CHAPTER 231: Blood Essence Grass

A plant with a large fan-like leaf emerged from the fiery red rock crevice. Sparkling red light flowed through its entire body.

Drops of bright red liquid were dripping from the hanging leaf of this strange plant. Crystal clear, the liquid drops looked like red diamonds as they fell onto the rock, emitting a sizzling sound and a plume of red smoke. The smoke then disappeared near the roots, as if absorbed by them.

Han Shuo's body moved much faster than Gilbert had expected. In an instant, he was under the leaf, his mouth wide open to catch the dripping red liquid.

Drip... drip...

The blood-like red liquid fell onto the tip of Han Shuo's tongue with a soft thud. As the red smoke rose with a sizzle, he took a deep breath and inhaled it all. Under Gilbert's watchful eyes, Han Shuo's cheeks began to glow red.

Clueless as to what was going on, Gilbert watched Han Shuo's strange actions with a frown, thinking that his master was becoming more and more mysterious.

The plant had originally been healthy and vibrant. However, with each drop of crystal red liquid that trickled down the leaf, crimson spots appeared on its body, slowly becoming one with the red rock.

By the time the liquid had stopped trickling from the leaf, the strange plant had become rock hard and stuck firmly to the red rock below.

By this time, Han Shuo's entire body had turned blood red. He immediately sat down on the spot, his entire being seemingly made of blood, a faintly bright red layer of smoke surrounding his body.

Han Shuo opened his eyes slowly. He let out a long, low whistle and said with high spirits, "The depths of the Dark Forest are truly unfathomable. To be able to find this blood essence grass that strengthens my blood essence, it seems like my luck isn't bad at all."

"What is it?" Gilbert asked in surprise as he stared at the rock-like plant.

"The blood essence grass is an evil plant. After it is formed, it continuously absorbs the energy of the surrounding plants. If it's surrounded by evil plants that feed on the flesh and blood of humans and animals, then the blood of their victims will also be devoured and refined by the roots of the Blood Essence Grass."

"This process must continue for a hundred years before the Blood Essence Grass can produce a fan-shaped leaf. Once this leaf is formed, it will continue to spit out the condensed blood that has been refined over the past hundred years to be reabsorbed into its roots. It will then be able to absorb the surrounding vital energy even faster, and the radius it can absorb will also increase.

"After another hundred years, the Blood Essence Grass will give birth to another leaf after absorbing enough vitality from the surrounding carnivorous plants. This cycle will repeat for a total of nine hundred years. If the blood essence grass can successfully evolve each time, it will eventually become a blood essence that can move freely and possess sentience just like humans. Every plant within a ten-mile radius would be under his control. This is an incredible art!" Han Shuo smiled as he explained the origin of the Blood Essence Grass to Gilbert.

"So amazing. Then what effect did the blood-red liquid have on you? How old is this blood essence grass?" Gilbert asked, surprised by Han Shuo's explanation.

Han Shuo laughed proudly and said, "When I absorb and refine the essence of the grass, I can transform it into my blood essence. In the future, it will prevent me from using up too much Magical Yuan. Too bad this blood essence grass only seemed to be around three hundred years old. If it was nine hundred years old, after being transformed by my blood essence, it'd have the miraculous effect of bringing the dead back to life. If I get cut, the speed of healing will be visible to the naked eye!"

"Is it that magical? Perhaps there are other blood essence grasses in the Dark Forest. We can search for them!" Gilbert exclaimed excitedly after being stunned for a while.

Ignoring Gilbert's excitement, Han Shuo took out the Demon Slayer's Edge and carefully dug up the red rock where the Blood Essence Grass had grown. He shook off the soil around it and finally placed the lump of red rock into the space ring.

"What does the stone do?" Gilbert asked curiously.

"This is a blood essence stone. It is a valuable material, very useful!" Han Shuo knew that Gilbert wouldn't understand even if he explained everything, so he answered half-heartedly.

Looking around, Han Shuo saw nothing else worthy of his attention. Only then did he head into the deeper depths with Gilbert, his heart growing increasingly curious about the Dark Forest.

However, not long after their departure, the powerful presence reappeared. Han Shuo couldn't help but frown, his body freezing in place.

"Who or what are you playing at? Are you done yet?" Han Shuo shouted rudely after taking a cold look around.

Possessing such a strong presence and being able to avoid the eyes of the three yin demons, it would at least possess intelligence if it wasn't human. Such a powerful creature lurking around, eyeing him and Gilbert as if they were prey, made Han Shuo extremely uncomfortable and he couldn't help but lash out violently.

His scream echoed through the ancient forest with no response. After listening for a while, there was still no additional sound. Obviously, the powerful presence hadn't responded to Han Shuo's words.

"There really is something following us!" Gilbert seemed to sense the danger with his instincts and couldn't help but cry out.

Nodding, Han Shuo said quietly, "Indeed, and we have no idea what it is. Even I have no way of tracking it. It also looks quite powerful. We have to be careful, don't give it any advantage!"

No matter what this creature was, if it was confident in dealing with Han Shuo and Gilbert, it wouldn't be lurking around in the dark and would have gone on the offensive by now. . However, it chose to hide, which meant that this creature didn't have the confidence to defeat both of them. Therefore, Han Shuo wasn't too worried.

With the three Yin Demons around, it was impossible for this creature to ambush them. Even though Han Shuo was on alert, he felt no fear at all. On the contrary, he was even more curious and determined to lure this creature out and see what it really was.

The clear moonlight shone down into the depths of the night. Under the moon's rays, the shadows of the towering ancient trees were etched on the ground, looking like the twisting limbs of demonic figures.

Han Shuo and Gilbert were resting in the branches of a ten metre high tree. Gilbert was lazily leaning against the trunk of the tree, sound asleep.

Han Shuo's posture was upright, his breathing even, his heartbeat slow. He sat cross-legged like an upright spear with his eyes closed, silently refining the essence of the Blood Essence Grass he'd ingested earlier in the day.

After who knew how long, Han Shuo's closed eyes suddenly snapped open from his meditation. His bright eyes shone in the night, their pupils sparkling as they scanned the area.

The three Yin Demons had taken up positions around Han Shuo, at his back, left and right. They scanned the area for any anomalies. Suddenly, the Yin Demon at the back spotted ripples appearing on the surface of a nearby lake. It was followed by a huge transparent shadow slowly rising from the surface of the lake.

The watery creature was colossal, on a par with Gilbert in his dragon form. Nine heads on slender necks slowly emerged from its bulk. After emerging from the pool, the originally transparent watery creature became increasingly immaterial until it disappeared completely.

However, a strong presence subtly radiated from that direction, giving off the exact same feeling as the past two days. Han Shuo watched intently for a while and noticed that the wind from that direction was somewhat strange, as if it had encountered an obstacle in the void.

Knocking on Gilbert's sleeping head, Han Shuo abruptly awakened the dark dragon. Gilbert turned his head to look around and asked in a low voice, "What's going on?"

"The super rank magical creature, the Hydra!" Han Shuo replied lightly.

Hearing his words, Gilbert's face paled as he said in a stunned voice, "No wonder, my grandfather said that the Hydra has a skill that allows it to use the power of water to conceal its body and fall into a miraculous invisible state. In addition to its powerful presence, its entire body is poisonous. I can't believe it's targeting us!"

"This Hydra has probably only evolved once, so it's no wonder it followed us but didn't dare to act! Get ready, we'll teach it a lesson!" Han Shuo whispered, his entire body still. He continued to sit there, waiting for the Hydra to arrive.

Gilbert understood, but still pretended to sleep, snoring lightly.