Chương 21: 15.2. Red Glazed Swamp

The Red Glazed swamp was mostly unnatural, brilliant blue shallow water. A close look would reveal what appeared to be bloody mist deeper in the water, while even the reflections had a red tinge. Near black, dark brown trunks and branches jutted out from the water. Violently bright red leaves covered the branches in thick clumps forming a dense canopy. Dark, bloody looking vines swayed from the branches, stirring the water and briefly dispelling the bloody mist in its depths.

If all had gone well, despite the beasts that inhabited this region, the rescue mission should have been relatively safe. The only reason Faust had gathered a large team was for the just in case scenario, as the Mirror Hall elder had suggested. But… Of course we aren't that lucky. Faust seethed in his mind. The Golden Mirror Formation was just a precaution, he hadn't actually thought they would be relying on it. Well… To be more precise, Satheon and Damarius just didn't know the words retreat. BOOOOOOOM!!!

A golden cone of light engulfed more or less the entire western direction of this area of the Red Glazed swamp.

"HOLD!" Faust shouted to Phalecia, Sue Jane, Sirius and Dan Chen, who were maintaining the Golden Mirror's in the sky, orbiting around the area like burning stars against the blue sky.

"We're trying, you know!" Sirius shouted back, following the Golden Mirrors as she and the other three were forced to feed two mirrors at once.

"CROAK! CROAK!" The elephant sized golden frog croaked as it turned from its missed shot to the rest of the group, having obliterated Yue Zong's wooden clone.

"Is it making fun of us!?" Sirius shouted.

"Fighting a 4th level beast is not what I signed up for!" Yue Zong shouted, letting vast amounts of Qi flow through her arrow. BANG! The arrow sailed through the sky, closer to the likes of a cannon than a bow. The golden frog seemed to regard the arrow with disdain however as it hopped over it, moving almost before the arrow was released. A sharp hill protruding from the swamp had its top sheared off by the stray arrow, shattering in a cloud of dust. Golden light gathered at the golden frog's mouth.

"Heaveeeeannnssss!!!!" Yue Zong screeched as she tried her best to get out of the path of fire. Not that it was so easy to evade a 4th level beast. Restraining the Heaven and Earth qi with the Golden Mirror formation was only sealing one part of the Golden Core's power. Faust finished his spell casting. Solaris Lance! Moments before the golden light erupted, the frog was engulfed in white flames. For a brief moment, the world was bathed in yellow and orange hues. It only lasted a moment.

Blue light shone through the orange, until it engulfed the amber hues, turning the world shades of blue.

"CROOOAAK!!!" The golden frog's croak reverberated across the swamp. The ball of light dispersed into a shower of blue and orange motes of light. The frog's attack had been interrupted, but it was uninjured.

"Tch." Faust didn't have time to complain, he immediately began casting again even as the frog's black pupils spun around in their sockets and glanced at him.

"HAAAAHHHH!!!" Satheon roared. His halberd glowed with golden light as he shot across the water and smashed through the remains of the red swamp trees. Black shadows curled around Damarius's pitch black spear as he glided across the water from the opposite side of the Golden Frog. The frog glanced between the two people before jumping towards Satheon. ZING! Damarius's spear missed, a black shadow shooting forwards and obliterating a line of trees for hundreds of meters.

Satheon's halberd came down, but the Golden Frog hardly seemed concerned as it kept its eyes on Damarius, before flicking to Faust once again.

"HAAH!!!" Satheon's halberd hit, cutting a shallow line before the Golden Frog leapt away. Another arrow from Yue Zong shot past where the Golden Frog had been a moment before. BOOOM! The swamp in the distance was decimated for another hundred meters, turned into an open lake with nothing but floating bits of wood and bark. Faust racked his head. Damarius, Yue Zong and himself had the capability to severely injure the golden frog. The problem was its speed and reaction.

It wouldn't be a problem if they could reduce that speed, but it was strong enough physically to brute force itself out of most attempts to slow it down. For spells, the frog's heavy Water and Earth Qi alignment was not in Faust's favour. His strongest normal spell was Solaris Lance, which was Fire Qi based. There was also Heaven's Smite. It was taxing on his channels, but seeing no other way out of this, Faust started casting it anyways.

"I'm preparing my strongest spell! Give me time!" Faust shouted.

"Do you think we're treating it to tea!" Yue Zong retorted as her arrow sailed harmlessly past the golden frog again. If not for Damarius and Satheon at such close range, both Yue Zong and Faust would have more options, but at the same time, there was no way the golden frog was just gonna stay still and let them both charge their attacks. The golden frog tried to charge its own golden light attack, but it was forced to jump and evade a series of Damarius's spear moves.

Another arrow sailed through and the golden frog finally gave up charging its golden light attack as it leapt away towards Satheon.

"ARGH!" The frog landed on top of Satheon, pressing him into the water.

"..." Faust really needed to help Satheon find a better weapon. A first tier weapon wielded with a reinforcement array and raw physical strength still worked on a peak 3rd level beast like a mostly transformed flood dragon, but it had already been at its limit even in that fight. Satheon was basically being ignored by the golden frog at this point. Damarius snorted as he turned and struck again. The golden frog opened its mouth and a purple tongue slithered out before curving and whipping at Damarius.

