Chapter 33: The Eerie Misty Sea
The Misty Sea spanned hundreds of thousands of miles in radius. One must know that Linley’s homeland, the Yulan Continent, was only about twenty to thirty thousand miles across, an area less than one percent of this Misty Sea!
Originally, at the edges of the Misty Sea, there were vast numbers of people collecting amethysts. The total number of amethyst collectors within the entire Misty Sea had already exceeded a hundred million. Of course, a hundred million Deity-level experts were nothing in the boundless Infernal Realm.
These hundred million people were devoured, leaving only the supervisors from the eighteen clans who had been at the outermost periphery, as well as the personnel within the eighteen castles.
“Haha… the collection of a billion years can’t compare to the harvest of today!” A violet-robed man above one of the ancient castles had a face full of anticipation as he shouted down at the people below, “Pass down the order! All supervisory teams are to go collect amethysts. Anyone caught embezzling will be executed on the spot!”
“Yes, my lord!”
From this ancient castle, over a thousand people surged out like a flood, while the large numbers of personnel in standard robes, who had been scattered across the Amethyst Mountains supervising and collecting, began rapidly gathering amethysts according to orders. The members of the eighteen clans all started frantically collecting.
Whoever collected more and faster naturally earned more!
At the periphery of the churning and roiling Misty Sea, countless figures darted about, sweeping many amethysts flying out at extreme speeds into their spatial rings.
“So many amethysts?” A bald man in a standard robe muttered as he waved his hand, directly sweeping a pile of amethysts flying toward him into his spatial ring. “Is this collecting? It’s practically stealing money. I really wish I could grab some for myself.”
The subordinates of the eighteen clans were shocked and envious. But none of them dared to embezzle.
Because at the end of every collection, their spatial rings would be checked, and they were not allowed to keep even a single amethyst.
“How many amethysts will the clan get this time? I alone have already collected over a hundred thousand amethysts. Just for our clan, there are a hundred thousand people like me. Heavens, that’s over ten billion amethysts? That’s nearly a hundred trillion inkstones!” Those collectors did a rough calculation and trembled in fear.
And this was only after a short while of collecting.
The Misty Sea was still churning and roiling, with large amounts of amethysts flying outward at extreme speeds.
The eighteen clans’ usual harvest over a billion years couldn’t compare to the harvest of this single day of the mist tide. That was a fact.
“Hurry up, all of you!” The upper-level personnel shouted, “Collect quickly, don’t let the other clans snatch them away!” As they shouted, they occasionally stooped to collect some amethysts themselves, since sometimes a pile could contain hundreds of thousands of amethysts.
That was tens of billions in wealth!
Stealing money! The speed was too outrageous.
No wonder even the eighteen clans were excited about the mist tide.
The mist tide brought immense wealth to the eighteen clans, but it also swept away all those pitiful Highgods and Lowgods. Because it suddenly expanded by nearly ten miles, those who had been at the edge of the Misty Sea were almost all caught within that ten-mile range.
A hundred meters was already a dangerous distance. Ten miles?
Not a single one came back!
Linley, Delia, Bebe, and Olivier had been chatting and laughing, saying they wanted to go to the restaurant to eat and drink. But unexpectedly, the Misty Sea expanded instantly.
You see, the Misty Sea was constantly churning, and since Linley and the others were at the inner edge of the Misty Sea, they couldn’t detect its expansion. Plus, the expansion was too fast—almost instantaneous—and Linley and his three companions were plunged into the danger zone!
They hadn’t gone in voluntarily, but the Misty Sea had expanded. Ten miles deep into the Misty Sea?
A hundred meters in, and they already felt dizzy.
What about ten miles in?
“Whoosh…” The low sound of wind kept ringing, constantly assaulting their souls. An ordinary Highgod caught in this environment would instantly fall into chaos. But Linley, who possessed a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact, could still stay clear-headed.
After parting ways with the volcano giant Phusro, Linley and the others had trained for twenty years.
