Chapter 2262 Lost Forest <TOC> Chapter 2264 Open Area
Translator: SumTLMan
Due to the presence of the Voice of the World, it is virtually impossible for elemental creatures to conceal their energy fluctuations. This is why Lush Groot speculated as such.
However, the premise of its speculation was because it had seen Angel, a visitor from beyond the skies.
——Because in the Tidal Realm, the extraordinary beings are only elemental creatures, and non-elemental beings can only be visitors from beyond.
Without Angel as an example, it would not have thought to associate this with visitors from beyond.
After hearing Lush Groot’s second speculation, Lobert, although not verbally disputing it, felt a certain degree of agreement in his heart. If it truly wasn’t an elemental creature, then it could only be from beyond this domain.
This possibility was also being considered by Dangros and Cupid at this time.
However, while many were indulging in their speculations, Angel shook his head and said, “It’s nearly impossible.”
“The passage to the Tidal Realm is in the Fire Domain. Its exact location will be known to you in the future,” Angel paused before continuing, “I have left a special mark in that passage. Should any other being step into it, I would immediately sense it. Up to now, I haven’t felt any disturbance to the mark, which means no other beings have entered the Tidal Realm.”
Lush Groot asked, “Could there be a passage you are unaware of?”
Angel hesitated for a moment before shaking his head again, “Direct passages between a subsidiary world and the main world generally only exist as a single entity. While there are subsidiary worlds with multiple passages, those are special cases.”
“Moreover, there have been no signs of any external beings invading the Tidal Realm for many years. I am inclined to believe that there is only one passage.”
The key point is, for many years no other beings have entered the Tidal Realm, and yet, coincidentally, after Angel’s arrival, another being follows, possibly through a ‘second passage’. This seems too much like a plot twist.
Angel finds it hard to believe in such coincidences.
Unless, all these coincidences are part of Feng’s scheme.
Since Angel had spoken thus, Lush Groot did not argue further. However, it remained curious about the situation in the Tidal Realm, “So, does this mean that outsiders can only enter the Tidal Realm through the passage in the Fire Domain?”
To this, Angel shook his head, “While there is only one passage, it’s not necessary to use it. If someone knows the void coordinates of the Tidal Realm, they could directly cross the void to arrive.”
Just like Angel, if he were to leave the Tidal Realm, he could use the planar passages to directly travel through the void back to the Tidal Realm, without using the passage through the Fire Domain.
Because he has come to the Tidal Realm, he naturally knows its coordinates.
Therefore, Angel never thought of monopolizing the Tidal Realm. He only intended for the Savage Grottoes to take the lead, becoming the mainstream force in the Tidal Realm.
Because it’s impossible to keep it a secret.
Once outsiders enter the Tidal Realm, upon their departure, they don’t need to go through the Fire Domain; a flicker through the void would suffice to re-enter the Tidal Realm. How could this be defended against? How could it be concealed?
Even if the Savage Grottoes concealed the information about the Tidal Realm and no one else transmitted it, it couldn’t be hidden for long. For one, wizard organizations are not monolithic; there are spies within each organization, and they would spare no effort in uncovering such a significant matter; secondly, the existence of prophecy wizards makes it nearly impossible to hide such major issues. Unless, no one from the Savage Grottoes came to the Tidal Realm… But it makes no sense to ignore such a big opportunity.
Even if everything was perfectly managed, the existence of the Tidal Realm couldn’t be hidden for long. Because the current state of the Tidal Realm is very abnormal, somewhat like a leech clinging to the main world.
Feeding off the elemental energies of the main world, its unique laws flourish and develop, yet it hardly offers any benefits back to the main world.
Continuously taking without giving, such an obviously unequal state cannot last forever.
It might have been Feng’s doing before, concealing the existence of the Tidal Realm. However, this situation cannot last too long; sooner or later, even without the Savage Grottoes revealing the existence of the Tidal Realm, the World Will of the Wizarding World will take the initiative to expose it.
Therefore, no matter what, it is impossible to conceal the Tidal Realm.
Lush Groot was surprised, “Is it possible to come across the void? Could it be that someone came in this way?”