"Hmf." Damarius snorted as he tapped the ground with his foot, jumping and spinning over the tongue, while swinging his spear upwards and to the side. Zing! The tongue was cut in half by Damarius's strike and the croaking squeal echoed across the sky.

"Huu…" Faust relaxed his neck a bit. This creature was completely underwhelming compared to the flood dragon. The tongue, most probably coated in toxins or poison, could have been far more dangerous, but the golden frog wasn't intelligent enough to be a truly dangerous opponent once Heaven and Earth Qi was suppressed. Thunder crackled in the clear skies. Gray clouds began to form out of nothing. Damarius's attacks forced the frog to leap off of Satheon.

The frog's eyes widened, it looked up and water and Water Qi rushed up, forming a massive, thick bubble around it. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Wrong move. Faust thought. The flood dragon had concealed its Qi attributes until the last moment when it was approaching death. The frog on the other hand didn't bother hiding its attributes. Lighting Qi passed through Water Qi like air. Heaven's smite.

The bright blue sky turned black for a moment as a bolt of lightning struck down, revealing the world in nothing but black and white hues for a split second. The world went back to normal, returning to its vibrant hues.

"Huuu…." Faust shuddered, feeling the strain from the spell technique. Without having fully recovered from the minor internal injuries of the last time he had cast it, Faust felt the drawbacks even more clearly, like needles under his skin and worms in his heart. At least, changing three of the techniques Qi paths had worked in reducing the backlash, despite the increased complexity Faust had introduced in turn.

Faust pulled out a leather wallet from his spatial pouch, unfolding it to reveal rows of different needles.

"The woes of a poor technique master…" Faust muttered, taking several needles and stabbing himself in various places while changing the way he cycled his Qi. He would give those channels time to rest, letting only a thin stream of Wood Qi through to soothe the internal injuries. Back on the ground, the shield of water and Water Qi collapsed. A black and burnt frog twitched violently, but slowly got to its feet. Without Heaven and Earth Qi to defend, Heaven's Smite had proved far more effective.

"Hooo! HAAH!" Satheon, dripping wet after having been pressed under the water, charged with renewed vigor. Damarius also charged in. The frog leapt away, however it landed awkwardly and its eyes were as charred as the rest of its body. Yue Zong's arrow hit the frog square in the side.

"Craok!" The frog whined pitifully as the arrow ripped a massive hole through its side. The shock from the arrow caused the frog to react slowly to Damarius closing in. The frog jumped weakly to the side. Now that the toxins covering its skin had been burnt away however, it got body slammed by Satheon, who it had ignored for so long, back into Damarius's path. Several more holes were torn open by Damarius's spear. The frog tried leaping away, but it had to stop short to avoid the path of Yue Zong's next arrow.

The pause caused the frog to once again be set on by Damarius. Faust let tension drain from his shoulders. The beast had started panicking. It lacked the intelligent gleam of the flood dragon, as well as the determination to fight until its last breath. In its futile attempts to escape, the frog kept getting caught by Damrius and Yue Zong, being checked in its escape by Satheon's body slams. Though he couldn't injure the beast, his 4th realm body tempering made him a human battering ram.

Several more minutes passed.

"HAHAHA! The beast has been slain!" Satheon boomed, standing atop the corpse. Damarius gave a few more stabs into the body, before snorting and turning away. Faust and Yue Zong approached closer, finally getting a good look at the frog.

"Bloody hell! Who's idea was it to fight this thing!" Yue Zong shouted angrily. Faust glanced at Damarius, who had turned his back and was already meditating atop a floating log in the water.

"We've killed it now anyways." Faust sighed, adapting the simple Water Walking Technique to sit down on the surface of the bright azure swamp water.

"It was a weak beast for its realm, I believe Damarius made the right decision." Sue Jane, the Damarius glazer, hovered beside the group on her flying sword, joined by Phalecia, Sirius and Dan Chen.

"I don't think frog beasts have much value. Perhaps, there is still some alchemical value for its poison sack though." Dan Chen stroked his stubble of a beard, inspecting the corpse.

"Frog legs are good!" Sirius chimed in, already pulling out a filleting knife from her new spatial pouch and licking her lips as she approached.

"Urgh…" Sue Jane cringed at the mention of frog legs. Faust raised an eyebrow, curious if she would keep that attitude once Sirius was done cooking them.

"Based on my knowledge of this region, highly prized for its abundance of alchemical ingredients, I believe the creatures here avoid the auras of the recently dead." Dan Chen looked around. Faust nodded, "That's what my memory tells me as well."

"Why are beasts not attracted?" Phalecia asked. Faust opened his mouth to answer.

"Here, the toxins and poison make corpses inedible and most fighting pointless." Damarius cut in with a concise explanation. Faust and Dan Chen side eyed Damarius, who was meditating with his back to them. He technically wasn't wrong, but there was a lot of scholarly debate to be had for the specifics. Faust decided to ignore it.