During those twenty years, Linley had refined a large number of amethysts to strengthen his soul and also worked hard to repair the gap in his soul-protecting Sovereign artifact. By now, the patch on that gap had decent defensive power.
“What’s happening?” Linley struggled to stay clear-headed.
“Boss, my head hurts so much.” Bebe shook his head violently. “But I can still stay awake.” Bebe closed his eyes tightly and then opened them again, trying to stay more alert.
Linley turned to look. Bebe was fine, still awake. But Delia and Olivier…
Although they had reached the Highgod level, Delia didn’t have a soul-protecting artifact, and she had become a god by refining a divine spark. Even though she had absorbed some soul gold pearls, under the assault of the eerie wind, she was completely dazed.
“Lin… Linley… my, my head hurts so much…” Delia struggled to utter a few words.
Linley immediately grabbed Delia’s hand. He understood her state. In this environment, it was hard just to stay awake, let alone use divine sense to communicate. Delia could barely manage two or three words. Her eyes flickered between clarity and confusion.
“Boss, Olivier is out of it.” Bebe also grabbed Olivier’s hand, worried that Olivier might drift away to another spot.
“Olivier is unconscious too?” Linley was secretly alarmed. Olivier had a mutated soul, and even he couldn’t hold up.
Linley looked around. Visibility in the Misty Sea was very low. Linley and the others could barely see a hundred meters. Linley endured the waves of dizziness and observed his surroundings. But no matter where he looked, it was all a vast expanse of white mist.
“Boss, it’s all white mist. We can’t see outside anymore.” Bebe exclaimed in shock.
Linley recalled what others had said when they first arrived: “When you go deep enough and can’t see the outside anymore, you won’t be able to get out!”
“Boss, are we not going to be able to get out?” Bebe said, also enduring the dizziness. Bebe also had a soul-protecting artifact, though it wasn’t as good as Linley’s. But Bebe’s artifact was at least intact.
“Can’t get out?”
Linley’s expression suddenly changed. “Bebe, have you noticed something wrong?”
“Wrong?” Bebe was puzzled.
“Don’t you realize that even if we don’t use divine power to control our bodies, we don’t fall?” Linley said. Olivier had been unconscious just now, but he was still floating. Because in this area, there was no ground gravity.
“There really is no gravity anymore.” Bebe immediately noticed.
Linley gritted his teeth, enduring the discomfort in his head, and sensed the surrounding wind: “I can only feel these gusts of wind gently pushing us, moving us forward.” Linley pointed ahead. “If we don’t resist, we’ll probably go deeper into the danger zone.”
“So, we should move in the opposite direction.” Linley said.
“Boss, the wind direction has changed again.” Bebe suddenly exclaimed.
Sure enough—
The wind direction was chaotic, shifting this way and that. This left Linley and Bebe feeling somewhat lost.
“Swish!” Suddenly, a violet light shot over from a distance.
“Amethysts.” Bebe waved his hand, sweeping the violet light up and directly storing it in his spatial ring. “Boss, this pile of amethysts isn’t much, but it’s still several thousand pieces.”
Linley didn’t care about the amethysts. He was thinking about how to get out!
Linley’s face suddenly turned pale: “This Misty Sea—no one who enters has ever come out! If it were really so simple to get out, there would have been plenty of Highgods coming in to collect amethysts long ago. But even the eighteen clans wait outside quietly. Clearly, this place is a one-way trip!” Linley made this judgment instantly.
But this judgment brought him pain. And the eerie wind was still causing his head to spin, agonizingly so.
“Bebe, forget everything else. Let’s just head straight forward.” Linley gritted his teeth and said.
There was no time to worry about anything else.
“Alright.” Bebe nodded.
Linley took Delia’s hand, and Bebe pulled Olivier along as they headed straight forward. The white mist was hazy… and there was no gravity. Linley and the others couldn’t even tell up from down, let alone north, south, east, or west. They could only move forward blindly.
