Inside the poisonous fog, Mo Tiange and Murong Zi were meditating quietly. Their surroundings were quiet.
This was a rare moment of peace in this mountain forest.
Aside from this, battles were also going on in different places.
Although this mountain forest was vast, there were always people who ran into each other. If one of the parties was Zixia Sect, it would lead to a chaotic battle.
Some people killed, and some people were killed.
At night, for safety's sake and to vent their anger, the disciples from both sides gathered together to search for opponents who were alone and kill them to prevent themselves from being killed.
Murong Zi seized the time to heal his injuries and restore his spiritual aura, while Mo Tiange was secretly on guard.
Unlike her fellow disciples who came from cultivation clans and harbored hatred towards Zixia Sect, she didn't want to get involved in any disputes. She just wanted to quietly wait for the exit formation to open and exchange it for a Foundation-Building Pill.
Suddenly, she sensed a spiritual aura fluctuation in the air. Mo Tiange opened her eyes.
Just as she was about to look at the poisonous spring behind her, she suddenly felt a gust of wind. She promptly pushed Murong Zi away and rolled to the side.
Her cautiousness saved two lives. In the next moment, the two of them widened their eyes and stared at the thing in front of them in astonishment.
This demonic beast had a flat head, sharp teeth, and a bulging back like a small mountain. Its lower body was still in the poisonous spring, but the part that was exposed was enough for them to recognize what kind of demonic beast it was.
Murong Zi muttered, "Second rank demonic beast, Iron-Teethed Crocodile. Turns out there really is a second rank demonic beast here."
Mo Tiange pulled him back and waved her hand, summoning formation flags.
The place they were originally meditating was the Five Elements Life and Death Formation she laid. As soon as the Iron-Teethed Crocodile attacked, it entered the formation.
"Senior Martial Brother Murong, what's this?"
Murong Zi regained his composure and said with a frown, "This is a second rank demonic beast, equivalent to an early stage Foundation Building cultivator. We're no match for it."
Before they could say anything else, the Iron-Teethed Crocodile dashed forward and opened its mouth to bite them.
The two of them hastily retreated. Mo Tiange waved the formation flags, and the formation discs and flags she hid underground instantly stood up. The Five Elements Life and Death Formation began to operate.
The things around its body stood up with a 'pa' sound. The Iron-Teethed Crocodile seemed to be stunned for a moment. It blinked its small eyes, but its ability to think was not enough to understand what was happening in front of it. After pausing for a moment, it still rushed over, wanting to swallow the two little mosquitoes in front of it.
But it failed. Vines instantly appeared beneath its feet and wrapped around its entire body, rendering it unable to move an inch.
It angrily swung its tail, and the vines immediately broke.
Cold sweat broke out on Mo Tiange's forehead. "This demonic beast's brute force is too strong; my formation won't be able to hold it for long."
"This …" Murong Zi's complexion also turned pale. "This bit of time isn't enough for us to run."
Mo Tiange once again waved the formation flag. Water and quicksand instantly appeared inside the formation, rapidly turning it into a swamp, once again trapping the Iron-Teethed Crocodile.
At the same time, he gritted his teeth and said, "Senior Brother Murong, I'll hold it back. You attack it. If we can't outrun it, we can only fight!"
Murong Zi hesitated for a moment before answering, "We …"
"If we don't fight now, it'll be too late!" Mo Tiange shouted, "Hurry up! I'll think of a way to hold it back so it won't attack you. You attack it as hard as you can!"
Infected by her attitude, Murong Zi clenched his teeth and said, "All right! If worst comes to worst, we'll just fight it!"
Two Aura Refining cultivators definitely couldn't defeat a Foundation Building cultivator, but a second rank demonic beast without the ability to think or use magic weapons might be able to put up a fight.
Murong Zi immediately summoned his flying sword, used the Light Body Technique, and attacked.
But in the next second, his complexion turned unsightly.
His flying sword was a gift from an elder in his school. It was even infused with rare iron essence, so it was incomparably sharp. Usually, it had a lot of advantages in fights of magical power, but against this Iron-Teethed Crocodile's thick skin, it unexpectedly didn't have the slightest effect.
