Chapter 700: Meet

　　Qiang Wanzhou moved and was about to get up and follow her.

　　Chu Liuyue turned around and lightly shook her head.

　　Qiang Wanzhou pressed his lips against each other tightly and could only stay where he was. However, his gaze was glued to Chu Liuyue as if he was afraid that she would meet with danger. After all, this Mystic Forest was indeed very strange throughout the entire journey.

　　Once he thought of the scene he saw previously, uneasiness surfaced in Qiang Wanzhou’s heart.

　　Chu Liuyue didn’t care about him and just walked forward.

　　Perhaps it was due to the ninth-grade fiend’s strength, but the strange mist didn’t spread to this area in the end. The forest within miles still looked very normal.

　　Chu Liuyue stepped on the thick leaves and walked forward.

　　Tuan Zi jumped onto her shoulders, turned around, and watched the lightning gathering in the sky.

　　Chu Liuyue patted it in comfort. “When I settle these things, we’ll go back immediately.”

　　Not only Tuan Zi, but she also wanted to continue watching.

　　If it weren’t for Jiang Yucheng… Chu Liuyue walked as she carefully listened for where the voice came from.

　　After walking a distance, that voice became increasingly close.

　　In the end, Chu Liuyue stood in front of two intersecting trees and stared at the ground closely. It seems that… He’s right below here!

　　Thick layers of wilted leaves were piled up around this area’s surface—it didn’t seem any different from the other places. But by standing there, she could clearly hear Jiang Yucheng’s painful cries coming from below.

　　A thought popped up in Chu Liuyue’s mind as she waved her sleeves.

　　The fallen leaves flew up respectively, and a root that was jutting out was found below.

　　Dust and moss gathered on top of it, and one really wouldn’t be able to tell what it was if they didn’t examine it carefully.

　　Chu Liuyue leaned her ear in and almost confirmed that Jiang Yucheng was below this tree.

　　I wonder how he ended up below here… Chu Liuyue thought as she knocked against the root.

　　Knock knock…

　　Jiang Yucheng’s voice suddenly stopped. He had clearly heard this sound.

　　Chu Liuyue chuckled.

　　According to Jiang Yucheng’s meticulous and doubtful nature, he won’t think of asking for help when he hears this sound. Instead, he’ll think about how to avoid this danger. Even if one gives him ten times the courage, he won’t dare to rush up.

　　Chu Liuyue knocked against it again.

　　Knock! Knock! Knock!

　　This time, Jiang Yucheng became even quieter.

　　On the other hand, the root gradually moved.

　　Chu Liuyue looked up.

　　The tree beside her was also a rolling leaf fir.

　　It seems like… it wants to leave?

　　The root moved, and the soil and moss on it slowly dropped. A faint bloody smell then spread around.

　　Chu Liuyue knitted her brows. This smell… It seems like the smell of blood, and it even has the smell of something rotting…

　　Suddenly, her gaze focused as she stared at the numerous roots exposed on the outside.

　　The thin walls looked as if they were transparent as they were filled with red liquid that was slowly moving around. It was like… red blood!

　　Chu Liuyue’s eyes shrunk. I’ve seen rolling leaf fir roots before, but I have never witnessed such a situation!

　　Chu Liuyue took a deep breath in and stared at the blood hand-like tree root as her mind kept replaying scenes that she had seen before. Oh right, the roots of those rolling leaf firs all seemed to be glowing red! But those trees weren’t as old as this one, and their roots were naturally much smaller. In addition, I didn’t take a close look at that time… Are all those roots actually like this?

　　Chu Liuyue took half a step back, whipped out her dagger, and directly stabbed it into the root.

　　Whoosh!

　　Red liquid gushed out, and the intense, bloody smell attacked her nose!

　　Chu Liuyue was shocked. There’s really blood inside! Even though it might not be pure blood liquid, quite a bit of real blood is definitely mixed within. If not, it wouldn’t be this color or smell! Where did all of this blood come from?

　　Thinking of when she saw the sinisterly weird scene earlier, a chill ran down Chu Liuyue’s spine. Could it be… Those people… The Dahuang Swamp is filled with dangers, but it also has a lot of temptations. Many cultivators come over every year, but only a small portion of them can survive. The remaining majority of them were actually buried in Dahuang Swamp. If rolling leaf firs really rely on sucking and eating human blood to nourish themselves… Then, this piece of lush greenery in the Mystic Forest—

　　Chu Liuyue’s eyelids twitched.

　　Hong long!

　　The second bolt of lightning harshly struck down!

　　Chu Liuyue immediately turned around and glanced at the scene. The dazzling light almost made her unable to open her eyes.

　　The strength of that lightning bolt was clearly greater than the first one.

　　Chu Liuyue squinted her eyes and vaguely saw the rainbow color in the bottom half of the barrier quickly disappearing as it gathered above.

　　Finally, it merged with the bright glow!

　　That should be the fiend absorbing the strength from its own barrier to fight against the lightning, right?

　　The transparent portions of the barrier expanded, but on Chu Liuyue’s side, she could only see the fallen leaves within and some stones.

　　Other than this, there was nothing else.

　　Chu Liuyue was a little disappointed. It seems like I have to wait a while before I can see the appearance of the fiend within…

　　Zing…

　　The sound of something being dragged across the ground was heard.

　　Chu Liuyue immediately turned around and spotted the tree root that she had stabbed a hole in.

　　That tree root was bleeding, and the bright red liquid flowed everywhere, creating a huge puddle that looked terrifying.

　　Chu Liuyue’s actions seemed to have triggered it to some extent.

　　It shrunk a little, and it moved even faster. The remaining roots were gradually being dragged out of the ground.

　　The entire tree started shaking as if it was waiting for this root to be extracted from the ground before it could directly run to escape.

　　Chu Liuyue’s eyes turned slightly as she held her dagger tightly. She was about to take action when she saw a shred of cloth on the tree root.

　　Even though it was stained with soil, she could clearly see that the material was new and very expensive.

　　That is a piece of Jiang Yucheng’s clothes! He is indeed underground here! Looking at the bloodstained cloth, Chu Liuyue’s lips curled up into a cold smile. It seems like Jiang Yucheng isn’t having an easy life below here… Perhaps this tree root has absorbed some of his blood?

　　A familiar aura became increasingly close.

　　Chu Liuyue stabbed the root again, and the root moved even more aggressively!

　　A large piece of ground was suddenly overturned.

　　Half a person’s figure was hurled out from underneath all of a sudden—this person was Jiang Yucheng!

　　The upper half of his body was tightly intertwined by the tree roots’ sections, and only his arm could move while the lower half of his body was still in the ground.

　　His body was covered with bloodstains, and he looked extremely miserable.

　　However, he was still very alert. The moment he came out, he immediately hurled the longsword in his hands and slashed at Chu Liuyue.

　　Chu Liuyue agilely avoided it, smiled, and said, “Eldest Young Master Jiang, what are you doing?”

　　Jiang Yucheng paused in his actions before seeing the smiling young girl in front of him. “Chu Liuyue?!”