Alone and Infinite

[Miasma-Avoiding Pill: Defending against environmental miasma, 1 hour 29 minutes remaining]

You can only take a maximum of three of these pills before reaching your limit within a certain timeframe, which is four and a half hours.

Time is running out!

Li Xia nodded, said nothing more, and took the lead in heading towards the snake's head.

Deathly silence, no sound, no life, only death.

This was Li Xia's only impression of the Valley of Miasma, which was densely packed with corpses.

From large creatures like the Wind Wyvern to small ones like the Cat Lizard Dragon, you can find all the monsters that live on the Coral Highlands above here.

The piles of corpses fermented, producing miasma, and decomposed here, with foul-smelling yellow bodily fluids flowing down the rocky ground.

The corpses pooled together in pools of varying sizes, and the stench was so strong that even wearing a gas mask couldn't mask it.

The road to the snakehead was winding and quiet, which only made people more uneasy.

But when they finally arrived at the snake's head, nothing actually happened.

Li Xia raised his head and looked at the enormous skull. Only when you actually stand in front of the skull can you truly feel how huge it is.

The remaining fangs resemble the columns of an ancient Greek temple, and the entire skull is as tall as a building.

The next step is to step inside, follow the direction of the snake's body, and look for clues near the tail.

"As usual, I'll be in front. Aowu and Heitan, you stay with Aibo. Protect yourselves first in case of any emergency."

Stepping into the gaping maw of the snake's head, and traversing a short, dark stretch, the view suddenly opened up before us.

The sky, which had been obscured by the rock layer, was beginning to peek through, and upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be the Coral Plateau.

The surrounding area was still piled high with corpses, even more than he had seen on the way here.

Occasionally, Li Xia could hear a slight 'bang' sound, which was most likely an explosion caused by the corpses being piled up for a long time and forming a giant shape.

Other sounds were those of dragons falling from the Coral Highlands and crashing onto the mountain of corpses.

The pale yellow miasma, like a thin yellow veil, enveloped the entire Valley of Miasma in the flowing air.

The rough rock surface was covered with something resembling a fungal carpet.

The fungal carpet is covered with white bones, and stepping on it produces a sickeningly loud cracking sound.

The observer felt that he didn't have enough eyes to see everything and wished he could write everything he saw into a book.

This is the first time a guild team has truly ventured deep into the Rotten Vale!

Li Xia stopped, made a stop gesture, and slowly walked forward.

The loud footsteps startled some creatures, and a small dragon that had been burying its head in a carcass not far away raised its head.

It revealed its scarlet, crazed eyes, then opened its mouth and let out a shrill roar before charging straight at them.

The cold light of the night flashed and disappeared in an instant, and the bright red eyes gradually lost their luster. Blood gushed from his head, and he collapsed to the ground.

Aibo rushed over and crouched down to carefully examine the carcasses of these small dragons.

The voice, which sounded somewhat muffled due to the mask, carried a hint of confusion:

"This is... a Thief Dragon? But how did a Thief Dragon turn into this?"

Li Xia put away the silence of the night. These dragons were indeed not normal. After successively killing large flying dragons and ancient dragons such as the Rathalos, Horned Dragon, Qilin, and Steel Dragon.

His aura alone was enough to paralyze small dragons; they had always fled from a great distance when they encountered them before.

Where would they get such courage and dare to launch an attack?

Aibo simply pulled out the knife issued by the guild and sliced ​​open the thief's head, exposing its white brain to the air, trembling and somewhat horrifying.

The brain of the daemon is very small, about the size of an egg.

"Hmm—partner, the thief's brain looks like it's been soaked in miasma; the whole thing is the color of miasma."

Within a minute or two, Abbott had already stood up again, wiped the knife clean, and put it away.

Li Xia nodded, "They really have lost their minds; they don't even know what fear is."

Moreover, he wasn't particularly interested in the ecology of the Miasma Valley; he only came here because of the world's hidden secrets.

"Hurry up and find a safe place to set up camp once we arrive."

Two kilometers isn't a long distance; as long as you follow the skeleton above your head, you won't get lost.

During this period, they encountered several invasions by mutated thief dragons, and they didn't even have the right to cause them any trouble.

In just one glance, they were all lying on the ground.

As they ventured deeper into the increasingly complex environment, the empty skeleton revealed piles of bones, weathered by dust and fungal infestations.

The 'bone mountain' formed by the dust has various bones 'piercing' the mountain in strange postures and exposed to the outside.

For a moment, I felt like I had entered hell.

After passing its tail, the snake's bones began to bend downwards, seemingly heading deeper into the ground once again.

It seems that the serpent dragon was emerging from the ground, but it suddenly died here after emerging only halfway, crashing heavily to the ground and forming a peculiar ravine.

The environment, which had just brightened up a bit, turned dim again, but fortunately, no particularly dangerous monsters appeared.