After the swamp couldn't hold the Iron-Teethed Crocodile any longer, Mo Tiange once again waved her sword, causing a raging fire to appear inside the formation. At the same time, she took out a handful of Bewitching Flower seeds and threw them at the crocodile.
Although the fire stopped the crocodile, the Bewitching Flower only made it wave its tail.
With her current spiritual aura, the seeds she could use could only grow in a short period of time. However, second rank demonic beasts already didn't care about these kinds of seeds.
With no other choice, she took out a handful of Restorative Panaceas.
Using a formation to trap a second rank demonic beast consumed too much spiritual aura, so she had no choice but to consume panaceas to drag it down.
On the other side, Murong Zi wasn't someone with an undeserved reputation. Once he saw that his flying sword was useless, he immediately swapped it for something else — a whip that glittered with a golden light.
As soon as he swung the whip, it turned into a streak of golden light, emitting a loud "pa!"
But after he swung it, Murong Zi's complexion changed again. This whip still couldn't break the Iron-Teethed Crocodile's thick skin!
After this happened a few times, Murong Zi's complexion turned ashen. Not only was he unable to break the Iron-Teethed Crocodile's defense, but his spirit tool was also damaged by its bite. As expected of an Iron-Teethed Crocodile, its teeth were extremely sharp.
Mo Tiange wasn't much better off. Although she was relying on the formation, her spiritual aura was being drained too quickly by manipulating this formation to resist the second rank demonic beast's attack. She already felt that her spiritual aura was almost exhausted, so she had no choice but to grab a handful of Restorative Panaceas and stuff them into her mouth. With this kind of depletion speed, she was no longer afraid of wasting medicinal pills. If she couldn't survive, no matter how many medicinal pills she had, they would be useless.
"Use talismans! Use talismans to attack it!" Mo Tiange shouted at the dumbfounded Murong Zi.
This Iron-Teethed Crocodile had thick skin and thick flesh. The layer of hard skin on its body was comparable to armor, so she simply couldn't pierce it. She could only use spells to penetrate that layer of skin and injure it.
Upon hearing her shout, Murong Zi regained his senses. He took out a handful of talismans and, without any regard for the consequences, slammed them all onto the Iron-Teethed Crocodile's head.
These talismans contained spells of various elements. Sea of fire, ice, stones, quicksand, and vines — all of them smashed onto the Iron-Teethed Crocodile's head.
This time, the Iron-Teethed Crocodile finally reacted. It raised its head and stared at Murong Zi, who was flying in midair, with its small eyes. It then opened its mouth and sprayed a jet of water.
Murong Zi was greatly alarmed. He moved sideways with great difficulty to dodge, but he was careless and came in contact with some of the water. His body unexpectedly became sluggish and he fell to the ground.
Taking advantage of this moment, Mo Tiange quickly took out the formation discs and formation flags for the Disorienting Formation and the Spirit-Trapping Formation. She simply laid them down and soon after, she waved the formation flags. Vines once again appeared in the middle of the formation, firmly binding the Iron-Teethed Crocodile.
When the Iron-Teethed Crocodile's attention returned to her side, it discovered that the spiritual aura inside its body had become slower. In a fit of rage, it couldn't care less about the other little bug and wanted to tear the bug in front of it to shreds.
However, when it crawled forward, the scene in front of it changed. It actually couldn't find the existence of that little bug, so it immediately became confused.
Seeing that Murong Zi still hadn't crawled back up, Mo Tiange anxiously said, "Senior Martial Brother Murong!"
As if he heard her voice, Murong Zi struggled to stuff several medicinal pills into his mouth and crawled back up with great difficulty.
He was already seriously injured, so it was already very difficult for him to use spirit tools and Light Body Technique. However, he was also hit by the Iron-Teethed Crocodile's jet of water.
This was a poisonous spring, so everything in the surroundings was poisonous, let alone a demonic beast that advanced to the second rank in this place.
The Iron-Teethed Crocodile's poison was much stronger than the poisonous fog, so his injuries became even more serious.
