"Fellow Daoist Lu, could the stone toad have fled its nest due to external threats?"
After searching for a long time to no avail, Qin Sang could not help voicing his doubt.
The threat he referred to was the swarm of Corpse Flame Moths.
After slaying that moth swarm, they had continued their search, only to find many tunnels engulfed in dead silence, devoid of even a single living creature.
Undoubtedly, they had all been slaughtered by the Corpse Flame Moths.
With no natural predators here, the moth swarm had gone on a rampage of slaughter, posing a lethal threat to the local creatures. Any insects or beasts with keen spiritual senses would have migrated away.
Throughout their search, Qin Sang and Lu Zhang had also done their best to suppress their own Nascent Soul auras.
Lu Zhang frowned. "The Corpse Flame Moths shouldn't have the ability to see through the stone toad's camouflage. As long as the surrounding environment wasn't drastically destroyed, the stone toad shouldn't have been frightened off. Although there are no explicit records, I suspect that before the stone toad matures, its nest serves an irreplaceable purpose for it."
***
"A stone toad?"
In the distance, the gray-robed man rubbed his chin and pondered for a moment, unable to recall the origins of a stone toad.
Seeing that the two would not be leaving anytime soon, the gray-robed man retreated underground to report to the grotesque-faced man. "...One is an elder of Mount Bunian, and the other is an unfamiliar face, but their cultivation is formidable—both are in the mid Nascent Soul stage. They are looking for a stone toad, though I don't know what kind of treasure it is."
The grotesque-faced man said nothing.
After waiting a moment, the gray-robed man probed tentatively, "Master, since these two traveled thousands of li to come here, this treasure must be exceptionally valuable..."
He was not the least bit concerned about offending Mount Bunian. Mount Bunian's sect master was at most his master's equal. If they stole it, so what? What could Mount Bunian do about it?
The grotesque-faced man neither agreed nor disagreed. After a long silence, he said leisurely, "If it is indeed that kind of spiritual creature, it would make a fine candidate for a Gu beast, with potential far surpassing your five-colored venomous spider..."
Hearing this, the gray-robed man was overjoyed.
The grotesque-faced man rose, reached out to take the jade beetle before him, and flicked his sleeve, confining the remaining Corpse Flame Moths where they were. He then sealed the formation, concealed all traces of their presence, and stepped outside.
The gray-robed man hurried after him.
Unhurried, the grotesque-faced man first visited the place where Qin Sang and Lu Zhang had slaughtered the Corpse Flame Moths. After casting his gaze around, he instructed his disciple to continue tracking the targets.
"They're still searching!" the gray-robed man said delightedly.
Yet the grotesque-faced man had no intention of striking immediately. He followed his disciple in an unhurried manner, focusing on refining the jade beetle while merely telling him to keep a close watch with the five-colored venomous spider.
Seeing this, the gray-robed man understood his master's intentions: they only needed to seize the stone toad when the moment was right. There was no need to kill anyone; fighting a life-or-death battle offered no benefits.
One came from a prestigious sect, and the other's strength was certainly nothing to scoff at—neither was an easy opponent.
At the thought of soon gaining a Gu beast with immense potential, the gray-robed man rubbed his palms together eagerly and focused on manipulating the five-colored venomous spider.
***
Meanwhile.
Qin Sang and Lu Zhang had already searched over seventy percent of the area, and nearly two months had passed since they entered the basin. Taking turns, neither felt particularly exhausted.
They had not encountered any large swarms of Corpse Flame Moths afterward, so there were no lethal dangers threatening them.
However, after toiling for so long, coming away empty-handed would inevitably be disheartening.
Even Lu Zhang was no longer completely confident.
Inside a hidden tunnel.
The two drove the Baose Bell, weaving through the web-like network of secret passages while listening to its monotonous chimes as they advanced in silence.
Another rotation came.
The Baose Bell was handed over to Qin Sang.
