Chapter 205
The closer the candidate to be possessed is to Elo Huo, the better as he would be able to influence the boy and get on with his plans without any hindrance .
Arthur wasn’t going to possess his target for the time being but this didn’t stop him from picking the right target immediately . For three straight hours, Arthur soundlessly followed the group, which proceeded deeper into the forest without stopping . No matter how vicious and strong the beasts were, they were burned and stabbed by Elo Huo’s halberd . Although he was arrogant, he certainly had the sufficient strength to back it up, however, he was lacking a lot compared to Amidel’s son or Cold Sword . Arthur didn’t think much of his strength as he already reached the power of Gods and paying any heed to Juniors is nothing but a waste of time for him . This kid, for Arthur, was but means to an end . To achieve his goals, he doesn’t mind sacrificing those who deserve to be sacrificed .
Those group finally halted as the compass the red-haired youth reacted to a dark cave just ahead of them . Arthur guessed that the compass could detect special types of treasures, but every treasure would certainly be guarded . He and the kid shared the same thought, the group stopped in front of the cave and started preparing for a few minutes before they headed inside the cave .
’I guess this will take them some time, there are a few strong beasts inside . . . oh well, I should find the other group too . ’
His main target was the Spatial Master, who was protecting Kai Min from behind the shadows, so that means he is currently with that self-righteous prick .
Just like he appeared, Arthur’s figure disappeared and headed deeper into the forest whilst spreading his Divine and Sixth sense in all direction . His eyes were also surveying his map for any possible enemies that may be lurking around .
The group belonging to the Water Cloud Sect is bigger than Elo Huo’s, so it would be easy to find them thanks to the map .
. . .
Despite meeting a few Poisonous Divine Beasts, Arthur disposed of them and possessed them while he was at then he dumped them in his storage as he continued his search . His efforts finally bore fruit as he managed to find the Water Cloud Sect after two hours of thorough search .
The forest was unarguably huge as he only met four small groups in these two hours and two of these groups were retreating due to the strength of the monsters . He even found dead corpses of rogue cultivators, which he possessed, of course .
The Water Cloud Sect seemed a bit moody as an awkward atmosphere covered the group . From the displeased expression of Kai Min, Arthur could guess that they didn’t manage to find any good treasures . Usually, the powerful sects as this one would head deeper in search of treasures until they reached the center of the tomb, where the real stuff was, but at that time, the elders would join and it wouldn’t be their place to earn things, especially for those normal disciples .
Before he left the group following Elo Huo, Arthur didn’t forget to leave a personally created GPS made from Lost Magic . Its only functions are to direct him towards where the group is, he easily managed to attach it to a weak disciple without the latter realizing it .
"This won’t do! We got nothing since we entered the tomb . We’re heading for the Eft Swamp!"
Although this place called ’Eft Swamp’ was extremely dangerous, none of the disciples dared or wanted to refuse . First, is because it was Kai Min who was ordering them and he was more powerful and had higher status than them in the status so it won’t be wise to oppose him, second is because they, too, wanted to obtain treasures and the only possible way right now is the Eft Swamp as the other dangerous places were most likely scavenged by the other powerful factions .
Without excited expressions and burning eyes, the group of juniors hastily head towards the West, where the swamp was supposed to be . Just behind the group, approximatively a few meters underground, a strange plant was moving in their direction without making any noise . As he possessed a carnivorous plant he killed earlier, Arthur followed them easily without fearing being detected .
The hiding ability of this plant is amazing, almost second to none . Not only does it not emit any noise, it had extremely long vines which had sharp edges able to penetrate weakling easily, it also could emanate poisonous fog that makes the targets hallucinate . Unfortunately for the already dead plant, such poison was completely ineffective against Arthur as his stats were more than ten times than it, moreover, his Poison Resistance had long since reached max Lv .
