Chapter 81: 081 The Eerie Forest

The entire mountain range was shaped like a washbasin.

And right in the center was a snow-capped mountain that towered into the clouds.

Zhang Bei sat on the back of the Shizi, and after a quick search with his eyes, he soon discovered a forest.

He patted the Shizi's head: "Over there, go down."

The Shizi flapped its wings and descended toward the ground.

Zhang Bei stood before the forest; all that met his eyes was white mist.

Once inside, he was certain the visibility would not exceed one meter.

Looking at the fog before him, Zhang Bei sighed: "Wait for me here."

The Shizi nodded hurriedly and lay down under a nearby tree.

Zhang Bei moved his feet and walked into the forest.

The Mist Forest was indeed full of mist; Zhang Bei could only see a small area in front of him.

Every time he walked a certain distance, Zhang Bei had to carve a mark on a tree.

Even with his current strength, it would be easy to get lost in this forest if he were not careful.

Time passed second by second, and suddenly, Zhang Bei stopped his forward pace.

He took two steps back and stood before a large tree.

On the tree was a mark carved with a sword. Looking at the mark before him, Zhang Bei's eyes narrowed.

Ever since he entered this forest, he had felt that something was wrong.

It felt as if something had been following him the whole time.

But the mist was simply too thick, making it hard to discover.

And this mark on the tree could be considered a test by Zhang Bei.

Just a moment ago, he had seemingly struck once with his sword, but in reality, he had left two marks.

Now, the bottom mark had disappeared, leaving only the top one.

He could be certain that all the marks he had made previously had been erased.

Niu Xuanming: 【Holy crap, weren't there two marks just now?】

Wu Yingcai: 【It's broad daylight, but this is making me break out in a cold sweat!】

Ye Fan: 【Don't scare me, it's already scary enough as it is!】

He frowned; the thing behind him still hadn't gone far.

Although he couldn't see its figure, that vague feeling of being watched still existed.

Having no solution for the moment, he moved his feet and walked forward.

He walked for over ten meters, with no intention of stopping at all.

He casually carved two more gashes on a nearby tree and gripped the Tachi in his hand.

The moment he took two steps, his figure suddenly vanished from where he stood.

Repeated Horizontal Jump!

The instant he appeared beside the large tree, the Tachi in his hand slashed repeatedly.

The sensation of cutting into flesh came from ahead, and a shrill scream immediately rang out.

Having found the sneaky thing, Zhang Bei naturally wouldn't be polite.

He slashed forward three more times in succession; after each blade entered flesh, the surrounding mist suddenly dispersed a little.

Zhang Bei also saw clearly what it was he had been hacking at.

This thing was about the same size as a human, covered all over in white fur.

And this mist was flowing out from beneath its fur.

His several consecutive slashes had landed on its neck.

The blood flowing onto the ground was not red, but a dark black color.

He examined it carefully, but found nothing else of note.

Niu Xuanming: 【Just this thing?】

Wu Yingcai: 【Just this?】

Ye Fan: 【Just this?】

He casually tossed the thing aside and continued walking forward.

Having only walked a few steps, that vague feeling of being watched returned.

Zhang Bei frowned and used the same trick again.

He casually carved two gashes on a tree and walked forward.

After walking a few steps, he instantly activated Repeated Horizontal Jump.

The Tachi in his hand slashed down once more.

The familiar scream rang out again.

Knowing the exact height of this thing, he slashed directly across its throat.

The scream stopped abruptly, and the density of the mist dispersed a little more.

Walking closer, what met his eyes was still this unknown creature.

It was exactly the same as the previous one, only this one had far fewer wounds on its body.

This time, Zhang Bei was more thorough, stabbing several holes into it with his Tachi.

Ye Fan: 【Ew, why are you desecrating the corpse?】

Wu Yingcai: 【...】

Li Qinqin: 【I can't take it, I'm going to go vomit for a while!】

Looking at the thing bleeding before him, Zhang Bei's eyes narrowed.

This thing had no Crystal Core!

He had searched every possible part of its body.

No Crystal Core meant one of two possibilities.

First, this thing was an ordinary creature, not a Transcendent creature.

However, looking at the mist faintly radiating from its body, that was clearly unlikely.

Then there was only the second situation.

This thing was human!

Aside from Transcendent creatures, only humans lacked Crystal Cores in their bodies.

He took a deep breath and continued walking forward.

The eeriness of this forest exceeded his imagination.

A Level 26 mission—he didn't know what other difficulties were waiting for him ahead.

Over the next hour, Zhang Bei killed more than ten of these unknown creatures.

Every time he killed one, the mist in the entire forest thinned by a fraction.

Now, the mist was thin enough to see things within three meters.

It was now impossible for these creatures to follow behind him.

But at this moment, Zhang Bei's footsteps also came to a halt.

The scene that appeared before him made Zhang Bei's temples throb.

Hanging from nine neatly arranged stone pillars were over a hundred corpses of these unknown creatures.

A massive amount of mist was radiating from here into the entire forest.

The one closest to him was the very one he had killed not long ago!

Wu Yingcai: 【Holy crap, you scared me to death!】

Ye Fan: 【This place is way too eerie!】

Li Qinqin: 【Silent Hill vibes!】

Zhang Bei's gaze passed over the stone pillars and looked behind them.

A house built of stone stood prominently ahead.

However, this house looked very strange.

From its exterior, it looked more like an upright coffin.

Zhang Bei approached cautiously and reached out to push open the stone door.

The light from the outside shone into the entire stone house; what met his eyes was a black skeleton sitting upright on a chair.

In the skeleton's hand was a rectangular stone box.

Zhang Bei frowned, braced himself, and then stepped into the house.

He reached out to pull open the stone box; what appeared before him was a piece of parchment and a key made of an unknown material.

He opened the parchment; it was four pictures pieced together.

The first picture depicted a group of people defending against the attack of a creature.

The second showed this group of people fighting over an object.

From the third picture on, it became much more scribbled.

It showed the people who had fought standing up from the ground.

And the object that had caused the fighting was floating in mid-air.

The fourth picture was only half-complete, with some black blood scattered sparsely upon it.

These people who stood up from the ground gathered together, and mist began to radiate from their bodies.

Ye Fan: 【Holy crap, so you're saying these creatures were originally human?】

Niu Xuanming: 【That object is very suspicious!】

Qiu Xingwen: 【Also, that object disappeared in the fourth picture.】 ===== CHAPTER 82 =====