Versatile Mage c1-2021, page 155
Sadly, Li Man had a stern look naturally, thus she did not show any reaction.
She did not seem to be interested with the treasure in the valley, but she was intrigued by the corpses of the Giant Lizards they found along the way. She went up to the dead bodies and mumbled, "Punctured by lightning, instant death... I'm getting closer to my target!"
Chapter 333 - The Deathbringer of Dongting Lake
"Strange, there are some scattered corpses here," said Hong Niao, who was relatively observant.
"It's normal, since the Giant Lizards always fight one another for territories or partners. Come, we're one step closer to our treasure. HAHAHA, we'll all be rich once we get our hands on the Flowing Mud!" Huang Zhuosi, who was rather ins.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e, burst into laughter.
Everyone's expression turned weird when they heard his shout. They subconsciously glanced at the woman called Li Man.
"Idiot, you've exposed the Earth Element Soul Seed that we are looking for. The Flowing Mud is a high-quality Earth Element Soul Seed. The estimated market price is around thirty million RMB. I swear I'll skin you alive if you screw this up!" the captain, Liang Dachui, glared at Huang Zhuosi.
Huang Zhuosi let out an awkward smile. He cast a glance at Li Man and realized that she was only glancing at them indifferently. It seemed like she was not too interested in a Spirit-grade Soul Seed like the Flowing Mud.
------
As they arrived at the valley, they immediately saw its astonishing brilliance. The golden sunlight of the setting sun had laid a golden rug across the Giant Lizards, which were wriggling as they moved. Not only was half of the basin filled with them, even the slope of the mountain was crowded with the Giant Lizards. From afar, it looked like the entire place was covered in gold!
"Holy crap, how many Giant Lizards are there!" exclaimed Hong Niao when he witnessed the spectacular sight. Instead of admiring the view, he could feel his scalp going numb.
If they somehow ended up being surrounded in the valley, they would be like sheep entering a pack of wolves, with no chance of surviving.
"Captain, are you sure we're going in?" Huang Zhuosi felt like retreating when he saw these many Giant Lizards.
The treasure was important, but everything would be in vain if he lost his life here!
"I...I also think that it's too risky," the others agreed
"We've already come this far. Don't worry, Hong Niao's plan will surely work," said Liang Dachui with a deep breath, although he looked quite nervous too.
Luckily, the valley was fairly spacious, thus there were quite a few hiding spots for them. Otherwise, even a few extra lives would not be enough for them to barge into the demon beasts' valley.
------
Li Man split up with the Hunter Group when they arrived at the valley.
She was quite interested too, but it would not make sense if a Commander were to take advantage of them after they had invested great effort in collecting the information, coming up with a plan, and risking their lives to acquire the Earth Element Soul Seed.
Li Man followed the trails of the corpses. The Hunter Group agreed to split up, knowing that she was looking for something else.
They were more interested in the treasure, since what kind of woman would they not be able to find when they had the money?
However, soon after the group entered the valley, a nimble figure followed along their trail.
He glanced at the group of hunters and the female Magician who had split up, and quickly inspected the corpses on the ground. In the end, he chose to go after the female Magician.
The person was none other than Zhang Xiaohou, who had left the army to infiltrate Dongting Lake on his own.
As a matter of fact, he had followed Wang Dachui's group all the way from Biyi City. The experienced hunters had never noticed his existence along the journey.
Zhang Xiaohou was mainly in charge of tracking and spying in the army. He was considered a special forces soldier among the Battlemages, although it was closely related to the two Elements he had.
"Brother Fan, I'm very close to finding you!" Zhang Xiaohou felt even more confident when he saw the causes of death of the corpses nearby.
---
Li Man continued her search, following the corpses. She believed that she was very close to finding the Deathbringer of Dongting Lake.
The term had appeared in the Hunter Union when a large number of Giant Lizards were found dead close to Dongting Lake. When the hunters discovered the Giant Lizards all had similar wounds, they referred to their killer as the Deathbringer of Dongting Lake.
Li Man was the representative from the military sent to investigate the matter. Dongting Lake had been a s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e and dangerous area for quite some time, so she was not willing to overlook any tiny detail, just in case it turned out to be a new Commander-level demon beast, or something even more dangerous. It would become a great threat to Biyi City!
"Strange, my legs feel heavy. I don't think my stamina should be this bad, even though it's been a while since I was last out on the field..." Li Man had no choice, but to find a dry spot to rest up after walking past a swampy area.
She quickly took off her boots to check her legs.
"Damn it, why was I so careless!" Li Man finally discovered the reason. Her feet were somehow poisoned by the swamp. Her jade-white feet were dyed purple.
Li Man was reallocated to Dongting Lake quite recently, thus she was not very familiar with the environment. As such, she did not put too much attention on her precautions toward poisonous substances.
"This doesn't make sense, I'm already following the advice given by my comrades. Besides, with my cultivation, there's no way I would be poisoned so easily. Could this be an unknown poison...Where did it come from, such a strong poison!" Li Man anxiously sat down on the rock.
