Upon seeing the ferocious head and its distinct sharp horns, Ming Qi immediately recognized the monster hiding in the deep pool as an extremely powerful demonic beast, the Shallow Water Black Dragon!
A Level 4 demonic beast, the Shallow Water Black Dragon!
It was already comparable to a powerful innate being!
Thinking of this, Ming Qi took a few steps back. He realized that he had been so busy collecting herbs and minerals that he had unknowingly entered the territory of an innate demonic beast. This was a very dangerous situation.
"Let's go!"
Ming Qi made a quick decision and retreated, calling out to the dire wolf to follow him.
At this moment, the dire wolf seemed to sense the terrifying presence of the Shallow Water Black Dragon and stared around vigilantly. Its eyes began to glow blood red. At Ming Qi's call, it began to cautiously retreat towards the edge of the valley.
Hiss!
As Ming Qi retreated, he gradually became aware of the sound of pythons swallowing and spitting their tongues, knowing that a snake was approaching.
The Valley of Despair was teeming with snakes, and the serpents now roaming were of all shapes and sizes, ranging from four-legged snakes with legs, flying snakes with fleshy wings, and crested snakes with strange scales atop their heads.
Most of these were venomous, and their poison was extremely potent. An attack by a cultivator with acquired powers would severely damage their meridians.
Even more dangerous was the fact that the snakes in the Valley of Despair were extremely aggressive, fiercely attacking any creature that entered their territory.
The Valley of Despair was teeming with venomous snakes, and Ming Qi's cautious retreat immediately aroused the hatred of countless lurking serpents, their eyes flashing with cold light fixed on him.
Snap!
Ming Qi raised his sword and slashed a four-meter-long snake that had attempted to attack him. Then, with another lightning-fast step, he stomped on an unknown venomous snake, crushing it to death. Because the dire wolf possessed a natural ability to intimidate lower-level demonic beasts, the venomous snakes lingering around it merely stared at it warily without attacking.
"Why are there so many venomous snakes, but no black-striped vipers?"
Backing away and observing carefully, Ming Qi couldn't see a single black-striped viper among the numerous snakes around him, which puzzled him.
Previously, he had ventured deeper into the valley without finding any black-striped vipers. He had always assumed they lived deeper in the Valley of Despair, but when he saw the shallow water black dragon, he knew this was no longer a place where a Level 3 demonic beast like the black-striped viper could safely survive.
The Shallow Water Black Dragon is an innate demonic beast. Its territory is likely the bottomless hundred-meter-deep pool, possibly even encompassing the surrounding area. Such a vast territory would be too vast for a post-natal demonic beast like the Black-lined Viper to survive. Moreover, Ming Qi believed there must be other innate demonic beasts around the Shallow Water Black Dragon.
After completely exiting the innate demonic beast's area, Ming Qi stopped retreating and began searching the jungles on both sides of the valley.
The reward for this quest was not high, so it could be assumed that the Black-lined Viper was a relatively common snake species in the Valley of Despair. Since there were no traces of Black-lined Vipers at the moment, it was likely that there were some characteristics of the Black-lined Viper that he was unaware of.
During his search, Ming Qi collected any valuable herbs and minerals he encountered. This way, even if he failed to complete the quest, his trip would not be in vain.
This wandering took most of the day.
Before he knew it, it was already sunset, but Ming Qi was still anxious because he hadn't seen a single black-striped viper!
"Could that information be fake? There are no black-striped vipers in this Valley of Despair?"
After finding no trace of black-striped vipers, Ming Qi began to doubt the authenticity of the information.
But after a moment, he gave up on that possibility. Providing false information wouldn't benefit the person who issued the task, and it would also damage their credibility. Most importantly, it would delay the progress of the task he needed to complete the materials.
For example, if he provided false information about alchemy, the disciple assigned the task wouldn't be able to find the necessary materials, and he wouldn't be able to complete the elixir. Wouldn't that be setting himself up for failure?
"There must be something wrong."
Ming Qi grabbed some dry food to replenish his energy and resumed his search.
The Valley of Despair was incredibly vast, with mountains and forests stretching for hundreds of miles on either side. Ming Qi couldn't search even one side in a short time. Even the outer hundreds of miles would take him ages to complete.
Gradually, the sky darkened. Because of the Valley of Despair's inherent gloom, even though it wasn't yet dark outside, the dense forest within the valley was already hazy and murky.
Ming Qi cautiously led the dire wolves through the search. He sensed that the absence of any black-striped vipers here must be a reason!
