Chapter 72: Fatal Trap
In a mountain hollow, Song Changsheng casually plucked a low-grade second-rank Heaven's Heart Grass, severing its roots and placing it into his Qiankun Bag, then continued forward.
This was his third day since leaving the medicinal garden. The journey had been eerily calm. Forget seeing any human figures, he hadn't even encountered a single rabbit.
He estimated that there might be no animals at all in this space; otherwise, these spiritual herbs couldn't possibly grow so well in the wild.
“Only about ten hours left, and roughly three hundred li to go. It seems I need to speed up,” Song Changsheng muttered softly, silently calculating the time.
Although this world was no different from the outside world in terms of daylight, the sky was always a hazy gray. There were no sun, moon, or stars, and no night; it was always day.
So, Song Changsheng could only roughly estimate that about ten hours remained.
While his speed meant three hundred li would take less than an hour, collecting these spiritual herbs along the way truly required a lot of time. Any further delay might cause him to miss the competition for the Stalactite Spiritual Liquid.
Thinking of this, Song Changsheng significantly increased his speed. Along the way, he no longer stopped for anything other than second-rank spiritual herbs.
Suddenly, Song Changsheng's footsteps abruptly halted. He sniffed lightly, somewhat puzzled, and said, “What smells so fragrant? Could it be some kind of unique spiritual herb?”
Song Changsheng's curiosity was instantly piqued. After determining the source of the fragrance, he immediately used his movement technique to rush over.
After crossing a pile of jumbled rocks, the fragrance became even more pronounced, making Song Changsheng feel much of his fatigue dissipate. This further confirmed that there must be some precious spiritual plant ahead. Thinking of this, his steps quickened slightly.
After about a quarter of an hour of rushing, Song Changsheng finally saw a purplish-pink spiritual flower on a hillside. It was no more than two feet tall, with one flower and two leaves, and a slender stem, gently swaying in the wind.
For some reason, the moment he saw this flower, a deep craving surged in his mind, like a hungry wolf that had starved for a long time seeing a plump sheep.
“What is this thing, that it can make me feel this way?” Song Changsheng frowned deeply. He had never heard of such a strange spiritual flower.
He spread out his spiritual sense. Only after confirming there was no danger did he slowly approach the spiritual flower. Although his eyes were fixed on the spiritual flower, his hands continuously formed incantations. Should anything change, he could quickly react.
But his vigilance seemed a bit excessive. He had already approached within a zhang of the spiritual flower and found nothing amiss.
“It seems I was overly suspicious.” Song Changsheng relaxed slightly. When encountering unknown things, he habitually maintained a high level of caution, as caution was key to long-term safety.
Reaching out to pull the spiritual flower up by its roots, Song Changsheng suddenly realized something was wrong: the soil was too loose!
He immediately tried to retreat. The next moment, an abrupt change occurred. A black bead shot out from an unknown location and exploded with a roar above Song Changsheng's head, forming a cloud of foul-smelling black smoke.
Song Changsheng's expression drastically changed. He quickly formed a spiritual barrier to block the black smoke, then took out his treasure gourd, aimed it at the black smoke, and sucked it all into the gourd.
“What rat dares to ambush me?!” Song Changsheng roared.
“Swish, swish, swish!”
From a distant thicket, three figures, enveloped in surging spiritual power, lunged towards Song Changsheng.
Song Changsheng's sword-like eyebrows rose. He quickly identified the newcomers; they were all from the Earthfire Sect, and Chang Tianhua was among them.
The three of them formed a "pin" character formation, surrounding Song Changsheng, but they didn't rush to attack.
“Stinking brat, I finally caught you!” Chang Tianhua held a folding fan, and his eyes glinted with hatred as he looked at Song Changsheng.
“How long have you been following me?” Although trapped in their encirclement, Song Changsheng didn't panic and asked with a frown.
“Hehe, for you, this Young Sect Master didn't even go to the sect's medicinal garden. We've been following you since you left the medicinal garden,” Chang Tianhua said with a hint of smugness.
Song Changsheng raised an eyebrow slightly. He had originally thought Chang Tianhua would make his move during the competition for the Stalactite Spiritual Liquid, as that would be the most chaotic time.
But he hadn't expected Chang Tianhua to disregard even the sect's mission and trail him all the way.
Scanning his surroundings, Song Changsheng suddenly let out a soft exclamation. He looked at a thin, middle-aged man and said, “Aren't you Zhang Zhiyuan? I didn't expect that to kill me, even the Earthfire Sect's Eldest Senior Brother would be dispatched. Are you giving up on contending for the Stalactite Spiritual Liquid?”
There weren't many people in the Earthfire Sect that Song Changsheng remembered, and this Zhang Zhiyuan was one of them. He was also one of the most promising candidates to obtain the Stalactite Spiritual Liquid this time.
Wasting time here with him at this moment was practically giving up.
Zhang Zhiyuan's face was somewhat grim. He bit his lip and remained silent.
Song Changsheng immediately realized that this one wasn't here voluntarily.
He then cast his gaze towards the last person, who was completely shrouded in a black robe, their face indiscernible. The aura emanating from them was considerably stronger than that of the good-for-nothing Chang Tianhua, indicating they were no ordinary opponent either.
“Damn it, you still have the leisure to care about this now? Attack!” Chang Tianhua roared, and the spells they had been brewing for a long time immediately enveloped Song Changsheng.
