A strong wind blew against me as I hovered above the Banished Lands. Unlike the Immortal Realm, not a grass or a leaf could be seen anywhere. Not only was the land completely barren, there were holes on the ground that reminded me of honeycombs, except these ones spat hot jets of flames from time to time. It was scary to say the least.
……
It only took an instant for my Scarlet Dragon Armor to turn scalding hot. I sucked in a deep breath and said, “It’s so hot. Are we in the Banished Lands, Uldan?”
Behind me, she answered, “I don’t know. The Banished Lands are a forgotten part of the Purgatory. I’ve never been here before.”
I opened the map screen but could only find a very limited amount of data. The map we were currently on was called the “Forgotten Valleys”, and there was a blood-red sea directly ahead of us called “Blood Sea”. That was all. Another thing I was certain of was that my Dark Pupils couldn’t scan anyone or anything. I wasn’t sure if it was because my level was too low, or it was because there were no mobs to be scanned in the area.
……
“Roar roar! I’m coming through!”
Suddenly, a noisy cry erupted from behind us. The next moment, a spatial rift appeared out of nowhere, and the Winged Silver Dragon stumbled out of it. Its meaty wings looked broken and severed, and there was blood all over its body. It landed on the ground only to jump right back to its feet, crying, “Ouch! It’s scalding hot!”
I laughed. “Not bad, Winged Silver Dragon. To think you managed to escape Lin Na’s grasp…”
The Winged Silver Dragon said with a snarl, “That bastard nearly severed my entire wing in one slash. Oh, it hurts! I truly am giving it my all for my beautiful and gentle master this time!”
I walked up to it and poured a Rank 14 Health Potion on its wounded wing, saying, “Then heal quickly so we may find Xinran in the Banished Lands together!”
“Eh, how about I stay here and wait for you to retrieve her…”
“Yeah, no.”
……
Just a short while later, the Winged Silver Dragon’s wings had more or less healed. It was no wonder the giant dragons were known as the race with the greatest vitality. Then, we started walking toward the next area together. I didn’t take to the sky this time because I was afraid of missing a clue that might lead to Xinran.
It wasn’t long before we arrived at a tall cliff. When I stepped on the cliff edge, I was surprised to see that the canyon below it was full of flames. It was a densely packed volcanic field with molten lava shooting out from everywhere. Worse, it wasn’t even the scariest phenomenon in the area. No, that award went to the endless lightning storm that kept shooting lightning at the ground. The upper seven floors of the Purgatory were practically child’s play compared to this plane!
I gripped my sword tighter and swore, “Come on! This is bullshit!”
Uldan said quietly, “And yet we must cross it still, or we won’t be able to make it to the inner area of the Banished Lands. I’m sure Xinran has passed through this road of death already…”
Me: “…”
What else could I do? I kicked off the ground and flew into the air. Of course, I didn’t fly too high because there was a lightning formation up there. I would literally be burned to ashes if I got caught by it.
Thud thud thud…
From time to time, I would bounce off a spot of molten lava and constantly changed both my movement speed and my direction to avoid the spilling lava and lightning strikes.
However, the latter were just too rapid and unpredictable. Despite my best efforts, one of them still managed to hit me!
Buzz!
1,716,151!
My mind turned a little blank, and my body became paralyzed for a short moment. There was a saying called bad things come in pairs, and the lava that erupted beneath my feet the next second was proof of it. Thankfully, I was able to activate Battle Astral Wind just in time to keep it from hitting me. Otherwise, Uldan would’ve been caught by it as well.
With one hand gripping my sword and the other holding up Uldan’s firm, round butt, I leaped away from the place of death and continued forward. Behind me, the Winged Silver Dragon let out a scream of pain as it was covered in lava and turned into a fire dragon unwillingly. Not long after, it took a lightning strike of its own and screamed in pain again. It didn’t die though, so all was well.
……
Five whole minutes later, we finally managed to put the terrifying map behind us.
Thud!
Breathing hard atop a tall rock, I took out a health potion and drank it to heal my HP. Thank goodness our flight speed was considerable, or there was a real chance the map would have killed us before we got anywhere. Beside me, the Winged Silver Dragon started shaking its body like a dog would shake off the water. The problem was that it was shaking off molten rocks, and some of them hit me and burned away a not insignificant amount of HP. Bastard!
……
We continued forward. We flew because the ground beneath our feet had given way to a seemingly endless sea of blood. It was of course the map “Blood Sea.”
I looked around for a bit before saying, “There’s nothing here, and I can’t sense Xinran either. We’d better leave this place as soon as possible, or we won’t even be able to rest our feet when we get tired later!”
Uldan nodded in agreement. “Yeah!”
Beside us, the Winged Silver Dragon said in puzzlement, “This place is strange. Master’s aura is incredibly powerful and pure, and yet I cannot sense her divine energy anywhere. It’s so strange…”
Uldan replied, “I can’t sense her aura either. The Banished Lands’ energy field is pretty strange. Maybe divine energies don’t conduct very well here. Anyway, all we can do is to keep searching for her. We will find her eventually.”
