CHAPTER 411: CHAPTER 56: NIGHT OF THE DEMON GRASS

When the night completely engulfed the Greenland Black Forest, an extremely ostentatious golden tent was set up beside the forest.

It was positioned near a dense thicket, with a campfire burning outside the tent, and no Defensive Dark Array was set up in the vicinity.

On the canvas of the tent, the words "Second Generation Soldier" were scrawled, which, unsurprisingly, was the handiwork of the former leader of the Mercenary Team, Luo Compass.

At first glance, it was clearly the work of a novice mercenary. Any experienced mercenaries who had operated in Xuan Beast Ridge would know that at night on Xuan Beast Ridge, one must not use open flames, and when setting up camp, it’s necessary to choose a clearing far from thickets, as Xuan Beasts or carnivorous Spirit Woods could be lurking in the underbrush at night.

Outside the encampment, the most basic Defensive Dark Array needs to be set up as a precaution against sudden attacks.

Yet, for the leader of the "Second Generation Soldier" Mercenary Team, Yue Jinghua, all these were of no consequence.

Inside the tent, Ye Zi was barely keeping her eyelids open as she guarded against Yue Jinghua, who sat a few steps away. As a member of the Charming Clan with the Wood Attribute, the absence of sunlight at night also marked the time when Ye Zi’s Spiritual Power was at its weakest.

Yue Chen gently patted the blanket he carried, which was neatly folded beside him.

Seeing Yue Jinghua curl up uncomfortably, he pushed the blanket towards her back, and without any pretense, she leaned against the soft blanket with contentment on her face.

Ye Zi saw this and her pretty face flushed with anger; she jumped up with her arms akimbo and exclaimed, "Are you here to camp, or to gather ingredients? Since we entered the forest, you first had me set up the tent, then asked the Young Clan Leader to start a fire, with one of you hiding and resting. Finally, when the night came, the Arctic Sweet Yellow should be sprouting, yet you curl up in the tent not moving an inch. At this rate, the other two will have returned to Five Saints Town, while we are still stuck here in the Black Forest."

"What’s the hurry? Haven’t you heard that there’s Ogre Grass in the Black Forest? That pitch-black stuff mostly moves at night. We’ll wait and watch for a few days, make sure it’s safe, then act. I’m the leader; what I say goes," Yue Jinghua said arbitrarily, using her arms as a pillow, closing her eyes, and swiftly falling asleep with her legs crossed.

"This is infuriating," grumbled Ye Zi, clenching her teeth in anger. The tent was cramped and stuffy, and just the sight of the sibling’s closeness was enough to irk her.

Yue Jinghua had agreed to the two of them staying on as temporary squad members on the condition that they defer to her commands.

Ye Zi flung open the tent flap and, ignoring Yue Chen’s attempts to stop her, dashed out alone.

The night in Green Land’s Black Forest was pitch black, one couldn’t see their hand in front of their face, except for some nocturnal Spirit Woods emitting fluorescent light, flickering with emerald light.

"A leader who fears death, huh! Once I find the Arctic Sweet Yellow, we’ll see who’s smug," muttered Ye Zi under her breath, her green dress swishing. As she recited her incantations, strands of green Dark Energy, ribbon-like, emerged beside her.

The Dark Energy quickly split into more than ten streaks of Dark Light, vanishing into every corner of the Black Forest.

A moment later, only one streak of Dark Light flew back from the southwest direction of the forest.

"Found the location of the Arctic Sweet Yellow?" Ye Zi’s delicate eyebrows raised, her face showing delight, her luck indeed was not bad.

She lightly tapped the ground with her feet and, like a shuttle, glided through the camp and proceeded forward.

Just as she leaped, a cluster of Fire Spreading Algae shook its head and made a rustling sound, following in the direction where Ye Zi had disappeared.

Ye Zi’s movement technique was quite exceptional; although she did not match Yue Jinghua’s agility, she was still swift. Roughly seven or eight miles in the style of Jixingle, she stopped before a forest-strewn stone beach that resembled a sandy area.

