End of the Magic Era

But during the peak of the magic era, the secret of the Bloodshed Forest gradually emerged. It was actually very simple, this was a forest full of Reverse Law, in the future it was dubbed the Reverse Forest.

In other words, everything in the Bloodshed Forest was developing in the opposite direction.

Lin Yun carefully explored the Bloodshed Forest, and soon found many signs of fighting. There were apparent sword gashes as well as residual mana fluctuations. These traces seemed very old, which inevitably surprised Lin Yun. The Bloodshed Forest was taboo in this era, no one ever left the forest alive, ‘The people getting lost in the Bloodshed Forest wouldn’t be slaughtering each other, would they?’

The sword gashes and mana fluctuations gave Lin Yun a feeling that they had been left by people far stronger than Sword Saints and Archmages, it gave off the feeling of Heaven Rank.

No Heaven Rank powerhouse crossed the Bloodshed Forest, yet the traces were clearly that of a Heaven Rank Swordsman and a Heaven Rank Mage. In this era Heaven Rank powerhouses were so rare, how could there be such a scene…

‘How did this come about?’

It was strange, there were traces on the ground, but nothing on the trees. Lin Yun even cast a few Mage Eyes to check the surroundings, but the result was the same, the traces were only on the ground.

It meant that the Bloodshed Forest formed after the traces of the fighting were left.

Although LIn Yun looked calm after coming to such an astonishing conclusion, his heart was still beating fast. The answer was simple, those traces had been left by Emperor Zhantui and the Gaugass King, in those days, the two men fought on the land that would become the Bloodshed Forest in the future. The blood that fell led to the growth of the Bloodshed Forest.

Those traces had yet to disappear after thousands of years, it was also because of this that Lin Yun was agitated. No even a Heaven Rank powerhouse could leave behind traces that would last for millenia.

This discovery suddenly made Lin Yun skeptical, ‘Did Emperor Zhantui and the Gaugass King already surpass the Heaven Rank?’ It was recorded that the two were already 9th Rank Heaven Realm powerhouses, thus, Lin Yun always took it at face value, but these traces toppled his understanding of Emperor Zhantui and the Gaugass King, these two powerhouses had most likely already surpassed the Heaven Realm.

The magic civilization had yet to mature during that time, Archmages and Sword Saints were out of reach to most people at that time, let alone Heaven Rank and the realm above it.

Lin Yun collected a faint wisp of mana fluctuation, these were mana fluctuations left behind by the Gaugass King. He collected it to have the Magic Array analyze it, but not right now. The Magic Array might collapse if he analyzed it now.

This wasn’t Lin Yun making a fuss out of nothing, after all, the owner of that wisp of mana fluctuation had surpassed the Heaven Rank realm, he would have to wait until he was an Archmage to try using the Magic Array to analyze it.

Lin Yun walked for a very long time as he followed the traces of the battle. He reached a lake after a few hours. He stopped and thoughtfully looked at the calm water surface.

The lake was very unusual, it was very big, and the water had a faintly red color, moreover, there was no ripples at all.

After looking at it for more than a dozen minutes, Lin Yun didn’t notice anything abnormal. But he didn’t plan on leaving, because the traces of the battle led to this lake before coming to an abrupt end.

Lin Yun cast a Mage Eye to examine the lake, but when the Mage Eye touched the surface of the lake, it noiselessly dissipated.

‘Mana fluctuations…’

Lin Yun was suddenly startled, he cast a few more Mage Eyes and tried a few more times, yet the result was the same. What surprised Lin Yun the most was that he couldn’t feel any mana fluctuation from the shore, yet the Mage Eyes would dissipate after encountering an intense mana fluctuations.

The cautious Lin Yun didn’t want anything to happen to his body, thus he summoned three Water Puppets and made them plunge in the lake. As they got deeper and deeper the sight of one of the puppets was re-transmitted to Lin Yun and the situation in the lake appeared before his eyes. A stone tablet was standing tall at the bottom of the lake, but because it was too far, Lin Yun could only see that it was a stone tablet and nothing more…

By the time the Water Puppet reached the stone tablet, Lin Yun noticed that there were words carved on it with a sword, [I and Luo Ning have been lost for three years, there is no one left alive…]

Lin Yun was startled speechless, especially by the last sentence, [There is no one left alive…]

He saw those words and felt that they had been carved with a complicated mood, there was bewilderment, frustration, and even more despair.

