There were quite a few people in the Tianheng Secret Realm. Qi Zhiheng and his group didn't encounter many people when they were on the outermost edge, but they encountered more people as they went further in.
At this point, everyone was walking in, and the map wasn't just for Qi Zhiheng and his group, so the areas where everyone would gather were probably just a few densely populated areas.
This increases the chances of meeting other spiritual practitioners.
Fortunately, this was only on the outer perimeter, and no one was really interested in fighting over the loot. There wasn't much to grab on the outer perimeter, and everyone was waiting for the battle to begin on the inner perimeter.
At the end of the fourth month, the Qi family reunited.
The original eleven people became twelve.
Qi Zhiheng looked at Yan Yu and asked, "And who is this?"
Qi Zhenhao stepped forward and said, "He is a disciple of our academy. I saw that he was in trouble, so I brought him along."
The Qi family members didn't care about this.
Once everyone had arrived, they began planning what would happen next.
Qi Zhiheng said, "There are four entrances: the Maze Forest, the Swamp, the Cliff Bridge, and the Black-Armored Ant Grassland. The Cliff Bridge requires a weapon refiner, so don't count on one. The Garnet Lizards in the Swamp are mobile, so they probably won't be easy to find. Besides, this doesn't require a weapon refiner or an alchemist, so many people will likely choose this path, making it quite risky. The Black-Armored Ant Grassland is similar to the Swamp, so many people will probably choose it. In my opinion, the Maze Forest is the safest option."
“I agree with that,” Qi Zhenhe was the first to express his opinion.
The others naturally had no objections either.
Yan Yu said, "Although the Misty Forest is relatively less competitive, the traces of the Demon Eye Grass are not easy to find. With so many of us, we may not be able to find enough Demon Eye Grass."
Qi Zhiheng agreed to some extent, but said they should try it out first to confirm: "Let's go find it."
A group of people headed towards the labyrinthine forest.
From afar, the group could see a forest shrouded in purple mist.
Normally, this forest wouldn't be that big of an area; one could easily traverse it in less than a day using any flying magical artifact. But now, they have to follow a specific route.
"The map shows this area. Let's split up and search around here. We can contact each other using a message talisman."
Yan Yu felt a little embarrassed because he didn't seem to have the communication talisman...
Qi Zhenhao saw his predicament and gave him a few communication talismans, saying, "These are communication talismans to contact me directly. You can contact me directly."
"Okay." Yan Yu showed no politeness whatsoever, while a few thoughts were already running through his mind.
"Then that's settled. We'll split up now and take action separately. Contact me if anything comes up," Qi Zhiheng said.
"Okay!" Everyone responded and split up into pairs to carry out their tasks.
Qi Zhiheng and Yang Yitian headed in the same direction.
Yang Yitian looked around, his soul power probing the surroundings: "Where are all the Demon Eye Grasses? If we don't take the antidote pills, will we be poisoned to death?"
Qi Zhiheng explained, "The Demon Eye Grass thrives in areas with moderate levels of poison. The concentration of this poison is different from what we see with the naked eye, so we have to sense it ourselves—in other words, test it on our own bodies." As for not taking antidote pills, firstly, their effects would hinder the body's perception of the poison. Secondly, antidote pills can only suppress the poison, not completely eliminate it. If it were to erupt all at once, the damage to the body would be more severe, so antidote pills should not be taken.
After Yang Yitian understood, he also used his body to sense the level of toxic gas escaping from the air.
Unfortunately, the Magic Eye Grass was not easy to find, and they were still empty-handed after two days of hard work.
Two days later, the group gathered again, but none of them had found anything. They had no choice but to temporarily leave the area contaminated by the poisonous gas and continue to discuss the search for the Demon Eye Grass.
Five days later, the group still hadn't found the Demon Eye Grass.
"It seems this entire outer area has already been searched. Could it be that all the Demon Eye Grass here has already been taken by someone else?" Qi Dong commented.
“It’s possible that someone came looking for the Demon Eye Grass a long time ago, but it’s unlikely that the entire area has been searched. Perhaps there are places we’ve overlooked.” Qi Zhiheng said, spreading his soul power in the hope that it could find something that had been overlooked.
Qi Zhiheng condensed his soul power into a beam and probed in one direction. This was the place that Qi Dong and Yang Yao had searched before. Indeed, he did not see anything unusual in this direction. He changed directions several times in succession, but still did not find anything unusual.
At this moment, he saw a pool of water in the direction of Qi Zhenhao and Yan Yu. The water in the pool was also black, which clearly indicated that the river water was poisonous.
Qi Zhiheng asked, "Uncle, have you searched the pool?"
“A pool? We’ve looked around the pool,” Qi Zhenhao replied.
