() Three days is not a long time, but it is not a short time.

Although it was to wait for teammate Su Ziyi to wake up, every day passed, the deadline of the competition was approaching. It stands to reason that the members of the "Three Flowers Gathering Top" team should be more or less anxious.

But look at the current situation, Ye Linglong is meditating quietly, Fan Lingyun is wandering lightly by the Xiaoquan River, and Xiao Tianhe is lying on the white sand beach with his back to the sky, looking at the sky and distracted. What a laid-back scene!

Ever since he knew that the evaluation competition was just a qualification appraisal ceremony, Xiao Tianhe didn't care much about whether he could become an inferior cultivator. This trip to the Sect Drifting Realm should do his best, as for the result, it doesn't matter, anyway, whether it succeeds or fails, it will not affect cultivation.

"Then why aren't the two of them in a hurry at all?" Xiao Tianhe thought to himself. He glanced at Fan Lingyun and Ye Linglong respectively, and it happened that Ye Linglong opened his eyes after breathing, noticed his eyes, and smiled at him.

"She's awake!" Fan Lingyun suddenly shouted happily, and several people immediately gathered towards Su Ziyi, who was standing up.

Su Ziyi was in a trance, and muttered, "I'm ...... this."

"You were poisoned by the 'Radiant Blood Spider', and the antidote pill didn't work, thanks to Xiao Gongzi who took you to find an acquaintance immortal cultivator, which dissolved the spider venom. How do you feel?

After Su Ziyi heard this, she looked around, her eyes widened suddenly, and she hurriedly asked, "How long have I been in a coma?"

"Plus the time that Xiao Gongzi took you to detoxify, almost four days, what's wrong?" Fan Lingyun was puzzled.

"Oops!" Su Ziyi stood up, anxious and regretful: "Alas, why do you care about me! I've delayed you for so long! I'm an unlucky disaster, I wouldn't have teamed up with you if I knew it!

"Hey, what am I worried about. It's only four days, so it's okay. Fan Lingyun patted Su Ziyi's shoulder and comforted.

"What Miss Fan said is that you are deeply poisoned, and if we abandon you, I am afraid that your life will be in danger. Ye Linglong said.

"Then you don't have to worry about me anymore after helping me detoxify! I won't delay these days!" Su Ziyi's eyes were red, half anxious, half moved.

"Now that you have formed a team, how can there be any reason to abandon your companions? Miss Su doesn't have to care. Xiao Tianhe said, "If you recover, we'll go." ”

Su Ziyi bowed deeply to the three of them: "Your kindness, Ziyi remembers it in her heart. If you have the opportunity, you must give your life to repay it!"

Miss Su said seriously. It's just that this Bright Forest is an unusual forest, and it has always been known as the 'Deadly Forest', so you must be very careful next. Ye Linglong said.

Su Ziyi nodded, and faced the water by the Xiaoquan River. The "Sanhua Gathering" team has re-embarked on the journey to explore the Yaoming Forest.

After entering the forest from the mouth of the white beach, the light is much darker, and the view becomes narrower. Since no one had set foot and weeds and thorns were everywhere, several people had to use weapons to clear the way, so the speed of progress was not very fast.

"'Ding'er', what route should we take?" Fan Lingyun asked Xiao Tianhe, who was looking at the map.

Xiao Tianhe glanced at her: "Why don't you call me 'Boss'...... There are no roads here, and there is no 'route'. I think it's better to choose one of the two, or go around in circles. As he spoke, he first drew a spiral on the map with his finger, and then pointed directly to the center of the Yaoming Forest, "Or go straight to the hinterland." ”

"Straight to the hinterland...... Xiao Gongzi probably doesn't know how powerful the demon clan is in the depths of the forest, right?" Su Ziyi said.

"You can go deeper first, and after encountering the demon clan, you will know whether it is time to continue deeper. Ye Linglong said.

"If you don't enter the tiger's den, you can get the tiger. It's too abrasive to circle outside, it's better to go straight inside!" Fan Lingyun also expressed his opinion.

"Then cross the hill in front of you and continue to move northeast!" Xiao Tianhe put away the map and waved his hand towards the hill dozens of zhang away.

