Chapter 409 The Stairway to Enlightenment
When Caspian and the others arrived at the forest, they discovered a lot of rare gems. There were various valuable medicinal herbs here that were not sold anywhere.
After Sylvia and the others picked a lot of Cranesbill and saffron, they quickly left the area.
Since there were many people who had followed them into the tomb, they needed to pick up their pace.
The sky gradually darkened.
The forest was going to become more dangerous.
In a quagmire not far from Caspian’s troop, screams sounded one after another.
It was frightening to hear.
“Mr. Xenos, we’ve killed the giant crocodiles. Unfortunately, we lost two men!” Horace reported with a glum expression.
They managed to discover a type of century–old shining Cranesbill,
Since it was a rare treasure, the men from the TMAA and Shadow Gate began fighting each other over the herb.
And as they were fighting, dozens of giant crocodiles suddenly appeared.
In situations like this, even an expert martial artist would not be able to win with their fists.
This made Nixon feel worried.
He had brought five thousand men with him, but more and more of them had died.
He could not be sure how many men would have survived by the time they returned.
Nevertheless, they had fortunately managed to get their hands on the shining Cranesbill.
Once again, both Nixon and Gilbert gave their order to chase after Caspian.
They must not let Caspian be the one to take away the Eldorian Scroll fragment.
It was at that moment when several sparks suddenly appeared in the forest.
A group of people sat around a campfire.
Various fresh meat from wild beasts were being roasted.
“How much farther do we have to go, Mr. Stewart Senior?” Caspian asked Xandros as he looked around.
+15 BONUS
“There’s no need to rush. Once we get through this forest, we’ll arrive at the grave,” Xandros said calmly.
Inferring from Xandros‘ words, it seemed like they would have to continue walking until dawn.
It would be very dangerous to spend the night in the forest.
“Have you
men be more vigilant tonight,” Xandros said.
The sound of wild beasts roaring came from all directions.
Suddenly, many wild beasts appeared near the campfire.
Nevertheless, the beasts would not dare to approach them because of the campfire.
After the group finished their meal, the men planned to deal with the beasts that were surrounding them.
Half an hour later, a lot of carcasses filled up the place.
Caspian and his men did not stop for too long. They continued their journey.
More than ten minutes after they left, Nixon and Gilbert had arrived at the campsite.
They were startled when they saw the wolf carcasses on the ground.
When they looked at the freshly cooked meat on the fire pit, their mouths began watering.
They had been rushing the whole time and had also encountered many dangers.
They had been walking for several hours without having anything to eat.
“It seems like they left not long ago!” Nixon said as he took a look around.
“That’s right. I’m guessing Caspian has also made a pretty big loss,” Gilbert said.
he asked.
“Should we continue chasing after them?” he a
“That goes without saying. But we should be more careful. Let’s make way for them. We’ll have the others explore the roads before us,” Nixon said as he smiled wickedly.
Both Gilbert and Nixon looked at each other, and they knew what each other had in mind.
In their evil scheme, they planned to have the other expert martial artists become their stooges.
At the very beginning, there were tens of thousands of expert martial artists. Two thousand of them died at the tomb’s entrance.
After entering the tomb, nearly three thousand of them were killed by the wild beasts they had encountered in the valley.
+15 BONUS
What was initially a formidable troop had been reduced to half.
Nonetheless, they had no reason to retreat. They could only press on.
The remaining expert martial artists began their chase after Caspian once again.
Suddenly, whooshing sounds could be heard.
Many arrows flew toward them.
A lot of the expert martial artists did not even have time to react and were killed instantly.
“Take cover! We’ve been trapped!”
“Run!”
“I don’t want to die!”
The wailings came and went.
They retreated hurriedly.
As they were retreating, the ground beneath their feet gave way.
An enormous pit appeared out of nowhere.
Inside the pit were razor–sharp spears.
None of the people who fell in survived. They were all brutally impaled.
Nixon and the others, who were at a distance, were dumbfounded.
There really were traps all over the place.
They were fortunate to have taken precautions and let the others walk in front of them. Otherwise, they would have been the ones killed.
are sure
“The TMAA and Shadow are cunning to have gotten the other forces to walk in front of them to test the routes for them.”
Aster and Avery had been hiding in the shadows. They witnessed everything.
“You may go without me. Report everything to Mr. Lynch,” Avery said. “I’ll stay put and continue monitoring,” she continued.
Aster nodded and left.
The retreating expert martial artists had lost another one to two thousand of their men.
The number of their men had fallen below four thousand.
There were many corpses on the ground. Even the ones in the pit had piled up like hills.
+15 BONUS
A lot of them began to regret joining this mission.
“Mr. Xenos, do we continue following them?” Horace asked anxiously.
“It’s way too dangerous here!” Nixon sighed.
He did not expect that it would be this difficult to obtain the Eldorian Scroll fragment!
“We have no choice but to continue,” Gilbert said helplessly.
They had no other choice. The expert martial artists would not continue this journey anymore.
Caspian and the others arrived at the grave the next day.
It was a palace.
It was completely hidden in the mountains.
“Caspian, the grave of the Stewart family is right in front. To get inside, you’ll have to go through the Stairway to Enlightenment.
“The Stairway to Enlightenment?” Capsian asked in a confused manner.
“Do you see those stairs? They’re made entirely from special stones. It’ll take a lot of effort to climb,” Xandros said as he pointed at the stairs.
Caspian looked at the stairway. He discovered that the stairs were suspended in midair. Those stones were not ordinary stones at all.
They must be magnetic.
“Caspian, allow me!”
“Mr. Lynch, we’ll go!”
Sylvia and Aster walked over. Both of them wanted to take the lead.
“Aster, you go first,” Caspian said as he shot him a glance.
“Yes, sir!” Aster replied, nodding.
He had to perform well this time.
Sylvia did not try to argue with Caspian’s decision because she fully obeyed his orders.
Aster did not think much about the stairs.
He took a deep breath and began walking up the stairs.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened during his first two steps.
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This made Aster let his guard down.
However, as he progressed, something felt off.
The higher he went, the more difficult it became.
Every time he took another step, his step would become heavier, as if he was being sucked by
the stone.
It was extremely difficult for him to even lift his foot!
There must be something strange going on with these stairs!
Aster was upset. He had wanted to present himself well before Caspian.
Suddenly, he slipped and fell.
A pair of big hands stopped him from falling.
“I’m ashamed, Mr. Lynch. There’s something strange about these stairs. The higher you climb, the more it feels like you’re carrying a huge mountain on your back. It’s so hard to even move an inch!” Aster said, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
He was dismayed. He had wanted to give Caspian a good show.
Who could have guessed that it would end in humiliation?
“It’s okay,” Caspian consoled him.
Suddenly, there were whooshing sounds. Thousands of people suddenly came sprinting out.
Nixon and the others had caught up with them.
“Caspian, I’ve finally caught up with you!” Nixon said with a smile.
