My Apocalypse Territory-Chapter 477 - 440: The Spirit of Mountains and Rivers

"It’s called a Summoning Scroll, but it’s really just a signal emitter.

The Nightmare Puppet shuttles through the deep space, capable of crossing distances a hundred times what normal flight could manage—it’s truly a travel miracle. The only pity is that deep space is utterly void, making it difficult to know where one has ended up.

The ’Summoning Scroll’ was specially created by Kevin after studying the Nightmare suit, equipped with matching properties.

Tang Yu gave it to the First Comer’s first customer.

According to the instructions on the ’Summoning Scroll,’ normally, to increase the success rate of summoning, the person possessing the scroll would choose to join hands with other customers, gathering enough ’currency’ to summon a dragon... cough, a mysterious merchant.

If the ’currency’s’ value is too low, Tang Yu could only apologize, as he could not let the Nightmare make the long journey for nothing.

"Recently, Xiaoli seems very interested in the Nightmare. Next time someone uses the ’Mysterious Merchant’ Summoning Scroll, let Xiaoli control the Nightmare. After all, he’s not an unapproachable lord."

"Mm, better give out another ten or eight."

After departing, the Nightmare headed straight for the Hong River Gathering Place.

Its speed wasn’t very fast, flying while surveying the scarred earth below.

In Daxia Country, apart from certain high-risk areas riddled with Abyssal Rifts, it’s rare to see places swarming with Demonized Beasts like this, compared to which, barely any traces of Awakeners in action were visible along the way.

"Without Awakeners hunting them, the density of Demonized Beasts keeps increasing, and as more beasts appear, the wilderness becomes increasingly dangerous, making survival even harder for Awakeners."

"In a little while, perhaps, most of this nation will have fallen into a dead zone."

Although Tang Yu did not wish to see such a situation, he was helpless.

Most areas within the borders of Daxia are still struggling; he had neither the leeway nor the capacity to care for much. Appearing as the mysterious merchant and selling some DC-level Equipment to the Awakeners here was just an act of humanitarian aid.

Lord Tang thought so, as for domestically, he’d rather spread chain supermarkets and adventurer guilds across every large sanctuary.

Nevertheless, the Nightmare being transcendent, even flying slowly, soon reached the Hong River Gathering Place.

The Hong River is the largest river in the nation and connects to the sea. The river houses numerous aquatic Mutant Beasts; this gathering place is not built alongside the Hong River but beside a small tributary, allowing hunting of aquatic Mutant Beasts for food without facing frequent Sea Beast assaults like Luoxia.

From a location perspective, Tang Yu thought this site was rather excellent.

From afar, he already saw the walls of the Hong River Gathering Place, towering over ten meters high.

It could not be compared to a Territory, nor could it compare to the walls of any large sanctuary in Daxia; however, given that Hong River was not large, labeled as tens of thousands of people, Tang Yu observed from high above that the size of the gathering place could house, at most, one to two thousand people. For humans, constructing a wall over ten meters high was difficult.

The walls were earth-yellow and looked very thick. In front of the wall was a trench, forming a protective moat. However, the water level in the moat was low; instead, countless Spike Traps made of hardwood were arranged to resist the Demon Tide.

"Looks like this wall is indeed the work of an Earth Series Ability User. Due to the large scale, even the surface soil elements in front were extracted, causing the ground to sink... This is a bit interesting."

The Nightmare made no attempt to hide its form, flying directly towards the central palace of pale beige color—probably also constructed using Earth Magic.

Soon, it was discovered by the Awakeners of the gathering place, who rolled out several old-fashioned anti-aircraft guns and gradually adjusted their muzzles to aim at the Nightmare.

"It’s a Flying Series ability user!"

"He’s not one of ours, looks like trouble, shoot it down first!"

"Save... save the bullets."

Sparse bullets fired off, pinging away without the Nightmare needing to make any movement—its Transcendent Force Field already blocked all incoming bullets.

This straightforward, Tang Yu no longer wanted to play the role of a mysterious merchant.

A famous person once said: Taking action is the most effective way to solve problems.

The Nightmare flicked its finger, causing several anti-aircraft guns to seem as if struck by a Heavy Strike, instantly breaking into countless pieces—Tang Yu refrained from commanding the Nightmare to launch a wide-range attack; if he accidentally killed someone in the know, it would be quite embarrassing.

But in a flick of the finger, the guns turned to ash, already shocking the Awakeners below.

"It must be a Wind Series Ability User!"

"Too strong, hurry and get War General’s support!"

"We can’t let him disturb the king’s rest."

The Nightmare’s sprawling spiritual power immediately captured the conversations below, its eyes brightened, Source Qi exuding, and it swung down its hand.

Boom,

Crack,

The pale beige palace was covered with cracks, the front of the grand hall had collapsed partly, and a thunderous roar echoed from inside.

A middle-aged man burst out from the collapsed palace, wearing a brown Battle Armor made from animal hide, his face bearing dignity, which even in anger, felt as steadfast as the earth, immediately calming the panicked awakeners of Hong River.

No matter how powerful the enemy, in front of their king, they were nothing.

This was the confidence they gained from witnessing countless battles of their king!

Hong River king raised his hands upward, the continuously collapsing grand hall, and the crumbling dirt and stones, suddenly halted.

The dirt and stones were lifted again, cracks smoothed out, and though the grand hall could not be restored to its original appearance, this action made Tang Yu take another look.

It was the purest control of Earth Element.

