Chapter 1224: Chapter 1224: Deadwood Gate

When Zen ascended to the Upper World, Amber had probably not yet done so.

The ascending passageway had been repaired then, with no obstacles left for ascending in the great world which then welcomed an ascension rush.

Many warriors of the Soul Sea Realm in the Lower World had chosen to ascend.

Zen shuffled through the memories of the great world and could not find any trace of Amber in the Sea God Continent. He figured that she had probably chosen to ascend.

After all, Amber's talent was good. Although she was only in the second row of the Talent Tablet, she could still develop quite well in the Upper World. Geniuses from several races and groups had gathered together in the Celestial Position. This could very well include Amber.

But the Upper World was huge, and the hundred thousand supreme worlds so vast and endless that even Zen was unable to find any trace of her.

Now that he suddenly heard her name, Zen's eyes lit up.

“Is she the same Amber I know?”

There was no dearth of warriors at the Soul Sea Realm. It was quite possible that there was another warrior with the same name.

The Deadwood Gate was in the north, which was the same direction for which Zen was heading. Moreover, one could receive five hundred thousand Illusion Points there.

Even Zen, who already had millions of Illusion Points, was tempted.

However, because the rewards were so great, it was granted that the tests would be tough. Moreover, they had to fight another squad, and there were not many martial artists who could be considered competent enough to do so.

“Bring me along! I'm willing to help Aurora and Amber!” A warrior stepped forward, a sincere tone in his words.

The Demon Night woman, who had come to recruit warriors, glanced at the warrior but shook her head. “You? If you don't have enough strength, going there will only be a waste of the Illusion Points you've so painstakingly accumulated!”

“I …” The martial artist's face reddened.

The woman did not seem to care about the warrior's embarrassment. She swept her eyes over the crowd and asked, “Anybody else thinks that you are able enough to follow me?”

“I do!”

From the top of the city wall, a male member of the Demon Night jumped down.

This warrior wore black armor and sported a confident smile on his face. As he left the city walls, he flew toward the crowd.

The woman looked at him and nodded. “You qualify!”

“Me too.” From the crowd, a long-haired Demon Night woman walked up to her slowly. Her red hair was infused with vitality and on her back was a large, dark-green bow. The bow emitted a vigorous and dazzling force of the Life Law. ℝÂNȯBÈ𐌔

Not long after, three more warriors of the Demon Night chose to join in.

Zen, who had been observing from the sidelines for a long time, also slowly made his way over. He asked in a clear voice, “Can I participate as well?”

The warriors looked at him suspiciously as soon as the words left his mouth, their heads swiveling in his direction.

The woman looked Zen up and down, her face revealing a trace of caution.

Zen had not released his aura or purposefully restrained his power, but she could tell that he was special.

Although she didn't make out his true strength, surmising that a human warrior brave enough to step up would be a strong one, she relented to his request.

“Oh, come on! He's a human martial artist! The Deadwood Gate is a secret location that only the Demon Night occupies. No other race or group should be allowed to enter it!”

“I too oppose this. We don't need martial artists from other races or groups. This time we are up against those ogres!”

Several members of the Demon Night raised their objections simultaneously.

The endless wilderness was replete with secret areas, just like the cave that Zen had entered before. After passing through the adytums of the eighteen arhats, he had obtained the Teleportation Token, a very advantageous item.

The same was true for the 'Deadwood Gate'. Although it was difficult to enter, one could obtain quite a few Illusion Points there.

Furthermore, warriors were allowed to enter the secret areas as many times as they liked. As long as one had sufficient strength, one could repeatedly step inside the Deadwood Gate and gather the Illusion Points.

In fact, Zen could also obtain more than one Teleportation Token.

But one such functional item was enough for a warrior, so it was unnecessary for Zen to enter the cave more than once. Apart from that, it would cost him three hundred thousand Illusion Points to enter the cave each time.

The Deadwood Gate was tightly controlled by the Demon Night members of this main city. Why would they be willing to give another race or group an opportunity to enter it?

But this time, they were being targeted by the ogres. They had no choice but to return to the main city and ask for reinforcements.

