Chapter 36: The Tree and the Deer

After no longer actively using the Eye of Secret Peering, Rekton felt the blood-red eyes that had been staring at him through the vines also disappear, and the oppressive feeling in his heart immediately loosened.

"The Eye of Secret Peering when actively used is indeed very powerful, but equally very dangerous. It's a bit like a saying—when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss is also gazing at you," Rekton evaluated the Eye of Secret Peering in his mind.

What was fatal was that the Eye of Secret Peering couldn't be turned off at all. Though not as powerful as when actively used in normal times, the subconscious gazing and scrutinizing after seeing certain things could also easily trigger the active-type Eye of Secret Peering without control.

"No wonder the Secret Peerer pathway is so prone to losing control. It's not entirely the Hidden Sage's fault—this pathway naturally tends to see unclean things." Rekton used inner complaints to reduce the oppressive feeling brought by the surrounding environment.

As the group advanced, Rekton felt the surrounding air begin to grow damp, mixed with the pollen of nearby plants, giving it a sticky sensation that was very uncomfortable.

He didn't know when fog had risen around them; anything slightly farther away was impossible to see clearly.

The successive changes made Rekton's nerves tense up. Especially that faint sensation of being watched, which was growing stronger and stronger.

"Do you feel your physical stamina depleting faster?" Jin asked, his voice carrying some uncertainty.

"I hadn't noticed that." Rekton shook his head; his perception of stamina consumption wasn't particularly sharp.

Mr. Korth also shook his head to indicate he didn't know either.

"A little. I thought it was my illusion—my body has undergone alchemical modification, so it's not quite the same as an ordinary person's." Usel agreed with Jin's observation.

"Is it because of this pollen in the air?" Rekton subconsciously thought of the somewhat sticky air.

"It's possible, but impossible to confirm." Jin couldn't give a definitive answer.

"The things here are consciously depleting my stamina, and there's also hallucinogenic poison gas, plus this pervasive fog. It looks like the other side wants to slowly wear us down?" Rekton analyzed based on the current situation.

"Very likely," Mr. Korth said.

"Dispel!" A Dragon language word issued from Mr. Korth's mouth, and an invisible wind rapidly spread outward with Mr. Ix at the center.

Rekton felt the air become much fresher, and the surrounding fog was also dispersed a great deal, but it quickly began to spread back over again.

"The area covered by this region is too large, already exceeding the effective range of the Dispel Talisman," Mr. Korth quickly concluded.

"Use fire?" Jin asked hesitantly.

"The air humidity here is too high; fire may not work. And even if it does, how would we ourselves run out?" Mr. Korth rejected Jin's proposal.

"Should we try cutting through these vines and see what reaction there is?" Rekton suggested.

Ever since discovering that these vines were all one single entity, Rekton had wanted to cut some vines to see what reaction there would be.

Mr. Korth pondered for a moment before looking at Usel: "Sure, want to try?"

Usel nodded: "Let's try!"

Seeing that most agreed with this idea, Jin took the scythe off his back, walked up to a vine hanging down from above and rooted into the ground, and swung the scythe forcefully.

"Sizzle!" The vine was severed in one strike, and crimson sap flowed out from within, like blood.

As this one vine was cut, all the surrounding vines began to tremble, as if every vine had felt the pain of being severed.

"Everyone, get closer together, be care—" Mr. Korth's words were interrupted before he could finish.

Several vines suddenly turned deep black, then violently stabbed down toward the positions where Jin and Rekton stood.

Jin retreated while swinging the scythe in his hand, severing all the deep black vines rushing toward him. The severed vines oozed black pus that splattered onto Jin's body, immediately followed by sizzling sounds of corrosion.

The instant the deep black vines rushed toward him, Rekton bent down and rolled twice in succession on the ground, dodging the spot where he had been standing. But the deep black vines behind him curved like living creatures and chased after Rekton.

Several vines burst from the ground behind Rekton and entangled with the vines rushing toward him.

Rekton breathed a sigh of relief and immediately got up to move closer to Mr. Korth's side.

"Yō!" A deep, melodious sound, as if from an ancient deep forest, rang out, seemingly piercing through the soul, echoing ceaselessly in the minds of Rekton and the others.

Rekton felt his thoughts seem to become sluggish, as if sinking into a wonderful long slumber, unwilling to wake up no matter what, and his body grew stiff along with it.

Rekton also realized at this point that the sound just now was problematic, but he could no longer make any response and could only place his hopes on his teammates.

