Chapter 551: “Mysterious Black Stone (8)”
One of the men in Mu Qian Fan’s team had been completely swallowed up by one of those bog holes and they could not even retrieve his body after his death.
Besides the invisible bog holes scattered across the swampy marsh, terrible beasts hid within the misty fog. The team consisting of experienced and hardy men had lost half of their men under the attacks by the ferocious Spirit Beasts who hid within the cover of the blinding fog. More terrifying than all these dangers, was the poison within the mist that was everywhere, constantly around them. They had not noticed it in the beginning, it was not until a few of them had escaped out from under the fog and noticed that the wounds on their bodies were continuing to fester and rot after the poison had spread into their internal organs that they realised just how scary a place the bottom of the Heaven’s End Cliff was.
Within a fog so thick you cannot see your hand before your face, air laced with poison, ground filled with bottomless bog holes, ferocious Spirit Beasts, where any single one of the dangers could easily take your life.
That was when Mu Qian Fan finally understood why the client who knew the exact location of Heaven’s End Cliff had offered to pay them such an enormous sum of money just to compile a map of an area. He must have known of the perilous dangers that laid at the bottom of Heaven’s End Cliff, and the men were paying it back with their very own lives.
But it was already too late for regrets. With the lone exception of Mu Qian Fan, their team of eleven men had ten dead. Besides the piece of Black Jade Rock that they were unable to cut, they had gotten nothing.
As they had not been able to complete the map, they would not be able to receive the remaining payment from the client. When Mu Qian Fan returned, he had gone to seek out the client. But when the client got to know that Mu Qian Fan and his team had almost been totally annihilated on their expedition, they had lost all desire in continuing with the conversation and had only briefly asked Mu Qian Fan about their encounters at the bottom of Heaven’s End Cliff and chased him out quickly thereafter.
With all his brothers dead, he lived his life in fear holding on tightly to a mere piece of broken rock. In order to provide some consolation to the grieving families of his deceased brothers, Mu Qian Fan had no choice but to take the Black Jade Stone and entrust it to He Chang Le and to put it up for auction.
After Mu Qian Fan finished his story, he lowered his head completely. His tightly clenched fists were completely covered in his own blood.
The memory of every moment spent at the bottom of the Heaven’s End Cliff was deeply entrenched in his mind. The screams of his brothers as they died haunted him horribly in his dreams, like relentless demons.
“It is definitely not a good place and you should just forget all that you just heard and just treat it as a story.” Mu Qian Fan was silent for a long while before he raised his head, his eyes filled with despair and indescribable grief.
If only they had not been tempted by that reward money offered, if only they had been more down to earth and only accepted simpler missions, then his brothers would still be alive today and he would not have become just like a dead man walking.
The injuries on his body now had gotten extremely serious. He had been back for quite a period and his wounds had continued to fester and rot. The bandages he had covered himself with were not to protect his wounds but he was afraid that his horrifying looks now would frighten the people that he came into contact with.
His entire body was filled with poison he had contracted from the Heaven’s End Cliff and he knew he had not long more to live. He only wished, that before he died, he would be able to help look after the families of his deceased brothers.
Jun Wu Xie patiently listened to Mu Qian Fan till he finished, her face expressionless.
Whereas Qiao Chu and the others were looking extremely solemn.
“Did I scare all of you? Haha….. It’s not all that bad, just don’t go to that place.” Mu Qian Fan thought that the youths had all been frightened by his account of his experiences and he hurriedly changed his tone and tried to make light of his words.
“Will you still remain in Chan Lin Town for a period?” Jun Wu Xie asked suddenly.