The Great Ruler (Web Novel)

Whoosh!

Figures started to swiftly shoot over from the ground below, before gushing into the Dark Origin Forest like a swarm of locusts.

As Mu Chen was tightly staring towards the Dark Origin Forest, his expression slightly changed after a while, when he discovered that there was still not much commotion coming out from within, despite the gigantic number of groups that had entered. This gave him a feeling as if this Dark Origin Forest was a stretch of isolated space.

Exchanging glances with Luo Li, Mu Chen’s forehead was covered with wrinkles as this situation was slightly strange and weird.

“Get ready to move out. Everyone, be careful.”

After pondering deeply, Mu Chen finally came to a decision and signalled with his hand. There wasn’t anything free that falls from the sky. If they wanted to obtain some good harvest from the ancient ruins, they would have to take some risks.

Hearing Mu Chen’s words, Xu Huang and the rest all nodded their heads, before starting to rapidly circulate the Spiritual Energies within their bodies, with Lin Zhou and his group rapidly following suit. After experiencing the strength of Mu Chen’s group, they clearly planned to tightly stick together and stay under the shelter of this great shield.

“Let’s go.”

With a glance, Mu Chen could spot unrest stirring within the groups of the other three Great Academies as they were similarly unable to contain their impatience. No longer hesitating anymore, he shot forward, landing in the Dark Origin Forest before him in a short span of a dozen breaths. Looking at the jet-black colour surrounding him, it appeared as if they were on the tongue of an evil demon, causing people’s hearts to palpitate.

Taking a deep breath, Mu Chen didn’t hesitate much, before giving a tap with the tip of his feet, shooting straight into the forest like a wisp of green smoke. Behind him, Luo Li and the rest rapidly followed along.

As darkness came enveloping, it devoured Mu Chen’s figure, causing him to slightly freeze up. The silence he sensed from behind, with even the wind sounds disappearing at this instant made him feel as if everything behind him had vanished, with the entire region around him appearing incomparably deathly silent. This change caused Mu Chen to feel shocked for a moment, before taking a breath of relief upon seeing Luo Li and the rest appearing behind him.

“Looks like no sounds are able to escape after entering this forest, with sounds from the outside similarly unable to enter,” said Lin Zhou.

Hearing that, Mu Chen nodded his head. Sweeping his gaze out, Mu Chen saw that this forest was brimming with giant trees that extended high into the skies, with all of them having a jet-black colour. The lush and verdant branches enveloped a circumference of a hundred metres each, interweaving with each other to the point of hiding the skies and covering the earth, even to the point that sunlight was unable to penetrate through. Therefore, it appeared exceedingly dark and gloomy within the midst of this forest.

Mu Chen’s team of ten people converged together as they carefully and slowly walked within the forest, boundless Spiritual Energies rippled around their bodies. Any bit of a breeze or grass movement would instantly cause erratic attacks to shoot from them.

Nevertheless, after carefully moving forward awhile, Mu Chen and the team were shocked to discover that they had not received a single attack yet, with this forest still remaining silent and motionless. Although the foliage from those giant trees was incomparably dense, for some strange and mysterious reason, they caused people to not sense any feeling of life and vitality…

“Wait!”

Suddenly, Mu Chen’s footsteps came to a halt as he solemnly looked towards his front, as there were dozens of bones unexpectedly present on the ground there.

“Oh? Looks like there were also some people that had came here before.” Looking towards those bones, Xu Huang and the rest spoke out in surprise.

“Not ‘before’. These skeletons should belong to those groups that entered here earlier,” replied Luo Li in a soft voice.

“What?” The faces of Xu Huang and the rest instantly changed. <em>How long ago was that?! Even if they were killed, their skeletons shouldn’t be the only things left of them, right? From the looks of the skeletons, all the skin and muscles have been cleanly removed from them… </em>

Hearing her words, Mu Chen nodded his head in agreement, while sizing up his surroundings. A solemn expression was present in his eyes as he whispered, “Be careful. There’s something strange about this forest.”

