Chapter 1252: Can’t Advance or Retreat

People began to panic when they saw so many people die mysteriously. The worst part was that there weren’t even any injuries on their bodies!

Someone stooped down next to the corpses and reached out a hand to check their condition, muttering, “They haven’t been poisoned… Hm? Why does it feel as if all of their blood essence has been sucked dry?”

The others all looked toward Ma Huang. Ma Huang jumped in fright and quickly waved his hands, protesting, “It has nothing to do with me! There are many people who can testify that I was here the entire time; there was no chance for me to do anything.”

Prince Yin Sha added, “I can attest to that. I was watching him just now; he really didn’t do anything.”

He had seen how the giant crocodile was sucked dry, and he himself had been injured. Fearing that Ma Huang might have bad intentions toward him, he had always been on guard. However, gis attention had actually unexpectedly given Ma Huang an alibi.

He regretted speaking up somewhat as soon as he finished. He should have used the situation to get rid of this dangerous guy! Not only would he not have anything to worry about then, there would be one less person to have to split the loot with. Unfortunately, there was no way to take back his words after he had spoken them.

Fortunately, there were others who voiced their suspicions. “Even if it wasn’t him, there might be others from his clan hidden here. Otherwise, who would be able to suck all of their blood essence dry?”

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

They all aimed their weapons at Ma Huang. At the same time, they looked vigilantly at any nearby people they didn’t recognize. They were all scared of becoming victims, so they would rather kill the innocent than let any suspicious people go.

Ma Huang’s expression suddenly changed. He protested, “Do you all think I’m scared of you?!” He was always someone who did what he wanted. When had he ever allowed such a thing to pass? He also raised his weapon, ready to launch a counterattack at any time. A fight was on the verge of breaking out.

“In a moment of crisis, the first to become uneasy is the mind. Who would’ve thought that the fiend races would be the same as humans in that regard?” Yun Jianyue remarked, a hint of mockery on her lips. It was as if she were superior to all the others. The current situation was indeed a bit bizarre, but it wasn’t enough to scare her.

Yan Xuehen also simply watched calmly as a bystander. After all, they were grandmasters with extraordinary experience. They already knew what was going on, but these were fiend race individuals, so there was no reason to worry for their sake.

Princess Suolun stepped forward just then, saying, “Everyone, do not act rashly. If the blood essence is sucked out, the body turns into a withered corpse. However, you can all see that these corpses still have intact skins. They look the same way they did before they died. It is just the blood essence inside that has withered.”

The others nodded. Indeed, it didn’t really seem like the work of the Blood race.

“What is this?” Princess Suolun suddenly exclaimed, her eyes narrowing. She pointed in a certain direction, and the others looked at the place she indicated. They saw that some small green sprouts resembling bean sprouts had begun to appear from the corpses’ ears.

“There are some here too!” the others quickly cried out. They saw that apart from the corpses’ ears, their noses, mouths, eyes, and even the tops of their heads were covered in those sprouts. Their leaves were a shining green. Even though they were small and tender, not a single person dared to look down on them.

“They weren’t here a moment ago!” someone exclaimed, then cut open the corpses’ clothes and saw that many parts of their skin had ruptured. Dense and numerous green sprouts tore through their bodies and emerged all at once. So it was the sprouts that had sucked their blood essence dry!

“Why do their bodies contain these kinds of sprouts?” someone wondered; that was what the cultivators had all been wondering.

“Could it be that they were poisoned before?” another person suggested.

“These people don’t know each other. Why would they be affected by the same kind of poison?”

Just then, someone said weakly, “These sprouts… Don’t you feel that these sprouts… are similar to the leaves of those trees?”

The others looked at the trees. Sure enough, even though the sprouts were many times smaller, the leaves’ shapes and vein patterns were all identical. The cultivators were horrified. So the poison had come from the trees!

They looked at the forest all around them. A chilling thought suddenly appeared in their minds. There are so many trees; can every single tree create one sacrifice?

Are we going to become the next batch?

The cultivators began to discuss things among themselves, but they really couldn't figure out how the trees released their poison.

“It’s not a poison, but rather seeds. These trees scatter their own seeds through the air. These seeds are extremely small, and the cover of the fog makes them hard to notice,” Yun Jianyue explained to Zu An and the others. “As long as you cover your body with a ki barrier or use some kind of treasure to shield your body from even the specks of dust around you, you’ll be fine.”

Zu An’s group all had extensive knowledge, and they carried quite a few treasures themselves. Between that and their great strength, the seeds knew that they weren’t easy targets and didn’t disturb them.

