Chapter 465: In a Difficult Situation

After a day of rest, the next day, everyone set off without delay on their journey to Water Curtain City. Once they met up with Rod and his group there, they would head to the continent.

As dawn broke, a small group appeared within the Ten Thousand Mountains. There weren’t many of them—about twenty—but each was a powerful warrior. Nine of them had attained divine status, along with Lilith, a supreme divine being at the peak of her power, and ten warriors at the Yin Yellow realm. The other two were Ada and Nightingale. As for Sognar, Lilith felt somewhat regretful—due to matters on the continent, he couldn’t bear to stay behind and went ahead to seek out powerful warriors there, so he missed out on witnessing such a grand occasion, which was a loss.

Lilith was well aware of Sognar’s talent; he was a genius. If not for his laziness and lack of ambition, he might have already reached the Yin Yellow realm, or even the Yang Xuan realm, allowing him to compete on equal terms with the current Dragon Emperor. After all, the two of them had once been rivals.

As for Ada, after some time of training, she had finally reached the early stages of the divine realm, as expected. Although she was much weaker compared to the others, for someone her age, her achievements were quite impressive. It was only because she always stayed with people like Rod, who were considered prodigies, that she seemed so ordinary and weak.

As for the trolls, two of their members who had attained divine status stayed behind in the Ten Thousand Mountains to protect their people. After all, too many strong warriors had been sent away, and the trolls needed to have their own strength for self-protection. Also, since they had just arrived in the Ten Thousand Mountains and many things were still in their infancy, people needed to stay behind to organize and plan. The troll chief, Rod’s father, was one of those who stayed behind; he was also one of those who had attained divine status.

…

Four days later, the group arrived at Water Curtain City. By now, the city had gradually regained its former prosperity. The streets were bustling with people and vehicles, filled with lively chatter and the sound of vendors selling goods. The noise created a warm atmosphere.

Inside the city lord’s mansion, Lucy looked listless as she asked, “When do you think Brother Rod will return?” Her whining demeanor was utterly amusing.

It was already the third day since they returned to Water Screen City, meaning the time had exceeded the originally agreed two days, yet Rod still hadn’t shown up, which inevitably caused some concern! Especially for Lucy—having been to the Sacred Weeping Forbidden Land and the Death Battlefield and knowing the dangers of those places, she was naturally even more worried.
“It’s okay, nothing will happen. He’ll be back soon!” Aida replied helplessly to Lucy’s Nth question.
On the other side, Nightingale wore a smile throughout, clearly exasperated by Lucy’s behavior.
“Rod will definitely be happy to see you reach the next level of the Yin Yellow Realm when he returns!” Nightingale comforted her.
It was truly admirable how talented Lucy was. On the day they returned to Water Screen City, upon realizing Rod hadn’t come back, she entered seclusion to surprise him! The insights she gained during her time in the Ten Thousand Mountains finally paid off—just one day of seclusion allowed her to advance from the middle stage of the Yin Yellow Realm to its later stage, which was truly impressive and enviable. The Black Phoenix clan was overjoyed.
This meant their strength had increased once again. Lucy, having been tempered by the Fire of the Netherworld, had proven her exceptional talent. She would lead the Black Phoenix clan to glory and prosperity, filling everyone with anticipation.
As for Lilith, she was still in seclusion, seemingly on the verge of breaking through to the Yin Yellow Realm.
These past few days, the elemental fluctuations around her cultivation chamber had been extremely active. According to the Dragon Emperor, Wolf Emperor, and others, if nothing went wrong, the Dragon clan would gain another strong warrior at the Yin Yellow Realm level. This filled the Dragon Emperor with hope. With the Divine Demon War about to begin, an increase in their clan’s strength was undoubtedly a good thing—at least it gave them a better chance of survival.
At this moment, everyone was awaiting Lilith’s breakthrough, as well as Rod’s return. There wasn’t much urgency regarding Rod’s return, as even if he did come back, they still needed to wait for Lilith’s breakthrough.
…
At the edge of the Death Battlefield, Rod and Andrews looked rather disheveled, exchanging bitter smiles.
Compared to entering the Death Battlefield, coming out this time had brought them a host of troubles! The powerful being hidden behind the scenes had finally appeared—a being beyond the Yang Xuan Realm, the guardian of the Death Battlefield. It seemed to sense Rod’s divine aura and had finally shown itself.

