“Hurry up, I heard that someone had spotted an Ogre flower up ahead, but I don’t know if true or just a rumor.” One of the several strong youngsters that were rushing past Bi Fan and his party, urged his friends.
Another one replied: “We definitely need to check this out, just in case its true, then we might be able to get our hands on some petals. Just imagine the things it could do to us.”
w.a.n.g Zhong and Bi Fan, both, heard this conversation between those youngsters.
They didn’t believe at first, but when a few more teams of strong fighters, rushed in the same direction as the previous party, they finally started to believe it.
An Ogre flower isn’t your average garden-flower; it’s a man-eating flower.
Ogre flowers, once fully blossomed, usually, have a radius of about one meter, when their petals are spread out. Some Ogre flower, the really big ones, can sometimes, have as many as one hundred and eighty petals on a single flower, and each of these petals can provide the most amazing of benefits.
An Ogre flower is best suited for someone who is in the ‘transformation’ layer, and is trying to make the jump to the ‘Emerging from the Womb’ layer.
Once someone consumes a petals of an Ogre flower, they start feeling very positive, mentally, since their minds are relieved of all negative thoughts, while their body, physically, experiences a huge surge of Aura.
The benefits of the Ogre flower were such amazing, that people were willing to pay any price asked, for its petals.
But the Ogre flowers only grow in extremely harsh conditions, as they require a huge amount of negative Aura to breed.
In the world outside of here, Ogre flowers were a very rare commodity, and each sighting of such a flower, usually, triggered carnage.
Ogre flowers were so rare, that no one really expected to find one, not even in a place like the Devil’s Abyss. But since so many people were convinced of its occurrence, then there was a possibility that the rumor might be true.
Ogre flowers, also, have a lot of tentacles, apart from petals, and these tentacles are barbed with poisonous thorns. The flower uses these tentacles to tangle its prey, and then injects a toxin into the target’s body, which then, loses consciousness very quickly.
An Ogre flower’s tentacles are extremely st.u.r.dy, and owing to their sheer number, can be very hard to cut off in a short period of time.
Unless these tentacles were cut off very quickly, the Ogre flower wraps these tentacles around its prey, and then injects its toxin into its prey’s body, quickly sending the same in to an unconscious state, and then drags it towards its core.
In the center of the petals, at its core, there is a pipette-like straw, which the flower pierces into the body of its prey, and starts to a.s.similate its victim’s energy, flesh, and blood; and it simply does not let its target go until it’s done with its task.
By the time the Ogre flower is done, all that’s left of its victim… is a pile of bones; it’s a miserable way to die.
The Ogre flowers can subject humans to the most gruesome of deaths. But since its petals are so valuable, and are considered better than any other kind of Dan, owing to fact that they don’t have any side-effects at all, humans still take the risk of going up against it.
No matter whether the pract.i.tioner was an aged man, or a youngster like Bi Fan, if they heard of an Ogre flower sighting, they would rush towards the scene, and would try to take the petals from it.
Since this flower had blossomed inside the first layer of the Devil’s Abyss, it provided a golden opportunity for all the martial artists who were at the peak of the ‘transformation’ layer.
w.a.n.g Zhong was inside the ‘transformation’ layer, in fact, he was at the peak of the layer. So, as long as he could obtain even a single petal of the flower, and was able to consume it, he could easily make the breakthrough in no time at all.
“Brother w.a.n.g, it looks like this is your chance, let’s go and take a look.” Bi Fan smiled.
w.a.n.g Zhong requested: “If there really is an Ogre flower up ahead, then brothers, please help me in securing a petal from it.”
Even though they were only inside the first layer of the Devil’s Abyss, there would still be a lot of strong fighters present at the scene, and w.a.n.g Zhong knew that he wouldn’t be able to fight his way through them, and then take the flower, all on his own.
“If there really is an Ogre flower over there, then it will come in handy later on, and it would be foolish for us to not take a petal for ourselves too.” Bi Fan stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
The manner in which Bi Fan’s strength was growing at the moment, it was only a matter of time before his inner energy would cross into the ‘transformation’ layer. And in case he was able to procure a petal from an Ogre flower, then he could continue his practice with the confidence that he was almost sure to break into ‘the emerging from the womb’ layer; at the right time.
After they had identified the direction in which the Ogre flower had been spotted, Bi Fan, Blue Dragon, Lone Leaf, and w.a.n.g Zhong, along with Chimera, set out in full speed.
Ogre flowers were usually, at least, as strong as the ‘spiritual intelligence’ layer, in equivalence of human strength, and were often, even stronger than that. But, the stronger a flower is, the more effective its petals are.