When Zen saw the Demon Night members oppose to his participation, he gave them no answer. He had already made up his mind anyway.

Regardless of whether that warrior was the Amber he knew, Zen would head toward the Deadwood Gate to see what was going on.

If the Demon Night warriors insisted on opposing Zen's joining, he would still follow them along the way. Zen did not believe that the warriors would be able to get rid of him.

As he pondered on this, the woman in the lead spoke, “The human martial artist can come with us to the Deadwood Gate!”

When the other Demon Night martial artists heard this, they stared at the woman, vehement objection written on their faces.

“Hadn't our race come to an agreement before? We, the Demon Night, monopolize the Deadwood Gate. In fact, we are the first ones to discover it!”

“Why should we let an outsider come in?”

“If you bring this human martial artist along, Aurora is sure to blame you!”

Hearing the protests from the crowd, the woman in the lead shook her head. She had just returned from the Deadwood Gate, so she knew how serious the situation there was.

If the human warrior before them could come along, he could prove to be a great help.

“If Aurora blames me, I will bear the consequences.” The woman's face was resolute as she stepped forward to Zen. “My name is Vivian Bai,” she said to him. “Welcome!”

Zen smiled and nodded at Vivian. “I'm Thad Luo.”

When they saw that they could not stop Zen from joining them, vivid dissatisfaction surfaced on the faces of the Demon Night martial artists.

“What are you thinking, Vivian? Nobody even knows who this human warrior is. Now you're letting him join us?!”

“The boy would be a liability to us. Why should we bring along a nuisance to the Deadwood Gate?”

Hearing this, Vivian turned to the Demon Night martial artist. “If the boy is a burden to you, then why would you fear him entering the Deadwood Gate?” she asked coldly.

Now that the warriors thought that Zen would do nothing helpful, they hardly considered him as a strong warrior. Even if Zen was allowed in now, it should be no trouble for them to kill him. So why should Zen entering the gate bother them?

Being questioned by Vivian, the martial artist was left speechless. He no longer uttered a word.

As for Zen, he stood on the sidelines with a faint smile on his face, not saying anything either.

Within five minutes, Vivian had recruited seven martial artists outside of the main city. Among them, only Zen was a human. The other six warriors were all from the Demon Night.

Under Vivian's lead, the group of eight warriors advanced toward the north.

As they covered the distance, disdain and vigilance were obvious on the expressions of the six Demon Night warriors whenever their gazes met Zen.

Although relations between humans and the Demon Night had always been good, a human was still an outsider to them, after all. This kind of alertness on their part was inevitable.

The Demon Night tolerated it well. If the same thing had happened to the ogres or the humans, they would have perhaps fought Zen on the first opportunity. They would have certainly not brought him along.

Shoop! Shoop!

The group of eight warriors flew swiftly through the air.

A journey of twenty-four thousand miles was considered long by most ordinary people. However, for warriors of the Soul Sea Realm, it was short because of the meteoric rate at which they covered it. Back when Zen had been in the Enchanted Barrier Tower, he had traveled nearly forty thousand miles.

Half an hour later, one dead tree after another appeared in the wilderness on the ground below them.

The dead trees had withered away completely. They looked like they were stuck in the ground, now only lifeless tree stumps.

“These withered trees... They still seem to contain some life force,” Zen commented, staring at the dead trees.

Vivian, who had been flying beside Zen, smiled as she heard his words. “Yes, the dead trees have turned into spirits. If someone intrudes on this dead forest, they will rise up and launch attacks.”

“Is that so?” Zen's eyes flickered with curiosity.

“There are a lot of dead tree spirits in here, but the rewards for killing them are simply too small. Eliminating one only secures you two Illusion Points,” Vivian added.

“Hmm, interesting.” Zen had thought that the many dead trees down below would help him garner a number of Illusion Points, but he did not expect the rewards to be so little. Only two Illusion Points! Even if he killed ten thousand dead tree spirits, he would only get twenty thousand points. It truly was not worth the massive effort.

Right at this moment, the group encountered two giant dead trees before them. The dead trees extended their trunks and intertwined with each other, forming a great tree gate. This was, in fact, the Deadwood Gate.