Chapter 56: The Furious Ferocious Mouse
"Squeak!!!"
The Pine Leaf Squirrel darted through the curtain of rain, arriving beneath the large leaf of the Rainfall Guanyin, right in front of a chest exuding a brilliant treasure light.
It was immensely excited, never expecting to obtain the treasure so easily.
Breaking through this rain wasn't that difficult in its eyes.
It merely needed to influence the vicious plant from a distance momentarily to open a path. The Evergreen Emperor Longevity Technique taught by Elder Shen Song truly was the bane of all flora!
The Pine Leaf Squirrel nervously opened the treasure chest, then froze, pulling out a piece of grass paper covered with luminous writing.
The paper read:
"The path of cultivation is not always smooth. What you acquire through trials and dangers may not be opportunities and treasures; it could also be a trap."
The next instant, the opened treasure chest exploded, and while the force wasn't large, the insult was immense.
Holding onto the paper that had been blown to ashes, the Pine Leaf Squirrel spat out a puff of black smoke, standing dazed in place. Its young heart was wounded.
"Hahahahaha..." Above the clouds, seeing someone fall for the trick, a group of teachers laughed heartily.
"Which fellow cultivator was it? Setting up a vicious plant trial without giving any treasure reward..."
"I think it was Brother Cao..."
"Ahem..." Cao Zhiwei looked down with a smile and said, "A trial's a trial; we must teach the students the dangers of the Cultivation Realm. It's just... my intention was for them to work together through the Rainfall and all suffer together. Who would have thought this squirrel would go ahead alone..."
"It seems this wood-attributed spirit beast can affect the activity of vicious plants to some extent."
"It's fine, Lin Jing has acquired so many treasures; let his pet beast take a fall for him."
The Pine Leaf Squirrel disappointedly uprooted the Rainfall Guanyin, throwing it into its storage pouch, causing the teachers to twitch their cheeks.
As the rain disappeared, it sighed and was about to leave, but unexpectedly, with the rain's dispersal, several divine senses swiftly locked onto it.
"Little squirrel, what treasure did you get inside? Bring it out for us to see."
A lavishly dressed young man smiled as he looked at the Pine Leaf Squirrel.
"Yes, we were waiting for the rain to stop to take the treasure. It's impolite of you to take it like this," another person chimed in.
The others, though silent, including Tang Yun from the Heavenly Pride List and Chen Lingxi from the Divine Talisman Sect, also locked onto the Pine Leaf Squirrel, clearly not planning to let it take the treasure easily.
The Pine Leaf Squirrel hesitated, slightly opening its mouth, wanting to say there was nothing inside, but seeing the stance of the surrounding talents, the squirrel understood that even if it told the truth, no one would believe it.
Following that, even Three-Pupiled Liu Yu and Divine Body Wang Xiao were eyeing the Pine Leaf Squirrel, thinking it had obtained some treasure.
Though it was clear there wouldn't be any earth-shattering treasure capable of changing fate in this fall trial, the curiosity was endless; without knowing the type of treasure, no one would let it go easily.
"Go!!!" In the next moment, someone made a move. The lavishly dressed young man who spoke first threw out a large net aimed at the Pine Leaf Squirrel.
A magical treasure, the Beast Trapping Net, made of dragon tendons, had a powerful suppressive effect on beast-blooded creatures!
"Squeak!"
The Pine Leaf Squirrel was furious and aggrieved.
Getting fooled was one thing, but the people outside even wanted to attack it!
"Whatever treasure they grab, take it back without hesitation."
Suddenly, Lin Jing's words flashed in the Pine Leaf Squirrel's mind.
Its eyes brightened at the sight of the Beast Trapping Net; if these people could snatch its things, could it also snatch theirs?
Once it figured it out, the Pine Leaf Squirrel's gaze turned fiery, ignoring the giant net that fell on it, astonishing everyone... The next second, it gently flicked its tail, and the Beast Trapping Net split apart under a red light, causing the youth who threw the net to pause and then spew a mouthful of blood.
The Beast Trapping Net had been refined by him, so the Pine Leaf Squirrel couldn't directly put it into the storage pouch; it could only smash the net first, breaking the connection between them, and then put it into the storage pouch.