Along the way, they have yet to bump into any attacks, and have yet to even see the shadow of a single beast. This forest appeared to have no living creatures present within it. However, the bones before them had clearly told them that there definitely was something frightening within this forest.

The ten people quietly drew even closer to each other, yet none of them were able to discover the earth below their feet starting to slightly shake.

Bang!

Suddenly, the black leaves that covered the ground fluttered up as numerous black rays of light shot out. At lightning speeds, they wrapped around the waists of Xu Huang and Lin Zhou, pulling them up into the air.

The sudden and unforeseen change caused everyone to be in shock. Turning his gaze around, Mu Chen saw that those black rays of light were actually black-coloured vines. At this moment, there was even fresh blood flowing down on their surfaces, before being devoured as the vines squirmed and moved about.

Being wrapped by the vines, the faces of Xu Huang and Lin Zhou greatly changed. Nevertheless, none of them were overly flustered as they circulated their Spiritual Energies, sending hand blades brimming with fierce and swift gales that violently chopped down on those vines.

However, despite possessing sufficient power to shatter and cleave mountains, upon landing on the vines, their hand blades were only able to cause faint wounds to appear. From the looks of it, the defensive capabilities of these vines were extraordinarily strong.

Swish!

Suddenly, black tree spikes, approximately half a metre long, shot out from the ends of the vines. Whooshing out, dark shadows thrust towards Xu Huang and Lin Zhou without the slightest bit of mercy.

Seeing this, shock and terror instantly overwhelmed the eyes of the two.

Swish!

Nevertheless, just before the incomparably sharp black tree spikes were about to pierce through the throats of the two, an extremely swift and fierce sword light shot over, sweeping over the black vines. With a puff, all of them were sliced apart, causing Xu Huang and Lin Zhou to drop down. Falling onto the ground, they hastily climbed and stood up, their bodies all tense and taut.

“Thanks.” With their faces being drained of colour and their hearts palpitating with fear, Xu Huang and Lin Zhou said their thanks towards Luo Li.

Luo Li only gave a slight nod as she clenched her longsword. Although the vines possessed astonishing defenses, under the Luo Shen Sword, they appeared to be as weak as paper. Nevertheless, they were impossible to defend against, making them incredibly troublesome.

Sweeping his gaze slowly around, Mu Chen finally focused his sights towards those black-coloured giant trees. In the next instant, his eyes furiously contracted as he roared, “Be careful! There’s something strange about those trees!”

Whoosh!

Just as Mu Chen’s roar left his throat, the giant black trees in their surroundings, which showed not one bit of movement earlier, had unexpectedly started to crazily vibrate at this instant. In the next moment, black vines hid the skies and covered the earth as they shot out from those giant trees, enveloping around Mu Chen and the team.

Colour drained from the faces of everyone as Spiritual Energy erupted from their bodies. Various kinds of Spiritual Weapons appeared in a flash, sending swift and fierce attacks to meet with the incoming vines that were shooting over.

Wielding his Devouring Demonic Dragon Spear, spear glints swept out, causing those black vines within his attack radius to instantly shatter and break apart. Nevertheless, the person within their team of ten that had the most easiest time was clearly Luo Li. Being swift and fierce to such a degree, as sword light shot out from the Luo Shen Sword, the countless vines in their path would split apart, with the areas sliced appearing as smooth as mirrors. As they fell down, blood dripped from them, causing the holes to appear as they corroded the ground beneath.

The team formed a circle and they grouped together, sending boundless attacks that completely blocked the assault from those vines. At this moment, the ground in their surroundings was seemingly covered in broken bits of vines.

However, despite that, the assault from those vines endlessly continued, like a stream. Such an offensive was exceedingly terrifying.

