Chapter 223: The Phantom

The wind of the mountains blew through the valley floor under the cliffs, causing ripples and ripples on the water surface of the stream, and the stone walls of the empty valley were towering, and the trees on this side of the mountain were dense, and the purple-black blood-sucking soil could be vaguely seen in the depths of the forest.

But there was no one.

The sound of footsteps seemed to be a hallucination, appearing out of thin air and disappearing silently, when He Xiaomei turned around, she only saw the mountains and forests, and the trees were swaying slightly in the mountain wind, but she couldn't see any figures.

He Xiaomei was stunned for a moment, her face was a little stunned, and then she frowned and thought about it carefully, thinking if it was her own auditory hallucination just now? It's just that the footsteps just now sounded so clear, it didn't seem like she had heard it wrong.

She pondered for a moment, looked at the dense forest that stretched from the bottom of the valley to the whole high mountain not far away, took two steps forward, and then raised her voice, but called out to the forest:

"Hey, is anyone in there?"

"What...... The echo of the ...... echoed in this valley, hovering for a long time before dispersing, but the mountains and forests were silent, and there was no reaction.

He Xiaomei pursed her lips, but she was still relieved, walked back to the stream and washed her hands, and then randomly found a stone by the water and sat down. Her hand gently touched the ruyi bag on her waist, and her face showed a little sadness.

In the past few days since she entered the Black Crow Ridge, she has been alone in the mountains looking for spirit grass to hunt demon beasts, relying on her usual solid cultivation foundation and the demon beasts she encounters are basically low-level species, plus her family background is really good, as a Cangzhou tycoon's father loves her very much, so after He Xiaomei ascended Jinhong Mountain to the Ning Yuan Realm, she secretly gave her a lot of spiritual treasures for self-defense, so all the way, He Xiaomei was quite relaxed, and she did not encounter any particularly grim situation.

But what she is worried about is that she has gained too little in the past few days.

In the harvest in the Ruyi bag, there are not many spiritual materials obtained from the defeated demon beasts, and because the demon beasts encountered are not of high grade, the value of these spiritual materials is not high. As for the other big-headed spirit grass, He Xiaomei has grown up pampered since she was a child, and she didn't say anything about it, and some spirit grass was naturally ready early, but it was impossible for her to seriously learn how to identify a wide variety of spirit grasses, as well as those destined to be hard work to find and collect medicines.

In this way, the harvest in her wishful bag is only a little bit, even if she doesn't know what the other Lingxiao Sect disciples have gained, but looking at her own gain, He Xiaomei knows in her heart that she is afraid that she will not be able to get on the stage.

She was a little anxious in her heart, looking at the stream in front of her in a daze, this trial is related to the most important elite disciple quota of the Four Righteous Conference in half a year, if she can't be selected this time, it can be said that there is a huge opportunity for the future cultivation path. He Xiaomei is young, and she has infinite hope for the future, how can she not be worried?

"Perhaps, should you find a fellow traveler?"

He Xiaomei frowned and muttered to herself in a low voice. It has been a few days since entering the Black Crow Ridge Mountain Range, and the originally scattered disciples of the Ling Xiao Sect have gradually met or passed by each other because they have gradually penetrated into the mountain range for a long time, and He Xiaomei has also met several disciples of the same sect in the past few days, but they are all strangers who have never known each other, so at most they have passed by, and she even found that there are one or two people looking at her with a faint sense of caution and vigilance in their eyes.

He Xiaomei is not a fool, she knows what the meaning is behind that gaze, and she also knows what the reason is, this trial is almost isolated in this mountain range, the seniors of the division and the elders are almost completely uninvolved, and the result of the trial is so important, then the competition between the same sect and even the direct fight and even robbery between each other is very likely.

Perhaps it was only a few days before the trial began, and it was still too early for it to end, and it was not yet the time when the bayonets were hot and white.

In the same sect she met, He Xiaomei saw at least two groups of people who were more than one person, whether it was two or three people walking together, obviously there would be a greater advantage in this trial, not to mention the discovery of spirit grass or something, just when encountering all kinds of fierce demon beasts, the team that echoed and formed a confrontation would obviously be much better than a single person.

Thinking of this, He Xiaomei's heart was bored for no reason, when she was preparing for this trial before, she actually thought about walking in a team with others, as for the candidate, it was naturally Jiang Hongguang who often followed her at that time, but she didn't expect that a series of things happened later, and the two finally completely turned their faces in the Lingxiao City of the Hundred Mountains Realm, which also caused He Xiaomei to enter the Black Crow Ridge alone now.

As soon as she thought of this, He Xiaomei felt that her teeth were a little itchy, and she felt a little more disgusted with Jiang Hongguang, strange to say, when she was young before, Jiang Hongguang followed her all day long and laughed and coaxed her, He Xiaomei didn't feel anything, and her feelings for this person have never been bad, otherwise she wouldn't have maintained her friendship for so many years. But now that they have completely separated, He Xiaomei thinks back on the past, and she feels that Jiang Hongguang is a hateful person, and she can't understand how she has been messing with this person for so long before?

Thinking of the depressed place, He Xiaomei stomped her feet hatefully, but at this moment, a roar suddenly came from the forest, He Xiaomei was startled, stood up, listened carefully for a while, and suddenly her eyes lit up.

