Chapter 83 (2/2)

Listening to him, everyone couldn’t keep from shivering, recalling Liu Erlong’s berserk attack yesterday. Each person were somewhat shaking in fear at the bottom of their hearts.

Tang San continued:

“There’s equally a large problem with the first kind of circumstances, in order to have the spirit beast’s resentment reach such an extreme, it requires fighting it yourself. You can’t use others, or the spirit beasts resentment will be scattered. But, in ordinary circumstances, the strength of the spirit beast a Spirit Master wants to hunt would be a bit stronger than himself. Something as difficult to accomplish as the one sided pattern like teacher Erlong yesterday would naturally be impossible to achieve. And although teacher Erlong could oppress the Giant Earth King like yesterday, since the strength difference between it and teacher Erlong was too great, even if teacher Erlong needed another spirit ring right now, she definitely wouldn’t choose it.”

Oscar thought deeply and said:

“No wonder spirit bones are so rare. These circumstances are too extreme. Oh, right, Fatty, what’s your fourth spirit ability?”

Fatty had a secretive expression,

“Wait until there’s a chance to use it, and I’ll let you see. But it really seems very good! It’s a pity the attack range is a bit small. Moreover there’s no way to lock down the opponent again.”

The morning air temperature in the Sunset Forest was low and the air was extremely humid, forming a morning mist.

The fog was extremely cold, and along with a fluttering breeze, right now when the sun still hadn’t risen, the fog was very dense.

Tang San pulled out a small porcelain bottle from Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges and dumped out some small black pills from inside, handing out one for each person, including Flender, Grandmaster and the others.

“What’s this?”

Flender looked at that only rice grain sized pill, puzzled asking Tang San.

Tang San said:

“This is a miasma pill I made myself. In the woods and deep mountains, miasma will frequently appear. The miasma air is incomparably poisonous, and eating this pill you can at least avert the majority of the misma attack. It also has an invigorating effect.”

Flender said with sudden understanding:

“This is what that old freak Dugu Bo taught you. It seems you indeed learned a lot of things from him.”

Tang San smiled faintly, not explaining. With the cover of his half year together with Dugu Bo, the medicines he used wouldn’t provoke anyone’s doubts. It would be even less likely someone would associate this with his innate gifts.

The morning mist grew denser and denser, and although the morning cold didn’t influence a group of generally over fortieth rank Spirit Masters like them, the visibility grew worse and worse.

Flender cautiously said:

“Everyone be careful, some spirit beasts are especially fond of moving in the early morning. With the visibility so poor right now, gather a bit closer just in case there are any surprises.

Liu Erlong quickly took a few steps forward, reaching Flender’s side and patting Zhao Wuji’s shoulder,

“You go in the back. We’ll change places.”

Although Liu Erlong seemed to have recovered her calm, Zhao Wuji didn’t dare say anything against her and hastily changes positions with her.

Liu Erlong glanced at Grandmaster, standing on his other side and protecting him from both sides along with Flender. Even though this process was very simple, nobody would miss that Liu Erlong was afraid the weakest Grandmaster would meet any danger in the mist, and wanted to personally protect him.

Grandmaster naturally also understood Liu Erlong’s intention, and secretly sighed, but didn’t have anything to say, still silently moving forward.

Before they had moved forward three hundred meters, suddenly, a strange wind blew from the front, unexpectedly causing a change in color in the morning fog. The originally dense white mist instantly became pink, directly shrouding everyone within. That pink fog held a faint sweetness, giving people a kind of addictive sensation.

“Everyone careful, the mist’s poisonous.”

Flender shouted loudly, simultaneously as Liu Erlong making a palm strike forward, relying on their profound spirit power to scatter the poison fog in front. At the same time he also couldn’t keep from inwardly sighing in admiration over Tang San’s previous foresight. This seemed to be the miasma he spoke of.

However, everyone quickly felt something was amiss, this suddenly appearing poison fog was even thicker than they had imagined, and even though Flender and Liu Erlong’s spirit power could scatter it, it condensed again very quickly, and in just a few eyeblinks their surroundings were already pink. Most shocking to the Shrek Academy party was that within that pink fog their visibility dropped to its lowest point, and it was difficult to even see the people next to them.

“This isn’t miasma. Little Ao, detoxifying small sausages.”

Tang San suddenly shouted, and immediately afterward a purple golden light was emitted from his eyes. The others might not see clearly in the thick fog, but the influence on his mustard seed stage Purple Demon Eye was a lot less, and he could vaguely see the surrounding scenery.

“Careful, it’s spirit beasts.”

Tang San called aloud once again. Stretching out his right hand, he pulled in Xiao Wu’s hand, simultaneously swiftly releasing his Blue Silver Grass spirit, spreading it out in all directions, creating an early warning system around everything within several dozen square meters.

Stretching a hand into the Wishful Hundred Treasure Purse, he pulled out a large, faintly pink flower. The flower was leafless, its stalk three chi[1] long, with an enormous flower with a diameter over one chi. Each petal was sparkling and translucent like crystal, the stamen was faintly purple as if it was a purple diamond inlaid there. A touching fragrance wafted out from the flower, penetrating the heart.

