Chapter 644 – Quietly Approaching the Great Maw

…

…

…

“Duanmu, let’s go!” High Lord Cloud Demon glanced at Lin Ming with an unbelievable expression. Why was this fellow making such baseless claims to stir things up? They had already left the 1000 mile forbidden zone anyway.

Duanmu Qun still looked at Lin Ming, “Brother Lin, just what is going on?”

Lin Ming looked up from his thoughts, gazing at the dark distant crimson lands. After a long silence, he began to slowly say, “I feel that… we haven’t left the 1000 mile forbidden zone.”

“What!?”

Lin Ming’s words shocked everyone present!

“What kind of joke are you trying to play? Are you saying that all of us somehow became lost?”

“How is that possible? We were clearly walking in the correct direction based on the stars.”

Within the Eternal Demon Abyss, the stars were forever linked with the sky, static and unchanging. Thus,  there was simply never a situation where one became lost. And, they had already walked 150 miles, so they should have walked 30 to 40 miles out of the 1000 mile forbidden zone.

“This fellow is an idiot, just ignore him. Come, let’s go.” A High Lord said. He had tried to be respectful by using a true essence sound transmission to speak to everyone before, but now he didn’t bother to. If everyone heard then they heard.

As Lan Xin heard Lin Ming, she was also a bit skeptical. Even if she thought Lin Ming’s claims weren’t true, there was still some basis in what he was saying and it wasn’t as if he were trying to be ostentatious. She asked, “Lin Ming, what do you think we should do then? Should we continue walking to the edge, returning to the Eternal Demon Abyss to look for lucky chances, or change directions?”

Lin Ming shook his head. He didn’t even really understand what was going on, so how could he even suggest to others what to do?

After listening to Lan Xin speak, another High Lord said, “Lan Xin, why are you asking him what to do? If he says to go in a different direction do you really expect us to listen to him and willingly enter into some deathtrap?”

In these dangerous times, no one was willing to place their lives in the hands of others. This was simply human nature.

Duanmu Qun was also in a dilemma. On one hand, he really did believe Lin Ming, but on the other hand, he couldn’t just stay here forever because of Lin Ming’s suspicious, not to mention that Lin Ming couldn’t even give a suggestion as to what to do right now.

As for Feng Shen, without another word, he sat down next to Lin Ming.

“Feng Shen, what are you doing?” A martial artist asked Feng Shen, unsure as to what he was doing.

“Waiting.”

Feng Shen’s simple response left everyone befuddled. What was he going to do? Wait here for Lin Ming to come up with some plan?

“Feng Shen, have you also turned into an idiot?” Blackstone was speechless. In his view, Feng Shen was a very solitary and opinionated person. But just because Lin Ming said that he had some vague suspicious, this Feng Shen fellow was actually going to sit down here and wait for him to think of something.

Wasn’t this just a joke?

As the people were speaking, Lin Ming actually wasn’t paying attention to them, he was communicating to Demonshine in his spiritual sea.

“Demonshine… do you know what’s happening here?”

Lin Ming asked. All this way, he hadn’t felt anything at the start, but, slowly, he felt something was wrong, as if something was always aiming at him.

But even though he investigated his surroundings, he didn’t find anything strange. Even when Demonshine released his perception, he still didn’t find anything.

“You can’t stay. But, waiting is useless. If you stay here then you’ll inevitably be separated from everyone. When that happens and you stumble into some terrifying evil spirit then you won’t even have a shield.”

“What you’re saying is to follow them back into the 1000 mile forbidden zone?” Lin Ming frowned. To return without fully understanding what was going on, that seemed a bit too reckless and dangerous.

Demonshine said, “You staying here isn’t a plan… in fact… we don’t even know where we’re going. We followed the stars and walked 150 miles but we still haven’t left the 1000 mile forbidden zone; there is definitely something suspicious happening here. How about this, you follow them and place a mark down every 500 feet. Perhaps you might be able to discover something then.”

“Place down a mark… alright.” Lin Ming thought for a moment and agreed. He could only take this one step at a time and slowly discover just what was happening.

Initially, it had been Demonshine’s big brother that had followed the Demon Emperor to stay here for 20 some years in the Eternal Demon Abyss. Although Demonshine had inherited some of his big brother’s memories, it was in a very limited capacity – he wasn’t omnipotent or omniscient.

“Brother Duanmu, I’ll go with you.” Lin Ming suddenly said.

“Oh?” Duanmu Qun was startled, revealing a bit of a puzzled expression. He didn’t know just what Lin Ming had found or why he had changed his mind, but in any case, having Lin Ming accompany them was always a welcome idea.

“How come? Didn’t you just say that there was something wrong?” A High Lord jeered. This Lin Ming said he wouldn’t come but actually wanted to follow on their trail, his methods were quite disdainful.

Lin Ming didn’t bother with him. There was nothing to say right now. Being able to leave here was his most important objective. All he could do was continue walking and see whether these people’s judgements were correct. Of course… this was simply impossible.

“This fellow!” Seeing Lin Ming come, High Lord Cloud Demon couldn’t refuse him. He could only bring the group and go back.

