GDK 698: Heaven’s Gift
Faced with the intensely trusting eyes of these people, Han Shuo hesitated for a moment before he decided to tell the truth. “Those who cultivate in the edict of life have enormous advantages and convenience when surrounded by nature. Currently, this is the only clue I have discovered. We have no better option but to fumble around while keeping our eyes wide open.”
“I see. Well then, let’s move forward and head into the depths of the mountain range,” Carmelita understood that it was very difficult to deal with those who cultivated in the edict of life. In addition to Han Shuo having proven his capabilities, she did not feel that Han Shuo was incompetent and agreed with him.
The party proceeded by heading into the depths of the Miasma Cloud Mountain Range. Han Shuo’s demon generals constantly surveyed the area and spread out evenly around him. They were very careful in making observations and left no stone unturned.
The party had entered several hundred kilometers into the mountain range and they came across many powerful magical beasts along the way. However, all those powerful magical beasts kept a distance away from the party of G.o.ds, foreboding as they were.
Although the demon generals had been flying all around through the mountain range, they no longer found any more traces of those infiltrators. Carmelita, seeing that they had arrived at the center of the mountain range and that the miasmic gases were growing more concentrated, couldn’t help but begin to feel agitated.
“Any further discoveries?” Kalina the plump woman asked Han Shuo yet again. She too had gradually grown impatient and was obviously rather anxious when none of them could find the slightest trail of those infiltrators.
“The mountain range is just too vast. There’s no way we’ll find any clues so quickly,” Han Shuo replied with his brows tightly bunched. He too felt very helpless about finding nothing new despite having the help of his demon general. However, there wasn’t a better solution that he could take.
“My Lady, how about if we spread out? We could cover more ground,” Kalina hesitated for a moment before she suggested to Carmelita.
“That won’t do. We would have better chances of finding them by dispersing but this is too risky. Whoever is so fortunate to run into them will be done for before they can even spread the news,” Carmelita rejected resolutely. After giving a helpless sigh, she continued, “Let’s continue searching. Perhaps we will find something soon.”
Kalina did not insist. She too let out a sigh before joining the rest of the party in wandering aimlessly through the mountain range.
Unknowingly, five days had pa.s.sed. Although Han Shuo did not travel through the entire mountain range, his demon generals, however, had visited basically every region in the mountain range. But even then, his demon general did not discover any more signs left by those who cultivated in the edict of life. They only saw some magical beasts roaming around as well as some rare natural treasures.
Gradually, not just Kalina, but even Han Shuo felt bored. He even started to harbor suspicions about the reliability of Carmelita’s information. Suspecting that that bunch had left the mountain range long ago, Carmelita even lost her patience and started to randomly bombard the ancient trees around her. This disturbed Han Shuo’s demon generals observation power.
“Perhaps they’ve have left. Let’s go, we will leave,” after yet another day, Carmelita had lost the last bit of her patience and officially gave the command to retreat. The crowd let out a sigh of relief upon hearing those words. They were all too bored to continue their futile efforts any longer.
With Carmelita having made the decision, no one had any objection and everyone got ready to retreat from the mountain range.
“Hold on!” Han Shuo who had been silent all along suddenly cried out when the party was prepared to board the airs.h.i.+p.
“What’s the matter?” Carmelita’s triangular eyes turned to look at Han Shuo puzzled as she asked, “We haven’t come up on anything in the last ten or so days. Don’t tell me you’ve discovered something just as we are leaving?”
“Up ahead, there’s a mountain with lush, verdant trees. It houses a pretty decently sized cave where magical beasts are constantly departing from. I didn’t pay much attention to it earlier but now that I think of it, something seems odd about it.” Using a demon general, Han Shuo noticed that the number of magical beasts running out from that cave had grown, immediately drawing his suspicion. From the behavior of those magical beasts, they appeared to have been forced out of their dwellings.
“Yes, I remember it now. Most plants on the mountains are spa.r.s.e and fragmentary, but that mountain is an unusual one – the plants there are very lush. Is that the mountain you are referring to?” the plump, one-eyed woman Karina asked. She appeared somewhat astonished.
