Finding the peculiarity of the surrounding thick fog, Huang Xiaolong increased his vigilance. He wasted no time, immediately transforming into Asura Physique. Spreading the Wings of Demon behind him while moving forward with caution, his eyes surveyed the situation around him.
There was dead silence in all four directions, so silent that it felt eerie. From time to time, shrill cries of unknown beings could be heard coming from the front, sending cold shivers down one's spine.
Huang Xiaolong moved slowly and cautiously through the thick, dark-gray fog for an hour. There was nothing in the surrounding area other than the dark-gray fog.
It seemed peaceful the entire way as Huang Xiaolong moved deeper, but the uneasy palpitations in his heart grew increasingly stronger. An innate feeling of impending danger came from the very core of his soul.
This feeling of unease gave Huang Xiaolong an illusion that he was walking step by step into the deepest part of hell.
Another hour passed.
The only difference was that the dark-gray fog grew more dense the further he went. When Huang Xiaolong first entered the valley, he could make out at least ten meters around him. Now, he could barely see his own fingers as he stretched his hand out in front of himself.
Huang Xiaolong continued to walk straight when suddenly, the gray fog around him moved like flowing water accompanied by the strange shrieks that started to grow clearer.
When the dark-gray fog moved it seemed to trigger the strange cries.
Huang Xiaolong's nerves stretched thin, a grave expression shown on his face as he readied himself to react to any changes at any moment, circulating his battle qi. The sharp shrieks continued echoing in the valley. Huang Xiaolong surmised the cries came from some kind of living being that was probably not part of the demonic beast races. It sounded closer to an evil fiend from the underworld.
All of a sudden, something powerful lunged at him from the front, piercing through the fog and startling Huang Xiaolong. Wings of Demon flapped as he steered to the side, displaying his martial spirit ability—Phantom Shadow at the same time to avoid the thing attacking him.
A dark black creature rushed out from the fog. It was shaped like a human but had four arms and glowing scarlet eyes. Its entire body was ablaze with a terrifying flame.
Huang Xiaolong barely succeeded in dodging the collision with that strange creature. The strange black creature brushed past Huang Xiaolong, sending a wave of scorching heat from the terrifying flame burning on its body towards him that made him feel felt like he fell into a sea of vengeful fire. A strong prickling pain shot through the surface of his skin from the burst of high temperature.
Under general circumstances, by relying on his Asura Physique and the many years of swallowing Fire Dragon Pearls, even being burned at high temperatures with mortal fire wouldn't harm him one bit. Yet this flame… just the residual waves of heat coming from it was enough to cause Huang Xiaolong pain. One could imagine the terror of this unknown flame.
The strange creature did not pursue Huang Xiaolong. Instead, it ran straight back into the thick dark-gray fog as if it did not see him.
But, moments after Huang Xiaolong avoided the strange black creature's attack, just within a few breaths' time, another strange black creature lunged at him again from the front.
Alarmed, Huang Xiaolong once again displayed Phantom Shadow.
And the same thing repeated every few breaths' time.
One after another, these strange black creatures seemed endless. When one disappeared into the fog, another would appear almost immediately. And the thing that made Huang Xiaolong's face turn ugly was that every time a new one appeared, their attack speed and the flame on their body became more terrifying.
In the beginning, the flame on these strange black creatures only released a wave of residual heat that left a burning sensation on Huang Xiaolong's skin whereas now, this kind of burning sensation penetrated into his body, affecting his internal organs.
The pain was excruciating.
After dodging more than a dozen of these strange black creatures, Huang Xiaolong actually felt trepidation when he spotted yet another creature appearing and coming straight at him.
In the blink of an eye, the creature had reached in front of Huang Xiaolong. Even displaying Phantom Shadow as quick as he could, one of his arms caught a tiny wisp of the unknown flame. A shocking pain washed over him as if he was roasting in hellfire. The piercing pain was too much to bear even for someone like Huang Xiaolong, he let out an anguished scream.
