Chapter 280: Mysterious Youth
Yi Yun retrieved the silk within the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm and a portion of its toxins as quickly as possible. After that he removed a few of its metallic teeth, stored them in his interspatial ring and used his movement technique to run deep into the wilderness.
Storage was a big problems for cultivators who went into the Divine wilderness for training. One would only remove the most valuable parts of a typical large desolate beast, if not, the interspatial rings would quickly fill up.
While he was running, Yi Yun opened up his Purple Crystal’s energy vision again.
The surrounding Power of Desolates appeared like waves as they rippled around. Yi Yun soon noticed energy light dots appearing in the distant Desolate Lands.
“One, two, three…”
Each of these energy light dots were naturally a Thousand Feet Black Silkworm.
Yi Yun quickly changed directions, avoiding the group of Thousand Feet Black Silkworms as he ran deeper into the wilderness.
Before the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm appeared, Yi Yun had already slept for four hours. This was already enough for him.
Although the nights in the vast wilderness were dangerous, Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal’s energy vision to lead him, hence he could preemptively avoid any dangers.
While in the process of running at a fast speed, Yi Yun also started to feel out the Aspect Totem that was slowly condensing inside his body.
Just killing one Thousand Feet Black Silkworm was insufficient to condense an Aspect Totem.
However, Yi Yun could already feel it germinating.
A typical warrior’s Aspect Totem would usually be determined once it appeared, but the “Ten Thousand Beast Totem” Aspect Totem’s appearance would be different from the desolate beasts that were used for it. It could have a variety of bizarre changes.
From its embryonic form to its formative state, and finally its complete form, it could go through mutations and evolve.
It was unknown what it would be like when an Aspect Totem mutated.
Yi Yun was looking forward to it, but he knew that in his current state, he was still far from being able to mutate his Aspect Totem.
He had only taken the first step in his long march.
In the darkness of the endless wilderness, Yi Yun ran for an unknown amount of time. He encountered some desolate beasts lurking in the dark, but avoided them in advance.
When the first ray of dawn broke through the darkness, the distant land was covered in a mist. This mist constantly changed as it emitted a terrible smell.
It was miasma!
Following that, Yi Yun heard the sound of bubbles popping.
A dark and endless swamp appeared before Yi Yun. The light mist shrouded the mud.
Reaching here, the pungent stench in the air had now reached an extreme.
“It’s the Blackwater Swamp.” Yi Yun recalled the record in the “Divine wilderness” book. The Blackwater Swamp’s rotting mud and miasma were toxic, and the deeper one went, the greater the toxicity became.
Especially the black mud in the swamp, which was similar to the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm’s bodily fluids, it was corrosive.
In principle, such a toxic swamp should not have any living organisms, but the weird thing was that there were actually fresh aquatic plants growing in the swamp. These aquatic plants bloomed beautiful and coquettish flowers, creating a stark contrast with the surrounding rotting, black mud.
Yi Yun knew that these beautiful and coquettish flowers were named Blood Corpse Flowers. They used corpses as nourishment and liked the miasma. The Blood Corpse Flower was also toxic.
In this situation, Yi Yun could use Yuan Qi to envelop his body, allowing him to withstand the corrosive nature of the mud, but over time, his Yuan Qi would also rapidly deplete.
The Blackwater Swamp also stretched into the distance. Yi Yun estimated that he would need at least a day and a night of walking to cross the swamp.
But in this toxic mud, Yi Yun estimated he could not last more than two hours.
Besides, there also existed a few desolate beasts, like the Blackwater Ancient Crocodiles, in Blackwater Swamp. If he met one, he would be in trouble!
“Do I have to make a detour?”
Yi Yun slightly frown. If he had to make a detour, he would have to travel a long distance before reaching Meteorite Abyss. With the occasional desolate beast encounters, the journey would then take him at least ten days.
As Yi Yun was thinking over it, he suddenly saw something.
That is…
Yi Yun looked incredulously into the distance. There, in the thin miasma, a youth in green was riding a green cow, walking over slowly.
The green cow’s feet made apparent steps above the swamp, but none of the mud stained them.
On the cow’s back was a youth holding a piccolo. He wore a bamboo hat and played a melodious tune, affecting the wind in the swamp. Stalk after stalk of Blood Corpse Flowers swayed in the wind.
