Chapter 682: Chapter 682: Mud

There were countless fierce beasts lurking in the Dreamy Swampland, a place that until now, no one from the Central Region had been able to fully explore.

When they had been up in the air, Eddie's eyes had locked firmly on Zen, who had found it extremely difficult to get rid of Eddie. But the Dreamy Swampland was complicated, which meant that Zen now had the chance to shake Eddie off.

Zen walked swiftly towards the Dreamy Swampland. Eddie sneered as he saw what Zen was about to do. “You want to enter the Dreamy Swampland? It's a good idea, Zen, but luck isn't on your side this time!”

Eddie took out a message rune and pinched it. The rune began to burn. “Simon, a rat has entered the Dreamy Swampland. I've already killed the Septuplets of Ethereal Spirit, and it won't be long before I take down the Ethereal Spirit Sect. Tell Darius to retreat 300 miles. Bring your men here!”

Eddie was sure that Simon had been hiding in the Dreamy Swampland all these years. There was no one in the whole Central Region who knew the Dreamy Swampland better than Simon did.

Zen had obviously made the wrong choice. Why would he choose to hide in the Dreamy Swampland of all places? It looked like it would become his grave today.

Not long after, a flame rose up behind Eddie's ears. Simon had sent Eddie a message through his message rune. The voice chuckled as it reassured Eddie, “To me, the Dreamy Swampland is like my backyard. Let me help you catch that rat!”

Simon was only marginally weaker than Eddie and they weren't affiliated with each other. Simon's ambition was to establish a sacred place and Eddie's dream was to establish his own divine kingdom. They cooperated with each other so that they could achieve their goals. Not for nothing were they the top martial artists in the Central Region.

Despite everything, Eddie knew that they were only taking advantage of each other's skills for the time being. A fight between them was inevitable once they achieved their respective goals. Simon was most likely hiding a trump card that Eddie did not know about, but Eddie was confident that he could take down Simon.

No matter what the future held, there was no conflict between them right now and their cooperation seemed perfectly beneficial to both of them. After all, their targets were shockingly similar and they were both intensely ambitious.

The moment Zen entered the Dreamy Swampland, he immediately lowered his altitude. He was now practically skimming the ground as he flew.

The Dreamy Swampland had an extremely complex terrain. There were shallow depressions all around, the water in many of which looked clear from afar, but in reality, contained deadly poison. A sip of this water could kill even the most powerful of all creatures.

Zen flew close to the ground, trying his best to hide his own scent. In order to conceal any life vitality and aura, Zen even made sure that Lavender stayed inside his body in the form of a speck of red light. He slowed down considerably because of this.

Zen could not sense Eddie's scent once he had entered the Dreamy Swampland. It was possible that Eddie had also hidden his scent. And right now, Zen and Eddie were both unable to tell each other's locations, something that was exactly what Zen wanted.

Since the Dreamy Swampland was vast and complicated, Zen could distance himself from Eddie and cautiously leave the Swampland as long as he hid his scent and moved forward slowly. If he did this, it wouldn't be too difficult for him to get rid of Eddie.

“It's useless. You won't be able to leave,” Margaret suddenly piped up.

Zen clapped a hand to her mouth just as she finished speaking, glaring at her. “Shut up! Do you have a death wish?” he hissed.

She was now unable to speak as her nose and mouth were covered tightly by Zen's hand. Her brown eyes, enlarged by the suddenness of Zen's action, stared coldly at Zen, as if she didn't know what fear was.

Zen was startled as he felt a formidable power looming over them.

He approached a quagmire, as silently as he could, while pulling Margaret along, his hand still on her mouth. His vigilance couldn't prevent him from becoming completely submerged in the quagmire. Ř𝖆ꞐО₿ÈＳ

Zen knew that Eddie had an acute sense of perception so he didn't dare use his life vitality to shield his body. He was afraid that if he did, Eddie would sense the waves of his life vitality and detect him in half a breath. So he allowed himself and Margaret to be gulped down by the quagmire.

Margaret frowned. She was a stickler for cleanliness, but right now, as she was forbidden to use the life vitality, the thought of her body being covered with black mud made her uncomfortable and angry.

She twisted in Zen's arms and began to create a ruckus.

“You're not even afraid of death. Why are you afraid of becoming dirty?” Zen sneered, his voice low.

Margaret stopped resisting at Zen's question. Taking this opportunity, Zen dragged her further down into the bottom of the mire.

