Asura Emperor Venerable
Chapter 438 Jade Forest Land

Chapter 438: Chapter 438 Jade Forest Land

The Fishman looked at Shi Hao and suddenly felt an indescribable agony.

Do I really need the help of this human?

Why do I feel like bringing him back is actually inviting a major headache?

Yet, with the intertribal war about to begin, every tribe is trying to absorb external forces to strengthen themselves. If I turn Shi Hao away, that would mean weakening my own power while allowing the other tribes to get stronger.

As one grows and the other wanes, this could be fatal. How could I act capriciously?

"Alright, follow me," said the Fishman, leading Shi Hao deeper into the swamp.

"My name is Asura. What’s yours?" Shi Hao started to make conversation.

"Yu Xuanyun," the Fishman replied.

Shi Hao was taken aback. A Fishman wallowing in the mud had such a profound name?

"Who gave you this name?" he couldn’t help but ask.

"Of course, it was the Soul Elder," Yu Xuanyun said with pride filling his face.

Well, if it weren’t for those Floating Water Caltrop Leaves on your face, the expression would have really fit the bill.

Shi Hao had no strength to complain and asked again, "What is this Jade Forest Land?"

Yu Xuanyun immediately showed a solemn expression, "It is a Sacred Land, holding the ancestral treasures of our Fish People. We must retrieve them to make our tribe flourish even more!"

So, they want to obtain the key to enter the Jade Forest Land?

That must be the case for the other seven Great Tribes as well?

So here, these outsiders have to choose a Tribe to join, and then help them achieve victory to ultimately enter the Jade Forest Land?

Thinking further, since entering the Purple Green Secret Realm, there have been no mandatory tasks.

— You can choose to participate in the Trial Point or not; you can choose to fight for the Eternal Stone or not; the difference here is probably in the Reward Points.

But what exactly does the person behind all this want to achieve?

Unlike the previous Puppets, these are living beings, albeit with gills.

Shi Hao frowned, he instinctively felt that the mastermind behind the scenes was toying with the eight tribes. However, seeing Yu Xuanyun’s expression when mentioning the Sacred Land, which was even devout, convincing him to give up or openly speaking of conspiracy would likely make him turn hostile on the spot.

This seems to have become their belief.

I believe the same goes for the other seven tribes.

Thus, once a war involving so many people with such strong beliefs begins, it will certainly be a fight to the bitter end.

— Does this happen every time the Purple Green Secret Realm is opened?

If these eight tribes wage war time and time again, filled with hope each time only to be met with disappointment, isn’t that exceedingly cruel?

The question is, has the person who arranged all this died?

The Almighties of Sky Ladder can only live for five thousand years, so how long has this secret realm existed?

At least tens of thousands of years, right?

Over such a long span, which Almighty wouldn’t be worn down by time?

Yet to claim that the one who arranged all this has perished, then who sent the Entry Token previously?

All signs seem to indicate that this place must be under someone’s supervision.

This person, or this power, what exactly do they want to do?

After pondering for a while, Shi Hao temporarily set aside this puzzle.

Given his current level in martial arts, he was far too distant from the person behind the scenes to determine their true intentions due to the considerable limitations in his perspective.

After walking for some time, Shi Hao noticed an area shrouded in dense fog in the distance, where visibility was pitifully low, and the fog-covered region was vast, certainly spanning at least dozens of miles wide, the depth of which was unknown.

"That’s a Forbidden Land!" Yu Xuanyun stated solemnly, "Despite being home to a rich and precious array of fish, and various Spiritual Medicines, the confusing fog traps anyone who enters, and nine out of ten people can’t find their way out."

"Spiritual Medicine?" Shi Hao heard this and immediately showed a look of delight, rubbing his hands together, seemingly a bit excited.

Yu Xuanyun felt even more that bringing Shi Hao here was a mistake; this guy was too avaricious, with his eyes alight at the mention of Spiritual Medicine.

Yet, having already brought him here, and pushing Shi Hao away would equate to increasing the strength of other Tribes.

He could only hope that his intuition was wrong.

As they continued on their way, Shi Hao also detected many sentries hidden in the swamp below, camouflaged by mud and water, unnoticed even by Self-Observation experts, let alone the Almighties from the Founding King Court.

But Shi Hao, having acquired a domain ahead of time, had perceptive abilities akin to a deity within this area.

Without any change in expression, he simply followed Yu Xuanyun.

After walking for a while longer, buildings started to appear on the swamp.

Buildings here, in such a place?

Indeed, the Fish People had their own wisdom. They drove long bamboo poles into the swamp as a foundation to construct their houses upon.

Quite a few Fish People.

Besides them, there were many outsiders, with plenty holding fish spears; if not for the lack of gills on their faces, one could mistake them for Fish People too.

Shi Hao’s arrival was like a small stone thrown into a lake, causing no ripples at all, but he was happy with this, starting to inquire around about the specific situation here.

Soon enough, he learned why outsiders also engaged in fishing here.

The fish here were not only delicious but also greatly beneficial to Martial Artists, capable of enhancing cultivation and healing internal injuries, essentially divine medicine.

Regrettably, these fish were scarce and extremely elusive, making them difficult to capture.

—Not that there weren’t other methods. In the Forbidden Land, there were plenty of fish, but unfortunately, it’s easy to enter and hard to leave.

Previously, some outsiders, refusing to believe it, rashly barged in and have not returned since, possibly never to come out again.

Among them was an Almighty from the Supplementing Divine Temple!

Even someone from the Supplementing Divine Temple had fallen within, so who else would dare take the risk?

It’s a great thing to seize an opportunity, but if it costs one their life, then what’s the point?

Shi Hao also tried fishing, but when he took out the Spirit Exploration Compass, he saw nothing.

Such fish weren’t considered treasures.

Alright then.

Shi Hao went to gather some information about the Jade Forest Land and the so-called key, which was not a secret. Anyone could still head to the Jade Forest Land now, but constantly enveloped by black strange winds, trespassers would instantly be reduced to rotten bones, with only those holding the key able to enter.

And this key was actually a torch.

Every thousand years, a cave in Thousdand Year Mountain in the swamp would open, and therein would be placed that torch. Whoever obtained it could enter the Jade Forest Land and retrieve the Tribe’s sacred item.

According to the Fish People, this sacred item could enable them to "return home."

The swamp was not their ancestral land; they had migrated there from somewhere since an unknown era, but in the heart of each Fish Person lay the most sacred wish: to return to their ancestral land.

Shi Hao first headed for the Jade Forest Land.