Spring Banquet (20)

After one or two minutes, Qing Lin was finally able to regain his composure. He pushed Saman's arm away and observed the headless monster.

"Holy crap..." they almost got killed. wOval

The membrane seemed to lose its moisture and turn opaque grey after the sword stabbed into it. It naturally dried up and began cracking before falling lightly onto the ground.

Once it did, they finally saw the complete appearance of the monster.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Saman raised the candle a bit higher and got closer to the monster.

Under the candlelight, they were able to see it more clearly— it was a person who resembled a lizard. His head was about the size of a washbasin and his body was covered with thorny scales. He doesn't look to be much of a threat, but the countless number of spikes on his head didn't look like something you should mess with. Ss8cV5

It was unknown whether they should be regarded as fortunate or unfortunate. Although they had escaped instant death, they did almost attract the monster's attention and walked head first straight into death's door.

"What are we going to do next?" Qing Lin whispered as he asked Saman. Unknowingly, a leader had been appointed in this two-person team, Qing Lin just haven't realised it yet.

Saman made a 'shh' motion and looked around carefully with the candle.

This was a rectangular space that was only about two meters in length and width as well as a height of around two and a half meters. All six sides were made of a frosted translucent membrane that looks to be very fragile, so fragile that they could help but worry about it tearing if a little bit more weight was added.

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In such a small space, although it was already difficult for two tall men to stand side-by-side, there were still a lot of gluey objects piled up in the corner; they were amber and translucent and shared a strong resemblance to crystal dumplings.

Saman stepped forward carefully. Although the membrane looked very thin, it felt very solid and not easily damaged. However, it would quickly collapse if there is a cut.

He held up a snowflake-shaped shard and looked at it thoughtfully.

Qing Lin took out a small stick and poked the gluey object in the corner; it could easily be stirred up into a clump and pulled into filaments. EdkVGa

"What is this?"

Saman glanced back, "I advise you not to touch it." He looked around carefully but only saw that one monster on the side, there wasn't anything else in the other direction.

Qing Lin didn't understand, and asked again, "Where are we going next?"

Despite being slightly impatient, Saman still displayed a gentlemanly appearance. Since there was no need to drop his facade for the time being, keeping this person around will be good if he needed to test some things out later. 63KcnL

"No matter which direction you go, be careful and try not to make any noise."

Qing Lin covered his mouth embarrassedly, saying that he would definitely take care not to make a lot of noise. He knew that he and the other party should not be running toward the monsters rashly and consuming too much energy.

He reached out and tapped on Saman's shoulder, gesturing with his hands that they should go the other direction since there was the monster's corpse on this side.

Saman shook his head, he looked up at the ceiling and suddenly lifted his giant sword to cut a square into the ceiling. The membrane shattered and turned into pieces of crystal as they fall down. eQGwtd

The sound of cracking in the small room was loud and all the monsters hidden in the dark responded by making various noises as they began to stir.

"What are you doing?!" Qing Lin was startled and questioned loudly

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Saman just looked up at the ceiling.

When almost all the fragments of the ceiling fell, the gluey object above also slipped down. As if it had its own consciousness, it gathered with the gluey pile in the corner and occupied a third of the ground. ozaPJD

The space they were in slowly rises.

The corners of Saman's mouth curved: Sure enough.

Qing Lin's eyes widened and he lowered his voice as he asked, "How did you think of this?" "Just verifying a guess," Saman pointed at the gelatinous mud on the ground with his sword, "My guess is that they are the result of when those prey outside completely dissolve. Meaning, they are the 'nutrients' needed here."

Looking at the translucent mud-like substance on the ground and thinking back to the demons that were tortured to death outside, Qing Lin shuddered and quickly dropped the stick, "How, how do you know?"

"As you said, this place looks like a huge plant, with the roots outside and the trunk here. These small transparent rooms are actually channels that 'it' made to transport nutrients. The nutrients from above are absorbed, the room breaks up, and the nutrition from below continues to be delivered."

"Of course, that's just my guess."

Saman looked up and said, "If you want to know what we are facing, just keep going up and you will see." Sw4cYD

As he said that, he stabbed another sword into the ceiling above and the gluey substance dripped down from the crack.

Saman broke through the ceiling layer by layer, and the two rose steadily. It's just that the higher they went, the higher the possibility of encountering monsters.

