Mechanical Alchemist

"Su Lun, it's not good! There's a massive amount of black fog appearing above the sea. Senior Bartol said it's from the Hell Volcano eruption, and it looks like we can't avoid it..."

"Yes, I know. That's the cursed space, unavoidable. Everyone be careful not to trigger anything after entering the space. I'm dealing with a situation here and will be right over."

"...."

Just as the black fog tide appeared on the sea surface, Su Lun's communicator also received the situation from the Eternal Night.

The same black fog was about to engulf the Eternal Night as well.

Now, Su Lun had a clear understanding of the entire conspiracy of those in the Divine Plane.

It seemed that the strongest ability of the "Lord of the Grey Mist" was this. Its true form is the cursed space of the Hell Ancient Dragon Kingdom, and it can move.

The people of the Divine Plane had made a pact with this pseudo-god, offering Him a hundred thousand sacrifices in exchange for a safe passage to the deep parts of the ruins.

At the same time, there was probably also a condition to have Him eliminate Dawn Group, the team that had been a constant nuisance to them.

The "Lord of the Grey Mist" himself is not one of the strongest in combat among the pseudo-gods, but His true form is very troublesome.

For this is a "T-class" space.

Hell Dragon Country

Explanation: A T-class, super-sized cursed space where reality and illusion overlap; at the end of the Dawn Era, the Dragon God fought against the Titans' deities here, leading to a fracture in the realm, after which the energy of hell formed this cursed space; the space is filled with chaos, death, despair, plague, and disaster, as well as a large number of super-order hell creatures and vengeful spirits; unless guided by the Lord of the Grey Mist, don't expect to escape the space without Divine rank strength; the hellish energy in the space can contaminate the body and soul, eventually turning them into the dead of hell, and absorption of Spiritual Power, food, and water will all accelerate the contamination process; the black fog is like a mouth opened by the hell plane, swallowing all living beings it passes.

The grey fog stretched for dozens of miles without an end in sight, and it was unknown how large the covered area was.

Normally, even a ninth-order Space Wizard wouldn't be able to escape this range.

And this cursed space is also one of the most intractable sources of danger in this sea area.

It was the true culprit behind the annihilation of Pirate King Black Sam's pirate crew.

Having heard Old Sword God Bartolo speak in detail about the situation back then, Su Lun immediately confirmed that the grey fog was the hell energy they encountered.

T-class space, inescapable without Divine rank strength.

For anyone from the Alchemy Plane, it was almost a certain death situation.

However, Su Lun didn't look too panicked as he looked at the fog because, with the Divine King's Divine Artifact, the "Urobolos Space-Time Ring," he could almost ignore any spatial restrictions.

Including this T-class space.

Instead, he thought of something else.

The higher the level of the cursed space, the more certain it is to contain treasures.

This was a cursed space left over from the most prosperous period of alchemy civilization in the Dawn Era, and it's still T-class today, which means no living person has ever been able to bring the treasure out of the space, so naturally, the treasures go without saying.

Moreover, the "Chalice of Far" he needed was on Black Sam's St. Mary.

He had previously thought it unfindable, but wasn't it right in front of him now?

If a cursed space wasn't a dead end, then within the danger, opportunities were also hidden.

...

Watching the black fog approach, Su Lun didn't dare delay and hurried to save as many people from the sea as possible.

Save as many as could be saved.

On the other hand, the struggling grey fog giant finally dispersed.

Pandora descended from the sky and landed beside Su Lun.

At this moment, Divine Power surged all over her, and the dazzling red glow was like the light of a knife, almost too intimidating to look at directly; she appeared to have "feasted" abundantly.

Su Lun asked, "Did you kill it?"

"No."

Pandora landed next to him and then retracted her presence, shaking her head.

She continued, "But I've stolen most of His faith power, and now even forming a divine body is difficult for Him. At least for a hundred years, He won't have any strong autonomous consciousness."

The "Lord of the Grey Mist" itself was an entity formed by a trace of Divine Power within the cursed space, and with the Divine Power stolen, the consciousness would naturally slowly return to its primitive state, meaning it posed little threat.

