After running for more than ten minutes, Zhang Rongfang suddenly slowed down and used the momentum to land on a tree branch in mid-air.
There was a large patch of gray-white spider web among the tree branches, swaying slightly in the wind.
In the very center of the web, a fist-sized, yellowish-brown spotted spider was fast asleep.
The spider was about to get excited when it sensed a living creature approaching.
Suddenly, a large hand descended from the sky and precisely grabbed its waist.
Then, with a pull and a flick, the strange vibration caused the spider to break free from the web and be thrown far away, flying to an open space dozens of meters away.
Zhang Rongfang used the gray and white spider web to cover his face and looked into the distant forest through the gaps in the web.
Most of his body was hidden by the bushes, and only his eyes could see through the spider webs.
In the distance, in the Woodland, large swathes of carpet-like vegetation have been trampled and look messy.
Some aerial roots, similar to those of banyan trees, hang down, forming curtain-like obstructions. Some of these obstruct the view.
The protruding tree roots were broken, and the vines and flowers that grew on the trunk were scattered in all directions. The crawling insects and small animals dared not move.
A dozen or so trees that weren't too thick were snapped in half, clearing out what appeared to be a flat and spacious open space.
At this moment, more than ten figures, each clad in brown leather armor, were rapidly moving and launching a combined attack around a strong, two-meter-tall figure.
The figures were all armed, including knives, swords, forks, hammers, iron mortars, and others holding fishing nets made of thick ropes.
Suddenly, Zhang Rongfang's pupils contracted. He also saw a man holding a long-handled musket, ready to aim at any moment.
These people are all different in size and height, and include both men and women.
But they all have one thing in common.
That is hatred.
When they looked at the person in the center, they all harbored a deep, indescribable hatred.
Zhang Rongfang's gaze returned to the person in the center.
That's a Spirit Vein.
He could tell at a glance, not because he was particularly skilled or had amazing eyesight, but because the man's body was covered in cuts and wounds.
Silvery threads flowed rapidly through the wound, healing it.
The man was shirtless, and it was clear that he had originally been wearing a suit of iron armor, but now only a few pieces of iron remained hanging from his waist.
Clang! Suddenly, the man was caught off guard and made a mistake, and was slashed hard on the back of the head by a knife from behind.
Amidst the clanging of metal, the Spirit Vein staggered violently, finally losing its balance and falling forward.
Immediately, fishing nets were cast out from the surrounding area to cover it.
The man wielding the hammer lunged forward and brought it down with all his might.
Its two hammers fell like raindrops.
Judging from the weight of the hammer, the person who can strike it at such a speed is clearly no ordinary expert.
Zhang Rongfang watched as the Spirit Vein was smashed to the point of near death, and then died on the spot.
But the group showed no sign of relaxing; instead, they scattered, seemingly waiting for the corpse to revive.
Sure enough, not long after, Spirit Vein slowly got up from the ground.
The second round will begin.
More than ten people repeated the attack they had just launched.
This time, Spirit Vein seemed to have learned its lesson. Despite being seriously injured and on the verge of death, it still managed to hit two of them hard.
One of the two was struck on the head, bleeding from all seven orifices, and died instantly.
Another man was struck in the chest, the sound of bones breaking echoed, and he knelt on the ground, unable to continue fighting.
The others took the two away.
The remaining attackers continued to surround and kill Spirit Vein. They quickly killed him once more.
Zhang Rongfang frowned as he watched from the tree branch.
When he killed the Iron Taoist before, he didn't wait for them to fully recover before killing them.
These people, who were clearly filled with grief and anger towards the person who was beaten to death, why did they have to do this? He couldn't understand it.
Time passed little by little.
Soon, the Spirit Vein died and came back to life repeatedly, reviving more than twenty times in just over an hour.
Each time, it was only after it had fully recovered that it was killed again.
Each resuscitation session is approximately five minutes apart.
Meanwhile, the attackers were killed by Spirit Vein using a suicidal fighting style, resulting in the deaths of five of them.
Finally.
The woods gradually darkened, and people around lit torches.
In the firelight, the protracted battle in the forest finally took a turn.
"Ding Hong! This is the last time!" shouted the skilled fisherman on the perimeter holding the fishing net.
During the siege, the strongest middle-aged man nodded vigorously.
"Watch out, everyone! This is the last time!"
Not long after.
Bang!
Spirit Vein was struck hard in the back by a heavy blade and collapsed to the ground.
Then another person swung an iron paddle down, hitting him on the neck.
With a snap, Spirit Vein died on the spot.
"Retreat!!!"
Ding Hong shouted loudly.
Everyone retreated in unison, running wildly into the distance without looking back.
Boom!!
In an instant, Spirit Vein, from head to toe, exploded like a balloon.
Countless silver threads surged out of his body and shot out in all directions.
Two people were unable to dodge in time and were pierced in the arm by the Silver Thread. Their arm muscles twitched and twisted on the spot.
The two let out a bloodcurdling scream, their bodies collapsing to the ground with a thud. They were lifeless.
Numerous silver threads pierced the ground and flew into the air.
Zhang Rongfang was horrified. He stared intently at the Silver Thread, watching them shoot more than twenty meters away, scattering like fireworks.
After the Silver Thread exploded, a person in the distance drew a bow and shot an arrow. With a whoosh, the arrow struck the mangled corpse of Spirit Vein.
