Proud Senior Brother Fang

"Sigh."

Chu Liang let out a soft sigh, sheathing his sword and standing still.

The latter half of the journey had been uneventful, encountering only two flower demons. While a smooth journey was naturally a good thing in the eyes of others, for someone aiming to grind monsters, it was inevitably a bit disappointing.

However, this slight disappointment was quickly washed away by the scene before them.

As everyone stepped out of the narrow, cramped forest path one by one, the first feeling they had was one of shock.

This place was still within the dense forest, but the towering tree canopies were dozens of feet high, like the extremely high dome of a palace, looming overhead, instantly dispelling the feeling of oppression. Ahead was the entrance to a valley, with rugged, inverted rock cliffs and tangled vines and vegetation clinging to the black stones, and strange, enchanting flowers blooming everywhere. Faint, flickering phosphorescence danced up and down, casting light that was sometimes bright, sometimes dim.

It was a completely primitive and deep otherworldly demon realm.

"This..." Lin Bei opened his mouth, making a few sputtering sounds, as if he wanted to say something, but his voice echoed in the vast valley as soon as it came out, making him involuntarily hold back again.

It had a bit of the feeling of 'not daring to speak loudly, lest I startle the heavenly beings'.

Fang Ting said in a deep voice, "According to the guide, the Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower is in the valley not far ahead. Although there are no more flower demons here, the danger level is even higher... You must be careful."

"Okay!" Everyone nodded in agreement.

The logic was simple: in a place full of demons, if a patch of pure land suddenly appeared, it could only mean that this was the territory of an even greater demon.

Human bodies walking in this wild and vast land inevitably felt small. Everyone walked into the black valley with its protruding rocks, and not far away, at the edge of the valley, they indeed found a cluster of large flower branches growing in an open space.

One branch with two flowers, each bud as large as a human head, the petals tightly covering the center of the flower, pure white in color, with long, straight leaves around them, appearing pure and out of place in this valley.

"So this is the Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower... It's exactly like the one in the illustration," Lin Bei said.

Fang Ting looked up at the sliver of the valley wall obscured by the rocks above his head and said, "At this hour, it should be just getting dark outside. When a sliver of moonlight falls on this flower at night, that's when it will bloom. Absolutely do not touch it before then."

Chu Liang had already learned about the process of picking the Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower on the way here.

This item was quite miraculous; picking it at any other time would cause it to lose its spiritual energy. It had to be picked at the moment it was sufficiently mature and absorbed the moonlight to bloom in order to retain its spiritual energy.

But at that moment, everyone who looked at it would fall into an illusion, perhaps the purpose of which was to protect itself.

At this time, one person had to block it with a bronze mirror the moment the Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower bloomed, so that the Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower's illusion would instead dizzy itself. At this point, another person could pick it from behind, and only then could the flower be successfully picked.

This way, only two people were needed, and the reason this task required five people was because the other three people had to form the Three Talents Sword Formation on the periphery while the flower was being picked, to guard against the treasure-guarding demon beasts near the Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower.

"Junior Sister Ziqing takes the 'Ren' position, Junior Brother Chu takes the 'Di' position, and I'll take the 'Tian' position. Lu Ren holds the mirror, and Lin Bei picks the flower," Fang Ting gave the orders decisively.

The Three Talents Sword Formation was not simply one person guarding one side. Instead, the 'Ren' position only guarded one direction, the 'Di' position guarded two directions, and the 'Tian' position guarded one direction while also being responsible for covering other directions and providing support at any time.

This placed the greatest responsibility on the strongest point, which could compensate for the disparity in the strength of the formation members.

Naturally, everyone had no objections and took their positions around the flower branches.

The waiting time was not long. Soon, a sliver of moonlight penetrated through the layers of obstacles and fell onto this open space. In this absolute valley where it was difficult to see the sky year-round, this sliver of moonlight was incredibly precious.

The line of moonlight gradually shifted, bit by bit, slowly coming to rest above the Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower.

"Focus!" Fang Ting suddenly shouted.

Chu Liang, Xu Ziqing, and Fang Ting, the three people forming the formation, immediately stood with their swords drawn, their backs to the flower branches, no longer looking in that direction.