*Ring, ring, ring...*
Qin Sang made the best of the dull situation, remarking that he felt like an itinerant peddler wandering the streets with a rattle-bell. When he shared the thought with Lu Zhang, both broke into hearty laughter.
Their laughter echoed through the dark tunnel.
Suddenly.
Qin Sang's smile vanished. Letting out a soft gasp, his eyes flashed like lightning, locking onto a section of the stone wall beside them. At the same time, the true essence within him surged with full force, pouring unstintingly into the Baose Bell.
*Ding! Ding! Ding!*
The Baose Bell vibrated frantically, its chimes turning rapid and ear-piercingly sharp.
Its radiance surged dramatically, washing across the area like a tidal wave.
Under the bell's illumination, every detail on the stone wall was laid bare.
The wall had been smooth, flat, and bare, but once engulfed by the light of the Baose Bell, the light around it distorted eerily.
Immediately afterward, rounded lines surfaced on the grayish-black rock face, faintly outlining the shape of a toad no larger than a thumb.
The stone toad!
The moment it was exposed by the light, the stone toad sensed danger. Its hind legs twitched, and the outline on the stone wall vanished at blinding speed.
The stone toad did not merely camouflage itself as stone—its entire body had merged into the wall, allowing it to travel freely through solid rock, an expert in earth escape.
It was not at all as Lu Zhang had previously described.
When fleeing for its life, the stone toad was not slow in the slightest!
Lu Zhang reacted with great speed.
The moment Qin Sang discovered the stone toad's trace, Lu Zhang lunged forward past him. A beam of azure light shot from between his brows, manifesting as a delicate azure bell.
The azure bell expanded rapidly before their eyes.
With a thunderous crash, the stone wall was smashed to pieces by the azure bell.
Not only were several nearby passages pierced through, but the surrounding stone walls were completely leveled by Lu Zhang. The blast even reached upward and downward, shattering all the rock connected to the area.
In an instant, an artificial spherical cavern appeared underground.
Qin Sang and Lu Zhang coordinated with tacit understanding. As the stone wall was blasted apart, the Baose Bell soared high into the air, radiating dazzling light that illuminated the entire cavern.
Rubble flew.
Dust billowed.
With its escape route cut off, the stone toad was flushed out of the stone.
On its back, a faint purple glow flickered—it had actually begun its metamorphosis into a purple-veined spirit toad, only to be found by them before the transformation was complete.
The stone toad flashed, merged into a chunk of stone, and then rapidly leaped between falling boulders, fleeing downward with desperate speed.
Unfortunately for it, it was already locked onto, unable to display its illusions.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Lu Zhang's azure bell possessed imposing might, pulverizing countless pieces of rubble into fine powder and forcefully carving out a wide path. The bell tilted slightly, aimed at the stone toad, and shot forth an eerie azure beam of light.
Just as the stone toad was about to be captured by the azure bell, a sudden change occurred!
The dust below abruptly roiled, and a pale hand reached out, grabbing toward the stone toad ahead of the bell.
The rare creature they had yearned for was within arm's reach, only for an uninvited guest to appear.
Lu Zhang was furious. "Insolent!"
The azure bell shook violently, crashing down toward the hand with the weight of a thousand jun.
The grotesque-faced man's figure emerged right behind the hand. Looking at the azure bell, a sneer curled at the corner of his lips. He spat out a wooden bead that flew toward the azure bell while his hand clamped down on the stone toad, his fingers closing tight!
However, he failed to notice that at that very moment, the light of the Baose Bell had already dimmed.
Seeing things take a bad turn and having no time to assist, Qin Sang had made a split-second decision to withdraw the magic treasure capable of dispelling illusions.
The next moment, the grotesque-faced man's smirk froze. He looked down into his palm.
Where was any stone toad? Clutched in his grip was a spirit illusion flower.
In a flash, its petals withered, leaving behind only a single spirit illusion seed.
Chapter 1558