Before long, Ou Yangming saw the Water Suspension Tablet from afar. It was dark and seemed ancient as it guarded a pure land outside the Forest of Death. Behind the tablet, the forest seemed dark, gloomy, shrill, and lonely as though it was separated into an entirely different world by an invisible boundary. On one side of the boundary, the world was flourishing and lively; on the other side of the boundary, it was a lifeless world that gave off cold intents.
Ou Yangming approached the Water Suspension Tablet and brushed his fingers gently across it, causing a wet and cold feeling to enter his body.
He chuckled and did not use his spiritual power to drive the feeling away. When he strode into the Forest of Death with a l.u.s.ter in his eyes, a queer pressure landed on him.
Dead Qi above the Forest of Death drifted everywhere along with slightly damp cold winds. Being obstructed by the dead Qi, not even the slightest sunlight could shine on the decayed leaves in the forest. The forest was pitch-black and deep such that only a bit of dim lights could be seen. As a whole, it looked like an ancient vicious beast that was widening its mouth to devour anything in its way. It was appalling.
Ou Yangming stepped on decayed leaves as he walked. A clear voice was heard coming from his interspatial bag as he turned his wrist, where he retrieved a Blood Promotion Pill and swallowed it in the blink of an eye.
He did not want the dead Qi to a.s.similate into his blood. If that happened, he would be filled with negative emotions such as greed, ignorance, hatred, and resentment. As a result, he would also become a fierce beast that was bloodthirsty and only knew to kill.
Soon enough, Ou Yangming adapted to the coercion inside the Forest of Death.
He was already holding the Blood Spear Dragon Slayer, and he released his mental power to enter the integration of Heaven and man, as well as the thoroughly meticulous state. Consequently, his aura dispersed and became an inseparable part of the world.
Ou Yangming paused and sensed King Kong"s forceful aura very quickly.
When he entered the Forest of Death alone, King Kong and Big Yellow instantly sensed it and followed him.
Ou Yangming opened his mouth to breathe out the murky air in his chest. He sensed the light spot inside his spiritual world and used his mental conception to connect with the king kong.
‘King Kong, curb your aura. I"m here to kill top-grade savage beasts this time so don"t scare them away."
He knew although the fierce beasts did not have wisdom, all beings would seek benefits and avoid harm be it ferocious beasts, spirit beasts, or even humans. Multi-armed King Kong was a Venerable One that overcame 6 Heavenly Thunderbolts, hence the pressure that it released was extremely special. As such, the young fellow asked it to curb its aura just in case.
After pondering for some time, Ou Yangming asked King Kong and Big Yellow to follow him from a distance away. As for the goshawk, it was too huge and could not fly around the forest, so it could only wait outside on its own.
When a cold wind blew and carried a strong b.l.o.o.d.y smell, Ou Yangming flew away like a stream of light. He was so fast that he could be faster than an Advanced Spiritualist. At this moment, dim lights flashed on the Blood Spear Dragon Slayer as if numerous runes were dancing. He stabbed a vicious beast right away with the spear"s tip.
Following that, a red light flashed on the spear and released a notable Devouring power to absorb the beast"s blood and Qi.
After a brief moment, the high-rank savage beast"s body shriveled and quickly dispersed, so much so that it did not leave its blood crystal behind.
Ou Yangming was surprised. He checked the Blood Spear Dragon Slayer"s properties but nothing changed.
“What"s going on?” Ou Yangming frowned and thought, ‘Since it devoured essences from the blood and flesh, it should"ve changed. For example, it should"ve evolved but its properties didn"t change at all. Did the ferocious beast not carry enough energy?"
Ou Yangming sighed. He was making guesses like never before.
He suppressed the thought after some time and walked deeper into the Forest of Death.
All of the fierce beasts that he encountered were turned into ashes whether they were low-rank, middle-rank, or high-rank ones. The essences from their blood and flesh were also devoured by the Blood Spear Demon Slayer.
Nonetheless, Ou Yangming felt regretful because he did not encounter a single top-grade ferocious beast. The Blood Spear Dragon Slayer devoured all of the essences from the beasts" flesh and blood but was similar to a bottomless hole as its attributes did not improve at all. This made the young fellow rather frustrated.
As deduced by Ou Yangming, there was too little energy contained in the essences of those flesh and blood, thus the spear could not change substantially. After all, it was a treasure that was refined using a Dragon Beard Root and a horned dragon"s scale.
Ou Yangming went deeper into the Forest of Death after half a day.
A winding black river flowed inside the forest like a long dragon that lay p.r.o.ne on earth. The black river was not wide and the water current was slow, but it was unpredictable and was one of the most dangerous spots in the forest.
Various weird yet formidable fierce beasts lurked inside the forest. There were Blood Alligators with remarkable biting powers and could stir up storms with every breath that they took, and there were mountainous hippopotami that could bite off half of an enormous mountain. All in all, the black river"s water was the limit of one"s imagination.