Fan Lingyun and Ye Linglong followed closely behind one left and one right, and Su Ziyi, who was walking last, shook her head and smiled bitterly, and said in her heart: "These people are really 'newborn calves are not afraid of tigers'......"

The hill is not very high, about 30 zhang, but the slope is extremely steep. The Koizumi River reached the bottom of the mound and went around to the north. On the south side of the hill is a downward slope, and Xiao Tianhe remembers that the end of the slope drawn on the map is a mountain stream, which is inconvenient to walk, and it is more convenient to climb over the hill in comparison.

The hillside was covered with gravel, and thorns stubbornly emerged from the cracks in the rocks, making it difficult to settle down. Xiao Tianhe simply rushed to the top in one breath with his body, and several girls slowly climbed to the top of the hill holding hands.

Climbing to the top of the hill and looking out into the forest, the entire Bright Forest seemed to be shrouded in a layer of mist. There seem to be rolling peaks in the distance, but you can't really see them. Other than that, all that catches your eye is the endless trees. It is autumn, all kinds of leaves are green and yellow, the branches are thick and bald, and the trunks are prosperous and withered. It's really strange, the scene composed of mountains, water, wood, and stone, instead of being quiet and peaceful, gives people a sense of chaos and unease.

The slope on the back of the hill was much more relaxed, and a few people walked down, and it didn't take long for them to descend to the bottom of the hill, and the Koizumi River also "winded" back in time and extended again into the trees in front of them. Continuing upstream along the banks of the Koizumi River, the water surface is much narrower, but also much deeper. The river was devoid of light, a worrying gray, with abrupt ripples emerging from time to time, and I didn't know what was hidden underneath.

The words of the four of them became less and less, and a depressing and strange atmosphere permeated the surroundings

Everyone is armed with weapons, and they are on guard against the demon clan that may appear at any time. Among the weapons of the four people, Ye Linglong's "Flying Flower Knife" is the best quality, Xiao Tianhe's magic knife is second, Su Ziyi's "Nine Heavens Sword" is again, and Fan Lingyun's "Cuiyun Knife" is relatively the worst. When asked about the name of the magic knife, Xiao Tianhe temporarily called "Huangyan", which matched the appearance of the magic knife.

After walking for a long time, there was still no sound in the woods, without the slightest movement, and the tense hearts of several people gradually relaxed. In fact, this nearly one-day journey is still within the outer range of the vast Yaoming Forest, but on Xiao Tianhe's map, it has already come to an end. Further down, there is only a blank space left on the map.

"I thought the map was so detailed, but I didn't expect to draw such a small range!" Fan Lingyun shook his head and sighed, "That guy who sells maps is inevitably too treacherous, the huge forest area is only a fist-sized blank space on the map, and this proportion is too different." Young Master Xiao, your carriage is at a loss!"

Xiao Tianhe laughed: "No matter how big the space is left in the map, it is just blank. It's easy to draw this way, and it looks convenient. He pointed ahead, "Passing through the rocky gorge over there, it's an unknown area." ”

Everyone looked in the direction, and a large rocky area was waiting with its "big mouth" open. This "big mouth" is a "canyon" formed by a pile of boulders.

The rocks are mostly dark blue, mixed with grayish-white markings, and have different shapes, long, short, square, round, pointed, and obtuse, and are stacked unusually closely. The width of the gorge is narrow, barely enough for two people to walk side by side. Although the road in the gorge has no fork, it is winding and winding, and people can't help but wonder if there is a way out ahead.

Occasionally, the wind blows through the cracks between the rocks, bringing out the sound of "whining", sometimes like a night wolf howling the moon, sometimes like a woman crying, which sounds very weird. As the four of them walked, they kept an eye on the boulders on either side. It's so strange, not to mention that the rocks are stacked in a precarious way without collapsing, why is there only one way between the rocks?

Night fell quietly, and several people still did not make it out of the rocky area. Moreover, the gorge is slowly descending, and the rock walls on both sides are getting higher and higher, until when it is dark, you can only see a glimmer of sky in the shadows when you look up at the night sky.

Xiao Tianhe stood still, turned to a few girls and said, "I think I'll rest here tonight, and then continue walking when it's dawn, how about it?"

