Chapter 63 - 63 60 Black Annihilation Ridge

63: Chapter 60 Black Annihilation Ridge 63: Chapter 60 Black Annihilation Ridge The next day, before noon, Ye Xuan had already set off. Although Black Annihilation Ridge was right before his eyes, it was seldom visited, and the paths leading into the ridge had fallen into disuse, making entry rather troublesome. But Ye Xuan’s experience in wilderness survival was unmatched; even without a path, he could still find several hidden ones. If all else failed, when encountering areas overgrown with shrubs and thorns, he would simply use Ling Xu’s Flying Shadow technique to leap directly over them. After considerable effort, Ye Xuan finally reached the outskirts of Black Annihilation Ridge. At the same time, he put on a mask and swallowed a Detoxification Pill, then proceeded cautiously. As he had seen in Black Water Town, there indeed floated a black Poison Miasma all around Black Annihilation Ridge, severely restricting his visibility. Without the protection of True Qi, it wouldn’t take long before his skin and flesh would be corroded and he would succumb to the poison and die. Fetching the ancient partial map, Ye Xuan began to search for the endpoint marked on it. From his initial observations, the location marked on the map seemed to be deep within Black Annihilation Ridge. S~eaʀᴄh the novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Storing the partial map away, Ye Xuan cautiously moved forward. In Black Annihilation Ridge, toxic plants were everywhere. An inadvertent touch could cause much trouble, and some of the more potent ones could even dishevel someone like him. However, among these poisonous plants, Ye Xuan selectively picked some. Among them, a few were of medicinal value, and others were useful for creating poisons. Poison-making was also a facet of the art of Spiritual Medicine. Although Ye Xuan was not adept at using poisons, he was familiar with some poisonous plants’ medicinal properties. Hiss… As Ye Xuan slowly delved deeper into Black Annihilation Ridge, a pair of eyes glowing crimson suddenly appeared not far from his side in some bushes. Swoosh! A venomous snake about a meter long suddenly sprang out and swiftly struck at Ye Xuan. Ye Xuan was already on guard; his right hand quickly caught the snake at its vital spot, the “seven inches,” and with a slight exertion of force, he split the snake in two. Leaving the two twitching halves of the snake’s body behind, Ye Xuan moved forward with an unchanged expression. The dangers here were still the most basic he knew of. According to his knowledge, the deeper parts of Black Annihilation Ridge housed far more challenging Poison Beasts. Thus, maintaining a steady pace, about two hours later, Ye Xuan was fairly certain that he was close to the spot indicated by the partial map. Along the way, Ye Xuan encountered about a dozen Poison Beasts, but none posed a significant threat; the most powerful had barely reached Second Rank, and Ye Xuan easily dispatched them. “We’ve arrived.” Assured that he had reached the destination, Ye Xuan looked ahead. “Why is there a lake? According to the map, this place should be a rugged, strange mountain, and the cave should be visible.” Looking at the lush green lake before him, Ye Xuan appeared slightly surprised. After confirming again, he began to ponder, but soon he had a clue. This ancient map, its age unknown, could have been passed down for hundreds of years. Over such a long period, it was not odd for water to accumulate and form a lake. To verify whether the ancient map indeed hid something, the only way was to explore beneath the lake. The dangers in the lakebed were unknown. After swallowing two Detoxification Pills and a Water Avoiding Pill, Ye Xuan leapt into the water like diving and swam downward. Visibility in the water greatly reduced, devoid of life, not even small fish or shrimp could be seen. Occasionally, he could see some fish that had mutated due to the toxins. The lake wasn’t deep, and soon after entering the water, Ye Xuan quickly reached the bottom and settled on a piece of rock. “Could it be that the place drawn on this ancient map is purely fictitious?” Ye Xuan carefully surveyed the area at the bottom of the lake but saw no trace of any strange mountain, let alone a cave. All there was a thick layer of silt, and beyond that, nothing. As he looked around, Ye Xuan’s gaze fell on the rock beneath his feet. It seemed too abnormal that where everything else was silt, there stood a protruding rock. Pulling out the Star-cutting Saber, Ye Xuan struck the rock with the blade, but the strike only created sparks and did not damage the rock at all. “So hard.” Ye Xuan was surprised; his Star-cutting Saber was sharp enough to cut through iron like mud, yet it couldn’t split a mere rock? Just as he was puzzled, the rock beneath his feet suddenly shifted slightly. Then, a pair of greenish, bell-like huge eyes suddenly snapped open. In that instant, the “rock” suddenly began to rise, and Ye Xuan felt the anomaly. Looking down, he saw the “rock” shedding its silt covering, revealing a grotesquely tumorous and fearsome snake head! “Holy shit!” Ye Xuan’s complexion drastically changed, and in the moment of realization, he hurriedly swam upwards. Meanwhile, as the silt completely collapsed around him, the python’s body also fully emerged, its skin covered in leprous-like