Among many Earth Series abilities, it was one of the very top, highly versatile, almost every Earth Magic was easy to learn and master quickly.

Tang Yu grew more curious.

Hong River King stabilized the collapsing grand hall before turning to face the newcomer. freewebnøvel.com

A black cloak, holding a scythe, although without the horse beneath him that exuded a faint blue flame, Hong River King quickly realized, "Mysterious Merchant?"

"Since you’ve appeared here, then my War General...?"

His face gradually darkened.

Nightmare shrugged, "You sent them yourself; don’t you have any idea in your own mind?"

The battle then broke out immediately.

Hong River King raised his hand, and an earth dragon surged forth, charging towards Nightmare in the sky.

Wind Series has an advantage over Earth Series, but if an Earth Series ability user focuses on defense, it’s quite hard for Wind Series magic to cause damage.

But Hong River King was different from ordinary Earth Series ability users, raising his hand to cast a wide-range of damaging spells as if there was no need to muster Heaven and Earth Source Qi, almost instantaneously.

Tang Yu observed for a while, but unable to use "Insight Eye," he couldn’t discern much.

The next moment,

Nightmare, who just now was evenly matched with Hong River King, suddenly burst out with powerful momentum, vanished in a flash, and appeared right next to Hong River King, not even using his scythe, just stretching out his hand, and a torrent of spiritual power surged out.

Boom!

Hong River King’s body shook, his pupils dilated, terrifying oppressive force acted on him, and for a moment, except for his head, his limbs were completely immobilized, not even a finger could twitch.

Fear was written all over his face, he quickly spoke up, "Please, spare my life!"

Whatever Hong River King, whatever undefeated record, at that moment, all were tossed aside.

"I’ll ask, you answer."

A deep voice came from beneath the hood, making Tang Yu feel like Nightmare was a villain.

Hong River King... the only part he could move, his head, nodded continuously like a pecking chicken.

"Name?"

"Gender?"

"Did you awaken your abilities on your own?"

"Yes...no, no." Hong River King turned pale, "I’ve told you everything, can you let me go?"

Nightmare nodded, "That will depend on your performance, after all I, the Mysterious Merchant, am not a demon."

Hong River King recalled, and slowly said:

"One and a half months ago, I was just a Sixth Layer Awakener, there was no Hong River Gathering Place and I was just a wandering Awakener. Then, when I was chased by demonized beasts and driven into a corner, He appeared..."

"He?"

"He’s the deity of Kong’an Mountain. I entered into a contract with Him and was endowed with top-tier Earth Series abilities. My body even got filled with a mighty energy. In just one and a half months, I progressed from the Sixth Layer to now the Tenth Layer, something I couldn’t have imagined before."

Tang Yu asked from multiple angles.

It is certain that the "He" mentioned isn’t a human, nor a demonized beast or alien race, but more about "He" Hong River King didn’t know either.

But seemingly worried about being finished off, Hong River King carefully described "His" appearance and drew the route of his escape on Kong’an Mountain, along with the location where he met the deity.

At the end, he even offered up his treasured Source Crystals, secretly buried treasures under the palace, all presented to him.

Not until Nightmare flew away did Hong River King finally take a deep breath, thinking of his numerous treasures, instantly turned sad again, but in the end, since the Mysterious Merchant saw his good performance, he was given a magic wand, several combat sabers, and a semi-transparent card.

He picked up the magic wand, held it in hand, and looked puzzled, "Eh? The sensation of Earth Source Qi in the surroundings seems clearer."

Seeing those several combat sabers, sharp beyond compare, "It seems... perhaps... not much loss."

"No wait, exchanging a pile of unusable scrap metal for equipment that can greatly enhance combat power, how could this be anything but a win! That Mysterious Merchant, perhaps like ’Him,’ both unknown entities... I am such an idiot, if only I hadn’t offended the Mysterious Merchant, wouldn’t I have made a fortune?!"

Thinking of this,

Hong River King felt both pained and regretful, clutching that semi-transparent card tightly.

At this time, as the battle subsided and the dust settled, sounds from his subordinates gradually came from outside, Hong River King quickly stood up, clapped his hands, and acted nonchalantly as he walked outside.

...

Kong’an Mountain, located about two to three hundred kilometers northwest of the Hong River Gathering Place.

Nightmare flew at full speed and soon arrived.

The mountain area is vast, demonized beasts everywhere, but in the deep mountains, there are also many powerful Mutant Beasts—on land, Mutant Beasts are also targets of demonized beasts, those that survive are not weak, and their ability to escape is first-rate.

Thus, the price of terrestrial Mutant Beast meat remains high while Sea Beast meat... Even though it’s cheaper, it’s only a special product of select regions.

Nightmare flew into the mountain, releasing his transcendent aura, and without needing to act, the Mutant Beasts fled far away, some idiot demonized beasts, lacking in intelligence, charged straight at him, only to be smashed into a pulp by the Transcendent Force Field.

Quickly,

Arriving at the area specifically marked by Hong River King, Nightmare released his spiritual power and scanned the surroundings, but found nothing.

Tang Yu wasn’t discouraged, preparing to explore the entire Kong’an Mountain.

Suddenly, he felt a change in the land ahead.

It seemed as if countless auras were converging, and gradually, a yellowish-brown figure solidified on the ground.

Semi-illusory, yellowish-brown, faintly discernable human-like contours... this was the deity of Kong’an Mountain described by Hong River King.

"Human powerhouse, hello, I am ’Zhen,’ the elf of Kong’an Mountain."