The Stone Swallow Clan seems to possess the unique ability to freely decompose and reshape their bodies within their own secret realm.
"It seems that disguising oneself as a native is quite difficult... Let's do the same as before and observe first."
Lin Hui walked slowly out along the stone path.
This time, he also used smuggling to get to Swallow Fort, spending a lot of money to have a snakehead find an extremely remote void portal to enter. This place is far from the cities and settlements of the Stone Swallow Clan, and the surrounding area is mostly empty, which is perfect for him to familiarize himself with the environment first. However, he had only walked a short distance when Lin Hui suddenly stopped and looked to the right side of the stone path ahead.
On the stone wall there, a distorted human face quietly protruded.
The face was grayish-black, with its mouth slightly open, from which a viscous black liquid slowly flowed and dripped onto the ground.
The black liquid emitted a foul stench, staining a small patch of the ground black, and slowly rising wisps of black smoke.
"The Shi Yan people?" Lin Hui asked.
Before coming here, he had studied the language of the Shiyan tribe. Although his speech was a bit awkward, at least his grammar and vocabulary were correct. Whew!
The face not only didn't respond, but suddenly opened its mouth wide and lunged at him.
It actually flew straight out of the wall, dragging its long, vine-like black neck, and bit down hard on Lin Hui.
But it had only flown halfway when the human face froze in mid-air, fell silent, and began to shatter from its base, turning into black smoke and disappearing completely. Lin Hui merely flickered the blue flame in his eyes, and with just a mental suppression, he instantly crushed the little thing to death.
"Wild monsters around the first ring?"
He roughly estimated the energy level of the face and frowned slightly.
His purpose in coming to Swallow Fort was naturally to collect more items similar to Dragon Horn Shedding.
If the Dragon Court can find it, and the Endless Divine Clan can find it, then Swallow Fort is very likely to have something similar.
While Ping Yun is still preoccupied with its internal conflict, we must quickly leverage the information gap to gather enough Existence Force.
As soon as he entered Swallow Fort, Lin Hui felt that he had been somewhat hasty.
This place... is too restrictive.
He reached out and tapped on the stone wall.
The dark gray stone path was incredibly hard. Even Lin Hui, after constantly increasing his strength and using all his might, could only barely manage to leave a few finger marks on the stone wall.
"Abnormal hardness. No wonder this stone path is so narrow; it seems the mining is too difficult." Lin Hui withdrew his hand and was about to continue forward when suddenly a thought struck him, and one of the marks on his body emitted a wave requesting to make contact.
He checked and saw that it came from Dragon Court.
In reality, at this moment, he was crossing two realms and still had a signal to contact him. Only the God Clan or the Dragon Court had this technology. The human realm was far from having such communication technology.
Lin Hui raised his hand, pressed it against a white dragon-shaped mark on the back of his other hand, and injected Wind Energy. He immediately heard the voice of Zhuo Xinghai, the leader of the Dragon Court Pioneers.
"Mr. Lin, I've found some more dragon Dragon Horn Shedding from ancient dragons. Do you want them? There aren't many, but they're quite large and will be very comfortable to use!"
Lin Hui was silent for two seconds. Although he had explained many times that he did not bring this thing for his female companion, Zhuo Xinghai and the other dragons only thought that he was just shy.
"I'm not in the Black Domain right now, so I can't receive the goods for the time being. Just store them with you for now," he replied softly.
"Alright, Mr. Lin, are you in the human realm right now? Please be extremely careful. The area affected by the battlefield is starting to expand. I've received some inside information, and something big might happen," Zhuo Xinghai kindly reminded him.
Now, most of their Pioneers have joined Clear Jade Mountain and become outer sect members. Therefore, they have a very high level of recognition for Lin Hui.
After all, the Virtue Seal had given them a significant boost in overall strength. This allowed the Pioneers ' influence within the Dragon Court to expand rapidly. "It's alright, I'm currently traveling in the Swallow Fort Secret Realm. The battlefield won't affect me," Lin Hui replied.
" Swallow Fort?" Zhuo Xinghai was taken aback, then remained silent for a few seconds. "Since Mr. Lin has come to Swallow Fort, I wonder if you could grant me a request, even as a transaction?"
"What? You tell me first, and let's see if I can do it," Lin Hui said.
"That's how it is. I have a close friend in Swallow Fort. We once made a pact to try and reach the seventh ring together. Later, I failed and was seriously injured. After recuperating at home, I contacted my friend again and found that his situation was quite dire. Coincidentally, if my friend could receive your help, sir, Virtue Seal, he might be able to turn things around and soar to great heights." Zhuo Xinghai said solemnly.
"Oh? Tell me more." Lin Hui immediately became interested.
"That's how it is. Because my family is the lineage of the Star Sea Dragon King, which has a huge influence, my failure to break through had little impact on me. But my friend is different. He came from humble beginnings and relied entirely on himself. After his failure, he was severely injured and his strength plummeted. As a result, he was captured by the Stone Swallow Holy Court and sentenced to death."
He paused, then sighed.
"But because his power system is too bizarre, the conventional death penalty in Shi Yan's eyes couldn't completely kill him. So, they had no choice but to imprison him in the Thousand Nether Prison, the most dangerous place in the Stone Swallow Secret Realm where serious criminals are held. Because the Stone Swallow Clan is adept at absorbing the power of death, every now and then, some special powerhouses who are too strong to be executed will appear. And these powerhouses are all imprisoned there." "So, you want me to give him the Virtue Seal to help him break through and escape?" Lin Hui asked.
