?
Wu De tilted his head to look at the Explosive Talismans in Lu Li's hand, and visibly relaxed. At the same time, he waved his hand, and a gleaming long sword appeared in his grasp. "That should be enough. Aim properly when you throw it. Even if it takes my last breath, this old man will kill it."
"Alright!"
Lu Li slightly slowed his pace and released his divine sense to probe behind him. He saw that the pitch-black giant centipede was already more than ten zhang behind them, its speed neither fast nor slow, without the slightest urgency.
It seemed as if it was deliberately toying with the two of them, waiting for them to exhaust themselves completely.
Lu Li thought to himself that this beast was frighteningly intelligent and immediately muttered quietly, "Old Wu, this beast is toying with us. It seems we need to pretend we can fight no more for it to take the bait."
Wu De was taken aback and also released his divine sense. His face instantly turned darkened at once, and he cursed angrily, "I was wondering why this thing was always trailing at a distance. So that was its plan."
After a brief discussion, Wu De suddenly accelerated and dashed out five or six chi, leaving Lu Li behind.
Lu Li pretended to be out of strength, falling to the ground with a thud. At the same time, he started cursing breathlessly at Wu De, "You damned old man, abandoning your father at a critical moment like this. If you have the guts, don't run away..."
While cursing, he swayed and struggled to stand up again.
Hearing this, Wu De was so angry he nearly spat blood, thinking to himself, I only told you to pretend to be exhausted, yet you actually curse me. Do you think this beast can understand what you're saying!
Seeing this, the giant centipede behind actually turned its eyeballs in a human-like manner. Then, using all its hundreds of legs, it lunged toward Lu Li with terrifying speed.
Hearing the sound of the air being torn, Lu Li instantly felt his hair stand on end. Without thinking, he gathered five high-grade Explosive Talismans into a clump and threw them backhand.
Boom.....!
A series of explosions like thunderclaps erupted beside his ears, causing Lu Li's ears to ring incessantly. At the same time, he felt the ground beneath his feet tremble.
The violent shock wave also sent Lu Li flying forward more than two zhang.
As he was flung forward, he saw a gleaming sword shadow whizzing past him. Immediately after, a harsh metallic screech, came from behind.
Following that, Wu De retreated frantically, grabbing Lu Li who had fallen to the ground and dragging him forward more than ten zhang before stopping.
Behind the two, violent impacts thundered across the ground.
Lu Li turned to look and saw that the pitch-black giant centipede was struggling for its life. A long sword was lodged beneath its jaw, its body writhing wildly, its tail desperately slapping the grassy ground, looking utterly agonized.
"Old Wu, you're really something!" Seeing this, Lu Li couldn't help but give a thumbs-up to Wu De, who was leaning on his knees panting heavily.
"N-Nothing to it. If you feel bad, just give me a share of the True Essence Pills when we sell the corpse."
"Get out of here! I spent five high-grade talismans, a full one thousand five hundred True Essence Pills."
"Hmph, stingy!"
Wu De curled his lip and directly sat down cross-legged, starting to recover.
Seeing that the giant centipede wouldn't die anytime soon, Lu Li also sat cross-legged to recover, occasionally glancing at the centipede.
After about half a quarter-hour, the struggling centipede finally stopped moving. After a while longer, Lu Li, seeing that it was indeed motionless, cautiously walked over.
The giant centipede had curled up into a ball. Its pitch-black, shiny carapace looked extremely extraordinary. If used to make armor, the defensive power would definitely be excellent.
Staring from a distance for a moment, Lu Li walked up and kicked it twice, confirming the centipede was thoroughly dead. He then carefully squatted down, placed his hand on the centipede, and with a thought, the centipede as large as a small hill was immediately stored inside the Spatial Hall.
At this moment, the Spatial Hall resembled a giant pavilion, with pitch-black floors stretching endlessly. The several-zhang-long centipede was quite inconspicuous inside.
Wu De also walked over, picked up the long sword from the ground, and said to Lu Li sourly, "Kid, you've made a killing this time."
"What do you mean? If it weren't for my few high-grade Explosive Talismans, you'd still be running for your life." Lu Li stood up and continued, "How much farther to the Soul-Calming Flowers?"
Wu De sheathed the sword, pointing to the hazy small hill ahead. "Right below that hill."
The hill was about ten or more li away from them. It didn't appear very tall but was quite expansive, resembling a giant grave mound piled up by someone. Some sparse, unknown black ancient trees were scattered on it.
When looking at the hill, Wu De's eyes also filled with anticipation. He took the lead and started walking forward. "I hope there are still Soul-Calming Flowers there. Otherwise, this journey will have been for nothing."
Not long after, the two arrived at the foot of the hill.
Looking at the faint gray mist rising from the hillside, Lu Li frowned. "This mist seems a bit off in color. Could it be poisonous?"
"This is Yin Qi. It only affects the body after long-term absorption. A few days won't matter much." Wu De said this as he already stepped into the gray mist.
Lu Li was half-convinced, still feeling somewhat uneasy. He took out a poison-avoiding pill and swallowed it before slowly following.
As they walked, Lu Li noticed that besides the gray mist, the ground on this hill was also gray, and even the weeds growing on it were black-gray. He hurriedly quickened his pace and caught up a few steps. "What is Yin Qi?"
"Yin Qi?" Wu De glanced sideways at Lu Li, walking as he spoke. "It's Yin-cold Qi. Some places that never see sunlight, or places densely populated by Yin souls, will produce Yin Qi over time."
"But this place doesn't look sunless. Do you mean there are many Yin souls inside this hill?" Lu Li suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
"Look how scared you are." Wu De sneered lightly and explained, "Although the surface can receive sunlight, there's a Yin River flowing underneath, its source unknown. The water is icy cold. Last time I was here, I even saw corpses floating in that river..."
Hearing this, Lu Li was shocked. So a hidden space lay beneath the hill. He suddenly asked, "The Soul-Calming Flowers you mentioned, they're not down there, are they?"
"You're not stupid, kid."
Wu De continued walking as he spoke, "Last time this old man fled here for refuge and happened to see an opening up there, so I crawled in. I went down and down until I finally reached solid ground, only to discover there was a separate space below."
"There were quite a few Soul-Calming Flowers growing there, but they were still young. And with this old man's cultivation at that time, I had no use for such things, so I just left them there. Who would have thought fate would play tricks, and these Soul-Calming Flowers would end up coming into this old man's hands after all."
"Your cultivation at that time?" Lu Li asked curiously.
"Kid, some things aren't for you to ask about." Wu De glanced at Lu Li and continued walking toward the hilltop.
"So mysterious."
Lu Li gave Wu De a strange look but didn't press further.
Finally, the two arrived near the hilltop. Wu De looked around, a hint of doubt in his eyes. He then motioned for Lu Li to stand aside and began bombarding the surrounding ground with True Qi.
As dirt flew everywhere, Lu Li suddenly saw one spot cave in. He quickly called for a stop and pointed at the depression, shouting, "Old man, is it there!"