Several days later, in a cold, damp forest tens of thousands of miles southwest of the Soul Palace Branch Hall they had previously visited.
The forest was thick with moisture, unbearably damp, and filled with dead trees whose withered branches stretched across one another. Their dry, grotesque limbs spread overhead, blotting out the gloomy sky so completely that not a sliver of light could reach the wet, pitch-black soil below. Poisonous fumes permeated the forest, and banks of dark green toxic mist churned through it. Any ordinary person who touched them would dissolve into a puddle of poisonous liquid in an instant.
At the deepest part of this forest lay a swamp that stretched beyond sight. Its grayish-brown mire flowed slowly, with enormous bubbles occasionally rising from within. Moments later, each burst with a faint pop, spraying pitch-black liquid before a plume of highly poisonous marsh gas shot skyward and gathered densely above the swamp.
Within this swamp, pairs of scarlet eyes were faintly visible, radiating blood-red light brimming with murderous intent.
That bloody radiance was so intense that it pierced through layer after layer of murky mire from the swamp's deepest reaches and shone upon its surface. Several terrifying roars, like peals of thunder, could also be faintly heard from within, sending chills down the spine and making the entire swamp seem steeped in eerie horror.
At that moment, not far outside the swamp, two black figures were speeding through the air above the forest filled with Poison Miasma.
Whenever the formidable Poison Miasma spread toward them, it was instantly obliterated upon touching the faint halos of energy surrounding their bodies. This terrifying poison could not penetrate their defenses in the slightest. The two were Hun Changqing and Xingxiu, who had traveled here from the Branch Hall.
After they