The Six Immortals

The skin of the Apes was simply too strong, and Blue Dragon’s scimitar was plainly ineffective against them, as a result of which Blue Dragon started using his fists and feet. Such direct use of his tremendous strength was enough to shatter the interior of the Apes’ bodies.

The Apes had a very strong natural defense, which was attributed to their rough skin and thick flesh, but their internal organs weren’t equally strong.

Once Blue Dragon discovered this fact, he started taking advantage of it, and started killing the Apes at a pretty fast pace.

Bi Fan continued to use this purple-feathered sword, but was still able to kill the Apes at a pretty decent rate.

It didn’t take the two of them long to finish off the sixteen of those Apes which they confronted with.

The flesh and skin of the ‘transformation’ layer Apes, was a lot tougher than their inferior brethren, owing to which Lone Leaf, and Wang Zhong, had still found themselves unable to resolve their respective opponents, until now.

Bi Fan and Blue Dragon didn’t feel the need to help either of them out, so they quickly started gathering the purple vine.

This vine had been growing for several decades, and they estimated that the vine was probably sixty seven years old; the roots of this vine were almost as thick as a bowl.

They were aware that these vines grew at an awfully slow pace; so much so, that even a decade of growth wouldn’t bring much change in the vine’s height and the vine would only sprout a few more branches.

Blue Dragon and Bi Fan, were both busy for a while, as they continued to collect the immense vine. They decided against uprooting the vine altogether, as they felt that they shouldn’t hinder anyone else’s chances of gaining some benefits from this vine in the future.

Their initial estimate of the vine’s weight, once they were finished collecting it, was around three hundred pounds.

Blue Dragon and Bi Fan were aware that Lone Leaf and Wang Zhong were still engaged in battle, so they started dividing the vine into four equal portions, one for each one of them.

The Chimera seemed quite disheartened, as recently, he had gotten even less chances to fight than his usual quota.

However, the Chimera wouldn’t dare to defy Bi Fan’s command, but would often look at Bi Fan with his pitifully eyes.

Wang Zhong was more powerful, and more experienced, amongst the two of them, so naturally, he managed to finish his opponent before Lone Leaf did.

“These ‘transformation’ layer apes are pretty difficult to deal with. Their flesh seems to be made of iron, and their defense is simply too tough, but then again, they are good for training.” Wang Zhong smiled.

Bi Fan pointed at the bodies of some of his kills, as he said: “The bodies of those Apes belong to you Brother.”

“Thank you for the gift, Brother.” Wang Zhong bluntly accepted Bi Fan’s gift, and collected the bodies.

The four of them had been working together for so long, that they weren’t exactly keeping score anymore.

Lone Leaf was still engaged in a very ferocious battle with the Ape, but still hadn’t been able to kill him off.

However, his momentum had grown stronger, and stronger, after his recent practice, owing to which, he had, gradually, been able to suppress the Ape. But still, the Ape’s natural defense was so rugged, that Lone Leaf had been unable to kill him off, thus far.

Lone Leaf, however, wasn’t really anxious about it, and was using the opportunity to get some more practice under his belt. After all, what would be the point of fighting such a strong opponent, if he didn’t even get to enhance his skills a little?

As time wore on, the Ape that had been fighting with Lone Leaf seemed to have expended most of his energy, and was beginning to slow down.

“Six Yang Horseshoe! Extermination of the nine heavens!” Lone Leaf cast out a new variation of the ‘Six Yang Horseshoe’ attack, and numerous attacks befell the Ape’s body.

This new trick brought a wave of heat, which was strong enough to wither the bushes in his immediate vicinity.

The Ape crashed backwards, and fell to its scar-less death.

Lone Leaf stood over his defeated enemy, looking a bit pale. He sat down immediately, and started meditating.

The battle with the Ape had been a tough one for Lone Leaf, and he had only barely been able to win, and that too at cost of consuming a huge amount of inner energy.

“I never imagined that Brother Lone Leaf had enough energy left to cast out that kind of a stunt, ah!” Blue Dragon was a little surprised.

Wang Zhong said: “He should have done that a lot sooner; things were beginning to get quite tight.”

Bi Fan, and the other two, also sat down, and started to meditate, while the Chimera took the charge of watching their backs.

The three of them ended their practice fairly soon, but Lone Leaf was still busy restoring his energy, which seemed to have improved quite a lot.

Lone Leaf stood up, two hours later, after finally finishing his meditation.

“Ah, now that feels good!” Lone Leaf sighed.

Wang Zhong was a bit surprised: “Oh boy, you’ve already reached the peak of the ‘transformation’ layer!”

