Chapter 59: The Toad Spirit
Ten days later, within a forest, Xiao Nanfeng was facing off against a leopard spirit. The leopard spirit was on the larger side, about three meters tall, and was giving off bouts of silvery light. It leapt toward Xiao Nanfeng as quickly as the wind.
Xiao Nanfeng blocked the leopard's attacks with fists brimming with golden light, but the leopard had seen its fair share of life-and-death fights. It wouldn't give up so easily. After the initial attack, its tail whipped toward Xiao Nanfeng, sending him flying. Just as the leopard spirit was about to follow up on its successful attack, the Immortal Cicada thrust into its head, emerged from its back, and flew into Xiao Nanfeng's sleeve.
"An Immanence-realm leopard spirit should taste quite good, shouldn't it?" Xiao Nanfeng happily kept its carcass in his storage ring.
Just then, a buzzing could be heard from afar. Xiao Nanfeng blanched as he hurriedly found a hiding spot. A group of black mosquitoes were zipping through the air. All the spirits in their way quickly fled.
"These mosquito spirits again?" Xiao Nanfeng frowned.
Over the past ten days, he had been reading scriptures at night and scouting and hunting during the day. He would frequently encounter a group of mosquito spirits.
Although the mosquitoes were individually weak, when they banded together, their strength was incredible. Essentially all Immanence-realm spirits would perish to their combined assault, and even ordinary Ascension-realm spirits had to flee.
The mosquitoes largely remained by the river, which they considered their territory. Few would wander far from it, but the mosquito spirits in front of Xiao Nanfeng were clearly doing so. They were headed deep into the forest.
"Ah, an Immanence-realm deer spirit—no, that's a person!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes widened.
There was a figure dressed in green armor, dragging a tied-up deer spirit behind him as he ran. The deer spirit had been drenched in an unknown fluid that gave off an overwhelming fragrance, one that had lured the mosquito spirits all the way over.
The figure's armor was very special. It was embedded with runes that glowed in blue light from head to toe, shielding him completely. The mosquito spirits seemed unable to hurt the man inside the armor, and were only able to sting the deer spirit that he carried.
Very quickly, the deer spirit turned to nothing more than a skeleton.
Just as the mosquitoes were about to return to their territory over the river, far within the forest, another green-armored figure appeared, taking over the first man's duty. The figure fled into the distance with another scent-coated deer spirit in tow.
"Who are these people? Why are they deliberately luring the mosquito spirits over?" Xiao Nanfeng was very curious.
Despite the danger inherent to the mosquito spirits, Xiao Nanfeng was spurred onward by curiosity. He wanted to know just what was going on.
About two hours later, after three relayed deer spirits, he finally arrived at his destination, a huge pond with lotus flowers floating on it.
The pond was beautiful, a bastion of natural beauty. At its center was a lotus flower the size of a millstone, which radiated multicolored light. Even from afar, its fragrance calmed the heart and mind.
"A rainbow lotus? Even more precious than the golden sunfruit I found! Is that what these people are trying to get?" Xiao Nanfeng hid and observed from afar.
The final green-armored figure tossed the deer spirit into the center of the pond, landing not far from the rainbow lotus.
The mosquito spirits were all lured over in the form of a buzzing black cloud, but the moment they were about to feast on the deer spirit, a large mouth suddenly emerged from the pond and swallowed the deer spirit whole.
The mosquitoes buzzed in outrage, before they were suddenly lured over to the rainbow lotus by its appetizing scent.
Just then, a pile of meat appeared from underwater. It exploded with a bang, like a fisherman's net. It spread out wider and wider in the air, thirty meters wide. The mosquitoes stuck to the web, which then contracted and retreated underwater.
The group of mosquitoes in the air had all been cleared out.
"What sort of spirit lies below the surface of the pond? It can even counter these mosquitoes?!" Xiao Nanfeng was amazed.
As the water's surface parted, a toad spirit with bulbous, poisonous tumors on its back emerged from the surface of the pond. It was particularly large in size; just the exposed half of its body was already three meters tall.
The toad's eyes lit up as it saw the sky full of mosquitoes. This was a rare treat. It opened its mouth, its tongue transforming into a web once more. Another patch of the air was cleared of mosquitoes, all of which had been sucked into the toad's mouth.
Excited, the toad happily extended its tongue again.
The mosquitoes buzzed angrily. They were the rulers of this land; they were the ones who feasted on others! How dare this toad hunt them?!
A large number of mosquitoes flew toward the toad spirit and landed on its body. They stuck their probosces into its skin, injecting their unique poison into it—but to no avail. The toad itself was a creature of immense toxicity, and the mosquito poison did little to it.
