“Where’s the danger?” Yang Kai swept over his surroundings with his Divine Sense but found nothing out of the ordinary, which made him feel a little suspicious.
Pu Bai Xiong told him earnestly, “The water here is toxic, and there is also something hiding inside.”
“Toxic?” Yang Kai was astonished. Before coming in, Zhu Jiu Yin had told him that the Primordial Land was filled with opportunities, but also many dangers, and also told him to be careful.
Yang Kai was her chosen Bearer, so she naturally wanted him to succeed.
The swamp seemed completely inconspicuous, but it was also full of dangers. Yang Kai couldn’t help but sigh.
At that moment, a few kilometres away, a group of people looked in this direction with surprised looks on their faces. One young man asked, “What is that on that person’s shoulder?”
It was not known which great force these people came from, but all of them were surprised when they arrived and saw Pu Bai Xiong.
An elderly man pushed his eyesight to take a better look and said with joy, “It’s a Divine Medicine that has assumed human form!”
Once these words came out, everyone in the group felt their breaths hitch. Even though they did have some gains since entering this Primordial Land, what they found was simply nothing when compared to a Divine Medicine that had assumed human form.
The head of the Divine Medicine was covered in green and purple grapes, but it had a face with seven orifices, as well as hands and legs. It must have existed for a very long time. Such a treasure was hard to find in the outer world.
Now that they caught sight of one, everyone had greedy thoughts about the Divine Medicine.
After exchanging glances, they rose to the air in unison and began rushing in Yang Kai’s direction.
Tendrils swinging up, Pu Bai Xiong scratched his cheeks and said in disdain, “Courting death!”
As soon as those words left his mouth, loud screams could be heard. The cultivators suddenly fell down from the sky one by one.
Many cultivators fell into the puddles around the swamp, and before they could get up, they suddenly screamed in misery.
Their bodies broke apart, and in the blink of an eye, the puddles had corroded the cultivators’ flesh and turned them into white skeletons that slowly disappeared under the water, never to be seen again.
The remaining cultivators were lucky that they did not fall directly into the swamp; however, they were still standing amongst the puddles of murky water. Each one of them had their hair raised on end, none of them daring to move.
“So this water truly is corrosive!” Yang Kai was astonished. These cultivators had already been in the Grand Ancient Ruins for more than a decade, and they had all grown considerably. Even though they had not achieved the Open Heaven Realm, they had all at least gathered several Yin, Yang, and Five Elements. In the Emperor Realm, these people could be considered the best of the best; however, cultivators of this calibre had all failed to put up a resistance as soon as they fell into the water and withered away into dry bones. The immense toxicity of this swamp could be seen from that alone.
If that was all, then so be it, but there was some kind of natural Array over the swamp which made it impossible to fly.
“Don’t move. None of you move! Be careful of the puddles, don’t fall in!” The elderly man shouted.
As soon as he said that, a black tentacle suddenly poked out from the puddle next to his feet, curled around him, and dragged him down into it.
A gurgle of bubbles appeared, and the old man disappeared without a trace.
“What was that?” Yang Kai felt his scalp go numb. He had only had a glimpse of what had happened, so he had no idea what it was that suddenly dragged the elderly man into the puddle. He could only vaguely see that it was a shapeless mass similar to a tentacle.
Pu Bai Xiong whispered, “I’m not too sure either, but if you don’t make a sound, then whatever it is down there won’t sense you.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly.
The death of the elderly man stunned the remaining cultivators. Many of them screamed and quickly tried to escape from the swamp. They were fine when they stayed still, but as soon as they moved black tentacles suddenly erupted from the puddles again, grabbing them at the waist and pulling them into the water.
One by one, the cultivators disappeared quickly. One after another, huge bubbles emerged from the puddles.
Secret Techniques emerged as these cultivators attempted to resist, cutting off the black tentacles. However, there were so many tentacles that they could not get rid of all of them no matter how they tried.
In just a dozen breaths of time, only a dozen were left of the group that originally numbered over a hundred. These people were now left trembling in the swamp, at a loss of what to do.
They were the lucky ones since they did not move rashly, nor did they make any noise. Otherwise, they would not have survived.
Seeing their companions fall to miserable ends one by one, none of them dared to move.
Yang Kai clicked his tongue and asked, “Can we go around it?”
This swamp seemed so strange that even he was slightly afraid of it.
Pu Bai Xiong said to him, “Going around will take a really long time. Rest assured, with my guidance, we’ll be able to walk safely through.”
Yang Kai was sceptical, but he still grit his teeth and followed his lead.
Pu Bai Xiong whispered in his ear, “Don’t make any noise or things will be troublesome. Don’t touch the water either, or you’ll be in even greater trouble.”
“You’re so naggy!” Yang Kai grumbled.
“I nag you for your own good! I don’t want to die here together with you,” Pu Bai Xiong was grumpy.
However, this time, he spoke a little too loud, and almost in an instant, another tentacle appeared from a nearby puddle.
Pu Bai Xiong shut his mouth at once, and Yang Kai also held still. The tentacle stopped just an arm’s length from Yang Kai’s face, swayed for a bit, and then retreated into the puddle.
Yang Kai breathed a sigh of relief and continued onward.
The dozen or so cultivators who survived looked on for a while and began following his lead, cautiously walking through the swamp.
After walking for a short time though, Pu Bai Xiong suddenly made an exclamation of surprise and whispered, “Why is there an eye in the water?”
Surprised, Yang Kai looked down and sure enough, he saw an eye in the puddle next to him. Rather than call it an eye though, it was as if the puddle had turned into a giant eye that moved along with his pace, watching him silently.
Yang Kai shuddered at the strange sight and stopped in place to ask, “Did you not know that there were eyes in the water prior to this?”
Pu Bai Xiong gulped, “I’ve never encountered them before.”
“What kind of damned place is this? Not only are the Divine Medicines assuming human form, why does even this swamp seem to be manifesting a spirit?” Yang Kai’s forehead was covered in a cold sweat.
“Don’t scare yourself.” Pu Bai Xiong forced a laugh, “It must be our imagination. If you close your eyes and open them again, I’m sure it will be gone...”
Saying so, he shut his eyes hard and slowly opened them again a while after, but the sight horrified him, “Oi! Why are there even more eyes now!?”
The moment he closed his eyes, all of the puddles in the swamp turned into giant eyes, blinking and watching Yang Kai and the dozen other cultivators.