"Hey, hey, hey, don't drag me into your personal grudges, I have no problem with it. At such a young age, with such cultivation, you're destined for great things. So what if you're a little arrogant? A young man who isn't arrogant isn't a real young man."
The elder of the Blade Sect looked up abruptly and quickly distanced himself from Xu Qingqiu: "My Blade Sect also chose red, because red is auspicious."
Penglai Lezheng Chang'an smiled gently, ignoring the sudden dispute: "Since Elder Chu has chosen red, then we Penglai will choose green. Green is good, it's full of vitality."
After a moment's thought, the cultivators of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect made their decision: "In that case, our Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect will choose gold. Gold is excellent, like the Buddha's light shining everywhere."
In the end, only the Sword Pavilion, the Joyful Union Sect, and the Jade Maiden Sect remained to be chosen. The problem was that with only these three remaining, they couldn't come up with anything worthwhile, so they had no choice but to make a decision.
Sword Pavilion has suffered heavy losses in the Mirror Realm, and choosing to ally with a sect with superior overall strength is the wise move at present.
"We also chose gold."
This was the final decision made by the elders of the Sword Pavilion.
Because Buddhist practitioners possess astonishing strength in both martial arts and defense. More importantly, they have a high moral standard and would not stand idly by and watch someone die.
Seeing that the elders of the Hehuan Sect were also about to make a decision, Xu Qingqiu became anxious and quickly spoke up first: "Since everyone is so skilled and bold, then my Jade Maiden Sect should not be out of step with the crowd, so we will choose blue. Blue is holy, noble and pure, which suits my heart very well."
The elder of the Hehuan Sect glared at her and stepped forward: "Then we will also choose blue, because blue is holy, noble and pure. What we in the Hehuan Sect like most is: to drag the holy into the mud; to trample the noble underfoot; to imprison the pure in the abyss of desire."
"you!!!"
Xu Qingqiu was so angry her nose almost twisted!
Why is the whole world targeting her?! Why does everyone want to make things difficult for her?!
The elder of the Hehuan Sect glanced at her, snorted coldly, and then swayed his slender waist, leading his disciples into the blue fork in the road.
Having watched the show long enough, Chu Hongluan led the group from Tianji Pavilion toward the red fork in the road.
Elder Daozong and Ke Tinghe followed closely behind.
As they walked, several junior disciples of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion were the first to notice that something was wrong.
"Elder Chu! I think I've been affected!"
"Me too! I... I feel like there's something wrong with the spiritual energy here."
Their voices trembled slightly, as if they had encountered something extremely terrifying.
In the end, Qiao Yue remained calm and recounted her findings one by one:
"I just absorbed a small amount of spiritual energy, intending to use it to speed up my journey—but as soon as that energy entered my spiritual palace, it began to frantically devour my stored spiritual energy. I couldn't force it out of my body; I had no choice but to refine it. In the end, not only did I not recover any spiritual power, but I also consumed twice as much spiritual power to refine it..."
“Yes, yes! Me too!” the other disciples quickly chimed in.
"Really? I'll give it a try!"
Ke Tinghe immediately unleashed a massive burst of spiritual energy. The elders of the Sword Sect beside him tried to stop him but couldn't, and could only watch helplessly as Ke Tinghe finished consuming the energy, then sat down to meditate, looking pale, and began refining it...
Chu Hongluan's expression was somewhat indescribable.
How did this thing survive until today?
Chu Hongluan sighed helplessly and tried to draw a wisp of spiritual energy from the air and channel it into her meridians. After two breaths, Chu Hongluan came to a conclusion.
"Hmm, the spiritual energy here seems to contain some kind of toxin. Everyone, be careful to reduce your spiritual energy consumption, as we may not have any spiritual energy to replenish for the foreseeable future."
Everyone immediately became worried. The road ahead was dangerous and unknown, and their situation had already become difficult.
Chu Hongluan was unaffected. Her sword contained a spiritual energy reservoir comparable to a vast ocean, and the little spiritual energy she possessed was insignificant; she could use it freely.
Liu Jinghong blinked. To be honest, he couldn't absorb spiritual energy in the first place. But he had quite a few Heavenly Spirit Jade in his pocket; if all else failed, he could just flaunt them and he wouldn't die.
If they used spiritual power to propel themselves, it might only take a few incense sticks to cross the thicket, but they walked for almost an hour before finally seeing the forest covering the mountains again.
Ke Tinghe casually found a spot under a tree, plopped down, and muttered, "It's getting dark, should we set up camp in the woods? But this forest looks really weird, I have a bad feeling about it—ugh—glug glug—"
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt a darkness above his head, and something wet and sticky coiled around him, pulling him into some kind of foul-smelling, dark, enclosed space. It squeezed him tightly, rolling him around like a walnut being spun around in a dish—
The air grew quiet.
The group stared hesitantly at the enormous carnivorous plant that had suddenly emerged from behind the tree, considering the possibility that Kotingh was still alive.
"Mmm—wine, lie down—lie down, unyielding knife, wah—bite and wash—"
Help me!!! I can't pull out the knife! It stinks to death!
Chu Hongluan felt a throbbing sensation on her forehead, then swiftly drew her sword and severed the stem of the man-eating flower.
The nozzle rolled to the ground, and green juice gushed out, looking rather disgusting.
The elder of the Sword Sect quickly stepped forward and pried open the mouth of the man-eating flower, trying to rescue his unfortunate sole heir.
"Ugh—it smells a bit—ugh—hurry! Hurry! Climb out yourself—ugh—"
Chu Hongluan covered her mouth and nose and took a few steps back, looking somewhat disgusted.
But look at this man-eating flower again: purple buds, large green lips, a mouthful of big fangs, red spots on its body, and a row of jagged, punk-style teeth on its head.
Why does he look so familiar...?
"ah--"
Another scream!
Chu Hongluan suddenly turned around and saw a disciple being dragged by something, quickly heading into the depths of the forest!
"Chase!"
They had only run a few steps when they heard Qiao Yue shout again, "Damn! How disgusting! This mud has eyes! And it's covered in thorns! It pricks my feet!"
Chu Hongluan realized that she was not in any danger, so she did not turn back, but quickened her pace and chased after the forest with the speed of the wind!
Ahead, there are shimmering waves—it's a stream!
With a thud!
The disciple was dragged into the water!
"The character 'Gen' signifies suppressing violence and quelling chaos!"
As soon as Liu Jinghong issued the "Gen" command, the mischievous water monster was suddenly trapped by the Golden Light Pagoda! The vines were severed at the root! It twisted in agony!
When Chu Hongluan and the others reached the stream, the disciple had just climbed ashore, soaking wet.
Are you alright?
"N-nothing."
Only then were the people able to see the full appearance of the monster.
At first glance, it looks like some kind of seaweed that has come to life. Apart from the lush green vines on its head, the space below looks like a pitch-black void, with only two blood-red eyes vaguely visible.
It still looks familiar.
Chu Hongluan frowned. Where did this damned sense of familiarity come from?
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