owlsbooks Chapter 83 Watch me play the sweetheart and outsmart them.
Chapter 83 Watch me play the sweetheart and outsmart them.
"Wow, these strange trees seem to still be alive."
Xu Changqing looked with great interest at the strange banana trees that had retreated to a distance and now seemed exceptionally quiet.
Upon closer inspection, he could sense a faint flow of Qi within them, like a group of lurking venomous snakes watching him.
"Hehe, since that's the case..." As if he had thought of something amusing, Xu Changqing's magical power quietly surged, and a malicious smile appeared on his lips. "Let me see if you'll feel any shame?"
He formed the Void Heart Mudra with his hands, and blue light flowed from his fingertips.
In an instant, countless eerie blue illusory hand seals shot out like a swarm of bees leaving their nest, striking precisely the thick trunks of those strange banana trees in the distance.
As the blue mark entered, the strange banana plants writhed and convulsed violently, as if doused with boiling oil. Their broad leaves thrashed wildly, making muffled "slap slap" sounds, and the serrated edges of the leaves rubbed against each other, splashing out dark green sap.
The dark red, fleshy veins on the tree trunk writhed and contracted rapidly, as if enduring immense pain.
In the blink of an eye, large swaths of the strange banana plants withered and turned black at a visible speed. Their thick leaves curled up and shriveled, eventually turning into puddles of humus that emitted a foul stench.
Only a few scattered plants remained, standing alone, trembling in the night wind. Their leaves moved without wind, making a soft rustling sound, as if saying, "Damn, this is really eerie!"
"So it turns out it's controlled by the mother plant; only one out of dozens is real." Xu Changqing's eyes lit up with understanding, a flash of purple light passing through them.
Immediately, a purple light flashed in Xu Changqing's eyes, and the Killing Qi transformed into a blood-red scythe shadow, rushing straight towards the dead end of these strange banana trees, uprooting them and severing them into several sections. The broken sections resembled freshly cut flesh, oozing a blood-green sap, like a human arm, twitching slightly.
Xu Changqing took a step forward and was already in front of the strange banana tree, looking down at it.
"【The Wraith of the Banana Tree】 was originally a five-element spiritual plant cultivated by the Ziyang Temple for its disciples to refine magical artifacts. However, after absorbing a large amount of Yin Qi, earthly evil, and flesh and blood, it underwent a mutation and has now become this ghostly appearance. Hmm, the material and quality are quite good, so it should fetch a good price."
Looking down at the broken, strange banana leaves, Xu Changqing was overjoyed at the information provided by the old ghost.
He patted the pouch at his waist, and instantly the broken, strange banana leaves scattered on the ground were sucked into it.
As the saying goes, even a small mosquito is still meat.
Rubbing his hands together, Xu Changqing licked his slightly dry lips, a smile spreading across his face, his whisper filled with undisguised anticipation:
"Hehe, my little darlings, I'm here, Daoist Master. I won't shout, so don't shout either..."
After saying that, he moved again, like a slippery fish, quickly darting through the forest, searching for the true plants of those strange banana trees.
Along the way, Xu Changqing reaped considerable rewards.
In addition to the original "Grievous Tree Banana", we successively found the "Hateful Water Banana" with veins like dark water, the "Angry Fire Banana" with leaves like green fire, the "Gold-Eroding Banana" with a trunk like metal, and the "Angry Earth Banana" with a rough surface like rock and covered with knots, thus collecting several sets of the Five Elements Banana.
While a single Banana Tree may be valuable, it's not particularly impressive. However, if one could collect a complete set of Banana Trees possessing all five elements, their value would increase several times over. The Great Yu Dynasty and various weapon-refining sects highly valued this type of spiritual material, which possesses all attributes and can be used to craft a complete set of combined magical artifacts.
As he plundered along the way, Xu Changqing's treasure bag at his waist grew heavier, and his joy intensified.
However, just as Xu Changqing was immersed in his harvest, behind him, a series of strange figures quietly appeared, like ghosts, moving silently.
These were the same black-clad Taoist priests who had appeared before Mei Qianqian earlier.
They moved silently, their pale yet unusually smooth flesh revealed beneath their tattered Taoist robes.
His skin was covered with twisted black scriptures, the characters of which were strange and ancient, resembling tadpoles or insects.
However, it seems that due to the passage of time, many parts of these scriptures have faded and peeled off, appearing dilapidated.
Upon closer inspection, the characters seem to come alive, wriggling like tiny insects trying to perpetuate the distorted scripture.
"Who?" After Xu Changqing chopped off a piece of the hard, iron-like [Gold-Etched Banana Tree], he suddenly felt something staring at him.
I turned around and found no one there.
"Hehe..." He suddenly chuckled and shook his head. "So you want to play a ghost-catching game with me, Daoist Master? Okay, interesting."
Xu Changqing turned around and continued his money-making business, secretly sneering to himself.
"Hey, watch me trick them with this sweet talk."
Behind him, those black-clad, eccentric Taoist priests reappeared, completely unaware of Xu Changqing's sinister intentions.
The gazes of these black-clad, eccentric Taoist priests were all fixed on Xu Changqing's retreating figure.
On their stiff faces, the muscles at the corners of their mouths twitched simultaneously, splitting into eerie smiles.
The closer you get, the more rugged their features become.
Her disheveled hair, like filthy seaweed that hadn't been washed for years, cascaded down, yet in the still air, it slowly twisted and spread on its own, like thin black snakes that were ready to devour anyone, silently coiling and reaching out towards Xu Changqing.
"Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon, Great Luo Mantra, take the power of my dragon..."
The evil dragon of evil energy suddenly appeared on Xu Changqing's body. Without turning around, under the control of his mind, the ferocious dragon shadow soared into the sky with the bloody wind and evil energy.
This dragon was created through a ritual, formed from karmic energy and the flesh and blood of demons tempered by a sacrificial feast. It is born with the ability to switch between a spiritual energy form and a demonic dragon body.
Unfortunately, Xu Changqing had not yet mastered the profound technique of splitting his soul. In his daily life, the demonic dragon would often transform into a body of evil energy and attach itself to his clothes, or hover above his head and remain hidden, making it difficult for outsiders to detect.
It is the most suitable for dealing with these cunning Taoists.
The demonic dragon let out a silent roar, its massive body suddenly swung, its tail like a whip and its claws like hooks, sweeping fiercely towards the black-clad Taoist priests who had just gathered in the mist behind it.
They might bite, scratch, bump, or strangle.
In an instant, tattered cloth flew everywhere, and the evil Taoist priests were knocked off balance, their limbs twisted, and some were even torn to pieces by the dragon claws.
But upon closer inspection, one can see that these shattered Taoist artifacts quickly recover.
"I see."
As Xu Changqing continued to manipulate the demonic dragon to charge, he observed coldly and suddenly realized something.
After the bodies of these eccentric Taoist priests shatter, the black scriptures on them glow with an eerie light, writhing and spreading wildly like living things, and even beginning to absorb the demonic energy permeating the air.
As the black energy surged in, the scriptures became clearer and more complete, while the broken limbs spliced and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. In just a few breaths, they were restored to their original state, except that the black robes on their bodies were even more tattered, and the black lines on their skin were more numerous and denser.
Xu Changqing suddenly realized, "This is similar to the Heavenly Demon Body. It seems that the origins of these eccentric Taoists are probably quite related to the Heavenly Demon."