Chapter 85 – A Co-Master
This hideous looking strange man could easily navigate through the mud and the dark green scales on his body made him more frightening.
As he shouted in anger, the poisonous miasma in the surroundings all began to gather at their location.
The dense miasma concentrated around the group and continued to condense into a dense fog.
“Hualala!”
Drops of green poisonous water clattered down all of a sudden.
A poisonous rain fell upon this swamp.
Chi Xiao’s expression changed as he yelled, “Zhua Qi! Don’t you dare make a fuss!”
At the same time, Chi Xiao took out a small curtain and expanded it at once, covering the whole group.
The poisonous rain fell on the silver curtain and trailed through the edges, immediately emitting poisonous fumes when falling in the swamp.
“Silver Curtain!”
Face twisted, the ugly man shouted, “You took out your Silver Curtain! Chi Xiao, you must want to have a good fight with me this time!”
“Stop it!” Seeing the ugly man, Zhua Qi, about to act, Chi Xiao hurried to stop him, “Zhua Qi, you are mistaken about me this time! I haven’t come here to fight with you but the Nine-headed Sky Snake! And I only took out my Silver Curtain to block the snake’s poison, not to trap you!”
“I don’t buy it!” Zhua Qi laughed coldly, “You want to fight the Nine-headed Sky Snake alone? Who would even believe that? Humph! You have no grudge against the Nine-headed Sky Snake. You must have come for me!”
After a grunt, Zhua Qi immersed one hand into the swamp and soon, streams of odd green light shot into the mud.
One after another, mud dragons jumped out of the swamp. They were as thick as a human waist and were about ten meters tall, trying to bite their group.
Zhua Qi could not only control the miasma in the Dead Swamp, but could also control the mud.
Shi Yan’s expression changed slightly, as he didn’t expect themselves facing such a tough enemy right at the beginning of their journey. He was immediately vigilant, circulating his Profound Qi and prepared to attack those mud dragons.
Those mud dragons flew out from the swamps swiftly and moved towards the group from all directions. It was quite magnificent.
The dry land on which the group was currently standing on was continuously sinking into the swamp under Zhua Qi’s control.
Xia Xin Yan’s eyes turned icy as she decided to use her Incarnation Martial Spirit.
“Zhua Qi! Believe me! I haven’t come for you!” Chi Xiao yelled anxiously.
Chi Xiao was fully assured that he could beat Zhua Qi, but the consequence to their group would be dreadful He firmly believed that once they entered into battle, only he and Xia Xin Yan could withstand Zhua Qi’s attacks.
“Shi Yan, come here. I will protect you.” Xia Xin Yan glanced over him and said without any emotion.
Han Feng and Ku Long were surprised, and looked at Xia Xin Yan in confusion.
So were Wu Yun Lian and Zuo Shi. It was unreasonable that Xia Xin Yan would try to protect Shi Yan.
Shi Yan dared not take the risk, so he hopped through the dry lands to Xia Xin Yan’s side.
“Zhua Qi!”
Chi Xiao was astounded, “The Gate of Heaven is in the Yin Valley! I came for the Nine-headed Sky Snake! Stop now!”
“What?” Zhua Qi was quite surprised as he screamed, “The Gate of Heaven?”
“Yes. We got a treasure map. And the Gate of Heaven turned out to be located in the Yin Valley!” Chi Xiao had to tell him the truth.
Zhua Qi was stunned, and then giggled cunningly.
As he was giggling, the green miasma in the air began to float away from the group.
As the green miasma dispersed, the poisonous rain stopped as well.
The flying mud dragons turned back to mud and fell into the center of the swamp.
Hundreds of green loaches which were rushing up also stopped as they saw the mud dragons disappear. Under Zhua Qi’s order, they went back under the mud as well.
Zhua Qi then stopped.
Chi Xiao was relieved and stretched his hand up into the air and shrunk the curtain, finally falling into his palm.
The swamp went back to serenity. Even the green bubbles gradually disappeared. The dangerous swamp suddenly became quiet.
“I know you want to beat the Nine-headed Sky Snake too.” Chi Xiao grunted and reproached in a rage, “I bet you would have regretted it if you had stopped too late!”
As he was speaking, he looked at Xia Xin Yan.
Chi Xiao could compete with Zhua Qi alone, and with Xia Xin Yan at the Sky Realm, Zhua Qi would have been in great trouble.
Zhua Qi looked towards Xia Xin Yan as he noticed Chi Xiao’s gaze, and frowned.
He could feel a stream of forceful power subsiding in her body.
Just from a glance, Zhua Qi noticed that this woman was unmanageable, and she was operating some tricks secretly.
Shi Yan stood by Xia Xin Yan with a gloomy face, still gazing at Zhua Qi vigilantly.
