Chapter 339: Red Land Demon Realm

"Everyone, be careful. Lei Luo and Lei Ba are nearby."

Ma Wan's expression immediately turned grave as he looked back at the group.

A chill ran down everyone's spines. They exchanged worried glances as Luo An and several other Darts Masters swiftly stepped forward, assuming defensive stances with grim expressions.

"We need to leave, now. This place isn't safe."

Chu Guifeng, at the head of the party, hurriedly waved them on, signaling for everyone to follow.

"There are people over here!"

Just then, however, someone cried out in alarm and pointed off to the side.

Startled, Chu Guifeng and Ma Wan turned to look.

They saw two middle-aged men, one tall and the other thin.

One man's eyes were bulging from their sockets, as if they might burst. He looked as though he'd been literally scared to death.

The other had been crushed flat, his blood pooling on the ground in a gruesome spectacle.

It was none other than Lei Luo and Lei Ba!

"???" Chu Guifeng.

"???" Ma Wan.

Chu Guifeng and Ma Wan froze simultaneously, then whipped their heads around to look at each other.

Lei Luo and Lei Ba's infamy was widespread throughout the East Continent. Chu Guifeng and Ma Wan naturally knew of them—they had even crossed blades with the pair before and were keenly aware of how formidable their methods were.

Lei Ba's Overbearing Sword Intent was second to none, and the Fierce Beasts at Lei Luo's side were all notoriously difficult to handle.

Furthermore, both were masters who had grasped the power of the Extreme Dao and knew the Jiuli Mountain Range like the back of their hands. It was said that no one short of the old powerhouses of the Earth Profound Realm could stand against them.

And yet, two masters of their caliber had died here for no apparent reason.

"???"

The others standing by were just as baffled.

"It's as if they encountered something terrifying,"

Ma Wan said, his gaze fixed on Lei Ba's bulging, terrified eyes.

Chu Guifeng crouched down to examine the wounds. "The injuries... they look like they were inflicted by some kind of Fierce Beast."

"Could it be Chi Yi?"

Ma Wan froze as a possibility occurred to him.

Chu Guifeng nodded. "It's highly likely. The only Fierce Beast in the Jiuli Mountain Range capable of silently killing two Spirit Transformation masters who've grasped the Extreme Dao would have to be Chi Yi."

At this, the group let out a collective gasp. Had they brushed past Chi Yi last night?

"We're lucky Chi Yi didn't find us last night,"

Qian Gui said, his voice laced with lingering fear.

"Otherwise, none of us would have made it out alive."

The others nodded in fervent agreement.

Suddenly...

"SQUEAK SQUEAK!"

Two sharp squeaks rang out.

The Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat wriggled out from Shen Daoxing's robes. It glanced at the group with a huff, crossing its front paws over its chest in clear displeasure.

'That coward Chi Yi is nothing!'

Shen Daoxing smiled faintly and stroked the Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat's head, as if to comfort it.

Chu Guifeng took a deep breath, stood up, and addressed the group with a grave expression. "In any case, we're not out of danger yet. Chi Yi could still be nearby. We must remain cautious."

His words sobered the group. They knew he was right; Chi Yi was likely still close, and they couldn't afford to relax.

Chu Guifeng led the party onward. But surprisingly, though they traveled for a very long time, they encountered not a single Fierce Beast—just like the day before.

There was no trace of Chi Yi, the beast that had just killed Lei Luo and Lei Ba.

What they didn't know, however, was that just as the group had set off, Shen Daoxing had already given an order to the Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat.

The Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat transformed into a black arc of light and vanished with a WHOOSH, stealthily slipping away from the party.

By the time night fell and the Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat returned, its belly was bulging. It let out a satisfied burp and settled comfortably in Shen Daoxing's arms.

Of course Chu Guifeng's group would encounter no more Fierce Beasts. Any that had intended to attack the party along the way had already ended up in the Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat's stomach.

Chu Guifeng led the party onward. The mountain path was rugged and uneven, and the caravan struggled to haul its cargo.

The journey was arduous, yet the party remained completely safe. They didn't encounter a single Fierce Beast. One or two days of this could be chalked up to good luck, but not seeing any for four or five days straight was simply too strange.

It was so strange that they began to feel as if they were hallucinating, wondering if they were truly in the Jiuli Mountain Range at all.

What they failed to notice was that every time the group stopped to rest and make camp, the Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat would scurry back from the wild and slip into Shen Daoxing's arms.

Chu Guifeng led the party onward, and before they knew it, they had ventured deep into the Jiuli Mountain Range. If they continued straight, they could exit the mountains by the fastest route. However, the depths of the Jiuli Mountain Range were filled with deadly zones from which there was no return.

"Halt!"

At the head of the formation, Chu Guifeng suddenly raised his hand high.

The party behind him stopped in their tracks.

Chu Guifeng turned back to the group. "The next leg of our journey will be the most difficult. We'll rest here for the night and prepare ourselves."

Shen Daoxing looked up into the distance. Ahead of the green patch of land where they stood, the ground turned a stark crimson. The view was one of utter desolation. Reddish-brown earth lay exposed, dotted with bizarre, jagged rock formations.

The few trees that could be seen were gnarled and dead. Eerie patches of mist drifted about, and when a light breeze passed through, it created a sound like the howling of monsters.

Ma Wan had appeared at Shen Daoxing's side at some point. "Kid, that up there is the Red Land Demon Realm, the number one Forbidden Land in the East Continent."

With that, Ma Wan turned to look at Shen Daoxing with a meaningful gaze. "So, kid. You scared?"

Shen Daoxing smiled faintly and said nothing.

Just then, Luo An poked his head out. "Old Ma, I heard there's a secret to immortality in the Red Land Demon Realm. Is that true?"

Ma Wan paused. He looked at Luo An and broke into a mysterious smile. "Oh, it's there. Of course it is!"

"Really?!"

Hearing this, Luo An's face lit up with excitement. "Then should we go in and check it out?"

But here Ma Wan's tone shifted. "But do you also know that this so-called 'immortality' is less of a blessing and more of a curse?"

"A curse?"

Luo An was stunned.

Ma Wan nodded. "No one knows exactly when the Red Land Demon Realm first appeared in the Jiuli Mountain Range, but it's been at least ten thousand years. In all that time, it's not as if no one has ever made it out. In our very own East Continent, in fact, a group managed to brave the Red Land Demon Realm a century ago. They returned safely, and they had even obtained the so-called power of immortality."

"A decade or so later, it was true that none of them had aged a single day, as if they had truly achieved immortality. But their bodies began to undergo a bizarre transformation. They started to turn into puppets."

"Turning into puppets?"

Shen Daoxing paused. Ma Wan's words had suddenly piqued his interest.

"That's right! Turning into puppets."

Ma Wan nodded and continued, "It starts with the hands and feet, then the torso. Eventually, their entire body, head and all, turns into wood. During this process, they gradually lose all human emotion, until they become nothing more than a Demonic Puppet that knows only how to kill."