Invincible Little School Doctor

Chapter 1414: Chapter 1414: Damn, Is This Thing Actually Intelligent? (4th Update)

Ye Haochuan walked toward the left side of the pond, while Fan Qingqing went to the right. Both had their own objectives, and neither bothered asking the other as they went about their business.

Near the Cold Pond, there were quite a few demon beasts lurking, but their cultivation level was not particularly high. Ye Haochuan concealed his aura to avoid unnecessary trouble.

The map wasn’t particularly detailed. After reaching the Cold Pond, it lacked a specific route and only had two lines written.

”Go fifty miles to the left, there are five old locust trees, eight feet apart. Under the soil five feet in front of the third tree, there is a hidden path...”

Following the map’s instructions, Ye Haochuan started looking for five locust trees spaced eight feet apart.

But to his frustration, after walking for two hours, covering nearly half the pond’s edge, he still hadn’t found those five locust trees.

Damn, could it be that this map was drawn too long ago, and those locust trees have already died out?

Ye Haochuan cursed inwardly, despising the map’s creator to the extreme.

You idiot, if you’re going to use a reference, wouldn’t it be better to choose a mountain or a big rock? They won’t change for hundreds of years. Choosing a few trees, where are you going to find them in hundreds of years?

”Could the lake have changed and submerged them?” A thought suddenly occurred to Ye Haochuan. He quickly opened his Perspective Eyes and looked into the lake.

But the next moment, he smacked the back of his head hard.

Dammit, how stupid can I be? Why am I using Perspective Eyes to find some stupid trees, when I could just look for the hidden path directly?

Using Perspective Eyes to find the five locust trees before searching for the hidden path was simply putting the cart before the horse.

At this thought, Ye Haochuan no longer cared about the locust trees and directly looked underground.

”Nothing here, keep moving forward!”

Ye Haochuan conducted a grid search underground near the Cold Pond. After more than ten minutes of searching, his eyes were sore, yet he still found nothing leading to a hidden path.

”Hmm? There’s something odd here!”

Just as he was about to take a break, he suddenly noticed something unusual underground.

There was no hidden path below, but a section of the area was impervious to his Perspective Eyes, making it unclear.

”As the saying goes, ’No three hundred taels of silver are buried here,’ even if this hidden path can block the perspective, so what? Isn’t that just indicating there’s something below?”

Ye Haochuan chuckled lightly, found the location, and dug down several meters, indeed discovering an oblong stone block, clearly the top of the hidden path.

Ye Haochuan drew the Divine Concealment Sword and sliced through the stone like chopping vegetables.

He leaped inside and found a hidden path. The path was entirely constructed of stone blocks, covered with thick moss, indicating its ancient origins.

”The map states that after entering the path, there’s an arrow, and you should walk in the opposite direction... but I didn’t enter from that place, damn it, where’s the arrow?” Ye Haochuan was a bit dumbfounded.

Both sides of the path were identical alleys without any reference points; he had no idea which way to go.

He tried using his Perspective Eyes to look at both ends, but just like looking from above, it was equally unclear. Moreover, from above, he could barely discern the path’s direction, but down here, he couldn’t even see through the stone walls.

”Whatever, let’s just pick a direction and go. If it doesn’t work, I’ll come back.” With no other choice, Ye Haochuan randomly picked a direction.

Crunch~

After taking a few steps, he suddenly felt the ground move slightly. In the next second, numerous steel needles shot out from both sides of the passage.

Damn, more traps? Did the person who built this path read too many tomb-raiding novels?

Ye Haochuan couldn’t help but curl his lips. If it were an ordinary person, they’d certainly be turned into a porcupine. But for someone like him, a Core Formation Mid-Stage expert, it wasn’t a big deal.

With a light laugh, he quickly summoned a protective shield to block.

However, the next moment, his expression changed drastically. His protective shield, pricked by a few silver needles, began to crack.

Dammit, what are these steel needles made of, to be so powerful?

Ye Haochuan was startled. His protective shield couldn’t even be breached by a Core Formation Peak cultivator, yet a few steel needles easily pricked it, which was abnormal.

With no time to think, Ye Haochuan hurriedly summoned the Ghost Pattern Shield and quickly retreated from that area.

Clang clang clang~

In mere moments, dozens of steel needles struck the Ghost Pattern Shield.

When Ye Haochuan saw the steel needle heads piercing through the Ghost Pattern Shield, his heart tightened. Fortunately, after piercing through, the needles seemed to exhaust their power and got stuck.

The first one did, then the second, then hundreds more followed suit. In less than two seconds, the Ghost Pattern Shield was covered by densely packed steel needles, resembling a porcupine.

Fortunately, thanks to the Tortoise Pattern Shield’s defense, he successfully exited the steel needle area.

Damn, does it really need to be this extreme?

Ye Haochuan was still sweating profusely.

The map didn’t mention anything about such formidable hidden weapons. Their sudden appearance caught him off guard.

Seeing these steel needles, Ye Haochuan felt a shiver run down his spine. If the Tortoise Pattern Shield wasn’t a Middle Level Treasure Artifact, he might have been in worse shape than the shield.

With such formidable hidden weapons, how was he supposed to pass?

Ye Haochuan pondered quietly.

Turn around?

Of course, that wasn’t possible. The rear shouldn’t be any safer. Moreover, the more formidable the hidden weapon, the more it indicated his chosen direction was correct.

But if he didn’t turn back, how could he get through the steel needle zone ahead?

The more Ye Haochuan thought, the tighter his brows knitted. The attack power of these steel needles—every single one was as if shot with the full strength of a Core Formation Peak cultivator.

Hundreds to thousands of densely packed steel needles were akin to a thousand Core Formation Peak experts simultaneously exerting their full force; even a Nascent Soul Mid-Stage couldn’t endure it.

”Hey, wait. Although there are many steel needles, they can’t possibly be limitless, right?”

Ye Haochuan’s eyes suddenly lit up, his smile turning quite sinister.

The next moment, he used the Great Yan Step to quickly jump into the steel needle area and then withdrew swiftly.

The steel needles were too fast; without the Great Yan Step, just stepping in halfway would leave no chance of escape.

As Ye Haochuan stepped into the steel needle area, countless needles shot at where he had just stood. But those out of range didn’t fire.

Hell, this thing is actually intelligent?

Ye Haochuan cursed under his breath.

If just entering the area caused all the needles to shoot out, he could exhaust them all in one go. But with it like this, he could only deplete a small fraction each time. It would take untold attempts to exhaust them completely.

After several hundred rounds of back and forth, Ye Haochuan was utterly exhausted and just barely managed to deplete the fourth wave of steel needles.

Damn it, this is exhausting!

Ye Haochuan cursed quietly, but instead of moving forward, he took a moment to catch his breath in the now safe area.

Only to find out that the previously dormant steel needles suddenly flew out again, overwhelming the scene and viciously targeting Ye Haochuan.