"Did you get a clear look at any of them?"
Qiu Buping cautiously questioned the disciple who had come to report.
"According to our investigation, the cultivation levels of two of them were impossible to discern. There is an eighty to ninety percent chance they are experts from the Qingyun Sect. The rest are cultivators in the Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment Realms."
The disciple truthfully reported to Qiu Buping.
"Impossible to discern? Could they be those few from the Qingyun Sect whose cultivation has reached the Nascent Soul or Spirit Transformation Realm? I must report this to the sect master first."
Hearing this, Qiu Buping was secretly alarmed. He had not expected the Qingyun Sect to make such a grand move and send figures of this stature. Yet upon further thought, he became furious. "These righteous sects have gone too far! They killed our people, and now they dare come openly to cause us trouble. The sect master must stand up for us!"
Qiu Buping took out a talisman from his robes and wrote upon it through the air, recording everything that had happened. He then pinched it between his fingers, causing it to ignite and burn to ashes.
After quite some time, a voice sounded in Qiu Buping's mind. He closed his eyes to receive it, then opened them and took a step forward. "Come. Let us go meet them first!"
Su Changqing, who had already reached the swamp in the depths of Nine Yin Mountain, knew nothing of this. He knew even less that the two blunders he had caused had driven two factions into a fierce conflict at Nine Yin Mountain.
Miasma filled the swamp, and the land was barren. No light could be seen at all; one could only see three or four meters in every direction.
Su Changqing traveled through the swamp on his Flying Sword, using spiritual energy to form a barrier around himself. Only then was he able to avoid the effects of the miasma, while also greatly expanding his range of vision.
With this ability, Su Changqing examined his surroundings and searched for traces of the Desolate Orchid Water Lily according to the illustration described in the book.
"Where is it? Why can't I find any trace of it?"
Su Changqing searched in every direction, yet he did not even catch sight of the Desolate Orchid Water Lily's shadow.
Then he recalled the book's description: this was an exceedingly rare item, one that only those destined for it could encounter. Su Changqing did not lose heart, merely feeling that his luck was not good enough today.
If he could not find it today, then he would keep looking tomorrow. Surely he could find one within three days, right?
Boom!
Su Changqing, who had been searching intently, was sent flying by a tremendous force the very next second. Fortunately, he had remained cautious the entire time, so he did not fall into the swamp. He flipped through the air three or four times before finally stabilizing himself.
Even so, the sudden violent impact left him somewhat dazed.
"What the hell!"
Su Changqing stared blankly at where he had been standing moments ago. He vaguely saw a long figure burrow back into the swamp and vanish.
"You hit someone and still want to run?"
Su Changqing's anger immediately flared. That unseen thing had struck him and was trying to dive into the water again. It was definitely waiting for a chance to ambush him. He could not let it have its way.
However, Su Changqing did not rashly pursue it. Instead, he rode his Flying Sword into the air to widen the distance, then slashed toward where it had disappeared with the Gale Sword Technique.
Violent sword qi erupted, sweeping away all the surrounding miasma as it rushed forward to strike.
Yet when the gale sword qi landed in the water, it merely blasted swamp water several meters into the air. There was no sign of anything else.
Su Changqing clenched his fists. He had still been a step too slow. That damned thing had evaded him first, and now it would be even harder to locate it in this swamp.
Just as Su Changqing was fuming, another disturbance came from below him.
"Trying again?"
Su Changqing thought to himself.
But this time, Su Changqing was prepared and did not let it have its way. He swiftly activated his movement technique, leaping away to evade the attack before slashing back with his sword.
"Hiss!"
With a hiss, the enormous elongated figure was struck by the gale sword qi. It writhed frantically before falling from the air into the swamp water and concealing itself once more.
In those two or three seconds, Su Changqing had already seen its appearance clearly.
It was a massive serpent around eight or nine meters long. Its head was enormous, and its body was covered in dark scales that reflected five colors. A horn grew from its forehead, while an even stranger feature was the pair of pitch-black wings on its back.
A flood serpent?
And a flood serpent with both a horn and feathers?
Su Changqing had no idea what kind of creature it was. There seemed to be no record of such a creature even within the Qingyun Sect, and it had not been mentioned in the story either.
"Whatever you are, daring to hinder my search for the Desolate Orchid Water Lily is an unforgivable offense!"
At that moment, Su Changqing had no time to investigate what kind of demonic beast this was. He only wanted to resolve it as quickly as possible, lest it continue to interfere with his search for the Desolate Orchid Water Lily.
It was clear that once this demonic beast slipped into the water, it vanished without a trace. It likely had lived here all along and was extremely familiar with this swamp.
Su Changqing took out formation flags from his robes and set them down at four points around the swamp. He unleashed the Four Directions Earth Trapping Array once more, and a spiritual energy barrier immediately spread out. Once it was trapped within the formation, where could it possibly run?
Sure enough, just after the Four Directions Earth Trapping Array was set up, a heavy muffled crash came from the north. Water splashed wildly from the swamp, clearly caused by the flood serpent striking the barrier.
"Found you!"
Su Changqing immediately slashed his sword toward the source of the sound.
The long serpent surfaced again. Its enormous eyes glared furiously at Su Changqing as it abruptly spat a massive ball of spiritual energy from its jaws, colliding fiercely with the gale sword qi.
Boom!
The two attacks collided and exploded in midair, destroying each other at once. The tremendous shockwave sent ripples surging across the entire swamp. Su Changqing's eyes narrowed as he immediately steadied himself, but he was still forced two steps back by the powerful shockwave.
"This demonic beast is not like that Black Tiger Beast. I cannot underestimate it!"
Feeling the threat emanating from the flood serpent, Su Changqing decided to devote his full attention and deal with it with all his strength.
"Ten Thousand Heavenly Thunder Array!"
"Gale Swordplay!"
"Desolate Falling Violent Body Fist!"
Just as he had when dealing with the Black Tiger Beast, Su Changqing went all out and unleashed every one of his Divine Abilities, raining them down upon the flood serpent as though scattering water.
In an instant, heavenly thunder roared, sword qi surged, and fist shadows burst forth. All kinds of wondrous techniques appeared again, shaking the spiritual energy throughout this swamp into violent turmoil. The miasma was instantly blasted away, while countless lights and shadows scattered in every direction.
If the Black Tiger Beast, long since dead, had been here, it would surely have been terrified out of its wits and cried in despair, "You again?!"
Yet even after unleashing all these Divine Abilities, Su Changqing's gaze only grew more solemn.
Although the encounter resembled his battle with the Black Tiger Beast, the outcome for this flood serpent demonic beast was completely different. The flood serpent either spat spiritual energy blasts to disperse the sword qi, flapped its wings to evade the fist shadows, or even seemed to guide the rumbling heavenly thunder onto the horn on its forehead.
It had actually neutralized every single attack!
Before you continue