Fan Lingyun looked around, this is a rare and spacious place, so he agreed: "Okay, I don't know how long it will take to walk out of this rock gorge." It's also convenient here as long as you watch out for the front and back directions. It's just that the black rumbling makes people unsettled, and it would be nice to light a bonfire. ”

Su Ziyi looked up: "If you want to find firewood, I'm afraid you have to climb up from here." Even so, I don't know how far it is from the woods. ”

"Firewood, I've got it. Ye Linglong said lightly.

When the three of them looked at her in amazement, she was piling a large handful of firewood on the ground.

"How did you change this trick?" Fan Lingyun was happy and stepped forward to help.

"I thought that it might be inconvenient to collect firewood in the depths of Yaoming Forest, and in order to save a little more time to rest in the future, so in the days when I was waiting for Miss Su to wake up, I went to prepare a lot of firewood, which was enough for us to use for a while. Ye Linglong said.

"Oh, it turns out that you often go to the forest to collect firewood, I thought you wanted to try your luck to find the demon clan!" Fan Lingyun suddenly realized, "But where did you put all the firewood? Could it be that it is in the storage magic weapon?" she said as her eyes widened, as if there was only one possibility.

"yes, that's so convenient. You don't have to carry firewood all the time, do you?" Ye Linglong lit a bonfire, and the excited flames reflected her beautiful face.

"Ha, use the storage magic weapon to store firewood, I'm afraid you are the first person in the past. Admire, admire!" Fan Lingyun arched his hand at Ye Linglong and came to the fire.

Xiao Tianhe also smiled and said in his heart: "What a delicate girl." Since you can use the storage magic weapon to store firewood, there must be a lot of space in the magic weapon. I can't tell that she's quite rich. ”

The four of them sat around all night, and ushered in the dawn in tranquility.

Xiao Tianhe finished his meditation and opened his eyes. Thinking back to the danger of encountering the Radiant Blood Spider at the edge of the forest, the journey after that seemed a little too dull. But just when Xiao Tianhe had this idea, the situation he inadvertently caught caught suddenly made his hair stand on end: not far in front of a few people, in the shadow of the crack in the rock wall, there was a pair of dark red eyes, staring at him deadly!

"Good guy, if it weren't for the bright sky, it would be really hard to find, damn it, scare me!" Xiao Tianhe cursed in his heart, and immediately waved his knife and rushed over, while shouting: "Come out and die!"

His voice also alarmed the three girls who were still closing their eyes and recuperating, and they all got up in unison and chased after Xiao Tianhe's figure.

Unexpectedly, those red eyes suddenly disappeared before Xiao Tianhe rushed closer!

Xiao Tianhe couldn't care so much, so he slashed the blade into the rock crevice and stirred it a few times. But from the touch of the magic knife, he knew that the thing had already escaped.

The three girls didn't have time to see those eyes, and at first they thought that the road ahead was hostile. When he saw that Xiao Tianhe's target was actually an ordinary crack in the rock wall, he couldn't help but wonder.

Xiao Tianhe pulled out the magic knife, and the eyes of several people fell on the tip of the knife, except for the stained one

Dust, nothing.

Xiao Tianhe sighed, gently shook off the dust, and put away his weapon. The three girls looked at each other, wondering what he had just seen.

"I saw a pair of dark red eyes, and they were clearly ill-intentioned. But what is it that can come and go freely between the crevices of the rocks?"

"How long have the dark red eyes been watching us?" asked Su Ziyi.

"I don't know. As soon as I stood up after the meditation, I accidentally saw those eyes. I guess that thing has been secretly watching us for a long time, and even ...... It's possible to stare at us all night. ”

"Since the eyes are red, it's probably the demon clan. It's a pity that he let him run. Ye Linglong said regretfully.

"I can shuttle freely between the gaps in the rocks, most of them are small, I don't think it's a demon clan, it should be a demon beast. It has been staring at us for a long time, and it does not dare to come forward to attack, and it is estimated that it is still afraid of humans. Such a demon beast, if you kill it, you may not have a demon spirit orb, so just escape. The demon clan that is really likely to produce the Demon Spirit Orb should still be in the deeper part of the forest. Fan Lingyun said, "Xiao Gongzi thinks so too, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't call it 'that thing'." ”

Xiao Tianhe nodded: "Those eyes are red and round, not like human eyes, and they are a small demon beast." In the future, when we rest, we will take turns to be vigilant. It's almost time, it's time to hit the road. ”

After extinguishing the bonfire, the "Sanhua Gathering" team started a new day. They didn't know that the spirit and object of the "Deadly Forest" could be so simple? This seemingly peaceful rocky area contained terrifying murderous intentions.

