In the dark cave, a cultivator from the Wu family was limping and walking slowly forward. After walking dozens of feet, he passed by a cave paved with the bones of monsters. Suddenly, a faint blue light came from the front. Thinking that he had found the exit, he hurriedly quickened his pace.
"This is the Water Spirit Fruit. Haha, I never thought there would be a Water Spirit Fruit tree in this place. I'm going to make a fortune this time."
Wu Ziyuan looked at the water spirit fruit tree in front of him, which was emitting dazzling blue light, with an excited look on his face. He did not notice at all that a figure was slowly approaching him not far away in the darkness.
“Who is it!”
"Friend Wu, it's me, Du Yucheng from the Du family. Please keep your voice down, this seems to be a monster's lair."
A figure slowly emerged from the darkness, his face full of panic. It was a cultivator from the Du family.
"It turned out to be Brother Du. You scared me."
Wu Ziyuan saw that Du Yucheng's injuries were not much better than his. He also looked miserable, with a large piece of mud on his face, which looked really funny.
He had also seen this person in the woods yesterday. He was about the same age as him, around thirty years old. He was considered a young cultivator of this generation, with a cultivation level of only the fifth level of Qi Refining. He was not highly regarded by the cultivators of the Du family, and his status was far inferior to his in the Wu family.
In Wu Ziyuan's eyes, Du Yu was just an ordinary person and his cultivation was not as good as his. He slowly let down his guard and put away the flying sword in his hand.
It was true that these two people and Song Qingming were unlucky. When the three of them were collecting materials about monsters by the pond, they were close to the center of the pond and were not able to react in time when they were drawn into the cave of the black-feathered python by the whirlpool created by the black-feathered python.
Among the three, Song Qingming landed closer to the cave entrance and quickly found the exit. However, the two men landed too far away from the cave entrance, stumbled in the wrong direction, and came to the black-winged python's nest. It was a coincidence that they saw the water spirit fruit tree.
"Friend Wu, this does look like a water spirit fruit tree. It's a pity that these water spirit fruits on the tree will take at least a hundred years to mature. Even if we pick them now, we can't sell them for a single spirit stone. They are of no use to us at all. It's such a pity." Du Yucheng sighed with some regret after he finished speaking.
After hearing this, Wu Ziyuan rolled his eyes and said, "Brother Du, you're wrong. Although this water spirit fruit is useless to us now, this fruit tree is a second-level spirit fruit tree and is very valuable. As long as we can return alive and report this to the family, we will definitely receive a considerable reward, don't you think?"
After Wu Ziyuan finished speaking, a smile appeared on his face, as if he had imagined that he had made another contribution and was rewarded by the family like last time. After he went out, as long as he told the family the news, the clan leader would definitely look at him with higher regard, and he would also be able to obtain more cultivation resources within the clan.
After listening to this, Du Yucheng opened his mouth, thought for a while, and then seemed to suddenly understand. He patted his head and nodded, saying, "Brother Wu, what you said makes sense. Why didn't I think of that just now? Brother Wu is really smart."
Seeing that Du Yucheng had no objection, Wu Ziyuan continued, "It's just that this place is extremely dangerous. I don't know what kind of monster it was that just dragged us here, but it must be quite powerful. We should find a way to escape first."
"After I was dragged in, I have been staying nearby. This cave is full of caves and I can't find a way out. Brother Du, you have a smart mind. Where do you think we should go?" Du Yucheng said with a simple face.
Wu Ziyuan thought for a moment and then said, "When I was sucked into the whirlpool, I seemed to see someone being sucked in with us. Brother Du, have you seen this person?"
Du Yucheng lowered his head and thought for a while, then suddenly said loudly:
"By the way, Brother Wu, I just found a body in a cave ahead. It seems to be a member of your family. I don't know if he was dragged into the cave with us."
"Do you know which one of my family it is? Take me to see it quickly." Wu Ziyuan asked nervously.
"I was startled by the corpse there just now. I didn't go close to take a closer look, but seeing that he was dressed similarly to Brother Wu, he must be from your family. Don't worry, the corpse is in a cave not far ahead. I'll take you there right away."
Du Yucheng led Wu Ziyuan deeper into the caverns and walked a few dozen steps around to a cave. Sure enough, a corpse appeared not far ahead. Du Yucheng ran forward to take a look and shouted, "Brother Wu, this man looks like the head of your family."
"Chief, how could this happen?" When Wu Ziyuan heard this, he immediately ran over in a panic.
