Chapter 43 (Part A) – Seeds

Bi Fan had no idea that so many other, extremely powerful, martial artists had joined him inside the zone and were strong on his trail. His body was being controlled by the Yin Yang Lotus as he continued to walk deeper into the region, step by step.

He had no idea how long this would take, but he knew that the Lotus meant him no harm, so he resigned himself to the Lotus’s will.

He, however, was very optimistic and curious about the core of the spirit eruption.

Subjected to such kind of boredom, all Bi Fan could do was watch the Lotus change in shape and size as it continued to absorb the aura and the spirits. But now, suddenly, he could see two grain sized seeds inside the Lotus’s stamen, one black, and the other, white.

“Amazing, the Lotus is actually bearing seeds, could it be using the spirits as food?” Bi Fan couldn’t help but wish.

The Lotus had managed to assimilate a huge amount of aura and spirits before it had expedited the birth of the seeds and was still growing bigger.

The Lotus was absorbing the Aura and the spirits much faster now, but Bi Fan’s forward pace had gone down considerably.

The Spirits formed a storm, sweeping all the dried leaves off the ground which appeared to be dancing in the storm, as they surrounded Bi Fan.

Every now and then, a leaf would hit Bi Fan in the face and cause him a bit of pain.

Bi Fan welcomed this pain, to him, it was relief. It meant that his body was still his own.

“Look, there’s someone ahead of us, and it looks like he’s still alive!”

The sound came from a good distance away, behind Bi Fan, but he could hear it very clearly.

“Yes, I see him too, but it doesn’t seem like he’s moving. What if he’s possessed?”

Bi Fan had been taken by surprise, and felt very uneasy now.

The obviously reason being, that he couldn’t control his own body at the moment.

Several, very strong martial artists had decided to follow in Bi Fan’s stead and some of them had managed to catch up with him to some extent. At the moment, they were only about two hundred meters away from him, and were finally able to see his silhouette figure.

At this moment, only thirteen of them were still actively involved in the excavation, as a vast majority of the ones who had started strong, had eventually given up and turned back while some had lost their lives to the spirits that lingered in the zone.

All of these thirteen people were in the ’emerging from the womb’ layer and they had finally gotten close enough to at least spot Bi Fan.

“That kid is standing very still, he simply isn’t moving forward. Does anyone know what we should expect?”

“He has been still for a while now. Could he be dead? I heard that he was only in the ‘brave’ layer, so how did he manage to get this far? If what they say is true, then this is truly an exceptional circumstance.”

“’Brave layer!’ Impossible. There was definitely an error in the judgement of the people who stated this; it’s almost like a tiger managed to disguise himself as a pig. We are all in the ’emerging from the womb’ category, and even we haven’t been able to get that far yet. There is no way a ‘brave’ layer boy did it.” One of the men snorted coldly.

Indeed, these people were all masters of the art, and though they had managed to penetrate this deep in the zone, even they were having a very difficult time moving forward at present.

The man who stood ahead of them was at least two hundred meters further into the zone, so there is no way that he was only as strong as the ‘brave’ layer.

The situation was such, that several ’emerging from the womb’ layer practitioners had succumbed to the spirits and died, whereas lower layer martial artists had quit early. Only these thirteen had been able to persist this far in this forsaken zone.

“The pressure will only become stronger up ahead, I’m afraid that we may not be able to go that far.” A man sighed.

“I think that only the ‘magical powers’ layer experts are capable of exploring the core of this zone.”

“If we withdraw and return now, then those ‘magical powers’ layer experts will come to explore this region later, and whatever rewards that await us, will be lost.”

All thirteen of them were considering quitting and returning as none of them wanted to die.

“Crap! Quick, look, he’s not dead yet! He just moved a step.” One man exclaimed.

The twelve others quickly shifted their gaze and managed to get a glimpse of Bi Fan’s movement. They stood there, speechlessly, with their mouths hanging open, out of shock.

After, what seemed like a long pause, one of them spoke up: “Is it possible that he’s in the ‘magical powers’ layer?”

“That must be the case, or else, how did he manage to go that far.”

“You say that he’s in the ‘magical powers’ layer, but what’s such a strong guy doing in this part of the devil’s territory?”

They all stood there in silence, as no one had an answer to that.

“Whatever the case is, I will have to go out and report this to my senior. I have tried, but now it’s time for me to turn back, what about you guys?”

“Since you’re leaving, we should all withdraw as well. Anyway, the man seems to be having a difficult time moving forward, so, he should soon withdraw too. Plus, we are still a very long way from the center of this activity; it won’t be possible for him to reach that far.”

These people withdrew and began to return; as they reached the outer rim, they were already soaking wet with exhaustion.

“Finally, they have returned! We were so worried that they won’t be coming out.” Someone shouted in a single breath.

“How’s the situation on the inside?” Many people had surrounded them, and were inquiring to gain some sort of clarity.

The thirteen people, who had just returned, remained tight-lipped as they didn’t have much news to share.

They quickly made a dash, and it appeared as if they were making their way towards the exit.

Many smart people had already started leaving the area, as they had realized that since they can’t breach the zone, then, there is no point wasting time standing outside.

Within moments, most people had already started to leave, leaving behind only a few hundreds in number, all of whom were from different schools. The main purpose that these people were left behind was that, so they could represent and observe on behalf of their respective schools.

The arrival of such strong people had made Bi Fan very anxious, but he now was a little puzzled, for he hadn’t expected them to leave.

Bi Fan couldn’t waste much time thinking about them, as his suffering was getting unbearable now.

Even with the Lotus protecting him, the shock from the attacks of the spirits was enough to cause him a great deal of pain.

“Holy Lotus, please spare me, I’m just a boy, I don’t want to die.” Bi Fan prayed with all his heart.

The Lotus, however, hadn’t absorbed enough of the aura or the spirits and had no desire to leave just yet.

Bi Fan was left with no other choice so he clenched his teeth and geared up to endure the pain, the limitless, unbearable pain. His soul was being tortured, his spirit was being tormented and he felt as if he was going to go crazy and lose his mind.

If he did lose his mind, he at least wouldn’t have to suffer any more.