He noticed something odd on the wall to the side before he could open the gate. Something seemed to have been etched in the common language of the Eastern Desolate Region.
Shen Yuan raised an eyebrow as he sensed Spiritual Qi from that etching; it seemed to be carved in blood on the walls.
He moved closer to observe it more closely, “The Festival is coming…” He paused as the markings abruptly ended there.
He looked further along the wall to see if there were any other carvings etched, and he indeed found a few more words, “…The Festival of Death.”
Shen Yuan felt a chill down his back as soon as he read those words. “Wha-” he couldn’t even comprehend the meaning of those words as he read them again and again.
“Do you know the meaning of these words, Lan’er?” He gravely asked Yue Lan, hoping for any insight into this tense situation.
Yue Lan replied in a low voice,
[I don’t know the customs of this world; how am I supposed to know about some random festival.]
Shen Yuan’s eye twitched, but he didn’t bother to argue with her over it.
He mulled over the words for a bit, but after failing to reach a conclusion, he shook his head.
“Whatever shall happen will happen. I will deal with it when the time comes.”
He moved back in front of the gates after glancing at the markings one last time and placed his hand on the door.
But he felt goosebumps forming on his body, as if he were frozen on the spot, as his instincts screamed at him to run.
He broke out in a cold sweat as he took a few steps back.
“Lan’er, I don’t think I’m ready to face whatever is inside that place. Do you think I should advance nonetheless or retreat for now?”
Yue Lan replied in a heavy tone,
[I can’t sense anything inside the room, so you’re on your own for now. But I also don’t think it’s wise to enter that place, especially in this situation.]
Shen Yuan nodded as he slowly began to back off.
But before he could take a few more steps, the ancient door shook slightly. His movements paused as he focused his gaze on the door, and to his absolute shock, the gate began slowly opening.
Shen Yuan abandoned all thoughts of retreating slowly as he crushed a talisman to teleport away from that place, but from inside the gate, the same eerie Qi came blaring outwards and froze the space.
Rendering the talisman useless, and before Shen Yuan could even use his final talisman, his body froze and started levitating towards the gate.
The suction from the gate kept increasing as his body moved faster and faster until it crossed a barrier that separated the room and the outside world.
Shen Yuan was sent flying inside the room, his body drifting across the floor and creating a cloud of dust in his wake.
He hurriedly stood up and looked around for the one responsible for his current situation, but he didn’t find anything. Soon, however, he heard a heavy voice.
“Who dares to enter the mansion of this lord?” The voice was filled with a bone-chilling killing intent.
Shen Yuan felt a chill run down his spine as he heard the voice. He slowly turned his head, his eyes widening at the sight of the entity who slowly materialized before him, shrouded in a dark aura that felt eerily similar to the weird Qi.
A towering figure with an aura so immense it felt as though the shadows themselves clung to him stepped forward. The figure was human-like in shape but with unmistakable features that marked him as something far more dangerous.
Jet-black horns twisted from his forehead, curving backward and disappearing into the mass of wild, dark hair that framed his chiseled face. His eyes glowed an intense red, like molten lava.
His skin was ashen gray, marked with faint tattoos upon his solid build. From his back, a tail as thick as an arm and ending in a barbed point swayed menacingly. His fingers formed long, sharpened claws that seemed capable of slashing through the very fabric of reality.
Shen Yuan gulped, trying to form a plan of escape as he knew he had no chance of winning against that being as soon as his eyes landed on him.
But before he could even form an escape route, the entity stared down at him and began speaking.
“So, a mere mortal dares to intrude upon my sacred domain…” his voice boomed inside the hall as Shen Yuan felt the pressure increasing upon him. He raised his head to look at the entity’s expression, which had curled his lips in sheer disdain.
“I had thought that no mortal would come to this place to get killed.” He stepped forward a little, continuing, “Tell me, mortal. For what reason have you come into this abyssal hell?”
Shen Yuan audibly gulped as he felt his heartbeat quicken, “I-I came from that crack to learn about the weird Qi being released from this place.”
“Oh, you came here merely for this?” He conjured a ball of that weird Qi, which was hundreds or thousands of times denser than the Qi of the entire place combined.
Shen Yuan inwardly screamed, ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck, why is this being just loitering around in this godforsaken place? Can’t he just roam the outside world creating chaos like they’re supposed to do?’
Almost as if the being understood what he thought, he replied with a laugh, “Kekeke, looks like you have a lot on your mind, huh? I’m here because I want to be here.”
The abyssal being stopped talking as it teleported in front of Shen Yuan, giving him a creepy grin, and kicked him in the chest.
Shen Yuan’s eyes widened as he didn’t even have enough time to react before he was sent flying through the hall and hit the wall, spitting out a mouthful of blood from the impact.
“Cough,” his clothes became crimson as he stared back at the entity, but it had already disappeared from that place. Just as Shen Yuan felt something on his right and turned his head to look, BOOM! Another kick from his right sent him flying again.
“Augh!” he groaned as he spat out blood again. He hurriedly looked back at the place where the entity was, but he still didn’t find it, his body tense as he prepared for another hit.
“…”
But nothing happened as he raised his head to look around. The entity stood some distance away from him, staring in his direction menacingly.
“Hoh, quite the tenacious will you have, huh?” the entity’s lips curled up in amusement as he raised his hand and gathered that eerie Qi in his hand again, “Let’s see if you will be alive after this.”
Shen Yuan tried to focus his eyes on the entity, but all he could see was red. His body twitched a little as he relaxed, but this moment proved fatal as his body nearly dropped to the ground.
The entity teleported in front of him, but instead of kicking him again, he grabbed his neck.
