Meanwhile, Damien wondered whether he should return back now, guessing that the two Heaven Ethereal Realm practitioners should be gone by now. He, however, had no idea what happened to the other two practitioners that came with them.
He wondered whether they left with the bodies of Dennisa and Roy or waiting nearby as a backup to capture him.
Luna could guess what Damien was thinking and said, "Maybe you should try finding the source of this poison fog. Because whatever is producing such a potent poison should be definitely interesting."
"Yeah, right. I shouldn't waste this chance. Maybe I can find out the mysterious reason for this deadly fog," Damien mumbled as he ordered Misty to proceed forward into innermost regions.
After hearing Luna's words, Damien couldn't help but feel curious and interested in the source of this poison fog. If it could even affect powerful practitioners, then it must be no joke.
He speculated that this must be why the Xeton Emperor was confident of dealing with both the Rong Ancestor and Lily's father at the same time. And the Xeton Emperor probably must have also used some treasure to not let the poison affect him for a certain period.
After all, he only needed seconds to lure the oblivious parties inside and get away after seeing that the job was done.
The more he went deeper, the thicker the fog was, and there weren't any bones lying around since no one ever reached this deep before.
"Are you able to pinpoint the source, Luna?"
Since the forest was so big, covering hundreds and hundreds of miles, Damien had no idea where all this poison fog was coming from.
"Keep going. I will guide you."
Even though Luna didn't scan the area entirely, she could feel the direction from which the poison seemed to originate.
The poison fog was getting thick to the point that Damien wasn't even able to see anything clearly and had to use his spiritual perception to get the region's layout ahead.
He didn't dare to imagine the state he would end up in if it were not for Luna neutralizing the poison for him.
The forest was deathly silent due to the absence of living beings, and he was sure that this forest would definitely pass as the scariest forest ever. The only missing thing was ghosts, and he wondered if that was a thing too in this world.
Valentina occasionally asked him whether he was alright and was able to rest assured since she could sense his emotions. If he were in real danger, she would have known for sure.
But still, the uncertainty factor was still keeping her on her toes, and she decided to meditate to calm down her emotions.
After traveling over a hundred kilometers through the never-ending forest, Damien started to see a faint green light despite the heavy and dense fog.
In fact, the more he was going deeper, the more he felt like his vision had absolutely no use until he saw a faint green glow far away. And there seemed to be no trees, plants, flowers, or anything at all.
It just seemed like a wasteland with the smell of death permeating the whole forest.
"Oh my…" Luna's voice trailed away, but Damien didn't fail to notice the surprise in her voice.
"What? What did you see?" Damien asked curiously.
After a moment of silence, she replied, "You will know when you get there. Just keep going. It's better for you to see it yourself."
'Ahh...why is she always acting so mysterious…' Damien inwardly grumbled as Misty sped through the forest, carrying him.
Soon enough, Damien reached near the green light and what he saw made his mouth fall open. Since the light was very bright, he had no problem seeing what was within the green halo.
The green light was emanating from a small boy who was curled up in mid-air with his eyes closed. The green light was so brilliant and otherworldly, Damien wondered if this was some god like Luna.
However, the reply that came from Luna surprised him even further, "It's a poison spirit...a young one at that, it seems."
Damien was surprised at hearing that an entity like spirits exists. Only just before he casually wondered if there were ghosts in this forest and as if he jinxed it, there indeed was a spirit staying in this forest, hidden away from other's eyes.
He stopped himself from going any further as he had no idea if this poison spirit was dangerous or not, even though it looked quite harmless, especially with the body of a boy. His skin was glistening with a green glow, and his body had a small frame.
However, the boy's body looked ethereal, as if it was in between reality and illusion. His hair was bright green, and there were no clothes.
It looked more like a baby sleeping in their mother's womb, and Damien maintained a vigilant eye no matter how cute and innocent the boy looked. After all, even he couldn't imagine the number of practitioners that died due to the poison emanating from this spirit.
He didn't know if the spirit was spreading poison on purpose or because of some other reason. And now he realized that it was quite natural for the poison fog to be deadly if someone as powerful and ancient as this spirit was the reason behind it.
He asked Luna the obvious question after seeing that the boy didn't seem to react to his presence, "What is a spirit?"
"They are spiritual beings that were born out of the ethereal energy itself. They don't have a physical form but solely exist by making a spiritual body using their soul. Maybe I created him, but I just don't remember it. He seems to be in a weakened form, and that's why his form has been regressed to that of a child's. Well, he surely doesn't seem to be getting any better in this lowly plane. Why don't you go try talking to him? If he wanted, he would have hurt you the moment you entered the forest."
Damien was surprised, "Huh? You want me to talk to him? Are you sure? Well, I guess I will trust your words," Damien felt that the spirit should be harmless after noticing the confidence in Luna's words. After all, he knew, Luna would never say things that could lead to his harm.
He then questioned, "By the way, by saying young, what is his age?"
Luna casually said, "Only a few million years at most."
"What the…" Damien didn't know whether Luna was just messing with him or whether it was the real deal. But then he understood that gods potentially had an immortal life. So, maybe, even a few million years would be short for them.
'If even this spirit is young, then what am I…' Damien felt that immortality indeed was on a different level which mortals couldn't comprehend but only dreamed of.
Damien fought over his hesitation since he also wanted to know what an ancient being like this poison spirit was doing in the mortal plane.
He ordered Misty to land on the ground and got off. He slowly walked towards the poison spirit, and maintaining a few meters of distance, he asked in a low voice, "Uhh...hello noble spirit...can you hear me?"
Damien's tone was polite enough but not subservient, as if he wanted to show his respect towards an ancient being that was literally millions of years older than him. Still, his tone was a bit awkward since he was the one initiating a conversation with an ancient being here. If the spirit was able to understand him, he hoped to strike a good impression.
Surprisingly, even though Luna's divine aura was too profound, he couldn't help but see her as a little young girl while the boy before him had a wise and saintly aura around him.
Luna pursed her lips, seeing how all well-mannered and polite Damien was to a spirit while an omnipotent goddess like her was treated like a kid at times. In the end, she blamed it all on her powerlessness and her childish figure.
She was sure that in her prime form, Damien would kneel before her in worship without her even doing anything, and so, she thought.
The boy's eyes quivered as it slowly opened in a languid manner. Damien took one step back, not knowing if the spirit was going to be hostile or not but slowly relaxed, seeing that nothing happened.
However, he was amazed by the boy's stark green eyes that had a divine glow in them. But at the same time, those eyes looked sad and weary as if the spirit was tired of living. Still, seeing Damien, a faint light of surprise shone in the boy's eyes.
The boy's lips slightly opened as a delicate voice sounded out, "A mortal...is it time already?"
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