Chapter 240: A strange place
A ray of red light flew out, showing that Marceau had finally escaped with incredible difficulty. Her wrinkled face was full of dejection as her shining eyes looked around, wanting to understand to fully grasp the current situation within the valley.
The beautiful scenery and the valley full of flowers had been completely destroyed after the four enormous beings’ battle. The ravines in the ground were flowing with lava, while raging flames burned in huge holes, filling the air with a burnt smell.
Marceau looked around for a bit and clearly let out a sigh of relief after noting the absence of the golden dragon, cyclops and gigantic silver ape. When she noticed Han Shuo and Sophie staring coldly at her at a distance, she forced an ugly smile on her face. She explained apologetically, “Congratulations to the two of you for gaining a new life. I hope you can understand the special circumstances just now, I had no other choice!”
Sophie’s face was full of despise and contempt. She raised her head and snorted. Without looking at Marceau for even a moment longer, she said to Han Shuo still up in the air, “Let’s go. There’s nothing to be said to this kind of person!”
“Yeah, I think so too!” Han Shuo supported Sophie’s suggestion, then looked at Marceau coldly from afar. When he did that, he naturally emitted a wave of savage aura, but he didn’t make a moved, and instead flew towards the exit of the valley.
Sophie chanted out a mysterious summoning spell from her cherry lips. The pure, white, and beautiful pegasus appeared in the burning valley once again, helping Sophie mount.
The enormous burning clouds slowly dispersed from the skies above the valley after the Lord of the Flames ceased to control them. The wind in the sky blew lightly downwards and slowly extinguished the surging flames.
It would definitely take more than a single day for the fire elite zombie to form. It would be a slow and gradual process. From the yin demon’s surveillance, not only did the Lord of the Flames bear no ill will towards the life within the fire lotus, it even treated and protected him as its child. There definitely wouldn’t be an issue with the fire elite zombie’s safety.
When the fire elite zombie had absorbed enough power, it would emerge from the fire lotus. When that happened, this place of extreme fire will also become the fire zombie’s kingdom of fire. Han Shuo would be able to use its connection with the fire elite zombie to sweep away all of the various fire spiritual stones, so he wasn’t in a hurry to collect them.
As Han Shuo exited the valley, Sophie rode the beautiful pegasus and followed behind him at a moderate space, eventually disappearing from the valley as well.
Marceau watched both Han Shuo and Sophie leave with a sullen expression, but didn’t take any action. Only a while after the two had disappeared did she gaze at the now clear sky and used a levitation skill to quietly rise into the sky.
Han Shuo mentally contacted dark dragon Gilbert when they’d left the valley. The little skeleton has already been sent back to the other dimension, and the yin demon left in the fire lake also flew out of the ground’s crack and met up with Han Shuo.
When the yin demon returned to Han Shuo’s side, he also sensed Gilbert’s location. Sophie was following Han Shuo at a moderate pace on the pegasus. She gazed at Han Shuo with her beautiful and sparkling eyes, thinking some unknown thoughts.
Han Shuo had a good impression of Sophie. When Han Shuo had pretended to be injured as he flew up from the fire lotus, it had been Sophie who had convinced the indecisive Marceau to let him into the boundary. After Han Shuo had entered the boundary, Sophie hadn’t minded the terrible smell and the terrifying appearance of his legs to help Han Shuo sit up.
Sophie’s kindness had won Han Shuo’s kindly disposition, causing Han Shuo to immediately enclose Sophie in his protective barrier after Marceau had cut them out, and use more magical yuan to protect Sophie.
“I think it’s time for us to go separate ways!” Sophie had been silently following Han Shuo for a while when she finally spoke.
Han Shuo turned around and looked at her deeply. He flashed a dazzling smile and said, “You are a kind and just knight. It was a pleasure to meet you!”
They were about to go on their ways when Sophie also looked at Han Shuo with deep interest, as if she wanted to commit him to memory. After a while, she smiled and said, “Bryan, if you have the time to come and tour the Kasi Empire, I can be your guide!”
“Oh!” Han Shuo was happy to hear that. He then asked curiously. “How should I find you?”
Sophie pouted and glared at Han Shuo. She said strangely, “Did you really just make your debut that you actually don’t know me?”
Han Shuo shook his head and spoke with a laugh, “Are you very famous?”
“The Kasi Empire’s sacred knight, Zoro, is my father. I am the only earth rider who rides a pegasus. If you want to find me when you come to the Kasi Empire, you’ll definitely be able to find me. Goodbye, interesting scoundrel!” Sophie left behind a round of bell-like giggles as she flew in another direction on the pegasus, entering the skies like a little fairy. She completely disappeared in the blink of an eye.
She was the daughter of a sacred knight! Han Shuo was shocked. Only then did he truly pay attention to Sophie’s identity. He never would’ve thought that she was from such a famous family and have such a terrifyingly powerful father.
Currently on the Profound Continent, only the strongest of the strong would have the word “sacred” added on their class. Whether they were a sacred magus, a sacred swordmaster or sacred knight, they were the people that were publicly recognized to be the strongest. Regardless of what country they were in, they would hold an extraordinary position and gain the adoration of all of the people.
People like them held terrifying strength. They could even instantly change the outcome of a battle. They were existences that served as a nation’s patron god, and had the strength that caused even kings to treat them carefully. Sophie’s father was a sacred knight! No wonder she had such confidence, and rolled her eyes at Han Shuo furiously when he told her that he had never heard of her.
However, there was another type of existence that exceeded the boundaries of “sacred” and gained the title of “divine”. They were the closest existence to the gods, and were commonly called demigods!