When the people around them heard their discussion, they finally understood what was happening. Quite a few looked at Yun Jianyue with surprise. They had thought that she was just a concubine a spoiled young master had brought with him, and hadn’t expected her to have such knowledge. Magic artifacts lit up one after another, and those without treasures used their ki to put up barriers to prevent the seeds from approaching them.

Some people were worried that they had already breathed in some seeds, so they quickly used their skills to remove the impurities within their bodies. Sure enough, they found some seeds inside them.

Those with higher cultivations used all sorts of secret methods to get rid of the seeds that had already taken root. Those who were weaker had no choice. They could only struggle bitterly before ultimately losing to the seeds’ tenacious vitality. As they were sucked dry, sprouts burst out from their bodies, and they died miserably on the spot.

The other fiend race cultivators showed no interest in saving them. The strong preyed on the weak; that belief was already deeply embedded in their minds. They wouldn’t talk about something like friendship in such a situation.

Hunting for treasure was dependent on risking one’s life to begin with. Loss of life was just too common. They could even eliminate some of their competitors this way, so what more could they hope for?

Still, the cultivators were furious when they found out the identity of the main culprit. They wanted to vent their anger on the trees, bringing out all sorts of weapons to cut them down. After all, with a cultivator’s strength, chopping down a tree wasn’t difficult at all.

However, no one knew what kind of material these trees were made of; no matter how they hacked at the trees, they could only leave behind some shallow cuts. Furthermore, the trees regenerated, continuously recovering from their wounds. In the end, even after the cultivators exhausted a ton of strength, not a single tree could be cut down.

There were some people who tried to use elemental power to burn down the trees. However, fire merely scattered on its own before reaching the tree, extinguishing itself in midair. How could they even burn anything?

When he saw their stupefied appearances, the fat daoist Wu Liang, who had been hiding, cursed, “A bunch of idiots! These trees are a special formation that person established while borrowing the power of ley lines! As long as these ley lines still contain power, the formation can’t be destroyed. Forget about you, not even a grandmaster would be able to destroy them!”

…

Zu An’s group had also noticed that the place was different. They hadn’t wanted to stay together with the fiend race cultivators, so they turned around and headed deeper inside. Some independent cultivators could tell that Zu An’s group was special, so they quickly followed as well, thinking it might make things a bit safer for them.

When the other fiend race cultivators saw that it was useless, they gave up. Who wanted to waste valuable strength here? After all, they still had to fight against each other over the treasure later! Now that they were aware of the problem, the trees’ seeds could no longer harm them.

Of course, there were some with lower cultivations who didn’t have magic artifacts to protect themselves. They could only helplessly withdraw from the place. Even though treasures were important, their lives were still the most precious of all.

…

Zu An’s group walked ahead of all the others. Because of the fog, they couldn't see the sun or moon. They didn’t even know if it was day or night. Soon, however, they frowned. The forest hadn’t seemed so big when they saw it from the swamp area earlier. Normally, they should long since have gotten out of the forest.

“This is most likely a maze. An extremely profound formation has been established here,” Yan Xuehen said, stopping. The further she walked, the more she lost her sense of direction; however, that kind of thing was normally impossible for a high level cultivator.

Everything around them was extremely quiet. The only sounds came from the crumbling of dry leaves under their careful steps. In such a quiet and empty night scene, even those sounds seemed to echo throughout the place. The atmosphere was a bit strange.

“I do not think we can keep going. Something seems to be wrong with this direction,” Princess Suolun said.

Jin Shi nodded and replied, “You’re right. If we continue this way, we’ll only get more and more lost. We’ll just end up exhausting our strength for nothing, and we’ll be eaten up by these demonic trees. Why don’t we leave this place for now? Earlier, this forest didn’t seem to be that large. We can make a detour around it from that shore.”

His suggestion received a lot of approval. The psychological pressure the endless fog gave people was a bit too much. If they left the strange forest, a couple dozen li wouldn’t be anything too difficult for them to cover. Thus, their group quickly put the plan into action.

Yu Yanluo gave the people around her a look and asked, “Should we continue further or leave?” She was a bit worried too. She didn’t want to put the others in danger because of something that might make her stronger.

Yun Jianyue didn’t seem all that bothered and replied, “We’ve already come all the way here, so how can we just leave now?” No matter how injured she was, she was still a grandmaster. She was more courageous than normal people.

Yan Xuehen nodded and added, “I agree with the decision to keep going. However, we cannot rush in blindly; we should first figure out the rules of this formation.”

Zu An had a pensive expression as he wondered, “The one who designed this maze probably wouldn’t let those who entered leave that easily, right?”

Just then, there were cries of alarm from the other group.

“Huh? Why do I feel as if the path is a bit different from earlier?”

“Wait, why did the marks I left behind disappear?!”