Immortality Cultivation

Chapter 252: Sixth Fragment Obtained

The swamp’s mist was like thick, damp cloth, shrouding everything in layers. The air was humid and heavy, carrying a cloying stench of rot and corrosive poisonous miasma. Beneath his feet was a treacherous path of mud—sometimes soft silt, sometimes deep pools hiding lethal intent. Fang Hao pushed his Shadowless Evasion Technique to its limit, his figure moving like a phantom as he traversed silently between withered trees, mud pits, and reed beds, trying his best to leave no trace and avoid disturbing the bizarre creatures lurking in the swamp.

Even with his Clear Spring Spirit Eyes fully operational, he could only see clearly within a range of dozens of feet; anything further was a blur of grayish-white and pale purple. From time to time, the sound of bubbling gurgles reached his ears, along with the rustling of some slimy creature crawling and the faint, hair-raising low growls from the distance. Divine Sense was heavily suppressed here, feeling as if it were sinking into a quagmire when extended, and the information it fed back was vague and unclear.

He followed the direction indicated by Lin Ping, heading toward the west-central area of the swamp. The deeper he went, the thicker the mist became and the more corrosive the poisonous miasma grew. The spiritual light of the ’Miasma-Warding Talisman’ stuck to his body dimmed at a visible rate, forcing him to replace it periodically while simultaneously circulating his Qi to resist the pervasive, bone-chilling damp poison.

Along the way, he encountered many dangers unique to the swamp: ’Sludge Crocodiles’ with sharp teeth lurking beneath the mud, ’Ghost Vines’ disguised as withered wood that would suddenly strike, and swarms of ’Poison Arrow Frogs’ capable of spitting corrosive venom. Most of these Demon Beasts were only second or third-tier, posing little threat to the current Fang Hao. He usually dealt with them silently or used his speed to bypass them, not wanting to cause a commotion that might disturb the more terrifying existences deep within the swamp.

After traveling for about half a day, the color of the mist ahead began to change. The pale purple and grayish-white were gradually replaced by a deeper, thicker ink-green. The cloying stench of rot in the air intensified, mixed with an indescribable fishy odor and... a faint, oppressive pressure that weighed on the Divine Soul.

"The ink-green mist area... I’m almost there." Fang Hao felt a chill in his heart and slowed down, becoming even more cautious. He took out the star evolution plate and infused it with Qi. Sure enough, the halo representing the swamp fragment on the compass was deep within that ink-green mist ahead, and its glow seemed slightly clearer and more stable than before.

He restrained all his aura, and his Ethereal Art operated quietly, making him feel as if he had merged with his surroundings. Only then did he cautiously step into the range of the ink-green mist.

Upon entering this area, Fang Hao immediately felt the difference. The poisonous miasma here did not just corrode the Physical Body and Qi; it even began to affect the Divine Soul! A cold, violent, and chaotic intent, like a maggot in the bone, tried to burrow into his Sea of Consciousness. He quickly steadied his mind, and the pale gold mental brand in his Sea of Consciousness, which had undergone Fusion with the war soul’s will, glowed slightly, blocking the invading intent.

"What a bizarre place; even the mist can affect the Divine Soul." Fang Hao became even more vigilant. Beneath his feet, the muddy ground began to reveal massive, bleached-white skeletons half-buried in the mire. Judging by the shapes of the bones, some looked like giant crocodiles, some like pythons, and some were unrecognizable, but without exception, the bones were exceptionally thick. They must have been colossal creatures in life, at least the skeletons of Demon Beasts above the fourth-tier!

These skeletons were scattered in the ink-green mud. Many had already weathered and crumbled, yet they still emitted a faint pressure, testifying to their strength in life and foreshadowing the terror of this region.

Fang Hao tried his best to avoid these skeletons, unsure if resentment or curses still lingered upon them. As he went deeper, the heart-palpitating pressure became clearer, as if several cold, brutal gazes were watching him from the depths of the mist. And there was more than one! Lin Ping was right; the guardians here might be a group!

Finally, after passing through an area completely covered by ink-green poisonous vines, his vision suddenly opened up. A relatively ’open’ area appeared ahead—a bizarre ink-green pool about a hundred feet in diameter. The water in the pool was as thick as pulp, constantly bubbling with ink-green gas and emitting a nauseating fishy stench. And in the center of the pool stood a small island like an altar, entirely constructed from various bleached-white skeletons.

At the top of the skeletal island, a palm-sized, irregularly shaped dark gold fragment floated quietly, rotating slowly and emitting an ancient, desolate aura that was completely out of place with its surroundings. It was indeed the sixth battle heaven axe fragment!

In the ink-green pool surrounding the skeletal island, Fang Hao’s Clear Spring Spirit Eyes caught sight of several massive shadows lurking! They were three Ink-Scaled Poison Dragons, each over ten feet long, their bodies covered in thick ink-green scales. They had single horns on their heads, crimson eyes, and emitted a dense fishy and ferocious aura. Their auras were all at the fourth-tier Peak, and one slightly larger one even faintly reached the edge of the fifth-tier! Their lower halves were submerged in the thick pool water, their crimson eyes like searchlights in the ink-green mist, coldly watching Fang Hao, the uninvited guest.

