“Can we make it through?” Hu Ma Zi’s face was full of shock.
“If we don’t move, we’re dead anyway, so let’s take a chance…” Chen Ping said, leading Hu Ma Zi towards the swamp!
The black mud of Bone Rot Swamp gurgled underfoot, the sticky sludge like countless cold hands trying to drag any living thing that stepped into it down into the abyss.
Chen Ping grabbed Hu Ma Zi’s arm with one hand, while the other swung the Dragon-Slaying Sword, hacking at the poisonous swamp vines lunging towards them, golden sword qi leaving streaks of afterimages in the dim swamp air.
“Watch your step!”
Chen Ping suddenly shouted, yanking Hu Ma Zi sharply to the left.
The spot where they had just stood collapsed instantly, and from the black mud surged rows of sharp white bones. If they’d been half a step slower, they’d already be pierced through the chest.
Hu Ma Zi, still shaken, gasped for breath, the wound on his chest splitting open again from the intense movement, blood dripping into the mud, instantly attracting a swarm of black bugs the size of fingernails.
The bugs devoured the blood at a visible speed, even gnawing small pits into the surrounding mud.
“This place is cursed!”
Hu Ma Zi wiped the mud from his face, his voice trembling with a sob, “The Crimson Fairy and her lot wouldn’t chase us in here, would they?”
Before he finished speaking, the Crimson Fairy’s icy scolding echoed from behind, “Useless fools! Can’t even stop two wounded men? After them! They won’t get far!”
Chen Ping glanced back, seeing dozens of shadowy figures at the swamp’s edge, the Crimson Fairy’s red robe standing out starkly in the dim light.
His heart sank, he hadn’t expected them to actually dare enter Bone Rot Swamp.
“Looks like we’ll have to go deeper.”
Chen Ping gritted his teeth, pulling the last two poison-warding pills from his storage pouch and handing one to Hu Ma Zi, “Keep it in your mouth, it’ll block some of the toxic fumes.”
Chen Ping was immune to all poisons, so he had no need for such pills.
The two trudged through the swamp, one deep step after another, the deeper they went, the thicker the foul, toxic air became, even the poison-warding pill struggling to fully protect them.
Chen Ping felt a stabbing pain in his sea of consciousness, the Heart Condensation Art in his body starting to falter, his sixth-rank Loose Immortal cultivation only able to muster eighty percent of its power in this harsh environment.
Suddenly, a mass of pale purple bubbles rose from the mud ahead, a purer, more potent toxin spreading out.
Hu Ma Zi inhaled a breath, his face instantly turning purple, coughing as he collapsed into the mud.
“Master Hu!”
Chen Ping quickly turned to help him up, only to see Hu Ma Zi’s lips starting to rot.
Panic surged in him, and as he prepared to channel spiritual energy to save him, a glint caught his eye, something shimmering in the mud.
It was a snow-white lotus, growing on a black rock protruding from the sludge.
A faint white glow surrounded the lotus, keeping the toxic air at bay, even the flesh-eating black bugs didn’t dare approach.
“Is that… a World-Cleansing Green Lotus?”
Chen Ping’s mind flashed with records from ancient texts, this rare flower was said to purify all toxins in the world and could aid cultivators in breaking through bottlenecks.
Without hesitation, he hoisted Hu Ma Zi onto his back, waded through the mud, and carefully plucked the green lotus.
The lotus felt warm and smooth in his hand, and the moment he touched it, the surrounding toxic air seemed to meet its nemesis, rapidly dissipating.
Chen Ping tore off half the lotus petals, stuffing them into Hu Ma Zi’s mouth, and chewed and swallowed the other half himself.
A cool stream flowed down his throat into his dantian, his sluggish spiritual energy instantly becoming vibrant again.
The stabbing pain in his sea of consciousness vanished, every pore in his body greedily absorbing the pure energy radiating from the lotus.
To his delight, the sixth-rank Loose Immortal bottleneck that had plagued him for so long was starting to loosen!
“Rumble!”
