A thick green mist enveloped the path suspended in the air, and Huo Yuhao walked alone on it.
Huo Yuhao's eyes were filled with a purple light as he looked down. He couldn't see the ground, and it seemed as if he was the only person left in the vast space.
He casually picked up a pebble from the path and threw it downwards, but after waiting for a long time, there was no response. Below the path was an endless abyss.
Huo Yuhao stopped examining these things and quickened his pace, heading towards the end of the path.
It took about five minutes to walk.
Huo Yuhao glanced around and noticed a strange light appearing in the mist ahead.
Although the color of the light was very similar to that of the fog, it was almost impossible to see without careful observation.
"That's interesting..."
Huo Yuhao gripped his longsword tightly, took a step forward, and the surrounding mist immediately dissipated in large swaths.
That light was revealed at that moment.
The source of the light was a torch about one meter tall, emitting a dark green glow. Its handle was a thick white bone, about thirty centimeters in diameter.
It must be the thigh bone of some kind of Soul Beast, and the fact that this bone is not corroded by the mist suggests that it has something unique about it.
The dissipating fog slowly returned, obscuring the torches that had been revealed once more.
Huo Yuhao took a step forward and quickly ran towards the direction of the torch.
Upon arriving at the torch, the eerie dark green flames dispersed the mist within a meter of the surrounding area.
Finding nothing amiss, Huo Yuhao left a mark on the torch and continued forward.
After that, a torch would appear every hundred meters, but the color of the flames on them was getting paler and paler.
The original dark green has now faded to a pale green, and the area it illuminates is now much smaller.
Huo Yuhao also discovered a phenomenon: when he stepped into the range of the flames, the flames would begin to shrink slowly, and the surrounding mist would gradually move towards the torch.
These torches seem to be a place for people to rest, but they are subject to time restrictions.
Like... like a test for people!
Huo Yuhao examined everything here again, and he finally understood. This was probably one of the tests that the unknown Deity was using to select a successor.
"That's really interesting."
Huo Yuhao's lips curled slightly. This Deity's test was rather vicious, giving participants only two choices—either pass or die.
He was rather curious about what kind of Deity this was.
Driven by curiosity, Huo Yuhao unleashed his full speed, pushing off with his feet, instantly dispersing the mist behind him with a powerful gust of wind.
A wall of wind inexplicably appeared in front of Huo Yuhao, transforming into an invisible cone that shot straight forward.
The corrosive mist that had been covering the front was directly dispersed to both sides, and even after Huo Yuhao passed through, the mist could not close up for Jiujiu.
Soon, Huo Yuhao arrived at the end of the path.
A circular stone platform covering more than 100 square meters appeared in front of them. Around the platform were torches that Huo Yuhao had seen on the road, which dispelled the surrounding fog.
The entire platform is black, with red twisted runes connecting the black floor tiles. However, due to its age, the runes are broken in several places, and some of the stone tiles are even sticking up, suggesting that it has been desolate for a long time.
Most striking is the center of the stone platform, at the very center of all the rune lines, where a black scythe stands upright.
The sickle was covered with patterns resembling human faces, which moved across its surface. The sickle had a long, narrow blade, which was an eerie black color and gleamed with a chilling light under the flames. Its sharpness pierced Huo Yuhao's eyes.
Huo Yuhao blinked a few times before he got used to it.
"A divine artifact?" Huo Yuhao stroked his chin, pondering as he stepped onto the stone platform.
The moment he stepped onto the ground, the blood-red runes on the ground lit up, illuminating Huo Yuhao's handsome face.
Countless red lights converged, transforming into a thin, blood-red beam that shot straight toward Huo Yuhao's brow.
The pillar of light carried a strong Deity aura, as if it had recognized itself as the successor and was about to imprint its mark upon itself.
"How boring. If it's just like this, then it's really dull..."
The beam of light that shot towards him appeared to slow down considerably in Huo Yuhao's eyes.
Huo Yuhao yawned, stretched out his left hand and gently slapped it forward, shattering the blood-red beam of light into pieces.
As the pillar of light shattered, the stone platform beneath their feet immediately trembled violently, and the interconnected runes began to crack, making a continuous "crackling" sound.
Huo Yuhao stood motionless on the stage, silently watching everything that was happening.
Once the stone platform returned to calm, the runes on it had completely shattered into fragments, and the Deity aura was gone.
Huo Yuhao looked around with some confusion, but the commotion had ended and the Deity hadn't appeared. "Nobody's here? That shouldn't be the case. The divine artifact is here; it can't be absent..."
Huo Yuhao instantly scanned the area with his immense Spiritual Power, leaving no corner unchecked, but still found nothing.
It seemed that there was nothing else here except this scythe artifact, so Huo Yuhao had no choice but to withdraw his Spiritual Power and examine the black scythe closely.
Just then, a transparent humanoid figure slowly emerged from the mist behind it, silently approaching Huo Yuhao.
"This artifact looks familiar; I seem to vaguely remember it..."
Huo Yuhao was unaware of the strangeness behind him. He approached the divine scythe and scanned it. Apart from the Deity aura and sharpness that still lingered on it, there was only one mark left.
Huo Yuhao had already seen this mark outside the gate, but it seemed somewhat incomplete, and the light on it was dim, as if this divine artifact was about to become ownerless.
Just as Huo Yuhao was about to get closer to get a better look, the transparent humanoid ghostly figure had already grown straight up behind him. Its hands were raised high, and its five fingers transformed into claws, aiming and suddenly grabbing down at him!
bite!
The sound of clashing metal echoed throughout the vast space.
The pair of ghostly claws were stopped by a black longsword five centimeters from Huo Yuhao's neck. The slender nails slightly pierced Huo Yuhao's skin, and scarlet blood slowly flowed out.
Huo Yuhao flicked his wrist, twirling his sword behind his back.
A screeching sound rang out.
Huo Yuhao turned his head to look, but the ghostly figure had vanished again.
Facing the direction where the ghost disappeared, Huo Yuhao immediately unleashed two sword energies. The sword energies sliced through the mist and vanished without hitting anything.
Huo Yuhao stared intently ahead, calmly asking, "Are you guarding something...?"
As he spoke, Huo Yuhao reached out and grasped the scythe.
Just as Huo Yuhao was about to grasp the hilt of the sword, two figures, one large and one small, suddenly rushed out from the path they had come from.
Upon closer inspection, it was indeed Shu Lingyu and Shu Lingxue!