878 Mysterious Swordsman (1/2)

Right now, Shao Ji was already thinking about retreating. He did not want to continue. Withdrawing from the Heaven List Tournament might be the best choice for him. He had long since forgotten his ambition from before. Also, he was living in constant fear every day he spent with Lord Merciless. He was afraid that he would one day unintentionally offend Lord Merciless and end up in a miserable state.

”Shao Ji, you have followed me loyally these past few days. If you want, I can take you into the Heart of the Red Stone Forest. I can even let you get quite some points so that you can get a good ranking. Of course, if you insist on withdrawing, I will not stop you. It all depends on you,” Lord Merciless said as he put his hands behind his back. Naturally, he could tell what Shao Ji was thinking.

”Lord Merciless… I have decided to follow you.”

Shao Ji was touched. He had not expected that Lord Merciless would say something like that. Under Lord Merciless's care, it would surely not be difficult for Shao Ji to venture through the Heart of the Red Stone Forest. If Lord Merciless was willing to give him points and increase his ranking, then the Huatian Palace's rewards posed a huge temptation for Shao Ji.

Even though Shao Ji was a little worried, once he thought of the handsome rewards, he immediately focused on the benefits. That was his priority.

”Follow me. Don't worry. I will not let you suffer any losses.”

Lord Merciless nodded. A glint of light flashed past his eyes. Shao Ji would never know that if he had chosen to leave just now, he would most likely never be able to leave the Red Stone Forest. Lord Merciless cared deeply about saving face. Shao Ji had seen him embarrass himself in front of Mo Wen. It was impossible for Lord Merciless to let Shao Ji leave alive.

The reason why Lord Merciless had kept Shao Ji by his side so that Shao Ji could witness that he, Lord Merciless, was not someone to be trifled with. Once they were in the Heart of the Red Stone Forest, Lord Merciless would surely torture Mo Wen to death.

...

Blue lights twinkled. When Mo Wen could clearly see his surroundings again, he had appeared in another environment.

There were no longer huge rocks and a barren landscape before his eyes. Instead, he was in a swamp. The swamp was surrounded by green plants, and the surroundings were teeming with life.

”Is this the Heart of the Red Stone Forest? It is said that there are many terrifying demonic beasts around here. The participants must first face the demonic beasts before they can cross the Heart of the Red Stone Forest.”

Mo Wen looked at his surroundings. There were many living creatures in the swamp. For example, there were bugs hidden in the mud and birds flying in the sky. All the animals had odd appearances. They appeared harmless, yet they were extremely poisonous.

Once Mo Wen arrived here, he realized that common ancient martial art practitioners would definitely not be able to survive in the Heart of the Red Stone Forest. Ancient martial art practitioners with at least Embryonic Breathing Realm cultivation could barely survive here. It was because, apart from the other hidden dangers, being bitten by any bugs here would kill the ancient martial art practitioners.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Suddenly, a buzzing sound could be heard. It was immediately followed by a cloud of black gas approaching from nearby. The sound came from the cloud of black gas.

It was not a cloud of black gas: it was a cloud of bugs. It was formed by countless bugs flying together. The bugs were jet black; however, their mandibles were blood red. They were shaped a little like mosquitoes, yet each of them was the size of a newborn baby's thumb.

Everywhere the cloud of bugs passed, the surrounding trees began to erode bit by bit. Some birds grazed past the bugs but were immediately poisoned and dropped to the ground motionless.

”Such a powerful poison.”

Mo Wen was astonished. The cloud of bugs was obviously not to be trifled with. Its target was clearly him. As he kept moving forward, they were flying towards him.

A mass of golden flame suddenly flew out, enveloping the cloud of bugs in an instant. The next moment, all the bugs were completely burnt to ashes.

”I need to be careful of everything when moving around in this place.”

Mo Wen had a rough understanding of the Heart of the Red Stone Forest. However, this was merely the outer layer of the Heart of the Red Stone Forest. Obviously, there was nothing here that could threaten him.

Mechanized Maze City was located at the center of the Heart of the Red Stone Forest. Mo Wen's current location was most likely on the outskirts of the Heart of the Red Stone Forest. Once Mo Wen identified his direction and made his way forward, he would surely be able to reach Mechanized Maze City.

Mo Wen didn't stay at the same spot. After locating the direction of Mechanized Maze City, he flew up and quickly made his way towards it. The participants still could not fly in the Heart of the Red Stone Forest. However, with Mo Wen's current cultivation, it was not a problem for him to leap through the air for brief moments.

After running for a while, Mo Wen noticed that the path was becoming harder to travel on. The swamps beneath him were getting larger, and they constantly emanated a pulling force, attempting to suck the people above into the swamps. Mo Wen's cultivation was strong enough to mean that he would not be sucked into the swamps. However, the pulling force still greatly affected his traveling speed.

This kind of swamp was clearly abnormal. It was likely that a Qi Nucleation Realm ancient martial art practitioner would perish if they fell into the swamp, let alone a commoner.

Suddenly, Mo Wen felt his heart tighten and a sense of danger welled up in his head without any warning. Without thinking much, Mo Wen unleashed the Glory of Wind and transformed into a gust of wind, traversing a hundred meters in an instant.

Rumble!