The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

Chen Dong sent another mental message to Liu Ling, ”Are you sure there’s no danger if we go in?”

If at all possible, Chen Dong had no desire to bring Murong Qing into such a perilous situation. The more one has, the more one fears to lose—this was true even for cultivators.

Liu Ling replied with certainty, ”Master, I am ninety percent sure. With you here, it’s as good as a hundred percent!”

Chen Dong’s jaw tightened. ’Those words sound familiar!’ He looked at Liu Ling, feeling like she was playing some grand game of chess.

Chen Dong’s gaze turned cold. The breeze from the marsh seemed to carry a sudden chill.

”We’re here and you’re still not telling the truth. I can annihilate your soul with a single thought!”

Tears seemed to well up in Liu Ling’s eyes. ”Master, Master, the Beast Taming Contract is in place! I could never harm you!”

Chen Dong calmed himself. ”Fine. Let’s go.”

Jiang Hongqin hesitated. ”Are we sure we want to go in there? Legend says many people have been lost inside!”

Zhang Tashan reasoned with her, ”Hong Qin, now that we’re here, our only choice is to follow Peak Master Zisang. We’ll never make it back to the Guardian Array on our own.”

Jiang Hongqin realized he was right. She gritted her teeth and nodded.

With the decision made, the group stepped into the marsh.

Murong Qing was overjoyed the moment she entered the marsh. In this vast wetland, spanning tens of thousands of acres, not even a Nascent Soul Great Demon could kill her. Her sense of security soared. It was nothing like the Xuhua Mountain Range, which had no water to speak of, cutting the effectiveness of her Desolate Wave Water Technique by more than half.

The pervasive white mist also obstructed Divine Sense, but it wasn’t a complete suppression like that of the Five Senses Calming Flower. Chen Dong’s Divine Sense could still extend for hundreds of miles. He couldn’t understand how this place could be the Land of Extinct Demons, much less why members of the Human Race would get lost here.

He sent another mental message to Meng Yingluo, ”Aren’t you afraid?”

Meng Yingluo, with her demon soul in control, replied with a mental message that was still tinged with flirtatiousness, ”The Nightmare Race is in its element in the mist. What do I have to be afraid of? Besides, if things get dicey, I’ll just let Ying Luo take over. As a member of the Human Race, she should be in far less danger than me, don’t you think?”

Chen Dong pressed on, ”You have your past life’s memories. You don’t know anything about this Land of Extinct Demons?”

”The Land of Extinct Demons has always been a forbidden land for the Demon Race. Why would I ever have come here for fun? If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have been very keen on entering either!”

Chen Dong was puzzled. ”What does that have to do with me?”

”Heh heh... The secrets you carry are rather mesmerizing. I’m dying to enter your dreams and have a look around. Unfortunately, you haven’t fallen into a deep sleep these past few days, and it’s not a good time for me to use my Secret Technique on you. So, I have no choice but to follow you!”

Chen Dong shot her a strange look. ”You’re waiting for me to go to sleep?”

For a moment, Chen Dong felt Meng Yingluo was even weirder than he was.

”Heh heh...” Meng Yingluo gave a light, bewitching smile.

The group walked through the marsh, its waters ranging from shallow to deep. Their pace wasn’t fast compared to flying, but it wasn’t slow either. Liu Ling had taken the lead. As this was a notoriously perilous land, no one moved at top speed, and they certainly didn’t choose to fly. Flying in a treacherous place spoken of in legends for a thousand years was definitely not a good idea.

Chen Dong lost all sense of time. The world around him was nothing but billowing white water vapor, obscuring all scenery. The shore he’d been tracking with his Divine Sense...

A sudden shock ran through him. ’That’s right, where did the shore go?’ They couldn’t possibly have walked hundreds of miles—a few dozen at most. His Divine Sense could still reach for hundreds of miles, so where was the shore? He scanned dozens of miles out, but all he found was more marsh. Even when he pushed his Divine Sense to its absolute limit, the view remained the same.

”Wait! Everyone, stop!” Chen Dong yelled.

The others looked at him in confusion. ”What’s wrong?”

Chen Dong stated his conclusion immediately, ”It seems we’ve walked into an Array. And it’s enormous. The rank is incredibly high—at least a Sixth Rank Formation!”

The group froze, their brows furrowing in shock. Jiang Hongqin’s face was a mask of pure terror.

”I told you we shouldn’t have come here! But you all insisted! Now look, a Sixth Rank Formation! Who can possibly escape this? No wonder this place is called a land of no return! It’s over, it’s over! We’re going to be trapped here and die. We didn’t get killed by a Demon King, but we’ll be trapped to death here instead.”

Chen Dong knew her thoughts were with her brother; the more time they wasted, the more anxious she would become. But there was nothing to be done. The Demon Race in the Demon Realm wouldn’t be dealt with so easily. His own reasons for venturing here weren’t just the allure of the Dao Essence, but also Liu Ling’s assurances.

But Chen Dong had to state another fact. ”Sixth Rank is just a conservative estimate. I’m more inclined to believe this is an Eighth Rank Formation!”

The group was stunned yet again. Even Zisang Jin’s brow creased. ’An Eighth Rank Formation on the Fuying Plane?’ A Sixth Rank Formation was already the stuff of legends; an Eighth Rank one was simply unheard of.

But Liu Ling just smiled. ”As expected of my Master. You figured it out so quickly!”

Chen Dong instantly felt he had been far too merciful. ”What in the world is going on?!” he demanded angrily.

Liu Ling reassured them, ”Everyone, don’t panic. Just follow my steps exactly. I’ll lead you all to the Dao Essence!”

Chen Dong’s brow furrowed. He was even more curious to see what game Liu Ling was playing.

Liu Ling’s steps were peculiar, as if she turned with every pace. The group followed her closely. After a few dozen steps, the billowing white mist vanished in an instant, and they found themselves before a stretch of marsh that was as still and smooth as a mirror.

The water was perfectly clear, yet it gave off no reflection, as if it were absorbing any light that touched it. The sky above was still shrouded in white mist, making it impossible to tell whether it was day or night; not a single ray of light penetrated the fog. In this utterly still space, the sole source of light was the Dao Essence floating in the center of the water.

It looked like a round, white lantern—a fist-sized ball of white light, wreathed in a small, tight halo of mist. It seemed to be constantly pulsing, yet at the same time, perfectly still.

But the fluorescent glow of Dao Essence it emanated was unmistakable.