Chapter 50: Mystic Swamp

Seeing that the magic horn rhinoceroses were getting closer and closer to them, Lin Qi felt that he could not handle a crisis of that magnitude.

“Young Master…” Hearing a familiar voice behind him, Lin Qi turned his head toward the sound.

It was Luther!

“Hurry up and throw the rest of the Rush Candy to Luther. He’s a grand swordmaster,” Lin Qi shouted to the two of them and threw the last candy in his hand.

“Eat this!”

Luther had not hesitated to take the candy from them and ate it.

There was nothing special about the Rush Candy when it entered his mouth.

“What will happen this time? Wait…I’m so fast! My speed has increased four times as much!” The sudden change surprised Luther.

Seeing Luther approaching him, Lin Qi reached out his hand and grabbed him.

The other two did the same as Lin Qi.

Luther was indeed a grand swordmaster. After consuming the Rush Candy, he was much faster.

“What’s going on? Why are there so many magic horn rhinoceroses?”

Lin Qi turned around and looked behind him. There was smoke billowing, covering the sun in the sky.

The eyes of the rhinoceroses were red, and they had completely lost their rationality.

After running for a distance, they temporarily avoided the rhinoceroses, and that gave them time to catch their breath.

“Here are two Rush Candies. Take them first.” Lin Qi handed the candies to Luther and Yu Meng, and then he said, “Where are the others? Why are you here alone?”

“We parted ways when they found a few magic horn rhinoceroses. I was seriously injured and did not wish to participate in it, so…”

Lin Qi and the others knew what Luther was referring to.

They turned around and saw that the group of magic horn rhinoceroses was following closely behind.

“I understand what happened then but what happened this time?” Lin Qi interrupted him.

That stampede of rhinoceroses suddenly appeared that morning. At first, there were only a few of them, but later, a multitude of them appeared.

Luther heard from Dong Ling that they met Lin Qi in a valley. He was worried about Lin Qi’s safety, so he came to find him.

“Young Master, we are now in the Terrifying Mountains. It is difficult for the people of Black Wind Castle to monitor us here. We can only rely on ourselves from now on.”

Lin Qi did not answer him. Instead, he looked up at the sky in the distance and saw the dust rising slowly. “Let’s go. The rhinoceroses are about to catch up.”

After eating steak and sweet potatoes, they had almost recovered. Without further delay, they immediately got up and ran southwest.

Fortunately, the gourmet system had been upgraded to level three, and they had the Rush Candy. Otherwise, they would have been trampled by the group of rhinoceroses.

With Luther leading him, Lin Qi also had time to look through the menu in the system.

Although the Berserk Grass can greatly increase one’s strength, the side effects are too dangerous, so it should not be used in that situation.

The Song God’s Flower is useful for spiritual situations pertaining to things like hexes so it’s not suitable for now.

..

Although Lin Qi had unlocked a few level three gourmet dishes, he did not have sufficient ingredients at hand.

‘Next time, I should prepare all the things needed in the recipe and place them in the dimensional pouch in case we encounter such a situation again.’

With no ingredients, he could only temporarily give up on the idea of getting help from the system.

“Look, there’s a big swamp ahead. There’s no way the rhinos would enter there. We’re going to be saved.” Lewis looked ahead excitedly.

Lin Qi looked forward and nodded at Lewis. That notion was not bad.

Then, he turned to the direction Lewis was pointing at. Sure enough, there was a reflection ahead indicating the presence of water. He could clearly tell that the trees were thick, the air was moist, and there was very little soil.

The few of them gradually stopped. Lin Qi squatted down and grabbed a handful of black, watery mud.

“Do any of you know what kind of swamp this is? It’ll be bad if we enter recklessly.” Lin Qi had seen several swamps, and they were full of dangers.

“There are many swamps in the Terrifying Mountains, and they’re all similar, but the dangers of each swamp vary. This swamp also feels quite different.”

“As long as it’s not the Mystic Swamp, the Blood Cloud Swamp, and the Thorny Tentacle Swamp, we should be able to cross safely.”

Yu Meng did not know much about the swamp, so she could only continue explaining.

Rumble…

The noise behind them sounded again.

“Young Master, let’s go in first. No matter how dangerous the swamp is, it’s still better than becoming meat paste.” Luther was slightly anxious.

Lin Qi reasoned that their stay in the swamp was only temporary. He still had the gourmet system, so he did not have to worry about food even if they were trapped inside.

They slowly walked in and left marks along the way. They planned to wait for the rhinoceroses to pass before leaving using the marks to navigate the way out.

Luther was the bravest among the group so he entered the swamp first. He firmly held his greatsword and led the way.

“Stay close just in case any ungodly demonic beasts come out,” Lewis muttered as he walked.

Soon, an hour passed…

They had not encountered any demonic beasts in the swamp. Occasionally there were two poisonous snakes hiding in the dark to ambush them, but they were all killed by Luther’s sword.

Fortunately, that swamp was not too dangerous. Moreover, they all had sufficient strength, so their journey was quite smooth.

“It’s foggy. Something’s wrong!” White fog suddenly appeared in front of them, and the visibility was reduced to only seven to ten feet.

The first to react was Yu Meng. She was a mage, and her mental strength was higher than the others, so her senses were stronger.

“This fog is making me dizzy, you guys…”

Before Lin Qi and the others could react, they could no longer move. They lost control of their bodies, and the mud under their feet slowly reached up to their legs一dragging them further down. They felt that the situation was getting stranger and stranger.

“Master, what are you doing? It’s your turn to play your cards.” Jin Lingling’s timid voice sounded, but Lin Qi ignored her.

Yu Meng’s face was completely red. She was not wearing her veil nor her cloak. She was only in her usual top and skirt.

The blushing Yu Meng glared at Lin Qi and said, “Have you stared enough? Play your cards quickly. If you lose this time, you have to stand outside naked as punishment.”

When someone loses they have to remove a piece of clothing. Lin Qi and Jin Lingling were doing well so they were not worried. Yu Meng’s luck was not so good. She had lost twice already resulting in the removal of her veil and cloak.

“Look at the cards. Three against one. That’s it. I won again.” Lin Qi threw all the cards in his hand and looked at Yu Meng with anticipation.

Of course, Lin Qi wanted to feast his eyes.

Yu Meng did not hesitate. She kept her promise and started to lift up her top.

[ Ding… Ding… ]

“What is that noise? It’s ruining my mood.” Lin Qi was about to witness something he was looking forward to the most, but there was a distracting sound coming from outside.

The faint dinging noise made him very annoyed.

Then, he got up and opened the door. He wanted to see who had ruined his mood. In a trance, a strong light shone on him, making it hard for him to open his eyes. He subconsciously used his arm to block it. When he came back to his senses, the scene in front of him shocked him.

He actually found himself in a swamp, and the mud was up to his chest.

[ Ding! The system has detected that the host has lost consciousness. Trying to wake him up. ]

[ Ding! The host has been awakened. He is in danger. ]

Lin Qi struggled to grab the withered tree beside him and slowly pulled himself out of the mud.

“The others must have hallucinated too. The system saved me again this time. Otherwise, I would have become a skeleton under the swamp.” He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.