Because...

As the Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower matured, rustling sounds also emerged from the valley. Some demonic creatures that had long coveted this flower branch could no longer hold back.

"Roar—" The first to leap out of the bushes was a black-spotted fierce tiger, its roar shaking the mountain forest! Its body was covered in ferocious patterns, and it even had a pair of fleshy wings under its ribs! It was clearly a creature that had cultivated for many years.

These mountain forest demons were the most cunning, and naturally, as soon as it appeared, it broke through towards Xu Ziqing.

The young girl bit her silver teeth tightly, clearly terrified in her heart, but she did not retreat. Instead, she took a step forward, preparing to draw her sword and face the enemy.

Just at this moment, a thunderous sword energy, like a golden dragon swimming diagonally, whistled past!

Boom—

After the surging sword energy passed, the tiger demon's figure disappeared, leaving only wisps of residual ash floating in place.

Naturally, it was Fang Ting who made the move.

Chu Liang caught a glimpse of this scene and, while lamenting the formidable strength of the Golden Core Realm, couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

What a waste.

If only he could have gotten the finishing blow.

Fang Ting, with his keen senses, also saw Chu Liang's sighing expression and said, "Junior Brother Chu, there's no need to sigh. As long as you cultivate diligently, you can achieve my level of cultivation in time."

Hmm... he thought he was feeling inferior after seeing his cultivation?

Chu Liang was stunned for a moment, then nodded towards Fang Ting.

Ah, yes, yes, yes.

There was no time for further small talk. The appearance of the tiger demon seemed to be a signal, followed by giant pythons as thick as water buckets, golden eagles glowing all over, jackals with three eyes on their heads...

Demonic beasts were leaping out from all directions!

Chu Liang's eyes immediately lit up.

But immediately, he heard Fang Ting shout again, "Wind Thunder Sword Art! Swift!"

He formed a hand seal with his left hand and held the Thunderclap Sword in his right, shouting out. Thunder light surged, and the sword's edge was vast, drawing a circle. In an instant, sand and stones flew, and thunderclouds rolled around him, sweeping out in a flash.

Rumble rumble rumble—

With just one sword strike, the several demonic beasts that had pounced were all enveloped by wind and thunder, instantly turning into dust!

Annihilated.

"Hmph!" Fang Ting sheathed his sword and let out a cold snort, scanning the surroundings with a disdainful gaze, looking majestic. He then glanced at Xu Ziqing and Chu Liang beside him, puffing out his chest. Although his face was expressionless, his eyes seemed to flicker with some kind of expectation.

He looked exactly like a golden retriever that had caught a mouse and was waiting for praise but still trying to act cool.

In stark contrast, the bright glint that had just appeared in Chu Liang's eyes extinguished in an instant.

There was no light in his eyes anymore...

The more fiercely Fang Ting killed, the more his heart ached...

Xu Ziqing didn't know if she was used to her senior brother's cultivation and therefore didn't find it impressive... or if she was simply too nervous and couldn't pay attention to anything else. She didn't offer any praise for Fang Ting's heroic performance.

The result was that Fang Ting held his pose for a long time but didn't get what he wanted. In the end, he could only blink and say to himself, "Junior Sister Ziqing, Junior Brother Chu, as long as you two cultivate diligently, you might also be able to unleash such a sword strike one day."

"Heh heh." Chu Liang smiled.

While the battle on the periphery went smoothly, the two responsible for harvesting inside finally saw the moonlight fall directly onto the heart of the first flower.

"It's about to bloom!" Lin Bei immediately shouted.

Lu Ren quickly raised a large bronze mirror in his hand.

As the moonlight scattered, the enormous Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower slowly unfurled its petals like a beauty waking from sleep... revealing a face as white as jade.

That's right, when the bud of the Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower opened, the part below truly resembled a human face! And it was the face of a beautiful person with skin as white as jade, whose gender was indistinguishable.

When this human face first appeared, its eyes held a hint of bewitchment and wariness. But immediately after, it saw the large bronze mirror directly in front of it. And, its own face in the bronze mirror.

A look of intoxication quickly appeared in those eyes