novelraw Chapter 357: A Time of Survival or Peril
Chapter 357: A Time of Survival or Peril
Moreover, the Mist incidents he could summon now could not possibly spawn Calamity-level entities; such a thing had never happened in all this time.
Therefore, only one path truly lay before him.
A path far more dangerous, yet one that would allow him to grasp his own fate firmly in his hands.
Entering the Mist World alone.
That place where he had struggled to survive for over a year, that place filled with the unknown and death, yet also brimming with infinite possibilities.
Only in that place, completely isolated from the human world and governed by chaotic laws, could he unleash his abilities without restraint, hunt, and grow stronger.
It might be equally difficult to find Calamity-level existences there, but at the very least, he could completely conceal himself, free from the worry of a stab in the back from his own "kind."
A path of certain death?
Perhaps.
But compared to entrusting his life, death, and freedom to the kindness of others or the leniency of a system, he would rather choose the danger of holding everything in his own hands.A familiar sense of suffocation enveloped his entire body, not stemming from lack of oxygen, but from a deeper, more fundamental existence rejecting and squeezing against the intruder.
Surrounding him was an eternal gray-white. The mist was no longer a barrier obstructing vision; it constituted the very fabric of this world itself.
Compared to four or five years ago.
Su Zhan's perception was utterly different now.
Back then, his senses were brutally suppressed to within ten meters of his body. Beyond that lay endless unknowns, forcing him to grope in the dark.
Now, his powerful mental energy spread out like radar, easily piercing through the layers of mist, clearly projecting the scenery within a radius of over three hundred meters into his mind.
Within this clear domain of over three hundred meters, the sights were bizarre and kaleidoscopic, defying all the physical laws of the main world.
Underfoot was a substance that seemed to be condensed from countless ashes and dust, making no sound when stepped upon.
Occasionally, he could see charred plant remains.
They maintained the posture of their final struggle for life, yet had long lost any trace of vitality.
Further away were more complex terrains.
There were flesh-colored hills and valleys that slowly writhed like the rotting innards of a giant creature, their surfaces covered in viscous secretions and pulsing, vein-like patterns.
There were twisted jungles composed of countless shattered mirrors, reflecting various grotesque illusions.
There were also enormous, dark purple jellyfish-like existences floating mid-air, their dangling tentacles emitting mind-disrupting psychic fluctuations.
Here, there was no sun, moon, or stars, no alternation of day and night, only eternal gray-white.
Facing this forbidden land that could drive the minds of ordinary Special-risk level powerhouses to collapse.
Su Zhan's gaze was exceptionally calm.
Carrying a hint of... the familiarity of coming home.
Su Zhan sped through the eternal gray-white. His strides didn't seem fast, yet each step covered dozens of meters, his figure flickering.
He deliberately restrained the domineering aura of the Flame of Destruction.
But the natural Pressure emanating from his lifeform at the peak of Special-risk still spread out from him as a center, diffusing into the surrounding mist.
This Pressure, in this world of survival of the fittest, declared his might.
The effect was immediate.
At the edge of his three-hundred-meter perception, some figures originally drifting within the mist vanished into the depths of thicker mist at an even faster speed the moment they detected this Pressure.
Fleeing as if fearing they couldn't escape quickly enough.
A monster resembling a giant centipede, covered in pale white human arms.
Was coiled atop a small mountain piled from bones.
Sensing Su Zhan's approach, a glint of fear flashed simultaneously in its densely packed compound eyes. Its massive body unhesitatingly released the bone mountain.
Scuttling and rustling, it burrowed into the ground, leaving behind a pit that continuously spewed grayish gas.
A vast swarm of flying bat-like monsters, each individual possessing strength only around the Middle Realm, swept over a jungle like a dark cloud, their path coincidentally intersecting with Su Zhan's.
The entire bat swarm exploded apart, veering in a massive arc, fleeing in panic into the distance.
Examples like these were everywhere.
With Calamity-level absent, Special-risk reigns supreme.
On this land of chaotic laws, this simple rule was demonstrated to the fullest.
Wherever Su Zhan passed, a profound silence fell, broken only by the sound of wind as he parted the mist.
Those usually savage and brutal Mist Creatures had all turned into the most cautious cowards. Not a single existence dared to step forward and provoke a peak Special-risk powerhouse in perfect condition.
This feeling of unimpeded passage.
Was something Su Zhan, struggling for survival here two years ago, could never have imagined.
Back then, he was the prey, treading carefully with every step, avoiding any potential danger.
Now, he had become the danger itself, the one that made other creatures flee at the mere rumor of his approach.
Su Zhan's brow, however, furrowed slightly.
This wouldn't do.
Calamity-level existences were hidden in who-knows-which corner of the Mist World, encountered by chance, not sought.
He had to go deeper.
To those truly perilous places where even Special-risk level creatures dared not tread lightly.
There, perhaps, lay hidden the opportunity for a breakthrough, and... lethally fatal crises.
Su Zhan's figure transformed into a streak of light, shooting straight toward the depths of the mist that felt even more chaotic within his perception.
Time lost all meaning within the Mist World.
Su Zhan didn't know how long he had been traveling, nor how many bizarre and kaleidoscopic terrains he had traversed.
He stepped across an icy river condensed from wailing souls.
He detoured around a "Volcano of Thought" that continuously erupted chaotic psychic energy.
He weaved through a vast region of enormous, colorful bubbles in a state of complete weightlessness.
Su Zhan's perception remained at its most acute state, scanning everything within the over three-hundred-meter radius.
Yet the results were disheartening.
He sensed quite a few Mist Creatures at the Tide Realm, High-risk, and even Special-risk levels.
Some auras were not even weaker than his, hidden deep within the mist, maintaining a subtle distance from him, mutually wary, with no conflict arising.
But beyond that, there was nothing else.
No terrifying Pressure like a blazing sun, as he imagined a Calamity-level entity would possess.
This vast, boundless, and dangerous Mist World actually seemed... somewhat empty at this moment.
An absurd notion began to sprout in his heart.
Could it be... that the Mist World is merely this?
That the so-called danger only applies to the weak?
Yet Su Zhan also knew this thought was merely an illusion.
But, why?
Why, after traveling so far, had he not encountered a single Calamity-level existence?
This defied logic.
According to the urgent intelligence Mo Yuan and Zhang Daoxuan received, the Calamity-level entities appearing at the border were definitely not isolated cases.
So then, where were these overlords, who should be spread throughout the top of the Mist World's food chain, right now?
Could it be... that the vast majority of Calamity-level existences within the Mist World were, at this moment... all on Blue Star?
All gathered at Daxia's border line, participating in that unprecedented, terrifying Mist Surge?
This thought was too horrifying.
So much so that Su Zhan's speeding figure came to an abrupt halt.
It would mean that the pressure Daxia was currently enduring far exceeded anyone's imagination!
That was no longer an ordinary border conflict, but a... war of national extinction, with the enemy throwing in their entire force!
Mo Yuan, Zhang Daoxuan, and the top-tier Guest Advisors they brought with them—they would have to face the frenzied onslaught of who-knows-how-many Calamity-level Mist Creatures!
Could Daxia's defensive line truly hold?
Su Zhan's heart sank.
He had always believed that, relying on Black City's foundation and the strength of Daxia's official forces, even if the situation was difficult, they could always hold their ground.
But now it seemed he might have vastly underestimated the scale and destructiveness of this Mist Surge.
This was no longer a crisis, but... a true time of survival or peril.