Angel shook his head: “Currently, the coordinates of the Tidal Realm have not been exposed, and no one will come across the void.”
Unless, the other party is a lucky one, wandering in the void by mistake and stumbling upon the Tidal Realm. ——This situation, as mentioned before, is too dramatically coincidental. It has not been discovered for three thousand years, but now it appears, Angel does not believe it much.
“Then I don’t know.” Lush Groot’s two guesses were denied, and it could not think of any other situations.
After a moment of silence, Cupid, who always observes and dislikes speaking, suddenly said, “Actually, there is another possibility.”
Cupid’s words made everyone turn their gaze to him.
Cupid: “Highness Lush overlooked a situation, that is, you know the identity of the other party, but you subconsciously ignored it.”
Lush Groot: “What do you mean?”
Cupid: “According to the situation described by Mr. Pat, if the hidden spy is not gifted, then their strength must not be underestimated.”
“Suppose, the hidden spy is also an elemental creature, it also breathes at the time of the Voice of the World, its strength is very high, even higher than all the monarchs; all the elemental monarchs actually know it, but subconsciously ignore it.”
“Highness Lush, who do you think this existence could be?”
Cupid had made it this clear, how could Lush Groot not understand its meaning, it was silent for a moment, slowly said: “Are you suggesting, the hidden one is… Mentor Nemeti?”
Cupid fluttered its pure white little wings: “Isn’t that the only possibility?”
Lush Groot frowned: “But, the means of the hidden spy are different from Mentor’s abilities.”
Cupid: “How many years has Your Highness not seen Highness Nemeti?”
Lush Groot was silent.
“Since Your Highness has not seen Highness Nemeti take action for so many years, why assume Highness Nemeti’s methods have not advanced?”
Cupid: “Highness Nemeti’s strength is powerful, stronger than the elemental monarchs, so we don’t know what methods it has, maybe it really can achieve invisible and shadowless secret observation?”
Cupid’s words were more of a speculation, without any evidence.
Whether Angel agrees with its view or not is beside the point. However, combining the shadow of the hidden spy with Nemeti slowly, some doubts seem to really make sense.
The first doubt is that Angel has not been spied on in other domains, but was spied on when leaving the Marlaya Mountain and heading to the Green Forest Domain. Moreover, near the Green Forest Domain, the hidden spy’s spying became more obvious.
The second doubt is that the spy is only interested in him and Toby. Because the spy knows very well that he and Toby are outsiders, not elemental creatures. Only a being that has long been in contact with outsiders can easily determine this.
If the hidden spy is Nemeti, then these two concerns can be explained.
However, if the other party is Nemeti, why doesn’t it show itself clearly? Moreover, Angel can’t find the reason why Nemeti is secretly peeping.
A jumble of speculations poured into the mind, eventually becoming a tangled mess.
“Perhaps, meeting Highness Nemeti would clarify things,” Angel said. “If it really is Highness Nemeti, I believe it wouldn’t refuse to meet me.”
Upon hearing this, Cupid nodded and said no more.
…
Although they were walking to the Lost Forest, it didn’t mean they were slow. With Speedling swirling around them, not only did they save energy, but with every step, they could leap several meters, even tens of meters.
In just half an hour, they had moved from Sunlight Lake of the mountain peak to the shadowy side of another mountain.
Initially, they encountered various wood elemental creatures along the way, chirping and jumping in the woods, bustling at their feet, full of vitality.
But as they reached the shadowy areas of the mountain, perhaps due to the lack of sunlight or because they were nearing the Lost Forest, the number of wood elemental creatures gradually decreased.
Occasionally, they would see creatures that were either huge in size or decaying in form, ancient beings that had lived for who knows how many years.
And as they approached the Lost Forest, the wood elemental creatures became even scarcer.
When they moved from the shadowy side of the mountain to the valley below, only ordinary trees remained around them. Each of these trees was very large, blocking the already sparse sunlight, making their journey even dimmer.
The air also filled with a moist, musty smell.
This gloomy situation extended all the way to the Lost Forest.