bumps, looking extremely disgusting. The snake was tens of meters long, and as it completely freed itself from the mud, even Ye Xuan was taken aback by the sheer size of this leprous giant python! Furthermore, the demonic power fluctuations emitted by this leper-skinned python indicated it was possibly at the peak of the Second Rank, just a step away from the Third Rank! Such a Poison Beast was definitely not an opponent he could currently handle! “We must hurry.” With a monster of this rank, combined with its highly toxic nature, Ye Xuan wouldn’t foolishly confront it head-on. However, just as he prepared to swim upstream at full speed, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a submerged dark mountain emerging under the collapsed silt. At the same time, he caught sight of a deep and unfathomable cave. The moment he saw that cave, Ye Xuan’s eyes lit up. This cave was undoubtedly the entrance marked on the map; inside, he feared, were the ruins depicted on the ancient map! No wonder he hadn’t seen the entrance before—it had been concealed by the leper-skinned python. His initial rush to escape from the lake halted abruptly. Ye Xuan took a deep breath, his gaze shifted, and suddenly he turned his direction, driving his True Qi to its limit, shooting straight toward the cave! Roar! As he exhaled a foul and highly poisonous breath, a vicious glint flashed in the leper-skinned python’s eyes, and its long body also moved. Despite its somewhat bloated physique, its speed underwater was by no means slow. In the blink of an eye, its gaping mouth opened, unleashing a powerful suction force aimed at enveloping Ye Xuan. Faced with the enormous snake’s mouth aiming to swallow him, Ye Xuan’s expression changed, and he quickly executed the ‘Riding the Waves’ step, moving like a swift fish to dodge the terrifying suction, accelerating toward the cave entrance. Failing to swallow Ye Xuan, a flash of crimson passed through the eyes of the leper-skinned python. Its body writhed violently, and its thick tail came whooshing with a horrifying force aimed directly at Ye Xuan. This time, the tail swung with such ferocious vigor that it drove the water currents into terrifying fluctuations; avoiding it was no longer possible. Ye Xuan, struck by inspiration, glanced at the nearby cave entrance, shielded his body with all his might, and counterattacked with his Star-cutting Saber, hacking fiercely at the tail like a thunderclap. Clang! Inevitably, the strike felt as though it had hit a giant rock; not only did it not slice through, but Ye Xuan himself was instead sent flying backward, shooting into the cave like an arrow, disappearing from sight. Roar! Furious that Ye Xuan had escaped into the underwater cave, the leper-skinned python roared angrily, causing the entire lake to seem to tremble in an instant. However, by then, Ye Xuan could no longer hear such roars; he was swiftly swimming deeper into the cave, following the water currents. After several minutes, as the lake water branched off, he entered a rocky tunnel, the air redolent with dampness. “At last, I’ve shaken off that beast.” Heavily exhaling, Ye Xuan settled his nerves, took out a glowstone from his pack to light his surroundings, and carefully surveyed the cave interior. Drip! Drip! The cave walls were damp, constantly dripping water droplets, wetting the ground. Guided by the light of the glowstone, Ye Xuan slowly made his way deeper into the cave. In the darkness, chilling drafts whistled by, resembling the wails of ghosts. The bone-piercing chill of the wind made Ye Xuan involuntarily shudder. This rocky tunnel was extraordinarily long; after walking for an hour, he still hadn’t reached the end, and the air in the cave became increasingly damp and cold, a thick moldy smell saturating the passage, nearly suffocating. A gust of wind spread out the moldy smell a bit, and just then, Ye Xuan’s vision suddenly cleared. What entered his sight was a spacious clearing, about 60 to 75 feet high and 30 feet wide. Scattered across the ground were more than a dozen decomposed skeletons, all riddled with arrows, obviously having been dead for a long time. “No bodies were seen nearby, only here, piled up with corpses. There must be some dangerous mechanism nearby.” After some thought, Ye Xuan broke off a fist-sized stone from the rock wall, crouched down, and forcefully threw it into the open space ahead. Buzz buzz. As expected, just as the stone rolled onto the open ground, the walls on both sides abruptly loosened, and in the blink of an eye, arrows and poison needles flew out like locusts, densely packed and impenetrable. Seeing this, Ye Xuan’s expression grew solemn. If he had walked into this mechanism unprepared, he feared his end would resemble the rotten corpses on the ground. But now that he had seen it, this mechanism would no longer stop him. A glint of determination in his eyes, Ye Xuan picked up another stone, then dashed forward, using the stone to trigger the arrows and poison needles from both sides. Then, taking advantage of the momentary misalignment of the mechanism, he quickly moved forward along the gaps, safely passing through. “With such a meticulous setup, I wonder what truly lies hidden here.” With this curiosity in his mind, Ye Xuan, without realizing it, saw a light appearing ahead. Soon after, a surprisingly grand underground chamber came into view.