Douluo Dalu II: The Peerless Tang Sect

Chapter 131 Sunset Forest! Terrifying miasma!

Sunset Forest is a forest located southwest of Tiandou City, in a slightly northern position. The trees inside are mainly coniferous, and the terrain is high in the east and low in the west.

The midday sun shone into the vast forest, but it failed to cause any ripples. Except for the sparsely wooded areas at the edge of the forest where the sunlight could be felt, the rest of the forest exuded a lonely and desolate gloom.

Zhu Ziyang and his companions landed in the northeast corner of Sunset Forest, which is the main entrance to the forest. A winding path extends from the official road and stretches all the way to the edge of the forest before disappearing from view.

"Let's go in," Yan Shaozhe said, gazing at the dim forest.

"No problem." Zhu Ziyang nodded, then said to Jiang Nannan, "Nannan, it's up to you now!"

"Understood!" Jiang Nannan nodded confidently.

The group went directly into Sunset Forest.

Sunset Forest is quite different from the Starry Forest they often visit. The vegetation in Sunset Forest is relatively sparse and the species are slightly different. The vegetation in Sunset Forest is almost entirely straight coniferous trees and low thorny shrubs, with larger gaps between the trees, so they do not interfere with each other.

They had only taken a few steps when they encountered a soul beast, a weak one with only ten years of cultivation. Sensing the aura emanating from the four, it didn't dare approach and ran away without looking back. The group paid it no mind and continued walking.

Along the way, they encountered many soul beasts, but they were all ten-year soul beasts, and there were no hundred-year soul beasts, which made them feel that something was unusual.

"We've already gone quite a distance into the forest, so why are all the spirit beasts we've encountered ten-year-old spirit beasts?" Jiang Nannan asked.

"Something's definitely fishy!" Yan Shaozhe and Cai Meier both pondered. Yan Shaozhe said, "This Sunset Forest is, after all, a habitat for spirit beasts, yet the spirit beasts are so weak. There must be something wrong with this. Perhaps it's related to that miasma that shoots straight up into the sky from the depths!"

"Let's keep going," Zhu Ziyang said. "The very heart of a forest is only the center. Once we reach the center of this Sunset Forest, perhaps we'll understand why."

"Ziyang is right," Cai Meier agreed.

"Alright, let's speed things up!" Yan Shaozhe decided, saying, "Mei'er, you take Junior Sister Nan Nan, and I'll take Junior Brother. Let's speed things up!"

As they spoke, Yan Shaozhe grabbed Zhu Ziyang's arm, and Cai Meier grabbed Jiang Nannan's arm. The four of them rushed into the depths of Sunset Forest.

The forest was dimly lit, and everyone's perception of time became dulled. After traveling for dozens of miles, they finally stopped to rest.

"This should be considered the central part of Sunset Forest," Yan Shaozhe said as he flew into the sky, roughly determined the direction, and landed on the ground.

"The central part!" Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan exclaimed in surprise. "No way? The central part of a forest only has a few thousand-year-old soul beasts? That's too outrageous!"

Zhu Ziyang really didn't expect that the once-famous Sunset Forest in history would have declined to this state, with only a few thousand-year-old soul beasts in the central region, not even a single ten-thousand-year-old one. This was too outrageous.

"That's really outrageous!" Yan Shaozhe said with a solemn expression. "We've also found quite a few soul beast skeletons along the way. Their skeletons are quite intact, so they obviously didn't die in battle, but from some unknown cause."

"Miasma!" Cai Meier exclaimed, her eyes filled with apprehension. "No wonder the miasma in Sunset Forest is so severe. The corpses of these dead soul beasts are natural catalysts for the miasma, which in turn continues to poison the soul beasts. The poisoned soul beasts then generate more miasma, creating a vicious cycle! I'm afraid that if this continues, the entire Sunset Forest will be filled with miasma, becoming a true miasma forest! At that point, even Heaven Dou City might be affected!"

"What kind of force is this? How could they be so vicious!" Yan Shaozhe said with a fierce look on his face.

"Senior Brother, Junior Sister, let's keep going," Zhu Ziyang said. "Perhaps the truth lies ahead."

The four set off again. However, they had to stop after walking less than a kilometer.

"This is..." All four of them looked shocked, their eyes fixed on the air in front of them.

