The old man didn't really listen to what he was saying. He rolled his eyes and said, "I think I saw such a person on the way here. Follow me and I will take you to find him."
Pei Jing smiled and said, "Okay."
The old man held the basket and walked slowly into the depths of the mountains. His walking posture was a little strange, with his legs spread wide and swaying left and right. However, what caught Pei Jing's attention was the basket that he had been protecting in his arms like a treasure.
The basket was covered with a layer of black cloth, and a little red seeped out of the edges, like blood.
As we walked deeper into the forest, the fog gradually became thicker, so thick that we couldn't see our hands in front of us.
Pei Jing pretended to be scared and said, "Why do I feel like this place is a little weird?"
The old man snorted and said, "What a weird thing! You youngsters are just timid. I walk around in this mountain every day and I haven't seen anything."
Pei Jing became interested: "What do you do in the mountains every day?"
The old man walking in front got stuck and stammered for a long time before answering, "Pick some fruits and Ganoderma lucidum to sell. Our village relies on this to make a living. Didn't you see it when you came here? It's at the entrance of the mountain range. It's called Mutou Village. Our ancestors have made a living by selling wood and herbs for generations, and we know this terrain like the back of our hands."
Pei Jing's vision was not obscured by the fog at all.
The deeper we went, the stranger the old man looked. His head gradually became flat, and the skin outside his clothes turned dark blue with a layer of mucus on it. He even had translucent webbed feet on his palms. He might have just transformed, and he was itching to show his true form as soon as he got home.
"Is that so?" Pei Jing asked the key point, "So the things in your basket are all Ganoderma lucidum that you want to sell?"
The Toad Spirit had returned to the depths of the mountains, feeling relaxed and happy. He said grimly, "Yes, it's really new."
Pei Jingxi said: "That's great. Our elders have assigned us the task of picking Ganoderma lucidum. I have been looking for a long time but can't find one. Can I buy one from you?"
The toad spirit was almost drooling, "Okay, come over here."
A foul odor filled the mist, and there was a faint sound of bubbles bursting. The road underfoot became muddy.
Pei Jing saw it clearly. The toad demon returned to its original form, a toad half a human's height covered with pustules.
With red eyes, she squatted in a swamp, waiting for him to pass by.
He took another step forward and came to the swamp. The swamp was filthy and black and red, with thick bubbles rolling and surging. There were piles of bones beside it, and it was unknown how many lives had died there.
The toad demon's eyes were right on Pei Jing's feet. As long as he took a step, he would be its meal.
The Toad Spirit urged, "Hurry up, are you going to buy it or not?"
Pei Jing chuckled: "Don't worry, I'm thinking about what to buy from you, come on."
The corners of the toad's mouth were almost raised to his ears, and his eyes were gleaming. He just watched this stupid monk step into the swamp with his black shoes -
Stepping into the swamp...
Then he walked over as if walking on flat ground.
Toad Spirit: “… ”
The sword flashed through the mist and swept across the haze. The young man in light brown robe was very graceful. He put the sword on its head and said with a smile: "I thought of it. Why not exchange your life for your Ganoderma lucidum."
The toad spirit was at least intelligent, so it reacted immediately and was so frightened that it wanted to dive into the swamp. However, Pei Jing stepped on its webbed feet.
"Don't run away. You invited me to your home as a guest. Shouldn't you bring me something to entertain me?"
The toad spirit was about to cry. Its huge body floated on a black leaf, and it put its claws together to imitate a human's praying posture, but it looked too eye-catching, and its expression was awkward and ugly. It cried and said, "God, please let me go. I am just a young toad that has just grown up. I used to eat wild animals that fell into the swamp. Today is the first time I want to eat humans. The things in this basket are not Ganoderma lucidum. If you want them, take them. Don't kill me. I am still young and I don't want to die."
Of course Pei Jing knew that it had never eaten anyone, otherwise he would have killed it at the first sight.
"It's not Ganoderma lucidum? What is it? Bring it to me."
The toad spirit felt aggrieved. It used its black webbed feet to grab the basket and handed it to Pei Jing.
Pei Jing retracted his sword and picked up the basket. There was a bulge faintly visible under the black cloth.
The moment he pulled the cloth off, his pupils opened instantly.
The extremely sharp cry of a baby suddenly rang in my ears, and the strong resentment and blood that seemed to be turning into substance hit my face. In the basket was a baby's head, blood red, with blurred facial features, but three layers of teeth were exposed outside the red flesh.
Pei Jing lowered his eyes: "What is this?"
The Toad Spirit almost died to prove his innocence: "This is really none of my business. I don't know when this thing appeared. Anyway, it popped out of the soil when it rained. I don't dare to go out and eat people. I can only pick them up to fill my stomach. I really don't know anything. I usually avoid people when I see them."
