1414 Black Death

"That was dangerous—a little too dangerous." Yuan sighed out loud after looking around without seeing the Black Death in sight.

"Sorry for grabbing you so suddenly, Xiao Hua." He quickly realized that he was still carrying her like luggage and released her.

"It's okay," she shook her head.

If not for the dark atmosphere, Yuan would've noticed her cheeks were rosy.

"I was captivated by the Red Garden of Death and stopped using divine sense for a moment, but I will not make that mistake again."

Xiao Hia then said, "It's not Brother Yuan's fault. I also failed to notice it until it was almost too late."

He nodded, "Now then… I made sure to escape toward the direction of the Vanishing Pond, but I don't know if I went past it. The Vanishing Pond has this phenomenon where it disappears for several hours every few minutes."

The Vanishing Pond was exactly several thousand breaths from the Red Garden of Death if one moved at a certain speed. Unfortunately, Yuan was too occupied to count his breaths or control his speed, so he had no clue if he had gone too far or still needed to travel some more.

"The only way we'll find the entrance to the Shadow Realm now is…" Yuan shifted his gaze from Xiao Hua to the small silhouette of a sword in the far distance.

"That must be the Giant's Sword…" Yuan muttered in a low voice.

"Xiao Hua, things will get even more dangerous as we get closer to the Giant's Sword, not to mention the spirit. Stay in my Dantian for the time being." He knew Xiao Hua was capable, but he didn't want to risk anything.

Xiao Hua nodded, "I will watch Brother Yuan's back so you don't have to worry about that thing sneaking up on us again."

After saying that, she entered his Dantian.

Yuan started moving toward the Giant's Sword shortly after, but he didn't dare to travel too fast.

A few minutes later, he sensed not just one but several fathomless presence appear around him.

'I am surrounded!' Yuan immediately concealed all of his presence and entered the black fog near the ground, further erasing his existence.

A few moments later, several magical beasts appeared and, without hesitation, immediately started attacking one another.

Yuan slowly distanced himself as he watched with amazement.

'Why are they fighting each other?' he wondered.

Magical beasts typically avoid each other, but in the Vanishing Valley, where food and water are scarce resources, they could only feast upon other magical beasts flesh and blood, especially since they were all of different bloodlines.

Moreover, consuming other magical beasts would further boost their own strength.

In the blink of an eye, two of the four magical beasts that appeared were slain, their corpses disappearing into the black fog.

Even if he wanted to loot the corpses, Yuan could barely endure the powerful ripples created by the magical beasts' clashes, as it contained something he experienced recently— Immortal Qi.

Fortunately, the Immortal Qi emitted by these magical beasts was nowhere near as strong as Senior Bai's Immortal Qi.

Suddenly, amid his escape, one of the attacks from the magical beasts coincidentally flew his way.

"Shit! What kind of luck is this?!" Yuan suddenly recalled the Major Misfortune curse that came alongside the Celestial Emperor's curse that greatly reduced his luck.

It was not an attack that Yuan could avoid, so he could only block it even if it would reveal his presence.

He gathered as much spiritual energy as he could in a short amount of time and released it at the incoming attack.

BOOM!

The clash created a powerful ripple that swept the black fog around them, revealing Yuan's figure to the magical beasts, who stopped fighting to look at the newcomer.

"..."

In the eyes of a magical beast, the taste of a human's flesh and blood was far superior to that of a beast, so they would always prioritize hunting humans first.

Once Yuan's presence was exposed, the two immortal magical beasts ignored each other and charged at Yuan with an unfathomable sense of yearning.

Seeing this, Yuan turned tail and used Vermillion Phoenix Dominating the Heavens to soar towards the Giant's Sword in the distance.

However, unlike the Black Death, these magical beasts were able to chase after him, even slowly inching toward him.

While they played cat and mouse, the magical beasts would constantly bombard Yuan with attacks from behind, closing their distance with every attack.

If Yuan hadn't gained some distance from the magical beasts in the beginning, he would've already been caught by them.

Realizing that he wouldn't be able to escape from these magical beasts for much longer, Yuan started attacking them as he flew.

[Limitless Sword, First Domain: Endless Sword Stream]

Five thousand swords appeared in the sky and started raining down on the magical beasts.

Each of these swords was imbued with Enhanced Sword Qi, but they were ineffective against these magical beasts, bouncing off their body like throwing rocks at a mountain.

'My Enhanced Sword Aura is unable to pierce their Immortal Qi?!' Yuan swallowed nervously after realizing this.

If physical attacks were ineffective, he could only try spiritual attacks.

After taking a moment to prepare, Yuan suddenly stopped moving, turned around, and activated Immortal Monarch's Dominion on the magical beasts.

"HALT!"

He roared at them.

Sure enough, the magical beasts immediately stopped moving and stared at him in a dazed manner.

"KILL EACH OTHER!" he commanded.

As though they were bewitched by a power beyond their understanding, the magical beasts shifted their gaze from Yuan to each other and, before long, resumed their fight.

'It really worked…' Yuan swallowed nervously.

"Brother Yuan! That thing is back!" Xiao Hua suddenly alerted him.

"Fragment… of… outer god…"

The Black Death had appeared like a ghost in front of the magical beasts, yet the beasts were unaware and continued fighting each other.

When the Black Death took a step toward Yuan, its body passed through the magical beasts, causing them to collapse instantly, as if they had fallen asleep. However, their eyes were wide open and without any signs of life.

Seeing this, Yuan immediately started running toward the Giant's Sword again.