Chapter 4537 — Return to Weihu

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.

Beneath the sea mist, everything was a blur, but Wei Zhao's spirits were soaring. Had he not feared drawing the attention of nearby spirit beasts, he might have been unable to resist shouting aloud just to relieve the pressure. After all, the past month had been crushing beyond words; thank goodness he had finally escaped.

According to the ghostly thing, the Weihu Sea already lay ahead, but Wei Zhao was still standing on the cliffs of the Southern Island, so there was no chance of catching a favorable wind. No ship would dare come this close to the Southern Island—not even the overlords of the Southern Province Escort Bureau would have the nerve. So the only way for Wei Zhao to leave was to take to the sea.

Entering the sea carried risk. If his luck ran foul, he might run into a terrifying sea beast like a ghost electric ray. But compared with what Wei Zhao had endured over the past month, this was nothing at all.

Without the slightest hesitation, Wei Zhao gauged his direction and then wrapped his whole body in true qi, leaping into the vast sea. Swimming all the way back to Weihu City directly was hardly realistic, but if he wanted to leave the Southern Island, jumping into the sea was an indispensable first step; only after putting some distance between himself and the island would he have a chance of catching a favorable wind.

Others trembled with fear at the thought of jumping into the sea, but Wei Zhao was utterly confident. So long as he did not run into some troublesome sea beast, he could spend a month or two in the water with his abilities; as long as he did not lose his bearings, he could swim all the way back to Weihu City if need be.

From the moment the old sect of the Western Hills began hunting him, through his accidental blundering into the spirit beast gathering, Wei Zhao's luck for a time had been utterly wretched. To say he choked on water and got it stuck between his teeth would be no exaggeration at all. But now, a month on, his run of bad luck had finally come to an end.

After swimming about twenty li from the Southern Island, Wei Zhao spotted a passenger ship—and its destination happened to be Weihu City. He paid a hundred spirit jade, and at last succeeded in catching a favorable wind.

Back at the Weihu docks once more, gazing at everything so familiar before him, Wei Zhao let out a long breath, overcome with emotion. Surviving this time and coming back alive—you could only call it a stroke of great fortune.

Even Wei Zhao himself found it all a little unbelievable in hindsight. The hunt by the old sect of the Western Hills, his accidental entry into the spirit beast gathering, his crossing of two whole regions of the Southern Island—any one of them should have meant certain death, yet he had somehow blundered through them all, not missing an arm or a leg. Truly, after all bitterness comes sweetness.

Apart from there being more foot traffic than before and the docks being busier than ever, everything in Weihu City looked perfectly normal, showing no marked difference from before. That was rather beyond Wei Zhao's expectations.

After all, back at the spirit beast gathering a month ago, Zhuque had publicly confirmed the strategy of levying taxes on every city in the Southern Province Sea, and had even settled on the candidates for city lords. Yet a whole month had passed and no action had begun.

But on second thought, the Anluo District had been matched with the Moleng Sea, and Zhuque had appointed the city lord of Moleng City. Perhaps Moleng City had already made its move, and it simply had not yet reached the Weihu Sea.

In any case, none of this had much to do with Wei Zhao. It was a matter between the spirit beast race and the Southern Province Sea; if a large-scale conflict really did break out, it was certainly not something one or two people could resolve.

Never mind Wei Zhao—even a power like the old sect of the Western Hills would be far from enough to matter! (To be continued...)