When Ethan walked through the Portal, he was greeted with a scene unlike anything he had seen before.
All he saw were barren lands with no fertility whatsoever. The trees were withered. The land was riven with cracks. The crazed terrain resembled shattered glass.
Ethan also saw a lake at the right corner from his location. What actually gave shivers to Ethan was the crimson color of the contents within the lake. According to Ethan, the lake was supposed to be filled with water. But this lake was filled with crimson blood!
But what actually shocked him the most was the crimson sky. The sky wasn't blue as usual. It was crimson red. It was as if the sky was painted with blood!
There hung a crimson moon, and to Ethan, it felt distinctly out of place. It gave shivers to him for some unknown reason.
Ethan gazed across the desolate expanse, his hope fading as the crimson moon glowered above. The barren land underfoot offered no sign of life—only dead soil and petrified trunks jutting like the bones of a long-fallen beast. Each breath he took felt heavier, laden with the oppressive magic that clung to the Demonic Forbidden Grounds.
Yet even as uncertainty gnawed at him, Ethan forced himself onward. The assassin on his shoulder—his unlikely companion—grew weaker with each passing moment. If he failed to find the rare ingredients to restore both the assassin's life and his own shattered cultivation, their journey would end here, lost to the withered wastes.
Ethan also found black stones of various sizes. Some were small. Some were big. Some were of medium size.
But most importantly, these stones left a deep impression on Ethan—but not in any good way.
The massive stones stood like silent sentinels, their weathered surfaces etched with the passage of centuries. Time had worn them smooth in places, while deep cracks and lichen-covered crevices whispered of forgotten ages. They loomed heavy and immovable, steeped in ancient mysteries, as if they had witnessed the rise and fall of empires and still held their secrets close.
He looked at the unconscious assassin who was resting on his shoulder and started to feel a flicker of hesitation in his heart.
As per his initial plan, he would find the required ingredients to save the assassin, while also gathering ingredients to restore his dropped cultivation to its best possible state.
But after looking at this blood-like crimson world, his hopes had fallen to rock bottom.
Did I make a mistake in coming here instead of escaping?
Ethan couldn't help but raise this question in his mind.
Just as he was lost in his thoughts, he heard some sounds coming from the portal that had led him into the Demonic Forbidden Grounds.
Ethan quickly found a big black rock and hid behind it. He didn't want to raise any alarm or be asked questions like, "Who are you?", or "How did you get here before us?"
Very soon, Ethan saw a group of people emerging one after another from the entry portal.
This group of people were wearing silver clothes embroidered with a black sword on their chests. The hilt of the embroidered sword was located at the right side of their chest, stretching diagonally down to their left waist. It looked as if a slanted sword had been glued to their chests.
Ethan was stunned by their strange fashion sense. Nevertheless, he remained cautious. Since they could enter the Demonic Forbidden Grounds, it was common sense that they were all Elementary Stage Cultivators. It was unnecessary to bother about that.
"Wh-what the hell is this?"
"This atmosphere is too terrifying."
"Is this… is this really the Demonic Forbidden Grounds?"
"How terrifying…"
This group of young disciples, all clad in similar robes, found the Demonic Forbidden Grounds utterly terrifying upon their arrival. They couldn't help but cry out in shock and horror.
At that moment, Mitchell—who was equally shaken by the gruesome landscape—let out a sigh and said,
"Before we left the Sect, the High Elder told us what to expect in the Demonic Forbidden Grounds. His words were truly alarming, and I thought I was prepared. But after seeing it for myself, I realize now—my imagination wasn't vivid enough. This place has far surpassed anything I envisioned."
At that time, the portal behind them shivered slightly. Ethan and Mitchell's group saw another group of people entering the place through the entry portal.
This new group of people were wearing golden shirts and pants made of some unknown material. There was a golden crow's image etched at the center of their shirts, at chest level.
As soon as these newcomers entered the Demonic Forbidden Grounds, Ethan felt the atmosphere grow tense.
At the same time, Ethan noticed that the group wearing the embroidered swords had become alert. It was clear to him that these two groups knew each other—but it was also clear they didn't get along well.
While hiding behind the giant stone, Ethan heard one of the newly arrived individuals smile and say,
"Why are you so scared the moment you saw us? Even though it's true that I'm better than you, there's no need to be afraid. I'm not going to kill you."
After hearing this, Mitchell gritted his teeth in anger. He said in annoyance,
"Don't go too far, Remo. My Ascension Sect isn't afraid of you or your Golden Crow Sect. I can kill you anytime I want."
"Is that so?" Remo continued with a smirk, maintaining his mocking tone.
"We'll see about that. How about we make a bet? Let's see which Sect gains more harvest in the Demonic Forbidden Grounds.
The loser shall not participate in the upcoming expedition—the Myriad Beast Forbidden Grounds!"
"What?" Mitchell and the other members of the Ascension Sect exclaimed in shock.
Not participating in the Forbidden Grounds was a massive blow to any of the Sacred Sects.
The four Sacred Grounds had a secret method to calculate the time and location of the next Forbidden Grounds' appearance. They had never made this method public, intending to reap the benefits of this advantage.
The Forbidden Grounds were absolutely dangerous places—but at the same time, they were places where true experts were born.
People who entered the Forbidden Grounds had to face countless perils—ones that could easily lead to death. But those who returned alive would often become renowned experts.
There were six Forbidden Grounds in total. The Demonic Forbidden Grounds was just one of them.
Generally, it would take decades for any of the six Forbidden Grounds to appear. It was extremely rare for two or more to appear around the same time.
According to calculations made by the elders of the Sacred Sects, the Myriad Beast Forbidden Grounds would appear one week after the closure of the Demonic Forbidden Grounds. And the distance between the locations of both the Forbidden Grounds are very thin.
This excited the four Sacred Sects greatly, who saw it as a major opportunity and placed enormous importance on these two Forbidden Grounds.
Just imagine—surviving and gaining great fortune in two Forbidden Grounds. The mere thought of it sent shivers down one's spine.
Surviving one Forbidden Ground was enough to make someone a powerful, celebrated figure in the cultivation world.
Then what if someone managed to emerge victorious from two?
This was precisely why the Sacred Grounds placed so much importance on this expedition.
And now, Remo had placed such an outrageous bet in front of the Ascension Sect. How could Mitchell not feel angry—or at least uneasy?