“Amethysts!” More amethysts flew over from a distance. When they got close to Linley, he waved his hand and swept them over, storing a dozen or so amethysts into the Coiling Dragon Ring and the rest into his spatial ring.
The Coiling Dragon Ring immediately refined the dozen amethysts.
“Huh?” A hint of joy appeared on Linley’s face. “Unexpectedly, when the soul absorbs soul essence, the dizziness actually lessens!”
But after flying for a while, the whooshing sound of the wind disappeared.
“We finally flew out of that eerie area.” Linley and Bebe both showed smiles. By now, Delia and Olivier had also regained consciousness.
“Linley, what happened?” Delia said. “Just now, I could barely even think. It was so painful. Huh, why is everything white mist? I can’t see outside anymore!” Delia was also startled.
As they spoke, Linley and the others flew forward another few dozen meters.
Suddenly—
“Boom!” Very abruptly, a terrifying gravitational force swept over their entire bodies. This force acted on every part of them—blood vessels, heart, and even… their souls!
Linley, Delia, Bebe, and Olivier were suddenly hit by this terrifying gravitational force, and for a moment, they were stunned. All four were pulled at an astonishing speed deeper into the Misty Sea. After a moment, they regained their clarity.
“This is a gravity spell!” Linley sent a mental message. “More precisely, it’s the Gravitational Space profound mystery of the Laws of the Earth.” The gravitational force was too extreme. Linley himself couldn’t resist it; he could at most slow down. The four of them all tried to decelerate.
“Gravitational Space?” Delia and the others looked at Linley.
“Slightly different.” Linley quickly said. “Gravitational Space is just a strong gravitational force, generally acting on the body. It doesn’t affect the soul. But this damn place…” As he spoke, Linley couldn’t help shaking his head.
It felt like some strange force was pulling at their souls, and the pull was very strong.
“A gravitational force acting on the soul?” Linley found it very strange.
The white mist was vast, and their visibility was only that limited. Just then, an amethyst shot over at extreme speed—so fast that Linley couldn’t react. It reached him in an instant, and then—
“Pfft!”
That amethyst actually pierced through Linley’s Pulse Guard armor, then barely through his body. But after penetrating twice, its speed dropped significantly. Without enough momentum to break free from the gravitational pull, it stopped under the terrifying attraction and then accelerated in the opposite direction.
Linley was startled. An amethyst piercing through his body wasn’t much damage: “That amethyst’s speed was incredible. The impact force was so strong that even my Pulse Guard armor couldn’t stop it.”
“Boss, there’s someone over there.” Bebe sent a mental message.
Linley and the others were struggling against the gravitational force to slow down, but the person flying past them was moving at an astonishing speed without any resistance. Because—his head was riddled with holes.
“He’s dead.” Olivier sent a mental message.
Linley nodded slightly: “He must have been killed by a sudden amethyst piercing through his head!” Within the white mist, visibility was only a hundred meters. With the speed of amethysts breaking free from the terrifying gravitational pull and piercing through Pulse Guard armor, even Linley couldn’t react in time.
Linley was lucky—he was hit in the chest.
But that man was hit in the head by a cluster of amethysts, dying instantly!
“Delia, get behind me!” Linley immediately said, also entering his Dragonform state!
“Olivier, you hide behind me too.” Bebe also said.
Linley’s expression was serious. This Misty Sea was no ordinary place. First, there was the eerie wind zone, which should be a chaotic area. Now, there was a gravitational zone. This gravitational force was so strong that even Highgods couldn’t resist it. Most importantly…
Both zones affected the soul.
“The amethyst mine… what secrets does this Amethyst Mountains hold?” Linley wondered inwardly, but then his expression changed drastically. “Amethysts!” He saw a thicker violet light appear ahead, slamming directly into Bebe’s body.
PS: Two chapters finished. Just letting you know, tomorrow Tomato will update three chapters! The title of this fifteenth volume is “The Heavy Treasure.” What is the heavy treasure? You definitely won’t guess it.