Risk

The world is full of wonders, and the more you know, the more cautious you will be.

Whether it was Zhang Xuezhou, Hongku Ku, or Yao Yuanguang, none of them were at the top level; they were merely members of a certain social class.

This situation, subtly concealed within, clearly benefits the survival of cultivators from the Xiangmen sect.

After being targeted, Hongku almost lost his family and his life. The schemes the other party had plotted against him in the past also caused Zhang Xuezhou and others unbearable pain.

If Zhang Xuezhou ignores the lessons learned from Hongku's experience after he feels he is stronger, then he has failed all his experiences over the years.

In dealing with Huang Daoxian's matter, Zhang Xuezhou did not conduct a continuous and open investigation. Instead, he took advantage of opportunities to do things, waiting for Huang to come forward or having Zuo Teng, Zhou Yueyan, and others deal with him openly.

When facing an opponent whose true strength is difficult to ascertain, a probing approach is clearly the best strategy.

The other party has been lying low for over a century, so a few months or years wouldn't make a difference.

The longer it goes on, the more of the other party's true nature will be revealed.

For example, right now, Zhang Xuezhou even feels like he's raided the enemy's stronghold.

Zhang Xuezhou was unsure whether Huang Daoxian was aware of anything, which led him back here.

He watched Zuo Teng leave with the hyena, then looked at the live broadcast on the video camera.

Zuo Teng held a flashlight, its light illuminating the canyon area and the reddened ground.

This is a piece of land stained red by madder sap, interspersed with countless rotting weeds and branches on the ground.

Baptized by the stench of the corpse flower, the vegetation in this area looked as if it had been sprayed with pesticides, collapsing and rotting in the soil.

"The gas emitted by that flower is extremely toxic, but fortunately this is deep in the mountains, making it difficult for it to spread to residential areas," Wang Haoran said solemnly.

"It's not just poison!"

Zhang Xuezhou replied.

This creature is not only adept at using poisonous gas, but the crystals on its stamens also possess the ability to guide spatial displacement through light, which can also confuse and entice people.

If the Corpse Flower belongs to Huang Daoxian's true form, then the other party also possesses extremely strong spiritual power.

In addition, according to historical records, Huang Daoxian also possessed the ability to summon wind and rain.

"If it enters human territory, will the damage it causes be worse than the situation in the Thousand Islands Alliance?" Wang Haoran asked.

"Its physical form does not possess the ability to move quickly," Zhang Xuezhou said, "And it will not appear in areas inhabited by humans!"

"Then how could it communicate with the emperor at that time, through illusions and seduction?" Wang Haoran asked, puzzled. "Emperor Luo Yan and his entourage could not have come to such remote mountains and wilderness during their southern tour!"

"Perhaps its spiritual power is enough to solidify a body, or perhaps it borrowed a human body through extremely powerful spiritual energy, or maybe it taught some students to work for it!"

Zhang Xuezhou himself could condense a Yang Soul incarnation under certain conditions. He recalled the Ba'erbo and Ba'erpo mentioned by Zuo Teng and felt that each possibility had a considerable probability.

The simplest way is to temporarily borrow a human body, just like how Yao and others forcibly occupied Gongsun Hong's body.

"It's hard to understand," Wang Haoran said. "I find these claims quite fantastical!"

"Me too!"

Zhang Xuezhou nodded, making his guess based on his knowledge of both worlds, while Wang Haoran lacked such knowledge.

Wang Haoran, who is close to Zhang Xuezhou, expressed this view, making it undoubtedly extremely difficult to gain the approval of others.

Zhang Xuezhou did not offer any forced explanation.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

As soon as the sound came from the live stream, Zhang Xuezhou and Wang Haoran quickly shifted their attention to Zuo Teng Lighting's area.

Moving forward, Zuo Teng also began to set foot in the area where the Corpse Flower was located.

