One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Chapter 240 The Campfire at Night

Just as Nie Lingfeng was immersed in this peculiar feeling, a very faint "rustling" sound, which was not a natural wind sound, mixed with a creepy, slippery sound of something rubbing against rocks, suddenly came from the darkness behind them, near the shadow of the rock wall!

Nie Lingfeng opened his eyes instantly, a flash of dark golden light in them! Almost simultaneously, Chen Duo beside him also raised her head sharply, her emerald green eyes looking warily at the source of the sound, and a golden flame "poof" ignited at her fingertip!

In the dim light of the campfire, in the shadow of the rocks near the cliff, several dark green, wrist-thick, strangely spiraled, wet, slippery, and indescribable "things" were silently crawling along the ground and rocks towards the campfire where they were resting!

These "things" had no obvious heads; their front ends were merely repulsive, sucker-like mouthparts that opened and closed repeatedly, revealing rings of fine, file-like bony teeth inside! Thick, pungent, dark green mucus dripped continuously from the mouthparts, corroding the passing pebbles and causing them to hiss and emit white smoke! As they crawled, their bodies writhed and contracted eerily, like boneless mollusks. Their movements seemed slow, yet they possessed a chilling precision and patience, subtly forming an encirclement from several directions!

Is it some kind of mutated creature from the rainforest? Or a monster born from the pollution of this land? Nie Lingfeng instantly recalled the "living vine" and "poisonous blood" mentioned by the mountain guardian. The aura of this thing was somewhat similar to the vines in the "Malaria Mother Forest," but it was more insidious and stealthy, and seemed to be more adept at lurking and ambushing!

"Snake vine! It's the 'corpse snake vine' unique to the riverbank!" Chen Duo suddenly exclaimed softly, her tone filled with disgust and a barely perceptible...familiarity? She seemed to have heard or seen a description of this thing somewhere before. "They're afraid of fire! And they're afraid of bright light! They like to ambush their prey when it's dark and they're resting, using their mucus to paralyze them, and then swallowing them whole to digest them!"

Afraid of fire and light? Nie Lingfeng's eyes turned cold. That's perfect!

"Duoduo, use your fire to light up the surroundings, don't let them get close to the campfire!" Nie Lingfeng shouted in a low voice, and then his figure flashed, taking the initiative to meet the closest and thickest "snake vine"! He did not use the Snow Drinking Blade to deal with this soft-bodied, fire-averse thing, the burning and purifying effect of the Qilin True Fire was more direct!

"Qilin True Fire - Scorching Earth!"

He slammed his right palm into the ground! A concentrated, dark golden flame, like magma erupting from the ground, rapidly spread forward in a fan shape from his palm! The flame was extremely hot, yet remarkably restrained, instantly scorching and distorting the rubble and air within a radius of several meters, turning it red-hot! The thick vine was the first to be hit, struck by the dark golden flame, and immediately emitted a sharp, teeth-grinding screech, like fingernails scraping glass! Its slippery body twisted and convulsed wildly in the flames, the spiral patterns on its surface quickly turning black and cracking, and the dripping foul-smelling slime was instantly evaporated! In just two or three breaths, the vine was completely limp and carbonized, turning into a lifeless, charred "withered vine"!

Meanwhile, Chen Duo reacted extremely quickly! The moment Nie Lingfeng spoke, she had already formed hand seals and shouted, "Phoenix True Fire—Bright Light Technique!"

It wasn't an aggressive flame, but a gentler yet more widespread and intensely radiant illumination and purification technique! Pure golden flames, like a miniature sun, rose from between her hands, hovering above the campfire, casting a warm and bright, purifying golden glow that instantly illuminated the dark corners within a radius of several meters as bright as day!

The other vines that had been slowly approaching under the shadows were suddenly struck by the intense and pure light. As if doused in boiling oil, they let out even more shrill and painful screams, frantically twisting their bodies and trying to retreat into the darkness! The slippery mucus on their bodies also made a "hissing" sound under the golden light, quickly evaporating and drying, and their movements became stiff and sluggish!

"A perfect opportunity!" How could Nie Lingfeng allow them to escape? His figure moved like lightning, unleashing a series of palm strikes under the cover of golden light! The dark golden Qilin True Fire, like the scythe of death, precisely struck each of the fleeing vines! A series of mournful hisses rang out, only to be quickly drowned out by the roar of the river and the sound of the flames. In less than a minute, this wave of six or seven "corpse vines" that had ambushed them were completely burned and purified by the two men's tacit cooperation, leaving only a few puddles of foul-smelling slime on the ground that evaporated rapidly with the residual heat of the flames, and a strange smell in the air—a mixture of faint burnt and purified freshness.