This stone beach was where the Arctic Sweet Yellow grew.

Arctic Sweet Yellow is a type of Spirit Wood that resembles a fungus.

It’s golden yellow in color and delicious in taste, the main ingredient for Chef Mi Xiu’s specialty dish, Sweet Yellow Baked Cuttlefish.

However, this spirit wood is only available in the summer and autumn seasons. Although they are spirit wood, they have a sense of smell as sensitive as a dog’s nose and hearing like a wolf pack. A slight noise in the vicinity will cause them to immediately retract underground and flee, hence they are also known as Shy Umbrellas.

Ye Zi, who was well aware of the habits of the Arctic Sweet Yellow, thus hid beside a bush a hundred meters away from the stone beach.

At night, around midnight, the Arctic Sweet Yellow began to emerge from the ground.

Ye Zi had already heard a sound like the grinding of teeth, the noise of the Arctic Sweet Yellow breaking through the earth.

Catching a glimpse of a faint golden light appearing in the cracks of the stones on the stone beach, Ye Zi narrowed her eyes.

She lifted her hand and immediately several leaves fell from the bush beside her. After injecting Dark Energy into the leaves, the leaves turned into several leaf blades.

Charming Clan, talent in Dark Techniques, Pick Leaves and Flowers, Instantly become soldiers.

Focusing in tranquility, Ye Zi did not notice that not far from the bush, the Sheep’s Beard Grass, commonly seen in Greenland Black Forest, was tilting towards her direction under the nighttime breeze.

Moving her gaze downward, at the roots of the Sheep’s Beard Grass, which looked no different from reed flowers, a few Snow Witch Birds that had been hopping on branches during the day were now stained with blood red feathers, moistening the roots of the Sheep’s Beard Grass with blood.

"It’s about to come out, I need to collect 10," Ye Zi pursed her lips, and with a "swish," her leaf blade flew out.

Just as the leaf blade cut through the first sprout of Arctic Sweet Yellow, Ye Zi felt a tingling sensation on the back of her head, an innate sense of danger.

From her half-crouched position, she instantly rolled to the side.

"Ding ding ding," dozens of cold gleams. skimmed past the back of her head, and she broke out in a cold sweat from the shock, turning back to see the ground now covered with a dense patch of White thorns.

The White thorns were shaped like steel needles, each as long as a finger and as fine as strands of hair. When they landed in unison, the rocks on the ground instantly shattered, and the rocks that were hit by the White thorns immediately corroded to form pits.

Where did these White thorns come from?

It turned out that the Sheep’s Beard Grass flowers from earlier had become White thorns at night, which could seal the throat upon contact with blood and even corrode stones.

Seeing that Ye Zi had dodged the first wave of attacks from the Sheep’s Beard Grass, immediately afterwards, clusters of Sheep’s Beard Grass shot out a second volley of over a hundred, and a third volley of over a thousand White thorns.

What was even more terrifying was that the Sheep’s Beard Grass, like those highly social Xuan Beasts, immediately attracted more of its kind upon detecting prey.

In the brief period of a few breaths that Ye Zi had just taken, the number of Sheep’s Beard Grass around her had multiplied. They were like archers ready for battle, launching a fierce attack on Ye Zi.

Having witnessed the ferocity of the White thorns, Ye Zi did not dare to face them head-on. Forgoing the easily harvested Arctic Sweet Yellow, she gritted her teeth, rapidly turned leaves into blades, raised and dropped her hand, and quickly uprooted a cluster of Sheep’s Beard Grass, making a clumsy escape.

Behind her was an unceasing tide-like growth of Sheep’s Beard Grass constantly shooting out White thorns. Ye Zi ran desperately and just when she thought she would exhaust her spiritual power and die from the White thorns of the Sheep’s Beard Grass, the White thorns behind her suddenly vanished as if they had disappeared.

She looked back and could not help but be dumbfounded.