Chapter 100: A Shadowy Figure
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The opening of the portal caused a great commotion, alerting anyone nearby.
Most of the forest's animals, sensing the impending danger, fled as far away from the source as possible.
This included not only the weaker, unevolved animals but also the spiritual beasts.
It didn't matter if they were of Level One, Two, or Three; all of them fled, sensing the heavy aura emanating from the portal.
Streams of spiritual energy exploded outward, radiating like the waves of an earthquake, spreading far and wide.
In the Phoenix Kingdom, on a small lake hidden atop the highest hill of the Phoenix Sect, a majestic woman with elegant features sat in a meditative pose.
Her figure was graceful as she cultivated in harmony with nature, a harmony that was suddenly disturbed.
Sensing something, the woman abruptly opened her golden eyes and directed her gaze in a particular direction.
To the north of the continent, in the White Tiger Kingdom, warlords and sages sensed the chaotic fluctuations.
A man over two meters tall, sitting on a throne made of the bones of a large creature, was sleeping, his head resting on the fist of his right arm.
Suddenly, he too opened his eyes, revealing deep gray irises, which focused on a point.
To the southeast of the White Tiger Kingdom, in the Qilin Kingdom's territory, on a mountain peak engulfed in a fierce storm, a man hovered in midair, surrounded by lightning strikes.
Despite the heavy rain, the figure of the man remained dry as he floated upright like a needle in the storm, admiring the view.
At that moment, he too sensed the spiritual fluctuations and turned his head, looking puzzled.
And finally, amidst all these territories, a figure sitting in a grand, dark hall of a majestic palace opened their eyes and stared straight ahead, as if their gaze pierced through any barrier, fixing on the Spirit Forest.
Their gaze lingered there for a moment, then shifted slightly to the right, and the scene they were watching changed instantly.
They saw a slim figure darting through the air, passing over a long mountain range.
The man watched the flying figure for a few seconds, then finally closed his eyes, returning the dark hall to its previous state.
***
For Ethan, who was a cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining, it would have been hard to withstand such pressure.
He should have already succumbed, overwhelmed by the invisible weight that this aura had on the entire surrounding environment, but he managed to hold on, though barely.
With his special physique, enhanced by the dragon bloodline, and his mind protected by Bai Yu's aura, he was able to remain conscious even when so close to the source of the aura.
"W-what the hell did that guy do," Ethan muttered weakly, still trying to recover from the injuries he had sustained after being thrown by that powerful energy wave.
Ethan had no idea what was happening, and to be honest, he had no desire to find out.
Whatever was coming out of that portal was clearly at a higher stage than him, and judging by the aura it emitted, it was far beyond him.
Not even a battle between two beings at the peak of the fourth stage had given him such a terrifying and overwhelming feeling.
He knew that if he stayed here any longer, he would risk never leaving this place alive.
With some effort, he managed to steady his entire body.
He still had a few wounds here and there, and although his high-speed body recovery was helping heal the various injuries, he was still in bad shape.
He had been thrown quite far from the site, but not far enough, as he could still see the gray-black portal.
He also noticed the two figures above that had appeared, and it didn't take long for him to realize who they were.
He could tell from their expressions that they, too, feared the suffocating aura emanating from that portal.
Ethan wanted to ask Bai Yu if there was a way to close the portal, but he decided against it.
Even if there was a way, was it feasible for someone at his level?
Clearly not!
His only concern now was to find the others from his sect and leave this place.
With some difficulty, he circulated Qi throughout his body and silently sent out a pulse of spiritual energy in all directions, extending his spiritual perception.
Normally, he would be able to sense anything within a hundred-meter radius, but he had learned this new technique to further expand that distance.
The concept behind this method was to use the pulse of spiritual energy like a sonar, traveling in all directions and, upon encountering something, sending a signal back to the user.
In this way, Ethan could cover an area almost six times his initial range with his spiritual sense.
In no time, Ethan's mind was flooded with various information from every direction, which his brain processed, creating a mental map of the covered area.
Although the amount of information was quite large, Ethan had grown used to receiving data directly into his brain, so it wasn't too overwhelming.
Even more so now, at his current level of strength, his brain had also been greatly enhanced, allowing him to think much faster and more clearly than before.
"There they are."
In no time, Ethan had finished scanning the entire area within his perception range. Recovering his composure, he turned toward a specific position and set off.
Although his body hadn't fully recovered, he had regained enough strength to make such a journey in a short time.
Eventually, he arrived at the location where the battle between Da Shu and the enemy cultivator had taken place.
Upon reaching the scene of the fight, he could see that the area was in quite a bad state.
There were clear signs of the battle on the ground, and even the surrounding trees bore marks of slashes, burns, and more.
Ethan could tell that the fight hadn't been easy for his friend, and he wondered how he was doing now.
Moving in a particular direction, he advanced and, in a few steps, reached his destination.
The scene in front of him was somewhat unexpected.
He looked on with a confused, yet slightly amused expression.
"Well, I'd say you're making slow but steady progress," he remarked, gazing at the two figures lying ahead.
It was Da Shu and Huo Li, with the former holding the latter as if trying to protect him, though in the end, both of them had ended up on the ground.
Ethan regretted not having anything on him to immortalize the scene before him.
"Tch, the backwardness of this world's technology has saved you," he thought, lamenting the absence of cameras, which, as far as he knew, didn't exist here.
Ethan wondered what he should do with these two.
***
In an unknown place, dark and grim, a heavy scent of blood lingered everywhere.
The black earth was scattered with the corpses of all kinds of creatures, while their blood trickled downwards, only to dry shortly after, leaving nothing but stains.
The dark sky was covered by a thick fog, blocking out any light, making it difficult for anyone to pass through without getting lost.
In this desolate place, devoid of any living soul, the shadowy silhouette of something moving could be seen in the distance.
No matter how close one got, it was impossible to discern the features of the figure.
The only thing that could be said about it was that it stood over 3 meters tall, even wider, with a body supported by what seemed to be six long, slender limbs.
The figure, which had been moving with a light and steady pace, suddenly stopped.
It sensed something, its white irises gleaming from within the black mist that shrouded its figure.
Its large eyes moved out of sync, up and down, left and right, until suddenly they both stopped, pointing in opposite directions.
Then, they snapped toward a point in the fog-covered area, and the large silhouette moved silently but swiftly toward that spot.
In mere seconds, the figure covered several miles and arrived at the location where it had sensed something.
Upon arrival, it paused, witnessing a strange phenomenon unfolding before it.
The dense, gray fog that covered the area was coiling into a single point.
The more the fog converged on that point, the more intense the sensation the creature felt.
Wosh!
Then, with an almost invisible pulse of energy that cleared the surrounding fog for hundreds of meters, a black vortex appeared.
The thick black fog that had covered the place dissipated slightly, revealing the gruesome scenery of the surrounding land to the observer.
In no time, the thick fog enveloped the area once again, returning it to its former state, as if nothing had happened.
The only difference now was the massive, gray-black vortex, several meters high, that was drawing in some of the fog.
The beast, seeing this scene, didn't flinch, not even when the energy pulse hit it, unfazed.
It stared at the vortex with curious eyes.
Then, moving its many limbs, it began to advance, nearing the vortex until it was only a few meters away, and without hesitation, it jumped in.
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FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:
Here's today's chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.
As always, if you have any comments, suggestions, or errors to report, feel free to share them below.
See you tomorrow with another chapter.⬇️
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