The Era of Gods

Chapter 615: Chapter 615 Unknown Son of the Divine Realm

The Dark Underground Palace was filled with an indescribable stench, a rank mixture akin to urine, feces, and various body odors that had been fermenting multiple times in a sealed environment—particularly nauseating.

The walls were covered in patches of grey-brown moss, and occasionally, some ferns grew in the damp earth at the corners. From time to time, snakes and other monsters could be seen slithering through the moist soil at the base of the walls.

The layout of the underground palace wasn’t complex; a main path branched into several smaller ones. Lin Xiao had a map drawn by his predecessors and wasn’t worried about getting lost.

Just upon entering the palace, someone found a piece of Ancient Moss emitting a faint glow at the entrance and joyfully dug it out with a trowel. They sold it on the spot to the guide in exchange for a Magic Stone, making everyone else green with envy.

Emboldened, everyone began eagerly scanning their surroundings in hopes of finding new patches of Ancient Moss, Lin Xiao included.

As the group passed through the main corridor and reached the first intersection, a mass of shadows suddenly dropped from above in the left passage towards the leading wizard apprentice. More shadows pounced down from above. Lin Xiao’s reaction was lightning-fast as he drew his sword and chopped, splitting the incoming shadow in two with a ‘plop,’ and it fell to the ground, still twitching.

His sword flashed as he performed a Continuous Chop, slaying four in succession. The remaining shadows were quickly dispatched by the other wizard apprentices. They then had the chance to see that the shadows were Monkey-faced Bats, and the few who had acted rushed forward to knock out the bats’ valuable bloodsucking fangs with their swords.

Lin Xiao killed four, harvested eight fangs, and the total value added up to eight Magic Coins, just two short of a Magic Stone.

He cheerfully wrapped the still bleeding bloodsucking fangs in cloth, unaware of the strange look he received from Julian, the guide behind him.

After another ten minutes, the group cleared out a batch of Monkey-faced Bats. Relying on his superior strength and combat skills, Lin Xiao took down several and obtained more than a dozen bloodsucking fangs.

At this moment, in addition to being surprised, Julian’s expression held an element of the unexpected and a peculiar look as if he were eyeing prey.@@novelbin@@

There weren’t any very powerful monsters in the underground palace since Wizards regularly collected the newly grown Ancient Moss, meaning the monsters didn’t live long and couldn’t grow very strong.

They spent two hours scouring the first level of the underground palace before moving on to the second level.

This time it was Lin Xiao’s turn to lead. He cast Air Shield Witchcraft on himself, forming a sturdy layer of air that could block almost any type of damage from every angle, a quite versatile witchcraft. Its only downside was its defensive capability wasn’t as good as specialized defensive spells.

Prepared, he and two other wizard apprentices proceeded down slimy, moss-covered stone steps. When they reached the bottom, several white shapes swooped down from the ceiling, engulfing him and radiating a bone-chilling cold that even the Air Shield couldn’t withstand.

Seven Ghosts—three for him and two for each of his companions.

In the blink of an eye, he deliberately canceled the Air Shield around himself and, like a nimble snake, slipped through the three ghosts. His wrist flicked and his sword slashed, splitting the three ghosts apart. His companions soon reacted, pounding down three spells to shatter the Ghosts that were trying to reform. He followed up by cutting them up even more.

Wiping sweat from his brow, he turned to thank them, but his pupils constricted as he barely managed to keep his expression in check.

Without a trace of emotion, Lin Xiao turned back, his inner terror surging like wild waves.

When he looked behind just now, he caught Julian, who was hugging a disciple, quickly resume a normal expression. However, Lin Xiao glimpsed something unbelievable in a fleeting moment.

For an instant, it appeared Julian recognized him as another Son of the Divine Realm. The look, that gaze—Lin Xiao was all too familiar with it. Coupled with the odd feeling he previously had about Julian, a surprising and fearful thought sprouted in his mind.

Julian might be a Son of the Divine Realm from some unknown Race, and he seemed to have noticed the difference between Lin Xiao and the natives.

In that instant, Lin Xiao had the chilling sensation of being firmly locked in someone’s sights, as if an invisible gaze was fixed on him.

“I can’t stay here any longer.”

Whether it was certain or not, the risk of remaining in the group was too high—he had to find a way to leave the team.

No, he felt he couldn’t even stay within the School any longer.

For a wizard instructor to target him, a mere apprentice, was all too simple. Any excuse could be used to summon him to the instructor’s office and kill him as easily as slaughtering a chicken. Then, they could make up any reason for the outside world. In a world where the strong rule, such an act was not unusual.

With no Clan to back him up, his death would be irrelevant and ignored.

Lin Xiao’s mind raced, but he kept his gaze, expression, and movements as normal as possible, believing there wasn’t much point to it. Nonetheless, he had to do what was necessary because what if he was wrong?

It wasn’t impossible, though the chances were less than one percent.

The team continued down the stairs to the second level of the underground palace which, aside from the lurking Ghost-faced Bats, occasionally saw the emergence of Ghosts.

These monsters were extremely dangerous and had no loot to offer, making them one of the least favorite encounters for the adventurers.

