Chapter 721: Blue Mountain
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Han Sen successfully drew away the flying centipede, and it went back to chasing him through the forest.
Many trees were toppled in its rampage, and many of the forest"s other creatures were promptly evicted. Those that could fly soared away in fright, whereas others fled as quickly as they could on foot. Every other creature in the forest seemed terrified of the centipede.
Han Sen opened his gene lock and used Dongxuan Sutra to simulate the Light Son of G.o.d"s energy flow. It increased his speed by a good deal, but even then, it wasn"t enough to gain a good lead on the foe that pursued him. All he could focus on doing was running at fast as he could and not slacking into the hungry mandibles that were chasing him.
This monster was incredibly powerful, and it was something the adiraid would surely struggle to beat. The adiraid wasn"t weak, but the size between the two was not comparable. The blood centipede had a unique power that made it far stronger than the adiraid, too.
The adiraid could protect herself, but she couldn"t stop the blood centipede; that was why Han Sen could only try to escape.
In this large, dense, and ancient forest, Han Sen ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He had been doing so for a while, and he had gradually lost all sense of direction. Han Sen thought about throwing the centipede"s egg away, but he didn"t want to.
Han Sen tried to let the little angel draw the attention of the centipede, but it was as if it had locked onto Han Sen, without a care for anything else.
The little angel swung her greatsword at the centipede many times, but the creature had countless wriggling legs that blocked each attempted attack. She couldn"t get a hit in.
Han Sen kept running until there were no more trees to evade. After leaving the canopy of the forest behind, he found himself before the slopes of a grand mountain range. He had no idea where he had come to.
Han Sen had no other choice but to run headlong up the mountain. He circled one of the mountains and tried his hand at fighting the centipede for a bit.
Han Sen felt strange. When he was in the ancient forest, he had seen many creatures fleeing for their lives. But these mountains were barren, and not a single creature was around. After running the length of two mountains, he hadn"t managed to see a single other creature. It was a dull, lifeless region, composed of grey crags. Few plants grew there, also.
Han Sen did not have the time to stop, poke about and ponder the area he had stumbled into, however. With his gene lock running, he was on a timer. He had been running for half a day, and he was already starting to feel exhausted. His body was in agony, and he feared if he kept going, his body might end up permanently damaged. But still, he couldn"t afford to stop, and turning off the gene lock would remove his ability to simulate the Light Son of G.o.d"s energy flow. This would result in his speed decreasing, and the chance of him not being able to outrun the centipede"s crazed pursuit.
Han Sen gritted his teeth and took the centipede egg from his pocket, planning to throw it at the centipede so he could escape the area with life.
He turned around to take a look and noticed that the blood centipede was no longer directly behind him. In fact, the centipede was down near the foothills, merely crying out to Han Sen. It didn"t come after him, as if it were afraid of something.
Han Sen was surprised, to say the least. He looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. While the craggy mountains appeared nearly identical, during his run, he had drawn close to a mountain that was different than the others.
The mountains around the one he was on were grey and rocky. But the one he was on now was blue. The rocks there appeared to be metallic.
He wasn"t sure what made this mountain so unique, but the scary centipede only roared and did not come up. Despite its desire for Han Sen"s blood, all it did was twirl and writhe around, breaking the rocks that peppered the foothills.
Its power did not matter in the shadow of the blue mountain, it appeared.
Han Sen acknowledged something was wrong, and so he quickly cast dongxuan aura. Still, he did not notice the presence of anything strange around. There did not seem to be any life on this mountain.
Han Sen felt relieved, for he was at least out of danger for the time being. But he couldn"t relax, for the radius of his dongxuan aura was limited and it did not reveal all that may have been there. Han Sen then raised his head to look up the mountain.
The mountain was ma.s.sive, and its head rested above the clouds; he could not see what secrets its peak might have hidden. And as for the rest of the mountain, it was as barren as ever. It was entirely blue, and only metallic rocks resided there for decoration. There wasn"t even a single blade of gra.s.s.
"What is that blood centipede afraid of? Even with its baby having been nicked, it doesn"t dare set foot up here. Something has to be amiss with this place..." Han Sen looked up the mountain and could not see anything through the mist that cloaked the top.
Although Han Sen was curious about what may have been up there, he had respect for the proverb that concerned itself with feline mammals and the consequences of their curiosity. Therefore, he resolved to walk around to the other side of the mountain and descend that way, in an attempt to escape the centipede.
The red centipede still did not dare ascend the blue mountain, and it only stared at Han Sen. But wherever he went, the monster carefully followed him.
Han Sen gritted his teeth again and placed the centipede egg between the rocks of the blue mountain. Then, he went in another direction. He hoped the centipede would remain, showing concern for the egg more than the person who had stolen it.
But things did not turn out the way he expected. When the centipede saw its egg, it only enraged the centipede further. It still wouldn"t ascend the blue mountain, and instead, it wriggled with greater ferocity as it traced Han Sen. Its exclamations were even louder, as well, and the pitch of the echo was heightened as its wretched voice carried across the mountain range.
The sound of rocks breaking continued under the jittery legs of the centipede as it traced the egg-thief. Big marks and clefts were left in each ravaged rock.
"This guy really wants me dead." Han Sen"s heart sank. He imagined the best he could do right now was use his little angel to take the egg and lead the monster away.
But just as Han Sen was willing to do this, he suddenly heard the sound of a bell toll from atop the mountain.
Dong!
The sound of an ancient bell rung from high above, echoing across the expanse of mountains. It caused the energy inside Han Sen to turn into chaos, and he quickly ran Dongxuan Sutra to quell his disturbed flow.
Dong!
When the bell rang again, a weird power caused the energy inside him to coil and swirl in turmoil once more.
Han Sen gritted his teeth and continued casting Dongxuan Sutra to soothe the restless energy and fight back against the mysterious tone of the bell.
The bell"s sound was quite beautiful. It possessed a certain power that cast what seemed like a sonic wave, dispelling the mist and clouds that obscured the peak of the mountain. Like a curtain being pulled, the entirety of the blue mountain was then revealed.
There were six different bell tones in total, and Han Sen managed to hold on against their clanging. But later, it took him half an hour to fix the energy that had been disturbed inside him. Slowly, he opened his eyes.
The mist that veiled the peak was gone, and now, only wisps circled the mountain instead. You could see the clouds a thousand meters away from the mountainside, as there were no more clouds within or beyond the circle.
Han Sen looked at the blue mountain"s peak and tried to see what was there. He was eager to learn where exactly the bell had tolled from.