Chapter 208: No, You Wanted To!
Beiqi, North Rocks.
A sly figure was venturing further in. Behind him, a tall, sluggish silhouette followed.
Hu He had been on edge ever since he entered the deeper region of North Rocks because he was encroaching on the Rock Ghost King’s territory. It was not uncommon for players to be viciously attacked by either the Rock Ghost King himself or the ancient tree demon upon entering this area.
However, Hu He was rather surprised. Apart from a few tree demon soldiers, he did not encounter any boss level creatures. Hu He let out a sigh of relief.
After another hour of walking, Hu He’s eyes welled up with tears as the border came into sight.
If I can’t remain here, I’m sure I can make somewhere else my home! European server, here I come!
He had considered changing servers before, but he still had a strong sense of attachment toward his original server. He decided that for the time being, he would hide in the European server and only return to prove himself after becoming stronger.
Hu He welcomed the warm sun when he walked out from the woods. He walked on with a feeling of ease as he could already feel his new life waving him hello.
After walking for a while, a game notification rang in his head.
[Game notification: You have entered the European server’s Land of Cangxu. From now on, you will respawn at the Hidden Dragon Village resurrection point.]
Goodbye justice of backstabbing! Farewell, players who saw me as a malignant player! From now on, I won’t lack either friendship or love…
A bright smile lit up Hu He’s face as he imagined a perfect future to come.
He sped up and raced toward the purple safe zone shown on the map. He wanted to make some new friends first, since he had always been by himself. Indeed, he was lonely. It was high time for him to put in some effort to chat with other players.
Right then, the compass he was carrying started beeping.
Instinctively, Hu He took the compass out and was surprised to find a high Zombie Energy Value shown on the compass.
But this time, Hu He hesitated. He wondered if he should proceed to dig it up.
His recent grave-digging endeavors left him traumatized. He was afraid of encountering another seal or worse.
He debated with himself for a while before finally deciding to check it out.
He followed the navigation on the compass and marched toward the selected destination.
When he arrived at a hill covered in weeds, Hu He stopped in his tracks, “It’s here!”
He took out his spade subconsciously. Just when he was about to dig, his mind tangled up.
“It wouldn’t be a seal again, right!?”
No, it can’t be. I’m near the newbie village, surely the game developers would’ve considered this. They wouldn’t set such a high difficulty…
After some self-talk, the troublemaker within him woke up and his immorality as a zombie forgemaster erupted again.
I’ll just have a light dig. I’ll stop if things get fishy! Yes, it’ll be like this.
So Hu He took out two spades and handed one over to Cha Na’s zombie spirit. Then, they began to dig diligently at the hill.
After nearly half an hour, Hu He plunged his spade hard into the huge hole he made. Suddenly, the earth under his feet loosened and his body fell vertically downward, straight into the hole underneath.
Upon seeing this, Cha Na’s zombie spirit jumped in, too.
The grave chamber was pitch black. Hu He stood up immediately, took out the torch he prepared specifically for tomb raiding and began to scan his surroundings.
He instantly found himself in a prison with ten metal-caged cells. It appeared to prevent creatures from escaping.
This relieved Hu He. Perhaps it was not a grave chamber. The bodies of the dead elites could not be a seal, so he should be able to continue digging without any worries.
Hu He walked along the dark tunnel, flashing his torch around the insides of the cells to see what was kept within.
The first cell contained a pile of bones. The bones looked too big to have come from a human-like structure. It was a pity that these bones were too old and severely corroded. He would not be able to forge anything out of them.
Hu He let out a sigh and moved on to the second cell.
It was a similar sight to the first one, a pile of rotten bones with nothing valuable found. When he tried to touch the metal cages, the rusted surface crumbled away into fine powder.
How old is this place? Hu He’s eyes were full of shock.
In this world, most of the materials were spiritual. Judging from the Zombie Energy, those who were jailed here must have been elites and these metal cages were not just normal metal either.
Hence, Hu He could not begin to imagine how old this prison had to be in order for such spiritual metal to turn into rust.
As he browsed the cells, Hu He realized that all the creatures here had become rotten bones, so he could not make anything out of them. Hu He was greatly disappointed and thought he would return empty-handed this time.
When he came to the eighth cell, Hu He raised his torch and noticed that this one stood out from the other cells.
This metal cage glowed with a silvery-white light under his torchlight and it had not been corroded by time. It seemed very unusual and must be a valuable metal.
This sparked Hu He’s curiosity. He flashed his light inside the cell. When the darkness receded, a scrawny silhouette lying on the floor came into light.
Hu He was excited to find a usable corpse, so he quickly scanned the target with the analysis ability.
[Yuanxu (Level ???)]:
Character Information: Previous ruler of the Land of Yuanxu. After losing a battle to Xian Xu, his title of His Excellency was abdicated. His cultivation was revoked and he was imprisoned here.
Character State: Half-dead.
…
This was the first time Hu He had seen a creature with question marks for its strength condition. However, he was not afraid, since it was half-dead and its cultivation had been revoked.
Looking at this person, Hu He contemplated scavenging him.
Since this person was once a ruler, he must be much stronger than an ordinary character. Since he was abdicated from his position, though, he could still be holding a grudge. If released, he’d potentially wreak havoc.
