"It seems I have some destiny with this place," Bai Ye chuckled as he awaited transportation.
The current situation bore a resemblance to his previous life when he entered the Natagumo Mountain restricted zone, which he stumbled upon by chance. He was then forcibly pulled into the zone when it was activated.
However, in his past life, he hadn't even possessed the Gashapon Machine and other aspects were also rather lacking. After all, his world was quite peaceful, and he couldn't acquire any innate combat abilities there. Thus, in the early stages of the World Battlefield, his life could only be described as "barely surviving." He had been utterly miserable in Natagumo Mountain, chased by both other chosen ones and the spiders within the mountain. It was a truly pitiable sight.
"But..." Bai Ye casually conjured the Nanming Lihuo Sword, smiling, "this time, it seems quite different."
His current strength was incomparable to his past life. And with the Nanming Lihuo Sword in hand! Bai Ye suddenly felt that luck was on his side. He had just been lamenting that the Nanming Lihuo Sword was temporarily useless, and then this restricted zone appeared!
What else could others play? Just go home, find mom, who has everything – King of Kings, ham sausages, and only Master Kong instant noodles.
Meanwhile…
The three-minute countdown ended, and Bai Ye was teleported into the restricted zone. He glanced around… no difference. The interior and exterior of the Natagumo Mountain restricted zone looked much the same, just forests.
However, Bai Ye quickly oriented himself and began to run. He remembered the way! It was incredibly difficult to remember paths in a forest, especially since his previous entry into Natagumo Mountain was in the early stages of the World Battlefield. In other words, nearly a decade had passed since his memory of Natagumo Mountain. But perhaps because he had suffered so much there in his past life, his memory of Natagumo Mountain remained vivid. While he couldn't recall the entire restricted zone, he remembered about seventy to eighty percent of it.
Three restricted zone missions… Bai Ye wasn't particularly interested in the first one, but as the first of the series, it was a mere formality. Completing the second restricted zone mission would likely require completing the first simultaneously. And to complete the third restricted zone mission, one would absolutely complete the first. Therefore, Bai Ye's main objectives were the second and third restricted zone missions.
The Sun-Breathing Sword and the breathing techniques were all abilities of the Demon Slayers. Their strength was hard to gauge; there were weak and powerful Demon Slayers, with the key being the mastery of the breathing techniques. For Bai Ye, breathing techniques were somewhat akin to the Five Spirit Curses. There were several levels of breathing techniques, serving as both offensive skills and providing a certain degree of physical attribute enhancement. Of course, Bai Ye considered them less promising than the Five Spirit Curses. However, since he encountered them, Bai Ye didn't mind acquiring them.
As for the third restricted zone mission… Bai Ye wasn't interested in the demon blood arts of the spider demons. Based on his past life experience, the spider demons' blood arts were extremely potent. But with his current strength, getting a black-quality blood art through luck would be decent, yet random blood arts could yield blue-quality ones, which wouldn't be very useful to him.
What Bai Ye cared about was… demon blood! Demon blood was similar to the T-virus, capable of strengthening physical attributes, and its enhancement was about thirty percent higher than the T-virus, reaching about an eightfold increase in physical attributes for a normal person. Additionally, it could grant blood art abilities. In short, it was a very valuable commodity.
In fact, according to Bai Ye's memories, the demon blood of the Lower Six Moons was black-quality, the Upper Moons' blood could reach red-quality, and the Demon King's… was naturally gold-quality! However, demon blood had side effects. Consuming it would turn one into a demon. Unless one consumed the Demon King's blood, any other demon blood would make one unable to survive under sunlight. Therefore, Bai Ye would definitely not consume demon blood. Although the physical attribute enhancement and blood art abilities were attractive, the side effect was too steep a price. Not being able to see the sun meant that, apart from special areas, one could only be active for half the time, wasting too much.
However, demon blood had significant trading value, as it was a method for explosive physical attribute enhancement in a short period, and enhanced physical attributes were the most precious form of self-strengthening. Furthermore, there was a way to mitigate the side effects: obtaining the Demon King's blood would allow one to move under sunlight.
As for the fifteen God Stone fragments, there was nothing much to say about them. Who didn't like God Stone fragments? Bai Ye liked them even more, as they were essentially "milk money" to feed his Steel Slime.
While Bai Ye was contemplating this… suddenly, the sounds of fighting erupted ahead. Bai Ye looked forward and saw three chosen ones already engaged in combat. The reason? Why did chosen ones need a reason to fight? Especially as the World Battlefield progressed, more restricted zones opened, and everyone accumulated more God Stone fragments, the fighting would only become more frequent. Fighting would make it easier to obtain God Stone fragments, and even more of them, consequently intensifying the competition for restricted zones and their missions. Therefore, Bai Ye was not surprised that people were fighting as soon as the restricted zone opened. On the contrary… it was only natural!
Then… with a bang! Bai Ye stomped on the ground, creating a small crater, and accelerated forward. The three combatants hadn't realized what was happening before a gust of wind swept past one of them. Then… *slurp!* The sound of tearing flesh echoed. The chosen one's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at his chest, which was completely ripped open, crimson blood splashing onto the ground.
The remaining two chosen ones were greatly alarmed, and then… *slurp!* The sound of tearing flesh echoed again. A bloodline appeared on their throats, and then they widened their eyes, slowly kneeling to the ground before collapsing. To their death, they never even knew how they died…