"No good, I have to find a way to break free from this state. There's no telling when my teammates will react, but the creature hiding in the dark won't miss the opportunity." Rekton desperately worked his sluggish mind, trying to come up with a solution.

"What do I do? What do I do? No, I need to calm down! I need to calm down!" Rekton felt his thoughts were a tangled mess—he clearly knew he needed to think calmly, yet he couldn't settle his mind no matter what.

"Is there anything that can suppress this kind of call? Pray to the gods? But who can I pray to—right, myself. I myself have a Sage's characteristic on me." Rekton seized a flash of inspiration that crossed his mind.

He immediately began attempting meditation. A ring constructed from countless gears and pipes, with a giant pupil-less eye in the center, surrounded by several chain-like tentacles swaying, and on those gears, on the giant pupil-less eye, and within the rising smoke and sparks, golden sand grains were flowing.

As the meditation took shape, Rekton felt his sluggish thoughts finally return to normal, and the stiffness in his body also disappeared, as if everything just now had been nothing but a nightmare.

A gaze brimming with intense malice came from all directions, as if fiercely glaring at Rekton. Following this gaze came a mournful howl, as if subjected to extreme torment.

Rekton sensed that the other party had, through him, peered at that Sequence Two characteristic.

Rekton ended his meditation and, following the connection from the instant the other party had peered at him, located the direction where the other party was.

"Didn't your mother teach you not to look at things you shouldn't?" Listening to the ceaseless moans rising and falling by his ears, Rekton couldn't help but quip.

He then took out a Dispel Talisman from his coat pocket and softly uttered a Dragon language word: "Dispel."

An invisible wind rapidly spread in all directions, dispersing the substances with negative effects in the surroundings.

The Dispel Talisman failed to dispel the state on Mr. Korth and the others; they remained stiff in their previous postures, but Rekton could tell from their eyes that their minds had grown much clearer.

Seeing that Mr. Korth and the others couldn't break free from the negative state they were trapped in for the time being, Rekton had to abandon the idea of continuing to try, and there was no better method anyway. Though he had bullets with purifying effects, he couldn't exactly shoot everyone with one each.

Rekton walked over to Jin, who stood frozen to one side: "Borrowing this for a bit, I'll return it later."

Not caring whether Jin refused or agreed, he directly took the scythe off his hands. The instant the scythe was in his grasp, Rekton felt it—a surge of power rushed from the scythe, along with the techniques for wielding it. In that instant, Rekton felt as if he had transformed into a scythe master.

But at the same time, Rekton also felt the blood in his body flowing at an abnormal speed.

"Three minutes at most, then I must put down this scythe, and there may be other side effects too," Rekton silently concluded in his mind.

Holding the scythe, Rekton used his free left hand to take out an Imprisonment Talisman from his pocket and pinched it in his hand. Then he walked toward the direction of the mutated creature hidden in the dark.

Taking advantage of the other party being trapped in a negative state from having peered at an angel-level item, Rekton planned to try and see if he could eliminate the other party.

As Rekton pressed deeper, the vines here had an additional touch of vivid red compared to the earlier green, and some vines had even grown bright red leaves, their shapes like bats hanging upside down from the vines.

There were also some vines that had fused with the surrounding trees, and these trees had undergone exaggerated deformations, as if about to uproot themselves from the ground.

Suppressing the faint unease in his heart, Rekton continued to probe forward. Past the deformed trees that seemed like guards, the fog here grew thinner, and Rekton could very clearly see the scene deeper within.

A giant deer... no, a giant tree... that wasn't right either.

Rekton felt the other party was like a bug in this world—no matter whether his mind tried to classify the other party as a deer or a tree, he would involuntarily deny his own judgment. So much so that the very thought of "the other party is—" couldn't even form in Rekton's mind.

But Lei Kedun could still see clearly what the other looked like: a huge deer, with roots growing from its feet that fixed it firmly to the ground, its antlers winding like ancient trees, entwined with vines that stretched in all directions.

But the next moment, in Lei Kedun's eyes the other's image turned into a massive tree that had taken the shape of a deer, its red and green leaves like rubber forming patterns on the deer's body. Countless vines coiled around the tree and spread outward in all directions.

But regardless of the form, the deer or the tree let out a painful wail, its body trying to thrash in struggle yet held fast by the roots, unable to move, only swaying its upper half (its branches trembling).

"Ooo~ oo~~" The painful wailing rose from all directions, as if it were not just the scene Lei Kedun saw; every blade of grass and tree here was part of the other's body.

The wail carried a bewitching power; the instant Lei Kedun heard it, countless sorrows and pains surged in his heart, even making him wish to end his own life.

(End of Chapter)