At least, He wouldn't actively attack them anymore in the near future.

While saying this, Pandora looked at the tide-like black fog approaching and frowned, "What's with this fog tide? I have a bad feeling about it, there's a very chaotic mix of laws and Divine Power inside..."

Su Lun casually responded, "That's a cursed space."

As he spoke, he briefly explained.

Pandora listened with a slight surprise on her face, "A T-class space?"

This was not good news.

She had thought it was some kind of divine secret technique, but it turned out to be a moving cursed space.

But the next moment, she glanced at Su Lun again, her beautiful eyes gleamed, and the seriousness in her expression instantly disappeared. Instead, she asked teasingly, "Then why aren't you running?"

Based on her understanding of Su Lun's character, he was not the kind of person who would take action without certainty.

Su Lun didn't respond to the teasing tone and replied, "There's no time to escape. Besides, there's no need to run."

He had already estimated the time; the teleportation magic required time, but the dark tide would have engulfed them even sooner.

Su Lun added, "You go to the minor void realm first. I'll figure out a way to deal with this here."

Pandora shrugged and didn't ask why, lazily saying, "Okay. I do need some time to assimilate the divine power I just acquired."

"Mm."

Without further ado, Su Lun concentrated the black hole in his palm and took her into the minor void realm.

Then, glancing at the surrounded troops of the miracle legion on the sea, he teleported over and collected them as well.

Before long, the sky was filled with black mist, and the already hazy night seemed to be shrouded in another layer of netherworldly filter.

Su Lun was swept into the cursed space.

...

The light suddenly dimmed, but it was still the sea surface where they had been, with plenty of ships around.

This was a cursed space where reality and illusion overlapped.

The only difference from before was that the air was now saturated with the breath of hell.

If the concentration of the breath of hell was only 1% before, now it was 99%.

Moreover, each breath of this dense breath of hell felt like inhaling a mouthful of icy sludge, leaving both the body and soul with a chilling sensation, along with a dizzying feeling as if the soul was about to leave the body.

"So it is as I thought..."

Su Lun perceived for a moment, confirming some of the information he had previously deduced.

Hell is not a place for creatures; everything here leads to death.

However, for him, the problem was not too serious.

He didn't delay, sensed the position of the Dawn Troop, pinched the sorcerer's seals, and in the blink of an eye appeared on the deck of the Eternal Night.

As soon as he landed, countless vigilant gazes turned toward him.

Seeing that it was Su Lun, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Old Sword God Bartolo had previously detailed the dangers encountered before, so the Dawn Troop had also made preparations. Now the Eternal Night had erected a seal to isolate the breath, to prevent it from leaking out; everyone had put on special gas masks, for the short term.

Lolota called out, "Mr. Su Lun is back!"

Su Lun nodded, and with a grave expression, asked everyone, "How's the situation?"

Tanni replied, "The sea is full of undead monsters, with no normal creatures at all. I tried to communicate with some sea creatures before, but instead of getting any useful information, I was attacked. Fortunately, the ones attracted were low-level monsters, which we've already killed."

Upon saying this, her mother Frida also commented, "There is another worse situation, that no matter how sophisticated the seal is, it's impossible to completely isolate our breath. After all, the laws we use to draw the seals are from the living creature's plane, incompatible with the death-filled rules of hell. Our living breaths are like bright lights in hell, drifting farther and farther away... Low-level monsters are one thing, but I fear attracting those beyond our tier. I've already sensed through the wind that there are many powerful presences in this space..."

The mother and daughter were the most perceptive members of the Dawn Troop; in the cursed space, their perceptions were greatly restricted.

They couldn't actively perceive, only passively obtain some information, or else it would attract monsters.

It was like going into battle blindfolded, which is not a good start.