After the pain passed, Huang Xiaolong studied where the flame burned and saw there was a wound like that of a tunnel that bore into his flesh, bloodied, driving deep down to the bone!
Huang Xiaolong was stupefied.
This was the first time something managed to penetrate his physical defense, injuring him to this extent.
In that instant, Huang Xiaolong no longer hesitated. He immediately summoned his black and blue dragons and soul transformed.
Fusing with the twin dragon martial spirits, a layer of black and blue dragon scales covered the surface of Huang Xiaolong's skin. The bone deep hole in his flesh slowly healed.
Another strange black creature appeared and rushed at him, Huang Xiaolong veered away with a quick side step.
After his soul transformation, Huang Xiaolong's speed greatly increased. Yet even through the thick dragon scales that covered his entire body, Huang Xiaolong still felt the flame heat emanating from the black creature's body.
Half an hour later.
Huang Xiaolong managed to persevere for another half-hour after soul transforming, however the subsequent half-hour after that became an arduous struggle. Another one of the strange black creatures ran out from the dense gray fog, faster than any of its kind before it. Huang Xiaolong failed to dodge even with his increased speed from the soul transformation.
Both of Huang Xiaolong's arms were hit with some of the flame from the strange creature's body, dancing on the dragon scales protecting his body. The dragon scales could be seen falling off piece by piece with the naked eye.
The last creature's speed was five to six times faster compared to the first one!
Barely a few minutes later, every piece of scale on Huang Xiaolong's body had fallen off. Huang Xiaolong was hardly recognizable due to his miserable appearance. His body was riddled with blood stained fleshy holes that were scorched bone deep from the flames.
I didn't expect I would die here! Huang Xiaolong thought in self-contempt, "Will I cross back to Earth after I die?"
Huang Xiaolong's consciousness began to slip and his body swayed unsteadily. On the verge of tumbling to the ground, the dense dark-gray fog around him abruptly vanished without any prior warning. Oddly enough, the shrill shrieks from those strange black creatures had also vanished.
Huang Xiaolong looked around blankly. When the dark gray fog vanished, the entire valley revealed itself before his eyes.
Littered around the valley were black stones. Other than the stones, there were some random black trees of the strangest shape. Every tree only had two branches, like two arms of a person.
Huang Xiaolong steadied himself and took a pellet out from the Asura Ring. Swallowing the pellet, he initiated Instant Recovery. Blue lights shimmered around his body almost instantly, helping him slowly recover.
Almost half an hour passed when the blue lights dissipated. The wounds of Huang Xiaolong's body healed and closed up, looking much better than it did before.
From the surface, no one could tell that Huang Xiaolong had been recently injured.
He took a deep breath, lifted his foot and continued onward further into the valley. An hour later, he reached the other end of the valley.
On the mountain wall at the end of the valley was a dark, black hole.
From within that black hole that elongated into a tunnel came a cacophony of heartbreaking whimpers.
Huang Xiaolong hesitated for a moment, but in the end steeled himself and stepped in. Since he had come this far, he was unwilling to leave at this juncture without knowing what was at the end.
The Linglong Treasure Pagoda and God Binding Ring inside his body trembled once as he took the first step into the black tunnel. From the moment he entered the valley, they had not shown any reaction whatsoever until this very moment. Huang Xiaolong was overjoyed in his heart. Judging from the reactions, the Absolute Soul Pearl was indeed in this valley; within this black tunnel!
Huang Xiaolong followed the path of the black tunnel that contained nothing but complete and total darkness, absorbing all light. His eyes could see no more than three hundred meters ahead of him. Though there was no thick fog inside the black tunnel, Huang Xiaolong dared not relax his vigilance. He maintained his soul transformation, always paying attention to the changes in direction.
But it was as if there was no end to the black tunnel. Huang Xiaolong followed the path for several hours yet with no end in sight.