Chapter 1417: Temptation

Fortunately, they were no ordinary people; they swiftly employed their exquisite movement techniques to dodge.

Without needing to be prompted, they simultaneously launched their counterattack.

Yu Yanluo did not take out the Thousand Mile Mountain and Sea Map; the opponent was too powerful, and with her current cultivation, the map couldn't yet restrain it.

While applying various auxiliary runes to the others, she simultaneously activated her Medusa's Eye.

As a result, a layer of yellowish-brown light flashed on Feng Xi's surface, and its body was surprisingly not significantly affected by the petrification spell.

Yu Yanluo quickly warned, "Be careful, it's an earth element creature, its defense is extremely high."

Even for an earth element creature with some resistance to Medusa's Eye, the effect should not have been so minimal.

Ultimately, it was because Feng Xi had a thick layer of a mixture resembling resin and soil on its surface, which largely insulated it from her Medusa's Eye.

At this moment, Zu An, moving like lightning, had already reached Feng Xi's side, plunging his Yin-Yang Twin Swords directly towards its body.

However, his pupils quickly constricted because the Yin-Yang Twin Swords, heavenly-grade weapons enhanced by the power of the Fire Phoenix and Blue Duck, had surprisingly failed to pierce its body.

The sword tips were like striking a hard rock. Under the immense impact, the blades instantly bent into an arc, emitting mournful cries as if they would snap at any moment.

At this moment, Feng Xi turned its head and snapped. Though it appeared clumsy, its speed was incredibly swift.

Fortunately, Zu An, having just received Yu Yanluo's warning, had reserved some strength. Using the rebound force of his swords, he instantly retreated several *zhang* away, landing on a tree.

Where he had just been standing, Feng Xi had bitten out a massive pit.

With such terrifying biting force, Zu An even doubted if his body, tempered by the Primordial Chaos Scripture, could withstand it.

As Feng Xi was about to pursue Zu An, a stream of light flew past: Yan Xuehen's Flying Snow Sword.

If it weren't for the inappropriate timing, Zu An would have almost whistled. No wonder so many TV shows in his past life featured sword cultivators; controlling a sword for attack was indeed very cool.

Yan Xuehen formed a sword incantation with her hand, and the Flying Snow Sword, like a meteor, streaked past Feng Xi, leaving trails of cold light.

At first, Feng Xi, relying on its thick hide and flesh, simply ignored the flying sword.

Such a thin sword couldn't break its defense.

But Yan Xuehen was no ordinary person. Seeing how her companions had attacked, she immediately understood how outrageously high its defense was. Naturally, she wouldn't attack its body, but focused directly on its eyes.

No matter how strong its defense, surely its eyes couldn't be as hard as rock?

Feng Xi indeed panicked and kept dodging. Unfortunately, Yan Xuehen's swordplay was too sharp, consistently preventing it from finding an opportunity to counterattack, which infuriated it, making it squeal like a pig.

By this time, the others had also recovered. Yun Jianyue directly activated her Changxin Palace Lantern, and wherever its light shone, Feng Xi's previously agile movements were indeed somewhat affected.

Seeing that it could no longer dodge Yan Xuehen's Flying Snow Sword, it simply closed its eyes and took the strike head-on.

The sword struck its eyelid, and although it drew blood, it clearly didn't injure its eye.

This creature's eyelids were unexpectedly thick too.

Zu An then took out the Nine Cauldrons. Taking advantage of its blindness, he unleashed the White Lotus True Flame towards it.

Since this creature had high physical resistance, elemental attacks were the way to go.

As expected, Feng Xi was enveloped by the White Lotus True Flame and squealed loudly from the burning. Immediately after, it shook its entire body, and countless fiery 'steel needles' shot out like a torrential downpour.

Everyone saw clearly that these were not steel needles at all, but rather Feng Xi's fur, covered in White Lotus True Flame, which doubled their power.

Zu An hurriedly dodged. The 'steel needles' struck the trees, piercing directly through them, and the accompanying flames ignited the trees. Soon, a sea of fire formed nearby.

At this moment, Feng Xi, squealing, seized the opportunity to frantically escape deep into the dense forest.

Its entire body looked like a fireball; however, the flames were visibly much smaller. After all, its body was covered in a large area of mixed oil and earth armor, and when it had just shot out its fur, it had carried away a large amount of the flames.