Without taking a look at Shi Yan, Xia Xin Yan said calmly, “Mr. Chi Xiao, can you introduce this swamp master to us?”
“He is just a co-master.”
Chi Xiao shook his head with disdain, glancing at Zhua Qi who was rather unhappy with him and said, “Zhua Qi is active in the outer area of the Dead Swamp, where there are small swamps and miasma. However, at the center of the Dead Swamp, that is to say, the Yin Field, the Nine-headed Sky Snake takes control. There is no way he could take charge there.”
“Chi Xiao! The Yin Field is mine!” Zhua Qi suddenly cried out, “My father practiced there! I will get it back sooner or later!”
“Till you get it back.” Chi Xiao smirked, and nodded to Xia Xin Yan, “Miss Xia, walk to the bank now.”
“Hmm.” Xia Xin Yan nodded, glanced at Shi Yan with her brows furrowed, and said indifferently, “Leave now.”
“Okay.”
Shi Yan responded casually and hopped through the dry lands where Chi Xiao had tested, to a muddy area ahead, and soon he was ashore.
Zhua Qi grunted, moved his muddy body swiftly in the swamp, and also reached the shore. But half of his body was still in the swamp, for he was still a little suspicious of Chi Xiao.
“Shi Yan, how are you now? The blood of the green loach didn’t hurt you? Do you need Zhua Qi’s help you remove it?” Chi Xiao asked as he suddenly recalled the incident.
Standing there, Shi Yan looked down to his palm and shook his head, “I’m fine.”
His Immortal Martial Spirit had cleaned the poison before he knew it.
Hearing that, Chi Xiao and Zhua Qi looked at him in surprise.
Only these two knew that a Human Realm warrior would suffer fatigue for at least one day after touching the green loach’s blood.
Others didn’t know about the blood, so they didn’t care much and walked ahead.
Soon, Zuo Shi, Han Feng and others also got out of the swamp and landed ashore.
“Chi Xiao, you really came for the Snake?” Zhua Qi raised his head and asked, while half of his body was still in the mud.
“Behave yourself for the rest of our journey. Take the lead if you want to fight the Snake.” Chi Xiao nodded.
“Sure! Of course I will help if your goal is the Snake.” Zhua Qi was cooperative this time, “I will send you to the Yin Field nice and safe. But I will go there too, as my father once practiced there and I’m familiar with it. I can help.”
“Apart from the Snake, you also want to enter the Gate of Heaven.” Chi Xiao grunted.
Zhua Qi didn’t deny it, but giggled, “You know the Snake’s power well. You can hardly beat it. Let me help you and in turn you let me into the Gate of Heaven; it’s a win-win situation.”
“Miss Xia, what do you think?”
Chi Xiao didn’t reply Zhua Qi, but looked to Xia Xin Yan, “Zhua Qi and the Nine-headed Sky Snake are old enemies. The outer area of the Dead Swamp is his sphere of influence. We won’t come across any trouble if he takes the lead for us, and we are more likely to beat the Snake with his help.”
“Okay.” Xia Xin Yan thought for a moment and nodded.
“Well then, you are in.” Chi Xiao then replied to him.
“Hehe, you won’t regret.” Zhua Qi smiled cunningly, then he was a little stunned, “Chi Xiao, is there anyone else?”
“Nope.” Chi Xiao was stunned, “Only us.”
“Then why did a Sky Realm warrior enter the Dead Swamp with several experts seven days ago?” Zhua Qi asked, “I killed some of his people, and fought with him so I know that he is at Sky Realm. I never left my Dead Swamp, so I don’t know who he was. But he was really something. He must have reached the Yin Field by now.”
“A Sky Realm Expert!” Chi Xiao’s expression changed and he thought for a moment, “The Fire Empire, the God-blessed Empire, and the Merchant Union all rarely see a Sky Realm warrior. Who could that man be? What did he look like?”
“Thin, tall, pale-faced, narrow eyes. He seemed to rarely expose himself to the sun, and trained in a gruesome Martial Skill.” Zhua Qi thought for a while and depicted.
“I don’t know who that is either.” Chi Xian pondered for a while only to realise that he didn’t know that man, so he shook his head, “Never mind, maybe he just happened to pass the Dead Swamp and has already left by now. Anyway, we have to be on alert.”
“Let’s go. Let me show you to the Yin Field.”
Zhua Qi finally landed ashore. His legs were covered with green scales. He seemed not used to walking, for he swayed like a duck.
However, they all had witnessed his ability, they didn’t dare make fun of his hilarious walking posture.
As the master of this area, wherever he went, the poisonous miasma dissipated quickly.
There were many pieces of dry land ahead for them to advance smoothly.
They found it much easier to walk after Zhua Qi took the lead. They finished the one-month journey in only eight days.
Eight days later, the group finally entered the Yin Field.
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Translated by: Qian
Edited by: Moto, Chancs and Vick