It wasn’t just the pool. On the ’altar’ at the top of the skeletal island, next to the fragment, coiled a Seven-Colored Venomous Python about a chang long. Its body was multicolored, it had a fleshy crest on its head, and it constantly flicked its colorful tongue. This python’s aura wasn’t strong—only about Third-tier Peak—but the lethal sense of danger it radiated was even more intense than that of the three Ink-Scaled Poison Dragons! It was an extreme danger rooted in Bloodline and lethal poison!

Furthermore, from the gaps in the skeletal island and the surrounding poisonous vines, countless rustling sounds could be heard. As his Clear Spring Spirit Eyes swept over them, he could see dense clusters of poisonous insects, spiders, and scorpions of various sizes and colors... They were hidden in the darkness like soldiers guarding a king.

"Three fourth-tier Peak poison dragons, a Seven-Colored Venomous Python that likely carries a peculiar poison, and countless poisonous insects... This lineup is much more troublesome than the Ice and Fire Demon Kings from before." Fang Hao’s scalp tingled. He wasn’t afraid of a single fourth-tier Peak Demon Beast, but this was a swamp—the home field for poisonous creatures—and there was a whole group of them! Not to mention that Seven-Colored Venomous Python which seemed weak but gave him the most dangerous feeling. A frontal assault would definitely be suicide.

Moreover, he could sense that the three poison dragons and the Seven-Colored Venomous Python didn’t seem to just be guarding the fragment; there appeared to be a certain confrontation and balance between them. The poison dragons occupied the pool, while the python held the altar, wary of each other yet jointly guarding the fragment—or perhaps some aura the fragment emitted?

Hiding behind the poisonous vines, Fang Hao’s mind raced. Charging in wouldn’t work. Use bait? What kind of bait here could simultaneously attract three poison dragons and a python and make them leave the fragment? Use poison? His poison skills were mediocre, and playing with poison in a den of poisonous creatures was like teaching a fish how to swim. Lure the tiger away from the mountain? The terrain was unfavorable, and with so many of them and their high intelligence, success would be difficult.

"What should I do?" Fang Hao’s brow furrowed. Seeing the fragment right before his eyes but being unable to take it was a truly stifling feeling.

His gaze swept over the pool, the skeletal island, the poison dragons, and the python... finally landing on the quietly floating fragment. The desolate aura it emitted was incompatible with the cold, poisonous environment, as if forming an invisible force field that repelled the ink-green miasma and water vapor.

"Aura... repulsion..." A flash of inspiration hit Fang Hao. He remembered that when he obtained the fragments before, they had a mutual resonance and attraction. So, if he used the five fragments he already had to ’call out’ to this sixth fragment, would it produce some special effect? For example, making the fragment ’move’ on its own? Or interfering with its connection to these poisonous creatures?

This idea was risky, but it seemed worth a try. It was the method with the highest success rate he could think of right now.

He quietly took out the five battle heaven axe fragments he had already obtained from his storage ring. As soon as the five fragments appeared, a faint resonance immediately occurred between them. Dark gold light flowed, and the ancient, desolate aura radiated outward.

Sure enough, the moment the aura of the five fragments spread, the sixth fragment in the center of the pool seemed to quiver slightly, its light brightening a fraction. The three Ink-Scaled Poison Dragons in the pool and the Seven-Colored Venomous Python on the altar also seemed to sense something. Their crimson eyes snapped toward Fang Hao’s hiding place, and their ferocious auras instantly locked onto him! They had sensed the anomaly in the fragment’s aura!

Fang Hao’s heart skipped a beat, but he didn’t panic. While restraining his own aura to the extreme, he cautiously injected a faint trace of Battle Intent, fused with his own war soul’s will, into the five fragments through his palm. Simultaneously, he silently visualized and called out to the sixth fragment in his heart.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz..."

The five fragments began to vibrate slightly, the resonance growing stronger, and the desolate aura became a degree richer. Faintly, an extremely weak, invisible ripple seemed to spread from the five fragments toward the sixth fragment in the center of the pool.

In the center of the pool, the vibration of the sixth fragment became more obvious, and it began to move toward Fang Hao’s direction... slowly, bit by bit! Although it was very slow and faint, it was indeed moving!

"It’s working!" Fang Hao was ecstatic but didn’t dare relax in the slightest. He held his breath, concentrating fully on maintaining control and calling to the five fragments, guiding that invisible connection.

However, the commotion here had clearly alerted the guardian poisonous creatures. The three Ink-Scaled Poison Dragons let out low, thunderous roars, their massive bodies slowly rising from the ink-green pool. Their crimson eyes stared fixedly at Fang Hao’s hiding place, filled with fury. The Seven-Colored Venomous Python on the altar also reared up its upper body, the fleshy crest on its head opening like a flower. Its multicolored body looked exceptionally gaudy against the bleached-white bones. The frequency of its tongue-flicking increased, producing a hair-raising ’hissing’ sound.

