Chapter 2876: Chapter 2876: Fear

As the disciples and the Nine Li people repeatedly showed up at the entrance to the hut, they felt a surge of panic.

Exchanging anxious glances at each other, they turned to Zen in the hopes that he'd have an answer to this madness.

“Is it a magic array?” Dorothy guessed in a low voice.

Hutton shook his head. “Impossible. If it was a magic array, we would have detected some energy fluctuations.”

Souls on the Other Shore usually were much more perceptive of energy fluctuations than if they were in their corporeal bodies. However, no one could sense anything of the sort here.

“Then why can't we leave?” Elvinia demanded.

“Is it possible that this is a magic array designed extremely skillfully in the dark?” Chaim suggested.

Chaim's words made some sense. However, this brought more anxiety than comfort.

The Dark Region was secluded from everything, and seemed to be impervious to light, sound, and energy. Aside from what was lit by the candles, everything else was shrouded in darkness.

If a magic array had truly been arranged in the darkness, they would not have been able to perceive it.

“Let me try again.”

Elvinia went down along the road again. But after a dozen or so steps, when she reached the intersection, she found herself in front of the entrance to the hut again.

“We can't get out of here,” Elvinia said resignedly.

Zen frowned. Suddenly, the crystals came to mind.

As No. 9527 had said, the candles were precious in the Dark Region. So, it made sense that there would be countermeasures laid out to protect the crystals used to make them.

“Return all the crystals,” Zen suddenly said.

Previously, Zen had already asked them to return the crystals. But since everyone protested, Zen decided not to push it.

Now that they were stuck there, it seemed they had changed their minds about the crystals.

After all, getting out of there alive was more important than harboring some crystals of unknown use.

So, they all obeyed Zen this time. They all went back inside the hut and returned the crystals. Once all was returned, they stepped outside the hut once more.

Hutton volunteered this time. He walked along the road till he reached the intersection.

Zen and the others held their breath as they watched him intently. If Hutton showed up at the wooden door again, they'd be doomed.

“I passed it!” Hutton called out, waving his hands excitedly.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

“Let's go! We really shouldn't stay here any longer,” Zen urged. He still couldn't shake off his worry that the owner of the huts would show up.

The others obeyed without the slightest hesitation. After what they'd just been through, they could tell the owner of the huts was not hospitable. Everyone trudged back to the wooden bridge along the road. Ṟ𝐚𝐍ọ𝐁ËṨ

Just as Hutton set foot on the bridge, he immediately sensed something wrong. He hastily jumped backward, accidentally knocking down two people from the Nine Li race.

Hiss!

A massive red snake reared its scaly head, biting off one end of the wooden bridge.

Fortunately, Hutton had acted quickly; if he had jumped a second later, he would have been swallowed.

Previously, this red python had been tossed off the bridge into oblivion by Zen. Although it had fallen pretty far down, it managed to survive.

The whole time the disciples had been stuck in the intersection of three forks, the snake had slowly climbed along the walls of the mountain, hiding in the darkness.

It had waited for Zen and his companions, poised and ready to strike. But much to its surprise, the one it had tried to bite managed to escape certain death.

The others' jaws dropped, frozen in shock at what just happened.

Suddenly, the python started slithering towards them.

In their panic, they stumbled backwards in an attempt to retreat.

In the blink of an eye, the red python had crossed the bridge. It opened its mouth to take a bite out of the two unfortunate Nine Li people who had just been knocked over.

As they were about to be swallowed whole, a black shadow suddenly shot down from the sky.

“Bang!”

Zen landed in front of the two Nine Li people to defend them. After he activated his Wild God Power, his eyes flashed at the massive python that loomed before him.

Zen's body contained hundreds of divine megatons of force, so he could face the beast before him. With a stomp of his foot, the python's open mouth was snapped shut.

“Leave now!” Zen shouted to the two men of the Nine Li race. “I can't hold on much longer!”

When Zen had fought the red python before, he had only managed to throw it off the bridge. In fact, the snake was actually stronger than him.

“Hiss!”

The snake writhed under Zen's foot angrily. How could a mere human trample its head?

It raised its tail and violently whipped at Zen.

Even though the others were at a considerable distance, they felt the force of the snake's tail. Terror spread across their faces as they worried for Zen's fate.

The power contained within it was likely to reach several thousand divine megatons. They would be smashed into pieces by such strong power once they were hit in the Source World, let alone on the Other Shore!

How would Zen possibly survive the force of the python's tail?

Fortunately, Zen was quick-witted. He somersaulted backwards instantly, narrowly avoiding the tail's blow. However, the python too was quick; its tail circled back to whip at Zen.

“Hiss!”

Zen had leapt into the air to dodge the tail. But now, the snake had reacted quickly, and shot its tail towards Zen's body in midair.

Just as he was about to be smashed by the snake's tail, Zen quickly removed the Wild God Power. His huge body instantly shrank, having dodged the tail by a hair's width.

“Puff!”

Zen, who had landed on the ground, immediately ran to the fork leading to the hut.

The red python threw its head back and hissed in fury, its forked tongue dancing ominously. It had been waiting under the bridge for so long, yet it had failed to devour anyone thus far. In its anger, it rushed straight towards Zen and the others.

Zen and the others ran frantically. They had nowhere to hide. Clumsily, they made their way back to the hut.

However, when Zen turned to look back at the red python, something strange happened.

Just as the snake had slithered to the intersection of the three forks, it stopped abruptly.

“Whoosh...”

If Zen wasn't mistaken, there seemed to be a trace of fear hidden in the massive python's narrow eyes. Slowly, the red python backed up slightly.

“The python doesn't dare to come up!”

“It is scared! Haha!”

“A coward!”

Several disciples from the Oneness Sky Palace sneered at the python on the fork when they saw that it had stopped.

After everything they'd been through, they were relieved to see the snake back off.

“The red python dares not come up because it fears the owner of the huts,” Chaim cautioned. “But what should we do if it just waits there until the owner of the huts comes back?”