168: Island of Light
"I wonder if Zijin can enter the secret realm with me."
"Never mind, if I can't get in, I'll just come out."
Xiao Fan took two steps forward and walked to the white vortex.
"Confirm entry to the Special Secret Realm <Island of Light>?"
"Yes."
The next second, the surrounding scenery changed, and Xiao Fan found himself standing on a small wooden boat.
His first reaction was to check if Zijin had caught up.
"Where is this place? It smells disgusting!"
Behind him, Zijin pinched his nose and flapped his wings with a look of disgust.
Xiao Fan finally felt relieved.
"Does it smell?" Xiao Fan sniffed, but didn't smell anything strange.
"Yes! There's a filthy, rotten smell, it stinks! We need to get out of here right away."
Zijin's voice was muffled and strained, clearly indicating that he was holding his breath.
"Leave?"
Xiao Fan looked around and realized that the wooden boat they were on was floating on a river.
Something's wrong with this river.
Xiao Fan crouched down to examine the river closely and discovered that the water was black, and the entire river was as still as stagnant water.
That's so weird!
In this secret realm, it's impossible to tell whether it's day or night; there's no sun or moon overhead, not even a sky.
The surroundings were dark, but not the pitch black of a winter night; rather, they resembled the color of black water reflecting off the surface.
Xiao Fan frowned slightly.
"If I remember correctly, the name of this secret realm is something like <Island of Light>."
Putting aside whether it was bright or not, he didn't even see an island.
"Jiu Chen, did you hear me? We need to get out of here right now! I hate this smell!" Zijin's face turned bright red; she'd rather not breathe than smell this odor.
"This secret realm is infested with terrifying creatures; we must kill them to leave."
Xiao Fan said in a serious tone, but in his heart he was thinking:
"I can leave the secret realm directly, but Zijin might not be able to follow. Is it okay for me to say that?"
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go right away!" Zijin said urgently.
Xiao Fan: "I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush."
The secret realms of <Cloud Sea> are too complex, especially the Special Secret Realm. Sometimes even Xiao Fan himself is unsure how to fight them.
Take this "Island of Light" for example; Xiao Fan still hasn't figured out how to fight it.
"Could it be like in <Lost Island>, where the monsters are in the river below?"
Looking at the dark river water, Xiao Fan ultimately didn't have the courage to scoop some up and try it.
"Zijin, could you lend me a feather?" Xiao Fan had nothing in his hand except the Myriad Phenomena Token, so he could only look at Zijin beside him.
Zijin only has feathers that can be used.
"Of course not, do you know how precious and powerful the Golden Feather on my wings are?" Zijin politely declined.
"I only lent it to you because of your impressive feathers; they're key to our escape from here," Xiao Fan said.
Zijin hesitated for a moment, but finally plucked a Golden Feather and handed it to Xiao Fan: "Then remember to return it to me."
Xiao Fan:...
How can I repay this?
Never mind, it's not important.
It must be said that the Golden Feather on the Golden Wings are truly beautiful.
The feathers were as slender as golden threads, enveloped in a natural golden halo, like a flowing golden river. Xiao Fan was almost reluctant to throw them into the river.
He crouched down and carefully placed the feather in the black river water.
The next second, something unexpected happened!
The moment the Golden Feather touched the water's surface, the dazzling gold seemed to be paused, and the inky black color spread wildly along the feather's veins, instantly corroding it into a decaying, lifeless black.
Xiao Fan took a few steps back in fright, a wave of fear washing over him. "Luckily, I didn't try to grab it with my bare hands..."
Almost simultaneously, Zijin piercing scream rang out behind him, "My fur!"
"I'm sorry, Zijin, I didn't know it would turn out like this," Xiao Fan quickly apologized.
He truly hadn't expected the black river water to be so terrifying.
"Damn it, do you know how precious my Golden Feather are? And you've ruined them like this!"
As Zijin spoke, he stretched out his wings to retrieve the feathers that had been corroded by the river water.
"Watch out!" Xiao Fan quickly stopped her.
Although Zijin is a level 100 creature, this river is too strange! Xiao Fan is unsure if she will be affected.
However, Zijin was too fast, and Xiao Fan couldn't stop her.
Just then, a human face suddenly appeared above the wooden boat, baring its teeth and claws as it was about to attack Zijin, who was scooping up feathers.
"What a disgusting thing! Take this thunderbolt!"
Zijin shouted, and a bolt of lightning struck the face. With a scream, the face vanished.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye; Xiao Fan saw the information on that face clearly.
Name: Nether
Level: 15
HP: 1500/1500
"Good heavens, even the Nether has appeared! <Cloud Sea>, you're still too versatile!"
Xiao Fan discovered that the more he learned about the game "Cloud Sea," the less he understood it.
It's even Thousand Changes than his skills.
After Zijin killed the Nether monster, Xiao Fan keenly noticed that the wooden boat beneath their feet seemed to have moved forward slightly.
"Does this mean the wooden boat won't move at all on the Black River, and will only move forward after killing the Nether monsters?"
The boat's forward step was like opening Pandora's box.
The Nether attacks continued to strike Xiao Fan and his group's ships, and most of them were killed by Zijin.
Xiao Fan discovered that the wooden boat would move forward a little bit for every Nether he killed.
Finally, after killing who knows how many waves of Nether, an island appeared ahead.
"This is so annoying! There are so many disgusting things here, Jiu Chen, when are we finally going to get out of this awful place?"
Zijin seemed to really hate these Nether; the whole bird became irritable.
"See that island over there? Kill the creatures on it, and we can leave this place," Xiao Fan replied, pointing to the island that appeared in the distance.
"Then what are we waiting for? I'll take you to the island."
As Zijin spoke, he transformed into his true form as the Purple Cloud Spirit Sparrow, carrying Xiao Fan towards Island of Light.
Xiao Fan:...
If they had known they could go directly to the island, what was the point of fighting all those Nether before?
"I'm so drunk! This island is even more disgusting than that river!" The Zijin bird was completely devastated.
Even Xiao Fan stared at the scene before him in disbelief. "This can be called Island of Light? What does this place have to do with light?"
Everything on the island seemed to have been corroded; the rocks were riddled with honeycomb-like holes, the trees were twisted into grotesque shapes, their bark peeling off to reveal the dark interior, and even the land itself didn't seem alive.
"The boss of the secret realm should be on the island."
Just as Xiao Fan finished speaking, he saw a figure walking towards them from not far away.
The man was dressed in a long black robe and wore a hood, but it was still clear that he was thin and looked like a Skull.
"Could it be an NPC?"
Xiao Fan was about to go up and strike up a conversation.
"How disgusting! Go to hell!"
A bolt of lightning struck the man in black.
The man in black robes did nothing; he simply turned into a wisp of smoke and flew away.
Xiao Fan:...