Mystical Journey

Garen looked at him deeply, that black-red cross-shaped sword was actually the materialization of the Living Secret Technique from that devil.

And it was just then, that the two secret techniques seemed to be slowly merging inside his body, creating a strange and unique effect with his own Black Water True Technique.

The Living Secret Techniques, especially this Secret Technique that the Cthulhu King had given him which was appropriate for himself, definitely had some special characteristics that he did not know.

Seeing Garen's expression sink, the Cthulhu King chuckled, leaned on the black door, and coughed a few times, heavily.

"I didn't trick you, this Living Secret Technique is the real deal, it just has some little side effects."

Garen narrowed his eyes slightly, and was about to say something, but he saw the Divine God Palace Master walk out slowly from behind the Cthulhu King, and the words he had wanted to say paused in his throat.

The Divine God Palace Master glanced at the two of them, and walked to the middle of the cliff by himself, sitting on the ground, and leaning on a protruding stone to rest.

The three of them took up three spots in front, in the middle, and at the back of the cliff respectively, not saying anything.

Each Living Secret Technique was an ultimate and powerful existence, once you find a Living Secret Technique that suited you, and trained it successfully, you could break past the peak of Form Five, like Hellgate, and enter Form Six, reaching a terrifying, unprecedented level. Everyone would want such a treasure, and the more the merrier.

*********************

More than ten thousand kilometers away from the ruins, the Enderian capital, Monolith Main City.

The huge Monolith City was like a giant white dragon, nestled on the soil-yellow highlands.

There were the white Enderian national flags flying everywhere in the city, the white flags with the red cross flapping loudly in the wind.

At dawn, between the scattered swathes of green paddy fields outside the city, many teams on horseback, all dressed differently, rushed towards Monolith City under the attentive gazes of the farmers.

Like so many differently-colored long ribbons, they flowed into the city from all directions.

On the high walls inside the city, there were groups of totem users in white patrolling back and forth, and many Double-Headed White Eagles also flew circles in the air above the city, occasionally squawking, loud and long.

Several huge hot-air balloons were suspended in the air, with people scattering clouds of fresh pink petals from the baskets below, forming petal rains that fell down.

In the group headed towards Monolith City, some were riding tall horses and all other types of creatures, while others just walked, their armor bright and distinguishable. There were even some who sat in carriages pulled by flying birds and walking creatures, advancing at high speeds.

On the two sides of Monolith City's large white stone doors, almost a hundred meter tall, there were two giant white statues, also almost a hundred meters tall, one held a sword while the other held a shield, and both wore helmets so their faces could not be seen. There were occasionally people who stopped at the feet of these stone giants to admire them.

Outside the city gates, the traffic kept flowing, without end, peddlers carrying fruits and vegetables, outsider totem users with weapons, swords and shields on their backs, wandering hunters with their longbows and arrows, even some stout men wearing black silk clothes, these men in silk clothes had a simple pattern of two dragon heads on their chests, and were in fact disciples of the Black Swamp Palace from Kovitan.

"What are the Nine-Headed Hydra's disciples doing all the way here? Could they also be here to join in the World's Totem King Festival?"

On the left of the large white road leading into the city, a worn old black carriage with silver edges drove in slowly, there were several black-armored guards following it, and one of the young guards spotted those few members of the Black Swamp Palace, muttering under his breath.

"Nine-Headed Hydra?"

The carriage's curtain was lifted slowly, revealing a man's face that looked curious.

"Recently, after Phiros died in battle, his many descendants were exterminated, only his oldest son having hidden well enough to save himself. These Black Swamp Palace disciple should be out here to gain experiences, ignore them."

"Even if the Black Swamp Palace Master himself comes here, could he be stronger than Phiros?" Another girl's voice came out from the carriage, with an air of straightforwardness, evidently the owner was a cheery and straightforward person.

"After coming out from underground, it's been such a long time since I've seen such clear skies…" The woman lifted the other curtains, revealing a pretty and fair face, looking up at the sky, her bright yellow eyes revealed an ease as though she had put down a heavy burden.

"The President has called out all of the society's fighting power this time, and even pulled us out from underground, looks like he really means to make it big." The man said in a low voice.

"That's for sure, it's just we still need to plan our move. Phiros' final battle that time caused our President to sustain some slight injuries as well. I didn't expect the King of Daniela to have nearly broken past that limit, if we gave him a few more years, he might really have become a great enemy of ours."

"Thank goodness President was decisive enough, and made his move before that guy became a ticking time bomb." The man nodded in agreement. "The Divine God Palace in the south have gathered a bunch of people, seems like that old fellow hasn't given up yet."

The woman shook her head, and said no more.

The man sighed.

"After settling the King of Ender here, it's time for we, the Black Sky Society, to unite the two continents. But I don't know why, these past few years it's been getting harder and harder for me to understand what the President is thinking… Back then we had followed him out, just by ourselves, and after adventuring for so many years, I really don't know if our first promise from way back then still counts."

"Maybe… the President has already forgotten…" The woman interrupted then, her voice extremely soft, but revealing a hint of uncertainty and worry.