“Yes! That’s the mountain!” Han Shuo said with suspicion, “The mountain isn’t just strange because of its thriving flora, the magical beasts there seemed to have been forced out from their cave. We have visited so many places over the Miasma Cloud Mountain Range but discovered nothing. Perhaps that was because the bunch has been hiding in that mountain cave?”
After hearing Han Shuo’s words, Carmelita who had instructed the party to withdraw, suddenly had her hopes reignited. After thinking for a bit, she nodded and said, “Your words make sense. Let’s go, we will check it out. Perhaps we might find something in the cave.”
At Carmelita’s instruction, the party returned to that mountain that they had previously pa.s.sed by. When they arrived at the cave entrance, they saw herds of magical beasts storming out from the cave in succession. Some of the magical beasts appeared panicked and alarmed. They dispersed as soon as they saw Carmelita and her party.
Although the magical beasts on Elysium were much, much mightier than those on Profound Continent, their intelligence, for some reason, seemed to hardly grow on par with their strength. Although they had obviously evolved way past rank five, six, and or even seven, Han Shuo did not discover any that could take on a human appearance.
When the magical beasts dispersed in all directions, Han Shuo sent a few of his demon generals into the cave. After entering the cave, his demon generals soon discovered that there were even more magical beasts trying to make their way out. There were also a lot of branches and paths inside the cave.
“Let’s go inside and have a look. This place really seems quite strange.” Carmelita took the lead. The rest of the party, including Han Shuo, immediately followed after.
The cave was extremely wide and big. Soon after entering, they encountered a fork. Carmelita, thinking that they wouldn’t run into any danger, agreed to let the party split into smaller groups and investigate following Kalina’s proposal. They were instructed to yell as loud as they could as soon as they discovered anything unusual.
At the fork, Kalina volunteered to lead the team of divine guards split off from the main group. Han Shuo, naturally, followed Carmelita’s group. And soon enough, yet another fork appeared before Carmelita and her party. She instructed a few others from her team to separate.
After repeatedly encountering fork after fork, the divine guards accompanying Han Shuo were reduced over and over again. In the end, only two divine guards were left with Han Shuo and Carmelita. They did not run into any more forks after that.
Those demon generals that had been traveling through the mountain range earlier had also entered the cave by this point in time. Some wandered aimlessly through the caverns, some followed Kalina, some followed other divine guards, while two demon generals scouted the path ahead of Han Shuo.
Those magical beasts that they met along the way launched attacks crazily when they saw strangers approach. However, against those mighty divine guards, those magical beasts didn’t stand a chance. One after another, the magical beasts were butchered in the s.p.a.cious cavern.
Suddenly, through one of the demon generals scouting the way ahead, Han Shuo discovered the presence of an enormous lava pool at the end of the cave. The rock around it was astonis.h.i.+ngly hot and glowing bright red. Those rocks were even dripping with lava-like red fluid that would s.h.i.+zzle and smoke when it touched the ground.
As demon generals preferred cold and dark places and were afraid of high temperatures, it did not venture any further. However, through the observation of the demon general, Han Shuo discovered that there were some unique auras behind the lava pool. It was as though someone had formed cold air to expel the scorching temperature of the lava.
Since no one in Carmelita’s party cultivated in the energy of water, Han Shuo was certain that the person whomever produced the cold air in the lava cave definitely wasn’t one of his own. Having made the discovery, Han Shuo commanded his demon general to retreat slightly and he hastily said to Carmelita, “Up ahead there’s a lava cave. The temperature in there is extremely high. However, it is cold and refres.h.i.+ng deep inside the cave, perhaps a G.o.d cultivating in the energy of water is over there. Either way, I’m certain that something very suspicious is going on up ahead! Should we gather the divine guards before going in there to find out?”
Carmelita cried out in joy. She revealed heartfelt happiness on her haggard face and hastily said, “Well what are we waiting for?! There’s no need to notify the rest of them. None of them are as strong as I am. Even if they are here, there isn’t really much that they could help with.”
Han Shuo, thinking that her words made sense, did not try to persuade otherwise. He hastily headed to the lava cave with Carmelita and the two divine guards.