"Your Highness, shouldn't it be about time?"

"Awoo," he whispered, comparing the clues with his own intuition.

The surroundings were still shrouded in a dim yellow light. Huge snake bones formed a passageway, with weathered rocks and piles of bones on both sides.

The observer was using a small shovel and brush to scrape and scrape here and there during the brief pauses, putting the scrapes into the glass bottle.

These items will become valuable research materials once they return to the base.

Li Xia nodded. According to the clue map, it was indeed almost there.

But I had looked very carefully along the way and had not found anything unusual.

The clues provided by the Hall of Light will never be too far off, otherwise it would be meaningless. In other words, according to the proportion, the clues should be within a hundred meters of the vicinity.

But where are the clues?

Li Xia's gaze swept over the observer's small shovel.

Are you suggesting I dig with a shovel?

"Meow--"

Black Charcoal suddenly raised its claws.

Li Xia's expression shifted, and he looked at the black charcoal:

"You noticed an unusual smell?"

Black Charcoal nodded, looking somewhat confused, as the miasma greatly interfered with its sense of smell.

You can only faintly smell it; the scent is quite unique.

"Well done, Blackie! Take a good sniff—"

Awoo flew to the top of Black Charcoal's head, pulled out a nasal spray from somewhere, and was about to give Black Charcoal a couple of whacks.

Li Xia pondered for a moment, then slowly took two steps forward:

"Wait me a moment."

Suddenly, the true qi in his body changed from stillness to movement, becoming as active as boiling.

A faint white light, like flames, appeared on his body, and his hands opened as if embracing a circle.

The surrounding airflow seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, and was pulled by the true qi to condense around Li Xia.

The power of Tai Chi is difficult to visualize using only the physical body, but it becomes different when true Qi is added.

As Li Xia swayed, he actually condensed the surrounding miasma into his hand, forming a hazy yellow cloud of energy.

His body shuddered violently, and his hands suddenly parted, unleashing a torrent of violent air.

It created a distinct ring of air currents, pushing away all the surrounding miasma.

Black Charcoal felt a jolt of energy, and his constantly itchy nose felt much better.

He sniffed it hard, then turned around and looked at Li Xia with an innocent expression.

"Meow"

Oh no, the smell was blown away by that gust just now!

Li Xia slapped his forehead, realizing he'd been so focused on dispelling the miasma that he'd forgotten about this.

"Meow?"

Black charcoal's beard twitched twice, even its ears perked up, and its wet little nose twitched.

Finally, the whole cat jumped up and pointed high in a direction not far away.

"Meow!"

It's right there!

------------------

1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

Hmm, I'm taking my dad to see Operation Jiaolong tonight.

I'd better finish writing this quickly. I reckon there are three or four more chapters left before the Monster Hunter arc ends.

Chapter 172 Secret Passage

Needless to say, Awoo had already grabbed Black Charcoal and flown to the location it had just pointed out.

Li Xia's figure flashed by, flying to the side as well, leaving the observer alone on the ground, happily collecting environmental objects.

This place looks no different from the rest of the place.

The black rock resembles volcanic rock and is covered with holes of various sizes.

The scholars on the research team were very interested in the unique landform of the Coral Plateau.

In particular, the third research team was trapped in the Coral Highlands for more than ten years due to the attack of the Wind Dragon, and their investigation of this area is already very in-depth.

They believe that the Coral Plateau was originally seabed, but later changed due to peculiar crustal changes.

This high ridge on the seabed rises above sea level, and is subsequently developed due to the remarkable adaptability of the plants and animals in the Monster Hunter ecosystem.

This eventually led to the spectacular formation of a continental coral plateau.

Correspondingly, crustal changes were accompanied by the eruption of submarine volcanoes, so the Valley of Miasma, located at the deepest part of the Coral Plateau, was covered by lava.

This has led to the volcanic rock landforms we see today.

"Is the smell coming from here?"

Li Xia placed his hand on the cold rock, closed his eyes to sense it for a while, and then shook his head.

I don't have the specialized surveying skills of the exploration system, so apart from being able to sense the wind coming from inside, I can't detect anything else.

But wind—it's all too common in this place full of holes.

"Meow!"

The charcoal stick out a sharp claw pointing at one of the holes.

Li Xia nodded, Night Silence appeared in his hand, and with a focused mind, the spear blade silently pierced into the rock wall.

Then came a barrage of stabs, like a sudden storm, with stone chips flying everywhere and a series of thuds, and soon a large hole was torn open in the rock wall.

"Ding--"

The tip of the gun seemed to have struck something extremely solid, producing a crisp sound.

Huh? Li Xia stopped what she was doing, looking slightly surprised.

Even a regular steel plate would have been pierced by my shot.

Looking through the newly dug hole, one could see a square opening about a meter inside the thick rock wall, its edges gleaming with a metallic sheen.

I refuse to believe it! What steel plate can block out the silence of the night?