"It's thundering, and it's going to rain. Everyone, hurry up. There's a camping rest area ahead!" A slender man in a tour guide's uniform, waving a colorful flag, glanced at the distant mountains and announced through the loudspeaker.
Just as the tour guide stopped speaking, another roar of thunder echoed.
Hearing the sound, people quickened their pace to follow the guide.
A few young women looked curiously at the direction from which the thunder came.
"This... doesn't sound like regular thunder, does it?"
"To me, it doesn't. It sounds more like the noise of a mountain erupting!"
"Don't joke around. This is a tourist spot; there can't be mountain eruptions... I just saw that there's going to be a thunderstorm soon, so let's move quickly."
...
"Long Yi, are you alright?"
Lin Tian inquired softly while cradling Long Yi in his hand.
Beside them, a massive spear crafted from hundreds of spiky vines lay scattered on the ground.
Lin Tian's jacket had numerous large and small holes.
In some of these openings, traces of blood were visible.
Not only was Long Yi injured just now, but Lin Tian also suffered injuries.
When Long Yi penetrated the black clouds earlier, the spear formed by the spiky vines unexpectedly split into two. One turned and bombarded the dragon in the sky, while the other struck Lin Tian.
Fortunately, Lin Tian reacted swiftly, dividing the spiritual power of his sea of consciousness into two, injecting half into Long Yi and the other half into his own body, thus averting a disaster.
Originally, Lin Tian believed that dispersing the black clouds and exterminating the giant ants within would resolve the spiky vine issue, but he had not anticipated this outcome...
Gazing at Long Yi, shedding many scales, Lin Tian felt a pang of guilt.
Puff~!
As if in response to Lin Tian's words, Long Yi, resting on Lin Tian's palm, raised his head slightly, released a bubble, and then gradually rose and attempted to swim.
However, having depleted all his spiritual energy, Long Yi faltered mid-way and settled back on Lin Tian's palm.
"Rest for a while and have this elixir!" Lin Tian extended his hand, retrieved the last spirit-revitalizing pill, and placed it in Long Yi's mouth.
A few minutes later, Long Yi regained some spiritual power, slowly swam upward, coiled around Lin Tian's wrist, and then closed his eyes.
Seeing Long Yi regaining spiritual power on his wrist, Lin Tian slowly stood up.
Beside him, those spiked vines were gradually dissipating.
At this moment, the Shaguo tree was already bare, with only its bone-like branches remaining.
Shifting his steps slightly, Lin Tian approached the Shaguoshu to check its current state.
"Just when all the black clouds and giant ants were extinguished, the remaining dark child fruits on the tree also disappeared..."
Lin Tian looked at the sand fruit tree and furrowed his brow slightly. "But... this trip is not a loss!"
While speaking, Lin Tian glanced at the hiking bag in his hand.
The bag was filled with spiritual beads resembling glass balls.
The count was one hundred and thirty-two!
Yes, these spirit beads were the spoils of Long Yi, who had slain the giant ants and dispersed the black clouds.
He observed the bare branches of Shaguo and then glanced at the spirit beads in the bag.
Although Lin Tian felt a bit regretful, he was also content.
Regrettably, he did not comprehend the origin of the sand fruit tree and the appearance of the giant black cloud ants.
What was satisfying was undoubtedly the number of spirit beads.
"These spirit beads should be sufficient to support Long Yi's quality evolution!"
Lin Tian murmured to himself.
"I wonder if this thing is completely eradicated, or if there's a need to burn it to be sure."
Utilizing the regained spiritual power, Lin Tian inspected the aura of the Shaguo tree.
Although he found nothing unusual on the Shaguo tree, Lin Tian understood the principle of eliminating weeds.
...
"Huh? This is..." Not long after, as Lin Tian unearthed the Shaguo tree, he noticed some transparent stones brought up by the roots.
Swiftly, Lin Tian squatted down and dug holes around the roots of the sand fruit tree using his hands.
...
"This... there are so many!" Around ten minutes later, Lin Tian gazed at the more than twenty transparent crystal stones laid out in front of him, a contemplative expression on his face.
"Could this be a coincidence?" As Lin Tian looked at the transparent crystal stones at his feet, he recalled the time when he first discovered the sand fruit tree.
Lin Tian distinctly remembered that he could count the children's fruits on the Shaguo tree, and the number was exactly the same as the transparent crystal stones in front of him!
These transparent crystal stones were identical to the material of the broken necklace pendant Lin Tian had used after helping his landlady, Aunt Chen, resolve the Yin spirit invasion!
"I believe this sand fruit tree was nurtured by this stone, which led to the growth of these peculiar fruits. Thankfully, everything is resolved now!" Rubbing his chin, Lin Tian analyzed the situation.
Subsequently, Lin Tian arranged the crystal stones and the branches of the fruit tree and set them ablaze!
...
After confirming that everything was completely burned and no sparks were left, Lin Tian left.
Wow wow~!
Just as Lin Tian climbed out of the mountain col, a light rain began to fall from the sky.
This situation made Long Yi, who had been silently recovering his spiritual power on Lin Tian's wrist, become active again.
Freed from his master's wrist, Long Yi swam freely in the air, allowing his body to absorb the gift of nature to the maximum extent.
"Huh? This is quite strange!"
At this moment, Lin Tian suddenly noticed that the recovery speed of his consciousness sea's spiritual power had significantly accelerated.
Lin Tian knew that the effect of the spiritual elixir had long since passed.
"It seems like it's because of the rain!"
Lin Tian felt the spiritual power gradually recovering from Long Yi's body and couldn't help but smack his lips.
Then, with a thought, Lin Tian removed the spiritual film that had just covered his body and let the raindrops fall on his body.
After a while, Lin Tian's jacket was soaked with moisture.
However, it was a pity that apart from the wet clothes, the speed of the consciousness sea's recovery of spiritual power had not increased at all.
"It seems that this is Long Yi's special ability!"
Lin Tian waved his arms, provoking the wandering Long Yi, and praised him.
"The rain is increasing. It seems we have to hurry up and go back!"
Looking at the raindrops that were getting closer and closer, Lin Tian confirmed the direction and couldn't help but speed up his pace.
The direction Lin Tian was heading was naturally not the direction he came from.
When it rains, the stone surface becomes slippery. If you climb down the cliff again, you might shatter into pieces if you're not careful.
He checked the GPS just now and found that if he kept going, he could reach the mountain road built in the scenic spot directly.
By then, just following the mountain road, he would return to the starting point of Canglong Mountain Scenic Area.
...
"Huh? Why is there light there?"
Lin Tian, who had been walking in the rain for almost an hour, suddenly noticed a bright light shining in the dark environment.
Faintly, through the huge raindrops, he could still see the outline of a house.
At this moment, the light rain turned into a heavy downpour.
Lin Tian decided to head towards the house in front of him to take shelter from the rain temporarily.
