"Little Gold, whatās up?" Duan Ling Tian looked at the little gold mouse on his shoulder as he asked curiously.
"Squeak squeak~" The little gold mouse raised its little head and gazed towards the distance on the right.
Duan Ling Tian followed the little gold mouseās gaze to look over, he saw an area coiled around by black mist, and he was utterly unable to see clearly what was there.
"Have you noticed something?" Duan Ling Tianās Spiritual Force extended out, yet he felt as if it was like a stone sinking into the ocean, and he didnāt notice anything.
"Big Brother Ling Tian, didnāt you feel it? The aura thatās emitted from there is too terrifyingā¦" The little gold mouseās immature voice of a young girl entered into Duan Ling Tianās ears and into contained a trace of terror mixed within.
"No." Duan Ling Tian shook his head, then curiously walked towards that place, and his entire body merged into the mist.
Duan Ling Tianās vision was obstructed within the mist, and he was only able to use his Spiritual Force to check the path before him.
However, Spiritual Force wasnāt an eye after all. It was only able to tell Duan Ling Tian if there was a swamp ahead, but was unable to point Duan Ling Tian in the right direction.
"Big Brother Ling Tian, go right." Fortunately, the little gold mouseās voice sounded out, and it allowed Duan Ling Tian to not have to be a blind man any longer.
Under the little gold mouseās guidance, Duan Ling Tian arrived beside a strange enormous pit.
This was an enormous pit that was deep to the point the bottom couldnāt be seen, and black mist coiled within it.
"Hey!" Duan Ling Tian yelled towards the enormous pit, and his echo only resounded back after the time of a few breaths.
So deep!
Duan Ling Tianās pupils constricted.
"Big Brother Ling Tian, itāsā¦ Itās inside." The little gold mouseās voice transmission seemed to contain a trace of trembling.
"The aura that causes you to feel afraid is coming from within this enormous pit?" Duan Ling Tian looked at the little gold mouse and frowned. "Little Gold, you wouldnāt have sensed wrongly, right?"
The little gold mouse shook her head. "Noā¦ Itās inside. Big Brother Ling Tian, if you donāt believe me, Iāll take you down to go take a look." As soon as she finished speaking, the little gold mouse became the size of a small hill.
"Okay." Duan Ling Tian nodded, as the little gold mouseās words had aroused his curiosity, and he really wanted to know exactly what was within the enormous pit as it was actually able to cause fear in the fearless little gold mouse.
As far as he was concerned, this was an unbelievable thing.
The enormous pit was extremely huge, and it was capably of completely accommodating the little gold mouseās body after sheās enlarged herself.
The little gold mouse carried Duan Ling Tian to slowly descend in the enormous pitā¦
"Have we not arrived yet?" After 15 minutes, Duan Ling Tian noticed that the little gold mouse was still slowly descending and he couldnāt refrain from asking.
"Almost," said the little gold mouse via voice transmission.
Finally, after the time for another ten plus breaths of air, the little gold mouseās speed finally slowed down. "Big Brother Ling Tian, look!"
Duan Ling Tian looked downwards under the guidance of the little gold mouse.
With just a glance, heād noticed that within the dim enormous pit, there was actually a cave that could accommodate an adult on the side of the pitās wallā¦
Accurately speaking, it was a cave passageway.
"Eh." In next to no time, a flower that was at the side of the entrance to the cave attracted Duan Ling Tianās attention.
This was a flower that was pitch-black like ink, and because of its color, it almost merged into one with the wall of the enormous pit. Because of being far away from it earlier, Duan Ling Tian didnāt notice it.
Now, along with the little gold mouse stopping, Duan Ling Tian just happened to be at the same height as the entrance to the cave entrance, and he could clearly see the outline of this black flower.
After searching along the memories of the Rebirth Martial Emperor, Duan Ling Tian recognized this flower.
"Serene Epiphyllum!" Duan Ling Tianās pupils constricted as he never expected that this was the Serene Epiphyllum.
Although it was the first time heād seen the Serene Epiphyllum, it wasnāt the first time heād heard of it.
All those years ago, his mother had told him before that more than 20 years ago, it was precisely because of the Serene Epiphyllum that his deadbeat dad had ventured deep into the Swamp of Deathā¦ And there has been no news of him ever since.
Now, 20 years had passed and heād actually encountered a Serene Epiphyllum.
"Itās truly as the saying goes, casually sticking a willow branch into the ground, yet the willow became a shadeā¦" Duan Ling Tian emitted a bitter laugh, then he picked the Serene Epiphyllum.
The Serene Epiphyllum was an exceedingly valuable medicinal material.
It was priceless!
The refinement of many special medicinal pills more or less required using it.
Hu!
Duan Ling Tian observed the entrance into the cave for a while, and noticed there was nothing else before flashing to enter the cave passageway.
Meanwhile, the little gold mouse shrunk once again and following him to enter the cave passageway before descending onto Duan Ling Tianās shoulder.
"What place is this?" Duan Ling Tian walked along the cave passageway, it became darker the further in he travelled, and it soon became pitch-black.
Hiss!
With a raise of his hand, a Weapon Flame raged and leaped about on his hand, illuminating the entire cave.
Duan Ling Tian followed along the passageway to continue on inwards, and heād walked for an entire hour before he became slightly impatient. "Exactly what damnable place is this?"
All along the way here, Duan Ling Tian was able to sense that the terrain was ceaselessly lowering.
His preliminary estimation was that he was estimated to be 1,000 meters underground.
"Big Brother Ling Tian, that aura is getting closer and closerā¦" The little gold mouseās voice sounded out, and it caused Duan Ling Tian to heave a sigh of relief as he finally had something to look forward to.