As I nodded, Dark Pupils suddenly showed a giant red dot flying toward us at high speed. Uldan sensed it as well and said urgently, “Do you two sense that? An incredibly powerful aura is flying toward us! We’ve been discovered!”
I looked at the sea of blood beneath our feet and said, “What do we do? There’s nowhere to hide!”
Uldan didn’t know what to say.
Chiang!
I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and declared, “There’s only one course of action, then. Winged Silver Dragon, work with me to take out this attacker!”
It nodded. “Got it!”
……
A black shadow flew toward us at high speed. Before I knew it, a hole had appeared at the center of the Winged Silver Dragon’s chest, and it fell into the sea of blood with a painful scream!
“What the hell is that? It’s so fast!”
The attacker’s speed reminded me of the Dragon Domain Scavenger. He moved so fast that not even a god might be as fast as he was!
“Watch out!” Uldan warned me urgently.
I expanded my domain and focused my spiritual perception to almost max Level. Right before the black shadow was about to hit me, I raised my sword in defense and was knocked back dozens of meters away from my original spot. The attacker finally came to a stop and revealed his ugly black face. It was the face of a long dead human, but for some reason it looked so clear that I could even see the pores and the blood vessels. He stared at me with his black pupils and smiled sinisterly. “For what reason have you been exiled to my land, unlucky fellows? Oh well, it doesn’t matter. Be devoured and become a part of my strength!”
“Devour your sister!”
I cast Mad God Lunge at the same time I swung my shield at the monster. To my surprise, the skill resulted in a MISS, and I took a retaliatory hit that felt like it could sever my entire arm. The sudden loss of 3 million HP from my health bar told me that it wasn’t a mistake. This bastard’s Attack was almost as high as Lin Na’s!
I hurriedly activated Profound Armor and cast Burning Blade Slash. He was moving too fast for me to hit him normally, so I could only rely on AoE skills to damage him!
Bang bang bang…
He parried my attacks with his black sword, but he still lost nearly 2 million HP from the attack. I was glad to learn that his Defense wasn’t nearly as OP as his speed.
The night wind blew as we stared at each other in silence for a moment. His black cloak swayed lightly in the air, and his black armor gleamed coldly beneath the moonlight. Speaking of which, I was able to scan the monster with Dark Pupils eventually, but nearly all of his stats remained hidden to me—
Night Fury (Ancient Divine Rank Boss)
Level: 340
Attack: ???
Defense: ???
HP: ???
Skills: ???
Introduction: Night Fury is an incredibly powerful existence in the Banished Lands. No one has ever seen his true appearance, but everyone knows of his power and fears it. They also know him as one of the guardians of the Banished Lands.
……
“Not even Dark Pupils can reveal his stats?”
I gritted my teeth and activated Heavenly River Transformation once more [1]. Then, I attacked the boss with my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash. Let’s give him a taste of my strength first!
Boom!
Again, Night Fury tried to parry the golden blade only to lose 1.2 million HP for his efforts. He smiled sinisterly at me and said, “Not bad, boy. It has been a while since I felt pain!”
I replied in an indifferent tone, “You’re welcome. Next, I’ll teach you the feeling of abject pain!”
I needed to stun him somehow, or I wouldn’t even be able to land Purple Frost Concentration. I had never fought such a troublesome boss in my life. His movement speed completely exceeded my ability to handle, much less the likes of Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow or Breeze and Rain!
……
Whoosh!
Once more, he vanished like a gust of wind. I swung my sword at him, but…
MISS!
… it missed just as I thought it would. The next moment, the boss struck me on the shoulder again. However, I took the opportunity to press my hand against Night Fury’s chest and activate the God Binding Art!
Unfortunately, it was a MISS yet again. My heart felt ice cold at this point.
In the sky, Night Fury raised his sword and let out a sinister chuckle. “Game over. Now, die!”
He fired three rapid slashes at me that I couldn’t possibly dodge. Without hesitation, I healed myself for 70% using the Xuanyuan Art and disarmed him with the Flying Dragon Wristguards!
His sword vanished, but Night Fury still slashed me anyway like his arm was a sword!
1,428,272!
1,512,377!
1,492,871!
……
The impact was so great that I crashed straight into the blood sea below!
Bang!
A translucent red surrounded my eyes as I floated in the middle of the blood sea. I thought it was over for me, but surprisingly Night Fury didn’t enter the water to end my puny life.
“What’s going on?” I voiced my doubts.
Uldan narrowed her eyes and whispered beside my ears, “Maybe it’s just me… but doesn’t it look like Night Fury is afraid of the sea water?”
“Is that so? Huh. It may actually be the case…”
I smiled and pulled the lazy Winged Silver Dragon who had been watching the battle all this time closer to me. Then I said, “Spray that fucker with some seawater, will you?”
1. T/N: what a waste of Divine Energy Points, reactivating it cost 10 fucking points dude, you may as well keep it on from the start ☜