Poison Resistance[Passive Max Lv]: Negates 80% of any poison received(+5% if the Wisdom stats of the user is higher than the enemy . )
Although this was effective for such situations, Arthur still wouldn’t be able to negate the poison of an experience God who excels in poisons . At most, he’ll negate 10 or 20%, however, if he were to possess a special corpse like the unique wolf, then he would be able to activate almost all the possible passives he currently has in his arsenal and negating 60 or 70% percent is doable .
. . . .
Soon, the group reached a large swamp with green muddy water with a few plants growing from deep within it . It looked like any other swamp except that it was incomparably large, it spanned for at least ten miles and it was eerily silent, which gave the creeps to anyone who was near it .
Many large sections would choose to give up on venturing into this swamp as it is really dangerous . It has monsters which are called efts, with four short legs and a six-meter-long body, they were very resistant to physical attacks and could cause a small paralysis effect using a special technique with the help of their weird shaped eyes .
These efts would always cooperate with monstrous plants called ’Evra Plants’, they live deep in the swamp, unreachable by normal people unless they dive deep into the swamp, they make use of their thin yet countless vines to lock the enemies and drag them inside the swamp while the efts finish the targets .
Being Peak Divine Beasts, the efts have gained a substantial amount of intelligence which allows them to cooperate and run when the situation turns dire, not only that, it’s nearly impossible to chase down an eft in this swamp and it would make whoever is chasing vulnerable from all sides when he or she is focusing only on one fleeing target .
Furthermore, flying above the swamp is the only safe way to do it, using a Spirit Boat in the water or anything similar would only incur the anger of the Evra Plants, which will see you as a potential target and they will try their best to drag you down . Unlike Efts, the Evra plants are only Deity Beasts and are weak against frontal attacks but they focus on binding the enemy with their thin vines whilst their friends, the efts, deal the finishing blow, it’s a good a tactic and it works more often than not, which makes a lot of people avoid such a dangerous place .
In fact, Kai Min only proposed this because he knew that the Spatial Master is protecting him which made him feel safe, as for his juniors, he could care less about such weakling, for him, they were merely cannon fodder to obtain what he wants .
Arthur’s goal right now was to test the limits of the Spatial Master, using the current body he was possessing, he was going to the fray and attack Kai Min . He had enough counter-measures if he ever gets discovered and he was confident in being able to escape in case something disastrous were to occur .
Slowly but surely, Kai Min started leading the group deeper into the swamp, their speed was moderate and constant as he was taking the lead .
Despite knowing that the master was protecting him, Kai Min couldn’t help but feel nervous and a bit anxious as he cautiously advanced while keeping an eye on the calm green water, which hides terrifying aquatic monsters .
One more reason that he had chosen this swamp was because it’s known to have rare and priceless treasures, especially Immortal Plants or Heavenly Ranked artifacts of those who had fallen here since ages ago . These were but rumors but with such a big faction behind him, Kai Min knew that these rumors were actually true .
With cold sweating soaking his back, Kai Min took out his precious saber and prepared himself for any sudden attack .
As anyone would have expected, not even twenty minutes since they entered the swamp, the first fight occurred . It began with countless deep green vines surging from the calm water and grabbing into the legs of a dozen disciples, which cried desperately and tried to free themselves from the vines but that was totally futile as cutting a vine would cause ten more to bind you .
The resistance could be called half successful as Kai Min managed to slash away numerous vines and saved three disciples but two have died as he was too late to act . He could have saved them but he refrained from doing so as his sense caught the presence of one dangerous beast lurking just under the surface of the water, from the looks of it, it was looking for a perfect moment to strike . What made him more anxious is that he had a strong gut feeling that whatever is inside was staring at him and no one else, which made him give up on saving these two poor and unfortunate juniors .
The attacks from then on become more and more frequent to the point that every few minutes, a group of vines would surge from below and drag one or two deep into the water . However, what was alarming, or perhaps relaxing, is that no eft was seen . Until now, they only faced the thin vines of the Evra plants and nothing else .
As for Arthur, he managed to easily enter the swamp through a tunnel he dug underground and pass unnoticed by the swimming efts, which were wholly focused on the group of humans floating above the swamp .