Thinking about this, Hu He shivered and decided against it.
Although his cultivation was revoked, anything was possible in the world of this game. Maybe this old chap had a trick up his sleeve to regain his cultivation so he was able to survive until now. It was best for him not to stir up any trouble.
With this in mind, Hu He decided to retreat as he did not want to have a target on his back the moment he arrived in the European server.
“Quick… help me out…” just then, an old voice could be heard coming from his front, making Hu He tremble vigorously.
“You… can talk?” Hu He flashed the cell with his torch again. He saw that the frail old man had sat up and was staring directly at him with his murky, dented, and hollow eyes.
“Let me out… save me…” Yuanxu’s mouth wobbled, speaking with his husky voice.
“What are you going to do if I let you out?” Hu He couldn’t help but ask.
“Kill… Cangxu… rebuild my land of Yuanxu!” even through the metal bars, Hu He could feel the piercing sense of hatred.
“Goodbye, old chap, I don’t have time for you. I’ll patch up the hole I came through on my way up, just stay here for the rest of your life!” Hu He did not dare free him after his intentions became clear, so he instantly turned and walked away.
What a joke, I used to be naive. Once bitten, twice shy. I will never again let a Demon King out into the world, lest it be another Mu Zhiguang!
Seeing Hu He leaving, a light glitched in Yuanxu’s foggy eyes in the cell. He pointed in the direction of Hu He.
A green light zapped from Yuanxu’s fingertips, blazing toward Hu He. However, a shield of light from the cage blocked the attack, stopping it from shooting outward.
Buzz!
The sound from behind him alarmed Hu He. He turned back and saw a green light clashing with the silvery-white metal cages, almost blindingly bright.
“Trying to run away?” Hu He was startled and he rushed back to the cell.
“Hey you, stop right there!”
Hu He bit his lip, he did not wish to be related to the reveal of this great demon.
Last time, Mu Zhiguang’s explanation menu had already brought him enough trouble. He hated the words that he was awakened by himself to be forever added to his analysis menu.
When that happens, he would never be able to explain himself.
“This Silvermoon Metal… is almost… out of spirit… help me!” Yuanxu continued to yell, stuttering.
“No way am I helping you. Stop this right now, I’m warning you! Don’t make me hurt you!” Hu He was panicking. He raised his spade to threaten him.
Yuanxu was not shaken by this, he kept mumbling words as the green and silver light continued fighting each other.
“Dammit!” frustrated, Hu He slammed his spade on the silver cage, trying to scare him.
When his spade hit hard, the silvery white light buzzed for a while before dimming, and a crack appeared on the metal bars.
“Shoot!” Hu He’s head went numb and he cursed silently. Little did he know that this metal was a lot weaker than it appeared.
“Thank you…” a voice came from within the cell.
Hu He had no tears left to cry. He grabbed the Zombie Poison Powder from his pocket and threw it in an attempt to stop him.
Buzz!
There were sounds of metal corroding away. Before it could enter the cell, the Zombie Poison Powder was stopped by the silvery white light and quickly disintegrated while the silver glow dimmed even more.
“Go to hell!” Hu He held his head and leaned back, fear plastered all over his face.
Crack!
A crisp sound of a silver metal bar snapping rang out.
Just when Hu He thought this was the end for him, the green aura spreading from Yuanxu’s body went out with a puff, and only green smoke remained.
Yuanxu went speechless.
Hu He was rendered speechless as well.
“Hahaha, you’ve used up your health, right? Can’t come out? Hahahaha!” Hu He burst into hysterical laughter. He had barely made it out by the skin of his teeth.
At that moment, Yuanxu moved his body slowly, approaching the broken silver bar. He fixed his opaque eyes direclty on Hu He.
[Facing soul attack… manipulation through seizure… successfully exempted!]
Hu He was taken aback by the game notification. He then shifted his fearful eyes to Yuanxu.
“You tried to manipulate me just now!”
“Why… is your soul… not… manipulatable?” amazement flashed through Yuanxu’s blurry eyes.
Listening to Yuanxu’s answer, Hu He’s body shivered.
How creepy, if this guy can manipulate souls, he may have other powers. I can’t stay here anymore, it’s best if I go up and bury him again now.
At this point, Hu He definitely wanted to leave.
However, after a few steps, Hu He felt weird. Cha Na’s zombie spirit did not follow him.
Right after, he heard some knocking sounds from his back.
Hu He looked back quickly, only to find that Cha Na’s zombie spirit was banging his spade on the cell.
“Holy fuck, you idiot. What are you doing? Are you crazy?” Hu He screamed at the top of his lungs.
He wanted to summon Cha Na’s zombie spirit back into the zombie storage bag, but Cha Na’s zombie spirit did not respond to any instructions. A game notification appeared.
[Game notification: Your subordinate, Cha Na’s zombie spirit, has been manipulated, you no longer have the ability to control it!]
Hu He’s heart sank. Looking at the gradually opening cell, he whispered, “Shoot! Shoot! I didn’t do it on purpose, I didn’t mean to let him out!”
“No, you wanted to!” Cha Na’s zombie spirit smiled devilishly at Hu He.