Chapter 102: Xi Ling(Part 2)
“Ding… You have entered ‘Lonely Spirit Ridge’.”
“Ding…”Lonely Spirit Ridge’ is an extremely dangerous area, proceed with caution.”
It was less than 100m away from the entrance to the underworld, when Ling Chen had stepped into the lonely spirit ridge. The ground underfoot was wet, the light and air is similar to the ghastly grounds but even more gloomy. The road became bumpy. Before him he could blurrily make out tall and short mountains one after another, the air was a terrible grey. The environment felt as if he just stepped into the underworld.
After going in, Ling Chen started to feel afraid. He took a moment to calm himself, stabilizing his emotions and calming down.
Folding open the map that he bought from Qian Gun Gun. He looked at it a few times, and felt more and more strongly that the 50,000 gold was worth it. On the forgotten continent were marked all the towns big and small, ruins, forests, mountains, plains, rivers, historic remains… etc. Even the main buildings in big cities were labelled. Many special locations also came with detailed comments. The colours of the regions were also significantly different. Where he is now was coloured black, meaning that it was forbidden. Next to the picture of the Lonely Spirit Ridge, was a paragraph of text.
Lonely Spirit Ridge: Ten thousand years ago it was called the Silent Ridge. But it was affected by the death’s breath produced by the entrance to the underworld, few people would come by, but it wasn’t officially forbidden at first. Often explorers would venture in. Ten thousand years ago, suddenly a black fog appeared on the silent ridge. Then from that point, everyone who stepped in died, and no one ever came out. Then the Silent Ridge was renamed a few hundred years later to Lonely Spirit Ridge, the power levels within are at least of Mysterious God, do not enter!
Ling Chen: “…”
Power levels of least mysterious god, do not enter… which is to say, those people who have come here were all killed by someone or some monster, who was at least of mysterious God strength! No wonder its been so many years, where countless masters of the forgotten continent have gone in without ever coming back. Mysterious God level… human beings simply could not compete. If he ran into it himself, it would certainly be the death of him. Moreover, Qian Gun Gun obviously knew what was around here, but it wasn’t not marked, looks like even Qian Gun Gun was afraid of it.
Putting the map away, Ling Chen quickly went ahead. After putting the Emptying Rock into his bag, his storage space increased to 500.
After entering the Lonely Spirit Ridge, he realised that there wasn’t any Death’s Breath. Based on what Qian Gun Gun said, the biggest danger in Lonely Spirit Ridge had left, but he was unsure as to when it will return. Ling Chen quickly walked ahead, looking around and observing his surroundings. He was trying to look for what he came here for — the flaming black grass! According to the master in Azure dragon city, the flaming black grass were in little clusters of black flame, they were very easy to identify.
After discovering the entrance to the underworld, he memorised it, but gave up on going in. Qian Gun Gun said the lowest level undead that were in there were at least level 50, it was a region that he couldn’t touch at all.
Flaming black grace…flaming black grass…
Ling Chen’ heart was pounding, but he continued look around with Xiao Hui, pushing ahead. Lonely Spirit Ridge was big and there was a weird distribution of big and small mountains, on which were countless rocks. Sometimes you could see some black weeds, which seemed like the only plant that could grow even in this deathly environment. But it wasn’t the same shape as the flaming black grass. Ling Chen continued up the path, until he reached the top of the first hill… The top was covered in gravel. The cold wind caused his heart to shiver, and there wasn’t the slightest hint of the flaming black grass.
Ling Chen stood on top of the mountain and looked into the distance. Under the black fog, he couldn’t see how far the Lonely Spirit Ridge spread, and only could vaguely see the higher mountains ahead.
At this time, from when he entered the lonely spirit ridge, it had already been half an hour.
“Qi Yue, have you seen flaming black grass before? do you know where is it in the Lonely Spirit Ridge?” Ling Chen asked. Qi Yue who has existed for 10,000 years might know where the black flaming grass is.
“…’
“Qi yue?”
He called a few more times, but with no reply from Qi Yue. Just then she was telling him about Qian Gun Gun, but she hasn’t made a sound since. Obviously she has strained her spiritual energy, and is now resting in the Lunar Scourge.
It looked like, he could only rely on himself. Ling Chen did a quick look around, and continued to move ahead. Even though he didn’t find anything in the Lonely Spirit Ridge, but also he didn’t run into anyone living or dead. Besides the wind, the whole Lonely Spirit Ridge was silent. The silence was scary… and there seems to be a big mountain range before him, without a single living thing on it!
Going down the slope, Ling Chen made sure to check every single corner. But even after reaching the other side of the mountain, there were still no flaming black grass to be seen.
The master in Azure Dragon city that talked about the flaming black grass in the Lonely Spirit Ridge couldn’t have been a lie could it? Why couldn’t he find even 1?
Ling Chen suddenly thought of a possibility… it could be that the flaming black grass was a story that had been passed down for a very very long time. In that time the Lonely Spirit Ridge wasn’t called the Lonely Spirit Ridge, not even the Silent Ridge. But today, many tens of thousands of years has passed… and the area now, can’t flaming black grass can’t grow like before right?
