Chapter Eighty-six: Utterly Dark and Calm

  Utterly still and silent, this is the heart of the Dead Marshes.

  In the dead silence of the marsh, the outskirts were covered with countless swamps, muddy silt ground was everywhere, and there was almost no dry place.

  However, the center of Dead Marshes is an exception, being absolutely flat.

  There are no marshes, no ubiquitous mud, and the land is mostly flat. Although it's not particularly dry, it's also not as wet as the periphery of a dead swamp.

  The land of eternal darkness is a strange place, in the sky above the land of eternal darkness, it is shrouded in a gloomy gray cloud all year round, and the sun, moon and stars are invisible throughout the four seasons.

  Perhaps it is precisely because of this that the absolute yin flat land has an extremely heavy yin energy, and anyone who starts to enter here will feel very uncomfortable.

  It doesn't feel particularly cold here, but the ubiquitous gloom will make people shiver from the bottom of their hearts, making them feel like they are in a haunted space surrounded by evil spirits, and it's a bit spine-tingling.

  As soon as Shi Yan stepped onto the absolute yin flat land, he slightly furrowed his brow and took a deep breath. He felt somewhat unaccustomed to this place from the bottom of his heart. Although it wasn't cold or gloomy here, it made people feel uncomfortable all over their bodies.

  Standing on the slightly shaded land, Shi Yan looked around and found that there were all sorts of strange and unusual plants everywhere.

  Those plants don't look particularly tall, the tallest is only five or six meters, but they are all shaped in strange shapes, and many of the flowers that have bloomed also appear pale and lack rich colors.

  There are also some plants whose flowers look like ghost faces and appear extremely frightening.

  Among those eerie plants, Shi Yan felt somewhat uncomfortable. Looking at the plants, he always felt that they would suddenly pounce on him and take a bite.

  "The air here is thick with yin energy, and the plants that grow here are also extremely strange. There are some plants that can even absorb yin energy and corpse energy, and there are others that will pounce on people as soon as they catch a whiff of their scent, wrapping themselves around them until they suffocate."

  Zhuo Qi's face sank, looking at the various plants in the desolate land, and said: "In addition to the plants, we must also be careful of the demonic beasts here. The demonic beasts here are extremely hostile to humans, and as long as they discover someone approaching, they will relentlessly attack. Generally, warriors passing through the Dead Silence Swamp would rather take risks on the outer edges than dare to step into this area."

  "Susu!"

  One by one, silver-white long snakes suddenly emerged from the thick plants in front.

  The snake's body was about three meters long, its head was cone-shaped, and its tail kept drawing circles on the ground. In its small eyes, about the size of soybeans, there was a chilling, mesmerizing glow.

  Dozens of long snakes emerged from those plants and surprisingly knew how to disperse, slowly surrounding the group of people on the rocky mountain from all sides.

  "Secondary demonic beast, Corpse Eel Snake." Claw Ji coldly shouted and suddenly stomped his foot.

  A strange wave burst forth from beneath his feet! Centered around him, the waves took on a circular shape and instantly shot out in all directions.

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

  Where the wave passed, dozens of second-level demon beasts exploded one after another, spewing out a large amount of brown snake blood.

  "I hate snakes the most!" Kawaki let out a cold hum, his face filled with disgust. He turned around to face Akatsuki and said: "Before we encounter the Nine-Headed Heavenly Snake, I'll take care of any obstacles on the road. Consider it my stake in participating in the Heavenly Gate."

  Hong Xuan nodded and said lightly: "You're familiar with this place, just lead the way."

  Zhuo Ji didn't shirk either, and he took the lead in walking to the front. On his body, a thread of strange green toxic gas quietly spread out.

  The plants that were originally growing luxuriantly on the ground suddenly sensed the toxic aura emanating from his body and seemed to understand fear, shrinking back in unison.

  Many plants were originally three meters tall, but after passing through Chishui, they suddenly shrunk to one meter, obviously smaller than before.

  Shi Yan looked on in great surprise, his eyes shining brightly. Every time he walked past those plants, he would carefully observe them and found that wherever the paws of the Qigong Beast passed, all kinds of plants were extremely well-behaved.

  However, if he didn't follow in the footsteps of Pawqi and chose to walk a few meters in another direction, those plants of the same species would actually bare their teeth and pounce on him, with an attitude that they wouldn't rest until they had wrapped him to death.

  "Kid, if you don't want to die easily, you'd better follow me." Zhang Qi suddenly turned his head and gazed at Shi Yan with a cold eye from the front of the team, muttering under his breath: "Can't understand you guys, knowing that we're going into the Absolute Yin Ground, yet bringing two burdens along... are you planning to sacrifice them at critical moments?"

  The dead weight in Zhang Qi's mouth is obviously referring to Shi Yan and Zuo Shi. Only the two of them have the lowest cultivation, both are at the Human King Realm boundary.

  Shi Yan's expression was calm and indifferent, unaffected by Kaki's muttering.

  Ke Zi Shi, however, was not pleased and pouted: "What are you muttering about, you big toad? Who did you say is a burden? Hmph! If you don't want to go with us, you can leave early. It's not like we can't do without you."

  "Who did you say is a softie?" The gruesome face, covered in dark green scales, twitched slightly, and glared menacingly at Zuo Shi. "Say it again, try it!"

  "Alright." Chi Xiao frowned and scolded Zuo Shi, "Paw Qi is an elder, don't be so impolite. If it weren't for Paw Qi, we wouldn't have had such a smooth journey."

  Chi Ying looked at Zhang Qi again and said, "You rascal, why can't you get rid of your stinky mouth habit? If it wasn't for your stinky mouth back then, I wouldn't have had a falling out with you. Now your old habit is acting up again?"

