Departure From The Underworld

Three days have passed.

Shen Qi finds himself standing at the peripheral of the Underworld, where a transparent barrier separated him from various other territories and the Human World.

He felt sour for the person sending him away, didn't even come to bid him goodbye.

"He is the worst." Shen Qi mocked as he looked at the orb he was holding in his pale hand. He scrutinized the little thing looking for a guidebook or something that can help him be able to use it. The Yama King had not given him any instructions for its use. So much of being his master.

"There isn't any hole that can fit in a key. What do I do?" He mumbled to himself whilst flipping it around checking at every side. When he found nothing to use to unlock it, the young demon lord pondered on what he could do to deal with the orb. Then something rang in his mind.

'magic.'

"Yes, it must be sealed with dark magic."

He exclaimed with a poker face before chanting a spell he remembered from long back to make the little thing work. The orb should show him where to look for one of the crystals first. Hopefully not in the Human World. He detested that place with all he had.

When he finished casting the right spell, the orb rose in the air in front of his eyes. It glowed with various red lights before showing an image of an ancient monument that was amidst a deserted area.

"Ahana City!" Shen Qi blurted out putting the orb away. He shoved it in his sleeves and then walked past the barrier stepping into a dense shrubbery forest where there were no animals in sight. This was very unusual. Every time he passed through this forest, it would be lively with birds singing on the treetops and sometimes an antelope would leap from one spot to another.

But now, nothing of that sort could be seen. It was all silence enveloping the whole area. Shen Qi took a few steps and then looked up from where he was standing. He gazed at the dark grey cloudy sky with cumulonimbus clouds which were promising heavy rain. Sighing at this weather, he knew travelling using a portal wasn't efficient unless it was an emergency. The channels would be blocked to avoid disturbances from the bad weather.

With nothing he could do, Shen Qi let his wings out and flew upwards surveying his surrounding with a peaceful mind. He covered a lot of ground watching the empty forest with its sorry state.

"hmmm."

He sighted a place where traces of dark energy leaked. He was too familiar with it and could not mistake it with anything else. The place where the miasma was leaking, was located several miles away from where he had left moments ago.

Shen Qi then landed at the area, feeling the energy getting stronger.

"Could this be what drove the animals to leave from this forest?" He wondered as

he squatted in front of a dried patch of grass that had a dinstinct imprint. It was thirty centimetres wide and stained with black blood that seemed to be emitting the dark energy. When he looked further from that position he could see a trail of the same blood leading on a path that was heading to the core of the forest.

Trees that were blackened with the energy encompassed the center blocking anything from getting in. Even the top was covered not allowing any speck of the moonlight to fall in. The whole thing looked like a cocoon made of branches and decayed leaves.

The miasma surrounding the inside of that cocoon was very thick. And it was the only thing that filled the inside. Besides the ginormous monster that emitted

it.

The beast that resided in it had a head of an oak with a pair of pointy horns which seemed to be leaking with the dark energy, that was all over the place. Its torso was covered with hardened thorns. And in place of having two normal legs, this monster had an elephant's body weight with four heavy legs. That seemed to shake the earth around him when it moved. In simpler words, it looked like a centaur but much bigger, much scary and mostly out of this world.

The Human World called it, Typhon Elphoak. It was rare species and most swordsmen feared it and never crossed swords with it. But that didn't mean Shen Qi could not play with it. He was no longer a weak human who got trampled by worthless shit.

The way he was now, made him a perfect opponent for the Typhon Elphoak. He charged forward, slashing at the cocoon made of the tree trunks and leaves. What he used was no sword, but his point nails that had grown a few meters long. They were super sharp and cut through the cocoon just by three slashes.

Shen Qi did not need to cover his nose for he needed to inhale the miasma to increase his awareness. It acted like a drug. Enabling him to feel jittery and ready for a fight.

Upon seeing the Typhon Elphoak, Shen Qi felt excitement bubbling inside his chest. His eyes twinkled and his pale white skin tinkled. He couldn't wait to exchange some blows with the beast.

When the Typhon Elphoak caught on the arrival of the intruder, it opened its eyes which it had been closing all day long. So that when night time came, it would scavenge in the wild looking for meat to eat. When it saw its prey coming to him on its own. It felt relieved to have saved its strength. All it could do was observe Shen Qi as if it was mocking how bony he looked but still decided to eat him.

Shen Qi watched its every move dissing at its weight and how grumpy it looked. He wondered if it could land any attack on him. He didn't feel like fighting a one-sided battle. He wanted to feel something. Either some satisfactory pain after being stomped under its feet or being pricked by those beautiful thorns. He just wanted something.