Subsequently, the Pine Leaf Squirrel fiercely glared at the youth in lavish attire, a red leaf shot towards him like a flying sword!!!
The youth's expression changed, immediately retreating, but the speed of the flying leaf surpassed his imagination, like a red lightning, passing by him in an instant... To his confusion, the red leaf seemed not to be an attack as he didn't feel any pain.
Yet the next second, he realized something was wrong, quickly feeling his body.
He turned back suddenly, only to see that the Pine Leaf Squirrel had somehow disappeared from its original spot, now perched on the red leaf that had flown by just moments ago, holding a storage pouch with an excited expression...
When did it...
"Spatial Technique??" Three-Eyed Liu Yu asked in confusion; he had detected a trace of spatial fluctuation, could it be that just now, this Foundation Establishment Squirrel used a spatial technique to teleport over!
"It is a Spatial Technique!" said Wang Xiao, recalling how he had also been ambushed by the squirrel's spatial technique!!!
"Damn it, return my storage pouch!!!!" The youth, who had tried to capture the Pine Leaf Squirrel with the Beast Trapping Net, yelled in frustration. His eyes were red, repeating, "Return the storage pouch to me!!!"
The Pine Leaf Squirrel seemed to ignore him, divine light bursting from its eyes as it locked onto its next target, Chen Lingxi of the Divine Talisman Sect!!!
This fellow full of talismans in the storage pouch, it had long wanted to snatch.
"What do you want!!" Seeing the Pine Leaf Squirrel looking at her, Chen Lingxi was shocked, immediately protecting her storage pouch, unwilling to give the Pine Leaf Squirrel any opportunity, but in the next second, a red leaf flew towards her!!!
Chen Lingxi tightened her grip on the storage pouch, her divine sense locking firmly onto the red leaf, just about to counter, only to see the red leaf vanish right before her eyes.
A moment later, the red leaf reappeared, already far from where she was, meanwhile, a spatial rift seemed to open around her from which talismans came tumbling out.
In the instant of her distraction, a red flash descended and disappeared, along with the falling talismans, leaving Chen Lingxi dazed, her eyes reflecting a mix of grievance, anger, and confusion.
"You damn squirrel, give it back to me!!"
"My talismans!"
The Pine Leaf Squirrel wouldn't get trapped on this one tree, red leaves fell like blossom scattering, descending like rain, each genius facing them like a formidable enemy, chills spreading up their spines.
"Too much!!!" Feeling targeted, Tang Yun, ranked sixty-sixth on the Heavenly Pride List, who had not made a move until now, arrived behind the Pine Leaf Squirrel in an instant with a Thunder Cloud Halberd in hand, unleashing a torrent of thunder and lightning, sweeping it towards the Pine Leaf Squirrel!!!
Crack crack crack.
However, without even turning its head, myriad wooden forms began to coalesce out of thin air on the Pine Leaf Squirrel's right side in the sky, forming a tree arm, on which a gigantic Buddha Palm resided!
This arm seemed to be an external manifestation of the Pine Leaf Squirrel, radiating Buddhist light with astonishing power.
The Buddha Palm clenched into a fist, smashing toward this prodigy; the Pine Leaf Squirrel easily recreated Lin Jing's Buddhist Technique · Vajra Fist.
With a tremendous boom, Buddhist light pierced through the thunder cloud, Tang Yun's pupils contracted as he was flung hundreds of meters away, embedded into the mountain, leaving only a storage pouch falling from him.
"Puff..." Tang Yun was sent flying, his internal organs shaken, Liu Yu and Wang Xiao's expressions changed in unison, seemingly incredulous.
There was dead silence at the scene, not even mentioning why a Pine Leaf Squirrel in a daoist robe wielded the Buddhist Vajra Demon Subduing Fist, but the fact that it just flung away the sixty-sixth on the Heavenly Pride List, the Cloud Body Tang Yun?
"What's happening..." Everything that transpired in a split second also left the laughing academy teachers stunned.
"Why aren't you all laughing anymore." At some unknown point, a pinecone appeared in the sky, looking down below and pondering, "The consequence of bullying the meek, we were pure-hearted, but the world is unrighteous ah!"