Finally, another half an hour had passed when Duan Ling Tian turned past a curve and noticed a white spot of light aheadā¦
"Thatās the exit?" Duan Ling Tian thought in his heart as he quickened his pace.
Eventually, the white spot of light gradually enlarged and Duan Ling Tian had finally walked out of the cave passageway to enter a space that was as bright as dayā¦
Accurately speaking, this space was a space similar to a hall in a palace.
The hall was resplendent and magnificent, and it was like an underground palace.
On the ceiling, nine gigantic Luminous Pearls were set there, and the light in the hall was exactly from them.
"Any one of these Luminous Pearls are more than double the size of the Luminous Pearl the Phoenix Nest Cityās Chang Clanās Patriarch gave me that day! Any one of these are extremely valuable." At the same time that Duan Ling Tian gaped, his eyes lit up.
Finally, Duan Ling Tian moved his eyes from the nine Luminous Pearls and shot it at the hall.
A skeleton lay at the side of the hall, and it attracted Duan Ling Tianās attention.
There were clothes on the skeleton, yet it had become ruined from experiencing endless years.
From the structure of the skeleton, Duan Ling Tian was able to discern that it belonged to a male. "Who is this? Why is he here?" Curiosity emerged in Duan Ling Tianās heart and he carefully sized the skeleton up.
In next to no time, he noticed that the chest bone of the skeleton had actually shattered, and it was as if it was shattered by a punch from someoneā¦
"Big Brother Ling Tian, whatās this?" The little gold mouseās voice transmission entered into Duan Ling Tianās ears.
Only now did Duan Ling Tian notice that the little gold mouse had left his shoulder since an unknown time and had descended on the side of the skeleton. Now, sheās grabbed out a command token that was suffused with dust from the waist of the skeletonā¦.
Duan Ling Tianās face went ghastly pale when he saw this command token.
A clear word āDuanā was inscribed on the front of the command token.
"Itās the command token of the Duan Clan!" Duan Ling Tian held up the command token, then took a deep breath before turning it over.
Atop it, the word ādirectā was extremely conspicuous.
Duan Clan direct descendant disciple!
Duan Ling Tian had seen this type of command token, the Duan Clanās Patriarch, Duan Ru Huo, the Grand Elder, Duan Zhen, and the Duan Clanās Fourth Master, Duan Ru Ming, all carried it with them.
It was the command token that was uniformly adorned by direct descendant disciples of the Duan Clan!
"Could it beā¦?" Duan Ling Tian took a deep breath as his heartbeat abruptly quickened, and his gaze descended onto the skeleton once again.
Could it be that this was his deadbeat dad, Duan Ru Feng?
For a time, a bitter smile appeared on the corners of Duan Ling Tianās mouth.
If the skeleton really was his deadbeat dad, then although it was unlikely that he would be sad, he couldnāt help from feeling a slight sense of lossā¦
After all, his mother had always firmly believed that his deadbeat dad was still alive.
"Squeak squeak~" Right at this moment, the little gold mouse cried out once again.
"Big Brother Ling Tian, Spatial Ringā¦ Itās a Spatial Ring." Duan Ling Tianās gaze shot at the right hand of the skeleton when he heard the little gold mouseās voice transmission, and on the right hand was a dark bronze Spatial Ring.
Duan Ling Tian removed the Spatial Ring and established ownership by dripping his blood on it.
"I hope thereās something to prove the identity of this skeleton within this Spatial Ringā¦" Duan Ling Tian thought in his heart, and his mood became even more perturbed.
The thing he was most worried of right now was that this skeleton really was his deadbeat dad, as once it was confirmed, he didnāt know how sad his mother would be.
"Even if itās proven that he really is that deadbeat dad of mine, I have to lock this secret away within me!" Duan Ling Tian took a deep breath as he said to himself.
He didnāt want to make his mother sad.
At least, his mother held a trace of hope in her heart, and allowing this trace of hope to accompany his mother all through her lifetime would perhaps be the best choice.
With a command of his thoughts, Duan Ling Tian started looking through the things within the Spatial Ring.
In next to no time, Duan Ling Tianās eyes lit up. "A letter! Thereās actually a letter in this Spatial Ringā¦ Regardless of if this letter was written by someone to the owner of the Spatial Ring or the owner of the Spatial Ring had written it to someone else, it would surely be signed!"
A letter appeared with a raise of his hand.
This was a letter that had been torn open.
"It ought to be a letter written by someone to the original owner of this Spatial Ring." Duan Ling Tian thought in his heart, then opened the letter to read it.
The starting of the letter was the addressing of the other person to the original owner of the Spatial Ringā¦
"Duan You?" Duan Ling Tianās gaze descended onto the words āLord Duan Youā at the beginning of the letter, and his eyes squinted.
Duan You!
A direct descendant disciple of the Duan Clan.
"Could it be that heās the Half-step Void Stage martial artist from the Duan Clan that had come to the Swamp of Death all those years ago to look for my deadbeat dad?" This thought emerged in Duan Ling Tianās heart at the first possible moment.
After the thought emerged, he was even more convinced.
"No matter if itās him or notā¦ I can be sure that this skeleton isnāt that deadbeat dad of mine." Duan Ling Tian heaved a sigh of relief and felt slightly fortunate.
Although he didnāt know what that deadbeat dad of his encountered all those years ago, since he hadnāt seen the remains of his deadbeat dad, it also meant that there was a chance that deadbeat dad of his was still aliveā¦
Of course, it was also possible that he was swallowed by the swamp.
But this was only a possibility.
"Little Gold, the aura you spoke of earlier that made you feel fear came from here?" Suddenly, Duan Ling Tian remembered the reason heād entered the cave passageway, and he looked at the little gold mouse as he asked.