Chapter 24: Lucky? Unlucky?
“Hurry!” Linley’s expression was ferocious as he shouted urgently.
The others, hearing Linley’s urgent shout, didn’t dare to delay and ask what was happening. Together with Linley, they all shot forward at top speed.
“So many green snakes, what the hell is going on?” While flying, Linley’s mind was racing. “And earlier, when we entered the gray mist area, we didn’t find a single green snake anywhere else. But here, we find so many! How do these green snakes hide and blend into the green leaves without any energy fluctuation?”
Divine-level experts could also use techniques like Earth Travel or Fire Body, transforming their bodies into energy. But this kind of change would definitely cause energy fluctuations, impossible to achieve the silent, undetectable way of the green snakes. Even right next to them, you couldn’t sense them.
Linley felt the situation was very strange!
But at this moment, there was no time for him to ponder carefully.
“We should be far enough by now, those green snakes won’t chase us anymore.” Bebe transmitted mentally.
“Keep going, faster.” Linley didn’t hesitate at all.
Just as Linley and his group of four were fleeing, suddenly—
“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”
In an instant, dozens of green phantom figures leaped into the air, almost all coming from the sides and behind, with only a few green phantoms coming from the front. The green snakes’ flying speed was astonishing… like green arrows of light, instantly piercing through the air. There were too many green snakes!
Linley and the others’ faces changed drastically.
“Whoosh!” The Blackstone Space suddenly expanded.
From a diameter of five meters, it expanded to fifteen meters.
The green snakes that penetrated into the Blackstone Space had their speed drastically reduced. But they still shot towards Linley and the other three. Strangely… none of these dozens of green snakes attacked Bebe; they all attacked Linley, Bronson, and Valette. Each person was besieged by nearly ten green snakes.
Linley’s gaze turned cold, and instantly, “Crackle!” an earthen wall formed around him.
“Crunch!” The green snakes easily pierced through the earthen wall.
The Shadowstrike Divine Sword in Linley’s hand instantly turned into a gust of wind. Like countless sword shadows, they slashed towards the green snakes one after another. Having fought them before, Linley knew… to kill a green snake, he had to completely shatter its head. But the green snakes were too agile. Their heads were too small, making it difficult to cut and crush them.
One by one, the green snakes’ speed was greatly affected within the Blackstone Space.
“Ssss!” Countless sword shadows, like a meat grinder, instantly churned through those green snakes.
Within the Blackstone Space, the green snakes’ speed was limited, but only relatively speaking. After all, their original speed was too exaggerated… even with less than ten meters to go, they still struggled to penetrate Linley’s sword shadows. In an instant, of the nine green snakes attacking Linley, six had their heads shattered and fell to the ground.
As for the other three green snakes, although injured, they still shot towards Linley.
“Swish!” Linley’s dragon tail flashed, directly smashing two green snakes to pulp.
The last green snake—just as it was about to bite Linley—was slapped to death!
“Those two…” Linley turned to look.
The purple-haired youth, Bronson, seemed to handle those green snakes quite easily when their speed was limited. First, using his eerie longsword, he killed five green snakes. Then, a misty cloud of lightning spread around his body.
The already slowed green snakes, upon entering the lightning mist, had their speed reduced even further.
The purple-haired youth naturally handled it easily, killing the remaining few green snakes.
“Valette…” Linley frowned.
Valette, an expert in the Death Rules, had also dealt with some green snakes. But one still managed to bite through his hand and burrow into his body.
“Is he okay?” Bebe and the purple-haired youth, Bronson, also looked over.
Valette stood still, not moving.
A moment later—
“Everyone, I’m fine. Let’s continue.” Valette spoke with a smile, though his face was somewhat pale.
“What happens when that green snake gets inside you?” Bebe asked.
Valette nodded and said, “When the green snake entered my body, I panicked and immediately attacked it with both divine power and soul power!” Linley chuckled inwardly. If that green snake had gotten into his body, he would probably have panicked and used every means available too.