In fact, it was even more excited when it saw a huge cloud of mosquitoes rushing over—it would be able to enjoy even more of the snacks it loved so much. It stuck out its tongue again and again, consuming the mosquitoes in bulk.
"This toad is the mosquitoes' natural nemesis! They're finally about to be brought down, ha!" Xiao Nanfeng watched on with excitement.
The mosquitoes, belatedly realizing that they could do little to the toad, attempted to flee back out of the lotus pond.
But how could the toad give up on such delicacies? Its mouth opened up as it emitted a terribly loud sound, like rumbling thunder.
The aural attack struck the mosquitoes directly. The fleeing mosquitoes suddenly flinched and began buzzing around drunkenly, as though they had lost their sense of direction.
"A spiritual attack...?" Xiao Nanfeng glanced at the toad in shock.
The attack hadn't struck Xiao Nanfeng, who was hidden quite some distance away. However, all the mosquitoes had been within range.
The toad's tongue snapped out once more, consuming the dazed mosquitoes. Just as the mosquitoes were about to awaken from the daze, the toad repeated the aural attack, then happily hopped around the pond eating them all.
Even so, it remained unsatisfied. It hopped out of the pond, toward the shore, and began consuming even the straggling mosquitoes.
The mosquitoes that had lorded over their domain were consumed almost entirely to the last. Xiao Nanfeng shuddered at the sight, growing increasingly wary of the toad.
"The toad spirit has left the lotus pond, and it's far weaker than before! Fire the spiritbane crossbows!" a voice shouted.
Instantly, ten large bolts, each glowing blue, shot out from the forest straight at the toad spirit.
The toad spirit glanced around warily, but it was too late. All ten bolts struck its body, sending a wave of energy around the point of impact. The toad's skin was too thick, and eight of the bolts exploded without penetrating its body. Two of the bolts, however, embedded themselves in the toad's stomach, causing copious amounts of blood to gush out.
The toad spirit roared in outrage, then extended its tongue at a green figure in the forest.
"Chop it off!" a voice ordered.
A huge blade struck the toad's tongue, causing the toad's attack to fail, but the tongue wasn't chopped off. Its superior elasticity caused it to rebound and snap back into the toad's mouth.
The toad cried out in pain. One of the poisonous tumors on its back shot out toxic poison straight at the figure that had attacked its tongue.
"Be careful, Sir! Its toxic poison can penetrate the qi of an Ascension-realm cultivator!" someone shouted from within the forest.
The man in green retreated quickly, but the poison still landed on his blade, which began to smoke as it corroded.
"Continue firing the spiritbane crossbows while I fight with it. We'll slay this toad today! And get someone to pluck the rainbow lotus!" the armored fighter shouted.
"Yessir!" a series of voices in the forest chorused.
The green-armored fighter's blade struck the toad once again. At the same time, the spiritbane crossbows hidden in the forest fired at the toad. Clouds of dust rose into the air.
"These are... natives of the hidden realm? And they speak the same language we do?" Xiao Nanfeng blinked in surprise.
Just then, another fighter in green rushed toward the pond, threw out a few planks of driftwood, and stepped over them as he ran toward the rainbow lotus at the center of the pond.
As he neared the lotus, the water in the vicinity began to ripple once more. A wet tongue emerged from the pond and struck the back of the man's head.
"Argh!" the person yelled.
The tongue curled around the man and was pulled into a gaping mouth in the water, before being swallowed whole.
"Sir, there's another toad spirit in the pond!" a voice shouted.
By the side of the rainbow lotus emerged a giant toad's head, almost double the size of the first one. The second toad roared in outrage, causing all those who were attempting to seize the rainbow lotus to back down in shock.
"A male toad and a female one? Two of them—damn it, our information was lacking!" the lead armored warrior shouted in anger.
"Sir, what do we do now?" a subordinate asked.
"We have to seize the rainbow lotus at any cost. We've been given martial orders that can't be disobeyed! Launch the flare. We need assistance from Lord Wei!" the leader replied.
"Yessir!"
A firework flare was sent into the air.
Xiao Nanfeng glanced at the flare, then decided to turn tail and run.
This group of cultivators was strong and organized. From the sounds of it, there would even be another group coming as support. If he were discovered, he wouldn't be able to escape then.
Xiao Nanfeng fled through the forest, but quick though he was, he couldn't avoid the watchful gazes of two hidden scouts.
"Who's that?"
"He's not one of us, is he?"
"Chase after him!"
Two figures followed after Xiao Nanfeng.
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