“If this continues, we’ll be buried alive in here!” growled Zhao Qingshan between his clenched teeth. Without a Divine Weapon like the Luo Shen Sword, it was extremely energy consuming for them to chop and slice up those vines. If this continued, they might expend all of their Spiritual Energy extremely quickly, and when they were out of Spiritual Energy, what awaited them would naturally be the same outcome as those bones.

“Let’s push forward!”

Mu Chen decisively roared out, before paving the way with Luo Li. As the Demonic Spear and Divine Sword shot out, they carved out a path within those vine attacks that had hidden the skies and covered the earth. Taking this opportunity to shoot out, Lin Zhou and the rest tightly followed them, not daring to lag behind even by half a step.

The vines that hid the skies and covered the earth had filled up the entire stretch of forest, wriggling and squirming about like fingers, appearing like an exceedingly ghastly sight to behold.

“Puff!”

However, just as Mu Chen and the team were about to increase their speed in an attempt to escape from the assault from the vines, the black demonic trees in their surroundings started to abruptly tremble. In the next instant, black smoke started to gush out from their trunks, radiating in all directions.

“Careful!”

Being the first to discover the black smoke that was quickly flooding over, Luo Li immediately sent a sword light shooting over. However this time, the sword light was only able to pass through that black smoke, unable to dissipate or destroy them.

Seeing this, a frown appeared on Mu Chen’s forehead as he sent a palm patting out. Majestic Spiritual Energy brought along boundless gales as it howled out, shoving the black smoke back some distance. However, very quickly, it started to sweep towards them once again.

“Ah!”

While Mu Chen was getting troubled by that black smoke, a miserable shriek suddenly rang out from behind. Casting a glance over, he saw that the hand of a member from the Desolation Spiritual Academy had come into contact with the black smoke. In the next instant, his hand started to wither at an astonishing speed, with his blood and flesh appearing to be completely devoured, leaving only his bald white bones.

Chopping down with his blade, Lin Zhou severed the arm of that member, before rapidly pulling him within the protective circle of the team.

That severed arm had turned into bones in the blink of an eye, with all the blood and flesh on it having completely vanished.

“Dammit! That’s poison!” growled Lin Zhou as he clenched his teeth. “This poison’s too overbearing! Furthermore, it has the ability to penetrate through Spiritual Energy. I simply don’t dare to even come into contact with it!”

“We seem to be surrounded by that poisonous smoke,” said Mu Fengyang with a bitter laugh. At this moment, their team had already come to a stop. That’s because the poisonous smoke had already hid the skies and covered the earth as it surrounded them. They had already walked into a dead end, with no path forward or backwards…

A dark expression appeared on Mu Chen’s face as he looked at the scene before him. After rushing in here for the ancient ruins, every step was truly laced with astonishing dangers. A moment of carelessness might result in them becoming fertilizer for these demonic trees.

“What should we do?” asked Luo Li while wrinkles appeared on her forehead. The situation before them appeared rather thorny.

Mu Chen’s eyes sparkled as he looked towards the layers of poisonous smoke in his surroundings. Suddenly, a thought appeared in his mind as he extended his right hand. Clenching his four other fingers, he extended his middle finger out, before giving a furious stab towards a strand of poisonous smoke.

Upon seeing his action, Luo Li was frightening to the point of her little face turned deathly-pale. The poisonous smoke in their surroundings was extremely overbearing, with the consequences of touching it being extremely severe. Nevertheless, as she had extended her hand to stop Mu Chen, she noticed, in astonishment, that the clump of poisonous smoke fluctuated, before unexpectedly being sucked into Mu Chen’s middle finger.

“Are you alright?!” Luo Li anxiously cried out as she hastily grabbed his hand.

With a smile, Mu Chen shook his head. Looking towards the incomparably overbearing poisonous smoke, a smile cracked open from his lips. This smile no longer contained any of the dread or terror from before. On the contrary, it appeared as if he had seen a treasure.

This poisonous smoke was exceedingly formidable. With it, his “Poison Finger” that was used up during his battle with Mo Xingtian, he could finally replenish its Poison Aura once again.