Listening to the voice, it looks like a fierce demon beast, maybe the grade is not low, and the harvest here is too little, and if you don't take the risk of fighting with a high-level demon beast, I'm afraid that it will be hopeless. She patted the Ruyi bag on her waist, although she couldn't feel the shape, but when she thought of the talisman given by her father in it, she was suddenly refreshed, thinking that with these things, no matter how bad it is, it is no problem to protect yourself.

As soon as he thought of this, he walked briskly towards the forest, and soon his figure disappeared into the forest.

Behind her, the valley regained its silence, and in the depths of a certain tree shadow, after a while, a vague figure seemed to flash in the woods, glanced in the direction of He Xiaomei's journey in the shadows, waited silently for a moment, as if thinking about something, and then quietly followed, and also quickly disappeared into the depths of the forest.

※※※

After Shen Shi and Zhong Qingzhu determined their goal, they quickly abandoned other distracting thoughts and took Xiao Hei all the way forward, straight into the most dangerous mountain range in the depths of Black Crow Ridge.

On this road, they did not have any intention of stopping, neither stopped to look for spirit grass, nor hunted demon beasts, sometimes when they encountered some demon beasts blocking the way, they could also avoid it, mostly detouring, all the targets were placed in the secret cave in the depths of the Black Crow Ridge where the Tianqi Zhuguo and the Iron Winged Black Scorpion were hidden.

In this way, the speed of the two of them was of course much faster than that of the other Ling Xiao Sect disciples in this mountain range, if someone could clearly see the Ling Xiao Sect trial disciples scattered everywhere in this huge mountain like ants in the sky, they would find that Shen Shi and Zhong Qingzhu, the two small ants, had already stood out from the large army and walked all the way, far away from the people behind them.

If so, four days have passed.

Trekking all the way through mountains and rivers, crossing mountains and mountains, day and night, the two of them finally set foot in the deepest part of this Black Crow Ridge, crossed the invisible boundary five hundred miles away from Lingxiao City, and entered the most dangerous place in this trial.

After arriving here, Shen Shi soon found that the surrounding environment and atmosphere seemed to begin to change a little, and the most obvious impression was that there were a lot less bloodsucking soils that were originally ubiquitous, of course, there were still them, but most of the distribution was in some corners, and the area of each bloodsucking soil was not large, and even the strange breath in the air was almost faintly invisible.

In addition, the mountains and forests here are obviously older than the outside, ancient trees and old vines abound, and the forest is also primitive, giving people a faint feeling of covering the sky and the sun.

After arriving here, Zhong Qingzhu led Shen Shi to continue walking, Shen Shi was a little strange why Zhong Qingzhu seemed to be so familiar with the topography of this mountain range, if he had only been here once, it seemed that he should not have such familiarity, perhaps...... Has she been back and forth many times?

This thought flashed through Shen Shi's mind, but he didn't think about it deeply, because he hadn't asked Zhong Qingzhu in detail about this matter before, and if Zhong Qingzhu was familiar with the road, it would actually be more beneficial to them.

Coming to the deep mountains of this area, on the way to walk, the number of demon beasts gradually increased, and the probability of high-level demon beasts appearing was significantly increased. Third-order demon beasts that are rare on weekdays have become common in this kind of place, and rare fourth-order demon beasts, Shen Shi has also seen several in a row.

Inside and outside that invisible boundary, it seems that there is really a sense of two worlds.

However, it seems that Zhong Qingzhu seems to be very measured about the situation here, she took Shen Shi on a road without a road, and there were twists and turns along the way, but it was actually in this dangerous situation that she bypassed most of the powerful demon beasts, and occasionally encountered some obstacles that could not be avoided, and under Shen Shi's actions with Zhong Qingzhu and Xiao Hei, they finally turned them into a part of the harvest in the Ruyi bag.

In this process, Shen Shi and Zhong Qingzhu began to gradually become familiar with the cooperation in the fighting method, and perhaps it was precisely because of this that the two of them secretly had a little more confidence in the upcoming trip to the cave.

On the fifth day after departure, that is, after the two of them walked in this dangerous area for another whole day, Zhong Qingzhu finally took Shen Shi and found the secret cave.

One is located in the shade at the foot of the high mountain, where huge boulders block the way and are shaded by towering old trees, and countless green vines hang down to cover the entrance of the cave.

The mountains and forests are lonely, seeing that cave, Zhong Qingzhu seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief, turned around and smiled at Shen Shi, and said: "That's it, except for the iron-winged black scorpion in the deepest part of the cave, inside and outside this cave, there is not a single spirit grass in the surrounding land, and no demon beast dares to approach, we can enter it boldly with confidence......

Shen Shi nodded and just wanted to speak, but suddenly his expression changed, but he was a little stunned, and at the same time, Zhong Qingzhu was also suddenly startled, because at this time, in front of them, in the direction of that mysterious and hidden cave, there was a low and powerful, and even faintly thrilling low roar:

"Roaring ......"

The entire mountain forest seemed to tremble slightly at this moment.

(I made another ** disease, and forgot to click the release button...... Sorry, sorry!)