Speaking of this, I feel very aggrieved. The first time I had evil thoughts, I encountered the plague god, which caused psychological trauma. It is destined that it will never eat living people in its frog life.
Pei Jing covered the basket again and asked it, "Was it coming out of the soil?"
The Toad Spirit nodded: "Yes, yes. After the rain, if you walk around in the woods, you will run into one from time to time."
Pei Jing's smile faded a little. It seemed that he had underestimated the seriousness of the matter. There was a bloody light deep in the Yunlan Mountains, and there must be a big monster causing trouble.
Putting the basket into the mustard seeds, Pei Jing looked down at the Toad Spirit and said, "I'll spare your life, but you tell me who is deep in this mountain range."
The toad spirit had a bitter face and said, "God, how would I know who is in there? I didn't dare to go there before I became an adult, and I definitely won't go there after I become an adult and have spiritual intelligence."
Pei Jing actually believed it. The toad monster was so frightened when he saw him draw his sword that he dared not even fart. How could he be so brave
After warning the Toad Spirit, Pei Jing made full use of its resources and assigned it a task, allocating fifteen days' worth of Ganoderma lucidum to it.
The toad wanted to drown himself in the swamp.
Today should have been a good day with abundant fruits. It should have been carefree and happy. But it was ruined by its poor eyesight.
Pei Jing walked deeper into the city with a sword in hand. He was used to dealing with things on the spot, as delaying it might lead to a disaster.
The deeper he went, the more ghosts there were. All of them were trembling in the corners due to his pressure, and dared not approach. He had already reached the place with the most concentrated blood energy, but it was a flat land with a few bare trees, and there was nothing unusual.
"This monster also knows how to hide itself?"
Pei Jing walked around the open space several times but couldn't find anything unusual.
When everything was quiet, he suddenly heard a scream coming from not far away.
Following the sound, I saw a Yunxiao disciple wearing a weird yellow outfit, with a dark shadow chasing him from behind.
He was chased until his face turned pale, his mouth opened wide, his arms waved desperately, and he looked like he was about to die. The moment he saw Pei Jing, he screamed, "Ah, save me!"
Pei Jing sneered and shook his head: "As a disciple of Yunxiao, it's shameful to fall into such an embarrassing state."
Holding the sword, Pei Jing stepped forward as a senior brother, intending to save the young disciple.
But after seeing the true face of the black shadow, his smile froze on his face.
The little disciple cried, clung to his shoulder, and hid behind him: "Brother Zhang, fuck him! This bastard snake chased me halfway through the forest just to steal a Ganoderma lucidum. Doesn't it know that I have been afraid of snakes since I was a child?"
The one-meter-long python stood up and looked down with its turbid yellow pupils.
Pei Jing's scalp tingled, and he punched the young disciple with his backhand: "Fuck you!"
It would be better to kill him than to fight this disgusting thing head-on with his bare hands.
The tears in the corners of the little disciple's eyes hadn't dried yet, and Pei Jing dragged him forward. He came over anyway, his face even paler: "You are afraid of snakes too!"
Pei Jing really wanted to beat him up: "Just shut up!"
If he had not been afraid of exposing his cultivation level, he would have chopped the snake with one sword.
After circling around a few trees, Pei Jing simply dragged the young disciple and ran out of the mountains. The fog was very thick, but the snake's vision was not affected. It twisted its huge body and followed closely behind them.
After running for an unknown amount of time, the young disciple was out of breath and stopped, holding onto a tree. "No more, I won't run anymore. Let's fight it to the death."
Pei Jing stood aside and curled his lips: "Do you think you can beat it like this?"
Young disciple: "Don't we still have you? You said you can fight five alone!"
Pei Jing asked back: "Do you believe everything I say?"
When the young disciple said this, he suddenly remembered and looked around: "Aren't you in the same group with Chu Junyu? Where are the others?"
Pei Jing: "I don't know. I'm too strong. He's probably ashamed to be associated with me."
The young disciple laughed wildly and inhumanly: "Hahahahahahahaha, I know he despises you for being too weak—"
Pei Jing: “…”
The young disciple swallowed the rest of his saliva back into his throat and said enthusiastically, "Why don't you join us? Six people will do. We have a pretty good group of people."
Pei Jing: "Get rid of the snake behind you first."
The young disciple turned his head and said, "Ahhh!"
But his screaming soon stopped.
A blood-red sword light fell from the sky at the moment the python opened its mouth.
The snake's body was pierced and its head was cut off. The python's entire body twitched, hitting the trees nearby and shaking them, and finally fell to the ground unwillingly.
Pei Jing looked forward.
A young man in black walked out from the bloody rain, with blood dripping from his sword. It was unclear whether it was because the fog was too thick or the light was uneven, but his hair seemed to be white and his eyes were blood red.