Then immediately, Ling Chen discarded the idea. This is mystic world’s unique hidden task. Since the task exists, even though it is very difficult, there is definitely a chance to complete it. Which is also the say that the flaming black grass definitely exists. Ling Chen looked ahead… this should be a safe area of the Lonely Spirit Ridge, would the flaming black grass be in the middle area of the Lonely Spirit Ridge?
Upon thinking of this, Ling Chen increased his movements. He continued ahead, further increasing the speed he is moving ahead. But this didn’t mean he was travelling leisurely. every time he headed to a new place, he will use his binoculars to closely observe it first.
After an hour, “Undead stone”’s effect was lost, and disappeared from the lunar scourge. But the atmosphere of the Lonely Spirit Ridge was different from the Ghastly Grounds. He didn’t seem to lose any HP without the undead stone. But it’s been an hour, and he has moved a few kms of distance, but still had not found any traces of the flaming black grass.
While looking around, the real world time just hit 12am. A new day had started. Two days ago azure dragon city was a desolate place but now it was bustling with people coming and going. A large number of players were all trying to get transfers, or finding tasks to do, or finding upgrades for equips for the first time. Businesses owned by players have also started to plan… but no one would have thought that a single player had already travelled over 200km from that place, under horrific circumstances, taking a great risk doing a difficult task.
Qian Gun Gun mentioned the “scary bastard” could be back in any moment. Making the Lonely Spirit Ridge a taboo and killing any masters, one can only imagine how scary that guy is. If he couldn’t find any flaming black grass before he gets back, not only will he have to cut his work short, it will also mean certain death. He stil have to bear the cruel punishment for failing the task.
He needed to find it immediately!
And another 2 hours has passed…
Crossing over multiple hills, Ling Chen had already forgotten and didn’t bother remembering them. He focused all his attention looking for the flaming black grass. He obviously had entered the Lonely Spirit Ridge, and now it was the perfect time to avoid the danger. But now he had already been searching for 3 hours, but still couldnt even find the shadow of this flaming black grass. in these large gaps of time, even Ling Chen, has had huge mood swings. He even vaguely felt like his guess may have been right… after so many years had past, the Lonely Spirit Ridge no longer was the same as before, it may be true that there is no flaming black grass!
But he had already come so far, Ling Chen couldn’t give up without feeling bad now. He grit his teeth, and continued ahead. If he reached the end of the Lonely Spirit Ridge without finding the flaming black grass. Then, this finding flaming black grass task, is a task that really can’t be accomplished!
Under the cover of the black fog, he couldn’t see too far away. It was also hard to know if the mountain he was on was at the centre of the Lonely Spirit Ridge, or if it was the highest one.
After 10 minutes, Ling Chen sat at the top of a mountain. The whole way here, the black weeds were everywhere, but the flaming back grass was nowhere to be found. Now, he was beginning to feel some numbness.
The mountains in the Lonely Spirit Ridge were generally not tall, the one Ling Chen was standing on was the tallest. But also the one that seemed to be the most centre of the Lonely Spirit Ridge. Ling Chen observed his surroundings, on right side in 50m there was a large rock, in the middle of a large empty area, there was not even the shadow of the flaming black grass.
Still nothing? Ling Chen let out a long sigh. But as he walked down the mountain, Xiao Hui behind him called out. it took off, running towards that round rock that was tall as a person and then standing behind the rock, using its paws to touch the rock.
Ling Chen’s expression lit up, and quickly came over. Seeing Xiao Hui’s actions, he asked: “Are you saying, there’s something under the rock?”
Xiao Hui quickly scratched with his front paw in response….its movement, clearly told Ling Chen to move the stone away.
Ling Chen then took 2 steps back, and glanced at the rock. This rock was a similar height to him, and looked really heavy. But it was a long oval shape, so if he tried with all his strength, he should be able to take it down. Immediately, he put away his weapons, and stood before the rock. He put both hands on the rock, letting out a breath of air, and gave it a hard push.
Even though this rock was big, it wasn’t as heavy as Ling Chen thought it would be. Coupled with it’s unstable shape, Ling Chen used some strength, and the boulder suddenly tilted. Ling Chen frowned, bit down and tried harder. This time, this human sized rock suddenly was shifted by Ling Chen making a “poof” sound as it hit the ground.
Below the rock, was a dark cave opening. It appeared half a metre wide. Ling Chen was startled, and quickly came to see what was in the hole… the hole was deep, and pitch black, he couldn’t see anything at all. But at the edge, a rope ladder was hanging off the side.
Rope ladder!?
The rope ladder was put up by a person! which is to say, people come out of this little hole!!
Could it be that the “scary bastard” that Qian Gun Gun talked about? Is a person? A person with a minimum strength level of Mysterious God?
“Ding… you have discovered a hidden area, the region has no name.”