Flame Mouse

Several medicinal fungi resembling lingzhi grew tenaciously in a crack in the stone at the corner. The largest was half brown and half as clear and translucent as white jade, with faint, blood-thread-like veins visible within.

"Jade marrow fungus!" Xiao Yu was certain these fungi were jade marrow fungus. He had already studied the relevant medicinal herbs in detail, and once fully mature, jade marrow fungus would become translucent as white jade throughout.

Guiding his flying sword down onto the platform, Xiao Yu surveyed his surroundings. The entire platform lay in plain sight. Apart from the jade marrow fungus in the corner and a few small trees, there was nothing else.

He cautiously stepped forward, preparing to dig up all the medicinal herbs.

When he was less than a foot from the jade marrow fungus, a sudden sense of danger stirred in Xiao Yu's heart. He leaped aside, and a flaming arrow shot through the spot where he had stood with a whoosh.

Xiao Yu turned toward the center of the platform. A giant mouse two feet long, fiery red all over, stood there baring its teeth at him, as though protesting his unwelcome intrusion.

"A Flame Mouse! First tier, high rank!" Xiao Yu instantly recognized the giant mouse before him.

Weren't Flame Mice supposed to be low-rank first-tier Demon Beasts? Why did this one have high-rank cultivation? Xiao Yu was baffled.

Who cares? Maybe it mutated. So what if it's high rank? I'll kill it today! Just as Xiao Yu prepared to strike, the Flame Mouse made the first move.

Seeing that Xiao Yu had dodged its earlier attack, the giant mouse let out a series of squeaks at him. Then it spat another wave of flaming arrows from its mouth. Dozens of densely packed arrows swarmed toward Xiao Yu.

Alarmed, Xiao Yu hurriedly deployed the Spirit Turtle Shield to cover his vital areas. At the same time, he took out a Spirit Talisman gleaming with golden light and slapped it onto himself. A pale golden barrier of spiritual power flashed into existence, enclosing him.

He also tried to dart aside, but the platform was too narrow. Before he could dodge, the flaming arrows were already upon him.

Bang, bang, bang... The flaming arrows struck the shield, exploding in a succession of fiery bursts. Their tremendous force drove Xiao Yu back several steps against his will, nearly sending him tumbling off the platform.

Glancing at the shield's surface and seeing no obvious damage, Xiao Yu breathed out in relief.

"Thank goodness. These flaming arrows pack quite a punch, but I can still withstand them."

Having gauged the flaming arrows' power, Xiao Yu swiftly formed a hand seal with his right hand and deployed the Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords. Seven flying swords, one large and six small, immediately blazed with rich azure light and hurtled toward the Flame Mouse.

Seeing the flying swords bearing down on it, the Flame Mouse darted about, leaving afterimages as it dodged left and right amid the sword light. It even found opportunities to launch an unbroken stream of flaming arrows at Xiao Yu.

Seeing that these arrows no longer covered a wide area, Xiao Yu enlarged the Spirit Turtle Shield to three feet and placed it directly in their path, keeping himself securely protected. He only needed to take care that their impact did not knock him off the platform.

Meanwhile, he spread the Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords out a little, widening their attack range and making their strikes completely unpredictable.

The tactic worked. With no pattern to the seven flying swords' attacks, the Flame Mouse managed to dodge for the time it took to drink a cup of tea before one sword grazed it. A wound immediately opened on its body, exposing raw, crimson flesh.

Man and mouse fought like this for a while. The Flame Mouse was soon covered in wounds, its movements much slower. Blood spattered half the platform, and shed fur littered the ground.

Just as Xiao Yu was about to press harder and finish it off, the Flame Mouse suddenly let out even shriller squeaks, repeatedly turning its head toward a certain spot on the cliff wall.

Xiao Yu looked over and saw a two-foot-wide crack in the cliff wall where the Flame Mouse was looking. The fissure was pitch-black, its depth impossible to tell.