They could handle one or two, but this time, they actually encountered three. They were surrounded from the left, right and above.

"Damn it!" Because of the light source and the sound, the two monsters broke the membrane at the same time, and the movements they made alarmed the third one. 5YuOFo

"Hold back those two!"

Saman placed the candle on the ground and directly lifted one of the monsters.

This monster was an old acquaintance— it was the same as the giant insect he had met in the garden that day, the one with the needle-like mouth and two pairs of thin wings.

This thing was not very big, there was no armour on its body, no sharp claws nor any powerful tails. The only advantages it had were its flight and speed. Therefore, this narrow space can be said to be unsuitable as there was too little room for it to exert its full potential. iLBzdS

Saman took the opportunity to avoid the opponent's long needle, jump up and sliced off one of its wings. With one of its wings missing, the monster was not able to maintain its balance and fell.

Seeing that it was down, Saman chopped off its head in one single motion.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

The headless body still continued to flap its wings, and the head that was cut off has not completely lost its vitality. Saman was about to deal the final blow when a row of numerous tiny needles shot out.

The second monster appeared beside him, it was covered with fur and resembled a giant caterpillar. Its movements may be slow, but its entire body was able to shoot out tiny needles. Saman's clothes were thin so he was hit more than a dozen times, as did Qing Lin. G8Kv4B

The area that was hit felt numb and painful as the wound turned visibly red and swollen.

The needles were poisonous.

Without saying a word, Saman threw out a glowing object.

When the caterpillar master's attention was drawn away by the light, the giant sword in his hand transformed and expanded again, growing double in length. MhfXcA

The long sword directly cut open the caterpillar's head and green fluids instantly spurted out, splattering all over the membrane.

The body of the headless caterpillar curled and writhed on the ground as poisonous needles shot out into the air.

Saman covered his mouth and nose.

"Hiss—" at the same time, the shadow of the third monster was getting close to the membrane. Saman immediately clenched the giant sword and waited. 6P r8b

The membrane was sliced open and a black claw with long hooks poked inside.

A gust of wind passed by and the candle suddenly went out.

The dark world was lit by two red dots that resembled burning charcoal, and the air was filled with a certain fishy stench.

The moon hung quietly in the sky and the garden was lively for a while before becoming quiet again. BLwWxQ

"Why did you act on your own?" Qing Hong no longer had the enthusiasm he displayed back at the banquet. His entire face was cold as he asked, "Why didn't you tell me if you were going to do these kinds of things?"

Hua Li looked at him and replied, "He has noticed the diving boundary lake."

This sentence was like a bucket of cold water dumped over him; Qing Hong was stunned for a moment.

"He Jun and another person were riding in the cloud chariot today. At dusk, the two of them had noticed the changes that occurred below." GMaSCX

Hua Li then added, "With He Jun's keenness, how could he not notice anything unusual? He Jun will become an obstacle to you. If that's the case, won't you be in trouble? Temporarily imprisoning him will be advantageous for you and everyone else, even He Jun. This is not a bad plan."

Qing Hong looked up at the moon in the sky and sighed for a long time.

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Hua Li knew that he had agreed with her plan and secretly heaved a sigh of relief. She then thought mockingly: He Jun only amounts to this much.

"Did you use the glass labyrinth to trap senior brother?" Even if he hadn't checked his senior brother's strength in a while, he couldn't be trapped by some small formation. After thinking about it, Hua Li had probably used the glass labyrinth. ri2QtT

Hua Li did not deny this assumption.

Qing Hong went silent again. After a few seconds, he finally said, "I'll go find him tomorrow."

This formation had the ability to imprison demons and temporarily turn them into a human. In addition, a labyrinth is formed with the effect of the wicker lotus. But this formation could only hold a living creature, so its main purpose was to be used as a trap and not to harm. With He Jun's strength, he would be able to break out of the formation in one or two days.

"You don't have to be so eager," Hua Li tried to persuade him, "It's better to wait until this matter ends. At that time, when the dust settles, He Jun wouldn't be able to stop it even if he wants to. And you can... you can get what you want." Zunh2L

Qing Hong thought for a while, "Let's talk about this later."

After that, the two had nothing else to say and Qing Hong returned to the banquet.