The toxic swamp which was fraught with dangers, suddenly transformed into a sanctuary that radiated the brightness and charm of Spring. Even the beautiful and coquettish Blood Corpse Flowers seemed to soften up.
Yi Yun was shocked. A green shirt, a green cow and a piccolo…
This scene of a youth, dressed like a shepherd, left a great visual impact with his sudden appearance in the Blackwater Swamp.
This youth looked completely out of place in this endless Divine wilderness.
He is…
Yi Yun looked at the green cow-riding youth in green approach. He touched the hilt of his Thousand Army Saber as he circulated his body’s Yuan Qi.
He could not tell the youth’s level. He felt like that person was a completely normal person. Even after checking with the Purple Crystal’s vision, the youth did not seem to have immense amounts of energy within him. The only thing different with him, was that his body had a colorful life force within it that was both luscious and beautiful.
When the youth saw Yi Yun, he separated the piccolo from his mouth and smiled at Yi Yun, “Hi.”
The youth’s voice made people feel as if they were showering in a spring breeze.
Yi Yun did not lower his guard and nodded slightly as a form of reciprocation.
“Are you… a cultivator from the Divine wilderness?”
Yi Yun instinctively felt the powerfulness of the youth. But the youth only looked to be about 16 years old. It was hard to imagine that there was such a proud son of heaven.
“Cultivator?” The youth was slightly taken aback before he laughed. He shook his head gently, “No, I’m not. I’m just a tourist, just passing through the Divine wilderness…”
“Tourist? Passing through the Divine wilderness!?”
Yi Yun was alarmed. From the direction from which the youth came, he had most likely crossed the Blackwater Swamp.
The Blackwater Swamp was extremely toxic, yet he could cross through it without flinching. However, this was not what made Yi Yun most alarmed.
He was alarmed because the direction the youth was heading in was clearly towards the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. And from the northern parts he came from, that was an uninhabited place. Further north of the Divine wilderness was the endless Desolate Lands. There were numerous strong desolate beasts dormant there. Even when human sages encountered many of those desolate beasts, they had to flee!
This youth actually said he was just passing through the Divine wilderness. If he really came from the north, then from exactly where did he come from?
It could not be the other end of the Divine wilderness, right…?
Although Yi Yun’s mind was chaotic, he still appeared calm on the surface. He did not say another word. This mysterious youth belonged to a world different from the present him.
Or maybe, he was not even a youth…
“Well… You are very interesting.”
The youth looked at Yi Yun and chuckled. “We will probably meet again.”
After saying that, he continued to ride his green cow and passed Yi Yun.
The melodious sounds from the piccolo started playing once again. The cheerful tune seemed to turn into reality. It flew into the blue sky that was littered with white clouds in an unrestrained manner.
The carrion birds in the sky were also attracted to the tune and began dancing in the air not far from the youth.
Far away in the swamp, a strange-looking toxic fish leapt out of the water and blew a bubble. It looked extremely happy.
These lifeforms that created fear and loathsomeness in people now seemed to turn into happy spirits. This scene left a deep impression on Yi Yun…
Yi Yun watched on as the youth disappeared from view. He felt that the youth’s piccolo tune had a magical power that could control the thoughts of desolate beasts…
When the youth crossed the Blackwater Swamp, it was as if he was strolling through a garden.
He was an obvious target, yet the desolate beasts could not detect him, but… maybe it was that strange tune which prevented him from being attacked.
“This youth sure is weird. He has the ability to control desolate beasts… What is he doing heading to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?”
Yi Yun muttered. The path of martial arts had all sorts of strange things. It was no wonder for a person to have the ability to control beasts.
As for why the youth was heading towards the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, or if he was just passing through the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, Yi Yun could not be bothered to think about it. He was most concerned about how he was to cross the Blackwater Swamp.
It was too far to take a detour.
Yi Yun followed the edge of the swamp and after proceeding for about 15 minutes, he suddenly stopped.
Oh?
In his energy vision, a mass of black energy was lurking underground.
“Gulu, Gulu”
Deep in the misty swamp, there was suddenly a hint of unusual movement. The mud tossed as a large mud bubble blew up.
A dark silhouette appeared in the midst of the mist…