It must have emerged from there earlier. Could it be calling for reinforcements? Xiao Yu wondered suspiciously. Whatever it intended, he had to kill it as quickly as possible. He immediately poured more spiritual power into the swords. Sword radiance over a foot long erupted from the Mother-and-Child Swords, and they slashed toward the Flame Mouse in intersecting paths with terrifying momentum.

Having lost too much blood, the Flame Mouse successfully dodged five flying swords, only for its body to falter involuntarily. One of the son swords finally seized the opening and slashed into its neck.

The Flame Mouse let out a shrill squeal and froze in place. The mother sword followed close behind, slicing through its neck once more. Its head rolled aside, and bright red blood gushed from its severed neck.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!" Before Xiao Yu could breathe a sigh of relief, a cacophony of squeaks came from one side. He turned to look, and his heart tightened.

Five more Flame Mice, one large and four small, sprang out of the crack. They had witnessed Xiao Yu killing the Flame Mouse, and their eyes immediately reddened. Together, they launched flaming arrows at him.

Xiao Yu's expression changed in alarm. He hurriedly used his movement technique, dodging while blocking the onslaught of over a hundred flaming arrows with the Spirit Turtle Shield.

Of these five Flame Mice, one had high-rank cultivation, while the other four were middle rank. Xiao Yu had truly stirred up a mouse nest! An entire family of Flame Mice had come pouring out.

Xiao Yu scrambled to dodge, keeping the shield firmly over his vital areas, but there were simply too many attacks. Several arrows still struck him.

Even his Vajra Shield barrier was shattered once. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and applied another barrier to himself, or injury would have been unavoidable.

After enduring the first ferocious barrage, Xiao Yu immediately directed the Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords toward the four smaller Flame Mice. He planned to kill the little ones first, then deal properly with the big one.

The Flame Mice were not to be outdone. Each frantically unleashed arrows at Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu fended off the flaming arrows while controlling the mother-and-son swords to slash at the Flame Mice, sweat pouring from his body in his frantic struggle.

After the two sides remained locked in combat for a while, Xiao Yu finally seized an opening and killed a middle-rank Flame Mouse with a single sword strike. The pressure on him eased a little.

Seeing this, the remaining Flame Mice grew even more frenzied. Not only did they launch flaming arrows, but they also charged bodily toward him, trying to claw at Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu strained to block these attacks with the Spirit Turtle Shield and once again drove the Mother-and-Child Swords toward the middle-rank Flame Mice.

Finally, a quarter of an hour later, the Mother-and-Child Swords sliced through the largest Flame Mouse's neck, severing its head.

"Whew..." After killing all the Flame Mice, Xiao Yu dropped onto the ground, gulping down great breaths of air.

Facing the combined assault of five Demon Beasts in such a cramped space had nearly exhausted him, and his magical power was almost depleted. Fortunately, all six Flame Mice had not attacked him from the outset. Had they done so, he would have had no choice but to flee with his tail between his legs.

He took two Spirit-Restoring Pills from his Storage Bag and swallowed them in one mouthful, then sat cross-legged to meditate and refine their medicinal power. Restoring his magical power came first. Without magical power in these dangerous Forbidden Grounds, he could lose his life at any moment.

A quarter of an hour later, his magical power had mostly recovered. Xiao Yu sprang to his feet and walked toward the jade marrow fungus in the corner of the platform.

He then took out the Jade Shovel and Jade Box, carefully digging up the fungi one by one along with the clumps of soil around their roots and placing them inside the Jade Box.

After digging up all the jade marrow fungus, Xiao Yu immediately descended the cliff on his flying sword. He then put away his magical artifacts, used the Wind Riding Art, and raced off in a chosen direction.

He had fought an intense magical battle here for so long that someone was bound to come investigate. It was best to leave as quickly as possible.

After running three li, Xiao Yu leaped onto a massive tree whose trunk was too thick for several people to encircle with their arms. Using the Small Axe magical artifact, he hollowed out a cavity large enough to hold him, crawled inside, and prepared to rest and recover.