Chapter 619: The Rabbit King’s Secret Paradise

Marcus studied the five black bamboo stalks standing before him. They were thick and sturdy, their surfaces radiating a faint, dark sheen, but aside from that, there was nothing particularly remarkable about them. A quick glance around the area, however, told a very different story. Level 80-plus monsters wandered through the surrounding bamboo forest, their powerful auras making it obvious that this was anything but an ordinary hunting ground.

This was clearly high-level territory, and if the Golden Rabbit King was hiding somewhere in here, Marcus doubted it would be an opponent he could casually deal with. All he could do was hope the Village Chief hadn’t sent him into some ridiculous death trap. Still, with his current strength, even if the situation turned ugly, he could always run. There was no reason to scare himself before he even entered.

After applying his buffs, Marcus eagerly took out the Rabbit Path treasure map.

Whoosh!

The instant the map appeared, the black light radiating from the five bamboo stalks suddenly surged toward him. It struck the treasure map in his hand, causing it to spin violently before shooting upward. A moment later, it slammed directly into the center bamboo stalk with a sharp bang.

The treasure map disappeared.

At the same time, beneath the bamboo stalk that had been struck, a glowing white teleportation gate slowly emerged.

The passage was open.

Marcus didn’t rush in. He cautiously activated Insight and examined the strange white gate, and information immediately appeared before his eyes.

—

Rabbit’s Backdoor: The Dark Assassin Seven-Soul Devil, one of the Demon Lord’s Eight Guardians, spent ten years exploring God Bamboo Ridge before finally discovering the location of the Saint-tier treasure, the Harmony Divine Bamboo, which had fallen here. However, he was unable to break through the Divine Bamboo Illusion Formation protecting the treasure and therefore could not enter the Divine Bamboo Paradise hidden within.

Consumed by greed, the Seven-Soul Devil searched everywhere for a way to break through the formation. Twenty years ago, he discovered the Golden Rabbit King in a Newbie Village. Because the rabbit had eaten the divine fruit known as the Seven-Leaf Carrot, it had developed three Golden Eyes capable of seeing through all illusions and hidden passages.

The Seven-Soul Devil was overjoyed.

He secretly captured the Golden Rabbit King, used its Golden Eyes to see through the Divine Bamboo Illusion Formation, and successfully entered the Divine Bamboo Paradise.

—

’Damn.’

Marcus’s expression changed as he read the information.

So all that business about being a ’servant, neighbor, or lover’ had been nothing more than a smokescreen. The greedy bastard had deliberately created those identities and relationships to keep people from becoming suspicious of what he was really after.

And this wasn’t some ordinary villain, either.

He was one of the Demon Lord’s Eight Guardians, a Dark Assassin at that.

Marcus’s heart began beating faster. After witnessing just how terrifying the Dark Arch-Sorcerer Double-Headed Raven King had been, he sincerely hoped that the Seven-Soul Devil hadn’t already taken the Harmony Divine Bamboo for himself.

He quickly continued reading.

—

Once inside the Divine Bamboo Paradise, the Seven-Soul Devil immediately slaughtered the Level 90 Panda Warriors guarding the Saint-tier treasure. The Mythic Panda King fought the devil for an entire day and night, but despite its immense strength, it ultimately proved no match for the Seven-Soul Devil’s viciousness.

With its health reduced to a critical level and no other way out, the Mythic Panda King made a desperate gamble.

It swallowed the Harmony Divine Bamboo.

The Panda King hoped that by absorbing the Saint-tier treasure, it could evolve into an even more powerful existence and gain enough strength to kill the Seven-Soul Devil.

Unfortunately, just as the Panda King had feared, its body couldn’t withstand the enormous energy contained within the Harmony Divine Bamboo. Rather than evolving, its body began to swell with uncontrolled energy, and it was soon on the verge of exploding.

The Seven-Soul Devil couldn’t bear to watch the Saint-tier treasure be destroyed along with the Panda King’s body. Reluctantly, he used a Divine-grade healing scroll he had previously obtained from the Thousand-Faced Phantom Monkey.

Angel’s Hymn.

