Alchemy Master

Chapter 1148, A Terrifying Crisis

Translator: Silavin

Beyond the furthest reach of Qin Yichen’s vision ahead, the forest began to give way, fracturing into stretches of muddy, grey-toned swampland.

That murky, gloomy colour seemed to swallow the hues of the world entirely. Looking upon it from a distance was like gazing at a Demonic territory, with no end visible in any direction.

Qin Yichen stood atop the crown of a great tree. Gazing upon that swamp, his expression extraordinarily grave. Vaguely, he could sense emanating from it a feeling that made his very scalp crawl.

The palpitation that feeling stirred within him told him clearly that the danger lurking in that place was something he, an Early Stage Martial Ancestor, could not hope to contend with.

“This area is not simple. No wonder it has been designated a Dangerous Territory.” Qin Yichen’s expression was deeply solemn. No wonder those pursuers had not dared to give chase. Someone among them clearly knew what horrors lay here.

“One step at a time.” After a brief deliberation, Qin Yichen gritted his teeth, and the resolve in his eyes gradually hardened.

…

Half a day later, Qin Yichen had brought himself to peak condition, then stepped into that swampland.

Within this swamp, everything was murky and dim, without a single note of vitality, like a Death Zone made manifest. Throughout the world, the only sound was the faint, occasional pop of bubbles rising and bursting from the swamp below.

That silence, so much like death itself, made Qin Yichen’s nerves go somewhat numb.

Most frightening of all was the fact that though he had a powerful sense of crisis, he could not tell where that danger was coming from.

Unknown danger was, of all things, the most terrifying and the most lethal.

And so, Qin Yichen’s pace was not swift. His body was taut and coiled, Yuan Energy flowing throughout his limbs and all his bones, maintaining a state of extreme vigilance, ready to meet any crisis that might descend without warning.

Yet, contrary to Qin Yichen’s expectations, after sweeping forward in this manner for a full day’s worth of travel, not a single incident had occurred. The place was, if anything, safer than an ordinary swamp. Not one Demonic Beast had been found.

Were it not for that oppressive atmosphere and the hideous space rifts that appeared intermittently across the sky, one might have genuinely doubted whether this was truly the place that even a Top Tier Race like the Heaven Devouring Green Marten Race considered a Dangerous Territory.

Even so, Qin Yichen did not lower his guard because of it. He maintained that same state of extreme vigilance without pause.

At some point he could not precisely identify, Qin Yichen suddenly noticed that a multicoloured mist had begun to rise around him.

The instant he noticed it, he held his breath. But very quickly he realised that this was not some usual swamp gas. It was just ordinary fog.

Then, abruptly, Qin Yichen’s body gave a shudder, and he froze where he stood.

For he had perceived, within the mist ahead of him, the vague outline of an enormous floating mountain.

“That is… a remnant divine technique!?”

Staring at that indistinct mountain, Qin Yichen’s pupils blazed with astonishment. It was the remnant of a divine technique left behind by a powerful expert in that legendary great battle. Its power had yet to dissipate after so many years.

Then Qin Yichen noticed that from the mist on all sides, streaks of flowing light were sweeping past from time to time, each carrying a staggering wave of force.

From within those waves, Qin Yichen could sense the terrifying power they contained. Were even a single one of those random streaks to strike him, it would likely be more than enough to obliterate his very Soul.

And this was merely a Dangerous Territory within a stretch of the Silent Forest spanning hundreds of thousands of kilometres, yet it was saturated with this many remnant divine techniques. One could only imagine just how savage that legendary battle had truly been.

What kind of power must the experts of that great battle have possessed, to have left their divine techniques intact to this day?

So many aftershocks of divine techniques, any single one of which would be more than enough to grind even a powerful Saint to dust. It was no wonder at all that the Heaven Devouring Green Marten Race had marked this place as a Dangerous Territory on their map.

Night fell, gradually shrouding everything in darkness. In the place where Qin Yichen stood, remnant aftershocks of divine techniques drifted everywhere, and in the darkness, the swamp below even seemed to emit flickering divine light, the fragments of Divine Weapons left behind by those ancient powerful experts.

Within the mist, at some unknown moment, one wisp of wind after another began to stir, and carried within those winds, Qin Yichen seemed to hear the shrill and desolate wailing of remnant Souls.

It seemed as though this swamp, beneath the night sky, was no longer quite so silent as before.

Fortunately, Qin Yichen noticed that the remnant divine techniques seemed to have grown considerably quieter at this time. Even the streaks of flowing light that occasionally swept past him had slowed their pace.

Perceiving this change, Qin Yichen, who had until then been moving cautiously and slowly, immediately quickened his steps.

This wretched place, every remnant divine technique was utterly beyond anything he could contend with. They had kept his nerves strung so tightly that even he had begun to feel a deep exhaustion.

Now that he had finally seen the remnant divine techniques grow somewhat quieter, all he wanted was to pass through this place as quickly as possible.

He also swore to himself in his heart that even if he one day broke through to the Saint Realm, he would absolutely never set foot in this wretched place again.

“What is that…” Qin Yichen’s rapidly moving figure suddenly jolted to a stop. With his vision, he could still make out the scene within a range of several kilometres ahead, even beneath the night sky.

He saw that not far ahead of him, the swamp heaved and roiled like a pot of boiling water, with bubbles each roughly one metres in size rising continuously to the surface.

As each bubble burst, Qin Yichen felt a rolling, scorching wave of heat hit him directly in the face.

The entire swamp seemed to be drying and cracking because of it, and a black liquid seeped down into the fissures that formed.

Just looking at that sight, Qin Yichen’s scalp prickled all over.

That scorching heat was in no way inferior to the heat within lava. In fact, Qin Yichen even noticed that the Yuan Energy within his body, and even his very mind, had become somewhat restless and agitated because of it.

“This wretched place…” Qin Yichen groaned inwardly. Above him were hideous space rifts, all around him the mist was everywhere and visibility extremely poor, and within that mist lurked innumerable remnant divine techniques of terrifying power. And now, ahead of him, even the swamp beneath his feet had taken on such an uncanny characteristic.

At this moment, Qin Yichen even began to feel a degree of regret. Had he known this place would be so unknowable and so hideously dangerous, he would rather have chosen to continue being hunted.

Being hunted by over a hundred Martial Ancestors was exhausting to his mind and spirit, but at least he had some measure of confidence in being able to preserve his life.

Here, however, Qin Yichen felt like a rootless piece of duckweed, liable at any moment to be swallowed by some unknown danger, and possibly dying in the end without even knowing how it had happened.

All of this ultimately came down to Qin Yichen having been too arrogant.

He had still underestimated the dangers of this Silent Forest.

The Silent Forest, which had claimed the lives of countless Saints, was not some place where a mere Early Stage Martial Ancestor could act with impunity in.