Return Of The Demon - 131 Carnivorous flower

For a while, Bai Yun stood there and thought about what he should do. It was not practical to surround himself with the hundred beast flame. It would only cause his qi to be quickly depleted. There was no way Bai Yun could maintain it long enough to get inside, kill the plant, and collect the necessary items.

After a moment, Bai Yun came up with an idea. He found a way to resist the effects of the pollen in the alchemy god’s memories. Bai Yun followed the steps in the memory and used some of the medicinal ingredients he had to create a thick paste. Then Bai Yun carefully walked a little into the wooded area. Bai Yun opened the god and devil eyes for an instant to make sure that the area he was in indeed had a little bit of the pollen, but not so much that he wouldn’t be able to resist the effects. Bai Yun stood there for a while, all the while using his soul tendrils to attract pollen to the taste. Bai Yun stood there until he started to feel the effects of the pollen. Bai Yun quickly retreated, and burned all the pollen inside him with the hundred beast flame.

Once Bai Yun had recovered, he used the god and devil eyes to make sure that he had indeed gotten some pollen. Afterward, Bai Yun used the procedure in the alchemy god’s legacy to come up with an antidote. But Bai Yun only had a little of the pollen, thus the quantity of the antidote was also limited. According to Bai Yun’s estimation, it would only allow him to resist the effects of the pollen for an hour. If he could kill the demonic plant in that time, everything would be fine. Else he might have to retreat and start over.

Bai Yun then swallowed the antidote and walked into the wooded area. The deeper he went in, the taller the trees became. The wooded area had some shrubs on the outside, but as he walked inside, it turned into tall trees only. The sunlight barely penetrated the thick canopy, and it quickly became darker.

Soon Bai Yun walked into the place where he had reached earlier. Thanks to the antidote, Bai Yun had not fallen prey to the pollen this time. There a small backpack that Bai Yun had carried was lying. Bai Yun had brought this backpack to make people think that he did not have a storage ring. He had dropped it here when he ran out earlier as he knew that he would need to use the hundred beast flame to resist the pollen, and the backpack might get burned in the process. Also without the backpack, he was faster.

Bai Yun walked forward into the wooded area. He did not know where the demic plant was, but he guessed that it must be at the center of the area. So he simply walked to where it was darker.

And Bai Yun’s guess was correct. About ten minutes later, Bai Yun found himself face to face with a giant red flower in a clearing in the woods. The flower was over five meters in diameter. It had five large petals that spread out on the floor. The flower had a large hole in the center that was over three meters in diameter. The hole seemed to open and close slightly, making it look like it was breathing. As the flower breathed, it would sometimes release a yellow orange wisp that quickly diffused into the surroundings. These wisps were the pollen that the flower was releasing.

Bai Yun watched the flower for a while before he walked forward to it. He could not see anything in the clearing other than the flower. But demonic plants such as these tended to have some sort of defense mechanism. It obviously wouldn’t put all of its defenses on the pollen.

And as Bai Yun approached the flower, it seemed exited. It initially opened its mouth and eagerly waited for Bai Yun to get close. But Bai Yun simply pulled out his sword and waited for its response.

The flower seemed to be angry at Bai Yun’s reaction. It puffed out a few wisps of pollen which directly flew towards Bai Yun. Bai Yun saw the pollen coming towards him and then he raised his hand. A plume of hundred beast flame covered his hand, and Bai Yun then waved it in front of him, burning away the pollen.

The flower was angered even more. It breathed rapidly for a moment longer. Bai Yun simply watched it have a fit. He was waiting to see what the flower would do.

And it did not disappoint. A few seconds later, the flower lifted its petals of the ground, and two shadows ran from beneath them at Bai Yun.

Even though the two shadows were fast, Bai Yun was able to capture them perfectly. One of them was a skinny wolf, while the other was a scorpion, which was even larger than the wolf.

In an instant, Bai Yun understood what was happening. This plant must be able to control beasts as well as eat them. These beasts must have wandered into the wooded area, and then must have fallen under the effects of the pollen. But the plant, instead of eating them must have chosen to keep them as guardians. But from the look of the two beasts, it was obvious that they were starving. They were weak and skinny. And even though both of them seemed to be fifth circle beasts, equal to mid foundation establishment realm, their strength was deeply reduced.

