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 Chapter 1375: Past Encounters and the Way Out

Xu Qingyang's words made Lin Moyu's spirit tremble. Xu Qingyang seemed to know something. Lin Moyu listened intently as Xu Qingyang appeared to fall into a memory.

"At that time, twenty-three of us minor deities entered this place and walked all the way to the end without encountering any danger."

"Because we hadn't encountered any danger, some of us let our guard down until we met those creatures."

"Those creatures were very sensitive and quickly noticed us, launching an attack."

Xu Qingyang's tone grew more serious. Lin Moyu knew that the creatures Xu Qingyang referred to were the ape-like monsters.

However, with the combat power of minor deities, especially with twenty-three of them, they shouldn't have had to worry even if they faced thousands of ape-like monsters.

But from Xu Qingyang's words, it seemed that wasn't the case.

After a few seconds of silence, Xu Qingyang's voice resumed, "Their strength was very high, above the ninth rank of God King, but slightly weaker than us."

"We had twenty-three people, all minor deities, and originally thought dealing with them wouldn't be a problem."

"So we fought our way in, going deeper and deeper."

"But those creatures seemed endless, more and more of them kept coming. No matter how many we killed, they just kept coming."

"By the time we realized it, we were already surrounded. Our strength was greatly depleted, and some of us were already exhausted."

"So we changed our strategy, with half of us resting while the other half defended and attacked."

"But..."

Xu Qingyang fell silent again, his tone becoming even more serious.

If he still had his physical body, he would probably be frowning tightly now.

Lin Moyu thought that having half the people defend while the other half rested wasn't a good idea.

With fewer defenders, the consumption would inevitably increase exponentially. When it was their turn to rest, the recovery time would also increase significantly.

In this way, it might not achieve the desired effect and could even backfire.

After a few seconds of pause, Xu Qingyang continued, "But we found that this approach was incorrect and actually increased our consumption, making things worse than before."

"So we decided to break through, but at that time, for some reason, a layer of fog suddenly covered the world, and we lost our sense of direction."

"At the same time, even stronger monsters appeared. More than a dozen monsters at the minor deity level rushed over, breaking our defense."

"We were scattered and fled in all directions. At that time, I couldn't tell the direction and just randomly chose a direction to break through."

"Maybe I was unlucky and chose the wrong direction. The monsters chasing me increased in number."

"The fog was in patches, not everywhere. Sometimes I would leave the fog, but I still couldn't find my way."

"Eventually, I fled into a swamp. Strangely, after I entered the swamp, the monsters stopped chasing me."

"But many rotting corpses appeared in the swamp, and it seemed like something in the swamp was trying to pull me in."

"Because of the fog, I got lost in the swamp again, and the pulling force in the swamp grew stronger and stronger until I couldn't resist it anymore."

"I finally sank into the swamp, my body corroded and began to rot. I struggled to hold on, hoping to last a bit longer."

"Finally, the fog cleared, and I saw a stone stele. By then, my body had completely collapsed, so I entrusted my soul to a soul orb and placed it on the stone stele."

Xu Qingyang recounted the entire process with a sense of bad memories.

For anyone, recalling the process of their own death is not a pleasant experience.

Connecting this with the ancient images seen in the tombstones, Lin Moyu finally understood the cause and effect.

The number of ape-like monsters that entered the Nether Swamp back then was astonishing, not less than a hundred thousand.

But what he had just seen didn't have that many.

Xu Qingyang and his companions must have killed many ape-like monsters, significantly reducing their numbers.

In the long years that followed, the rotting corpses in the swamp would occasionally come out to fight the ape-like monsters.

But because the number of ape-like monsters had decreased, the balance shifted, and over the years, their numbers further dwindled, resulting in what he had just seen.

However, Xu Qingyang mentioned a place that might be the way out of the Nether Swamp. What was that place?

Xu Qingyang's earlier description didn't specify that place.

Lin Moyu wasn't in a hurry and waited quietly for Xu Qingyang's answer. He had noticed that Xu Qingyang was quite talkative.

Maybe it was because he hadn't spoken for thousands of years, or maybe it was just his nature.

Sure enough, after a while, Xu Qingyang spoke again, "During the chase, in the gaps between the fog, I saw a unique place."

"I saw a giant stone stele, at least ten thousand meters high. The top was shrouded in fog, so I couldn't see its exact height, maybe even more than ten thousand meters."

"If we want to leave the Nether Swamp, we might be able to check that place."

Lin Moyu asked, "Senior Brother Xu, do you remember the exact location of that giant stone stele?"

Xu Qingyang shook his head, "I don't remember. At that time, I was fleeing in panic, and the fog was interfering. I had already lost my sense of direction."

Lin Moyu summarized Xu Qingyang's words and realized that there were three main dangers in this place.

The first was the ape-like monsters. Not only were there many of them, but some were at the minor deity level, and there was more than one.

The second was the swamp. The swamp had rotting corpses and could corrode flesh. Once trapped, even minor deities would struggle to escape.

The third was the fog. Once the fog appeared, it would obscure the sense of direction, making it easy to get lost. One might even accidentally fall into the ape-like monsters' encirclement or enter the swamp.

Lin Moyu hadn't encountered the fog yet, so he couldn't say much about it.

Because he could fly here, the first two dangers didn't affect him much.

Lin Moyu knew what he had to do: find that giant stone stele and see if it could lead to a way out.

His task in the Nether Swamp was complete. He had found Xu Qingyang, and now he needed to take him out and hand the soul orb to Zhu Qiwu.

"It seems I have to find it myself, but it shouldn't be too far."

The map in his mind was already very complete, with more than eighty percent of the Nether Swamp explored.

Lin Moyu didn't need to go back; he just needed to continue searching deeper.

Just as Lin Moyu was about to move, a layer of faint fog appeared in his sight.

The fog appeared out of nowhere and quickly covered a large area.

Xu Qingyang said, "This is the fog. It can obscure the sense of the soul, making it impossible to discern direction within it."

Lin Moyu responded with a hum and immediately ascended, flying into the sky.

Xu Qingyang, inside the soul orb, exclaimed in disbelief, "Junior Brother Lin, you can fly?"

Lin Moyu replied, "It's my ability."

Xu Qingyang didn't doubt Lin Moyu's words but sighed, "If we could fly back then, it wouldn't have been so dangerous."

"Junior Brother Lin, how long have I been trapped here?"