picked up a few pieces of gravel at the edge of the pond and smashed them accurately into the water, causing a large splash!
At the same time, she pounced on the three ice crystal grasses like lightning! With a flash of cold light, she unsheathed her dagger in her right hand and instantly pried up the grass, along with a small piece of frozen soil underneath, and stored it in her storage ring! Her movements were as fast as lightning, and she completed the task in one go!
Her actions completely enraged the Black Water Mystic Snake! Thinking Ye Li was going to destroy the spiritual herb or attack its main body, it let out a deafening roar. Ignoring its temporarily frozen tail, its massive head whipped back, spewing venom once more!
But Ye Li had already planned it out! The moment she collected the Ice Crystal Grass, she once again used Shadow Steps, quickly retreating to the side and rear where the fog was thickest!
Puff puff puff!
The venom almost brushed against her back!
Without even turning her head, she instantly disappeared into the thick fog, her breath completely withdrawn and vanishing.
The Black Water Mystic Serpent twisted its body violently, shattering the ice on its tail and frantically destroying everything around it, but it could no longer find any trace of the hateful thief who stole its guardian herb...
Deep in the thick fog, Ye Li leaned against a huge rock, breathing slightly, but a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Three 500-year-old ice crystal grasses are in hand!
Although the process was thrilling, the rewards were huge. It was a good start.
She calmed her breath a little, identified the direction again, and sneaked quietly towards the approximate location of the "ruined ancient city" marked on the map.
The exploration of the secret realm has just begun, and the hunters in the shadows may have already taken action.
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