Bai Yun watched as the two of them got close to him. The scorpion reached Bai Yun first. It attacked Bai Yun with its two pincers. Bai Yun jumped up into the air to dodge the attack. But at that second, its stinger flashed at a terrifying speed and headed straight for Bai Yun. Bai Yun put his sword in front of him quickly, and stopped the stinger from hitting him. But the speed and strength of the attack, send Bai Yun flying back.

Bai Yun landed on his feet and stabilized himself quickly. But by then the wolf had also reached him. It jumped towards Bai Yun with its jaws outstretched. Bai Yun flashed to the side, while swinging his sword, leaving a deep cut on the side of the wolf.

The scorpion then attacked Bai Yun with its pincers. Bai Yun lightly leaped onto the scorpion’s back, and swung his sword hard, colliding with its stinger which attacked him. The force of the collision was transmitted to the scorpion, pressing it to the ground.

At that time the wolf once again leapt towards Bai Yun. Bai Yun knelt on the scorpion’s back and punched up. The wolf, severely weakened by hunger, was sent flying.

In that position, a yellowish red glow appeared around Bai Yun’s fist. It looked like a preliminary, vague outline of a face. Bai Yun focused all of his strength on his left arm, activated Lion’s roar, and punched down at full strength. The moment the fist landed on the scorpion’s carapace, the force of the fist drove it to the ground, raising a lot of dust and cracking the earth. At the same time, a crack finally appeared on the scorpion’s carapace.

It was at that point that Bai Yun suddenly felt dizzy. With a start, Bai Yun realized that he was fighting three enemies, not two. Bai Yun was also attacked by the flower with the pollen. Even though Bai Yun had taken an antidote, at the high concentrations the flower was attacking Bai Yun with, it was starting to lose effect. Bai Yun quickly used the hundred beast flame to cover his face and burn the pollen. Even though pollen could still enter his body through the pores on his body, the quantity would be low, and the antidote should be able to defend against that.

Suddenly Bai Yun tilted his neck. A moment, the scorpion’s tail stabbed through exactly where his head was a moment ago. But before it could pull the tail back, Bai Yun grabbed it with both his arms.

Bending his waist, Bai Yun strongly pulled the scorpion up. And then, with his full strength, Bai Yun threw the scorpion at the wolf.

As the scorpion and wolf collided together, Bai Yun put his sword back into the scabbard and ran towards the beasts. Due to the shape of the two beasts, they were entangled and struggled to free themselves. But before they could do so, Bai Yun had reached their side.

And the moment Bai Yun reached near them, Bai Yun executed the modified sword drawing. Sword drawing was the fasted technique among the six truths of the sword god. And Bai Yun’s modified version that was suitable for the qi step maintained this speed. Now that Bai Yun had reached the foundation establishment realm, he could finally execute the technique freely and easily.

So before the two beasts could react, Bai Yun ran through them. In an instant, the two beasts were cut into two pieces. Thanks to their weakened state and the injuries they had already suffered, they offered little to no resistance. Else if they were at their peak, Bai Yun would have found it difficult to kill them both at the same time.

Seeing that its two beasts were killed the flower started to panic. It started to pump out pollen in huge quantities. But Bai Yun used the hundred beast flame to burn all the pollen that came close to him. But Bai Yun knew that he was almost out of qi.

So Bai Yun ran at the flower. At the same time, Bai Yun’s sword lit up with a grey flame. Them Bai Yun’s sword tip lit up in a soft glow.

Bai Yun quickly reached the flower, and cast rain in the moonlight. In an instant, the flower was pierced hundreds of times. As the flower was pierced, the hundred beast flame set it on fire. Soon the flower was burned to a crisp.

As the flower was burned, Bai Yun’s qi finally ran out. The hundred beast flame he was maintaining around his nose also died out. At the same time, the effects of the antidote started to weaken.

As Bai Yun stood there panting, he found himself falling unconscious under the effects of the pollen.