Chapter 41 The Great Green Snake
Only after turning all four into desiccated corpses did Lu Li stop. His principle was: either don't act, or see it through to the very end, leaving not the slightest hidden trouble for himself.
If he let even one of these four escape, it would be no good thing for him. The crime of annihilating fellow disciples was a burden he still could not bear.
Opening the four Storage Bags and inspecting them, he retrieved a total of five thousand contribution cards and fifteen first-tier spirit medicines. Among them, five were Emerald Bamboo Grass.
Besides these, there were also three low-tier novice-level cultivation arts.
Not a single Talisman, not even one.
Thinking about it, that made sense. A mid-tier one cost hundreds of contributions. These people simply could not bear to part with that much.
However, in Lu Li's view, while cultivation level was important, hidden trump cards were even more crucial. Cultivation level was always something visible on the surface; only trump cards could catch the opponent off guard.
Returning to Liu Xinyu's side, Lu Li asked, "How are you, alright?"
"N-no, I'm fine." Liu Xinyu's face was somewhat pale. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it. If it weren't for helping me find Emerald Bamboo Grass, you wouldn't have been in danger."
"Oh, right, the Emerald Bamboo Grass." As she spoke, Liu Xinyu took out two stalks of Emerald Bamboo Grass from her Storage Bag and handed them to Lu Li. "Only found two."
Seeing the Emerald Bamboo Grass in Liu Xinyu's hand and the dirt on her delicate little hand, Lu Li's heart gave a light tremble. He carefully took them. "Thank you."
Hearing this, Liu Xinyu revealed a slight smile. "Y-you're welcome."
This way, Lu Li now had thirteen stalks of Emerald Bamboo Grass. If refining Piercing Acupoint Pills all succeeded, he could at least refine thirteen pills. As for the other ten spirit medicines taken from the bodies of Luan Xin'an and the other three, Lu Li couldn't use them now and planned to use them to turn in assignments.
"Let's go, let's go find Senior Brother Chu." Lu Li's own assignment was already complete, and this bamboo grove clearly had no spirit beasts. It seemed they needed to look elsewhere.
After walking a few steps, Lu Li finally noticed Liu Xinyu seemed injured. One hand was pressed against her chest, her expression pained. He frowned. "Do you want to rest a bit?"
"I, I'm fine. Let's find Senior Brother Chu first. There's not much time left, we need to finish the assignment quickly..."
"Alright."
Liu Xinyu had been injured by Luan Xin'an's True Qi earlier. Walking was quite slow for her. Several times Lu Li wanted to step forward to support her but ultimately held back. Seeing this, Liu Xinyu rolled her eyes in exasperation. Finally, her eyes darted around, and she directly fell toward Lu Li.
Lu Li was startled and hurriedly caught her. "Junior Sister, I think... you should rest a bit."
Saying this, he directly helped her sit down to the side.
Liu Xinyu pouted, her face full of dissatisfaction, then began circulating True Qi to recuperate.
After a little over half an hour, Liu Xinyu's complexion improved considerably, and she finally stood up. "Junior Brother Lu, let's go."
The two continued forward. After walking a while, anxious shouting from Chu Qingfeng suddenly came from the bamboo grove to their right. Lu Li hurriedly responded. Moments later, they saw Chu Qingfeng rush out from the bamboo grove.
"Junior Brother, Junior Sister, where did you two run off to?"
"Nothing, just walked a bit further in that direction, just got back," Lu Li said.
"Oh." Chu Qingfeng took out three stalks of Emerald Bamboo Grass and handed them to Lu Li. "Junior Brother, I found three. Do you think we should look some more?"
Lu Li took them. "I already have enough. Now let's go help you find spirit beasts."
Another three stalks. This way, he now had sixteen stalks of Emerald Bamboo Grass.
"Junior Brother, just now over there I saw a big snake. Don't know if it's a spirit beast. Because I'm naturally afraid of snakes, I didn't dare get too close..." Chu Qingfeng pointed behind him.
"Big snake?"
"Mm, body entirely green, at least as thick as a bucket, two or three zhang long."
"That huge!"
It was the first time Lu Li had heard of such a big snake. For a moment, his heart also thumped with unease. "Let's go take a look. If it's really not doable, we'll go find something smaller."
In Lu Li's view, the larger the creature, the harder it would definitely be to deal with.
Thus, under Chu Qingfeng's lead, the two directly headed north through the secret realm.
They walked for about a little over half an hour.
The faint sound of flowing water came from ahead. After a hundred steps, Lu Li suddenly saw a hillside to the right. On the hillside were many protruding stones and some small trees.
The flowing water was precisely from a small stream at the junction of the bamboo grove and the hillside, following the hillside down into the valley below.
And before their eyes was also a downward sloping hillside, the slope covered entirely with emerald bamboo.
As for the left side, it was also a stone hill like the one on the right, with clusters of trees, not very dense. Standing here and looking forward through the emerald bamboo, directly opposite was a sheer cliff face.
On the cliff face was a stone staircase leading up the mountain. The staircase was wide, a full zhang, but very steep. At the end seemed to be a cave residence.
There seemed to be writing on the cave residence. It was too far for Lu Li to see clearly what was written.
"Senior Brother, where's the big snake you mentioned?" Lu Li asked.
Chu Qingfeng scratched his head, pointing at the slope in front of them. "Just now it was right down there. How come it's gone?"
"Down here?"
Lu Li looked at the bamboo grove below. The slope here wasn't very steep. He thought for a moment. "Let's go down and look. Besides, opposite seems to be a cave residence. Could it be Qingyang Mansion?"
"Qingyang Mansion?"
Hearing this, both Chu Qingfeng and Liu Xinyu's eyes lit up. They followed Lu Li slowly down into the valley.
That cave residence was directly opposite. Entering down into the valley should be the best choice.
"Wait!"
When they were halfway down the hillside, Lu Li suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from the left side, like a snake slithering. He hurriedly raised his hand to stop the two behind him.
He turned his head to look.
Hiss--
Suddenly, an enormous green snake burst forth from the rotten leaves about a zhang away to his left. It raised its large green head, opened its blood-red maw wide, two sharp fangs gleaming coldly, and bit toward Lu Li.
Lu Li let out a strange cry, frantically retreating backward.
At the same time, he reached into his robe. Not caring what Talisman he grabbed, he directly threw it forward.
Boom!
An explosion rang out.
Without even looking at the result, Lu Li retreated frantically again, while taking out several more Talismans. He found a Swift Movement Talisman and stuffed it into his boot, then warily stared at the area enveloped in black smoke.
Fortunately, what he threw out just now was an Explosion Talisman. If it had been a Swift Movement Talisman, that would have been a huge joke.
Chu Qingfeng and Liu Xinyu had already retreated back to the level ground above. Liu Xinyu shouted toward Lu Li, "Junior Brother Lu, come up quickly! Don't bother with it!"
Lu Li was about to agree when the head within the black smoke bit toward him again.
If one looked closely, they would see the large green head was now dripping with blood, but its eyes were crimson red. Clearly, Lu Li had already provoked its ferocity.
Seeing this, Lu Li's expression turned fierce. He threw another Explosion Talisman.
Boom!
This time, Lu Li's aim was accurate. He actually managed to throw the Talisman right into the great green snake's mouth. Lu Li clearly saw the big snake's jaw was blasted through.
With a thud, the big snake's head smashed heavily onto the ground. However, it wasn't dead yet. It began to thrash about madly, its huge tail whipping around. The emerald bamboo stalks around, as thick as bowls, were smashed into a chaotic mess by it.
Like it was struggling violently in its death throes.