Chapter 1476 – Paradise Reborn
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If the horrors of God Burying Ridge had only been rumors in the past, the dragon siblings had now personally experienced just how terrifying and formidable these evil beings were with their weapons. Although they were confident they could engage in a prolonged battle and eventually whittle down the ghost king, this was still God Burying Ridge, a land with countless dangers and tribulations round every corner. If the battle continued on much longer who knew what else would have been dragged into the mix.
If that happened, even if they weren’t completely annihilated they would still suffer tremendous losses. Moreover, in the chaotic battle, some people would have been chased down by those ghostly creatures. If these people separated from Fatty Zhou, their fate could be imagined.
Even Fatty Zhou didn’t have any methods to effectively deal with the ghost king, and his cultivation was at the early Holy Lord realm. He was also considered quite strong, with many tricky abilities and methods he could use. Even if Fatty Zhou were to run into a weaker middle Holy Lord realm martial artist he could still protect himself. But in this situation, the ghost king that Fatty Zhou hadn’t been able to do anything to was instantly killed off by Lin Ming!
A late Divine Transformation realm genius had strength equal to a late Holy Lord master? That was leaping over two large boundaries!
From the start, everyone thought that Xiao Moxian was the most extraordinary individual in Lin Ming’s group, especially when it came to movement. But, it seemed that Lin Ming far surpassed her.
“I really have no idea how he trained this far. Although he has the blood of the Azure Dragon within him due to some lucky chance, in terms of bloodline talent, that will only make him better than an ordinary martial artist. It’s impossible for Azure Dragon blood alone to allow him to reach this level! Even my dragon clan is inferior to him…”
Dragon Rain found this hard to accept. Lin Ming’s bloodline was far inferior to her own, but in terms of strength, the late Divine Transformation Lin Ming was far stronger than she was at the early Divine Lord realm! This caused her to feel deeply frustrated at this great disparity.
“His talent simply doesn’t come from the Azure Dragon blood alone. There must be some secret on his body, but it’s hard to say what it is.” Dragon Cloud rapidly said with a sound transmission.
At this time, Fatty Zhou forced out a smile, saying, “Everyone, don’t just stand there stunned, we’re still in trouble here…”
“Mm?” Everyone finally perked up after being reminded by Fatty Zhou. Now was not the time to be distracted. No matter how freakishly abnormal Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian were, the top priority right now was to settle the matter with these ghosts as soon as possible. By all reasoning, now that the ghost king had died, these ghost winds should no longer prove a threat, so why was Fatty Zhou saying they were still in trouble?
“What’s the trouble?” Dragon Cloud anxiously asked.
Fatty Zhou said, “God Burying Ridge’s ghost winds are usually led by a ghost king. Once the leading ghost king dies, the ghost wind should disappear. However, the ghost wind is becoming increasingly fierce. This means that there is another ghost king nearby, or possibly even the higher level existence ghost emperor, an evil being equal to a World King powerhouse. That is not something any of us can deal with!”
Fatty Zhou was the calmest and most analytical person in the group. He had passed through countless dangerous situations in God Burying Ridge. Although Lin Ming’s strength had far surpassed his earlier expectations, he still didn’t think that Lin Ming would have the ability to deal with a World King level ghost emperor.
“Ghost emperor, World King powerhouse?”
As everyone heard this they sucked in a breath of cold air. Then, deafening noises filled the air as the sound of metal crashing upon metal echoed through the void. This sound was like the sound of chains being violently dragged across the floor. A terrifying aura came shrouding down from the skies, sending chills up everyone’s bodies!
Fatty Zhou’s complexion greatly changed, “Hurry and escape!”
He had already determined that their battle with the evil spirits just now had finally lured in some incredibly horrifying existence!
In God Burying Ridge, if one lost the protection of a force field and had to face these endless evil beings head-on, the strength of a single martial artist was very minor in comparison. If there was a single mistake then one could easily perish!
Rahhh!
A terrifying roar split the world. For a time, devastatingly strong winds rose up from all around. Evil spirits howled and the martial artist whose arm had been withered away by the ghost winds before was directly sucked up into the swirling gale.
“Ahhh!”
The martial artist screamed out in agony. His body suddenly exploded in the violent winds, turning into a rain of bones and blood!
As Fatty Zhou saw this, he no longer hesitated. He chose a direction and rushed straight ahead!
Everyone followed him. Lin Ming also put away his long spear and fled with all his strength. Although he was formidable, even he wouldn’t do something as risky as facing this World King level ghost emperor.
Wuuu ~ !
Wuuu ~ !
Ghostly winds whistled, causing many large rocks to break down. The evil spirits and ghost winds fused together as one, forming a fierce and gruesome devil’s head that rushed towards everyone, wanting to devour them all!
With everything hanging by a thread, Fatty Zhou threw out his Heaven Net Compass.
With a cracking sound, a brilliant light flashed out. The Heaven Net Compass was smashed away by the ghost winds and crumbled away in the air!
Fatty Zhou felt his heart twist as he saw this. But at this time he couldn’t care about such things.
With a bizarre cry, Fatty Zhou launched his movement technique and hurtled himself forwards at full speed!
His body was fat and round. As he rushed forwards he was like a plump mouse barreling forwards. He stayed close to the ground, borrowing the camouflage of the terrain to flee.
Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian relied on their exceptional movement abilities to keep close to Fatty Zhou. Faintly, from behind, Lin Ming heard another miserable scream!