Ignoring everything else, Murong Zi swallowed several healing pills to neutralize the poison and struggled to fly up. With a wave of his hand, a handful of fine flying needles flew towards the Iron-Teethed Crocodile's eye. The Iron-Teethed Crocodile blinked and swung its head. Some of the flying needles were flung away, while the other needles pierced the thick skin on its head. Without the slightest reaction, the needles fell down one after another.
Murong Zi didn't give up and continued to throw the needles. Inside the Spirit-Trapping Formation, the Iron-Teethed Crocodile's spiritual aura circulation became slower. In the end, the Iron-Teethed Crocodile didn't manage to dodge the needles. With a "Pu!" sound, its eye was pierced. It instantly became furious and let out a snoring sound while facing the sky.
Mo Tiange was delighted. She immediately stuffed another handful of Restorative Panaceas into her mouth then waved the formation flag. The sea of fire inside the formation smashed down, causing the ground to shake. After being attacked by several spells, the thick skin of the Iron-Teethed Crocodile finally showed signs of being burnt. Murong Zi didn't let this opportunity slip by. He once again took out his flying sword and stabbed it towards the burnt part of the Iron-Teethed Crocodile's skin.
This time, the sword stabbed solidly. It broke the Iron-Teethed Crocodile's skin and pierced deeply into its flesh.
Feeling the pain, the Iron-Teethed Crocodile swung its tail and broke a big tree next to the spring.
However, it still couldn't find where those annoying little bugs were. All it could see was the poisonous spring where it had lived for several hundred years. No matter how hard it crawled, it would always crawl back to its original spot.
Blood flowed out of its eyes. Its body was in great pain from being hit by spells, and there was also something stuck in its flesh. It let out a painful grunt, but it still couldn't find those two little bugs. The only thing it could see was spells continuously smashing down on it.
In the end, it couldn't hold on any longer. Another spell smashed down on it, and it could no longer open its eyes.
Mo Tiange gasped for breath. Her legs went soft, and she could no longer stand and knelt down.
There wasn't even a trace of spiritual aura left in her body. A second rank demonic beast was indeed much stronger than a first rank demonic beast. She could kill those dozens of demonic monkeys without the slightest danger using the Five Elements Life and Death Formation, but this second rank demonic beast … She spent so much effort and ate so many medicinal pills, yet she could only trap it. If it weren't for Murong Zi's help, it would've died for sure today.
Murong Zi lay motionless not too far from her. Just now, he practically threw out all of his talismans. Once the Iron-Teethed Crocodile died, he fell to the ground and couldn't get up.
Mo Tiange was a bit worried. She once again swallowed a Restorative Panacea, barely recovering some of her spiritual aura. She then stood up with difficulty and dragged her heavy legs towards Murong Zi.
"Senior Martial Brother Murong! Senior Martial Brother Murong!" Murong Zi lay motionlessly on the ground. There was a bloodstain on the corner of his mouth. Obviously, he vomited because his injuries were too heavy.
Mo Tiange clenched her teeth, took out a Small Reversion Pill and stuffed it into his mouth.
Right now, although she wasn't injured, her spiritual aura was completely exhausted. If any danger appeared in the short term, it would be troublesome. It was better to save his life first. After all, it would always be safer if the two of them were together.
After feeding him the Small Reversion Pill, Murong Zi finally slowly regained consciousness. When he saw her, there was a hint of hesitation in his eyes. "Junior Martial Brother Ye, the pills you gave me …"
Mo Tiange smiled bitterly. "They were specially prepared for the sake of this trial. Now, I can only let Senior Martial Brother take advantage of them."
She didn't dare to say she had another bottle on her. Although Senior Martial Brother Murong didn't seem like that kind of person and was Murong Yan's elder brother, they didn't have much of a friendship.
Murong Zi didn't doubt her. His expression changed as he earnestly said, "Thank you, Junior Martial Brother Ye. If it weren't for the medicinal pills you gave me, my injuries definitely wouldn't have lasted until tomorrow."
Mo Tiange simply waved her hand. "If Senior Martial Brother Murong doesn't want to take advantage of me, you can just return the medicinal pills to me after we leave this place.
Right now, I have to treat my injuries first. Otherwise, if we run into someone again … "At this point, she suddenly wrinkled her brows. Someone was coming!