Chapter 698: Heaven's Gift

Looking into the intense trusting eyes of these people, Han Shuo hesitated for a moment before deciding to tell the truth. "Those who cultivate in the Edict of Life have tremendous advantages and conveniences when surrounded by nature. At the moment, this is the only clue I have discovered. We have no choice but to grope around with our eyes wide open."

"I see. Well then, let's move forward and head into the depths of the mountain range," Carmelita understood that it was very difficult to deal with those who cultivated in the Edict of Life. Besides the fact that Han Shuo had proven his abilities, she did not feel that Han Shuo was incompetent and agreed with him.

The group continued on to the depths of the Miasmic Cloud Mountain Range. Han Shuo's demon generals constantly surveyed the area and spread out evenly around him. They were very careful in their observations, leaving no stone unturned.

The group had penetrated several hundred kilometres into the mountain range, and they had encountered many powerful magical beasts along the way. However, all of these powerful magical beasts kept their distance from the Gods' party, foreboding as they were.

Although the demon generals had flown all around the mountain range, they could find no trace of the intruders. When Carmelita saw that they had reached the centre of the mountain range and that the miasmic gases were becoming more and more concentrated, she couldn't help but get impatient.

"Any more discoveries?" Kalina, the plump woman, asked Han Shuo again. She, too, had grown impatient and was obviously worried when none of them could find the slightest trace of these intruders.

"The mountain range is just too big. There's no way we're going to find any clues so quickly," Han Shuo replied, his eyebrows furrowed. He too felt very helpless to find anything new despite the help of his demon general. However, there was no better solution he could take.

"My lady, what if we spread out? We could cover more ground," Kalina hesitated for a moment before suggesting to Carmelita.

"That won't do. We would have a better chance of finding them if we spread out, but it is too risky. Whoever is lucky enough to meet them will be finished before they can spread the news," Carmelita said firmly. After a helpless sigh, she continued, "Let's keep searching. Maybe we will find something soon."

Kalina did not insist. She let out another sigh before rejoining the rest of the group and wandering aimlessly through the mountains.

Unknowingly, five days had passed. Although Han Shuo had not travelled through the entire mountain range, his demon generals had basically visited every region in the mountain range. But even then, his demon generals had not discovered any more signs left by the cultivators of the Edict of Life. All they saw were a few magical beasts roaming about and some rare natural treasures.

Gradually, not only Kalina but even Han Shuo felt bored. He even began to suspect the reliability of Carmelita's information. Suspecting that this group had left the mountain range long ago, Carmelita even lost her patience and began to randomly bombard the ancient trees around her. This disturbed Han Shuo's demon general's observation.

"Maybe they've left. Let's go, we'll leave," after another day, Carmelita had lost the last bit of her patience and officially gave the order to retreat. The crowd let out a sigh of relief when they heard these words. They were all too bored to continue their futile efforts.

Since Carmelita had made the decision, no one had any objections and everyone prepared to retreat from the mountain range.

"Wait!" Han Shuo, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly shouted as the group prepared to board the airship.

"What's going on?" Carmelita's triangular eyes turned to look at Han Shuo in confusion as she asked, "We haven't come up with anything in the last ten or so days. Don't tell me you've discovered something just as we're leaving?"

"Up ahead there's a mountain with lush green trees. There is a fairly large cave in it, from which magical beasts constantly emerge. I didn't pay much attention to it before, but now that I think about it, there's something strange about it." With the help of a demon general, Han Shuo noticed that the number of magical beasts leaving the cave had increased, which immediately aroused his suspicion. From the behaviour of these magical beasts, it seemed that they had been forced out of their dwellings.

"Yes, I remember now. Most of the plants on the mountains are sparse and fragmentary, but this mountain is unusual - the plants there are very lush. Is this the mountain you are referring to?" the plump, one-eyed woman asked Kalina. She seemed somewhat surprised.

