Explosions rang out continuously.
"Damn beast—" Li Hong shouted in rage and fear.
The Thunderous Golden Toad merely let out a cold humph. In the next instant, it opened its mouth again, and a long tongue like a black lightning bolt shot towards Li Hong.
The air was torn apart with a sharp whistling sound as the tongue passed through.
Seeing this, Li Hong was terrified and immediately fled desperately at the fastest speed.
Watching the figure of man and beast disappearing into the night, Lu Yaoyao, who was hiding in the mist and witnessed everything, couldn’t help but swallow hard and patted her chest in lingering fear.
Then, looking at Zhou Qing with a solemn expression, she felt nothing but admiration.
[Heart Mirror Points +9]
Soon, the note above her head that said "Good Man" turned into "Good Judgment" in the blink of an eye.
Hearing the prompt sound and meeting Lu Yaoyao’s gaze, Zhou Qing smiled slightly.
"Brother Zhou, how did you know it was pretending to be dead?" Lu Yaoyao asked curiously in a lowered voice.
Zhou Qing patiently explained, "By paying close attention to details, you can find many flaws. For example, the foul stench of a corpse that appeared unusually, or the direction it chose to bury itself..."
Since they had some spare time, Zhou Qing decided to pass on some of his experience to this girl.
Others might scoff, but Lu Yaoyao was earnest and obedient in learning.
Like last time in the secret passage, because the second uncle was also there, she obediently pretended to sleep and resisted her curiosity without peeking.
This time, her cautious behavior during the operation showed great tacit understanding with him.
At this moment, Lu Yaoyao listened attentively, nodding constantly and suddenly realizing things, engraving all these experiences firmly in her memory.
"Understood. What should we do now? Should we go find the master’s inheritance?" Lu Yaoyao asked again.
Zhou Qing slightly shook his head, his expression steady as he said, "No rush. Let’s wait until this Thunderous Golden Toad is completely dead first."
"Dead? I saw its vital energy was still strong. It was clearly pretending to fish," Lu Yaoyao said with a confused look.
Zhou Qing only smiled faintly, speaking with certainty, "Don’t worry, it will return."
Sure enough, after about two hours, the Thunderous Golden Toad returned.
Its aura had become dim and dark again, like a candle about to burn out, with arcs of thunder reappearing on its back, starting to probe and sense.
It was unclear whether Li Hong had escaped or been killed.
The two watched as the Thunderous Golden Toad’s figure disappeared into the thick fog without daring to follow rashly.
After all, who knew what crazy things it might do in its dying moments?
Zhou Qing wasn’t in a hurry, he had plenty of time, especially since tonight was still a crescent moon.
Until daybreak, distant whistling sounds suddenly came from far away in the sky.
The two immediately huddled up and hid their forms.
Not long after, they saw several figures sneaking towards them.
Zhou Qing narrowed his eyes, recognizing two figures in black robes among them, and on the shoulder of one floated the Nascent Soul of Li Hong who fled last night.
"A Nascent Soul Realm humanoid puppet!" He frowned slightly.
Besides that, another person’s aura also had Nascent Soul Realm cultivation, showing extraordinary might.
Zhou Qing instantly understood that these were likely all the strong fighters stationed at the Blood Rock Mine.
It seemed Li Hong had come secretly with his confidants before, hoping to monopolize the Thunderous Golden Toad.
But failing that and losing his flesh body, he had no choice but to call others for revenge.
Typically, each mining vein only had one Nascent Soul Realm expert stationed, just like at the Beimang Mine where Chaos Profound Gold was discovered earlier.
However, after the recent attacks by Cangyan Daoist Palace and Phecda Sect on Taiqing Sect’s mines, the three-sect alliance also launched a counterattack, escalating the situation, causing Cangyan Daoist Palace to send more people to guard.
"Li Hong, are you sure this is true?" Chu Yu, also in the early Nascent Soul Realm, asked.
Li Hong showed a helpless expression, "Brother Chu, I’ve ended up , can I still deceive you?"
"Initially, I wanted to call you too, but you were drunk at the time, the situation was urgent, so I brought others quickly. Who could have expected such a trap."
Chu Yu snorted, sneering disdainfully, "It’s true I was drunk, but wasn’t it you who brought the wine? Moreover, you drank a lot too."
A look of awkwardness flashed across Li Hong’s youthful face.
"Fine, now that you’ve confirmed this Thunderous Golden Toad is nearing its end, let’s go up and take a look. You’d better find a flesh body to possess as soon as possible!"
Chu Yu finished, speaking no more, and quickly led the group up the mountain.
Lu Yaoyao kept her eyes on Zhou Qing, waiting quietly for his decision after the group disappeared from sight.
Zhou Qing pondered for a moment.
Considering the time, the Thunderous Golden Toad should die tonight, but if they clash with this group, it might happen sooner.
Following them now might score some Ignore Points, but the closer to the end, the more unstable factors there are.
Not to mention he still had Lu Yaoyao with him.
"Wait until dark!" Zhou Qing said calmly after a moment of thought.