Then, a rumbling explosion sounded out. He turned his head to see a dazzling pillar of flames shoot into the skies. This was the light of a martial artist self-exploding!
There was someone that had been caught and covered by the ghost winds. Unwilling to become food for the ghost winds, this person decided to blow themselves up!
When a martial artist exploded themselves, the resulting attack would be over 10 times more powerful than that martial artist’s all-out strike. This explosion momentarily hindered the ghost winds, allowing the others that were attempting to escape a rare opportunity to catch their breath!
But, this opportunity only lasted for one or two breaths of time!
Taking advantage of this chance, Fatty Zhou grit his teeth and pulled out a new compass from his spatial ring, He quickly spoke an incantation and threw this compass outwards.
Light sparkled. The compass exploded in mid-air, turning into a new force field.
The effect of this force field was to conceal a person’s life force as much as possible so ghosts couldn’t detect them. Fatty Zhou couldn’t be bothered with seeing how effective this force field was; he continued to recklessly run forwards.
Under the shield of this compass, the remaining eight people ran several hundred miles forwards. Then, at this time, the surroundings suddenly changed. That bleak and desolate world, filled with shades of gray, had suddenly turned into a spring paradise.
Here, there were spirit flowers and trickling spirit springs. The skies were lit by a radiant sunlight and white clouds floated peacefully about. This was like a fairyland on earth, a perfect utopia.
As Fatty Zhou stepped into this ‘fairyland’, he immediately paused, looking as if he had been struck by lightning.
Everyone also came to a halting stop. For everyone here, Fatty Zhou’s every action and movement was the law; they had to follow everything he did.
Lin Ming also stopped. He turned around and saw that as the mournful ghost wind blew into the boundaries of this paradise, it paused for a moment before completely vanishing.
“How… how could this be…”
Dragon Cloud asked, his voice weak. After stepping into this paradise of ultimate bliss, he noticed that Fatty Zhou’s complexion had become no better. In fact, it had even worsened.
“We seem to… have fallen into deeper trouble…” Lin Ming said, frowning.
Fatty Zhou ruefully smiled. He glanced at Lin Ming, saying, “You also understand the landscape of God Burying Ridge?”
Lin Ming shook his head, “I do not understand the landscape, but I saw that ghost wind stop as it reached the edge of this paradise. If there is something that could make ghostly beings not dare to take another step forwards, then it must be something even fiercer. Moreover, I can sense the dao field here… contains a killing intent.”
As Lin Ming rushed forwards it seemed that he was doing so blindly, but the truth was that he had been sensing God Burying Ridge’s dao field the entire time, verifying it with the jade pendant in order to find the safest routes.
He could feel that the current situation far exceeded Fatty Zhou’s ability to handle. Counting on him alone would not be realistic.
“Heh, you’re right. I didn’t think that you would also be able to feel the God Burying Ridge’s dao field killing intent. This sort of paradisiacal land is what us God Burying Ridge guides call Paradise Reborn. The plants here are lush and filled with life and everything seems as beautiful as a daydream, safe and comfortable. But, the truth is that this is the most dangerous illusion! God Burying Ridge is originally a desolate deathtrap. No grass should grow here and all wild beasts have become extinct. However, when things reach the extreme they take a full circle all around to the start. When a deathtrap like this reaches the highest limits, it instead becomes a land filled with life and vitality! If you want to find a reason, the reason is that too many strong beings have died in this deathtrap. The entire flesh, blood, and even bones of these powerful beings become fertilizer, thus nourishing the land to the point where it can grow such vibrant spirit grass and spirit trees!”
Fatty Zhou’s words left everyone shocked speechless, several of them sucking in a breath of cold air. This verdant land was actually formed by absorbing the bodies of other powerful beings!
The more people died here, the more powerful they were, the brighter and more beautiful the flowers would be!
“Sage Zhou, please hurry and find some way for us to return to our old route! I no longer want to find any god burying stones!”
The one who spoke was Monster Prince Duyu. He was able to survive the last catastrophe without any wounds. He didn’t want to participate in God Burying Ridge’s trial to begin with, and the only reason he came here was purely because of Lin Ming. Now that the situation had spiraled out of control he inevitably felt a deep hatred towards Lin Ming.
“Return?” Fatty Zhou bitterly smiled. He pulled out a broken compass. “In order to escape just then I had to break this Heaven Net Compass into pieces. It is no longer possible for me to divine the path to return. I can only rely on my experience to blindly guess a way back. At most I have a 20-30% chance of returning, and it’s possible I will lead you deep into a danger zone.”
“20-30%!?” Monster Prince Duyu felt his heart skip a beat as he heard this low probability. He grit his teeth, “20-30% is good enough. It’s much better than staying here to die!”
Monster Prince Duyu glared daggers at Lin Ming. This situation was all thanks to him!
“That’s right! Trying is always better than waiting to die!”
“Sage Zhou, I say we try returning to our old route!”
Several martial artists echoed. At this time no one referred to Zhou Shiyan as Fatty Zhou. Instead, they respectfully called him Sage Zhou.
Fatty Zhou ruefully smiled and nodded once. “I can try it. However, I have no grasp as to whether or not we will succeed…”
As Fatty Zhou spoke, a disagreeing voice spoke up. “I don’t think you can rely on that. If you return, perhaps you might die even faster.”
Everyone frowned upon hearing this. In the face of death, everyone wanted to hear hopeful words, not ones that brought despair. As they turned to the one speaking they discovered that it was actually Lin Ming!