  Zhuā qí grunted and glared at Zuǒ Shī with a fierce gaze, his facial scales trembling slightly, but he didn't respond again.

  Zuo Shi was about to mock him a couple more times, but Chi Xiao glared at her and she puffed out her small mouth, not saying another word.

  Xia Xinyan stood beside two iron tower-like men, to the left of Chi Ying. She didn't speak and had a cold expression, ignoring Zhu Qi, nor did she show any intention of communicating with Chi Ying.

  Occasionally, she would cast her gaze on Shi Yan's body, with a complex look in her eyes that made it impossible to discern what was going through her mind.

  After she came out of the swamp that day, she never spoke a word with Shi Yan again.

  Shi Yan was also very sensible and didn't take the initiative to get close to her either.

  What was going on between her and Shi Yan left Chi Xiao, Zuo Shi, and the others baffled, but everyone pretended not to know and no one asked the two awkward questions.

  "Just follow me honestly, if you want to live a good life, just be obedient for me!" Claw Qi hummed and deliberately glanced at Shi Yan.

  Shi Yan's expression remained unchanged, and he didn't even bother to acknowledge him.

  At this moment, Chi Xiao suddenly frowned, and a hint of confusion flashed in his eyes.

  "What's wrong?" Xia Xinyan's expression changed, and she keenly sensed something was amiss with Chi Xiao.

  "There's nothing." Chi Xiao shook his head and said lightly, "Just now I suddenly felt a strange aura, but it flashed by in an instant. I don't know if it was my misconception."

  As soon as this was said, everyone became somewhat tense. Claw Ji said: "Could it be that one of the top heavenly experts?"

  "I don't know." Chi Xiao shook his head again.

  Chi's reaction cast a shadow over everyone's hearts, causing them all to become cautiously reserved.

  ……

  In a dense cluster of leaves in a quiet and peaceful place.

  A pale-faced, slender middle-aged scholar stood silently there.

  By his side, there were thirty-five warriors with equally pale complexions and expressionless faces. One of them was a young man in his early twenties, with shoulder-length hair and a handsome appearance, but with an eerie aura about him.

  "Master, what have you found?" The young man asked curiously.

  "The target should have entered the absolute yin flat land, I just used my spiritual sense to detect it, and immediately a spiritual sense chased after me." The pale-faced middle-aged scholar said.

  "Is he from the Beiming family?"

  "No, Bei Ming's injury came too early."

  "How come he still hasn't found us?"

  "The target has appeared, Bei Ming Xiang should be coming soon."

  ……

  The next day.

  In this row of people, Bei Ming appeared alone, with a chill surrounding his body.

  "Lord of the Dark Abyss?" Beiming Xiong arrived afterwards and cupped his fists to the middle-aged scholar, "I don't know how to address you."

  "Zou Zihè." The dark and mysterious master's expression was calm, "I've long heard of the great name of the Northern Ming family's master. Today, I see you in person, and indeed your reputation is not exaggerated."

  Bei Ming's face was expressionless as he said, "Brother Zou is the one with a reputation that spreads far and wide. The fact that Dark Abyss can dominate the Lava Empire alone is proof that Brother Zou is a hero of our time. I'm glad to be able to cooperate with Brother Zou this time, and I hope we can all benefit from it."

  "What about Mu Jia's little girl?" The Lord of Underworld frowned.

  "After this expedition to the Heavenly Gate is over, I will personally bring her to you." Bei Ming Xiong swept a glance at the dark crowd and said: "Zou brother, why did you bring so many people? Aren't you afraid of being discovered?"

  "I'm good at hiding my tracks in secret, so there's no need for Brother Beiming to worry about it."

  "Alright." Bei Ming nodded and continued, "The other party has appeared, the purpose should be at the Absolute Yin Flat Land's Absolute Yin Valley. If there are any unexpected events later on, I hope Brother Zou will make an appearance. However, I don't hope that Brother Zou reveals his identity too quickly, otherwise Mu Yu Die will inevitably have a resistant attitude."

  "It's just a little girl who has lost her family, why should Brother Beiming care?"

  "I'm not particularly concerned about Mu Yu Die, but there's a maid beside her. The martial soul on that maid's body has some use to the Bei Ming clan. I don't want that maid to know that I handed Mu Yu Die over to you, or it will affect my future plans."

  "I can, this time I didn't come with a mask, just to cooperate with Beiming brother. As the master of Dark Ming, I rarely show my true face to people, that little girl from Mu's family has never seen me, and absolutely won't know who I am, so Beiming brother can rest assured."

  "Alright then, we'll meet again in the Valley of Absolute Yin. At that time, I will send you a message through divine consciousness. I hope Brother Zou won't disappoint me."

  The words ended, and Bei Ming's wound slowly receded. His body transformed into a wisp of cold air amidst the dense foliage, slowly dispersing and disappearing.

  "Master, the North Ming is heartbroken and the machine is gloomy. This time, when exploring the Heavenly Gate, you must be careful, this person is absolutely not a good kind."

  "It's alright, your master's wife is also in hiding. If a precious treasure really appears within the Heavenly Gate this time, it will definitely belong to our Dark Realm!"

  "Has Shifu's wife also arrived?" The young man with an otherworldly aura exclaimed.

  "Hmm, she has already arrived at the Valley of Absolute Yin. With your master's wife's skill in concealing her aura, as long as she doesn't reveal herself intentionally, no one within this valley can sense her presence!"

  "Ha, it seems like this trip to Tianmen is a sure thing for us."

  "Uh-huh."

  ……