“What’s with the blank look, little Ah Qing? As soon as we entered this forbidden region, I could sense a sealing mark of the Firemoon Darkheaven people. This forbidden region has been claimed as personal property by someone.”

The Captain struggled to ignore the itchiness and the sensation of his flesh swelling. Looking at Xu Qing, he continued, “Hurry up! I’m telling you, little Ah Qing, this actually feels great. And the stronger the feeling, the more it proves my body is receiving a blessing.

“I didn’t do well in the first round in the past. Do you want to know why it’s named Heaven Collapses to Earth? It’s because everyone under the canopy of heaven for 50,000 kilometers surrounding God Mountain will feel great pressure weighing down on them, regardless of the level of their cultivation base.

“That’s first. But there’s more. Everyone involved in the first round will feel indescribable pain, from outside in and from inside out. All sorts of things will inflict incredible pain to stop you from advancing.

“Back then, I was too skinny, and my fleshly body wasn’t ready. The pain itself nearly knocked me out. On the other hand, I saw some giants who cultivated very impressive fleshly bodies, and they had no trouble with this round. Afterward, I put a lot of thought into what I should have done. Finally, I came to realize that the mutant mosquitoes in this forbidden region I found have a special type of toxin that temporarily boosts the fleshly body.

“What’s more, they make you lose any sensations of pain, which is a critical asset in the first round. Sadly, I ended up dying in that life, so I lost any chance I had at succeeding. You’ve got to trust me on this, little Ah Qing.”

Even as the Captain spoke, he circulated his cultivation base, causing successive waves of mosquitoes to drop dead around him. Clearly, they had been poisoned by him. But the Captain was very determined, and was clearly not yet satisfied with his current state. Therefore, he summoned another huge group of mosquitoes….

Seeing that, Xu Qing thought back to what the clay fox had told him about the rounds of the Great Hunt. It seemed to him that… the clay fox was a bit more reliable than the Captain in this regard. From what Xu Qing could tell, the Captain had become so obsessed with his earlier experience that he didn’t realize the rules had changed. It made sense considering how far from the Firemoons that humans lived, and how difficult it must be to get news from such distant lands. Unless you used the resources of an entire species to gather information, it would be difficult to get timely news like that.

Xu Qing opened his mouth to tell the Captain about what he’d learned from the clay fox. But before he could, the Captain threw out a medicinal pill bottle, which landed in front of Xu Qing.

“Don’t ever say that your Eldest Brother doesn’t love you, little Ah Qing. That is my love. Just open that bottle, and you’ll be able to attract the mosquitoes just like me. Inside of that bottle is a rare perfume that I prepared especially for you. My version attracts female mosquitoes, while yours attracts the males. Heh heh.”1 frёewebηovel.cѳm

The Captain looked at Xu Qing and winked mischievously. Unfortunately, his skin was swelling up so much that after he winked he couldn’t open his eye again….

Xu Qing looked at the bottle, and then looked at the Captain. He picked up the bottle and swallowed the words he had been about to speak. He no longer planned to tell the Captain about what he’d learned.

Turning to the blood-colored forbidden mountain, he looked up at its summit, then reached out and pushed his hand onto a rock in front of him that was part of the mountain. Unleashing his cultivation base, he sent terrifying energy out covering the mountain, causing it to tremble loudly.

The mosquitoes on it were stunned, and flew off the mountain in waves that blotted out the sky and made the forbidden region even darker. The rumbling sounds grew even louder, and they sounded completely horrendous.

When the Captain saw what happened, and realized that Xu Qing wasn’t trying to attract the mosquitoes, he wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Huh? Hey, what are you doing?”

Xu Qing didn’t reply. Keeping his cultivation base rotating at maximum levels, he sent out 2,000,000 soul threads. From a distance, it was possible to see soul threads connecting to the dome of heaven, which caused innumerable lightning bolts to form a huge vortex around the mountain.

Then a massive hand appeared out of nowhere, reached down, and grabbed the mountain. It seemed intent on pulling the mountain up from the ground. The entire forbidden region trembled as the mountain shook.

The Captain’s eyes went wide, but he didn’t do anything as his heart pounded with doubt.

He was about to speak when a sound rang out from the mountain like heavenly thunder. The mountain shook back and forth violently, and as the 2,000,000 soul threads pulled, cracks spread out in the ground.

The mountain rose up by about seven inches! A liquid like black blood started flowing out from the mountain. If you squatted down on the ground and looked at that spot, you would see that between the mountain and the ground were endless amounts of black flesh.

There were also bones. This was no mountain! This was actually a fleshly body! It was the fleshly body of the forbidden region!

Xu Qing was actually caught by surprise. Mountains in forbidden regions were far heavier than mountains outside. What was more, Xu Qing knew more about forbidden regions than most people. Given the pressure emanating from this mountain, it was obvious that lifting it up was going to be very difficult. What was more, messing with the mountain would cause it to unleash a lot of mutagen. Most importantly, the mountain was an important part of the forbidden region, such that taking it away would be like slicing the skin off a living person.

