Treasure Hunt in the Swamp

Just as Liu Lin said, since encountering the Blood Poison Worm, Lin Chen and his two companions have been moving further and further away from the safe zone outside Anjie, and have begun to officially step into the depths of the wilderness.

The wilderness also began to reveal its dangerous and terrifying side. Lin Chen even felt that the surrounding environment changed in an instant, from calm and peaceful to cold and terrifying.

In just a few miles, Lin Chen and his companions encountered several groups of demons, but under Liu Lin's guidance, they successfully evaded them without any conflict.

"The wilderness outside the edge of this safe zone is really terrible. The weeds, vines, and bushes are so dense that you can't even see a demon hiding right in front of you."

Lin Chen felt a chill run down his spine. Just moments before, a giant python had sprung out of the weeds in front of him and opened its blood-red maw to swallow him whole.

If Lin Chen hadn't been wearing the armored magical artifacts for protection, and hadn't already summoned Agumon so that Agumon could kill him in time, Lin Chen would have suffered some physical pain, even if he hadn't been killed.

"Are you alright, Lin Chen?" Liu Lin asked with concern as she approached Lin Chen.

"It's all my fault for not scouting the area properly, which almost put you in danger," Liu Lin said with some self-reproach.

"Sister Lin, it's okay. After all, you're not a professional scout. You've already done a great job. I can learn a lot from your current level."

Lin Chen smiled, not caring at all, but after this unexpected incident, Lin Chen became more vigilant and more determined to learn real skills from Liu Lin and the others.

At the same time, he admired Wang Min, the scout of the Skyfire Squad, even more. Under his leadership, they had never had the experience of getting up close and personal with demons.

"Lin Chen, I'm sorry, I didn't smell the snake even when it was so close." Agumon walked to Lin Chen's side and said softly, his tone tinged with self-reproach.

"It's alright, you saved me!" Lin Chen didn't care at all, but he was also curious about it, so he asked Liu Lin about it.

"That python was an earth serpent beast, which can lurk underground. I was only paying attention to the surface before," Liu Lin explained. "The reason Wang Min has such amazing detection abilities is because he is a dual-elemental mage of wind and earth, which allows him to detect both the surface and the underground, reducing unnecessary omissions."

After this accident, Lin Chen and his two companions rested briefly before continuing their journey towards Poyang Lake. When they encountered thorns blocking their path, they chose to take detours. Even when forced to, they would first use magic to investigate.

After this series of actions, the three of them moved much slower than before, but they no longer encountered any sudden attacks from demons.

After walking for another ten miles, Lin Chen and his two companions arrived at a low-lying area where clumps of aquatic plants and shrubs could be seen everywhere, and small puddles of water could be seen from time to time.

"Be careful. According to the Hunter's Alliance's records, there may be swamps of varying sizes in this terrain."

As Liu Lin spoke, she found four thin wooden sticks in the surrounding jungle and handed them to Lin Chen, Agumon, and Rou Rou, indicating that they should use the sticks to probe the ground in case a swamp suddenly appeared.

As they continued walking forward, Agumon suddenly stopped and began sniffing repeatedly.

"Lin Chen, I smell a peculiar fragrance, it smells wonderful," Agumon said.

"Is there?" Lin Chen sniffed frantically, but found nothing. "Which direction?"

Agumon closed its eyes, sensed the surroundings, and pointed to the left front.

"Sister Lin, shall we go take a look?" Lin Chen asked, since Liu Lin and the others had more experience in wilderness survival.

Liu Lin nodded and did not refuse, but she still first gave Lin Chen a brief introduction to outdoor knowledge.

"If you suddenly smell a strange kiss outside of Anjie, there are generally two possibilities."

"One possibility is encountering treasure, which goes without saying; you just need to be wary of the demons guarding the treasure."

"Another type is encountering a beautiful danger. This kind of thing is usually extremely fragrant or beautiful, which can make you subconsciously ignore the danger. However, this kind of thing is often highly poisonous, and you can lose your life on the spot if you are not careful."

Lin Chen nodded and carefully memorized it.

Following Agumon, they carefully made their way towards the source of the fragrance. Before long, Lin Chen and the others also smelled a strange fragrance.

"Are we almost there?"

Sure enough, after a short while, a towering ancient tree, more than ten feet tall, appeared before Lin Chen and his companions, its fragrance emanating from its trunk.

This ancient tree stands alone in its place, with no other trees around it.

"Something seems off," Lin Chen said with some concern, glancing around at his surroundings.

Liu Lin nodded: "I'll test the waters first. If there aren't any major problems, then we can move closer."

"OK."

"Ice Vines - Cover!"

As the snow fell heavily and the temperature plummeted, the ground around the towering tree was soon covered with thick layers of frost and frozen solid, but no demons were disturbed and appeared from the surrounding area.

"There shouldn't be any danger, let's go up and take a look!" Liu Lin said.

Upon arriving at the tree, Lin Chen noticed that although the towering tree was very tall, its trunk appeared somewhat withered, even giving the impression of lacking vitality, making it seem unlike a normal towering tree.

"Lin Chen, look here."

Just as Lin Chen was still captivated by the tree's appearance, he heard Agumon's shouts.

Looking in the direction of the sound, Lin Chen discovered that Agumon had already circled around to the shady side of the big tree.

Upon arriving at Agumon's location, Lin Chen's gaze was immediately drawn to a patch of wood ear mushrooms growing beneath the tree trunk. These mushrooms appeared no different from ordinary wood ear mushrooms, but they were entirely emerald green and emitted a rich fragrance. Clearly, the fragrance that Agumon had smelled earlier was coming from these mushrooms.

"Sister Lin, is this thing poisonous? Is it a treasure?" Lin Chen asked.

Liu Lin stared at the green fungus for a while, then carefully examined the slightly withered tree in front of her. Recalling the various treasure catalogs she had seen before, she finally spoke with full confidence.

"This is a Qingling Ear, which contains a large amount of life force from this towering tree. It's a good supplement for making healing potions, and it's also relatively rare to find. It's a pretty good find. This little bit of stuff can easily be sold for around 200,000."

Then, Liu Lin took out a small wooden box from her body, and with a flick of her right hand, the specially made short knife that Lin Chen had seen before reappeared in her hand.

A flash of silver light appeared, and Liu Lin sheathed her knife, severing the Qingling Ear from the base of the tree, which then fell into the wooden box in her hand by sheer coincidence.

After placing the wooden box into their backpacks, Lin Chen and his companions found their previous location and continued forward.