Hua Li stayed in place for a while. She opened her hand and revealed bloody fingernail marks on her palm. She didn't seem to feel pain, the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile as she looked down at the open wound on her palm.

"I'm doing this for your own good," she muttered while looking at her hand, "His existence will only kill your resolve." 1p5GUB

Shortly after she left, a shadow emerged from the pillar. It elongated before transforming into a human, and a certain player cloaked in red feathers appeared.

"Dusk and diving boundary lake?" The player pondered over those words thoughtfully.

Hua Li wanted He Jun to die so that he wouldn't be able to come back and cause trouble later. Walking through the water, Ren Yifei was able to feel her resolve. The temperature was dropping.

It was not only the temperature of the water, but the temperature of the entire space was dropping. Although it was not to the point of freezing, he could feel the chill permeate through his bone. f I5lK

The mortal Ren Yifei could not use any spells so he was shivering from the cold.

He wondered if Kong Que has received what he had sent.

Ren Yifei was not sure whether the rat demon would dare to risk his life and provoke such a bad-tempered demon. The chance of this case succeeding was actually not that high.

Furthermore, he also doesn't know whether that kind of flower was common in the demon world and whether or not it was worth mentioning. KkxM3L

With all of these factors added up, the probability that this case could help him was very low. Even before, Ren Yifei did not make a bet on it.

He didn't expect Hua Li to play so aggressively, and instead of plotting tricks, she went in for a direct kill.

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He couldn't understand why she wouldn't just kill him directly but use this torturous method instead.

"Could it be that she thought that He Jun was too powerful so she has no other way to mess with him? Therefore, she could only turn him into a mortal before defeating him?" Thinking of this possibility, Ren Yifei didn't know whether he should be happy or sad. TMH1bE

So cold, extremely cold— he could feel his feet becoming stiff.

He wouldn't turn into an ice sculpture if he continued to walk, right?

"What are you?" In the open courtyard, Kong Que squinted as he looked down at the little rat in front of him.

The rat demon trembled and handed him the glowing flower branch, "S-senior, another senior had asked me to give this to you." Cm2k R

"A wicker lotus?" This thing was rare, but not precious. The peacock's face showed displeasure, but as he was about to brush it off, he noticed something, "Hmm? This power... bring it here."

The power attached to the branch was very small and just holding it would immediately reveal its true colours. It was an ordinary branch, but Kong Que put it into his sleeve after observing it carefully, "He Jun asked you to come? Why can't he come himself?"

"I don't know, this was what the senior had ordered me to do this morning," the rat demon lowered his head and wiped away his sweat.

Kong Que frowned. He thought about the meaning behind this matter, and waved his hand impatiently, "You can leave." Fh9cDA

"Speaking of which, why didn't he come today? Is it really because he hates the murky atmosphere here?" Kong Que didn't know what to think, so he turned around and walked out.

A maid came and blocked him with a smile, "My Lord, why don't you continue..."

"Get lost," the grumpy peacock brushed the person aside.

He strode towards He Jun's temporary residence. GlJn8R

On the way, a steward saw his aggressive attitude and felt that something was wrong. He had someone report it immediately, while he secretly followed to see where the other was going.

Kong Que had already noticed someone following him for a long time, but he didn't have time to pay attention to them and continued towards the place where He Jun lives.

If he guesses wrong, then he'll only be beaten up at most. He has thick skin so what does he have to be afraid of?

"I want to see He Jun," Kong Que demanded before he even reached the room. 7T4kUA

The maid in the room ran out, "He Jun can't meet anyone right now."

Another group of guards lifted their weapons and pointed them toward the intruder, "My Lord, please back off."

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Kong Que narrowed his eyes and thought that something was not right. According to He Jun's stinky temper, he would've flicked his sleeve and swept him out by now. Why would he send a maid out to argue with him?

A demonic pattern quickly appeared on the Kong Que's face and his hair flew up as multicoloured lights appeared on his back, "Can't meet anyone? Let He Jun come out and say that to me!" ytmJBd

Kong Que's tail-like multicoloured light unhurriedly brushed over the area in front of him and the secluded residence was directly 'erased' from the world.

Looking at the empty space, the multicoloured light behind the peacock seemed to be set ablaze, just like his mood at that moment, "You guys are telling me that He Jun can't meet anyone?"

T/N E9oYe4