Although they were restless due to the change in the fragment’s aura, they didn’t seem to leave their positions immediately, still guarding the fragment closely. However, their cold Divine Senses, like physical scrapers, swept over Fang Hao’s area again and again, trying to find him.

Sweat appeared on Fang Hao’s forehead as he maintained the call to the fragment while simultaneously pushing the Shadowless Evasion Technique and Ethereal Art to their limits to dodge the increasingly dense Divine Sense scans. He could feel that the patience of the three poison dragons and the Seven-Colored Venomous Python was rapidly vanishing; they could launch an indiscriminate attack at any moment.

The fragment was moving too slowly! At this rate, he would be discovered long before the fragment floated over!

"I have to push harder!" Fang Hao gritted his teeth and took the risk of increasing the infusion of his war soul’s will. At the same time, he tried to blend in an extremely faint trace of the unyielding, heaven-defying intent unique to the War Heaven Scripture.

Buzz—!

The five fragments jolted violently, and the resonance suddenly intensified! The desolate Battle Intent radiated out like a stone thrown into a calm pond, spreading instantly! The sixth fragment seemed to receive a powerful summons; it shuddered violently, and its movement speed suddenly increased, turning into a streak of dark gold light as it shot toward Fang Hao!

"Hiss—Roar!"

This completely poked the hornet’s nest! The three Ink-Scaled Poison Dragons and the Seven-Colored Venomous Python let out furious roars simultaneously! They no longer hesitated. The three poison dragons lunged from the pool, their massive bodies bringing up waves of foul ink-green water like three ink-green mountain ranges crashing toward Fang Hao’s hiding spot! Simultaneously, they opened their massive maws, and three torrents of ink-green venom, radiating a terrifying corrosive aura, poured down like waterfalls!

The Seven-Colored Venomous Python was even more bizarre. It didn’t pounce; instead, it spat out a fist-sized cloud of multicolored mist. This mist seemed slow, yet it appeared to ignore spatial distance, instantly permeating the area where Fang Hao was! Everywhere it passed, even the ink-green miasma and the surrounding poisonous vines instantly withered and melted!

A double death trap! There was no way to dodge!

Fang Hao had already moved the moment the fragment flew toward him! He had long expected to alert the guardians and had been preparing. At the instant the poison dragons lunged and the python spat, he had already snatched the sixth fragment in his hand. Then, without a second thought, he instantly activated the unique fourth-grade high-rank ’Earth Escape Talisman’ he had obtained from the Secret Realm and had never used, which he had been clutching in his left hand!

Buzz—!

Earthy yellow light enveloped his entire body! At the same time, the mud beneath his feet, which he had already prepared by melting it with the power of Earth Fire Burning Body, suddenly caved in! At the moment the venom torrents and the multicolored poison mist reached him, Fang Hao’s figure, along with the earthy yellow light, instantly sank into the ground and vanished!

Boom—! Sizzle—!

The venom torrents and multicolored poison mist flooded the place where Fang Hao had just been hiding. The venom corroded a bottomless pit into the ground, while the poison mist melted everything within ten feet—whether poisonous vines, soil, or rock—into a puddle of colorful, foul-smelling slime.

The three poison dragons and the Seven-Colored Venomous Python pounced forward, only to see empty ground and a large pit. Where was there any sign of Fang Hao? They let out even more furious, unwilling roars, frantically attacking the surrounding ground in an attempt to dig him out. But Fang Hao had already fled far away with the help of the Earth Escape Talisman and the pre-prepared tunnel.

Deep underground, Fang Hao’s face was pale, and blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. Although he had escaped quickly, he had still been grazed by a trace of the venom and poison mist’s aftershocks the moment he dived underground. Fortunately, he had mastered Earth Fire Burning Body and Cold Ice Bone Erosion, greatly increasing his physical resistance, and had timely protected his vitals with Qi, so he only suffered minor injuries and slight poisoning. He didn’t dare stay, using the effect of the Earth Escape Talisman to flee desperately away from the ink-green pool.

After fleeing dozens of miles in one breath and feeling that he had completely shaken off the lock of the poison dragons and python, Fang Hao finally dared to emerge from an inconspicuous swamp puddle. He gasped for breath, his heart still pounding with lingering fear.

"That was close! I almost died there!" He wiped the blood from his mouth and took out the ’Fire Lotus Detoxification Pill’, swallowing another one to suppress the remaining poison in his body. Then, he opened his right hand to look at the dark gold fragment he had just obtained, which still carried a hint of coldness to the touch.

The sixth battle heaven axe fragment was in his hands!

Although the process was incredibly perilous and he had nearly been turned into poisonous slush, he had succeeded in the end. Adding this to the previous five, he had now collected six fragments. He was only three away from completing the set of nine!

He put away the fragment and looked toward the deeper, more dangerous part of the Secret Realm. There, the final three fragments were waiting for him.