Worried about setting the entire mulberry forest ablaze, Zu An quickly retracted the White Lotus True Flame.

However, the randomly flying 'steel needles' had already turned this section of the forest into a sea of fire.

They hurriedly tried to extinguish the fire, but the White Lotus True Flame was not easily put out. Moreover, Feng Xi had just shot out an enormous amount of fur, creating many ignition points. As soon as they put out one spot, more would flare up elsewhere.

Yun Jianyue said, "In my opinion, we should just leave it. Burning this mulberry forest would be fine; we could take the opportunity to burn Feng Xi to death inside, saving us a lot of trouble."

Yan Xuehen frowned and said, "That's not right. Such an act would violate the harmony of nature and might bring ill omens."

Yun Jianyue snorted, "Don't treat your ideas as absolute truth. Our Holy Sect has always done things this way; haven't we been living perfectly fine?"

Zu An, on the other hand, said, "This mulberry forest is truly strange. Have you forgotten about the Weak Water from before? If we really set the forest on fire, putting aside whether we'd get burned, what if this mulberry forest has its own will and we truly enrage it? That could be troublesome."

"You always side with that Ice Stone Woman!" Yun Jianyue said indignantly. "Did I know you first, or did she? It always feels like there's something going on between you two!"

"Wicked woman, what nonsense are you spouting!" Yan Xuehen's cheeks flushed, and guiltily, she dared not look at Zu An beside her.

Yu Yanluo quickly advised, "Let's extinguish the fire first, or it will spread completely."

Just then, a misty aura suddenly rose within the forest. Immediately after, a sparse drizzle began around them, and the scattered flames instantly extinguished.

"Why did it suddenly rain?" The group gathered, all feeling fortunate for this unexpected assistance.

As the flames died down, the rain also stopped.

"How could ordinary rain extinguish the White Lotus True Flame?" Zu An was puzzled. Although he had already retracted the main body of the White Lotus True Flame, the scattered embers couldn't be put out by ordinary water.

Yan Xuehen looked up at the sky, her expression puzzled as she said, "That rain just now didn't seem to come from the sky... it was more like..."

"More like it was formed by the forest itself." Yun Jianyue's expression also turned serious. "Little Anzi, you might have been right. This mulberry forest might have also developed its own will."

Zu An swallowed. "It can't be that uncanny, can it?"

At this moment, Yu Yanluo's expression suddenly changed slightly. "Do you think it's possible that Feng Xi and this mulberry forest are connected, similar to the relationship between Ya Yu and the Weak Water earlier?"

"Probably not. Otherwise, Feng Xi's actions just now wouldn't have accidentally harmed this mulberry forest," Yan Xuehen analyzed. "For now, it doesn't seem to have any ill intent towards us. We just need to avoid provoking it."

The group unanimously agreed with this assessment, as their only target was Feng Xi.

Next, the group searched for Feng Xi's whereabouts in the mulberry forest. At first, they could track it by its footprints and the scorch marks from the White Lotus True Flame. But as they ventured deeper into the forest, these traces became scarcer, eventually vanishing completely, leaving no trace behind.

This mulberry forest seemed to possess an inexplicable force field; the range of their spiritual senses was greatly affected. Furthermore, Zu An noticed that despite numerous small animals in the forest, his Jade Cong was unable to command them as scouts.

They searched for several more hours until night fell, but still couldn't find any trace of Feng Xi.

"This mulberry forest is too vast and its foliage too dense. If Feng Xi is determined to hide, we'll likely have great difficulty finding it," Yan Xuehen assessed.

"This is infuriating!" Yun Jianyue exclaimed, annoyed. "These ferocious beasts are renowned, shouldn't they be the type to fight if challenged? Why are they all such cowards, one worse than the last?" Ya Yu had been like this too; they had to go to great lengths just to lure it out.

The group discussed several methods, but unfortunately, each was dismissed.

"Look, the moon is out!" Yu Yanluo suddenly pointed to the sky.

Zu An looked up. A bright moon, like a jade plate, hung in the sky—radiant, clear, beautiful, and mysterious.

Just then, an idea struck him: "Do you remember how Ya Yu mentioned Feng Xi being lecherous?"

Yan Xuehen's eyes lit up. "Why don't we try approaching it from that angle!"

At this, Yun Jianyue became annoyed. "Why are you all looking at me?"