The moment the scroll was activated, a beautiful, almost heavenly chant echoed through the paradise. Brilliant light energy descended and enveloped the Panda King, continuously repairing its critically damaged body.

After an entire hour of uninterrupted healing, the scroll finally pulled the Panda King back from the brink of destruction.

However, the price had already been paid.

The overwhelming energy of the Harmony Divine Bamboo had caused severe damage to the Panda King’s body. It could no longer maintain its Mythic form and had instead devolved into a severely wounded pet egg.

For the next twenty years, the Seven-Soul Devil searched for a way to restore the pet egg. During that time, the Golden Rabbit King remained inside the Divine Bamboo Paradise, growing stronger while guarding the egg.

As for Rabbit’s Backdoor, it was a secret passage the Golden Rabbit King had created specifically so that he could secretly meet his girlfriend, the Fluffy Rabbit.

—

So that’s what this was.

Marcus stared at the information for a moment, genuinely surprised. Who would’ve thought that the Newbie Village, of all places, had been connected to a treasure this incredible?

The treasure hidden at the end of the Rabbit Path was clearly the Panda King’s pet egg.

Marcus’s eyes lit up at the thought.

’A fucking panda...’

Those big, lovable, goofy creatures were practically impossible to dislike. And now there was apparently a wounded Mythic Panda King’s pet egg waiting for him at the other end of this secret passage.

’Panda baby, here I come’

The thought alone made Marcus grin. But his excitement lasted only a moment before his expression became serious again.

He wasn’t stupid enough to charge in blindly.

According to the mission information, the Seven-Soul Devil had never taken the pet egg out of the Divine Bamboo Paradise. There had to be a reason for that. If he could simply pick up the egg and leave, the Seven-Soul Devil would have done exactly that twenty years ago.

In other words, this was definitely not going to be a simple grab-and-go.

He needed to be careful.

"Hopefully, that Seven-Soul Devil isn’t inside right now."

Marcus stared at the white teleportation gate and muttered under his breath as he prepared to enter. He couldn’t help wondering whether the devil had finally discovered a way to restore the pet egg during those twenty years. And if the original Panda King had been a Mythic-tier existence, just what level would its pet egg be now?

Whatever the answer was, Marcus intended to find out.

"Let’s do this, Stone."

He quietly encouraged himself, then summoned Pebble and began applying all his buffs. Once everything was ready, he reached back and flicked the flowing Wraith Cloak behind him.

"Wraith Shadow!"

Mist immediately swirled around Marcus and Pebble, enveloping their bodies until both of them disappeared completely from sight.

Pebble moved ahead first, while Marcus followed close behind. The two slipped through the white teleportation gate without making a sound.

Flash!

The moment they passed through, the world before Marcus’s eyes changed completely.

A vast, circular space unfolded before him, hidden away from the outside world like a secluded paradise. A clear blue sky stretched overhead beneath soft white clouds, while warm sunlight bathed the land below. Lush green plants covered the ground, interspersed with flowers of every color. Even the bamboo here was different from what he had seen outside. Between the emerald-green shoots, countless streaks of golden light drifted through the air, slowly dancing and weaving through the paradise.

Marcus stopped for a moment, unable to hide his astonishment.

"What incredible energy."

Those golden streaks weren’t ordinary light. They were incredibly rare energy, and the concentration here was astonishing. Marcus could clearly feel that it was at least three or four times denser than the energy he had encountered in Fire Ginseng Valley.

No wonder a Saint-tier treasure had been born here.

This place was on an entirely different level.

Before Marcus could investigate further, however, a golden figure suddenly came charging toward him and Pebble.

It was a rabbit.

A huge rabbit, glowing from head to toe like it had been carved from pure gold, standing roughly waist-high to Marcus.

There was no mistaking it; This was the Golden Rabbit King from the Newbie Village.

The Golden Rabbit King hadn’t seen his girlfriend, the Fluffy Rabbit, for several months. When it suddenly sensed that its secret Rabbit’s Backdoor had been opened, it immediately assumed that the person coming through the passage had to be his beloved girlfriend.

His heart filled with anticipation.

Without wasting another second, the Golden Rabbit King excitedly rushed toward the teleportation gate, eager to greet the girlfriend he had been waiting so long to see.