The Legend of the Demon Hunter

The stone door opened, and the prisoner who had lived in darkness for a long time could not open his eyes due to the brightness of the light. He raised his arms to block the sunlight coming in from the cave entrance.

In the dazzling white light, a black shadow slowly walked into the cave. It was a slim woman.

The prisoner opened his eyes wide in disbelief, ignoring the pain of the white light that stung his eyes like needles. When he saw the other person's appearance clearly, he immediately crawled on the ground and buried his face deeply in the ground.

"You don't have to do this." came the woman's voice.

The prisoner did not speak. He continued to prostrate himself on the ground devoutly without making any movement.

"Go away! Leave here." The woman said, then turned around. She seemed unwilling to stay here, and walked towards the cave entrance with light steps.

"Are you saying... to let me go?" The prisoner raised his head. He froze there, almost unable to believe his hearing.

The woman didn't answer, but she stopped.

The prisoner's tears suddenly flowed down his cheeks, staining his dirty face ugly and terrifying, but his tone was very pious, and he choked up and said: "The sins I committed in the past cannot be repaid even if I die a hundred times. You are so magnanimous and kind-hearted, like the reincarnation of a saint. This is a great blessing for the Red Lotus. From now on, I am willing to go through fire and water for the Red Lotus, and die for it."

"You are wrong!" The woman interrupted him coldly: "I am letting you go today not because I forgive your sins, but because this place is about to become the center of the storm, and I don't want you to sacrifice in vain."

The woman closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then said, "You have lost all conscience. The Red Lotus Cult has no place for you anymore. From today on, you have been expelled from the Red Lotus Cult and are not allowed to join any religion again in this life. Your worship is a blasphemy against our cult and the Saint."

After saying this, the woman strode out of the cave.

The prisoner watched the woman walk away in disbelief. He suddenly felt that he had lost all his strength and fell to the ground with a thud, like a pile of dead meat without bones.

……

"How could this happen?" Xiao Zhu looked at the Tanlang Sword on the ground in disbelief, and then looked at the bottomless cave in front of him.

"Brother Xiao, if I remember correctly, you seemed to have mentioned that this sword was given to you by the Murong brother and sister, right?" Ying asked while looking at the Tanlang Sword.

"That's right, it was Shi'er who gave it the name Tanlang." Xiao Zhu recalled the time when he was still in Nuowan College.

"As for the origin of this sword, do you know anything else?" Ying asked.

Xiao Zhu touched his chin and said thoughtfully, "When the Murong brothers and sisters gave me the sword, they mentioned that this sword was obtained by their ancestors from the Huanling Kingdom. As for the other details, I don't know."

"It seems that the former owner of this sword had a deep connection with the person who cast the magic circle here. Perhaps..." Ying hesitated to speak.

"Maybe what?" Xiao Zhu asked anxiously.

"Perhaps it could be the same person," Ying replied.

"So, these secrets are most likely hidden in this cave." Xiao Zhu said, pointing to the cave.

"Should we go in?" Xiaoya felt a little scared when she saw the pitch-black interior of the cave.

"No venture, no gain. Now that we are here, there is no reason to give up halfway. Let's go!"

After saying this, he took the lead and walked into the cave. Xiaoya and Ying looked at each other, and then followed Xiao Zhu's steps and walked in.

The stairs going down were very long, and they felt as if they were circling the mountain. The three of them walked up countless stairs, and they only felt that the temperature around them became higher and higher as they went down. It seemed as if this road led directly into the magma under the mountain.

Just as the three of them were losing patience, a red light came from the front. Seeing this light, Xiao Zhu couldn't help but speed up his pace, and Xiaoya and Ying followed closely.

After walking for a while, the stairs finally reached the end, and the scene before them stunned the three people, and they all stood there for a moment.

"Oh my God, it's so beautiful!" Xiaoya exclaimed.

The same words were repeated in Xiao Zhu and Ying's hearts.

The end of the stairs suddenly opened up, and a huge, wide space appeared in front of the three people. In this space, red catkin-like objects were flying around. These red catkins emitted a faint light, like dandelions all over the mountains, or like bright red snowflakes flying from the ground to the air.

Xiaoya stretched out her white jade hand, and a red catkin fell into her hand. Just as she was about to grab it, the catkin flew away. Just as she was immersed in the beauty of the place, she suddenly heard the shadow beside her say, "Look over there."

"How scary! What is that?" Xiaoya looked over, her voice filled with surprise and trembling.

Xiao Zhu looked at the bottom of the cave and suddenly felt his scalp tingling. The entire bottom of the cave was covered by a huge plant. It looked like a dragon beard grass, but it was tens of thousands of times larger. Its leaves were red like magma, and each leaf was dozens of meters long. Countless leaves were like thousands of red ribbons dancing in the space.

It seems that the catkin-like object flying in the air is most likely the seed of this giant dragon beard grass. Thinking of this, the three of them could no longer feel any beauty.

"Can you feel it?" Ying asked, pointing to the huge dragon beard grass below.

"What did you feel?" Xiao Zhu was a little puzzled.

“The aura emitted by this dragon beard grass, or this monster, is no less powerful than Teacher Yu Han,” Ying said.

Hearing this, Xiao Zhu concentrated and calmed his mind, feeling the spiritual power emitted by the dragon beard grass. He soon confirmed Ying's words, which made his heart tighten.

"In the great battle at Novan College, we have all seen beast king-level monsters. They can speak human language, and the strength and wisdom they exude are no less than that of a human hunting king. However, I have never seen a plant with such strength. Does it have intelligence? Will it attack us?" Xiao Zhu asked doubtfully.

"I don't know." Ying shook his head. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation. "But I can feel that the aura it exudes is stable. It seems like it is in hibernation."

"What you said makes sense. If the other party is awake, why hasn't he attacked us yet?" Xiao Zhu agreed with Ying's guess.

"In this case, we can take the risk, but we need to observe the path we take first, so as not to stay here for a long time and wake it up." Ying said.

"Brother Zhu, Brother Ying, look there." Xiaoya said, pointing to a place on the ground.

Xiao Zhu and Ying looked over there, and saw a narrow passage emitting blue light under the body of the giant dragon beard grass. If it weren't for Xiaoya's sharp eyes, they would probably have found it difficult to notice it for a while.

"That might be the exit of this place." Xiao Zhu guessed.

"Doesn't that mean we have to pass through the body of this huge monster?" Xiaoya's voice trembled a little. Thinking of the next action, she felt uneasy.