System Possession, One Sword Shocks the Gods

160: Corrupted Swamp, Black Market BoatmanFollowing the instructions on the crude animal skin map scavenged from the Black Fiend Cult patrol leader, Ye Chen headed southeast, sneaking along the way.

The further he moved away from the ”Black Wind Rift” where that terrifying basin was located, the more desolate and dead the surrounding environment became; the Devilish Qi permeating the air seemed to become more mixed and inert, losing that restlessness but gaining a heavy, suffocating oppression.

Several days later, a boundless swamp emitting a strong, foul stench stretched out before him.

This was the ”Corrosive Poison Swamp” marked on the map.

Dark green, porridge-like viscous mud bubbled with murky air bubbles, releasing visible, multicolored toxic miasma when they burst.

Above the swamp floated the pale bones of countless animals and unknown creatures; some twisted, weird plants covered in pustules and tentacles slowly wriggled in the mud, occasionally opening flower crowns filled with sharp teeth to devour low-flying devilish insects stunned by the toxic miasma.

The composite stench in the air, a mixture of rot, virulent poison, and some form of mental erosion, was enough to cause any Cultivator below the Earth Fiend Realm to instantly faint.

Even Ye Chen had to slightly expand the range of his Chaos Domain, the gray airflow slowly rotating to completely devour and purify the incoming toxic miasma and evil thoughts.

He could feel that the toxic energy here was far more insidious and difficult to deal with than the outer Devilish Qi; if not for the high-level essence of the chaos ancestral talisman, ordinary poison-repelling methods would likely not last long here.

In the swamp, there was almost nowhere to set foot.

Beneath the mud, countless deadly dangers were hidden.

Ye Chen could only fly at a low altitude, his Divine Sense highly concentrated, carefully avoiding areas with abnormally strong energy reactions, as well as the devilish creatures emitting fierce auras lurking deep within the mud.

On the way, he encountered several waves of attacks.

There were venomous flying snakes that shot out from the mud like lightning; Corrosive Poison Crocodile Turtles that disguised themselves as driftwood and suddenly opened their huge mouths to devour him; and even more, swarms of Toxic Explosive Mosquitoes that covered the sky like dark clouds—they were weak individually, but their numbers were vast, and the poison and mental shock produced when they self-destructed were enough to make an Earth Fiend Realm Cultivator scramble.

But these dangers no longer posed much of a threat to Ye Chen, whose strength had greatly increased and who was protected by the Chaos Domain.

The guixu sword didn’t even need to be unsheathed; a casual swing of Chaos Sword Aura was enough to easily slaughter these devilish creatures.

Their devilish cores and some valuable Materials were also casually collected by Ye Chen; these were considered hard currency in the Demon Abyss.

Like a lonely traveler, he trudged forward in this death swamp.

According to the map, traversing this Corrosive Poison Swamp would take at least ten days.

On this day, Ye Chen was flying over a relatively ”calm” part of the swamp when he suddenly frowned and stopped.

The chaos monitoring compass transmitted a trace of an extremely weak fluctuation, but it was not aimed at devilish creatures or danger.

He concealed his aura and quietly approached the direction from which the fluctuation came.

Passing through a patch of reeds (if those twisted, spike-covered plants could be called reeds) filled with light purple toxic mist, the scene ahead made his eyes narrow.

He saw that on a slightly firmer ”small island” formed by accumulated black silt, a fierce battle was taking place.

Or rather, a siege.

Five Cultivators dressed in uniform black active wear, with a bloody dagger emblem embroidered on their cuffs, were besieging three men and women who looked like Loose Cultivators.

The leader of these five black-clothed Cultivators was a Scarface at the Earth Fiend Realm Sixth Layer, and the other four were at the Earth Fiend Realm Fourth and Fifth Layers. They coordinated well and attacked ruthlessly, clearly being elites of some faction.

The three being besieged, two men and one woman, had the highest cultivation in the burly man holding a giant axe, who was at the Earth Fiend Realm Fifth Level Peak. The other thin young man was at the Earth Fiend Realm Fourth Layer, and the woman was only at the Earth Fiend Realm Third Layer.