Ahead, the trees still stood straight, but they had hardly any leaves left. Some of the tree trunks were riddled with holes, and the peeling bark gave off a sinister purple hue. In the air, one colorful cloud after another appeared, making it seem as if one were floating among the clouds. But in fact, these colorful clouds were grayish-white.

"Miasma!" Yan Shaozhe said coldly, his eyes unusually icy.

"Senior brother, let's go through the sky!" Cai Meier suggested. "The miasma is so dense that it can corrode soul power. Our soul power can't effectively resist it, so let's go through the sky."

"Okay!" Yan Shaozhe nodded in agreement, and before Zhu Ziyang could speak, he took him directly into the air.

Zhu Ziyang clearly felt that as they took off, the surrounding air became brighter. When they broke through the tree canopy of more than ten meters and arrived above the entire forest, everyone was stunned. For the first time, they witnessed the true face of the depths of Sunset Forest.

The forest below was utterly silent, filled with a thin mist that seemed to be flowing. The deeper one went, the denser the mist became, eventually turning into clouds. In the deepest part of the forest, the clouds formed a colorful barrier. These colorful clouds, however, lacked their usual splendor and instead exuded a sinister aura that made all living things hesitate to approach.

"There!" Yan Shaozhe and Cai Meier pinpointed the exact location and exclaimed.

"Yes, that's it!" Jiang Nannan pointed to the spot and said, "I can sense that there are many spiritual herbs there!"

"Then it seems we're right!" Zhu Ziyang said with delight, "Beneath that miasma is very likely the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eye. The miasma in this forest is used to conceal the location of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eye!"

"Let's go take a look!" Yan Shaozhe's eyes showed a glimmer of hope, and he immediately flew towards the thick miasma cloud. Cai Meier followed closely behind, and soon they arrived at the edge of the miasma cloud.

"We can't get any closer," Yan Shaozhe said. "If we get any closer, Junior Brother, you won't be able to handle it. Mei'er, you hold Junior Brother's hand, and I'll try to see if I can dispel this miasma."

He handed Zhu Ziyang to Cai Meier, then took a step forward and released his martial soul. Nine soul rings, yellow, purple, black, and black, rose behind him. The fourth soul ring lit up, and Yan Shaozhe opened his arms, shooting a blazing ray of light towards the miasma cloud.

Then, something astonishing happened: Yan Shaozhe's soul skill struck the clouds, but was easily swallowed up by the miasma clouds without any disturbance, without even causing a single gap!

"This..." Yan Shaozhe's face was extremely ugly. He then used his sixth soul skill again, but the cloud layer still easily devoured his soul skill, and the entire miasma cloud layer did not produce much fluctuation.

Yan Shaozhe felt greatly insulted and unleashed his Martial Soul True Body without hesitation. A huge golden phoenix appeared in the sky above the forest. The phoenix raised its majestic head, its ninth soul ring lit up, and its huge body immediately radiated a dazzling light. One after another, golden phoenix flames like shooting stars crashed into the miasma clouds like an apocalyptic attack.

The ninth soul skill unleashed by a Super Douluo in his Martial Soul True Body state finally shook the miasma cloud layer that stretched for dozens of miles. The cloud layer seemed to vanish instantly, revealing a valley that was faintly visible below.

Just when everyone thought the problem was solved, the miasma cloud that Yan Shaozhe had scattered actually began to recombine. It was so fast that by the time everyone noticed, it had already gathered more than half of itself, leaving only a gap the size of a house.

"This..." Yan Shaozhe was going crazy. An unprecedented sense of humiliation surged into his heart. He had never been so insulted. This miasma was truly despicable.

He was prepared to fight the miasma clouds to the death, but Cai Meier stopped him.

"Senior brother, stop!" Cai Meier shouted. "These miasma clouds aren't solid; no matter how many times you attack, it's useless. They seem to be sentient, toying with you. I think they must be controlled by someone! The person controlling them is most likely in the forest below. Let's go down and take a look!"

"Alright! I'll listen to you, Mei'er." Yan Shaozhe regained his senses, immediately retracted his Martial Soul True Body, and flew down into the forest.

"Sigh!" Cai Meier sighed helplessly, then flew down with Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan.

(End of this chapter)