"Mr. Lin, rest assured, the prison where my friend is located is not highly regarded. Due to its age and the outbreak of external wars, the original guards' strength has been downgraded several times. When I visited him last time, I only bribed him with a small amount of money and we met smoothly. There's no problem," Zhuo Xinghai said. "In fact, because of the escalating external war, there are calls within Shiyan to release these heinous criminals to the battlefield." "Wait, you just said... heinous criminals!?" Lin Hui's smile froze.
"Um... it's just a charge the authorities leveled against him. It's not really true. The upper echelons Decay, and the Stone Swallow Clan is riddled with internal conflicts. For a commoner like him to rise to such a level, he naturally had to seize resources and offend people everywhere. You should understand, sir." Zhuo Xinghai chuckled dryly, explaining promptly. "Tell me the truth. What's this guy's background?" Lin Hui asked solemnly.
"Actually..." Zhuo Xinghai wanted to say something nice, but when he thought about the elusive method of obtaining the seal, which required sincerity, he sighed and said it directly.
"Actually, my friend, named Indoma, is the notorious leader of the Star-Stealing Bandit Gang within the Stone Swallow Clan. His true strength is far greater than mine, but because the path he takes completely contradicts the upper echelons of the Stone Swallow Clan, and it can even be said that he needs to devour the power within the bodies of older Shiyan people to feed on, he was surrounded, framed, and imprisoned."
"... What kind of person is he?" Lin Hui asked.
"He's absolutely kind-hearted! After all, he's my good friend. We've known each other for thousands of years and have long considered each other brothers. How could I not know him? He's truly a very kind guy, but he was forced onto this path by external circumstances!" Zhuo Xinghai said with emotion.
"Heh heh." Lin Hui didn't believe a word Zhuo Xinghai, a man capable of becoming the leader of a major organization, said.
If he were truly as simple as he claims, he could not have become the leader of such a powerful organization as the Pioneers.
It's not that a simple and kind person can't be a leader, but in the situation the Pioneers faced, a simple person couldn't bring benefits to all members, let alone persuade them with ideals and goals.
Therefore, those who can become the leader of this organization are either Ambitionists or idealistic.
However, if this Indoma is truly as powerful as Zhuo Xinghai claims, and naturally opposed to the higher-ups of Shi Yan, then... it's possible that behind him lies Time String even more powerful than the Pioneers Clan!
"No matter what, I'll find out by meeting this person in person," Lin Hui transmitted his voice.
"Alright. Please wait a moment, sir, as I send you the specific location of the Thousand Nether Prison, along with the steps and precautions," Zhuo Xinghai said quickly.
He clearly had considerable confidence in his friend's interview.
A few breaths later, the mark transmitted detailed instructions on how to enter the Thousand Nether Prison.
This place is the worst and most desolate place at the very bottom of the entire secret realm.
The overall structure of the Stone Swallow Secret Realm is based on the number of layers, which distinguishes between good and bad environments.
It can be divided into nine layers from top to bottom.
The highest level, the first floor, was where the important figures and nobles of the Stone Swallow Clan lived. The second to sixth floors were the residential areas for the middle class, and the seventh floor was where commoners and slaves lived together.
The last eight or nine floors are prisons with such harsh environments that they are completely undevelopable.
Therefore, the Stone Swallow Clan named these two levels "Absolute Prison".
The Thousand Nether Prison is the most dangerous and worst natural prison in the ninth level.
Countless ghosts roam within, constantly devouring the bodies and minds of any outsider.
Ghosts are formless and devoid of intelligence. They can devour souls, completely turning any outsider into a withered shell.
It can be said to be the greatest nemesis of the Stone Swallow Clan.
Indoma was imprisoned here, constantly suffering the excruciating pain of being devoured by the ghosts. His enormous and powerful terrifying holy soul and immortal body have been repeatedly cycled through death and rebirth, and he has been serving his sentence for over a thousand years.
According to Zhuo Xinghai, Indoma series of coincidences, comprehended a power different from the innate power of death and annihilation of the Stone Swallow Clan, and thus rose rapidly, but was also hunted down and suppressed by the higher-ups.
All those notorious reputations were unfairly imposed on him.
His body is now divided into hundreds of pieces, scattered throughout the Thousand Nether Prison. His holy soul is imprisoned deep within the core, and can only be reached by passing through the prison passage built by the Holy Court.
Lin Hui's figure flashed, and instead of looking at the city of the Stone Swallow Clan, he directly followed the secret technique for opening the lower level of the gate that Zhuo Xinghai had passed down. He quickly traversed the stone passage and soon found a natural circular spot with vortex marks on the ground.
He stepped onto the ground, quickly forming several hand seals, and channeled his internal Wind Energy into the imprint beneath his feet.
Swish!
Suddenly, everything went blurry before my eyes.
He found himself in an even darker, more gloomy passage.
The surrounding stone walls were covered with human faces spitting out black slime.
A foul-smelling black smoke enveloped everything here.
Without lingering, Lin Hui once again flashed away, searching for the next vortex-shaped location.
This process is repeated until the third time.
His figure flickered, instantly appearing in a thick Black Mist, where nothing could be seen.
"Don't rush. This... requires a special guiding fingerprint. The authorization fingerprint I processed last time was a key, which also allows for two prison visits. I'll send it over to you first." Zhuo Xinghai's voice became distant and faint.
The signal is clearly getting worse here. This is the deepest part of the Stone Swallow Secret Realm.