After Tang San drew out this flower, a bizarre scene immediately appeared. With Tang San at its heart, within a ten meter diameter that pink fog seemed to instantly melt away like snow meeting boiling water, forming a faintly purple stream of air that swiftly scattered into the surroundings, allowing the Shrek Academy group to again see their companions.

“Nobody leave this circle.”

Tang San’s left hand carefully held that large flower, calmly observing the thick pink fog in front. Everyone clearly saw that right now there was an incorporeal faintly purple air around them, and no matter how thick that pink fog was, or how the wind in the forest blew, that pinkness was unable to get into the ten meter range around them.

“In my hand is an Aromatic Silk Beauty Immortal Treasure, it has the effect of neutralizing ten thousand poisons, and within its range any poison will lose its effect. For the moment don’t leave this range, this thick fog seems to be caused by spirit beasts, and it’s not just one. We’re surrounded.”

Part 3 (TL by Bagelson)

Grandmaster knew the capability of Tang San’s eyes and immediately questioned closer:

“Little San, can you see the appearances of those spirit beasts?”

With his experience, as long as Tang San could describe the spirit beasts, he could determine what kind they had encountered, and dealing with them would naturally become a lot easier.

Tang San said:

“I’ll try.”

Urging his Mysterious Heaven Skill, Tang San congregated it at his eyes, purple golden light suddenly flashing out of them in chi[2] long rays of light in the direction he was looking.

The immortal treasure herb ‘Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew’ changed Tang San’s Purple Demon Eye, not only could he see more clearly, but also more penetratingly.

Even to the extent that it could be used as a mental attack.

Right now, with Tang San using his full strength, his gaze cut through the layers of fog, gradually seeing clearly the spirit beasts around them.

As he saw these spirit beasts, he couldn’t help drawing a deep breath. These spirit beasts own strength wasn’t so scary, what was scary was that their numbers really were too high.

“Teacher, it’s ‘Pink Maiden’ spirit beasts.”

Grandmaster looked distracted,

“You didn’t make a mistake? Even though the Pink Maidens have poison, even at the ten thousand year level they still can’t produce a poisonous fog over such a large area to attack us.”

Tang San’s expression was serious:

“Teacher, I’m certain. Moreover I also know why there would be such a dense poison fog. Because, there are no less than one thousand Pink Maidens out there. Even though for the most part they’re only on the hundred year level, such an amount of Pink Maidens can rely on the morning mist to release poison to such a degree.”

“What? A thousand? Is this possible?”

There was a shocked light in Grandmaster’s eyes, and his stiff face immediately grew serious.

“What are you talking about? What ‘Pink Maidens’?”

Liu Erlong couldn’t keep from asking.

Grandmaster said in a heavy voice:

“Pink Maidens are a kind of spirit beast. It’s shape is similar to a scorpion, but compared to the Giant Earth King it’s considerably inferior. It’s a flock spirit beast. It’s nature is comparatively mild. Because its body appears to be pink and translucent, its profile dazzling, it’s given the name ‘Pink Maiden’. Generally speaking, it will very rarely take the initiative to attack humans, and seems to only keep away from Spirit Masters.”

“Each group of Pink Maidens only number around a few tens to a hundred, with the most powerful one as leader. In order to keep other members from surpassing it, if there is a member that evolves faster, the most formidable one will kill it. This leads to this kind of spirit beast very rarely resulting in ten thousand year level existences. Even to the extent that thousand year levels are very few.”

Flender frowned:

“Then what’s the attack capability of such spirit beasts? Only poison?”

Grandmaster nodded, saying:

“Yes, but their poison also isn’t very strong. The Man Faced Demon Spider that Tang San killed is their natural predator. One Man Faced Demon Spider can even easily kill a group of a hundred Pink Maidens. Among all spirit beasts that attack with poison, they’re still considered pretty inferior. Their poison is very particular, a kind of stimulating poison. Breathing in a little bit wouldn’t be harmful, and would instead cause the victim to become excited. But if too much is inhaled, and gradually causes excitement, once the stimulation reaches a certain degree it will overdraw one’s vitality, until death. Precisely because its body is weak, it’s also extremely difficult for them to evolve, and they become food for a lot of high level spirit beasts. If it’s like little San says, and we’ve now encountered a thousand member Pink Maiden community, then I can say with certainty that within this community there must have appeared a ‘Pink Queen’.”

“The Pink Queen is a variant Pink Maiden. It’s also the most powerful Pink Maiden, and in order for this mutation to occur it will first require at least three thousand years of cultivation, next it requires eating at least a hundred of its own clansmen. Once such a Pink Queen emerges, it will gather its kin on a large scale, using them as food. Because her strength is much more powerful than ordinary Pink Maidens, as a result, even if there is the risk of being eaten, the majority of Pink Maidens will still obey.”

“A single Pink Maiden is even unable to harm a tenth rank or so Spirit Master, but the poison secreted by a Pink Queen is enough to stimulate a fiftieth rank Spirit Master to death. This kind of peculiar poison can’t be guarded against, it will even invade the body through the skin. The poison fog released by these thousand Pink Maidens is in order to poison us to death here. But I don’t understand why a mild tempered Pink Maiden would show such hostility towards us. It’s as if they ambushed us here.”