The gloominess of the Lost Forest not only remained but seemed to intensify. At first glance, the sky above the Lost Forest was covered with fog barriers. Unlike the vibrant mist elsewhere, the fog barrier over the Lost Forest was dark gray and gloomy, giving off a sense of depression just by looking at it.
And as they got closer, Angel felt as if blood was churning inside his chest.
A sweet, nauseating sensation rose from his throat.
Angel paused for a moment, quickly setting up mental models in his mental space, and a cool sensation instantly spread throughout his body. The previous discomfort was also quickly eliminated.
“What’s wrong?” Lush Groot noticed Angel’s pause and asked in confusion.
“Nothing.” Angel shook his head outwardly, but inwardly he added: It was just the effect of the poison fog.
The fog barrier swirling near the Lost Forest was a poison fog that had accumulated over many years, possibly influenced by some transcendent factors, making the poison fog quite potent. Even Angel, a formal wizard, was slightly affected, which says a lot. Ordinary people, or apprentices, would likely die upon entering.
However, this poison fog had been present for a long time and was not specifically targeting them. So after Angel expelled the toxins, he didn’t delve further into it.
Continuing forward for several hundred meters, they stopped in front of a clear demarcation line.
Where they stood was a gloomy forest, and ahead of the line was a forest shrouded in dense poison fog.
“Beyond here lies the Lost Forest,” Lush Groot said softly, looking at the foggy, gloomy forest.
Without needing Lush Groot to say it, Angel could also tell, not just because of the poison fog, but also because the Lost Forest’s hidden yet resilient aura was making its presence felt.
Seeing that Angel showed no reaction, Lush Groot said again, “You don’t feel the pressure of the aura here, but once you step into the Lost Forest, that kind of pressure will come with it. And the deeper you go, the greater that pressure becomes, so much so that even I cannot go too far ahead.”
“You’re at ease now, but that might not be the case later.”
Angel knew that what Lush Groot said was no falsehood. He hadn’t truly entered the Lost Forest yet, but the feedback obtained through the triangulation energy positioning method suggested that the pressure inside the Lost Forest would be terrifying. If it kept increasing endlessly, the pressure at the center might reach the level of a third level true knowledge wizard.
Such a massive oppressive aura was very rare even outside.
No wonder, even an elemental monarch like Lush Groot couldn’t step foot into the Lost Forest.
“Or, you could choose to rest in the Green Forest Domain for a while first. I can try to contact Mentor Nemeti through the method of leaf messaging?” Lush Groot sincerely suggested.
Angel: “Before I came, you must have tried to contact Highness Nemeti, right? Did you get a response?”
Lush Groot hesitated for a moment and shook its head.
Before this, it had sent messages to the Mentor almost every once in a while but never received a response. Not long ago, when the sage of the Stone Forest Canyon brought the information of the Drama Shadow Box trilogy, Lush Groot also sent a message to the Lost Forest but still got no feedback.
“If that’s the case, then why bother trying again? Let me go in and see for myself.”
“But…” Lush Groot wanted to say something else, but seeing the confidence in Angel’s eyes, it ultimately didn’t speak.
Since Angel wanted to try, let him try; at most, he would get a bit hurt.
Seeing that Lush Groot no longer stopped him, Angel didn’t plan to stay put and quickly walked towards the Lost Forest ahead.
However, just as he was about to step into the mist of the Lost Forest, Angel paused.
“I almost forgot, you stay outside, lest you get hurt by the aura.” Angel summoned a Magic Hand and took down Dangros that was hanging on the Blood Night Sanctuary.
“I could actually go with you,” Dangros said with a hint of worry in a low voice.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. You just wait outside with Highness Lush Groot.” Not allowing Dangros to refuse, Angel gently tossed it, landing it on Lush Groot’s branches.
Then, Angel looked at Lobert: “You, Speedling, and Cupid, also wait outside. I will come out soon.”
After doing all this, Angel looked at Toby. The latter yawned, flew up from his shoulder, spun in the air, and finally dived into the pocket on the front of Angel’s shirt.
Clearly, Toby had no intention of staying outside but was prepared to enter the Lost Forest with Angel.
Angel smiled and did not dissuade Toby.
With a step, he walked towards the Poison Mist Enshrouded Lost Forest.