"Pass down my order, send some people to follow those guys from the Black Swamp Palace, and find a chance to clean them up." The man told his subordinates.

"Yes!" A guard woman at the side lowered her head and accepted the order, choosing two others and leaving the team, to follow the people from the Black Swamp Palace.

"Might as well take it as collecting some interest from God Cloud and the others," the man said softly.

************

Just as the people from Black Sky were quietly entering the city.

A hooded man dressed fully in black slowly followed the large road into the city from the other city gates.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle, he squeezed out of the crowd quietly, and walked to the side of a fountain in the city, looking up and towards the distant heart of the city.

There was a giant golden statue of the War God there, more than three hundred meters tall, sparkling under the morning light, the War God held a long spear, bent his right knee, and bent his body as though about to throw it, wearing just a golden gauze cloth around his body. There was a huge and thick beard on his face, a simple snake-ring belt around his waist.

The man in black looked at the golden War God statue, the hint of a smile appearing on his bare face under his hood.

That face had a strange metallic grey hue to it, as though he was not alive, without the slightest blush of color.

"Eternal Night Palace…"

Just then under, right underneath the War God statue, in the deepest point of the huge underground palace, up to a hundred meters deep.

A person dressed in heavy armor and sitting on the throne suddenly raised their head, a pair of white eyes slowly lighting up in the darkness of the helmet.

Ker-chak.

The figure in heavy armor slowly gripped the throne's armrest tightly.

"Hellgate… You're finally here…"

An icy woman's voice rang from underneath the armor.

******************

Inside the ruins

Garen sat cross-legged on the tip of the cliff, staring at the other two quietly, not saying a word.

Of the other two, one stood and one sat, but neither said a thing.

The three of them had all gotten what they wanted, but as temporary allies, they all had their own thoughts, even if they had no ambition, they would still be worried about whether or not there was something suspicious between the other two.

It was highly likely that the Divine God Palace Master had some plans, trying to see if he had a chance to take the things the other two had. Be it the Living Secret Technique or the Demon Mirror, neither were things that could be quickly and completely absorbed and controlled, they all required a long time to fuse and understand.

As a nest leader, if he could kill off these two right here, then the nest leaders would have two fewer powerful enemies to face in the future, after all, such peak-level fighters were not like cabbages that could simply emerge at any time.

But if he was to face the two of them alone, he believed that his condition right now might not allow it; one, on the other hand, was no problem. As a non-human, his recovery speed was extremely fast, and that period of time just now was already enough for him to recover part of his power.

Garen had naturally seen through his intentions, out of wariness, he was in no rush to attack either, so he just delayed it, he was confident that his recovery was no slower than the other's, so he was in no hurry. If at first, before he entered the ruins, he had Form Five peak-level power, then now, after learning Doublecast and spying the secrets of the Living Secret Technique, just a little, his power had gotten an even stronger boost.

Although he did not break his limits, but compared to an old-hand elite fighter like the Cthulhu King, under these circumstances where unnatural power was limited, he was already around the same level.

Faced with the threat of the Divine God Palace Master right now, he was not nervous either, just sitting cross-legged on the ground, to see what the other party had in mind.

The Cthulhu King, on the other hand, had twinkling eyes, his heart somewhat unsure, his expression seemed to be saying that he was planning to let the other two fight it out and he would take advantage of it. This was already the key reason the Divine God Palace Master was wary.

Right now, the three of them had instead formed a strange balance, and nobody dared to make the first move.

At first the Cthulhu King did not have this intention either, but after seeing the scene with the devil just now, he began to have second thoughts.

Looking at Garen, whose expression was steady, the Divine God Palace Master fell silent for a moment, but his gaze floated slightly towards the Cthulhu King's direction, evidently he could not find an opportunity to attack, so he decided to switch targets instead.

Even he, a nest leader, could read some of the Cthulhu King's intentions.

"Divine God Palace Master, this time all three of us have earned much from these ruins, but we are all seriously injured now, what's say we each go back and rest, and only consider other matters once we're healed, what do you think about that?"

Garen spoke suddenly. He had cleverly noticed that the Divine God Palace Master's thoughts had shifted to the Cthulhu King, and by speaking decisively now, he made it clear that he did not plan to meddle, and just wanted to go home and heal, so you can kill the Cthulhu King after I go, I won't interfere at all.

"Humans are all crafty and sly. I don't trust you." The Divine God Palace Master shook his head slightly. If Garen retreated intentionally and hid, waiting for both of them to hurt each other before appearing again, that would be truly dangerous.

"Then why don't you leave first, and then all of us can recover, wouldn't that be better?" Only then did Garen voice his true intentions. What he implicitly meant was, since you can't make a move, worried about this and that, why don't you just not do anything.

But the Divine God Palace Master just stayed quiet and said no more, evidently trying to stall the two of them.

Garen and the Cthulhu King exchanged a glance, and read a hint of cruelty in each other's gazes, both of them figured out that the other wanted to join forces and kill the Divine God Palace Master.

The atmosphere in the cave began to grow heavy.