She immediately applied all the antidotes she had brought with her, but she was surprised when none of them was effective against the poison, which continued to spread up her legs!
The swamp was a mix between Water and Earth Elements, thus she tried using the respective antidotes, but none of them worked.
This is bad!
Li Man was not afraid of demon beasts. She would not mind killing any of them that she stumbled into.
However, poison was definitely troublesome to deal with. She was clueless about it, and she was not well-prepared for this adventure. She had no idea what to do in her current situation.
"The hunters must have gone far away… Should I fire a signal to ask for help? The army would send someone over...but if they knew I failed to accomplish the mission just because I've been poisoned, everyone would laugh at me. Those old jerks never liked me intervening with their business at Biyi Headquarters to begin with!" Li Man clenched her teeth and gave up on the thought.
She tried other ways to cleanse the poison, but its strength totally surpassed her expectations.
When the purple poison made its way to Li Man's knees, she finally regretted her idiotic decision.
The poison was definitely nothing ordinary!
As the sky fell darker, Li Man began to feel dizzy. It would be rather difficult for her to send a signal now.
She would need to make some preparations before firing the signal. Otherwise, a normal signal would just expose her location to the demon beasts. Li Man leaned against the cold rock and panted heavily.
The poison continued to spread in her body. Li Man could no longer move. She could hear distant cries of the Giant Lizards around her as her eyelids fell heavily.
She had no idea if her spot was concealed enough. All she could do was to pray that the Giant Lizards would not notice her, otherwise...
Just as Li Man was falling unconscious, she felt a strong electric current passing in front of her. It struck a Giant Lizard crawling toward her, and instantly killed it.
Li Man's heart skipped a beat.
How bad exactly was her luck? Not only was she immobilized because of some strong poison, the Deathbringer of Dongting Lake just had to show itself now, too!
Most of the Giant Lizards had died after being punctured by lightning. Li Man was confident that the figure coming closer to her was the one she had been searching for!
Chapter 334 - The Wolf-like Youth
In a shabby cave, a man in ragged clothes sat like a caveman besides a vigorous bonfire. On the other side lay a woman with a shocking bust, whose c.h.e.s.t was pulsing steadily.
The woman's army green pants had been taken off, revealing her pink u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r. The rather small piece of cloth was unable to completely conceal her plump booty, which was completely exposed and looked even more alluring under the illumination of the fire.
Cave, bonfire, a man, and a woman, such a set-up could easily provoke anyone's wild imagination.
"Why would a woman even come to this place?" the man murmured.
"Mm..." The woman let out a soft m.o.a.n. Suddenly, the atmosphere in the cave became drier, as the sound of someone swallowing a mouthful of saliva was heard.
"Crap, I forgot to put her pants back on..."
As soon as the thought crossed the man's mind. Li Man regained consciousness. She checked her surroundings with a blank face after her eyes sprang open, and discovered a man with long hair, like a caveman staring at her. She immediately gathered her focus and began casting magic subconsciously.
"You are poisoned." The caveman smiled, exposing his teeth. His canine teeth were quite sharp, like two swords hanging in the air.
"You're a… Hunter?" Li Man asked in a calm tone as she collected her thoughts.
The reason she had stuttered for a moment was because the man looked too similar to a caveman. Even a hunter who was in extremely bad condition would still look better than him. She could not tell how long he had been staying in the wild.
"More or less, at least I won't be able to leave this place in a short period of time," said the man with a smile.
"Did you save my life?" asked Li Man.
"Yeah, the poison you caught is quite tricky. It took me a great effort to cleanse it when I caught it myself. However, your body is a lot stronger than I thought. I assumed that you would be unconscious for at least seven or eight days," said the man.
"Thanks, I'm not this careless usually," explained Li Man.
"Why would a woman like you come to such a dangerous place on your own?" asked the man.
"Aren't you on your own, too?" Li Man returned the question. Her eyes were filled with the pride of an independent woman.
"You're right, so you're here for the treasure in the valley?" added the man. His eyes peeked at her at times.
Li Man shook her head. She recalled the lightning she saw prior to falling unconscious, before taking a closer look at the man in front of her, "I'm here to investigate the thing that has been killing lots of demon beasts recently."
"Oh, I see..." The man shifted his gaze as he switched the topic. "As long as you're not here for the treasure. Too many have died because of it."
"Too many have died?" Li Man was startled.
"Yeah, where do you think the poison come from? I've tried to warn a few groups, but they totally ignored my advice," the man said.
"This valley isn't normal." Li Man frowned. She recalled how she was poisoned and the uneasy feeling she had when the group first arrived at the valley.
She was an Advanced Magician and she still came so close at losing her life, let alone the Hunter Groups!
Crap, Dachui's group was still clueless about the danger. Hopefully, they were not poisoned as she was. Otherwise, the whole group would be dead by now.
"It will take some time until your poison is cleansed. You should hide in the cave for the time being," the man said.
"Why are you here?" Li Man asked.
"To collect some stuff..." The man smiled mysteriously.
