Night Without End-Chapter 30 - 21 Blood Bamboo Forest

In the faint night, towering mountains stood with forests of larch, hazel, and birch trees. Although the species were exotic, most of them had already shed their leaves, leaving only the bare branches to bear the white snow.

Qin Ming tread upon the accumulated snow as he went forward, approaching the Blood Bamboo Forest after traversing several mountains.

He had never stepped into this region before; it was no longer considered the outer area of the mountains.

Along the way, numerous mountain beasts appeared and the cries of strange birds rang continuously, but upon reaching this place, all other sounds vanished except for the whistling cold wind.

Qin Ming was aware of the dangers of the Blood Bamboo Forest. All sorts of creatures in the mountains detoured around this area, rarely appearing here.

It was still the frigid winter season with snow all around. If it were during the active period of the Fire Spring, when everything revived and Blood Snakes began to hunt for prey, the nearby area would probably become even quieter.

"The scenery is quite beautiful." Qin Ming stood outside a valley and looked in.

The Blood Bamboo Forest was within the valley. Despite the dim light, he could clearly see that the forest of bamboo, fiery red in color and covered with snow, stood resilient in the wind and snow, a sight exceptionally beautiful.

The valley was filled with Blood Bamboo, which was very beautiful. These plants, from the bamboo poles to the leaves, were all glowing red, like dense red coral forests growing in the snow.

"This is indeed a good place." Qin Ming sighed in awe.

No one dared to come here to enjoy the scenery on a regular basis; the Blood Snakes' notorious reputation made even the Mountain Patrol highly cautious.

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There was no sign of the steaming light from the Fire Spring in the valley, seemingly extinguished.

However, Qin Ming did not step into the valley. He believed that under the frozen ground there must be "Embers," and that the Fire Spring might not be completely gone.

He circled around the area, observing the nearby terrain, and climbed up a slope. From the higher ground, he looked down and indeed saw an extremely faint "Red glow" in the center of the valley.

After thinking it over, Qin Ming left the quiet place and headed toward the area where strange birds and mountain beasts were more common, catching a rabbit in the snow.

"Sorry buddy." He grabbed the plump snow rabbit, returned near the Blood Bamboo Forest, stood on the slope, and with a forceful throw, cast the rabbit towards the center of the valley where the "Red glow" was.

With a thud, the large rabbit crashed onto the thick snow, sending up patches of snowflakes, not far from the Embers of the Fire Spring.

Almost simultaneously, a red streak darted out, sweeping across the snow with astonishing speed toward the rabbit, and instantly pierced into it.

Qin Ming's focus was highly concentrated, golden ripples emerging on his skin, his eyes locked onto the center of the valley not too far away.

Without a doubt, that was a Blood Snake, barely three feet long, indeed as rumors had it, its body was as hard as fine iron, capable of taking short, arrow-like leaps to pierce its target.

"Truly dangerous creatures, these are relatively smaller snakes. If big ones that are several meters long appeared, they would be quite hard to deal with." Qin Ming frowned.

Most importantly, even in such cold weather, Blood Snakes were still active and could briefly move through ice and snow, which was quite a problem.

Then he saw several more red streaks emerge from the "Red glow," all only a few feet long. This time they did not shoot out like iron arrows, but instead crawled along the snow to get close to the rabbit, their hard heads piercing into the rabbit's body.

These snake species carrying spiritual essence could not be treated conventionally, not as fearful of icy conditions as one might imagine, and could not easily be frozen solid in a short time.

"Am I providing you with a winter supplement, an unexpected extra meal?" Qin Ming watched the Blood Bamboo Forest as the few Blood Snakes apparently sucked the warm blood of the snow rabbit.

They are aptly named after blood due to their way of consumption, not swallowing their prey whole as regular snakes do.

They fed very quickly, perhaps unwilling to linger in the snow for long, and soon moved towards the nearly extinguished Fire Spring.

"Hm?" Qin Ming noticed that two of them did not return to their nests immediately but were quickly crawling through the Blood Bamboo Forest as if looking for something.

At the same time, he noticed a larger snake head emerging from that "Red glow," continuously flicking its bright red tongue as if sensing something.

"Quite troublesome." Qin Ming realized that these lethal spiritual creatures were very strong and extremely alert, more difficult to deal with than other mutant species.

He pondered whether he could fight poison with poison, offering them some poisonous Blood Meal. However, seeing that the big snake didn't seem interested in feeding and that a smaller snake always tested the food first, he thought this approach wouldn't be very feasible.

Qin Ming noticed that after circling the Blood Bamboo Forest quickly, the two smaller snakes, about three to four feet long, noticeably slowed down. They completed their patrol of the territory and sank back into the nesting area marked by the "Red glow."

"The bitter cold weather still greatly affects them, and that's good news." He walked down the slope and headed back the way he came.

He planned to bring all kinds of weapons over. Once he ventured into the Blood Bamboo Forest, he would have to don the Patrol Team's armor in three or four layers. He did not wish to be ambushed by Blood Snakes; their heads hard as fine iron piercing through his skin would undoubtedly be fatal even to a Newcomer.

In not too long a time, he unearthed and transported those Iron Spears, armors, and other equipment, hiding them near the Blood Bamboo Forest.

"To deal with Blood Snakes, Fu Entao's sharp long blade is actually more useful than the Wujin Hammer with a long handle."

Using heavy weapons to attack larger Alien Species showcased strong killing power, capable of smashing their heads with a single blow, but using it to hit slender snakes was not as efficient as using a long blade.

Qin Ming mused about when exactly the Fire Spring in the Blood Bamboo Forest would completely extinguish. The longer it took, the weaker the Blood Snakes would become, but he didn't have much time because the final negotiation with the top-tier Alien Species in the mountains was due to be concluded within the next few days.