They were dressed differently and were wounded. At this moment, under the siege of the five black-clothed men, they were in precarious situations; the burly man even had several wounds on his body that were deep enough to see bone, dripping with blood.

”Blood Blade Castle is working, bystanders get lost!”

That Scarface, while waving a blood-colored long blade and forcing the burly man to retreat repeatedly, shouted coldly, his eyes scanning the surroundings vigilantly; he had clearly sensed Ye Chen’s arrival but had not discovered his specific location.

The besieged woman, with delicate features, was pale at the moment. While waving a green long whip to barely hold on, she said urgently: ”We only accidentally obtained an egg of a ’Corrosive Poison Dragon Toad’, and you Blood Blade Castle want to kill us all; isn’t that too overbearing!”

”Hmph! Everything in the Corrosive Poison Swamp belongs to my Blood Blade Castle! If you are sensible, hand over the Dragon Toad egg and cripple your own cultivation; perhaps I can spare your lives!”

Scarface sneered, his offensive becoming more urgent.

Ye Chen was hidden in the dark, watching coldly.

In the Demon Abyss, the weak are prey to the strong; killing people and seizing treasures is the norm, and he had no intention of interfering in such trivial matters.

His goal was to traverse the swamp as quickly as possible and head to the Filthy Earth Black City.

However, just as he was preparing to quietly bypass them, the besieged thin young man, while dodging a blood-colored sword qi, panicked and stumbled toward the direction where Ye Chen was hiding!

And behind him, a Blood Blade Castle Disciple at the Earth Fiend Realm Fifth Level was grinning and swinging his blade at his neck!

Seeing that the young man was about to be beheaded—

Ye Chen frowned imperceptibly.

He originally didn’t want to cause trouble, but since this person bumped into him, if he didn’t act, he might expose his whereabouts instead.

In an instant, he pointed his fingers like a sword, and a strand of Chaos Sword Aura, as thin as a hair and almost blending into the surrounding environment, shot out silently.

”Pfft!”

The pursuing Blood Blade Castle Disciple’s sneer instantly froze, a tiny red dot appeared between his eyebrows, his forward momentum stopped abruptly, and he fell to the ground with a thud, his aura completely gone.

This sudden turn of events made both sides of the fierce battle pause.

”Who?!”

Scarface was both shocked and angry, shouting sternly, his eyes staring fixedly at the direction where Ye Chen was hiding.

Ye Chen knew he could no longer hide, so he simply walked out slowly from behind the reeds.

His aura was restrained, and his specific cultivation level could not be seen, but that composure and the means of killing one person instantly just now made both sides feel a trace of dread.

”Who is Your Excellency? Why interfere in the affairs of my Blood Blade Castle?”

Scarface’s eyes were gloomy; he could feel that Ye Chen was not to be trifled with, but relying on the power behind him, he remained tough.

The three besieged Loose Cultivators seemed to have grabbed a straw of life, especially the thin young man who had escaped death; he scrambled to hide behind the burly man, looking at Ye Chen and the people from Blood Blade Castle in terror.

Ye Chen’s gaze swept over Scarface calmly, and he said lightly: ”Passing by. You are blocking my way.”

His tone was flat, yet it carried an unquestionable meaning.

Scarface’s expression changed as he weighed the pros and cons.

The other party could easily kill his Earthly Fiend Realm Fifth Level subordinate in seconds; his strength was probably above his own.

It was not worth it to fight to the death with such a strong person of unknown origin for three Loose Cultivators and one Dragon Toad egg.

He gritted his teeth, cupped his hands and said: ”Since Your Excellency is just passing by, then my Blood Blade Castle will give Your Excellency this Face! Let’s go!”

After speaking, he glared fiercely at the three Loose Cultivators, took his remaining three subordinates, quickly collected his companion’s corpse, and with a few leaps, disappeared into the toxic mist of the swamp.

The three Loose Cultivators finally breathed a sigh of relief. The burly man struggled to step forward, bowed to Ye Chen, and said gratefully: ”Thank you, Senior, for saving our lives! Junior Shi Meng, this is my sister Shi Lan, and this is our friend Hou San. If not for Senior’s intervention, we would surely have met our doom today!”