Zhang Rongfang noticed that there seemed to be something special embedded in the arrow shaft.
After the corpse was hit by an arrow, Silver Thread went even more berserk.
But soon, after a dozen or so breaths, all the Silver Thread slowly scattered, turned black, and then turned into black ash, which was blown away by the wind.
Zhang Rongfang was dumbfounded.
He never imagined that such a terrifying and dangerous thing was hidden inside Spirit Vein's body.
At this moment, everything has settled down.
Those who had surrounded and killed Spirit Vein finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
Even Ding Hong, who was the fastest, strongest, most skilled, and most powerful, was now pale and exhausted.
But he still forced himself to direct the others to clean up the mess and retreat quickly.
Looking from afar, Zhang Rongfang saw rows of attributes displayed above Ding Hong's head.
' Ding Hong - Life 18-21. Martial Arts: Unknown Technique - Super Grade External Medicine, Number of Uses Unknown.'
Civilian Skill: Unknown technique.
Zhang Rongfang did not intend to appear directly to communicate.
He had come quietly to search for treasure, the fewer people who knew, the better. But the sight of this group surrounding and killing Spirit Vein had caught his attention.
He never imagined that Spirit Vein could be surrounded and killed by ordinary people like this.
Although it seemed extremely difficult, they actually succeeded.
Zhang Rongfang kept the man Ding Hong firmly in his mind.
Judging from their teamwork, their attire, and their proficiency in surrounding and killing the Spirit Vein.
These people were treating Spirit Vein like a monster and attacking it. Only after the group had completely left Zhang Rongfang slowly pick up the spotted spider that had just crawled back and throw it far away again.
Marking the location on a tree branch, Zhang Rongfang landed and continued exploring the rest of the area.
The next few days.
He kept exploring the forest, searching for the locations marked on the map.
However, once inside the Woodland, the map's details became extremely crude, making it nearly impossible to identify the specific routes.
As a result, Zhang Rongfang had no harvest for several days in a row.
On the contrary, he encountered the group that besieged and killed Spirit Vein several more times.
After reaching perfection in the Hidden Moon Second Layer Technique of the Golden Toad Skill, Zhang Rongfang clearly felt that his appetite had increased significantly.
Furthermore, I was able to easily eat and digest some very hard and dry foods in the past.
Late January.
Four Seas Restaurant, outside the outer ring road of Citong.
Two burly men with buzz cuts sat facing each other at a table, eating the dishes while glancing occasionally at another food stall across the street.
"Ping Yuan, you say this guy wanders around all day and I haven't seen him practice his skills, but how come I feel like his strength is still increasing?" someone shook their head and sighed.
"Otherwise, how could he be called a genius? The Daoist Daozi of the Great Dao Sect is one of the tens of thousands of people in the country. Old Man Yue had already said that he was his Final Disciple, but now, because of him, an exception has been made and another broken-door disciple has been accepted."
The man named Ping Yuan smiled.
"If everything goes smoothly, in twenty years, I'm afraid there will only be one person in my Snow Rainbow Pavilion who can compare to this guy," the man sighed.
"Alright, enough talk. Keep a close eye on him. This guy might have a secret. Whether it's the Eastern Sect's Secret Cache or not, we'll have to keep an eye on him for a while," Ping Yuan reminded him.
"Yeah, don't worry. We'll definitely be nothing in his eyes in the future. But for now... hehe. Killing him is like killing a chicken!"
The two stopped talking.
The task assigned from above is to investigate whether Zhang Ying is involved in the Heavenly Maiden Secret Treasure.
If it involves anything, you must obtain the Secret Cache and deal with Zhang Ying.
If you are not involved, everything will continue as usual; you only need to report information periodically on a regular basis.
At this moment, on the small pond.
While eating spicy tofu, Zhang Rongfang looked at the extra attribute points on his Attribute Panel with satisfaction.
Five days.
This upgrade shortened his time by a full two days. By the fifth day, he had generated new Free Attribute Points.
Ever since he witnessed Spirit Vein being surrounded and killed in the forest, he had been constantly simulating what it would be like if he stepped forward and intercepted Spirit Vein.
Can we withstand that final explosion of Silver Thread? The speed of that explosion is comparable to that of a bullet; without prior warning, no one can avoid it.
These past two days, he's been thinking about how to deal with this situation.
Meanwhile, preparations for the third layer of medicinal herbs for the Golden Toad Skill were also underway.
Having just obtained the true secret manual, regardless of the Sensing Gate's true intentions, we should quickly upgrade it to the point where we can't upgrade it any further.
The Golden Toad Skill, which is an acceleration technique, should be maxed out as much as possible first, no matter what.
"Greetings, sir."
Suddenly a figure walked up to him, clasped his hands in a fist and smiled, and bowed.
The man wore a wide-brimmed black leather hat, had a mustache, a square face, and gentle eyes. His legs were short but extremely thick. He wore a simple cloth outfit similar to that of a farm laborer.
It looks unremarkable.
"Sir, is there something you need?" Zhang Rongfang stood up with a puzzled look and returned the greeting with a cupped hand.
"Brother, you should have seen my good-for-nothing son in the forest a couple of days ago. Nineteen of them surrounded and killed an Exotic Beast, but in the end, several of them died or were injured. I hope you will forgive them."
The man sighed, and what he said shocked Zhang Rongfang.