Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

Chapter 5300 Probing the Mystery

When Long Chen heard about a mysterious land, his curiosity was piqued. However, Li Yunhua and the others’ faces grew solemn, and they quickly warned him against pursuing it.

“Long Chen, don’t listen to him. That’s no land of mystery; it’s a land of death. Anyone who goes there dies,” said Li Yunhua hastily.

“That’s right, it’s always been a land of death. Whether it’s Tianyu City, the Stone Spirit race, or the Gold Lion race, no one dares to go there. The so-called treasures were fabricated by liars. You cannot believe them,” added another person.

However, Long Chen’s curiosity was already piqued. He pressed them for more details and learned that the location was at the intersection of the human race, the Gold Lion race, and the Stone Spirit race territories.

This land was shrouded in an ominous death qi, with black mist swirling around it like the entrance to hell itself. The deathly aura inside was so potent that none of the three races dared to approach. Even devil creatures avoided it, pulling back whenever their enemies got closer to the mist.

As the Stone Spirit race and Gold Lion race were also attacked by the devil creatures, they would retreat closer to that mysterious land if they couldn’t handle the pressure.

On the other hand, experts from Tianyu City rarely needed to do that. After all, the Tianyu Sword exuded a pressure that repelled the devil creatures.

In any case, any lifeform only dared to stay in the outer region of that land, so no one knew what exactly was inside.

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, you can’t go there! The human race, the Gold Lion race, and the Stone Spirit race have tried to explore that land, but far too many experts have died inside. It’s essentially a trap for curious people. After the patriarch had ventured in, he didn’t permit anyone to go there anymore. It’s clearly a land of immense danger,” said Li Yunhua.

“A land of immense danger? Now I definitely have to go!” Long Chen replied with a grin. Long Chen just so happened to be a curious man; his curiosity was further ignited by their warnings.

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen...!” Li Yunhua and the others were all alarmed because Long Chen refused to listen to their advice.

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to take a look,” Long Chen assured them with a wave of his hand.

After asking about the mysterious land’s direction, Long Chen snuck out of Tianyu City.

With Evilmoon fully recovered plus Huo Linger and Lei Linger stronger than ever, Long Chen’s confidence reached its peak. If he didn’t go take a look at such a good thing, he wouldn’t be Long Chen.

Following Li Yunhua and the others’ directions, he headed northwest. In under two hours, he spotted the black mist looming ahead.

This area of black qi was so vast, stretching far beyond what the eye could see. As Long Chen got closer, he could feel the eerie aura in the air and the stench of death growing stronger.

“This isn’t Netherworld energy. It’s just pure death qi,” Long Chen noted. The rumors about it being a gate to hell were clearly exaggerated.

As Long Chen ventured deeper, the black mist thickened. It wasn’t long before he could no longer see his surroundings, and even his divine sense was suppressed. Luckily, this wasn’t a problem for Long Chen.

Suddenly, Long Chen paused and consumed an antitoxin pill because toxic qi started to appear in this mist. Though it couldn’t threaten him yet, just to avoid any mishaps, he took the pill.

After a while, the toxic mist grew so dense that he had to rely on flame energy to protect his body and clothes from corroding.

Crack.

Long Chen suddenly stepped on a dried-up bone, which turned out to be a human arm bone. All the other bones had disintegrated, leaving only this fragment. Even so, it was so corroded that it crumbled at his touch.

Glancing around, Long Chen noticed several scattered bones. It seemed that these individuals couldn’t resist the toxic qi after reaching here.

However, after examining the placement of the bones, Long Chen found that they probably had gone deeper. Realizing that they couldn’t withstand the toxic qi, they tried to run away before succumbing to the toxic qi. Clearly, they had overestimated their resistance to the toxic qi.

The bones were severely corroded, making it impossible to determine the exact cultivation levels of their owners. However, Long Chen speculated that they must have been at least as powerful as Human Emperors, as weaker individuals' remains wouldn’t have lasted this long.

As Long Chen pressed forward, he saw more bones, each telling a similar story of failed escape. After about two hours, he came upon a weathered rock about three feet tall. Its shape vaguely resembled a human head. Upon closer inspection, Long Chen was startled by what he saw.

“Stone Spirit race?”

Long Chen hadn’t expected to encounter the corpse of the Stone Spirit race. Their race was known for their longevity, their bodies of rock theoretically able to last indefinitely. However, not even they could endure the condition of this place.

Strangely, its eyes had been plucked out, likely harvested by someone who had passed through here before. Their eyes were the core of their energy—similar to a demonic beast’s demon core or a devil beast’s devil crystal. They were extremely valuable.

However, no one knew if the person who had plucked its eyes managed to leave this mysterious land in the end.

The deeper Long Chen went, the more he saw. Bodies of the human race, the Gold Lion race, and the Stone Spirit race were scattered across the ground. These corpses were different from the ones in the perimeter. Many of them were crushed and split open, as if a battle had happened here.

Then as Long Chen ventured further still, something extraordinary came into view. Rising from the mist was a massive, ancient gate. It loomed ominously in the distance, and Long Chen couldn’t help but gasp when he saw it.