Their brief encounter brought a tremendous shock to Rod and Andrews! Together, they were not even a match for that guy’s ten moves—a complete defeat. Fortunately, that terrifying being had no intention of killing them; it merely gave them a small lesson, scaring them to death and making them aware of his existence—the guardian of this battlefield of death, the maintainer of the war between gods and demons. Everyone, including the gods and demons, had to pay homage to him. His presence was like that of a referee, ensuring that the chaos of battle did not affect ordinary people. Every war between gods and demons had to take place on this battlefield of death, and through this, Rod learned many things he didn’t know before. After that, the powerful being disappeared, leaving Rod and Andrews staring at each other in confusion. Soon after, on the second day in the battlefield of death, they faced an unprecedented attack by magical beasts—thousands of them, including those at the Yin Huang level, causing them great suffering as they fled and fought desperately. After many hardships and close calls, they finally managed to escape the beast horde, exhausted and in pain. Yet they also reaped significant rewards, killing dozens of god-level magical beasts and one at the Yin Huang level in battle, earning a small fortune. Those two Yin Huang-level beasts would surely be of great help to Lucy and the others. Standing on the edge of the battlefield of death and looking back, Rod and Andrews exchanged bitter smiles. It was a dangerous place, and unless necessary, they would never set foot there again. Their disheveled appearance made them feel frustrated, so they hurried to find a place to wash off the dirt before recovering. However, these troubles caused them to waste four days, four more than planned. As of now, three days had already passed since the scheduled twenty-day deadline, leaving them anxious. It was still several days away to Water Curtain City, so they had to rush there at full speed. Since the main roads were unusable, they climbed mountains and crossed ridges to save time. On the third day, when they were just one day away from Water Curtain City, they suddenly stopped, panting heavily as they gazed at the sky over the city, their expressions grave. A large amount of dark clouds gathered in that direction, with lightning flashing and strong winds blowing—something clearly abnormal. “A thunderstorm!” Andrews, who had seen much, exclaimed first.

That’s right, it’s the thunder calamity—they’ve all experienced it before. The scene before them is exactly what such a calamity looks like, with those lightning bolts streaking across the sky being signs of its onset.
“Someone has achieved a breakthrough!” Rod said solemnly, with a hint of excitement. It was easy to guess that one of them must have made progress. This was definitely good news for them.
The sight brought a slight smile to both of them. After a short rest, they set off once again toward Water Curtain City, while also looking at the thunderclouds in the sky with concern.
One after another, lightning bolts struck, and the thunderous roars spread throughout the Source of Darkness. These past few days had been eventful, to the point of causing numbness, but it hadn’t triggered much reaction.
…
By evening the next day, Rod and Andrews finally arrived at the walls of Water Curtain City. Only then did they breathe a deep sigh of relief—finally back in this place.
Soon, Merck and the others received word, and everyone was present when they arrived at the city lord’s residence.
Seeing them, Rod and Andrews were truly surprised—nine powerful individuals who had attained divine status, all at the later stage of the Yang Xuan realm, including the Dragon Emperor and the Wolf Emperor. These two might have made the greatest progress, as they had actually obtained divine status!
There was also Lucy—this little girl had reached the later stage of the Yin Huang realm, her strength having increased significantly. Rod had even planned to use the magical beast core he had obtained to help her break through, but it seemed unnecessary now. They had indeed reaped many benefits from the Ten Thousand Mountains.
What surprised Rod even more was Lilith—she had also entered the Yin Huang realm. Though her energy was not yet stable, it was fine; this was just the beginning of her progress in that realm.
It seemed she was the one who had triggered the thunder calamity by entering the Yin Huang realm yesterday. Rod felt secretly pleased.
This time, there were so many surprises that Rod didn’t know what to say. Everyone seemed overjoyed! He hadn’t expected such significant changes to occur during his absence—it felt as if a day apart was like three years.