They were the extreme of every class. They were as rare of the scales of dragons and feathers of phoenixes, and only a few appeared during hundreds and thousands of years. They were called the divine magus, divine swordmaster, and the divine knights. These demigods had the destructive abilities to destroy the earth. Their power were on par with deities. If they could breakthrough even more, they would break through the barriers and become true gods.
It was a pity that no such people had appeared on the Profound Continent yet. Those who held the title of “sacred” were already the peak level of existence.
As Sophie rode away on her pegasus, Han Shuo merely gawked at Sophie’s identity for a bit and then flew towards where Gilbert was.
He saw the huge footprints of the cyclops and signs of an intense battle along the way. The two meter long footprints were clearly from the cyclops. All of the towering ancient trees had been knocked down in rows, whereas some smaller hills also had been impacted.
With just a few glances, Han Shuo was sure that it the cyclops and golden dragon had been fighting as they left the valley. Gilbert must’ve followed the two enormous beings here stealthily.
Gilbert was still following the two powerful creatures. Han Shuo could feel that he was constantly on the move without paying attention to his surroundings. As he followed his contact with Gilbert, Han Shuo fully activated the Art of the Demonic Ninth Heaven and rushed towards Gilbert like a ray of light.
The valley had been in an ocean of flames before. Han Shuo only noticed that it was already night after he’d left. The stars shimmered in the sky while moonlight flowed down like water, it was a pity that the passing scenery was no longer beautiful due to the fighting of the two powerful beings.
After Han Shuo flew with all his might for a long distance, he heard a loud sound from afar. It was as shocking as the ground breaking apart. The ground seemed to be trembling due to this voice. In this moment, Han Shuo’s distance with Gilbert also seemed to be gradually decreasing.
Just as Han Shuo flew quickly and thought that he would be able to see Gilbert soon, the loud sound disappeared, and Han Shuo’s contact with Gilbert was also cut off at the same time. No matter how hard Han Shuo tried, he couldn’t sense Gilbert’s existence.
Han Shuo was shocked. He had no idea what had suddenly happened. He was completely confused by this sudden change, so once again raised his speed and flew towards the location where he had sensed the dark dragon just now.
Han Shuo was able to reach the scene with a speed of a falling star a few minutes later. Traces of the two enormous beings’ fight were still in front of him, but there was a vast area covered in black mist as well.
The area was extremely large. As Han Shuo gazed down from above, he noticed that the black mist covered a 2.5 kilometer radius. The moonlight was completely blocked off by the black mist, preventing it from entering. Han Shuo wasn’t able to see anything with his naked eyes either.
Waves of intense evil filled the entire area. There seemed to be some sort of terrifying danger within the black mist. Han Shuo was unable to feel the existence of any living things. It was as if the black mist had completely blocked everything off.
He hovered in the sky for a moment, then released a yin demon towards the area underneath. The formless yin demon descended slowly, then shot into the area of black mist.
Han Shuo’s connection with the yin demon was instantly cut off. The yin demon that had slipped into the black mist had instantly vanished in the blink of an eye. Han Shuo was unable to sense its position at all.
Han Shuo was truly shocked now. His connection with Gilbert was due to the power of the contract, so it was possible for the area to block it off. However, the three yin demons were refined by feeding them his own blood essence. Having it disappear after entering that area was truly a bit frightening.
The five kilometer radius below him was completely blocked off by the black smoke, he was unable to see what was going on inside at all. Han Shuo could only feel that it was full of an evil aura, meaning that the existence inside was definitely not a simple one.
“The Dark Forest is truly filled with mystery. This is such a bizarre place! It seems that if I want to understand the situation, I have to go in and figure it out!” Han Shuo muttered to himself as he gazed at the area below. He activated the magical yun in his body to form a barrier that would protect his body and slowly descended into the area below. As Han Shuo slowly approached the black mist, fear, depression, rage, insanity, and all sorts of negative emotions suddenly surged into Han Shuo’s mind. It was like a power had tried to invade Han Shuo, trying to cause him to lose his sense of self.
However, the murderous aura that’d formed Han Shuo’s body had absorbed various negative emotions in the last two slaughters he’d committed. Being in the bloodlust realm, Han Shuo was also used to the invasion of negative emotions. He was completely unaffected as his expression remained calm and controlled.
“This is rather interesting!” Han Shuo couldn’t help but mutter with surprise after feeling that sort of negative emotion rush into his mind. His body suddenly sank and fell directly into the area.
His lost connections with Gilbert and the yin demon was instantly reconstructed. It seemed like the black mist only prevented contact with the outside, but couldn’t stop the beings inside from connecting with each other.
He didn’t hurry to find Gilbert. Instead, Han Shuo looked around with fascinated eyes. He planned to fully memorize his bearings first so that he could make the correct decision when facing something dangerous.
Han Shuo’s vision was affected by the dense black mist. He was only able to see ten meters around him. This part of the Dark Forest seemed entirely different as it was covered with black mist. He looked around, but didn’t find any vegetation within ten meters of him. There were only weird and dark-colored rocks around him.
There was a small green stream beneath Han Shuo’s feet. It flowed quietly without any fish in it. When Han Shuo looked up to the sky, the black mist blocked off even the tiniest bit of light. The entire space was dim and filled with the smell of the desolation.
“Mhmm!” Han Shuo exclaimed when he saw a strange stone monument through the yin demon’s vision. It was the fact that there were some writing on the stone monument that caused Han Shuo to decide to go and see it for himself.