After walking for a while, Lin Qian suddenly stopped. She keenly sensed something was wrong—it was too quiet around her, eerily quiet.
"003, scan the surroundings," Lin Qian said in a low voice, while gripping the silver dagger in her hand tightly.
"Ding! Scan complete. No monsters detected within a ten-mile radius..." 003 said.
"...There are no demonic beasts at all, not even the chirping of insects or birds." 003's voice was unusually serious, and the pale blue light flickered uneasily. "This is very abnormal. The spiritual energy in the secret realm is abundant. Even if there are no demonic beasts, it is impossible that there are no ordinary creatures at all."
Lin Qian frowned slightly, cautiously surveying her surroundings. Towering trees blocked out the sun, with only dappled sunlight filtering through the branches and casting swaying shadows on the ground. A damp, decaying stench permeated the air, mingled with the scent of unknown flowers, making one want to vomit.
"Could it be..." A bad feeling suddenly rose in Lin Qian's heart, "...an illusion array?"
She quickly pulled a handful of golden powder from her storage bag and scattered it around. This was a life-saving item given to her by her master—Illusion-Breaking Golden Powder, specifically used to break illusion arrays.
Gold dust traced golden arcs in the air before slowly drifting down. However, the anticipated illusion did not shatter; the surrounding scenery remained unchanged.
"Not an illusion array?" Lin Qian felt even more uneasy. If it wasn't an illusion array, then this eerie silence was even more terrifying.
"003, can you still sense the auras of other cultivators?" Lin Qian asked in a low voice.
“No.” 003’s voice became even more serious. “Besides us, there are no signs of life around here.”
Lin Qian took a deep breath and gripped the dagger tightly in her hand. Her intuition told her that danger was approaching.
Just then, the fallen leaves beneath her feet suddenly moved. Lin Qian reacted extremely quickly, flashing back several steps.
"Swish—"
A dark figure darted out from the pile of fallen leaves and pounced like lightning toward the spot where Lin Qian had been standing.
"Watch out!" 003 exclaimed.
Lin Qian looked closely and saw that the dark shadow was actually a black vine as thick as an adult's arm, covered with sharp barbs, gleaming with a cold, eerie light, and clearly carrying deadly poison.
"What the hell?!" Lin Qian cursed under her breath, the dagger in her hand turning into a streak of silver light as she fiercely slashed at the vines.
"clang!"
With a crisp clang of metal striking metal, the dagger struck the vine, leaving only a shallow white mark, utterly unable to harm it in the slightest.
"What?!" Lin Qian was shocked. The defensive power of these vines was so strong?
The vines, having missed their first attack, began to thrash wildly, like black venomous snakes, attacking Lin Qian from all directions.
Lin Qian dodged left and right, looking utterly disheveled. These vines were incredibly fast and attacked from tricky angles, leaving her barely able to dodge and no chance to retaliate.
"Damn it! What is this thing?" Lin Qian asked 003 in her mind while dodging the attacks of the vines.
"003, quickly find out what the hell this thing is!" Lin Qian asked anxiously in her mind while dodging the attacks of the vines. These vines seemed to have gone mad, their attacks becoming faster and stronger, and she felt like a leaf in a storm, about to be torn apart at any moment.
"There's no record of this plant in the database..." 003's voice also carried a hint of panic. "Wait, we detected a faint demonic aura on the vines. This isn't an ordinary plant; it's some kind of demonic plant!"
"A demonic plant?!" Lin Qian was shocked. No wonder these vines were so troublesome; they were demonic plants!
Demonic plants, as the name suggests, are plants corrupted by demonic energy. They usually possess powerful attack and defense capabilities, and are also highly poisonous, making them extremely difficult to deal with.
Lin Qian gritted her teeth, wielding her dagger with incredible speed and precision, trying to deflect the vines' attacks. However, the vines seemed to have eyes, always managing to cleverly evade her attacks and then strike her from unexpected angles.
"Sizzle—"
Lin Qian couldn't dodge in time, and her left arm was scratched by the thorns on the vines, leaving a deep bloody gash. The intense pain made her gasp.
"Master!" 003 exclaimed in surprise, "You're injured!"
"Don't panic!" Lin Qian endured the pain, took out a bottle of wound medicine from her storage bag, and sprinkled it haphazardly on the wound.
However, as soon as the wound came into contact with the medicine, a sharp burning pain shot through her, as if she were being scorched by a raging fire. Lin Qian felt so much pain that her vision went black and she almost fainted.
"003, what's going on?!" Lin Qian asked through gritted teeth, cold sweat sliding down her forehead.
"This...this medicine seems to have lost its effectiveness!" 003's voice trembled. "A strong corrosive substance was detected at the wound site, and it's spreading rapidly..."
"What?!" Lin Qian was shocked. She quickly tore off a piece of her clothes, trying to bandage the wound and stop the poison from spreading.
However, at that moment, a sudden change occurred—
The vines that had been attacking her frantically suddenly seemed to receive some kind of command, quickly retracting and disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Lin Qian was stunned for a moment. Before she could react, she felt a powerful suction force coming from behind her. Before she could even struggle, she was pulled into a warm embrace.
"Who?!" Lin Qian exclaimed in surprise. Just as she was about to struggle, she smelled a faint, cool fragrance. The fragrance was familiar and made her feel inexplicably at ease.
"Don't move." A deep, magnetic voice sounded in her ear, carrying an undeniable air of dominance. "You're injured."
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