Chapter 233: Hunchback Dryads

Chapter 231

Besides Chen Jingzhai, his companions had also reaped a lot of benefits.

Although they did not dare to go on the cliffs to harvest the resources, they still gained many good things above Fascination’s End.

Spirit woods, spirit ores and spirit plants were all rare and extremely precious.

Chen Jingzhai asked the Dark-face Humanoid Puppet to harvest a lot of them.

The Dark-face Humanoid Puppet’s soul was created from soul remnants of demonic beasts. He possessed complete memory and consciousness from before. After Chen Jingzhai passed him relevant knowledge, he became a fitting harvester.

Even Celestial Maiden Han and other Golden Core Sages were not as efficient harvesters as the Dark-face Humanoid Puppet.

None of the good resources could escape from being discovered and harvested by the Dark-face Humanoid Puppet.

Everyone moved forward as they harvested. After a while, everyone met up again in the forest.

“The essence power here is very rich. No wonder there are so many good things!” said Lu Tao.

“Once we passed Fascination’s End, it will almost be the same as being within the bounds of Pulao Territory,” commented Tu Ruoyan.

The closer they were to Pulao Territory, the stronger the essence power was.

The trees, flowers and other plants in the forest were obviously much lusher and livelier.

“Little Master-Uncle, are those people really okay?” asked Celestial Maiden Han.

“Are you worried about their safety, or are you worried that they will catch up to us?” asked Chen Jingzhai.

“They are fellow cultivators from the same place after all,” replied Celestial Maiden Han.

“Don’t worry!” Chen Jingzhai smiled. “I did not tell the red-eyed ravens to kill them. As long as they don’t kill any red-eyed ravens, they won’t suffer anything fatal. As for the rest, I cannot make any promises.”

“That’s good enough,” Ji Shuanghua chimed in, “They have many Golden Core Sages with them. There’s no need to worry about them. On the other hand, we should take advantage of the situation and be further ahead.”

“Exactly.” Celestial Maiden Miao Yun nodded.

In the beginning, everyone was keeping the spirit of the competition. However, due to the constant fighting in the ancient path, all everyone could think of was how to quickly get through the dangerous tribes of demonic beasts.

Unexpectedly, the party discovered that they were not that slow. They were pretty pleased with that.

The pressure they felt dissipated. Instead, they were happy to be ahead of the others.

“My advice is still the same for what’s next.” Chen Jingzhai smiled. “Fight and retreat, and maintain the formation. We should pay attention to every detail. We are not far from the final destination.”

Smiles appeared on everyone’s faces. After a short rest, they immediately resumed their journey.

In the meantime, on the other side of Fascination’s End’s canyon, the battle continued below the clouds and mist. Foundation Plane Cultivators had been taken in by Golden Core Sages into the space of magic treasure.

While moving in the air, they were constantly attacked by a large group of red-eyed ravens.

The backlash of the illusion techniques used by the red-eyed ravens posed a huge problem to them.

Even Golden Core Sages found it difficult to resolve the situation without using magic items.

Other than the Grade 2 red-eyed ravens, the Grade 3 red-eyed ravens were very difficult to deal with.

In addition to the illusion techniques, their magnetic power was also quite terrible.

Some spells that were unleashed could not break through the magnetic power surrounding the red-eyed ravens.

Boom!

The Golden Core Sages continued to move forward when a flame spear blasted again.

Despite that, more red-eyed ravens soon rushed toward them and unleashed another round of attacks.

“These damn difficult beasts!” a Golden Core Sage cursed out of pure frustration.

“Control yourselves. We must not kill any of them. Otherwise, we will be in more trouble,” the Golden Core Sage from Serenity Hollow Clan said very calmly, “Don’t be distracted by them. We will rush forward in small bursts, one at a time.”

“It’s easy for you to say. We are already behind!” said a cultivator from Mystic Evil Clan angrily.

The rest of them did not say anything. Nevertheless, they were clearly displeased.

They could not see what was exactly happening. They thought the appearance of the raven king was enough to destroy the other team of cultivators. However, they did not expect it to end so anticlimactically.

If possible, they wanted to find out whether the other party had finished off the raven king. Some of the cultivators from Mystic Evil Clan were already starting to regret their decision.

If they had not separated from them, they would have already made it past Fascination’s End with the other team’s expertise. They would also not be wasting so much time there and could even use Fascination’s End for cultivation.

Now, there was nothing left. Aside from the opportunity to cultivate, their chances of surviving Fascination’s End were slim. How could they not feel terrible and aggravated? How could they not regret their own decision?