Soon after, the two of them were completely wrapped in mud and were at the bottom of the quagmire.

As soon as he entered the quagmire, Zen had felt a strand of perception sweep across the area he was in, and then slowly leave. It was obvious that it had been Eddie's perception.

The two of them lay down quietly at the bottom of the quagmire, not daring to move a muscle. A few minutes later, Zen took Margaret's arm and crawled out. But he didn't dare make a sound, making sure to take care as they moved to the edge of the quagmire.

Margaret, who had originally been dressed in white, had become unrecognizable. Without the protection of her life vitality, all of her was now drenched in mud.

She had never been so dirty in her whole life!

The black mud made her extremely uncomfortable, as if a bunch of reptiles were crawling all over her body. All she wanted right now was a place to wash up.

Before Margaret could speak, she heard Zen warn her, “Don't move! Don't activate your life vitality!”

She followed Zen's gaze and saw a small black snake appear in the grass beside her.

The little snake's entire body was jet-black, and because its skin was too smooth, it flickered with a faint luster.

“Black Feather Snake!”

Margaret recognized the snake at once, thanks to the feather-like crest on its head.

It wasn't because Margaret was knowledgeable that she was able to instantly recognize it, but because the Black Feather Snake was too famous.

The Black Feather Snake was the most famous poisonous creature in the Central Region. The poison from this snake was extremely expensive, and was considered a rare poison in the world, making it valuable.

No matter how powerful a martial artist was, the person would die within seconds of this snake biting him or her. Its high level of toxicity meant it could take people's lives in an instant. And because of this, many martial artists would die every year in their attempt to catch the Black Feather Snake.

The moment Margaret saw the Black Feather Snake, her first instinct was to employ her life vitality to deal with it. But Zen stopped her.

The snake hissed.

It seemed to have sensed that they had discovered it, and it suddenly shot out of the grass, approaching Margaret swiftly and trying to bite her.

Zen threw out his hand to block the snake from hurting Margaret and it latched on to his arm, biting into it.

The sight of the Black Feather Snake biting Zen's arm made Margaret want to scream. But before she could do anything, Zen had already covered her mouth with his other hand. He had expected her to shriek even before she had started.

Margaret looked at the snake, terrified. “You... It bit you…” she said, shocked.

Zen reached out and grabbed the Black Feather Snake. With a casual swipe, he tore the snake into several pieces and threw it into the grass. “I'm fine,” he told Margaret easily.

Margaret looked at Zen like she was looking at a monster. She had heard all sorts of inconceivable things that had happened to Zen. But how could he possibly be fine given that this Black Feather Snake's poison was so strong?

“Follow me,” Zen said, pushing aside the grass and gesturing to Margaret to follow him.

She stared at Zen's back, lost in thought. She knew that Zen had reached out only because he wanted to stop her from activating her life vitality and he hadn't hesitated to extend his hand even though he knew that the snake would bite him. A jumble of emotions wreaked havoc within her.

After pondering about it for a while, Margaret took a step forward and followed Zen.

But since she was covered in a layer of mud, she felt uncomfortable all over.

She had always been entitled to abundant resources for cultivation. Besides, she was also a heaven-level talent. With exceptional talent, she had never gone out to gain experience in dangerous places, yet she had already stepped into the Internal Elixir Realm. She couldn't imagine how difficult it was for martial artists to survive in this cruel world. She also couldn't understand martial artists who would risk their lives just for a low-grade spiritual weapon or those who endured endless trials and tribulations for several years just to get their hands on one small pill.

She might have heard other warriors talk about how many hardships they had faced since they had become cultivators. But she had never experienced those hardships.

From a certain point of view, this was her first time going out to gain experience.

Zen walked slowly in the Dreamy Swampland, Margaret closely following him. They were fearful of being detected if they utilized their life vitality, because of which they didn't dare fly.

As they stumbled through the swamp, her eyes suddenly lit up as she saw a small clear pond since this meant that she could clean up in the water.

She caught up and patted Zen on the shoulder, saying, “I want to take a bath.”

Zen looked at Margaret, amused, and then he looked at the clear, small pond beside him. He plucked a plant and threw it into the pond.

Hissss!

The moment the plant touched the water, it hissed and sizzled and started to turn black, emitting a faint smoke. It was obvious that the clear water in the pond contained a highly toxic poison.

“Do you still want to take a bath?” Zen asked with a smile.