THE MARTIAL KING, VOLUME 8 - Season 19 Episode 16

The unicorn’s glorious white mane was so soft and so light that the slightest move by the unicorn made it roll like ocean waves on the beach. If one were to carefully examine the creature up close, one would see perfect divine textures embedded in its hooves.

Every time the unicorn took a step forward, these divine textures created an extremely tiny force field. Inside this force field, the unicorn would propel itself forward. It would cut through the air in front of it, all the while protected by the barrier.

“Princess Royal, we’ve already made it to the edge of the gray forest. Here, the darkness lasts for 132 hours. I’m afraid that if we walk any farther, we’ll be in grave danger,” one of the black-robed men warned.

In the eyes of an ordinary person, the complete darkness had already descended. They would not be able to see anything at all.

However, for Zen and the warriors in front of him, this degree of darkness was nothing.

Unless the Dark Law shrouded the area, Zen and the warriors would have no problem seeing here.

Because there were world lords in the group, Zen went to great lengths to remain hidden. He very carefully curled up to one side. From there, he clearly heard the on-going conversation. It was one from which he learned a lot.

Princess Royal.

Did these people come from the Divine Refinement Forbidden Land or the divine land? This woman was clearly of very high status.

‘Will it last 132 hours?’ Zen thought for a moment. If this were the case, then the items on top of the cave would need 132 hours before they could light up again.

What dangers would await them here during these 132 hours?

“Don’t be so anxious. Those yellow birds had been dispersed once before. This time, there won’t be that many left,” the woman coldly replied as she spurred the unicorn toward the gray forest.

“Even so, the teleporting area on the Glitter Gold Gobi has been abandoned for thousands of years. The legend that has reached you was a joke. We cannot expect the same fate.”

‘We cannot expect the same fate.’ When Zen heard this, he was momentarily stunned.

Ever since he embarked on the path to becoming a renowned martial artist, he had witnessed various debates about fate.

Zen had once wondered that if everything that had happened and would happen to him had been decided by the heavens.

However, not long ago, Rocher had told him that all of these theories about fate were simply lies.

Zen couldn’t help but think back to what Rocher had said. What he heard from this conversation supported Rocher’s idea.

“Kennan! How dare you eavesdrop on me!” the woman said, with a hint of contempt.

“We must do this to protect you, Your Highness. If you are dissatisfied, we can dutifully let His Highness know,” The black-robed warrior replied, his voice devoid of emotion. “We have already captured the man from the Celestial Soul race, the one who sold flowers. The story he told was a ploy to lure Your Highness into the gray forest. From what I know, the area is home to a few extremely powerful monsters that are interested in Your Highness. By that, I mean… They’re interested in Your Highness’ flesh and blood.”

“You!”

The woman, visibly infuriated by the guard’s words, grew speechless.

Nevertheless, she continued to urge her unicorn forward.

“Your Highness, you’re only 200 feet away from the gray forest!” Kennan’s voice suddenly grew louder. Zen detected a sense of urgency in it.

Princess Royal didn’t respond. She merely rode her unicorn closer and closer to the gray forest.

“Your Highness, you’re now only 100 feet from the gray forest!” Kennan warned again.

Right then and there, a flash of pure craftiness appeared on Princess Royal’s face. Without another word, she pulled back her unicorn’s rein. Immediately, it shot forward, toward the gray forest, just like an arrow that had just left its bow.

“Stop! It’s too dangerous!”

Kennan’s expression changed drastically. Without missing a beat, he stretched out his hands. In the process, they transformed into two gigantic hands that instantly appeared behind Princess Royal. Almost immediately, she and her unicorn found themselves in between Kennan’s hands. Kennan was clearly intent on stopping them.

However, this unicorn was extremely fast. Even though Kennan thought he had blocked Princess Royal’s movement, she and her unicorn had in fact moved half of their bodies into the gray forest.

As Zen quietly lurked within the forest, he took note of the expression on Kennan’s face.