It was clearly a good opportunity, yet they did not seize it. How could they not be mad at themselves?

They stopped talking and focused on dealing with the Grade 3 red-eyed ravens. Soon, they discovered that the magnetic power of Fascination’s End had somewhat weakened. After consulting with one another, they realized it was not just a hallucination.

That was because Chen JIngzhai had taken away the geomagnetic bead.

Once the geomagnetic bead was far from Fascination’s End, the magnetic power of Fascination’s End would naturally weaken.

After all, it was an extremely powerful Grade 5 treasure.

The absorption of Chen Jingzhai’s Great Heaven Mirror and innate money tree were definitely the cause for that to happen.

In the end, the red-eyed ravens of Fascination’s End had lost their raven king. Nonetheless, there were still a large number of Grade 3 red-eyed ravens left. Although their strength had been weakened, they would still be fine as long as they remain close to Fascination’s End.

“Formation!” commanded the Golden Core Sage from Serenity Hollow Clan via voice transmission.

The rest of the Golden Core Sages spruced themselves and made a formation around the Golden Core Cultivator from Serenity Hollow Clan.

With the power of the formation, the group of Golden Core Sages finally made it to Fascination’s End.

However, they did not look happy at all as more red-eyed ravens had caught up to them.

They would not let go of the group of cultivators that easily. They chased after them with renewed zeal and attacked them in a frenzy.

Although he was quite upset, the Golden Core Cultivator from Mystic Evil Clan did not stop fleeing with the rest of his groupmates.

Even though cultivating secret techniques was important to them, nothing was more important than getting out of the ancient path and saving themselves at that moment!

What was more depressing was that the sky had completely darkened when they left Fascination’s End.

They were exactly half a day behind Chen Jingzhai and his party.

Plus, it was more dangerous to travel inside the forest at night than during the day.

Meanwhile, Chen Jingzhai and his party were on their way through the forest, clad in black-green robes.

“Are we really going to continue traveling while it’s dark?” asked Celestial Maiden Han.

“If we want to be really ahead of them, we should keep our advantage. Since all of them are Golden Core Sages, their speed will be much faster than ours,” Chen Jingzhai continued, “We cannot afford to miss any opportunities from being ahead.”

“But still, it’s too dangerous to travel at night!” said Sage Xu.

“It’s fine,” Chen Jingzhai said with a smile, “When are we not in danger? This time…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a spray of long thorns suddenly shot from the forest in front of them. Each one of the thorns was dark, dotted with little green spots. They were rushing at them like arrows.

With a swoosh, the entire team spread out in an instant.

Celestial Maiden Miao Fa, Ji Shuanghua and the others landed on the tree branches. They immediately sensed that something was not right.

“Be careful. It’s dryads!” Chen Jingzhai shouted.

“It’s the Hunchback Dryads. Don’t get too close to the trees. Use fire spells,” warned Tu Ruoyan via voice transmission.

Celestial Maiden Miao Fa acted decisively. As soon as a small flame fell under her feet, it instantly ignited the branches and lit them on fire. The vines that were attached to the branches loosened after being burned by the flames.

As soon as Miao Fa landed, Ji Shuanghua, who was on the other side, took a step forward. An extraordinary cold vapor instantly covered the entire tree and the long needles that popped up from the branches, freezing them with ice.

Boom!

A giant fireball flew out from Celestial Maiden Han’s hand, blasting in all directions and igniting all the trees in front of them. It did not take long before the small forest burst into flames.

The fire was ablaze as heat waves rolled in.

A few minutes later, a scream was heard coming from the forest.

Then, a golden yellow dryad, resembling a small bucket, appeared from the forest that was on fire. It screamed frantically at Chen Jingzhai and the others before blowing toward them.

In an instant, a gust blew through the forest. The flames reversed their course and leapt at Chen Jingzhai and the others.

Ji Shuanghua waved her hand. A water curtain appeared in front of everyone, blocking the flames, smoke and the long needles that shot out in the dark.

“That is the Hunchback Dryads tribe. They are actually not located here, but Grade 3 Hunchback Dryads can move freely within a range of five to fifty kilometers,” Tu Ruoyan said, “They have control over powers of earth, wood, wind and poison. Their means are considerable, but they are prone to anger and often stingy.”

“What about their weaknesses?” asked Chen Jingzhai.

“Harming trees and providing some offerings like fruits, flowers, plants or something that are not available in this forest,” Tu Ruoyan continued, “They are very sensitive and can communicate wherever there are trees.”