The burning black ash mixed with the red soil, creating a messy scene on the ground. At the spot where the corpse flower had been, a pit about half a person's height remained.

Zuo Teng pointed the camera at the pit and poked it with a stick, causing the hyena in the cage to make a continuous 'clucking' sound.

"There's nothing left here, everything's burned to the ground, and there's even a crater in the ground," Zuo Teng said. "Should I come back now, or should you come over?"

"Take a clearer picture, we just need to see it clearly and we won't come any closer!"

Zhang Xuezhou typed a line of text in the live stream, indicating that Zuo Teng's request was perfectly reasonable.

If everything is burned to the ground, that would indeed be a good thing, allowing everyone to bring this trip to the sinkhole to a close.

But Zhang Xuezhou also had a vague feeling that things shouldn't have turned out this way.

If the Corpse Flower is Huang Daoxian's true form, he would definitely sense that his true form was being burned, and there's a high probability that he would return here.

If the Corpse Flower was burned completely, it's possible that Zhang Xuezhou guessed there was another 30% chance that he had only destroyed a special plant similar to the Purple Gladiolus, and that he hadn't found the real Zodiac Immortal.

"If this isn't Zodiac Immortal, but merely a special plant cultivated by Zodiac Immortal..."

Thinking of the power of the Corpse Flower, and the densely packed crystals on its stamens, even the well-informed Zhang Xuezhou felt a headache coming on. He felt that if he were caught by such an opponent even once, he might be finished.

He carefully examined the pit that Zuo Teng had photographed, and then inspected the black ash and other substances inside the pit.

"Zuo Teng, be careful. That hyena's terrified cries are much more continuous than before; it's very likely it's reached the source of its fear!"

Wang Haoran also typed a line of text in the live stream.

Zhang Xuezhou's handwriting made Zuo Teng feel that his role as a scout was finally over.

Wang Haoran's words suddenly put Zuo Teng on alert.

He looked at the half-person-deep pit and hesitated to poke it with the stick any further.

You promised I wouldn't have to compensate the dog!

Zuo Teng recited a sentence.

His gaze swept over the hyenas in the cage.

He held the lowest position in the group of four and was required to do the work of a foot soldier.

But within their group, Zuo Teng could still bully the two strange beasts.

He opened the alloy cage and reached out to grab the hyena.

Holding it in his hand, Zuo Teng felt that the hyena's body was limp and weak, as if it had been scared out of its wits. It even had difficulty standing up and had no powerful demeanor as a beast.

"Hyenas are still dogs. Even dogs will scout out dangers for their owners. Go dig a hole and check the situation!"

Zuo Teng let out a shout, and seeing that the hyena was still lying on the ground 'clucking', he couldn't help but kick the hyena into the pit where the corpse flower roots were.

"Giggle~"

With a long howl, the hyena let out an extremely prolonged roar, its body tumbling and rolling in the pit.

After its paws pawed around for a while and found a way to get out of the pit, the hyena leaped several times and ran off frantically. It disappeared into the jungle in a few flashes, leaving only a series of 'clucking' sounds that faded into the distance.

"Is this beast you tamed being disobedient? It's been howling for so long, just waiting for us to open the cage and let it escape?"

Zuo Teng made a sarcastic remark.

He looked at the bottom of the pit; the yellow soil and black ash made it difficult for him to discern anything, but the dog hadn't died even after being thrown in and rummaging around. He wasn't worried about poking at anything that spewed foul odors or poisonous gases when he poked around with a stick.

After some probing and digging, Zuo Teng actually managed to find something at the bottom of the pit.

This is a spherical object about the size of a longan.

After peeling away the black and gray top layer, the transparent sphere came into view.

"This material seems to be from that spring... Mom?"

Just as Zuo Teng was pondering how similar the spherical object seemed to be to the fragments in the spring, his vision blurred, and he saw his mother's head, her eyes wide open in disbelief, buried in the pit.