"Let's set up camp just over there then." Faust pointed to the sheared hilltop in the distance. The group looked over and mostly nodded, they just needed to wait for Dan Chen and Phalecia to harvest useful parts while Sirius was already scraping charcoal off the now detached frog legs.

"Urgh… I don't want to die…" Mue Dian heard one of the younger outer disciples sob. Including herself and Persius, three outer disciples had been caught not long ago. None of them could move. Dian ignored the sobbing, trying to turn towards Persius, with little success. Her entire body was like a puppet without a master, limp on the wet stone.

"Can you move?" She asked. Persist used poisons regularly to hunt beasts, so he should have some resistance, surely.

"Urgg… It's chewing through my spirit body… everytime I purge some poison from my channels, more seeps in…" Persius groaned. He had been doing that ever since they were caught by that Jade Toad. He couldn't simultaneously purge the poison while simultaneously reinforcing his spirit body which kept threatening to buckle under the poison's assault.

"Will you be able to get us out?" Dian asked again. She had tried her best, but nothing she did had been of any help with the poison.

"..." There was a long silence.

"Maybe…" Persius said. Maybe. Dian felt her heart beating wildly and butterflies seemed to tickle the back of her throat. It would be fine, she told herself. The reason they had dared venture the Red Glazed region was because Persius was a poison master. One of the hundred professions. Time passed quietly, only broken by groans or sobs. The Jade Toad returned to the nest. Its form barely fit into the stone cave.

It had to flap its legs and arms around, squeezing itself through using the layer of toxin that gave its skin its jade like glaze. Despite not being able to move a finger, Dian could practically feel the color draining from everyone's faces as the toad looked around, its blue eyes glancing at each of them. The toad made small hops to a pile of black goop, before it started licking it with its tongue, slurping it up. Dian felt her gut twist in horror.

That black group had been a massive dragonfly creature 2 days ago. 6 days ago there had also been a barely breathing platypus thing as big as a person. Dian had felt it was roughly equal to the mid Open Palace realm. Said platypus had also turned into black goop last night, taking its last breaths the day after Dian and Persius had been caught. Dian closed her eyes, one of the few things she could still move.

She hoped this was some bad nightmare, that she would wake up back at the sect, meet with Persius, spar with him for most of the day and then go back to meditate. Suddenly, Faust and Sirius's voice echoed in her mind. Pushback your breakthrough, Faust had said. Use external materials, I have some spares if you need. Sirius's voice echoed. You fool! Why didn't you listen! You've thrown any hope of reaching the Golden Core realm just so you could break through a few months faster!

Sirius had yelled at them when they had expected a celebratory meal for their successful breakthrough. It's…. The Open Palace realm… The toughness of the palace foundation is the most important factor, which dictates the new strength of your now reinforced Minor and Major meridian channels. Letting you push tens of times more Qi through them without risking them breaking.

It's also an opportunity to bake a special ability into your spirit body, one which can be used instantly, without warning and depending on the ability, without any Qi either. Faust had explained to them with a troubled expression after Sirius dragged him over to berate them as well. Dian felt her lower lip tremble. She should have listened. She promised to herself that if she survived this, she would apologise to both Sirius and Faust. Who had shown nothing but goodwill over the years.

Even when she had wondered down to the Outer Sect, specifically to find Faust and ask him something, he would answer. Suddenly, it occurred to Dian she had barely given anything back to Faust and Sirius for all the meals she made, or the invaluable advice and guidance in cultivation Faust had always dispensed.

"Don't give up yet." Persius's voice said. Dian opened her eyes.

"We're gonna die anyways!" One of the outer sect disciples shouted.

"Keep increasing the pressure in your Meridian Channels, or inside your body if you're at Qi refining. It will slow the poison." Persius said.

"ITS USELESS!" The outer disciple shouted. Persius didn't respond. Dian looked idly, she had gotten her hopes up for nothing it seemed. Just as Dian was about to close her eyes, she heard something. The Jade Toad turned and locked its gaze on the entrance. Dian held her breath.

"It's nest should be around here." A distant voice sounded.

"PEOPLE!" One of the other disciples shouted, so loud it hurt Dian's ears. Mue Dian felt her whole body tremble, butterflies in her stomach. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes, but she did everything in her power to suppress them. She hadn't cried since her father died in a bandit attack. His last breaths were taken stroking her back and telling her not to cry. The Jade Toad made several rapid hops, before squeezing out of the cave entrance. There was a rush of voices, followed by a loud snort. The cave shook.

A rock fell from the ceiling. One of the disciples yelled from something falling on them. A shadow appeared at the cave entrance. A man with a pitch black spear and a mane of straight black hair entered the cave, scanning the inside of the cave. The purple and gold Inner Sect robes made the man look like an angel descending from heaven to bring salvation to all mortals. The man turned, "People. Poisoned." He walked back out. Then, faces Dian thought she would never see again appeared.

Phalecia entered the cave a step behind another, older man, wearing the robes of the alchemy hall. Faust entered right behind the two, holding a small jade toad between a pair of chopsticks. Faust's usually gentle and relaxed expression was twisted with concern, until his gaze passed over Dian and Persius. His shoulders slumped and he looked down, taking a deep breath.