Chapter 4537 — Return to Weihu
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Breathing in the strange, pungent stench that hung in the air—so sharp it made his head swim—Wei Zhao could not help but frown. Before the teleportation, he had assumed this place would be shrouded in miasmic fog. There was no fog at all; instead there was this uncanny stretch of swamp.
"Senior, what is this place?" Wei Zhao asked, curiosity in his voice as he pinched his nose. When things are abnormal, there must be something uncanny about them. A month of this had left him with a lasting condition—his vigilance was now a good deal sharper than before, and instinct told him there was something fishy about this swamp.
"This is the Swamp of the Five Poisons," the ghostly thing replied.
"Poisonous?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback. Given the look of the place, poison was only to be expected. But Wei Zhao had noticed more than just the surface appearance; there was another, more crucial feature: "But the spiritual energy here seems to be rather abundant, doesn't it?"
Hideous and foul was the first impression the Swamp of the Five Poisons gave. Yet a closer look revealed that the spiritual energy here was dense to an outrageous degree. Cloud Terrace Island had no shortage of places rich in spiritual energy, but concentrations this dense were exceedingly rare—at least, Wei Zhao had never seen such a thing in a natural environment.
Almost every bubble that burbled up from the swamp contained an extremely dense concentration of the world's spiritual energy—though not purely spiritual energy; there were other toxic gases mixed in as well, otherwise it would ill befit the name Swamp of the Five Poisons.
"Mm, the spiritual energy here really is abundant. Across the whole of the Southern Island, there are only a handful of places with a higher concentration. If this place weren't so dangerous, no doubt a great many spirit beasts would come here to soak up the energy. They might even come to blows over it, fighting to claim it until rivers of blood ran," the ghostly thing said.
"This place is dangerous?" Wei Zhao raised an eyebrow. The smell was certainly foul, but if poison were all there was to it, that should hardly be enough to make people shrink back—especially since many spirit beasts had formidable innate gifts, some even being naturally immune to a hundred poisons. Surely they would not be so afraid of a bit of toxic gas as to stay away entirely?
"Heh heh, don't underestimate the Swamp of the Five Poisons, boy. Its poison is not the sort that ordinary people know. It is called the Five Poisons because the swamp naturally contains the power of the five elements. Any spirit beast or human cultivator who comes near will be attacked by it—the five elements restrain and destroy one another, and to enter is to die. No matter how immune you are to a hundred poisons, it will avail you nothing," the ghostly thing explained.
"So that's how it is." Wei Zhao finally understood, though he had no intention of digging deeper. However rare the Swamp of the Five Poisons might be, it had nothing to do with him. Having survived his ordeal, the thing he most wanted was to hurry back to the Weihu Sea and from there make his way back to the Northern Island.
"Once you pass through the dense forest ahead, you'll reach the Weihu Sea. As for how to get to Weihu City after that, you'll have to figure that out yourself, boy," the ghostly thing said with a smile, knowing how eager Wei Zhao was to get home.
"ok!!!" Wei Zhao was overjoyed. Without so much as another glance at the Swamp of the Five Poisons, he unleashed the Super Butterfly Microstep and shot through the forest ahead. Sure enough, after only a brief moment he caught sight of the vast open sea.