Since so many humans were seeking this flower, there was bound to be a very fierce compet.i.tion to get to the flower, so naturally, Bi Fan and his party would have to be very careful.
They had only been running for about ten minutes, when they started hearing screams, apart from the obvious sounds of fierce fighting.
Shrill and low pitched shrieks echoed from the intense scene, which had already served as grounds for several causalities.
“Alright, Lone Leaf, Blue Dragon, Brothers, your primary responsibility is to steal the petals, while Brother w.a.n.g and I will be responsible for distracting the other people.” Bi Fan started laying out the plan.
The Chimera, was once again, asked to stay out of the main battle, and had agreed to undertake the responsibility of rescuing Bi Fan and w.a.n.g Zhong, in case they ran into too much trouble.
Once everyone was clear on their role, they started to move closer towards the battlefield.
In the center of the battlefield stood an Ogre flower, manifestly, and magnificently, superior to the rest of its surroundings.
Hundreds of strong humans were concentrated in the area surrounding the Ogre flower, and everyone was trying to get close to flower, in order to take a petal from it. But someone or the other would always block the person in question; no one was allowing anyone to take a petal from the flower.
The scene that they were witnessing, epitomized chaos. All kinds of measure were being called into action, weapons and melee; in a situation like this, no would even bother caring which sect the other person belonged to, so much so, that even Jiu Yu Da, would have no weight.
Even Yuan Shi students were facing opposition.
“I’m from Jian Shen, get out of my way! Block me, and you die!” A young man screamed, as he tried to charge through the battlefield.
Normally, a name like Jian Shen would clear the way. But in a situation like this one, it could possibly back-fire, and could even forge a path to death.
He had barely taken a few steps, when he found himself obstructed by several strong fighters.
When it came to something as previous as the petals of an Ogre flower, no would care about anyone’s posterity, and big names in the world of martial arts, would only be considered words, no matter how elite they were.
When compared to the benefits that an Ogre flower could provide, everything else was just as transient as a fleeting cloud.
Lone Leaf and Blue Dragon, in compliance with Bi Fan’s plan, found a hiding place, away from the scene of the battle, while the Chimera found his, much closer to Bi Fan and w.a.n.g Zhong, when compared to the former.
w.a.n.g Zhong and Bi Fan, stood shoulder to shoulder, but didn’t rush into the fray.
At this moment, the situation was so confusing, that there was no guarantee as to what would happen in case they tried to charge into the battlefield ahead.
No one was allowing anyone to take any petals from the Ogre flower.
On top of that, the Ogre flower wasn’t exactly a vegetarian either, and was strong into the summit of the ‘transformation’ layer.
The Ogre flower had been taking full advantage of the confusion on the battlefield, and had already made a meal out of several very strong men.
“Brother Bi Fan, what do we do now? There are so many people here; this isn’t a very good start for us.” w.a.n.g Zhong’s brows were creased with stress, as he tried to think of a good strategy to deal with the situation at hand.
Bi Fan’s reply was as dull as it could get: “Let it be; right now they are busy tearing each other apart; so just let them kill each other.”
w.a.n.g Zhong liked the idea: “So, we just stand here and enjoy the show, as they slaughter each other… well, at least they are putting up a wonder show, ah.”
w.a.n.g Zhong pointed to one man, a very bold and strong man, as he said: “That man is Jian Shen’s Gu Feng; he’s Tian Feng’s elder Brother; He’s slightly stronger than even me.”
“He really is very strong; he has an excellent sword, just like his brother did; and just look at the skills, he is really, a very, talented man.” Bi Fan nodded in agreement.
Gu Feng was fighting several strong men, all on his own, with ease, and was still able to push further into the battlefield, closer to the Ogre flower.
Gu Feng was one of the strongest men in the vicinity, and was being attacked by several men at once, who were all trying to stop him from getting closer to the Orgre flower, but were miserably failing at their task.
The sight of humans slaughtering each other was miserable enough, but then, soon, the Devil’s Race also started getting involved in the act.
The sounds that this intense battle had been constantly giving rise to, had alerted the Devils’ Race’s beasts of human presence, which had started to flock towards in the battlefield in large groups.
The number of beasts, that were entering the battlefield, was increasing by the minute, and they had already started attacking the humans.
For the sake of security, Bi Fan signaled to Blue Dragon and Lone Leaf, to retreat, and withdraw to a location further away from the battlefield. And since the Chimera, too, could land itself in trouble, since it could easily be mistaken for a beast of the devils’ race, he too, was asked to do the same.
Both, w.a.n.g Zhong and Bi Fan, enter the battlefield together, but instead of searching for opponents, they started pretending to fight each other.
As long as they wouldn’t try to get closer to the Orge flower, they probably won’t attract too much attention, and would stay out of harm’s way.