As soon as it was lifted up by only a few inches, the entire forbidden region reacted like a living being. All of the grass, all of the trees, all of the mutagen, and even the rocks suddenly erupted with an intense will of malice and expulsion that became like a mist of blood. The soil seethed as corpses of cultivators who had died in this forbidden region from ancient times until now crawled up and then charged toward Xu Qing.

It was not willing!

The entire forbidden region seemed to have its own consciousness, which locked onto Xu Qing. The wind kicked up, screaming in a way that almost sounded like voices.

“Leave!”

“Get out of here!”

“Die!!”

The voices caused Xu Qing’s eyes to grow cold. He could deal with the pressure. His soul threads could handle the weight. Mutagen didn’t bother him. As for the body of this forbidden region and the mountain….

If you don’t want to give it to me, then I guess I’ll just have to take it.

Eyes gleaming with icy cold, he issued orders to Little Shadow. “Devour this forbidden region!”

Little Shadow had been waiting for those orders. Long ago, it wouldn’t have done that. If it was hungry, it would eat. But after encountering Xu Qing, he became very afraid, and wouldn’t dare to act disobediently. Therefore, it had been following along and thinking, but hadn’t dared to actually devour anything. It feared making a mistake and being punished.

After receiving Xu Qing’s orders, Little Shadow exulted. Sending out exuberant emotional fluctuations, it turned into a massive shadow that rose straight up from the ground like a giant black canopy.

Within that canopy was a forbidden region! It was a jungle, in the depths of which was a massive tree covered with closed eyes. It was a gruish tree with a coffin hanging from it that swayed back and forth. It was the very first of the shadow’s previous forms, the shadow tree. The coffin swayed like a huge bell, and from inside of it echoed chanting that sounded like fingernails scraping on wood. In unison, all of the eyes opened.

It wasn’t just the eyes on the tree. There were innumerable eyes throughout the black canopy that also opened, bright red with avarice. And then an enormous mouth opened that emanated a strong sense of decay. Without hesitation, it shot toward the fleeing blood mist.

Shrill howls of agony filled the forbidden region, which shook even more violently. Then chewing sounds drifted about that would cause chills to run down the spine of anyone who heard them.

Next came the sounds of swallowing. Little Shadow in canopy form descended to the ground, then spread out in all directions. Whether plants or animals, living or dead, whatever it reached blurred. Thanks to the shadow, the soil was changing color. It was turning gray, as it lacked either life force or death energy. Gray became the background color for everything. It was like a swallowed piece of meat.

The rumbling and the wind grew more intense, like screams of agony. As the shadow spread, those screams grew louder.

All of these developments were astonishing to the Captain. “This…. Little Ah Qing, all we have to do is let the mosquitoes bite us a bit. Why… why are you trying to take the entire forbidden region?”

Xu Qing didn’t respond. After confirming that Little Shadow was spreading out to devour the rest of the forbidden region, he pushed his hand harder onto the rock in front of him. Instantly, a loud rumbling sound could be heard as the mountain slowly rose up by another seven inches.

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The soul threads surrounding it pulled up, sending out a shock wave so powerful that it shredded all the nearby zombies to pieces. The forbidden region was being assimilated. The forbidden mountain was being removed.

That was when Little Shadow finally released some emotional fluctuations. It was a warning to Xu Qing. Next, the Captain’s eyes glittered with blue light as he shifted his now-very-large body to look behind them.

Some distance away was a bright beam of light shooting toward them from the far end of the forbidden region. A domineering aura in the first stage of Void Returning became like an unstoppable flaming meteor.

There was a hulking figure within it. He looked human, except he was taller and burlier. He was fully six meters in height, almost like a giant. He had long, golden hair, and abounded with a sensation of grandeur. His eyes were also golden, which made him seem superior to others. Unlike humans, his pupils were vertical, like those of a dragon. The aura of his energy and blood was prominent. As he neared, he seemed like a volcano about to erupt, pulsing with shocking might and battle prowess that surpassed cultivators in similar levels from other species.

What was more, it was apparently because of some bloodline ability that all the surrounding mutagen was pushed away. Clearly, this person was far superior to other species in the ability to defend against mutagen.

“A Firemoon Darkheaven!” the Captain said, licking his lips.

1. “Hey Deathblade, did you know that male mosquitoes don’t bite? The males feed primarily on nectar. The females are the ones that need blood. Females bite, and males don’t.” Why yes, as a matter of fact, I did know that. “Hey Deathblade, does Er Gen know that?” I have no idea. “Hey Deathblade, based on your answer to the previous question, do you think the Captain knows that? Was this an intentional bit of subtle humor by the author, or rather, a simple mistake?” I have no idea. But in the end, this is a mythological fantasy universe, so it doesn’t really matter, right? ☜