The battle ended cleanly and efficiently. Chen Duo maintained her "Bright Light Spell," her face slightly flushed from tension and exertion under the golden light, but her eyes sparkled with satisfaction and a hint of pride at completing the mission. She looked at Nie Lingfeng and whispered boastfully, "See? My 'fire' is very obedient now, isn't it? It illuminates the way and keeps those stinky vines from escaping!" (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

Nie Lingfeng extinguished the flames in his palm and nodded approvingly, "Well done, Duoduo. Quick reaction and good cooperation." He walked over and inspected the remains of the snake vines, making sure nothing was missing. "These things were probably attracted and aroused by the resentment in the river and the pollution of this land. It seems that the closer we get to the altar, the more troublesome things we might encounter."

Chen Duo also deactivated her "Bright Light" spell, and the surroundings were once again enveloped by the campfire and the deepening twilight. She walked to Nie Lingfeng's side, looking at the charred marks on the ground, and a look of worry appeared on her small face: "That altar... does it have a lot of these 'stinky things'?"

"Very likely," Nie Lingfeng said in a deep voice. "Therefore, we must be even more careful. We'll take turns keeping watch tonight; you'll do the first half, and I'll do the second half. Wake me up immediately if there's any disturbance."

"Mmm!" Chen Duo nodded vigorously, then consciously hugged the panda plushie and sat down on the waterproof cloth laid out by the campfire, striking a pose that said, "I'm keeping watch very seriously." Her emerald green eyes warily scanned the surrounding darkness, especially the shadows of the riverbank and the rock wall.

Nie Lingfeng sat down beside her, but didn't rest immediately. He took out his water pouch and handed Chen Duo some dried meat, so she could replenish her strength while keeping watch. He closed his eyes again, but didn't fully enter a meditative state; he remained slightly awake, sensing the movements around him, and thinking at the same time.

The mountain guardian mentioned that the altar was where the "Guardians" held important ceremonies and communicated with heaven and earth, but it was later contaminated. The "Council" is interested in it... What do they want to do there? Continue collecting and refining the contaminants? Or does the altar itself hide secrets related to the "Calamity" and the "Gate"?

The mark left by the mountain guardian, when activated with blood or fire at a specific location, can reveal hidden things or provide assistance, but it may also attract deeper scrutiny… From whom does this “scrutiny” come? Is it the residual power of the altar itself? Or… the “Council”? Or perhaps, something even more indescribable, the source of the “calamity” spoken of by the mountain guardian?

As more and more clues emerge, the mystery seems to grow larger and more dangerous.

The campfire crackled, the river roared, and the night was as dark as ink.

On the banks of this forgotten valley, flowing with pain and secrets, two people and a fire form a tiny, yet exceptionally resilient, and luminous island in this boundless darkness.

But deeper darkness and the unknown lie ahead, silently waiting in the deepest part of the mountains, guided by the roar of the Nu River.

In the latter half of the night, the temperature in the valley dropped below freezing. The roar of the river seemed to carry a chill, and the wind howled through the jagged rocks with a sharp, ghostly wail. The campfire had long since died down, leaving only a pile of dark red embers, stubbornly radiating their last warmth, like a half-open, dark red eye of a sleeping beast in the impenetrable darkness.

Chen Duo was curled up on the tarpaulin, wrapped in Nie Lingfeng's coat, clutching a panda plush toy tightly in her arms, already asleep. But even in her sleep, her little face was slightly wrinkled, and her body unconsciously curled up even tighter, as if she could feel the biting cold of the valley in the dead of night and the omnipresent, malicious gaze of the river and darkness. Her long eyelashes cast faint shadows under her eyelids, trembling gently with her uneven breathing.

Nie Lingfeng sat cross-legged not far from her, on the other side of the embers of the campfire. He wasn't asleep, nor had he fully entered a meditative state. His eyes were slightly closed, seemingly resting, but in reality, all his senses, like the most sophisticated radar, encompassed every inch of land, every breath of air, and every sound within a thirty-meter radius around him. The dark golden Qilin power within his body flowed silently through his meridians at an extremely slow, almost dormant frequency, maintaining his body's basic temperature and vitality, and keeping him connected, albeit weakly, to the cold, hard earth beneath his feet, which contained a certain heavy pulse.

The night was eerily silent. Only the roar of the river, the howling of the wind, and the occasional, mournful, short cries of owls or some other creature in the distance formed a symphony of the wild, dark night.

Time stretched on endlessly under absolute vigilance.