Chapter 42 (Part B) – Strong ones join in

“Yes, yes, you are right. The man went in there such a long time ago; he is most certainly dead by now.”

These people were convinced that Bi Fan was already dead; in fact, they wanted him to be. These people had not been able to enter the zone like Bi Fan had, and they simply didn’t want to believe that another man could be better than them.

These people were talented youngsters from different school, proud and arrogant, which meant that they were really dissatisfied with Bi Fan’s capability, and wouldn’t allow themselves to be subjected to someone’s superiority.

If they felt that anyone was above their level, they wouldn’t hesitate in killing the person in question to prove otherwise.

While these people were busy waiting, they felt a sudden surge of strong and powerful people approaching them at high speeds. They could feel that these new comers were at least as strong as the ‘emerging from the womb’ category.

These new comers had barely landed, and soon, another group of similarly strong practitioners arrived at the scene.

The demons that were present at the scene started shivering in fear and were left with no choice but to escape, as they simply couldn’t dare to stay here any longer.

However, these new strong arrivals were least concerned with the demons, and they were only bothered about the evil spirits, so they allowed the demons to leave in peace. In fact, most of them didn’t even bother to glance at the demons.

“Who will tell me what’s going on here with these spirits?” A large and handsome man asked.

He was in the ‘emerging from the womb’ layer; as his eyes scanned the youngsters around him whose heads hung low as they lowered their gaze.

One youngster walked out of the crowd, trembling with fear and trepidation, and spoke up: “Sir, the evil spirits are very powerful, we cannot dare to go into the territory ourselves, as the deeper we go, the evil spirits become stronger and then they possess us… but….but….”

“But what, say it quickly.”

“Sir, there was one young man who wasn’t afraid of the spirits and it even seemed as if they had no effect on him at all. He ventured into the zone three hours ago and still hasn’t returned.”

“What?” The big and handsome man exclaimed.

“Sir, I speak the truth. Everyone here can testify to this.”

“One person had entered the zone a long time ago, we do not know his present situation, and we have no idea whether he is alive or dead.”

“The guy simply ignored the spirits and continued to move forward very quickly.”

… …

Many people were speaking on the matter simultaneously.

Very soon, several hundred very strong practitioners had gathered outside the possessed zone, and many more were on their way.

“Let’s go into the region and see things for ourselves.”

Eventually, these strong practitioners simply couldn’t sit by idly and they started preparing to enter the zone.

One man, in one strong leap, jumped into the possessed region, he leapt almost ten meters in, and continued to stride inwards at a very quick pace, without being even slightly affected by the spirits.

Once a person enters into the ‘spiritual intelligence’ layer, they undergo a significant transformation. They take a massive leap in terms of strength and energy, even their wisdom improves a lot.

‘Spiritual intelligence’ was considered a big milestone in the ‘fetus’ category and not one that many people managed to cross over into.

Once a person has crossed over into the ‘spiritual intelligence’ layer, breaking into the higher layer, and even the ‘transformation’ layer is relatively easier.

Again, breaking into the ‘emerging from the womb’ category was a big milestone, the inner energy would get transformed into aura, spirit and there were several other very significant changes. Also, it was much harder to break into this category as compared to ‘spiritual intelligence’ and one needed to train very fiercely to achieve it.

So obviously, the resistance that an ‘emerging from the womb’ martial artist would have to these evil spirits was much greater when compared to ‘spiritual intelligence’ practitioners.

One person had already taken the lead and looked well committed to maintaining it. The others quickly jumped into the zone, for the fear of falling behind.

Back in the region clear of the possessed zone, there were a few ‘spiritual intelligence’ martial artists as well. But once a person breaks into the ‘spiritual intelligence’ layer, they gain a great amount of self-awareness, and these people knew well enough that cannot compete with ‘emerging from the womb’ martial artists, so they gave up on the idea of breaking into the zone that lay ahead of them.

Twenty meters…. Thirty meters…. Fifty meters……

The people who had taken the initiative to enter the zone first, had already managed to reach almost fifty meters, but their pace had now been slowed down considerably, probably due to the influence of the spirits, which was only growing stronger.

However, so far, no one had been possessed by the evil spirits.

In a very short span of time, thousands more had managed to reach the periphery of the possessed zone, and when then saw that so many of their competitors had already gone in, they rushed into the zone without even bothering to understand the circumstances that they were going to face inside.

As far as they were concerned, they were already lagging behind, and they just didn’t want to fall behind even further.

“Woah! Just look at them, they are so powerful. They aren’t even afraid of those evil spirits. I have no idea how long it will take for us to reach their level.”

“It’s too early to say whether the spirits are affecting them or not. You see, things start getting complicated with every step you take, and the deeper you go, the stronger the effect of the spirits. I’m afraid that soon enough, things might not be looking so good for them.” A young man rebutted, recalling his own experience.

His voice, however, was subdued by a blood-curling scream, and it would appear as if his prediction had come true.

One man, ‘spiritual intelligence’ layer, was rolling on the floor, holding his head, and it seemed like he was suffering from an incredible amount of pain.

“Oh my, I think he has been possessed!” Everyone ceased in their steads.

The man in question, had company, and his friends rushed to him to rescue him. But by then, he had already lost control over his mind and he recklessly started attacking everyone around him indiscriminately.

He tossed around from left to right, and bled at least seven people that surrounded him, and then eventually fell to the ground, dead.

“Be careful, evil spirits are getting stronger and stronger. If your strength is not enough, think for yourself and return.” One man, ’emerging from the womb’ layer, spoke out loudly to warn the others.

Many of the people who were below the ’emerging from the womb’ category, decided to fall back and started retreating as they didn’t want to die a gruesome death. However, the ones who were in the ’emerging from the womb’ layer were full of confidence and didn’t feel that they needed to return at this point.

Although, there were still some, who were below the ’emerging from the womb layer’, and had decided to carry forward as they felt that they could handle it.

The idea that this place could have been an ancient battlefield was so tempting that most men couldn’t resist it.

The people who had decided to continue forward were very cautious now, as they had already witnessed the possessing of one practitioner, and slowed their pace down significantly.

As they moved forward, if anyone felt that they couldn’t continue any further, they would immediately turn around and fall back. Although, most of them felt defeated in doing this, but their hearts were consoled in the fact that they would live to tell another tale, rather than dying a terrible death in here.

“Ah!….” Another man seemed to be losing control of his mind.

He clenched his teeth, tried to regain his mind; he was trying to fight back, his life was at stake.

The formless spirits breached his defenses before he could reach out for the Jade tablet that could grant him an instant exit from the devil’s territory.

His screams reached the ears of the brave men who were still moving forward, and their hearts went cold, mind numb, giving them goosebumps all over their bodies. Some more practitioners decided to retreat and turned around.

At present, only three hundred men were left, who were still moving forward, very slowly, very cautiously and from time to time, someone would quit and turn around.