Just as Ming Qi was puzzled, he turned a corner of the mountain and suddenly heard the faint sound of a zither!
At first, he thought he had misheard, but when he calmed down and listened more carefully, he realized it was indeed the sound of a zither. While the tone wasn't high-pitched, it was deep and lingering, possessing an indescribable magic.
Whoosh!
Just as he was momentarily stunned, a five-meter-long snake shot out from the brush not far from him, darting swiftly in one direction.
"Black-striped viper!"
Although the snake moved swiftly, Ming Qi instantly spotted a striking black line on its back.
Yes, it was a black-striped viper!
Looking up, Ming Qi suddenly realized that the black-striped viper was heading in the exact direction the piano music had come from!
As expected, Ming Qi now understood everything. It seemed that all the black-striped vipers in the valley had been drawn to the mysterious piano music. No wonder he had searched the valley all day without seeing a single one.
Seeing his prey right in front of him, yet it was heading straight for something else, Ming Qi naturally wouldn't give up and cautiously followed.
Stealth in the mountains is a must-have for any assassin. Ming Qi's assassin skills were at the pinnacle of his skill, and his concealment was flawless.
A moment later, he had followed the sound of the zither to a certain location.
When he emerged from the dense vegetation, he was met with a bizarre sight.
About a few hundred meters ahead, a massive rock protruded, and atop it, someone was playing the zither!
The music that had lured the black viper was coming from there!
Looking at the person playing the zither, Ming Qi was startled. A dark cloud enveloped the rock, and from within it emerged a pair of slender, snow-white arms, twirling and strumming a suspended black guqin. Their jade-like fingers moved with the agility and grace of a butterfly, dazzling and breathtaking.
"This person's zither skills are probably far superior to mine!"
Ming Qi, himself a master of zither music, could tell at a glance that the mysterious figure hidden within the black cloud possessed unparalleled skill.
Suddenly, Ming Qi felt a chill run down his spine, as if struck by a thought. His subconscious told him that this mysterious figure playing the zither was extremely dangerous.
This wasn't any kind of perception; it was pure killer instinct!
In the wilderness, deep in the mountains, amidst the darkness of heaven and earth, a man playing the zither!
Ming Qi couldn't even remotely connect him with the goodness of the world.
The sound of this mysterious man's zither seemed to possess a special magical power. Beneath the massive rock, hundreds of black vipers swarmed in, as if paying homage to a king, filled with endless enthusiasm.
As the swarm of black vipers gathered below, the sound of the zither grew more intense, seemingly poised to reach its climax at any moment!
For the black vipers, this melody was a rare feast!
The desperate, frantic throng of vipers was a sure sign of this.
In just ten minutes, thousands of black-lined vipers gathered beneath the boulder. Among them were numerous peak-level third-tier vipers, poised to transform from black lines into golden lines and transform into innate demonic beasts, the Golden-Lined Vipers, at any moment!
Buzz!
The zither music seemed to reach its climax, a surging tremor rising. Ming Qi could clearly see the countless black-lined vipers surrounding the boulder raise their heads, trembling madly.
Pop~
With a clear sound, as if something had exploded, Ming Qi saw a viper among the swarm suddenly explode, its blood forming a spray of blood before converging into a single line and flying away.
Followed by this, countless sounds echoed one after another, and countless lines of blood instantly formed.
Looking again, those lines of blood were actually flying towards the mysterious figure on the boulder, merging into the floating black zither.
As the guqin absorbed the nourishment of blood and qi, it instantly glowed red, and a bloody aura rose from the surging blood.
The black-striped viper's body quickly exploded, and blood streams rose, finally converging in the air into a column as thick as a bucket, enveloping the entire guqin.
As Ming Qi watched in astonishment, he saw the black cloud suddenly lift slightly, showing signs of floating upward.
Ming Qi held his breath, while the dire wolf beside him, smelling the rich scent of blood in the air, stirred restlessly. If it weren't for Ming Qi's powerful suppression, it would have rushed forward without hesitation to devour the flesh and blood.
In a matter of moments, those thousands of black-striped vipers exploded, reduced to lifeless, mummified corpses!
Even though Ming Qi had experienced great things, he had never seen such a bizarre sight, and he was momentarily stunned.
At that moment, the rising black cloud suddenly shuddered, condensing into a strange flower before rapidly shrinking!
The black guqin rapidly absorbed the vast amount of blood energy, and the black cloud condensed, finally revealing the person hiding behind it!
However, when Ming Qi saw the person hiding behind the black cloud, his composure was gone. Even though he had seen countless such sights, he couldn't help but let out a soft cry!