“But who would have thought… the green snake turned into a stream of green energy, moving extremely fast, straight towards my mind. However… under the attack of my soul power, it kept weakening. I had to fight desperately and barely managed to completely destroy that green energy!” Valette said with lingering fear.
Linley nodded to himself.
“This green snake, under the attack of soul power, keeps weakening!” Linley somewhat understood that the green energy composing the green snake was probably similar to soul power energy.
“Alright, everyone needs to be even more careful now!” Linley said. “I can only help you to this extent. Whether you get out alive depends on yourselves.” Linley kept the Blackstone Space active. Its existence greatly reduced the pressure on Bronson and Valette.
Otherwise, in that situation just now, they would have died long ago.
“Linley, thanks.” Valette and Bronson were still somewhat grateful, as Linley could have easily abandoned them.
“Let’s continue.” Linley said.
A moment after Linley left the spot, a burly man with short brown hair suddenly appeared there, his gaze cold and deep like the ocean. He carefully examined the area for a moment.
“So many green snakes…” The burly man’s eyes gradually lit up. “After so many years, I’ve almost forgotten the passage of time. Finally, this day has come!” The burly man trembled with excitement, then carefully looked around. Seeming to sense the energy fluctuations ahead, he immediately followed in that direction.
Linley never imagined that after just experiencing a large-scale green snake attack, they would be attacked again after only advancing a short distance. And… this time, the scale of the green snake attack was significantly larger than the last. There were over a hundred green snakes.
And just like last time—
The green snakes didn’t attack Bebe, only Linley, Valette, and the purple-haired youth, Bronson.
“Ssss!” A large group of green snakes in mid-air attacked Linley, ferociously.
“Boss!” Bebe also rushed over to help Linley.
“These green snakes are crazy!” The Shadowstrike Divine Sword in Linley’s hand changed. In an instant, billions of phantom images appeared before him. Under the Shadowstrike Divine Sword, those green snakes were all churned into pulp. Of the nearly fifty green snakes, only one managed to break through the sword shadow’s defense.
That one was caught by Bebe.
“Hey, Boss, your sword speed is much faster than before?” Bebe asked in surprise.
Linley smiled faintly: “Because this time, I used the Wind Element Laws!”
Linley was also amazed. Over so many years, because his understanding of the Earth Laws surpassed the Wind Element Laws, Linley had almost always used the Earth Laws… it had almost become a habit. But just now, while fending off the large number of green snakes, Linley realized! His powerful body, combined with the sharpness of his divine artifact, was enough to kill the green snakes.
If he used the Earth Laws, it would only make the attack stronger! Even to the point of tearing space!
But against the green snakes, the strength of his dragon-form body combined with the Shadowstrike Divine Sword was already sufficient! Any stronger attack would be a waste.
Using the Earth Laws made the attack stronger, but the speed didn’t improve much.
On the other hand, using the Wind Element Laws, each strike of the Shadowstrike Divine Sword didn’t increase in power much. But the speed increased a thousand or ten thousand times… Even with more green snakes, they were almost all churned into pulp.
“It’s just that my cultivation of the Wind Element Laws is too slow. Nearly two thousand years have passed, and I’ve only barely managed to get the Speed Essence and the Wind Space Profound Mystery to slightly align.” Linley sighed inwardly. The Wind Element Laws had a total of nine profound mysteries. The Speed Essence was formed back in the Yulan Continent by fusing the Fast and Slow profound mysteries.
The Speed Essence and the Wind Space Profound Mystery were relatively close in nature. Linley could barely align them.
But they were still far from being fused.
“However, using the Wind Element Laws is much better for dealing with group attacks.” Linley breathed a sigh of relief.
Different tasks required different skills. The Earth Laws were strong in attack, but against a swarm of green snakes, they were clearly troublesome.
But this method was only suitable for Linley!
Because an individual green snake still had strong defenses and was hard to kill. It required sufficient attack power! How could Bronson or Valette, like Linley, rely solely on their body and weapon to have enough attack power to kill a green snake?
