Forest (6)

The group headed further into the forest. They had been walking for an hour and a half by now at a slow pace. Long Xiu Yun didn't know where they were headed and quietly followed along.

Her injuries would sting from time to time as she walked, but so long as she didn't do any vigorous or wide movements, her injuries wouldn't worsen.

The group walked on silently, the little Scaled Winged Jaguar cub wrapped around Yijun's neck swishing its tail back and forth.

Trudging along the forest floor, the group didn't encounter any spiritual beasts so far. Long Xiu Yun knew it was due to her bloodline that kept the low rank spiritual beasts at bay, however the others didn't, wariness prominent on Yijun's young face.

As the trees grew sparser, increasingly more light filtered through the trees. The group walked past fewer and fewer trees until an elegant lake with fresh lotus flowers on its glittering surface entered their vision.

The lake was 200 feet in diameter filled with beautiful colors of light pink and lush green on its clear blue surface. The waters were calm and tranquil. The suns rays illuminating from above and lighting the lake as though it was a spotlight on center stage.

Such a picturesque scene made Long Xiu Yun wish she had a camera in order to capture its beauty.

The group walked towards the edge of the lake, taking in the magnificent view.

"Shixiong. There," Yijun pointed towards the right side of the lake. "isn't that it!"

About 50 or so feet from the lake's edge stood three stalks of plants emerging from the water. The stalks of the plants were long and towered a foot or so above the water. A single flower on each tip weighed the stalks down, pointing the flowers downwards. They resembled bellflowers and each flower had a different hue to it. One was a deep violet. Another had a pinkish purple hue that faded into purple at the flowers tip. And the last was a light shade of bluish purple, very calm and serene.

His shixiong nodded in response calmly stating, "Wait here."

He waded into the water and slowly swam towards the plants, maneuvering around and pushing the lotus flowers and roots in his way. The lake's surface was filled to the brim with these lotus flowers and the stems underneath the waters stuck close together, entangling one another. It was difficult for him to advance quickly.

Long Xiu Yun and Yijun watched at the bank of the lake as he drew closer and closer towards the flowers.

"Big brother Yijun, what are those flowers called?"

Suddenly being called in such a way, Yijun paused before looking at the little girl next to him. She barely reached his lips in height. Her face was still pale and she had a curious look as she watched his shixiong swimming further out. She looked innocent and sweet, yet those slit pupils of hers gave her a tranquil gaze that bore down on others, like being watched by an unknown creature with an unknown intent. There was only curiosity in her voice and nothing else.

Yijun turned his head back towards the lake, "They're called Sunlight Bells and can only be found in bodies of waters where the sun constantly shines and spiritual energy thrives."

"I see." Long Xiu Yun said in a low voice. She watched as his shixiong finally reached the plants. He floated next to them for a moment as he prepared to gather them. "What are they used for?"

Her right foot stepped into the lake as she moved a little closer.

As though to answer her, a ripple undulated through the water's calm surface. It swept over the plants and the person in the water, their figures swaying with the water's motion.

His shixiong paused, a serious expression on his face. He scanned the water, his back against the plants. There was no hint of a shadow in the water, however the ripples in the water became more frequent. More intense. The waves swayed vigorously as though an enormous creature was waking from its slumber.

His shixiong drifting along with the waves drifted further from the plants inadvertently.

"Shixiong, below you!" Yijun yelled with urgency, taking a couple of steps into the water.

Long Xiu Yun and Yijun could see a long, massive shadow writhing under the water's surface. The shadow covered his shixiong and the area 20 feet around him as well. It was no wonder his shixiong couldn't see anything, the creature was too big and took up the whole field of his vision!

The vague shadow became darker and darker as the waves became more intense, sweeping all the plants a few feet away with it. As the shadow became pitch black, its body broke the surface of the water. A gigantic elongated body the thickness of a house moved in the water. This was merely a part of its body and not its head. Several more elongated body parts the thickness of a house broke out above the lake, writhing and slithering in the 20 foot area.

The shixiong was swept away by the numerous waves it created. He couldn't get his bearing. Swimming, he felt something move beneath his feet. Before he could react, he was hoisted several feet up into the air.

Stabilizing his balance on the slithering creature beneath him, he took in the view ahead of him. A gigantic head layered with dense black iridescent scales that reflected all light entered his sight. Piercing eyes as dark as its body glowed under the suns' rays. Emerging on the sides of its heads were what looked like external gills connected together by thin webbing. Two horns just as pitch black adorned above them. Its gigantic tongue flickering in and out of its mouth.

Long Xiu Yun broke out into a cold sweat at the size of the snake that had emerged from underneath the water. Just the front body alone already stood 20 feet above the surface of the lake. This wasn't mentioning all the portions still peaking out of the water and wrapped around underneath it. The shixiong shakily stood on one of these little portions sticking out of the water. How massive would this thing be if it exposed its whole body to the surface?

Contrasting against its pitch black body, the bright colors of the plant's flowers struck her vision harshly, like a needle stabbing her eye.