“I don’t think I would have been able to do this without the help of the Dan pellets.” Lone Leaf smiled.

Wang Zhong said: “I guess being a student of a big school does have its benefits… they do give you a lot of expensive Dan pellets to assist with your training.”

Lone Leaf continued to smile, but didn’t say anything.

Bi Fan handed over Lone Leaf and Wang Zhong’s shares of the Vine’s collection, and the four of them continued on their way.

The Devil’s Secret Forest was a vast treasure trove, and once inside, one would need more than just luck to stumble upon something, like… a discerning vision.

There were probably several other extremely precious herbs inside this forest, like the purple Vine which the four of them had just acquired, but these herbs were rarely ever taken by others, as most people were oddly blind to their value.

Young practitioners generally concentrate on martial training, and rarely ever have any knowledge of refining materials, like herbs.

The disciples of big martial arts sects, especially, are made to focus their attention on training their strength, and are really given any knowledge on other subjects such as alchemy. These schools usually wait till their students have first acquired enough strength, before they diversify their disciple’s horizons and imparted knowledge of other skills.

Except of course those students, who demonstrate an innate gift for activities like Alchemy at an early age; these kids are usually trained in their specific sciences only since an early age. However, these people rarely ever ventured out into the wild, and are very highly unlikely to adventure into the Devil’s Abyss.

This was one of the primary reasons, owing to which Bi Fan and his friends, had been lucky enough to find such a valuable Panacea.

In the past, Bi Fan had been compelled to learn and study herbs, but this knowledge of his, was coming in handy at this time.

They hadn’t ventured very deep into the Forest, when they ran into the Purple vine, so obviously, they could sense that the Devil’s Forest probably has quite a few more of such treasures within its boundary.

Bi Fan’s eyes were full of expectations, and his excitement was visible in the manner in which he was looking around the forest.

As a former medicine orchard farmer, Bi Fan had a gift for being able to spot precious herbs; so obviously, his excitement was beyond that of a boy who was looking for magical weapons.

“Brother Bi Fan, how did you know about that?” Lone Leaf was quite intrigued by Bi Fan’s knowledge.

He wasn’t the only one; even Wang Zhong and Blue Dragon were marveling at Bi Fan’s versatility.

A person only has a limited amount of energy to expend. So, if Wang Zhong was interested in martial training, then his knowledge on other aspects was fairly limited.

Bi Fan on the other hand, since a young age, had been concentrating on martial training, while developing such a deep understanding of herbs; a feat, which obviously required a lot of effort.

Bi Fan replied: “I don’t know much, but I’m slowly learning. I like alchemy, and some day, if I find the right teacher, I would like to learn more about the science of alchemy.”

“Well, I can’t do that. I’m a very lazy person, so I’m just going to concentrate on martial training.” Wang Zhong spoke up.

Blue Dragon nodded in agreement: “I just like to fight, so I’ll just redeem these vines for spar (currency).”

“If possible, I too would like to dip my hands in the refining and alchemy divisions… Ah, that would be pretty useful. But then again, it takes too much effort.” Although Lone Leaf had some desire to learn the science, but, he too, preferred martial training over other sciences.

Bi Fan mulled over their words for a few while, but didn’t give up on the idea of learning alchemy.

“Jungle Python!” Wang Zhong sucked down a gulp of cold air, as he cautioned the others.

First, they heard the sounds of rustling; followed by the sight of trees shaking at a distance.

Wang Zhong hadn’t seen the culprit yet, and was plainly relying on his vast experience while making the speculation.

After a few moments, the four of them were finally able to see the giant jungle Python; the long, and thick, jungle python.

This jungle Python was long enough to encircle two people at the same time, and they hadn’t even seen the entire length of its body yet.

The Jungle Python saw the four humans, and the Chimera, and suddenly raised his head, opened his mouth, and a stale smell filled the air.

“This guy has some serious breath issues.” Lone Leaf observed, as he covered his nose.

Jungle Pythons are gifted with immense physical strength, and are far more powerful than ordinary Apes.

The Python that there confronted with, was already at the peak of the ‘Transformation’ layer, which when coupled with his brute physical strength, made it effectively as strong as an ‘Emerging from the Womb’ layer enemy. Bi Fan had been confronted with a Python in his past travels, which is why he knew this quite well.

Bi Fan and Wang Zhong looked at each other; their body language carried a trace of fear.

This wasn’t good for them; this jungle python was too strong, and neither of them wanted to find themselves buried into the belly of one.

As for the treasure this Python was guarding, well, let’s just say that the four of them were least bothered to think about it.