Chapter 2172: Ancient Battlefield
I don’t know when it started, but a thick fog has engulfed the land.
Xiao Zheng is trapped in the mist, unable to discern any direction.
Even though he has activated his x-ray vision, his sight is still extremely blurred, as if some invisible force is obstructing his exploration of this small misty world.
"This is really strange."
"Where on earth have I been transported to?"
For safety’s sake, Xiao Zheng chooses not to linger in the air but to slowly descend to the ground.
After all, this is a very unfamiliar place filled with oddities, and he doesn’t want any danger to arise from a moment of carelessness. Especially after being ambushed by Old Elmer, he has become extraordinarily cautious.
Upon reaching the ground, visibility improves somewhat.
However, the sight remains limited to a radius of about ten meters. Beyond ten meters, nothing can be clearly seen.
"This place is truly peculiar; when did such a strange place appear on Earth? Also, it’s eerily quiet. Even in a chilly, small area, I don’t hear any cricket chirps or bird calls."
Xiao Zheng scans the surroundings with his eyes, and his heart fills with curiosity.
Yet his instincts still warn him that this place is not safe, so he plans to wait until the dense fog clears before taking action.
However, after an indefinite wait, the fog continues to linger and even gets thicker. Initially, he could see ten meters ahead; now, it’s shrunk to eight meters.
Gradually, Xiao Zheng senses something amiss: "It seems the strangeness of this place has surpassed my expectations. I absolutely can’t stay here, I must figure out a way to leave."
He suddenly recalls the bare black mountains he saw earlier from the air, with a vague intuition suggesting to him that, to uncover the truth of this place, he must venture into those mountains.
Driven by curiosity to understand where he truly is, Xiao Zheng decides to begin his journey.
Although he decides to act, his pace is not quick.
Given the low visibility, he carefully controls his speed for safety reasons. It takes him roughly ten minutes to finally walk out of the forest.
The soil beneath his feet turns into charred earth, as if it has been baptized by the flames of war.
Xiao Zheng crouches down and grabs a handful of soil.
The soil is hard and emits a peculiar odor, akin to that of rotting carcasses, pungently sharp. Furthermore, as he crouches down, a chilling air emanates from the surrounding fog.
Xiao Zheng vaguely feels as though he has arrived at the Soul-breaking Valley, where he dueled with the Xiangnan Ghost King.
Because the environment there is very similar to here.
"It seems this is an ancient battlefield, even older than the one in Soul-breaking Valley." Xiao Zheng speaks as if talking to himself, "Many must have perished here back then."
"If I’m not mistaken, this dense fog should be malevolent energy."
He suddenly lets out a cold humph, releasing his aura.
The surrounding fog appears to be imbued with life, fleeing in panic in all directions. Faint screams can be heard echoing. Once he restrains his aura, his vision becomes significantly clearer.
Xiao Zheng’s speculation proves correct; the peculiar nature of the fog is because it’s not natural but formed by concentrated malevolent energy.
Using his aura, he has just exterminated many incorporeal ghost entities residing in the dense fog, restoring clarity to his vision.
Now, Xiao Zheng’s line of sight reaches thirty meters.
Compared to the beginning, it’s almost several times greater.
However, Xiao Zheng underestimates the dense malevolent energy here; his vision has barely regained clarity when the retreating mist returns stronger than before.
Within just a few short breaths, his visibility is reduced to a five-meter range!
Seeing this, Xiao Zheng can’t help but furrow his brows before suddenly finding it amusing: "I’m really just wasting time, getting worked up over malevolent energy that poses no danger."
Just as he said, although the surrounding fog is overwhelming, it doesn’t severely affect him. At most, it merely constricts his view, which is essentially negligible to him.
After shaking his head, Xiao Zheng continues on his way.
After traveling about a thousand meters more, he suddenly feels something hard underfoot.
Looking down, he discovers a skeleton.
The skeleton is half-buried in the charred soil, with only a small part exposed to the air.
At this moment, one of Xiao Zheng’s feet is stepping right on it.
The appearance of the skeleton serves as a signal to Xiao Zheng that he’s nearing the center of this ancient battlefield. Many lives undoubtedly perished here in the past.
As Xiao Zheng keeps moving forward, he sees increasingly more skeletons.
Some are partially buried, others scattered chaotically across the ground...
But what surprises Xiao Zheng the most is spotting several extraordinarily large skeletons among them. If there’s no error, these large skeletons likely belong to the Giant Clan!
"I didn’t expect to find Ancient Clan remains here."
"It seems the Ancient Clan was involved in the great battle that took place here."
"But where exactly is this place? The person from the other side of the barrier, what was their purpose in transporting me here?"
Looking around at the vast expanse of mist, Xiao Zheng’s eyes are filled with confusion.
The only comfort to his heart now is that those bare dark peaks are not far away. Although visibility isn’t high, based on the scenes he observed from the sky earlier, he should soon reach his destination.
Xiao Zheng keeps advancing, delving deeper into the ancient battlefield.
This place is completely unfamiliar to him.
Coupled with low visibility, fearing he might miss some crucial clues, Xiao Zheng proceeds with great caution.
Suddenly, his ears pick up a strange sound.
Crack~
The sound isn’t very loud but can be clearly heard!