"Have you had enough?" Li Man's expression turned dark as she glared at him.
"Err… I'll excuse myself. Please put your pants on, I've already dried them for you!" The man awkwardly left the cave.
Li Man had totally run out of patience. During the conversation, she already gave him hints to leave the cave. To her surprise, he sat there throughout the whole conversation!
If it weren't for the fact that he had saved her life, she would never forgive him for taking her pants off!
----
When the man returned, Li Man had already put on her pants. Her eyes were staring at the bonfire as she tried to figure out if the man had done something to her.
She briefly checked her body. Her s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e parts seemed perfectly fine… her h.y.m.e.n was already broken. As a female Battlemage, she had already given her v.i.r.g.i.n.i.t.y to the intense training in the army. It had nothing to do with a man.
"Can I ask you a favor?" Li Man glanced at the man who was walking towards her.
Li Man could not help but murmur in her heart, exactly how long has he been living here? His hair almost reached the ground. His canine teeth were like a wolf's fangs. If it weren't for his seemingly ordinary human face, she would have thought that he was actually raised by a wolf, like in the film A Werewolf Boy!
"I don't have much time," the man rejected her straight away.
"I haven't told you what it is yet!" said Li Man protested in an angry tone.
"Sis, I don't have any time to spare. My life is still at stake here," the man said.
"Whatever you are doing, I can help you, but I hope you can send a message to the Hunter Group that has just arrived here. Tell them not to go any deeper. Their lives are at risk," Li Man said.
Li Man had a fairly good impression of the group. Even though they were quite lecherous, she had gotten used to people staring at her like that.
"I...I should have just set up a noticeboard there! The thing in the swamp at the center of the valley has already been injured. However, several groups of Magicians have been so keen to give the thing a warm hug lately. I can't stop them!" complained the man.
Li Man fell into deep thought.
It was likely that there had been news spreading around about the Earth Element Soul Seed. As a result, many Magicians had come to search for it. To their surprise, the valley was nothing but a trap, taking countless lives. On top of that, it was impossible for the people to learn the truth, as most of the groups were completely wiped out after coming here. As a result, more people would just come here and end up dead.
If even an Advanced Magician like her had failed to protect herself properly, any other group would surely be killed!
"How do you know the thing is injured?" Li Man was slightly suspicious of the man.
Most of the people would have died halfway into the valley, and yet this guy seemed to be perfectly fine living here.
Besides, she did sense that the Deathbringer of Dongting Lake had appeared before she fell unconscious. How did she end up being saved by this man? Was she under an illusion?
"Err... that's none of your concern," said the man.
"I still don't know your name."
"Oh, you can call me Fan Mo."
"You seem rather familiar with this place. I don't want to see more people dying, and they are all Intermediate Magicians… Let me help eliminate the thing in the valley, too." Li Man said, staring at the extraordinary young man with a stern look. The military had the obligation to get rid of any potential threat. Since Li Man was a Commander, it was a responsibility which she could not avoid.
Mo Fan was stunned. He began to inspect the woman whose tone was slightly dignified.
"I do have a plan to kill it, but I don't think it's plausible with the two of us. We still need someone nimble enough to lure the poisonous beasts away," said Mo Fan.
"There was a guy tailing us when we were entering the valley. I'm sure that he was using the military's way of tracking enemies and concealing his presence. I'll find him," Li Man said.
"It won't be good enough, either. We need someone strong enough, who could kite a Commander-level demon beast... (sigh) forget it, let's give it a try. You should find the guy first. Just making it clear, don't try to take the thing I need. Otherwise, you all will be dead soon," said Mo Fan.
"I'm not interested in it," Li Man said in a rather calm tone.
Chapter 335 - The Giant Beast in the Swamp
"Sigh, such a pity for her to leave like that. Captain, why didn't you say anything? I don't think it would hurt to let her stay." Huang Zhuosi's mind was still filled with the woman's deep cleavage. He just could not understand how her skinny waist was able to support her incredible bust. Guess she trained herself a lot in the wild...
"Can your brain be useful for once? Aren't you aware that something isn't right here!" Hong Niao snapped furiously.
"Something isn't right?"
"There isn't a single Giant Lizard here!"
"Isn't that good news?" said Huong Zhuosi.
"F**k me, is your brain full of shit? The density of Giant Lizards in this place is estimated to one every ten square meters! However, we've not seen a single one along the way, what does that imply!?...It means there's something so terrifying here, that all the Servant-class Giant Lizards are too scared to get close!" Hong Niao was absolutely furious. Why did he decide to join a bunch of brain-dead teammates?
The group finally realized that something was indeed out of place here. They quickly scanned the darkness around them.
The center of the valley was an uplifted area. If the swampy area, which took up seventy percent of the valley, was considered a lake, the uplifted area could be described as an island in the middle of the lake.
They had stuck to their plan and come all the way here without stumbling into any danger. They were so close to reaching the area. The information they received had mentioned that an Earth Element Soul Seed, Flowing Mud, was right in the middle of the valley.
