Chapter 3773 – Natural Death Trap
Translator: Silavin & Tia
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Just a moment ago, the surrounding scenery had been pleasant. However, in the next moment, Yang Kai plunged into a fog so thick he could not see his hand in front of him. The change was so sudden that he was caught completely by surprise. Shocked, he abruptly stopped in his tracks and turned to look in the direction of Bing Yun, “Senior?”
Although he could not see anybody there, Bing Yun’s voice rang out clearly, “I’m here!”
He secretly let out a breath of relief in response. By inferring from the direction of her voice, she seemed to be standing no more than two steps away from him. It was just that he couldn’t even see her outline through this dense fog. Moreover, the dense fog had the effect of preventing anybody from probing their surroundings with Divine Sense.
Even his Divine Sense, which was stronger than that of any Half-Saint or Pseudo-Great Emperor, was suppressed by the dense fog and could not advance forward whatsoever when he released it into his surroundings. If that was the case for him, what more need be said about Bing Yun? Their sight was obscured and their Divine Sense was useless in this strange place, so they were essentially blind.
“Was this place like this before?” Yang Kai asked in a quiet voice.
Bing Yun replied, “No. There was nothing unusual here before. Maybe Yang Yan triggered something when she was trying to crack the Spirit Array.”
Yang Kai nodded when he heard those words. That explanation was reasonable. They originally came to meet up with Yang Yan and check on her progress in cracking the Natural Spirit Array while they were at it. Unfortunately, it would seem that the situation here was not too optimistic. They did not see Yang Yan anywhere upon their arrival, nor did they see that wooden stump pool either. There was only this strange fog in all directions.
In this environment, Yang Kai couldn’t help being extremely alert and warned, “Be careful, Senior. Call me immediately if you find anything.”
“I know! You do the same!” Bing Yun’s voice rang out.
They continued walking deeper inward while conversing with each other. Although they could not see anything and their Divine Senses were useless at the moment, they could use their voices to estimate each other’s positions so that they did not need to worry about getting separated.
It was just that the deeper they went, the bigger the frown on Yang Kai’s face became.
According to what Bing Yun told him earlier, the wooden stump pool that contained what was suspected to be World Source Liquid was located in an empty clearing that was about a thousand metres from the edge of the jungle. They had been walking straight ahead for the past quarter hour, but had yet to come across anything. Furthermore, forget a thousand metres, they might even have travelled tens of thousands of metres by now.
“Listen…” Bing Yun suddenly spoke.
“What is it?” Yang Kai turned to look at her, but all that he could see in front of him was a layer of fog.
“Didn’t you hear anything?”
“What did you hear, Senior?” Her unexpected discovery in this strange place not only surprised him but also raised his wariness somewhat. He couldn’t help getting goosebumps all over his body, but to his horror, Bing Yun stopped responding. He suddenly had a bad feeling and called out once more, “Senior?”
Despite shouting several times, he received no response at all. Yang Kai then reached out to grab at the spot where Bing Yun had been standing just now, but there was nothing there. He could not find any traces of her anywhere when he rushed forward a little either. By this point, Yang Kai’s expression couldn’t help turning a little ashen.
Bing Yun had been by his side a moment ago only to disappear without a trace a moment later. Was this the secret work of somebody at play? Or, was this the power of the Natural Spirit Array?
The possibility of the latter was much more likely of course. Bing Yun had mentioned there was a Natural Spirit Array nearby that guarded this place after all. It was the one Yang Yan had stayed behind to crack. Besides, there was nobody with the ability to take Bing Yun away without Yang Kai noticing among the many Half-Saints from the Demon Realm.
In that case, was this a Bewildering Array? Natural Spirit Arrays were generally very extraordinary of course, so it might not only have the effect of a Bewildering Array. What concerned Yang Kai even more were Bing Yun’s words before she disappeared. She had obviously heard something; however, he had not noticed anything. Even when he listened attentively at this moment, Yang Kai still couldn’t hear any sounds at all.
It was said that all Spirit Arrays in the world could be broken by brute force; unfortunately, Bing Yun had fallen prey to the Spirit Array. Yang Yan’s situation was probably not much better given the current circumstances; therefore, Yang Kai did not dare to act rashly. It would not be worthwhile if he accidentally harmed them by lashing out now.
Standing motionlessly in place, Yang Kai took a deep breath and closed his eyes. A few moments later, he jerked his eyes open again and his left eye seemed to flicker with a golden light.
The Demon Eye of Annihilation he obtained from the Great Demon God had the ability to see through all illusions, so it was extremely effective against something like Bewildering and Illusion Arrays. Under the effect of the Demon Eye of Annihilation, the fog shrouding his surroundings seemed to fade away considerably in an instant.
Yang Kai calmed down slightly upon seeing this. It would seem that the Great Demon God was indeed extraordinary. All this time, Yang Kai seemed to have underestimated the power of the Demon Eye of Annihilation. He had also been unable to fully bring out its potential. Even though the Natural Spirit Array in the Source Sealed World was so mysterious, he instantly got a glimpse of its mysteries with the help of the Demon Eye of Annihilation.
“Hm?” Yang Kai’s expression changed as he looked around at his surroundings. He had not been able to see anything just now, but he discovered that he was actually surrounded by numerous tiny silk threads under the influence of the Demon Eye of Annihilation. The silk threads were densely packed, but invisible to the naked eye, fluttering in the air like tentacles. Occasionally, these silk threads would approach him as if to touch him; however, they would quickly shrink away from him as though scared of something.
