Chapter 1130: Chapter 99: Mysterious Dense Forest
The crackling fire dispelled the surrounding gloom.
Lu Li sat quietly by the bonfire, leaning against the rock, writing in his open notebook.
"I’ve reached the second stage."
Soon, new writing appeared in the blank space of the notebook.
[As expected of Lu Li. What’s the exit?]
"The exit is the mist. It won’t appear when you deliberately look for it; only when forgotten does it exist."
[Sounds really complicated... I’ll just stay in the first stage and be eliminated.]
The writing was quickly crossed out, then amended below: [Never mind, I’ll find a way to pass. Are you still in the swamp?]
"I don’t think so."
Lu Li looked around the area.
The terrifying giant trees felt like iron bars of a prison, with humans as insignificant ants within. The sky-obscuring branches and leaves let no light through, while twisted branches and hanging vines swayed like a dark seaweed.
Lu Li wrote down the description of the dark giant forest and received a response:
[Sounds like the Mysterious Dense Forest... Dig through the soil and see if there are roots deep down.]
Lu Li was already doing just that.
By the flickering firelight, Lu Li dug into the soil by the bonfire. Just a few inches below the moist, soft rot, his fingertips touched something hard.
He threw a Fluorite Chunk into the pit he had dug, the shadow unreachable by the firelight illuminated by the faint glow, revealing layers of sinister roots beneath the soil like a network of blood vessels.
"This is the Mysterious Dense Forest."
[Hmm... First confirm your location, then take refuge in a nearby small cottage. You know what to do, I don’t need to remind you. I’m now trying to get to the second stage.]
[Also, I’ve gotten close to the excavation area but can’t enter. The Earth Dwellers are frantically searching for something in the area and have had a conflict with the Bloodline Family Alliance.]
The Earth Dwellers reacted faster than expected.
Seeing that the Earth Dwellers and Mine Slaves in the cave were dead from the shock caused by the Keeper of the Realm’s escape, he would only be suspected, not directly identified as the culprit.
"Can participants die?"
As Claire was preparing to get busy on the other end of the notebook, Lu Li suddenly wrote down.
[Did something happen? Did one of your companions die? Very sorry to hear that, but they truly are dead.]
Lu Li stared at the words emerging in the notebook, lapsing into silence.
But after a few seconds, new content began to emerge gradually.
[Alright, you’re already suspicious. It won’t take long for you to know the truth, so I’ll just tell you directly... The Top Ten Battle protects all participants, reviving them even if they die. I think your mother and the others didn’t tell you because they wanted you to awaken other Cursed Titles. Don’t blame them...]
It matched with what Will Ken had said.
"Will Ken."
Lu Li took out the Parchment that housed Will Ken’s consciousness. Since entering the second stage, Will Ken hadn’t appeared and the Parchment had returned to being ordinary.
Receiving no response, Lu Li put away the Parchment and the notebook, which no longer revealed content, took out a compass, summoned Merchant Anthony, and recalled the legends about the forbidden Mysterious Dense Forest.
However, something existed here before Merchant Anthony even arrived...
Unlike the swamp or filthy sewers, the danger of the Mysterious Dense Forest originated from the forbidden area itself—those terrifying giant trees and the beings coexisting, clinging to them.
The rustling sound echoed from the unseen black tree canopy that blotted out the sky, breaking the silence.
[The Mysterious Dense Forest is their domain. Any outsider will face rejection, becoming a part of the forest—nourishment.]
Lu Li extinguished the bonfire, relying only on a torch made by wrapping fabric around a stick, departing from the ember fire pit he lingered at for too long.
Holding the torch, Lu Li walked along the path pointed by the compass, journeying through the vast, eerie Gloomy Forest. In this environment lacking reference points, the only function of the compass was to tell him which direction he was heading.
Merchant Anthony presented a temporarily useless map. The surroundings remained unchanged: a mist-like presence surged in the Silent Forest, and terrifying giant trees with diameters of several dozen meters stood everywhere, deeper and darker than the gloom.
No shrubs, no vitality.
Lu Li had Merchant Anthony contact Kiluat, contact Nunes, and contact everyone in the first stage who held an eyeball, except for Claire, but received no response.
The torch gradually dimmed. This weakening was unreasonable. It should’ve burned for over ten minutes, yet only three or four minutes had passed.
The lurking presence surged closer in the darkness, waiting for the torch to completely extinguish.
[They fear the flame and also hate it—the more they hate, the more they fear, the more they fear, the more they hate.]
Not knowing his location, Lu Li could only continue forward, walking between the sparse giant trees.
[The Speaker of the Trees] seemed ineffective here, or at least not fully effective. Lu Li was not treated as a friend in this place, yet he hadn’t encountered the various strange rumors about the Mysterious Dense Forest.
Hiss—
The weak torch suddenly made the sound of being extinguished, its flame snuffed out into a wisp of rising green smoke.
The flame no longer protected the outline engulfed by darkness, as the swirling shadows attacked Lu Li.
But in the abrupt descent of darkness, Lu Li managed to glimpse something deep between the gaps of the terrifying giant trees—a window lit up with faint firelight, casting a vague reflection of half a wall.
[The small cottage in the forest is the only exception, where corpses are respected. If you find a cottage, you will gain temporary peace.]
Darkness stacked heavily upon descent, and just as it was about to touch the figure on the ground, it was as though holy wings spread open, and a radiant light suddenly enveloped Lu Li’s body.
A sapling blooming with dim light extended its trunk, transforming into tangible darkness that enveloped Lu Li, its strength gradually retracting back into the sky as plants crowded and emerged visibly from the soil, growing rapidly.
Lu Li discarded the torch, approaching the forest cottage as he was guarded by the sprouting saplings.
Soon, the people in the forest cottage discovered Lu Li.
The light at the window was obscured, with many gazes gathered at the window, looking out at the silhouette draped in radiance, filled with vibrant vitality in the Gloomy Forest.
They gazed at each other.
A few seconds later, the wooden door of the forest cottage swung open, and a figure stood at the entrance, their voice echoing as it reached out.
"Are you the Exorcist Lu Li?"
Lu Li nodded gently, his gaze falling on the medallion on the figure’s chest: Old Sewer Front.
"What’s the hint for the second stage?"
If there was a hint for this stage, it was most likely in the forest cottage.
Lu Li halted his steps because he saw the indistinct silhouettes inside the forest cottage and their badges: they were all contestants from the Old Sewer Front and the Conspiracy Web Deity Sect.
Obviously, either other camps were prevented from approaching this cottage, or the originally present other camps had already been jointly eliminated by these two camps.
After a short wait, a crow carrying a note flew from the forest cottage, landing on the grass extending under Lu Li’s feet.
His gaze lingered briefly on the blood crow with bloody strands beneath its wings. Lu Li picked up the note. The blood crow, free of the note, tilted its head curiously, pecking at the new white flower it had never seen before.