"Yes! That's the mountain!" Han Shuo said suspiciously, "The mountain isn't just strange because of its flourishing flora, the magical beasts there seem to have been forced out of their cave. We have visited so many places in the Miasmic Cloud Mountains, but we have found nothing. Perhaps it was because the group was hiding in that mountain cave?"

After hearing Han Shuo's words, Carmelita, who had ordered the party to retreat, suddenly had her hopes rekindled. After thinking for a while, she nodded and said, "Your words make sense. Let's go and have a look. Maybe we can find something in the cave."

Following Carmelita's instructions, the party returned to the mountain they had passed earlier. When they arrived at the entrance to the cave, they saw herds of magical beasts bursting out of the cave one after the other. Some of the magical beasts seemed panicked and frightened. They scattered as soon as they saw Carmelita and her party.

Although the magical beasts on Elysium were much, much more powerful than those on the Profound Continent, for some reason their intelligence seemed to have barely grown in proportion to their strength. Even though they had obviously evolved well beyond level five, six, or even seven, Han Shuo did not see any that could take on a human appearance.

As the magical beasts scattered in all directions, Han Shuo sent some of his demon generals into the cave. Upon entering the cave, his demon generals soon discovered that there were even more magical beasts trying to make their way out.

There were also many branches and paths inside the cave.

"Let's go in and have a look. This place seems really strange." Carmelita took the lead. The rest of the group, including Han Shuo, immediately followed.

The cave was extremely large and wide. Soon after entering, they came to a fork. Carmelita, thinking they wouldn't be in any danger, agreed to let the party split into smaller groups and investigate, following Kalina's suggestion. They were instructed to shout as loudly as they could if they spotted anything unusual.

At the fork, Kalina volunteered to lead the team of Divine Guards that had split off from the main group. Han Shuo naturally followed Carmelita's group. And soon another fork appeared in front of Carmelita and her group. She instructed a few others from her team to split off.

As they encountered fork after fork, the divine guards accompanying Han Shuo were reduced. In the end, only two divine guards remained with Han Shuo and Carmelita. After that, they never encountered another fork in the road.

The demon generals who had travelled through the mountain range earlier had also entered the cave by this time. Some were wandering aimlessly through the caves, some were following Kalina, some were following other divine guards, while two demon generals were scouting the path ahead of Han Shuo.

The magical beasts they encountered along the way launched mad attacks when they saw strangers approaching.

However, against these mighty divine guards, these magical beasts didn't stand a chance. One by one, the magical beasts were slaughtered in the vast cavern.

Suddenly, through one of the demon generals scouting the way ahead, Han Shuo discovered the presence of a huge lava pool at the end of the cave. The rocks around it were astonishingly hot and glowing bright red.

These rocks were even dripping with a lava-like red fluid that would sizzle and smoke when it touched the ground.

Since demon generals preferred cold and dark places and were afraid of high temperatures, he did not venture further. However, by observing the demon general, Han Shuo discovered that there were some unique auras behind the lava pool. It was as if someone had formed cold air to drive away the searing temperature of the lava.

Since no one in Carmelita's group cultivated in the energy of water, Han Shuo was certain that the person producing the cold air in the lava cave definitely wasn't one of his own. After making this discovery, Han Shuo ordered his demon general to retreat a bit and hurriedly said to Carmelita, "There's a lava cave up ahead. The temperature inside is extremely high. However, deep inside the cave, it is cold and refreshing, perhaps there is a god cultivating in the energy of water. Either way, I'm sure something very suspicious is going on up ahead!

Should we gather the divine guards before we go in to find out?

Carmelita exclaimed with joy. Her emaciated face showed her heartfelt happiness, and she said hastily, "Well, what are we waiting for?! There's no need to tell the others. None of them are as strong as I am. Even if they are here, there isn't much they can do to help."

Han Shuo thought her words made sense and did not try to convince her otherwise. He hastily left with Carmelita and the two divine guards for the lava cave.