Yan Yu seemed to remember something: "We searched the area around the pool, but we didn't search inside the pool."
The reason is simple: in everyone's subconscious, the Magic Eye Grass grows on land, and no one has ever thought of the possibility that it could grow in water.
Qi Zhiheng said, "Let's go take a look."
The group then arrived at the edge of the pool.
The pool is about 100 meters in area. There is a waterfall next to the pool. At this time, the water flow of the waterfall is very weak, probably because the rainy season has passed and the water flow has decreased. The black water in the pool comes from the waterfall.
Qi Zhiheng and the others walked around the waterfall, but they did not find any trace of the Demon Eye Grass.
"The poisonous gas here is quite concentrated. Logically speaking, the Demon Eye Grass shouldn't be able to grow here." Qi Zhiheng squatted down by the pool, picked up a jade bowl, and filled it with water. The blackness in the pool wasn't very strong; you could still see the bottom of the jade bowl through the water. It was just that the pool was quite deep, and when it accumulated, it would appear as if it were completely black from a distance. Qi Zhiheng took out a small net and scooped a handful of water into the pool.
Yang Yitian didn't understand his intention: "What are you doing? Trying to fish out of the poisonous pond?"
Qi Zhiheng was speechless: "Even if there are fish in this poisonous pool, I can't afford to eat them." He scooped up a few stones.
He threw the stone on the ground, squatted down to examine it, and found that the surface of the stone was covered with mud and some of it was clumps.
Qi Zhiheng took out a dagger and split one of the stone fish, which was about six inches in diameter, in half.
"Could the Demon Eye Grass grow inside a rock?" Yang Yitian asked, resting his chin on his hands, looking at the crane and its movements with great confusion.
"Don't just think nonsense." Qi Zhiheng poked his forehead and said to his family, "Everyone, come and see, I've discovered something."
Everyone crouched down to see Qi Zhiheng's so-called discovery.
Qi Zhiheng retrieved a total of three stones. The one that Qi Zhiheng had just cut open was the largest, another one was about three inches in diameter, and the last one was about two inches in diameter.
Qi Zhiheng calmly split the remaining two stones in half as well.
"What did you find?" Qi Dong asked.
Qi Zhiheng pointed to the three stones and said, "These are some stones that I just fished out of the pool."
Everyone looked at the stone that had been cut open.
Qi Zhiheng explained, "The outer ring of this largest stone is wet, while the inner ring is dry. The six-inch stone also has a small portion of its interior that is dry. The smallest stone, however, is completely wet inside. This type of stone is extremely absorbent; if these stones had been soaked in the pool for a long time, it would be impossible for them to remain so dry inside."
Upon closer inspection, everyone noticed the anomaly. Qi Zhenhe asked, "So? You think this stone might have been thrown in by someone, or...?"
Qi Zhiheng said, "I have a doubt. But I'm not sure if we can find the Demon Eye Grass."
"If you have any doubts, feel free to speak them out," Qi Zhenhe said.
Qi Zhiheng walked back to the edge of the pool and said, "I suspect that this pool may not have existed originally, but it exists now."
He picked up a stone from the bank and said, “There might have been a pool, but the water level wasn’t as high as it is now. Look at these stones; there’s no moss on them at all. It’s understandable that moss would grow if they were submerged in water for a long time, but neither the stones on the bank nor the stones in the poisonous pool show any trace of moss or algae.”
"It's hard to say. After all, this is a poisonous pool, so it's understandable that algae can't survive in it," Qi Zhenhe corrected Qi Zhiheng.
Qi Zhiheng nodded: "That's very likely. However, the toxicity in this pool isn't very strong, so it's not difficult for some algae to survive. Besides, it's not like there aren't any toxic algae that can adapt to this poisonous water. Of course, what I'm saying is just speculation and may not be accurate, but we can check the water."
He glanced at the water flowing over the waterfall and said, "There are some black marks on the waterfall, but they're not poison."
Upon closer inspection, everyone indeed saw some black marks beneath the waterfall, which appeared to be cracked.
"What do you think it is?" Qi Zhenhe had some guesses.
Qi Zhiheng said, "Those must be moss that died from lack of water for a long time. When the water dried up, the moss cracked open. In this way, I can be completely certain that there was no water flowing over this waterfall for a long time. It also proves that the water level in this pool has only recently risen so high."
“The Demon Eye Grass grows on land, so everyone subconsciously ignores the area inside this pool and only searches around the edge like Uncle. As a result, the only piece of pure land here that may not have been searched is probably inside this pool,” Qi Zhiheng pointed out.
"Shall we go down and take a look?" Qi Zhenhe hesitated. Although the water in the pool was less toxic, less toxic did not mean it was nonexistent. Going in might still result in poisoning.
Qi Zhiheng said, "Let me think about it first."
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