readbooksol Chapter 331: Underground Poison Den
Chapter 331: Underground Poison Den
WHOOSH!
An incredibly sturdy net fell toward Li Wei, intending to trap him within.
Li Wei casually waved his hand, and a sheet of fire appeared in the sky, igniting the net.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
CRACKLE! POP!
In the blink of an eye, the net was burned to nothing by the flames.
Sparks scattered through the air, and ash drifted down.
Covering Li Wei’s head in gray.
He shook his head, trying to get the airborne ash off.
He ran a hand through his hair, feeling that some ash still remained.
Li Wei looked around.
The battle was already over.
The robbers who had attacked the trio were bound by thorny vines, lifted high above the rocks, and dripping with blood.
Lilith walked back, leaving only a field of corpses behind her.
The fight had been silent.
The bodies were dead without any visible wounds.
Evelyn arranged the bodies on the rocks, weaving the vines into a rack to hang the corpses in midair, letting them sway in the wind.
It wasn’t that she had any peculiar hobbies.
It was merely to deter others, to prevent anyone else who couldn’t take a hint from causing them trouble.
Honestly, dealing with fools who overestimated themselves was a huge pain.
The other people who saw the bodies hanging in midair all showed looks of terror.
None dared to approach.
Only long after Li Wei’s group of three had left did someone cautiously venture into the rocky forest.
"What ruthless people!"
"They’re all dead. They didn’t even have a chance to fight back."
"Holy crap, aren’t those the infamous Blood Axe Hand robbers? They were wiped out without even putting up a fight. Just who are those people?"
"Go back and tell everyone in Poison Dragon City not to mess with the recent arrivals. A few ruthless experts have shown up."
At the entrance to the Poison Dragon Cave.
Li Wei had expected it to be dark and damp inside.
He didn’t expect the Poison Dragon Cave to be surprisingly bright, though it was still just as damp.
After all, it was underground, and the Nanzhe Kingdom was a land of many rivers. Great rivers and lakes were everywhere.
The Poison Dragon Cave had quite a few underground rivers of its own, so of course it was damp.
Only a damp environment could breed so many venomous insects and fierce beasts.
Creating a venomous den filled with poisonous fog and miasma.
Li Wei looked up and saw cracks in the ground above, with sunlight shining through them into the Poison Dragon Cave.
Evelyn glanced up and said, "The first level of the Poison Dragon Cave is less of a cave and more of a chasm. Sunlight can reach the first level, so there are fewer venomous insects and less miasma. It’s relatively safe."
"Most Tier One and Two Extraordinary Professionals explore on this first level."
"From the second level onward, the Poison Dragon Cave becomes incredibly dangerous. Generally, no one without Tier Three strength dares to descend. The second level is filled with deadly venomous insects and poisonous fog."
"The place we’re going is on the third level, where you can find venomous insects and poisonous fogs capable of killing even a Tier Four Professional."
In the deepest part of the third level, legend says there is a Peach Blossom Spring—the only place in the Poison Dragon Cave free from venomous insects and poisonous fog."
"Alice might be trapped there."
Li Wei found this strange. "If she could get in, why can’t she get out?" he asked.
Evelyn guessed, "I’m not sure about the specifics. After all, the legend of the Peach Blossom Spring has been passed down, but very few people have ever seen it."
"I suspect Alice didn’t reach the Peach Blossom Spring through normal means."
"She was probably being hunted by enemies and used a Random Teleportation Scroll, accidentally stumbling into the Peach Blossom Spring within the Poison Dragon Cave."
Li Wei thought for a moment, then nodded. ’That’s possible,’ he thought.
’Alice is really lucky.’
’If she’d teleported anywhere else, she probably would have been poisoned to death in the Poison Dragon Cave long ago.’
"Let’s go. We’ll head down and see what’s going on," Li Wei said.
The three of them walked toward the entrance to the second level.
Partway there, Lilith’s expression shifted slightly. She glanced to the side and warned, "Careful."
At her words, Li Wei subconsciously turned to look.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a black shadow shooting out and hitting him.
BANG!
A small black snake was blocked by his Invisible Armor.
The little snake was only as long as a finger, with a conical head. One look was enough to tell it was incredibly venomous.
The speed of its explosive burst was astonishing.
An ordinary person would have been struck by the snake before they could even react.
Evelyn looked down and said, "A Black Line Serpent. It’s extremely venomous and can kill a Tier Two Magic Beast."
"However, the Black Line Serpent prefers to burrow into its prey’s body and devour it slowly from the inside, rather than killing it directly with poison."
Li Wei stomped his foot, crushing the Black Line Serpent, which was still dazed from the impact and couldn’t get up.
SPLAT!
A splash of blood-red appeared under his foot.
Lilith glanced over, a look of disgust on her face.
"Aren’t you grossed out?" she asked.
Li Wei lifted his foot. "I have my Invisible Armor on. I didn’t touch the Black Line Serpent, so crushing it won’t get my shoes dirty."
Hearing this, Lilith’s expression flickered.
’The Invisible Armor can even keep you clean?’ she thought. ’I want one too.’
However, she had refused Li Wei’s offer before.
Now, her pride kept her from asking him for it.
Li Wei, however, didn’t notice what Lilith was thinking.
After crushing the Black Line Serpent, he continued forward. "Be careful," he said. "The Poison Dragon Cave is full of dangers."
"Without a Magic Shield, a tiny little Black Line Serpent could kill a Tier Four Mage."
Li Wei waved his hand, casting three layers of Invisible Armor on both Evelyn and Lilith.
Evelyn looked surprised.
"Your Magic is incredible! It can be stacked?"
A smile touched the corners of Lilith’s mouth, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared.
She looked at Li Wei, her expression a mask of indifference.
This time, she accepted it without a word of protest.
Hearing Evelyn’s words, Li Wei just smiled. "It’s nothing, just a little trick."
The three continued on.
Along the way, they encountered several other teams of Extraordinary Professionals.
They were mostly in pairs; it was rare to see larger groups.
This was mainly because there wasn’t much of value to be found in the Poison Dragon Cave, and splitting loot among too many people was difficult.
Exploring the Poison Dragon Cave was a classic case of high risk, high reward.
Basically, finding a single treasure could make you rich overnight.
Everyone who came to the Poison Dragon Cave was dreaming of striking it rich.
Li Wei suddenly thought that the merchant selling Protective Talismans was very clever.
Protective Talismans were one of the essential items for exploring the Poison Dragon Cave.
The merchant didn’t explore the cave himself, but he still extracted value from it through his talismans.
The money people earned from the Poison Dragon Cave all ended up in the merchant’s hands.
It was like selling shovels and sacks next to a gold mine.
He wasn’t mining, but he was making more money than the miners.
When the other teams of Extraordinary Professionals saw Li Wei’s group of three, they didn’t dare to act rashly.
Regardless of anything else, their advantage in numbers was obvious.
The trio arrived before a massive chasm.
A colossal fissure appeared in the cliff face before them, stretching from the depths of the earth up toward the sky.
Evelyn looked at the great fissure and said, "This is the entrance to the second level of the Poison Dragon Cave. It’s much more dangerous down there."