Most people might not know the name Luo Ning in this era, but Lin Yun remembered quite clearly that the Gaugass King’s name was Luo Ning.

The one who craved this stone tablet was most likely Emperor Zhantui.

When Lin Yun explored Vaughn’s laboratory, he encountered a Heaven Rank Puppet that said a few profound sentences.

‘Is there anyone still alive?”There is no path forward…’ These sentences had been left behind by the Dark Sage, but the Heaven Rank Puppet had been seriously damaged, Lin Yun had only been able to hear these few words.

And now in the Bloodshed Forest, he once again encountered such a cryptic message left by Emperor Zhantui, ‘Just what are those powerhouses who transcended Heaven Rank trying to convey?’

The message left behind by Emperor Zhantui was conflicting, weren’t Noscent’s people living properly in the era when the Gaugass King disappeared?

Lin Yun didn’t remain too long near the lake, he decided on returning to camp first. The Bloodshed Forest with Reverse Law wasn’t easy to leave, even Lin Yun who knew the way to exit had to spend no less than three hours. When Lin Yun reached the camp, he discovered that the three mercenary groups had already left.

Fortunately, the three mercenary groups progressed very slowly since their assembly was quite huge. It didn’t take long for Lin Yun to catch up after following their tracks.

A scorched forest appeared before him, traces of flames could be seen everywhere. On the edge of the forest, the temperature reached 40°C, and in the distance, an erupting volcano could be seen spewing lava. Lin Yun frowned as he saw the surroundings, a bad premonition rushing over him because this forest looked exactly like a certain magical forest he remembered.

There was a commotion ahead, it looked like something happened to the team that had been dispatched for exploration.

Lin Yun was startled.

He unhesitantly cast half a dozen Mage Eyes and was suddenly startled by the scene unfolding in front of him. A group of Flame Devils covered in fire were in an intense battle with the elite squadron of the three mercenary groups.

Lin Yun wanted to warn them, but it was too late.

Countless spells fell on several Flame Devils, the blazing flames covering their body gradually dimming. When the last spell fell, the blazing flames on their bodies completely stopped burning and they turned into piles of ashes which slowly scattered. But suddenly, flames rose up from those ashes and new Flame Devils rose from these flames.

Flame Devils were the lowest hellish lifeform, like Malevolent Spirits and Evil Spawn, but they were genuine level 20 lifeforms. These Flame Devils were more troublesome than Malevolent Spirits and Evil Spawn, for a single reason, if one couldn’t one shot a Flame Devil, then the numbers of hits it received would be the number of Flame Devils it would split in.

This was very frightening.

They actually met one Flame Devil a few minutes ago, but from one, it turned into a dozen, and then bit by bit into several hundreds. If the three mercenary groups kept attacking, the amount of Flame Devils would keep increasing and the three mercenary groups would face destruction sooner or later.

“Stay your hands, everyone stop!”

Following that roar, the elite team halted their offensive and changed to a defensive formation. They released Ice Walls to resist the attacks of the several hundred Flame Devils.

Whenever the Flame Devils shattered an Ice Wall, a new one would come to replace it. All the power of the three mercenary groups was focused on the front and the deadlock lasted for a few minutes. When the mages suffered from mana exhaustion, a new batch would come to replace them.

Suddenly, a horrifying aura spread through the battlefield.

“Rumble!”

It was followed by a world-shaking sound as the earth shook and fractured, a black mist leaking from the crack, and soon, a huge arm reached out of the ground. This was a huge arm covered in twisted flames emitting extreme heat. It was soon followed by another arm.

When the crack was large enough, a wild roar echoed as a several dozens meters tall fire monster jumped out of the hole, shaking the entire mountain.

A dense aura of sulfur quickly filled the surroundings…

This was a level 36 Lesser Flame Overlord!

The three mercenary groups had a shockingly perfect tacit understanding, without discussing anything prior, they sent their strongest troops over, Sword Saint Dean, Archmage Delson and Olaro, as well as Rolf, the leader of the Red Dragon Mercenary Group.

High level Expert Swordsmen, High Mages and Divine Archers came by dozens.

Orson, Yilu, Yema, Anna, Henri, and other strong powerhouses rushed there.

The bright flames of the Lesser Flame Overlord shone on everyone’s faces. Everyone’s expressions were solemn, anxious, and mostly fearful.

Dealing with a few hundred Flame Devils with their strongest line-up could be said to be easy, but a Lesser Flame Overlord…