“Control!”
Song Changsheng also instantly conjured the Water Element Shield to block in front of him, then quickly formed hand seals.
“Water Dragon Roar!”
A lifelike flood dragon emerged behind Song Changsheng, erupting in a heaven-shaking roar. The terrifying sonic waves made the spiritual energy of the few present momentarily stagnate.
“Heavenly Sun Finger!”
Seizing this rare opportunity, Song Changsheng pointed his fingers like a sword, sending threads of red light straight towards Chang Tianhua's head.
Chang Tianhua was stunned by the sonic waves, his consciousness still somewhat muddled. He couldn't dodge this finger attack at all.
At the crucial moment, Zhang Zhiyuan shifted positions, blocking in front of him, and bravely threw a punch.
The sword-like finger collided with the fist, erupting in a roar. Song Changsheng took a step back, while Zhang Zhiyuan retreated three steps before stopping his momentum.
Zhang Zhiyuan looked at the finger mark left on his fist, a hint of shock in his eyes. He cultivated both qi and body, his physical strength comparable to a magical tool and his power immense, yet he was no match for Song Changsheng?
“Clang!”
A white light flashed from the black-robed person's waist. Song Changsheng flicked his finger, conjuring his treasure gourd to collide with it. Sparks flew, and a large tiger-head saber was sent flying backward.
“Earthfire Burning Heart!”
A flicker of fire light passed through Chang Tianhua's eyes. A ball of black flames immediately shot out from his mouth, leaving scorched earth wherever it passed.
Song Changsheng raised an eyebrow. It was actually a direct lineage secret art of the Earthfire Sect. It seemed Chang Tianhua wasn't as useless as he thought.
“Your Earthfire Sect excels at using fire, but I excel at controlling fire. Today, let's see who is stronger,” Song Changsheng laughed loudly, pointing his right hand casually.
The black Earthfire actually rolled back directly. A hint of fright appeared in Chang Tianhua's eyes, forcing him to retreat in disarray.
“Don't be arrogant.”
Although Zhang Zhiyuan disliked Chang Tianhua, he couldn't just watch him die here. He immediately conjured a large axe and brought it down vertically, its power extraordinary.
The black-robed person also conjured that large saber again. The two attacked from left and right, cutting off all of Song Changsheng's escape routes.
Song Changsheng's eyes narrowed, and he immediately activated the array formation within his body. The Yin and Yang Qi instantly transformed into a black and white Tai Chi diagram, blocking in front of him. The saber and axe struck it but could not advance an inch.
“What kind of spell is this?” Zhang Zhiyuan exclaimed in surprise.
“A unique secret art, not to be revealed to outsiders.,” Song Changsheng pointed a finger. Immediately, water waves surged before him, forming two lifelike flood dragons that attacked the two from left and right.
The black-robed person and Zhang Zhiyuan were left struggling to cope, retreating steadily under the flood dragons' assault. Just as Song Changsheng was about to deliver a decisive blow, his Dantian and meridians suddenly experienced a sharp pain, and his spiritual energy became weak.
The two seized the opportunity, shattered the flood dragons, and simultaneously delivered a palm strike.
Song Changsheng felt as if he had been struck by lightning, immediately flying backward and crashing heavily to the ground.
“What's going on?” Song Changsheng was filled with shock and rage. He felt a strange power circulating in his meridians, which had actually locked down his spiritual energy.
“Hahaha you bastard, didn't expect this, did you? Are you satisfied with the gift this Young Sect Master prepared for you?” Chang Tianhua jumped out from nowhere, grinning sinisterly.
“When did you poison me?” Song Changsheng asked in a deep voice, secretly trying to force the toxin out.
“Poison? Tsk tsk tsk, you think this Young Sect Master would use such a low-level method? Song Changsheng, you underestimate this Young Sect Master too much.”
“Not poison?” Song Changsheng was also feeling puzzled. If it were poison, he should have detected it.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him. “Is it that spiritual flower?!”
“Oh, you only just realized? To bait you, this Young Sect Master even brought out the precious Condensing Fragrance Flower! You should be proud enough,” Chang Tianhua said, his nostrils flared upwards.
Song Changsheng now understood everything. The other party hadn't poisoned him at all; instead, they had found another way to create his current predicament.
The Condensing Fragrance Flower was a unique flower that could prevent cultivators from suffering Qi Deviation. By smelling its fragrance for a long time, if spiritual energy became chaotic during Qi Deviation, the inhaled fragrance would transform into a mysterious power that would lock down the spiritual energy, preventing its rampage.
Overall, it truly posed no danger and even offered benefits, which was why Song Changsheng hadn't detected any threat.
Originally, there really was no problem, but the issue lay in the ongoing battle. His spiritual energy was consumed too quickly, and the inhaled fragrance immediately locked down his spiritual energy.
This truly wasn't something an ordinary person could have thought of. Even Song Changsheng had to admit that this trap was extremely cleverly designed.
“You definitely didn't come up with this yourself, did you? You don't have that kind of brain,” Song Changsheng sneered.
“You bastard, I'm going to kill you!” Chang Tianhua jumped up as if his tail had been stepped on.
“This Young Sect Master will make your life worse than death.”
He formed a hand seal, and a ball of black flames once again spewed from his mouth, engulfing Song Changsheng…
(Chapter End)