As the passage of the gorge flattens, the rock walls on both sides gradually decrease in height. Xiao Tianhe had a hunch that they were about to walk out of this boulder canyon. This is the most ideal expectation, in fact, when choosing this path, Xiao Tianhe was ready for both. If the end of the canyon is a dead end, you can climb up the rock wall and climb out from the top.

The curved gap turned to the right again a short distance ahead. This road has passed countless corners and arcs, and everyone has long been unable to distinguish between the southeast and the northwest.

Suddenly, a small sound came from around the corner, "Hiss-", which seemed to be the sound of a cool breeze passing through the gap. This is completely different from the previous "woo" wind. Xiao Tianhe couldn't help but speed up his pace, as if he had seen the exit of the rock valley on the other side of the corner.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he took a step out of the corner, a swift black shadow pounced on him. Xiao Tianhe's reaction was already very fast, and he hurriedly turned his head, but the danger came too suddenly, and he couldn't avoid it completely, and the black shadow still flew to the back of his head with his side face.

Pain! A long opening was suddenly opened in his cheek, and it hurt hotly.

Xiao Tianhe didn't see clearly what kind of "hidden weapon" flew just now, and he didn't have time to turn around to take a closer look, and several black shadows had already pounced on him, all of them as fast as lightning.

At the last moment, Xiao Tianhe roared angrily, danced the magic knife in front of him, and at the same time jumped backwards and crashed into Fan Lingyun who came up.

"Ding Ding Ding", the black shadow hit the knife, and a series of dense collision sounds sounded, but the strange thing is that none of the "hidden weapons" fell to the ground.

It wasn't until the black shadow's attack stopped that Xiao Tianhe reacted, those were not hidden weapons at all, they were clearly a group of living creatures!

Several girls also turned the corner, and they were so frightened that they all covered their mouths and exclaimed. This is not an exit from Iwatani at all, but a place where creepy monsters gather!

The narrow ground, including the rock walls on both sides, is densely packed with small black "monsters". Like a mouse, but with wing membranes under its forelimbs, and like a bat, it has relatively strong limbs. Even more striking is the fact that each "monster" has three black and long nails on its front paws!

The thing that cut Xiao Tianhe's cheek just now was this sharp fingernail, and it was the monsters who relied on their nails to fix their bodies on the rock wall.

No matter what the creature is, the number is staggering. The light of the morning sun finally illuminated the rock valley, and as far as the eye could see, the whole world was covered with this strange thing that looked like rats and bats, not to mention a thousand and eight hundred.

In addition, Xiao Tianhe also found that all the monsters had their eyes closed and seemed to be sleeping, but their forward bodies and tight hind legs were clearly showing a ready to attack.

"What the hell!" Xiao Tianhe felt his scalp tingle, he was blocked in the narrow rock valley by a large number of monsters, and it was not easy to escape.

"Oh no, it's a 'mountain black flying squirrel'!" Fan Lingyun exclaimed, "No wonder he can come and go freely in the rock crevices!"

Xiao Tianhe was stunned for a moment, and immediately reacted: "You mean, the 'red eyes' that have been staring at us for a long time at night are this thing?"

"In addition to looking like a rat and having wings that can glide over short distances, the black flying squirrel also has a pair of hard claw armor that is sharp enough to chisel through the rock. They mostly live in dark underground or caves, so their eyes are degenerate. But the rat pack must have a different rat king, with a pair of red eyes that can see in the dark, so the rat pack always acts collectively according to the rat king's orders. Fan Lingyun explained.

"The Rat King is the eye of the rat colony. Ye Linglong said, "It's just that this large group of black flying squirrels is probably more than one rat king! Ziyi, let's deal with the one behind!"

When a few people heard this, they immediately turned their heads to take a look, but it was terrible, another large group of black flying squirrels swept across the rock valley, and the situation was even worse, the "Sanhua Gathering Top" team could be said to be attacked on the back of the enemy, no, counting the "army" of black flying squirrels lying on the rock wall, several of them had been surrounded by the demon rat group!