“Those two…” Linley looked over.
The purple-haired youth, Bronson, and Valette were both standing still.
“Valette is dead.” Bebe said helplessly.
In that dangerous moment just now, Linley could only take care of himself. Bebe, of course, helped Linley. Valette and Bronson had to rely on themselves.
“Whoosh!” Bronson opened his eyes, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
“Valette is dead?” The purple-haired youth, Bronson, was stunned.
“En.” Linley nodded.
Bronson looked at Linley, his expression complex: “Linley, where do you think we should go now? I feel something is wrong. The first time we were attacked by dozens of green snakes, this time over a hundred. I’m worried… next time there will be even more!” Bronson had also lost confidence.
Because a green snake had gotten into his body just now. Fortunately, Bronson was also strong in soul power and barely managed to destroy it.
“Where should we go?” Linley looked around.
All around was hazy gray mist, low trees, and messy vegetation. For a moment, Linley didn’t know where to go either.
“Straight ahead.” A voice suddenly rang out.
Linley, Bebe, and Bronson immediately turned to look. A burly man with short brown hair suddenly shot over. The brown-haired burly man glanced at Linley. Linley’s dragon form and the aura he emitted made the burly man frown slightly.
“Bronson!” The burly man turned to look at Bronson, his face full of smiles.
The purple-haired youth, Bronson, stared at the burly man, dumbfounded.
“Brother—” Bronson called out in disbelief.
The burly man immediately smiled.
“You, you’re still alive, Brother, you’re still alive?” Bronson’s usually cold face was filled with excitement, and he couldn’t help but shed tears. Bronson could never forget… the days he spent roaming the Netherworld with his brother, following him. His brother was his support!
He was never afraid, because he had his brother!
But on the day he reached Highgod, his brother went to the Nether Mountains! However… countless eons had passed since then. Bronson couldn’t even remember when it was. He had thought his brother was long dead. But—
“Haha.” The burly man laughed and immediately walked over, embracing Bronson tightly.
The cold Bronson, now like a child, hugged the burly man tightly: “Brother, you’re not dead, that’s great, that’s great!”
“Brother, let me introduce you. These two are from the Infernal Realm. His name is Linley, and the other is Bebe. In this gray mist area, it’s thanks to Mr. Linley that I managed to survive.” Bronson said.
The burly man looked at Linley with surprise and said, “Mr. Linley, my name is Berrelay. Thank you for taking care of my brother.”
Linley nodded.
“Bronson, come with me.” Berrelay grabbed Bronson, intending to move forward.
“Brother?” Bronson looked at him, puzzled.
Berrelay glanced at Linley and the others and said cheerfully, “You’ve done my brother a favor, so I’ll tell you this… In the gray mist area, large-scale appearances of green snakes are not normal. I encountered this situation once before, countless years ago, the first time I came here. And that time… the Netherworld Fruit appeared in the gray mist area. But that time, someone else got it. Based on my estimation, with so many green snakes this time, the Netherworld Fruit should be appearing again. You’ve helped my brother, so I’ll give you this chance. Whoever gets the Netherworld Fruit, it’s theirs!”
“The green snakes are attacking you because you’re going in the right direction. If my guess is correct, the Netherworld Fruit should be about a thousand meters ahead!” Berrelay said.
Bronson was stunned.
“Brother—” He wasn’t surprised about the Netherworld Fruit; he was puzzled that his brother would reveal this secret to Linley and the others.
“Let’s go. Consider this my repayment for your kindness.” Berrelay strode forward. “But whether encountering the Netherworld Fruit is lucky or unlucky… be prepared to lose your life if you want to get it.”
Linley looked at Berrelay’s back with interest.
“Bebe, do you want to go?” Linley said with a faint smile. Originally, Linley hadn’t planned to go for the Netherworld Fruit, as the probability was too low. But… now it had appeared.
“Of course, we have to go take a look.” Bebe laughed.
Linley and Bebe didn’t hesitate and immediately followed.