With a precise destination, they soon arrived where Han Shuo’s demon general was located. As soon as Carmelita stepped inside, she coldly groaned and said, “Indeed, Bryan, you are correct. There is indeed a group here that cultivates in water energy! During recent times, the Ice G.o.ddess has been getting very close with the G.o.ddess of Nature and the G.o.d of Light. It’s not surprising that there would be cultivators of water energy in their team. Alright, Bryan, you may retreat for the time being while I go in there and finish them all!”
Han Shuo’s strength was meager in Carmelita’s eyes. In a situation like this, a lowG.o.d couldn’t even act as cannon fodder. Han Shuo, in fact, felt somewhat touched that Carmelita would give thoughts about his safety at this moment. He inwardly nodded and said, “Understood!”
Instead of advancing, Han Shuo stepped backwards and made way.
As Carmelita had been hunting for this bunch of enemies for so long, she was impatient when she finally discovered their hiding place. Immediately, she charged into the depths of the lava cave. As she was a highG.o.d, there was a naturally formed force field of destruction around her. It completely isolated her from the scorching hot red liquid dripping down from the lava cave.
The two divine guards that came with Carmelita dutifully followed behind her. They unfurled their domains of divinities and used their divine energies in blocking themselves from the dangers in the lava cave. The trio rapidly disappeared from Han Shuo’s sight.
After the three had completely entered into the lava cave, Han Shuo summoned metal elite zombie unhurriedly. To proceed, he opened up a separate tunnel at a concealed spot and extended it to the depths of the lava cave. Han Shuo’s demonic body, as durable as it was, was invulnerable to the high temperatures of the rock around him. He then asked metal elite zombie to make a small hole so he could check on the situation inside the lava cave.
When he looked through the small hole, he discovered that a fierce battle was happening inside the lava cave. Unexpectedly, the two divine guards that came with Carmelita were already dead. Their bodies were located nearby the small hole that Han Shuo was peeping through. The ugly-looking Carmelita at this moment was facing the joint attack from two experts. Although she was crazily making offenses, it was clear to Han Shuo that she showed signs of fatigue.
Of the duo who besieged Carmelita, one was an old man with great vitality. He held a staff made of dried wooden stick, obviously a cultivator of the edict of life. That wooden staff constantly released greenish, gaseous threads that winded around Carmelita as though pliable and tough vines.
The other attacker was a cold and elegant beauty. She had a tall figure and an ice-cold face as perfect as an ice-sculpture. Her white, tender hands were constantly bursting with chilling divine radiance. She managed to reduce the high temperature of the lava cave all by herself.
Both of the attackers possessed highG.o.d strengths while Carmelita was only an early-stage highG.o.d. Even if the duo was in the same realm as she was, it would still be a matter of time before she would be defeated. Moreover, around the duo were six midG.o.ds with extraordinary power. They were standing in the arrangement of a hexagon as though preparing to a.s.sist the two highG.o.ds using some kind of magical formation. Carmelita seemed to have become mentally deranged. While handling the thunderous attacks of the two highG.o.ds, she was constantly advancing towards an enormous rock as though wanting to destroy it.
Looking in the direction of Carmelita’s gaze, Han Shuo discovered a piece of azure-colored rock. The rock had resplendent speckles on it as dazzling as the stars. Those bright speckles were even moving slowly and rhythmically. It constantly emanated fascinating rays. It was beautiful and awe-inspiring!
“A Heaven’s Gift!” Han Shuo softly cried out in surprise. His face was filled with unconcealable appall. Looking at that beautiful and dazzling azure rock, Han Shuo finally understood why that old man cultivating in the edict of life would go through the trouble of traveling such long distances and risk his life infiltrating the Darkness Dominion. It was for the same reason that Carmelita was trying to destroy that large and beautiful rock so desperately.
The reason was, all those speckles moving about like celestial bodies on that dazzling rock were traveling in trajectories conforming to the edict of life. Anyone who cultivated in the edict of life could gain a profound comprehension into the real essence of the edict of life by observing the trajectories of those speckles!