Following the main path of the second floor, they came to another crossroads. Julian spoke up:

“Hold on a moment.”

Everyone stopped as he continued:

“We’ll split here. You guys take the left, we’ll take the right.”

“Right, you two come with us to carry stuff.”

He was referring to Lin Xiao and another wizard apprentice.

“It’s time to make a move.”

Lin Xiao’s heart chilled as Julian’s decisiveness caught him off guard, and he had not yet thought of a way to extricate himself.

Under the scrutiny of the crowd, he could not find any excuse to refuse, so he could only agree.

The team split up, with Julian’s few apprentices taking the lead. He waved his hand, dismissed the pouting Ai Lian to the side, and beckoned to Lin Xiao.

With a resigned determination, he walked over. Julian asked with a smile,

“Where are you from?”

Lin Xiao could see the hidden coldness and cruelty in his smile and knew he wasn’t asking about his current incarnation, but which Divine Realm civilization he was from.

Clearly, this was an interrogation. If he answered incorrectly, he would be met with a thunderous attack.

Lin Xiao’s thoughts whirled, and he ultimately decided to answer truthfully, pretending to hesitate before responding,

“Human Race!”

A hint of surprise flashed across Julian’s face. The ice and cruelty disappeared instantly, replaced by a warm smile as he said,

“Brother, you should have said so earlier! I almost misunderstood. I’m also from the Human Race; we’re all—”

As his attitude changed, Lin Xiao let out a sigh of relief and went along with Julian’s words, laughing,

“So you’re one of our own. You had me scared—”

His words were cut abruptly short as Lin Xiao moved even faster, raising his crossed arms in front of him just in time to block a semi-transparent White Snake that burst out of Julian’s chest and bit heavily into his defense. With a dull sound, Lin Xiao retreated over ten meters and turned to run.

“Hmm?”

Julian was somewhat surprised that his strike had failed to leave its mark, and with a crooked smile, he said to the shocked apprentices and another wizard apprentice beside him,

“Chase him down, execute on the spot!”

Although the others did not understand, and the other wizard apprentice was still in a dazed state and did not move, the few apprentices drew their weapons without asking questions and gave chase.

Julian paid no attention to the confused apprentice. With his hands behind his back, he maintained a chilling smile and followed.

“To encounter a newly descended human Descender while completing The True Ancestor Quest, what an unexpected delight!”

In the first level of the Dark Underground Palace, Lin Xiao didn’t head straight for the exit after dashing out of the second level but ran in another direction.

Escaping through the exit was certain death; he couldn’t outrun an Official Wizard. However, he remembered that on the other side of the first level, there was a collapsed area that revealed a hole covered by dirt and roots, offering a chance to escape.

Fortunately, they had already thoroughly scoured the first level, eliminating all the hidden creatures. Otherwise, he would have been discovered immediately if he encountered one during his escape.

No more than five seconds after Lin Xiao reached the first level, Julian’s apprentices rushed up. Ai Lian shouted loudly to the other male apprentices,

“Go to the entrance of the Dark Underground Palace immediately.”

The apprentices moved swiftly towards the palace entrance, but after taking just one step, Ai Lian suddenly stopped and listened intently to the other side. Her charming face showed a trace of confusion; thinking for a moment, she decided to head that way.

Lin Xiao quickly reached the collapse he remembered, and at first glance, he saw a hole just big enough for a head to squeeze through, with faint light shining down from above. He drew his sword, stabbing it into the mud beside the hole and stirring, causing a large clump of earth to fall away.

This sword had cost him two Magic Stones and was enchanted with both sturdiness and sharpness, allowing it to cut through stone with ease, let alone mud and roots. Soon, he had dug a large hole big enough for someone to crawl through.

Twenty seconds later, he had enlarged the hole enough to accommodate himself and was about to climb through when he paused and looked towards the other side where a slender figure emerged from the darkness.

Ai Lian glanced at the dirt strewn on the ground and the dirty Lin Xiao, and clapped her hands, saying,

“So there was another collapse here. I was wondering why I lost sight of you once I caught up. Teacher will be—”

A clump of earth, carried by a strong gust, cut her off, splattering mud back into her mouth. She pressed a pendant at her waist, raising a barrier of light to block the flying dirt. Then, a huge fist followed, smashing into the barrier.

“Boom!”

The force, much stronger than she anticipated, shattered the light barrier instantly and struck her charming face, distorting it. As she threw her head back, she instinctively activated a crystal pendant Magic Weapon hidden in the deep cleavage at her chest. A layer of cyan light emerged, forming a gigantic egg-shell-like shield, but as the shield formed, a flash of a sword followed closely. A spurt of blood gushed from her neatly severed fair neck, splashing high and staining the shield crimson from above.

The body thumped down, twitching incessantly, as the head rolled to the side, still bearing an expression of disbelief.

“Foolish!”

Lin Xiao snorted coldly, searching the warm yet lifeless body; he took a bauble from the waist, a crystal pendant from the chest, and four rings from both hands—all Magic Weapons.

Taking only two seconds to gather his spoils, he turned back to continue digging, soon breaking through the hole and crawling out. Without bothering to clean the mud off, he dove into the jungle and disappeared.