Since the sky was covered, the heavens began to show their holiness

Iris stared at Zhou Xian's receding back, her eyes suddenly lit up, like a spark suddenly burning in the dark night. She stood there for a long time without moving.

As for the huge skeleton of the Despicable Maw beside her, she didn't even look at it. To her, the so-called Spider God was already a thing of the past. At this moment, all she could see was that small but powerful figure.

Iris ruffled the strands of hair on her temples, and finally a sigh escaped her lips.

"Oh, what a pity."

The last sound dissipated into the black mist like a wisp, carrying with it a sense of loss. With the death of Vicious Throat, her aura had returned to that of an ordinary person.

Zhou Xian had no idea that Iris had been thinking about him. Even if he knew, given his personality, he would probably just sneer at it.

In his eyes, Iris was just an ordinary person who was scheming and vicious. Her so-called favor was just coveting his powerful strength. Once a more powerful existence appeared, this woman would turn against him without hesitation, as fast and ruthless as a venomous snake spitting out its tongue.

Zhou Xian and Gwen led everyone through the twisted landscape of Shadow Island, their sleeves brushing against the thorns covered with black frost. When the last wisp of black mist dissipated in their palms, everyone arrived at the stronghold.

The black fog that had been lingering in the stronghold has completely faded away. Although the charred earth and rotten vegetation still speak of disaster, this purified area is like a lone boat emerging from the abyss of chaos, becoming the only peaceful harbor in the boundless terror of the Shadow Isles.

Stepping into this "paradise", everyone's tense backs suddenly relaxed. Some staggered and held onto the stone wall, their knuckles turning white from excessive force; some slumped on the ground, sobs that had been suppressed for a long time leaking out of their throats.

Every step they took was soaked in cold sweat, and the experiences along the way kept emerging in their minds. The rotten giant tree suddenly opened its scarlet pupils, the vines turned into strangling tentacles, and the shadows with fangs appeared from time to time in the black fog. The Shadow Island showed them the tip of the iceberg in a treacherous manner. If it weren't for Zhou Xian's protection, they would have become part of the black fog long ago.

"Rest and find a place to set up camp. You will all have to stay here for a short while."

Zhou Xian waved his hand casually, his eyes glancing at the huddled figures in the crowd - these "experimental subjects" who Gwen had asked to be rescued were now as nervous as frightened birds.

These words hit the dead air like a hammer. Everyone was stunned at first, and then they started to whisper to each other. Someone clenched the wound wrapped in rags, his Adam's apple rolling as if he wanted to ask a question; a few teenagers in the corner looked at each other, their eyes full of anxiety and hesitation.

Finally, a burly man with a beard took half a step forward and rubbed his rough palms on his trouser legs: "Sir, how long will we stay here? Shadow Island"

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Zhou Xian's suddenly cold gaze.

Zhou Xian's eyes flashed with a cold light like ice, and the pressure around him spread out like a substance: "Your life is nothing but the candlelight between my fingers. If you want it to continue to sway, then keep your mouth shut and don't ask any more questions."

Before he finished speaking, the corner of his robe brought up a gust of wind, and he turned and left without any regrets, leaving everyone frozen in place, with cold sweat on their backs soaking their torn clothes. In this oppressive air, even breathing became cautious. They almost forgot that this was the existence that could kill that terrifying spider. For a moment, everyone looked at each other, and all the questions rolling in their throats were swallowed back into their stomachs. They clenched their weapons, lowered their heads and went into the charred forest, picking up broken trees and dead branches faster and faster, for fear that a step later would anger the unpredictable savior.

The sound of knocking echoed on the humus soil. Amid the harsh sound of broken blades chopping rotten wood, people tilted the broken stone slabs into a triangular support and stretched the moldy animal skins tightly between rusty iron chains. Some people dug out the stones covered with black moss with their bare hands and tied the collapsed stone wall again with vines. Dark red blood dripped from the rough fingers to the ground, but no one dared to stop what they were doing.

Soon, the crooked shelters broke out of the ground like deformed mushrooms. Although wind was leaking through the cracks in the walls and debris was still falling from the thatched roofs, in this cursed land where even the moonlight glowed with a faint green, these shelters made of defective products seemed to have become a harbor in everyone's hearts where they could entrust their lives. After going through a series of things, they were already exhausted both physically and mentally, and soon fell asleep by the campfire.

Zhou Xian looked at the faint firelight not far away and nodded with satisfaction. With these experimental subjects, he might gain unexpected results in exploring the rules of death.

"But food is a problem."

Suddenly, Zhou Xian's fingers stroking his chin suddenly stopped. Amid the crackling of the campfire, dozens of tired faces flashed through his mind, and his brows instantly twisted into a knot: "Food is a big problem."

There is no food for humans on Shadow Island. As for the monster meat in his space ring, not to mention ordinary people who have just crawled back from the gates of hell, even ordinary practitioners have to refine it carefully.

If we let them eat the monsters' flesh and blood, the campsite would probably be filled with corpses of people who died from explosions tomorrow - these precious "experimental subjects" cannot be destroyed in our stomachs before they can be used.

Zhou Xian looked at the dark clouds rolling in the sky and sighed, "It seems I have to go out again."

He immediately shook his sleeves to dispel his thoughts. He turned and entered his residence. With a flick of his fingertips, a few wisps of dark fog suddenly appeared, and the air was filled with the faint breath of death. He immersed himself in studying the mystery of the black fog again. The black fog lingering around him slowly flowed, as if it wanted to peel off the deepest secrets of Shadow Island from the black fog bit by bit.

The next day

The thick black fog, as thick as asphalt, still lingered in the sky, trapping the sun's rays outside the clouds. The Shadow Isles were immersed in a turbid gray, and the sun tried in vain to penetrate the fog, casting only a dim halo on the rotten surface. The entire island seemed to be immersed in a never-ending dusk, and even the air was stagnant with damp chill. The twisted dead trees were looming in the mist, like countless twisted faces, silently telling the strangeness and gloom of this cursed land.

Zhou Xian looked up at the lead-gray dome, a golden glow suddenly appeared between his sleeves, and his figure cut through the stagnant fog like a dragon. The surging black fog around him was like a frightened tide, retreating to both sides in unison, and a passage with a faint glow opened in the air.

The long-lost sunlight poured down through the cracks, coating the boy's body with flowing gold foil. His childish face was stained by the halo, and he seemed to have a kind of majesty that looked down on the world. The people looking up below were so angry that their eyes were about to burst. There were exclamations and gasps one after another. Some people even fell to their knees and banged their foreheads heavily on the moss-covered stone slabs, as if they were bowing to the gods descending from the sky.

(End of this chapter)