The woman named Shi Lan and the thin young man Hou San also hurriedly stepped forward to thank him, their Faces showing the relief of surviving a disaster and awe toward Ye Chen.

Ye Chen waved his hand, not caring.

He glanced at the wounds on Shi Meng’s body and casually flicked a wisp of pure Chaos Qi into his body.

Shi Meng only felt a gentle yet vast force circulating; the severe pain in his wounds rapidly diminished, the bleeding stopped, and even his depleted Protective Aura recovered quite a bit. He was immediately surprised and delighted, and thanked him again.

”Is Senior heading to the Filthy Earth Black City?”

Shi Meng asked cautiously.

Ye Chen looked at him, neither confirming nor denying.

Shi Meng hurriedly said: ”Senior’s life-saving grace cannot be repaid. We are quite familiar with this Corrosive Poison Swamp and know of a relatively safe, hidden waterway that can save a lot of time. If Senior doesn’t mind, we are willing to lead the way for Senior to repay your great kindness!”

Ye Chen’s heart moved.

He indeed needed to traverse this swamp as soon as possible, and having someone familiar with the path to lead the way could save a lot of trouble and risk.

”Very well.”

He nodded lightly.

The three of them were overjoyed.

Shi Meng immediately took out a uniquely shaped bone flute from his Storage Pouch and blew it.

The flute sound was not loud, but it carried a special frequency that traveled deep into the swamp.

Before long, a behemoth slowly floated up from a murky body of water ahead.

It was actually a bone boat about ten zhang long, constructed entirely from some kind of black bone!

The hull was mottled, covered with various traces of corrosion and some undried blood stains; a lantern emitting a ghastly green light hung at the bow, dispelling the surrounding toxic miasma.

A boatman wearing a bamboo hat and a coir raincoat, with a hunched figure, was standing at the bow, looking at them silently.

”This is the ’Ferryman’ in the swamp, who specializes in picking up and dropping off guests traversing the swamp, charging a certain fee or treasure.”

Shi Meng explained to Ye Chen in a low voice, ”Their background is mysterious, but their reputation is decent; as long as you can pay the price, you can be safely sent to the other side.”

Ye Chen’s gaze swept over the eerie bone boat and the silent boatman; the chaos monitoring compass did not transmit any danger warnings.

He nodded.

The four of them boarded the bone boat.

The boatman didn’t speak, just extended a hand as withered as a chicken claw.

Shi Meng hurriedly stepped forward and placed several high-quality devilish cores and some poisonous herbs found from the Corrosive Poison Dragon Toad’s nest into the boatman’s hand.

The boatman weighed them, withdrew his hand, and the bone boat slid into the water silently, heading toward the depths of the swamp.

The bone boat’s speed was not fast, but it was exceptionally stable, cleverly avoiding dangerous whirlpools and areas where devilish creatures lurked.

That ghastly green lantern seemed to have a strange power; wherever it shone, even those fierce devilish creatures stayed far away.

Ye Chen stood at the bow with his hands behind his back, looking at the mist-shrouded swamp ahead.

Shi Meng and the others stood respectfully behind him, not daring to disturb him.

After traveling for about half a day, the bone boat sailed into a quieter body of water where even the toxic miasma had become thin.

On both banks were twisted, withered forests that looked like ghost shadows.

Just then, the silent boatman suddenly spoke in a hoarse voice, like sandpaper rubbing, without turning his head:

”Guest, to go to the Black City, having strength alone is not enough. Recently, it has not been peaceful there; the ’Ten Thousand Treasures Tower’ auction is about to begin, and all kinds of monsters and demons have gathered there... I heard that the finale treasure involves a... ancient Demon Palace.”

Ye Chen’s eyes flashed slightly, but he did not respond.

The boatman also stopped speaking, as if he had just mentioned it casually.

But Ye Chen knew clearly in his heart that this trip to the Filthy Earth Black City would likely be even more complicated and dangerous than he had expected.