With a precise destination in mind, they soon arrived at the location of Han Shuo's demon general. As soon as Carmelita stepped inside, she groaned coldly and said, "Indeed, Bryan, you are right. There is indeed a group here that cultivates in water energy! Recently, the Goddess of Ice has become very close to the Goddess of Nature and the God of Light. It's not surprising that there are Water Energy cultivators in her team. Alright, Bryan, you can retreat for now while I go in there and finish them all off!

Han Shuo's strength was meagre in Carmelita's eyes. In a situation like this, a Lowgod couldn't even serve as cannon fodder. In fact, Han Shuo felt somewhat touched that Carmelita would be concerned about his safety at this moment. He nodded inwardly and said, "Understood!"

Instead of moving forward, Han Shuo stepped back and made way.

Since Carmelita had been searching for this group of enemies for so long, she was impatient when she finally discovered their hiding place. She immediately charged into the depths of the lava cave. Being a Highgod, she was surrounded by a naturally formed force field of destruction. It completely insulated her from the scorching red liquid dripping down from the lava cave.

The two divine guards who had come with Carmelita dutifully followed behind her. They unfurled their Domains of Divinity and used their divine energies to shield themselves from the dangers of the lava cave. The trio quickly disappeared from Han Shuo's sight.

After the three of them had fully entered the lava cave, Han Shuo calmly summoned the Elite Metal Zombie. To continue, he opened a separate tunnel at a hidden spot and extended it to the depths of the lava cave. Han Shuo's demonic body, as durable as it was, was invulnerable to the high temperatures of the surrounding rock. He then asked the metal elite zombie to make a small hole so that he could check the situation inside the lava cave.

When he looked through the small hole, he discovered that a fierce battle was going on inside the lava cave. Unexpectedly, the two divine guards who had come with Carmelita were already dead. Their bodies lay near the small hole Han Shuo was peering through. The ugly looking Carmelita was now facing the combined attack of two experts.

Although she was making mad attacks, it was clear to Han Shuo that she was showing signs of fatigue.

Of the duo besieging Carmelita, one was an old man with great vitality. He was holding a staff made of dried wood, obviously a cultivator of the Edict of Life. This wooden staff constantly emitted greenish, gaseous threads that wound around Carmelita like pliable and tough vines.

The other assailant was a cold and elegant beauty. She had a tall figure and an ice-cold face, perfect as an ice sculpture. Her white, delicate hands were constantly glowing with a cold, divine radiance. She managed to lower the high temperature of the lava cave all by herself.

Both attackers possessed Highgod Strength, while Carmelita was only an Early-stage Highgod. Even if the duo were in the same realm as her, it would only be a matter of time before they were defeated. Moreover, there were six midgods of extraordinary power surrounding the duo. They stood in a hexagonal formation, as if preparing to assist the two Highgods with some kind of magical formation. Carmelita seemed to have become mentally deranged. As she dealt with the thunderous attacks of the two Highgods, she kept advancing towards a huge rock, as if she wanted to destroy it.

Looking in the direction of Carmelita's gaze, Han Shuo spotted a piece of azure-coloured rock. The rock was covered with bright speckles that were as dazzling as the stars. These bright speckles even moved slowly and rhythmically. It was constantly emitting fascinating rays. It was beautiful and awesome!

"A Heaven's Gift" Han Shuo exclaimed softly in surprise. His face was filled with unconcealed horror. Looking at this beautiful and dazzling azure rock, Han Shuo finally understood why this old man cultivating in the Edict of Life would bother to travel such a long distance and risk his life to infiltrate the Darkness Dominion. It was for the same reason that Carmelita was so desperate to destroy that large and beautiful rock.

The reason for this was that all those specks moving like celestial bodies on that dazzling rock were moving in trajectories that were in accordance with the Law of Life. Anyone who cultivated according to the Law of Life could gain a deep understanding of the true nature of the Edict of Life by observing the trajectories of those specks!