When Grandmaster talked about the characteristics of the Pink Maiden, Tang San silently reflected by his side. Now hearing Grandmaster say this, he said:

“Teacher, wouldn’t you say it’s because of that Giant Earth King last night? The Giant Earth King is the same as the Pink Maiden, they’re both scorpion shaped spirit beasts, perhaps it would be related to it?”

Light flickered in Grandmaster’s eyes,

“It’s possible. Don’t tell me, this community’s Pink Queen unexpectedly was the mate of that Giant Earth King? This is very possible. The intelligence of spirit beasts will grow along with their age, even if it’s a Pink Queen, among spirit beasts it’s still considered fairly weak. And the Giant Earth King is nevertheless a similar kind of creature, the Giant Earth King’s Magma Earth Rending Strike even has a certain restraining effect on the Man Faced Demon Spider. If one said the Pink Queen committed herself as the price for its protection, the theory holds water. That Giant Earth King’s strength should be considered pretty good in this Sunset Forest. Further adding this enormous Pink Maiden community, it’s sufficient to control a corner.”

Flender looked at Liu Erlong at his side, unable to keep from laughing:

“You bullied the husband, so now the family’s come for revenge.”

Cold light flashed in Liu Erlong’s eyes,

“Revenge? Fine! Then I’ll keep killing, making them a pair of mandarin ducks[3].”

Grandmaster firmly said:

“The poison fog aggregated by more than a thousand Pink Maidens is no small matter, we absolutely can’t be careless. Just now we were all affected by a bit of the poison, and were it not for little San having this bizarre anti poison flower, it would be hard to say what would have happened. Right now there are several ways to settle the issue. One is to rely on this flower’s poison resisting properties to break through, an even more dependable method is to rely on Flender’s flying ability to shift us one by one out of this area, as long as we get out of the affected region it wouldn’t be a problem. But that also confronts us with the danger of ambush by other kinds of spirit beasts. Little San, you have a comparatively better understanding of poison, what’s your proposal?”

Tang San said:

“Pink Maidens after all lack attack power, with our strength it’s still preferable to break through. As long as we keep a close formation it’s possible. Best would be if that Pink Queen couldn’t keep from coming out to attack, as long as we could dispatch her, the headless spirit beast group would naturally disperse. As long as everyone stays within a ten meter diameter from me, the poison wouldn’t take effect.”

Flender nodded, saying:

“Good, then it’s settled. Let’s not delay, little San, since you can see the surrounding circumstances, we’ll follow your directions. Wuji take up the rear, Erlong and Grandmaster, we’re in front. Mubai, all of you coordinate in the center, make sure to protect little San, little Ao and Rongrong. Especially this Aromatic Silk Beauty Immortal Treasure little San holds.”

With an accurate analysis of the situation, naturally there was less bewilderment. Everyone’s battle lust ignited, even Grandmaster, each person released their spirit.

As a result of obtaining a third Spirit Ring, Grandmaster’s spirit Luo San Pao’s body had changed somewhat, not only growing a size larger than before, but also gaining some golden color in its deep purple fur. Looking at his appearance, if Grandmaster really could obtain nine spirit rings, maybe it would really be capable of evolving into a Golden Saint Dragon.

Under Tang San’s directions, using the Aromatic Silk Beauty Immortal Treasure’s poison resistance, everyone advanced cautiously.

Grandmaster and Tang San’s judgement was exceptionally correct. This group of Pink Maidens leader was precisely a Pink Queen, and it was also the mate of last night’s unfortunate Giant Earth King.

Spirit beasts had methods of communicating between each other, and the Giant Earth King naturally released a kind of scent when it died, informing the Pink Queen. Further adding the existence of the Giant Earth King’s aura on Ma Hongjun, naturally the family would come calling.

The area the Pink Maidens surrounded wasn’t too large, but Tang San very quickly found something wrong.

Along with their movements, the entire encirclement also moved.

Right now, even though the morning mist had already gradually dissipated in the sunlight, their surroundings were still concealed by a pink poison gas, only appearing a bit thinner than before.

Pausing, Tang San said:

“This won’t do. These Pink Maidens are also moving. My line of sight is unclear, and within the forest our speed is also limited. If this continues, we can only continue within their encirclement. Even though we have the Aromatic Silk Beauty Immortal Treasure, we still can’t continue this way. Little Ao, prepare mushroom sausages.”

Oscar looked inquiringly at Flender, and Flender used his hand to point to Tang San,

“Little San directs.”

After Oscar’s spirit power progressed, when consuming his entire spirit power he could produce twelve flying mushroom sausages, just enough to satisfy everyone’s requirements.

Even though the effect would reduce by half when he himself used these flying mushroom sausages, but he could prepare two (Flender had his own flying spirit, and didn’t need a mushroom sausage), he could still fly for one minute like everyone else.

[1] 3尺 = 1m

[2] It’s two rays that are ⅓ m long.

[3] Mandarin ducks in pairs (or any animals in pairs) is a common symbol of love.