He frowned and reached out to grab at the silk thread in front of him, but to his surprise, it avoided his hand as if it were a living creature.
“Where are you trying to run!?” Yang Kai coldly snorted. He instinctively felt that Bing Yun’s disappearance was related to these silk threads; thus, he violently reached out and caught a handful of silk threads in his grip.
In the next moment, a strange voice suddenly sounded in his head. That voice sounded like a soft murmuring that seemed to be calling out to him, giving rise to an impulse that urged him to head in a certain direction. The light in his eyes vanished and was replaced by a dull look. At the same time, his mind instantly sank into an abyss!
Numerous silk threads appeared inside his Knowledge Sea, travelling through the pitch-black flames. A layer of ripples formed everywhere they passed, spreading out into the surroundings. Meanwhile, the Soul Warming Lotus in the middle of his Knowledge Sea burst out with a seven-coloured radiance. That gentle force filled every corner of his Knowledge Sea, smoothing out the ripples that formed. In response, the countless silk threads that barged into his Knowledge Sea dissipated instantly like snowflakes under the scorching sun.
Yang Kai’s body jerked abruptly and his dazed eyes regained their lustre. An expression of lingering fear crept across his face when he finally realised what happened to him. He looked back again and saw that the countless silk threads surrounding him were still there. As before, these silk threads constantly wandered around him but did not dare to approach. If he had not taken the initiative to reach out just now, they would not have come into contact with him at all.
[What in the world are these things!?] He was completely bewildered by the tiny silk threads. The only thing he could be sure of was that these strange things definitely had something to do with Bing Yun’s disappearance.
Bing Yun had clearly heard something just now; likewise, a soft murmuring had sounded in his head when he touched those silk threads and he immediately lost consciousness after that. It was obvious that the same thing had happened to her. It was just that she did not have one of the world’s Supreme Treasures like the Soul Warming Lotus protecting her Knowledge Sea.
[But, why don’t these silk threads dare to touch me? Do I have something that Bing Yun does not have?] Yang Kai had some vague guesses but could not be certain. In any case, the most important thing right now was to locate Bing Yun and Yang Yan as soon as possible. Thinking back to the strange voice in his head just now, he lifted his eyes to look in a certain direction and strode forward.
Following his advance, the silk threads in front of him involuntarily shrank back from him. The direction he was heading was none other than the source of those silk threads. The further he went, the clearer his sight became as the dense fog enveloping his surroundings became thinner and thinner.
All of a sudden, there was a loud cracking sound. He seemed to have stepped on something. When Yang Kai lowered his head to look, his pupils involuntarily contracted. There was a skeleton beneath his feet. He did not know how long ago this person had died, but their bones were scattered across the ground quite messily. From the shape of the bones, it was clear that it had been a Human, and since the only ones that could die in this place were the Pseudo-Great Emperors that participated in the Grand Dao battle, it had to have been one of those ancient Masters.
This place was extremely dangerous after all. Other people had discovered this place that Yang Yan and Bing Yun had found, but these people had been ambushed and died in this place as a result. Moreover, it was evident that more than one person had experienced such a fate.
Yang Kai lifted his gaze and looked ahead. Countless skeletons were piled high across the ground in the open space around him. Some of those skeletons were completely weathered away while others still retained their original shape. The clothes on their bodies had long since rotted away into dust; however, from the degree of decay, it was clear that these people were from many different eras.
Aside from these skeletons, there was also a round-shaped wooden stump about ten metres in diameter and hollow in the centre like a wooden pool, filled with a milky white liquid.
A strange fragrance tickled Yang Kai’s nose and when he breathed it in, his entire body throbbed with excitement. Even his mood brightened and he became elated.
World Source Liquid!
Even though he had never seen it before, one glance at this liquid was enough for Yang Kai to instantly confirm that this was the legendary World Source Liquid. Yang Yan and Bing Yun were not mistaken.
Nevertheless, his attention was quickly drawn to something else instead. There were five cocoon-like things around the wooden pool. The cocoons were as tall as a person and in addition, numerous strange silk threads were endlessly wrapping around the cocoons, thickening and strengthening them with time.
One of the cocoons had yet to form completely. More importantly, the thing that was being wrapped by the silk threads inside that particular cocoon was none other than Bing Yun, who had just gone missing not too long ago. Yang Kai did not know when she had arrived here, but at this moment, her eyes were tightly closed as she stood there quietly, allowing the pure and clean silk threads to wrap around her. She seemed oblivious to the danger that she was in and there was even a slight smile adorning her lips.
Yang Kai’s scalp tingled at the sight and he couldn’t help gulping nervously. Judging from Bing Yun’s condition, there were bound to be other people inside the other four cocoons. They were either Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary or Half-Saints from the Demon Realm. Yang Yan was probably among them too.
These Masters had fallen into this trap unsuspectingly and without their knowledge, and looking at the countless skeletons surrounding him, Bing Yun and the others would eventually suffer the same fate if nobody rescued them.
Yang Kai took a deep breath and silently pushed his Demon Qi. Then, he stimulated the Demon Eye of Annihilation to its maximum and prepared to make a move at any time. After a careful investigation of the strange silk threads, Yang Kai was frustrated to learn that there was no way to trace them back to their source. These silk threads seemed to appear out of thin air to wrap around the living creatures that entered this place, which would eventually cause generations of Pseudo-Great Emperors who came here to lose their lives without even realising it.