Kennan had the cultivation of a world lord. He succeeded in stopping Princess Royal right now. Why did he look so troubled now? Zen could clearly see Kennan’s ashen face in the darkness. Instantly, Zen understood.

Just now, he had traversed through the entire stone forest. It appeared to be completely desolate. It took him a while before he spotted life, a group of monkeys hunting for food. The worst that he experienced was getting attacked for a while by those bats.

Overall, there were not too many traps in the forest. In ordinary circumstances, it would not be deemed dangerous.

But the moment the woman walked into the gray forest, something changed.
Zen could feel the ground beneath his feet trembling nonstop, as if there was an endless earthquake.

Rumble. Rumble.

The gray forest trembled as if it had awoken. Trees’ branches swayed and swatted in the darkness, looking eerily like the devil’s fangs and claws.

This was supposed to be nothing. Ordinary martial artists would not panic in the face of these phenomena.

No matter how powerful the earthquake was, it would not be strong enough to kill martial artists who could fly.

But there was a boundless and terrifying aura coming from underground!

The moment that this powerful aura was released, Zen seemed to lose control of himself momentarily. His teeth chattered. Thankfully, he had the presence of mind to try to regain control of his movements.

Zen’s instinctual human fear had caused his physical body to lose control when he detected that aura.

Fortunately, he only lost control for a moment. If it had been just a little longer, he would have been compelled to flee for his life. Right now was not the right time for Zen to expose himself.

What exactly was hiding underground? Even when he faced an enraged Supreme Lord, Zen hadn’t felt this kind of fear.

Just then, Princess Royal, who was sitting on her unicorn, turned pale.

“Run! Hurry up! Otherwise, we’ll all die here!” Kennan, speechless, had the same look of terror on his face.

Kennan, a warrior with abilities of a world lord, had lost his composure. One could only imagine what horrors lay hidden under the earth in the gray forest.

‘How come nothing happened when I walked through the forest?’ Zen couldn’t help but wonder. ‘Could it be that Kennan was right? That these underground objects are only interested in Princess Royal’s blood?’

With an urgent tug, Kennan pulled Princess Royal and her unicorn out of the grey forest.

“Let’s go!”

“But this time, the darkness will last for so long.

I’m afraid there’s going to be big trouble!” someone shouted.

Zen was remaining hidden, but one hard look into the forest made him reveal himself. When he saw what was lurking there, he immediately made a run for it.

Zen gave it his all. He dashed toward the group at an extremely fast speed.

From the floor of the gray forest, a huge, black shadow stretched up toward the sky! No one could tell how long that giant shadow was, but its width easily spanned thousands of feet. From the looks of it, it was probably the same size as the Genuine Dragon and the Genuine Phoenix.

The top of its massive body was covered with huge barbs and hooks, all of which grew in reverse toward the huge black hole at the top.

At the edges of the black hole, there were many distinct black and white spheres.

Although Zen didn’t understand what this monster was, he could instantly tell that those numerous spheres were the monster’s eyeballs. All living creatures were extremely sensitive to that part of the body, and Zen was no exception.

Seeing such a thing, Zen had no time to be afraid to expose himself.

Princess Royal, who was on the back of a unicorn, rode fast. She was the first to reach the very front. The others, lined up in a row, followed behind her. None of them chose to fly.

These people knew this Divine Refinement Forbidden Land very well. Otherwise, Zen would not have chosen to follow them. Using his agile move technique, he tailed this group of martial artists.

Because of his speed, Zen naturally had no way of hiding his presence. So even though the Princess Royal was still in a panic over seeing the huge shadow in the forest, she discovered Zen.

“Kennan! I found him! I told you! I said he’ll definitely show up!” Princess Royal cried out.

As the group sprinted away from the forest, they saw Zen jump up and join their fleeing team. They were all baffled, especially Kennan. His shocked gaze was fixed on Zen. “This is impossible. The teleporting area in the Glitter Gold Gobi has been destroyed. How could someone appear here?”

However, due to the problem they were currently facing, Kennan had no time to deal with this. The gigantic shadow had begun following them, extending its body through the forest floors. It was chasing after them at an extremely fast speed.