Wu Ziyuan ran to Du Yucheng and saw a corpse lying on the ground with only the upper half left. He took a step forward to take a closer look and found something wrong. The man was wearing the silver robes unique to the Liu family monks. He was about to turn around and question Du Yucheng, but at this moment, a shining green dagger had already pierced through his chest from the back.
"Du Yucheng, you, why are you doing this?"
Du Yucheng changed his honest expression and revealed a sinister smile.
"Huh, this Water Spirit Fruit Tree? You actually thought of telling the family what the Wu family can give you? Are they going to throw a few dozen spirit stones at you and send you off like a dog? Do you, you idiot, know the true value of this Water Spirit Fruit Tree?"
"If I had directly informed Xiaoyao Sect of the news about this Shuiling Fruit Tree, there would have been no problem for me to join the Xiaoyao Sect in the future. I might even be able to exchange it for a Foundation Establishment Pill right away. How can someone as short-sighted as you be worthy of sharing this with me?"
"Friend Du, please don't kill me. I am willing to swear a blood oath that after I leave, I will never reveal what happened today. I will pretend that I have never been here." Wu Ziyuan pleaded with a terrified look on his face.
"Brother Wu, don't you understand? As long as you are alive, you are a threat to me. I never like being threatened." Du Pingtao sneered, with a hint of ruthlessness on his face, and kicked Wu Ziyuan to the ground again.
"Du Yucheng, are you really that vicious? If you kill me, aren't you afraid that my Wu family will find out about this in the future?"
"Vicious, haha, isn't the world of immortal cultivation always like this? Even if your last name is Du, I will still take action today. As long as I can build my foundation, whether it's the Wu family or the Du family, I can trample them under my feet, hahahaha."
Wu Ziyuan struggled on the ground in despair, as if he wanted to stand up. Just when he was about to stand up, a cold light flashed across his throat, and Wu Ziyuan's body fell down unwillingly again, without any movement.
"A fool like you can cultivate faster than me. God is really unfair."
After Du Yucheng was dragged into the cave, he happened to land here and immediately discovered the body of the Liu family elder. After secretly taking the storage bag from the Liu family elder, he accidentally reached the Shuiling Fruit Tree before Wu Ziyuan.
After seeing the water spirit fruit tree, he was shocked. He secretly planned to leave here and go directly to Xiaoyao Sect to exchange the water spirit fruit tree for what he wanted.
Just when he was about to leave, he heard Wu Ziyuan's footsteps coming here, so he had to hide in the dark depths of the cave.
Seeing that only Wu Ziyuan came, and he happened to discover the Shuiling Fruit Tree, Du Yucheng became murderous. He wanted to take advantage of the dim light in the cave to slowly approach Wu Ziyuan and attack him, but he didn't expect that Wu Ziyuan's cultivation was higher than his, and he discovered him in advance when he was about to get close.
Du Yucheng's injuries were not actually serious, and he pretended to be in such a miserable state just now. Although Wu Ziyuan's injuries were more serious than his at that time, he did not act rashly and directly, but chose to pretend to be friendly with him. His cultivation was not high, only the fifth level of Qi Refining. Facing Wu Ziyuan who was at the sixth level of Qi Refining, it was indeed difficult for him to be sure of winning even if he launched a sneak attack first.
After lowering Wu Ziyuan's guard, he came up with this method and killed him here.
When they just walked into the cave, Du Yucheng pretended to lead the way and walked in front. He used the corpse of the Liu family elder to make Wu Ziyuan mistakenly believe that it was the head of his own family who was distracted. Then Du Yucheng attacked him from behind and killed him.
Du Yucheng looked at the corpse on the ground, sneered a few times, confirmed that Wu Ziyuan was dead, grabbed the storage bag from his body, turned around and disappeared into the dark cave.
After one stick of incense,
A black python about four or five meters long flew back towards the pond from a distance. After circling the pond several times, the python let out several loud roars at a pile of monster corpses on the shore, and then dived into the water, splashing water.
Fortunately, the Black-Winged Python had always been paying attention to the water spirit fruit tree in the cave and did not keep chasing everyone. It only chased them for a dozen miles and then turned back to the pool. Most people, including Liu Tianlong, escaped with their lives. Only a few unlucky Liu family cultivators were swallowed by the Black-Winged Python.
The Liu family suffered heavy losses in this battle. The clan leader Liu Tianlong was seriously injured. Two elders in the late Qi training stage also died in the monster's cave in order to cover Liu Tianlong's escape. After the black-winged python came ashore, it ignored the cultivators from other families and kept chasing after the Liu family. Along the way, the Liu family lost several cultivators in the middle Qi training stage.
The losses of the other three families were not too serious, except that one cultivator from each family was dragged into the pool of water and his life or death was unknown.