Looking back now, the blood rain was entirely gone, as if the preceding ordeal had been nothing more than a dream. In its place, countless profoundly esoteric runes floated in midair.
Qin Sang clicked his tongue in wonder, then turned to face the deep, gloomy cave.
The cave was dead silent. The entrance was only wide enough for one person at a time, but the interior appeared to open up. There was no towering demon qi, nor were there hordes of ghostly silhouettes; everything seemed completely normal.
Qin Sang shifted his gaze to the cave walls. A sheen of light flowed over the smooth stone, its dense texture rivaling that of refined iron, extraordinarily hard.
The entire mountain was covered by restrictions. Not only were earth-escape spells unusable, but it was also impossible to breach by brute force. If one wished to pass through this mountain, the only way was to walk dutifully into the cave.
However, the cave gave Qin Sang a very strange feeling. It did not seem naturally formed—could it have been blasted open by some mighty figure using immense divine power?
A wave of astonishment ran through Qin Sang’s heart.
“Senior, once we cross this cave, will we be in the inner valley?”
Yunyouzi nodded, his eyes fixed on the depths of the cave as if searching for something. He then held out a beckoning hand, and a streak of white light flew out from within the cave, landing in his palm.
“No one else has been here!”
Yunyouzi nodded to himself and was just about to step into the cave when something suddenly occurred to him. He retrieved a jade vial and tossed it to Qin Sang. “Brother Qin, take this.”
Qin Sang caught the vial and looked inside to find two dark-green medicinal pills.
Both pills were identical, about the size of longans. Their surfaces were uneven and bumpy, looking as though they had been smeared with a layer of foul mud. Uncouth and bizarre, they even radiated a dark-green vapor that filled the jade vial.
Among the healing and restorative spirit pills Qin Sang had seen in the past, though varied in color, most were translucent and possessed an exceptional appearance that marked them as precious medicine. When had he ever seen such a sinister-looking pill? Could it be poison?
Qin Sang muttered silently to himself.
He uncorked the vial, and a sickeningly foul stench immediately washed over him, turning his stomach. His expression shifted slightly, and he hurriedly stoppered the bottle.
Yunyouzi burst into laughter. “Brother Qin, don’t let its strange appearance fool you; in a little while, our lives will depend on it. Keep it on you for now, and swallow it when I give the signal.”
Seeing that Yunyouzi was keeping him in suspense, Qin Sang did not press further. From the scent the pill gave off just now, he could tell that it contained no toxins.
This green pill was not poisonous and likely had another purpose.
Qin Sang suppressed his curiosity, grasped the jade vial, and followed behind Yunyouzi into the cave.
The passage was pitch-black. Even with spiritual power channeled into his eyes, Qin Sang could barely make out his immediate surroundings. Yunyouzi showed no intention of lighting a torch, quietly advancing through the passage.
It was clearly perceptible that the tunnel sloped downward, growing steeper by the step. Without Yunyouzi’s instruction, Qin Sang did not dare mobilize his spiritual power recklessly and could only proceed on foot.
After an unknown amount of time, Yunyouzi suddenly stopped ahead.
Then, Qin Sang heard Yunyouzi’s voice transmission: “Brother Qin, the road ahead is treacherous. We cannot use spiritual power. Be careful, and whatever you do, do not slip. Also, the moment you see my hand signal, swallow that pill immediately.”
Hearing this, Qin Sang stepped forward and looked ahead. The stone wall on the right remained, but the left side opened up into a vast expanse, with the opposite edge nowhere in sight.
The path had not broken off, but it had narrowed drastically, leaving only enough room for a single foot.
The air ahead was extremely damp, suggesting a pool of water lay below.
At the same time, Qin Sang noticed a green vapor drifting before them, and a faint, fishy stench reached his nostrils—identical to the smell emitted by the pill.
Seeing this, Qin Sang roughly guessed the reason.
With their backs pressed tight against the rock wall, the two slowly shuffled forward. The stone path continued to angle downward. Even after walking a considerable distance, Qin Sang heard no sound of flowing water, yet the moisture in the air grew palpably heavier.
Furthermore, the green vapor grew thicker and thicker, its foul odor assaulting their senses.
Right then, Yunyouzi suddenly halted, remaining motionless for a long time.
Puzzled, Qin Sang turned sideways and saw Yunyouzi staring ahead with an uncertain, suspicious expression.
“Senior, is something wrong?”
Qin Sang’s heart sank. Readying his magic tools to respond at any moment, he sent a voice transmission to inquire.
Yunyouzi hesitated for a moment before replying, “There’s no sound.”
No sound?
Qin Sang wondered silently if that wasn’t a good thing.
Only then did Yunyouzi explain to him.
“This place was originally the nest of a colony of star venom frogs. This green mist is formed from the breaths they exhale.
“The venom of these frogs is extraordinarily potent. Facing an adult star venom frog, even a Core Formation stage cultivator would give it a wide berth, not daring to let the venom touch them.
“However, strangely enough, there is a species of mortal venomous frog whose scent is remarkably similar to that of the star venom frog.
“So, I extracted venom from some mortal frogs and mixed it with several foul-smelling medicinal herbs to concoct this pill. Consuming it imbues the user with that exact scent. The effect lasts half an hour and can almost pass as genuine.
“This way, we can deceive the star venom frogs’ spiritual senses and pass through their nest with ease.
“For some reason, even after walking this far, we haven’t heard a single croak from the star venom frogs. Could something have happened to them?”
Hearing this, Qin Sang looked into the distance, but the green mist was too thick to see anything. “Senior, when you came last time, were the star venom frogs croaking constantly?”
“Indeed!”
Yunyouzi nodded. “Their croaks differ little from mortal frogs and can be heard from far away.”
“Could they have a hibernation period?” Qin Sang racked his brain to guess. “Aside from that, is there any other change? For instance, the mist or the scent?”
“None. That is precisely why I find it strange… Regardless! Brother Qin, swallow the pill first. We’ll know once we go down and look…”
Yunyouzi made up his mind, swallowed the pill, and continued forward.
Before long, Qin Sang found that the green mist below his feet had dispersed. It turned out the ground below was not a pool of water, but a swamp of mud.
At this point, the stone path no longer sloped downward and instead ran straight ahead.
Skirting along the edge of the mire, Yunyouzi and Qin Sang remained secretly on their guard.
After taking just a couple of steps, Qin Sang suddenly noticed something unusual deep within the green mist and hurriedly called out to Yunyouzi, “Senior, look over there—what is that?”
Yunyouzi started. Turning sideways, he focused his gaze in the direction Qin Sang pointed. His expression suddenly shifted slightly. Reaching into his mustard seed bag, he retrieved a transparent filament and flicked his finger.
The filament shot silently into the depths of the green mist and reeled back, wrapping around a white object.
It was the corpse of a venomous frog!
The carcass was the size of a palm.
The white part was the frog’s belly, while its back was dark green, matching the color of the mist. Its back was covered in craggy lumps and bumps, and smeared with mud, looking all the more repulsive.
“It’s dead!”
Qin Sang pointed at the crown of the frog’s head. There was a bloody hole piercing through the skull—a single fatal strike.
“This is a juvenile star venom frog!”
Yunyouzi’s face looked grim. “Someone killed it with ease, and took its most valuable venom sac.”
Chapter 378