“Ding dong, ding dong…” Piercing sounds were heard as the black river"s water hit bluestones.
Water mists drifted above the black river and merged with the dead Qi in the air. By looking from afar, it looked like a graceful and ethereal thin veil was formed above the river.
All of a sudden, the air in the Forest of Death vibrated. Gravel flew everywhere while the mountains shook.
The black water surged such that waves were rising and falling. An indifferent Blood Alligator flashed turned into a blood light that could pierce the sky. It stirred up strong winds as it moved, and its muscles bulged like a horned dragon at the same time. The alligator"s power was shocking as it bit the hippopotamus" leg. While its spiritual Qi enveloped its body, it spun like a top. This was the Blood Alligator"s ultimate skill—Death Surge.
Since the hippopotamus" leg was bitten off just like that, it was immediately in immense pain.
It looked up and shrieked at the sky, then it opened its mouth and gathered its Qi to suck the dead Qi in the sky as hard as it could.
With that, an overbearing suction force burst out from the hippopotamus. Its ma.s.sive mouth turned into a bottomless abyss as it sucked all of the dead Qi about 33 meters above it into its stomach. Subsequently, its leg, which was bitten off by the Blood Alligator, grew again and became tougher than before.
The hippopotamus flashed. Owing to its swiftness, deafening explosions were heard in the air wherever it pa.s.sed. It aimed for the Blood Alligator"s head directly.
Having said that, the Blood Alligator was not slow to react at all. It dodged the fatal attack from an unbelievable angle.
At the spur of the moment, a palm-sized bamboo rat emerged from the forest. It was furry, had a lively look in its eyes, which made it look somewhat cunning. It walked to the side of the river and opened its thin and sharp mouth to drink from the black river. “Screech, screech.” Its voice was calm and normal but when it echoed around it…
Whether it was the violent Blood Alligator or the humongous hippopotamus, they reacted as if they had just seen their natural enemy.
They shuddered with fear and dove into the black river without any hesitation. The river surged and did not calm down for a long time.
After about 15 minutes, the bamboo rat had plucked a large black leaf from somewhere and lay comfortably on it to flow with the river"s current.
Ou Yangming had strolled in the forest for an unknown period when he heard m.u.f.fled splashes from the water. After thinking for a while, he walked to the side of the black river and saw a bamboo rat flowing along with the current on a piece of leaf. The rat"s front legs were covered with closely packed hair, but its nails were thin and sharp like boning knives in front of its chest. Its hind legs were spread out flat as it squinted its eyes and looked like it was enjoying the river water"s rhythm. The bamboo rate undulated due to the ripples around it but none of the water splashed onto its body.
The bamboo rate seemed to have sensed Ou Yangming watching it, so it opened its brown and black eyes. It looked like it was thinking, but it seemed to be more curious and puzzled. The rate tilted its head and paddled the water with its front legs, then it turned like a nimble carp and went deep inside the black river. It vanished after just a few breaths.
“This is strange—why do I feel like this bamboo rat has its own thoughts and didn"t become a walking dead?” Ou Yangming mumbled softly after he pondered for a while. He was very confused, but he could not figure out the reason.
It was not that Ou Yangming was making a fuss about nothing, but the bamboo rat was truly too odd. He had roamed around the forest for a month during the Hunting Meet, and he had now spent a day here. Every savage beast that he met did not have wisdom and only knew how to kill so how could he not be boggled when he suddenly met a beast with thoughts at the black river?
At night, clear breezes blew gently. The moon was bright but the stars were few.
The moonlight was cold and chilly but did not shine into the forest at all as it was blocked by the dead Qi.
Inside a tree hole, dim lights from firewoods could be seen. Ou Yangming"s thin and long figure swayed with the flame.
As he settled down his mind, a snow mountain was reflected in his eyes. Concurrently, a cold aura spread from his body.
After months of sculpting, the snow mountain became more majestic and towered into the clouds in the sky. One could imagine that the spear attack would be earth-shattering when the mountain crumbled.
Ou Yangming exhaled some white mists after half an hour. He then added more firewood into the charcoal fire.
The forest was deep and quiet, cold and terrifying. Ou Yangming looked into the distance, but n.o.body knew what he was thinking.
After a silent night, at the first glimmer of dawn, Ou Yangming got up and packed his things before he continued to advance.
However, after taking just several steps, his face changed, and he stopped abruptly.
This was because he noticed that small rune formation boards had appeared around him without him knowing.
Just as he noticed it, with him as the center, all of the white lights shone in a roughly 333-meters range. The white lights were beautiful yet desolate like dandelions that fluttered and landed with the wind in autumn. They enveloped the young fellow very quickly—it was a formation that could be activated autonomously.
Before Ou Yangming knew it, he had fallen into the trap.
Ou Yangming raised his eyebrows. A meaningful smile could be seen on his face.
“This is really… Interesting!"