Lan Xin looked at Lin Ming with confusion, her lips moving. But, she didn’t say anything in the end.

As for Feng Shen, he silently stood up and followed behind Lin Ming. He maintained absolute belief in Lin Ming’s words right now. If Lin Ming decided to go now, then he definitely had his reasons, it was just that the others didn’t know or couldn’t understand them.

As the group walked back, everyone remained cautious. Every 500 feet, Lin Ming would place down a symbol mark. The other martial artists naturally noticed this, but to them, this sort of petty action just seemed like a parlor trick.

After walking the return trip for 20 to 30 miles, there wasn’t a single danger. Like this, some of the people began to relax.

It seemed… the 1000 mile forbidden zone wasn’t as scary as it was made out to be.

“I wonder what we’ll be able to find this time.”

“Haha, if we can find a high level earth-step Demon God Bone, then I will be satisfied!”

After not meeting any evil spirits during this long trek, several martial artists couldn’t help but begin to jovially speak to each other. They were even thinking that they would be able to dig out a heaven-step Demon God Bone sometime soon.

“Don’t be distracted, maintain your vigilance!” Duanmu Qun frowned, admonishing everyone.

“Got it, got it.” A martial artist laughed. Obviously, he didn’t really care. But just as he finished speaking, the smile froze on his face…

He stared blankly into the horizon. There, far away, seemed to be an illusionary black flame rising into the sky, connecting the heavens and earth, scorching the stars!

“That… what is that?” The martial artist gaped.

With his words, everyone noticed the great flame shooting in the sky. Because of that flame, the entire world became filled with black fog, as if the heavens themselves were covered by a great black curtain!

This scene alarmed everyone present. Several martial artists quickly moved forwards and the fog seemed to disperse in front of them. Now, they all saw the complete picture of that horrific fire…

That massive fire seemed to burn 100,000 feet into the sky. Because of the flame, the air around it distorted from the heat. The flame was completely different from a normal flame. It was transparent and blurry, as if it wasn’t real at all. With the ethereal black fog covering it, it seemed hazy and unclear.

Underneath this black flame, at the bottom of the earth, there was a vast void, as black as night, darker than ink!

This void gave off a feeling as if the earth and space itself were split apart by a divine being, revealing an entrance to a dark and horrifying world.

A boundless potent and vigorous energy escaped from this void. As everyone was enveloped in this energy, they felt a suffocating grief, making it hard for them to take a single breath!

Hazy, faintly, there seemed to be a desolate and sorrowful dirge playing near their ears…

“Heavens! That is… that is…!” High Lord Cloud Demon lifted his trembling hand and pointed a finger at the horizon, his voice shaking as he spoke. That endless black void at the ends of the earth, that was clearly… the Eternal Demon Abyss!

This was the true Eternal Demon Abyss!

Back in the annals of history, the number one powerhouse of the Holy Demon Continent entered the Eternal Demon Abyss without returning!

“Impossible, this is impossible!” High Lord Cloud Demon’s face was wan as he shook his head. He was unable to accept this reality.

“We should still be around a thousand miles from the Eternal Demon Abyss… how could we possibly see it!?”

High Lord Cloud Demon’s few words shocked all the martial artists present silly.

“Eternal Demon Abyss!?!?”

“What!? Are you f*cking joking with me!?”

Every single martial artist paled. Even Duanmu Qun was horrified and alarmed.

That was the Eternal Demon Abyss? Heavens!!!

The surrounding 1000 miles around the Eternal Demon Abyss was known as the absolute death forbidden zone. If they could see the Eternal Demon Abyss, then didn’t that mean they were near it?

As everyone thought this, they felt their minds tremble, a bone-biting chill crawling up their backs. Before this, they had entered around 100 miles into the forbidden zone and then they had returned around 150 miles. By all rights, they should have already exited the 1000 mile forbidden zone with a few dozen miles to spare.

Then, they had returned 20 to 30 miles. This should only be the very edge of the 1000 mile forbidden zone!

But now  with the Eternal Demon Abyss before them, it seemed they were only a few hundred miles away… how was this possible!?

At this time, Duanmu Qun’s mind echoed with Lin Ming’s words…

‘I feel that… we haven’t left the 1000 mile forbidden zone.’

In essence, they had never left the forbidden zone – they had always walked towards the Eternal Demon Abyss! Whether they went forwards or backwards, they had always been walking towards the Eternal Demon Abyss!!

It wasn’t just Duanmu Qun who realized this, but also the other martial artists.

Blackstone looked at Lin Ming, his lips trembling. The other High Lords also looked at Lin Ming, their hearts quaking. They had always been moving straight towards the Eternal Demon Abyss!

The Eternal Demon Abyss was like the maw of a giant beast, a trap that was just waiting for them to step in!

Even the past number one powerhouse of the Holy Demon Continent had perished within the Eternal Demon Abyss. Once they entered, their fates could be imagined!

Thinking of this, High Lord Cloud Demon’s expression became incomparably ugly. He turned to look at Lin Ming, his voice trembling as he asked, “Young Hero Lin, just what is happening here?”

Lin Ming let out a heavy breath. The situation was developing in the worst way. He spread his hands out, “I have no idea…”