At that moment, Old Sword God Bartolo also confirmed, "Miss Fridel is correct. These were the conditions when our Black Sam Troop entered here before. Back then, we had a top-level cursed item that could isolate breath, thinking it could deceive these hellish monsters. But in reality, it only worked on low-tier monsters. Any trace of breath, and those beyond our tier could smell us from afar. Once found, we would certainly face monsters of the eighth tier or higher. Moreover, the water, food, lighting, and breathing here... all lead to mutations. Even with gas masks, the breath of hell will seep through our pores, leading to mutations. Back when we first came here, people got contaminated and mutated on the first day, and the number increased later on..."

Having entered this cursed space more than twenty years ago, he had the most authority to speak about it.

The members of the Dawn Troop on the deck listened intently with grave expressions.

The more they listened, the heavier the atmosphere became.

The air seemed to solidify, with not a single noisy sound, only the rigid narration of Balot.

After recounting the experience of the Black Sam Troop, he added, "The information I've gathered over the years indicates that the grey mist moves, and we can leave once the mist clears. But usually, this grey mist might last for years, or even decades. But under these conditions, the Black Sam Troop lasted less than a month, and even without encountering monsters or mutating, the repulsion of the hell plane's laws would cause our souls to leave our bodies and completely turn into undead monsters..."

Upon hearing this, everyone's complexion turned pale.

Because at this moment, they had all begun to feel their souls attempting to leave their bodies.

Although this was a cursed space, it was actually a reflection of the hell plane, and no living person had been to hell before – this fear was innate.

It was not that Old Sword God Bartolo was being alarmist, but this place had once doomed the Black Sam Troop; he spoke of the worst scenarios to prepare everyone.

Even though he was no longer at the peak of the seventh tier and had entered the so-called "Sword Saint Realm," he still had no assurance of making it out alive on his own.

After Old Sword God Bartolo finished speaking, the deck fell into dead silence.

All that could be heard was the heavy breathing of the people through their gas masks, "huff," "huff," "huff..."

However, while everyone in the Dawn Troop was immersed in grim contemplation, Su Lun and Qian Tiao exchanged glances.

Far from feeling any surprise, they shared a strange smile.

While for others it might have been their first time in such a predicament, for these two, it certainly wasn't.

Originally, inside the Mountain Yin Netherworld, besides the monsters not being of such high level, the other circumstances were almost exactly the same.

Su Lun had even confirmed by now that the Netherworld of Mountain Yin was indeed a plane within "Hell"!

And since he had previously been corrupted and mutated by the aura of the Netherworld, he felt no discomfort at all from the pollution of this hellish energy.

Instead, due to the direct connection to Hell's complete Space Law, where the ceiling was higher, he sensed his own realm showing faint signs of breaking through certain shackles.

And so did Qian Tiao beside him.

Her Sword Dao was innately pursuing the way of Hell, and the third stage of "Rakshasa Woman" had also been comprehended within the Netherworld; its insight was rooted in the plane of dead matter, the opposite of living beings.

Previously, she had said that the alchemical plane made her feel like something was missing in her cultivation. Now, back in this familiar hellish environment, she felt extremely good.

Even those who knew nothing of Sword Dao could sense that the Sword Intent radiating from her seemed to subtly resonate with the surrounding atmosphere.

Neither of them even wore gas masks, their expressions as usual.

At this moment, noticing the heavy atmosphere, Su Lun chuckled and said, "Actually, the situation isn't that bad. This cursed space, I can get out of..."

The Space-Time Ring of Urobolos was his biggest trump card to date, and even within the Dawn Era, few knew about it.

Although he didn't elaborate, with those words, the oppressive atmosphere on the deck visibly dissipated.

To escape from the cursed space?

While it sounded somewhat incredible, no one doubted it.

Everyone from the Dawn held an almost blind trust in Su Lun.

Upon hearing his words, sparks of hope lit up in their eyes.

"Really?"

"If Mr. Su Lun says so, it definitely can be done!"

"Yes!"

"Oh, I was just thinking that going to Hell is no big deal, but the greatest regret of my life is still being a virgin; dying like this would really be a pity."

"..."

In an instant, nearly everyone became excited.

Even Old Sword God Bartolo showed a fleeting unusual color in his dull eyes.

He knew very well that the law of this cursed space was frighteningly high-leveled. The Black Sam group had tried before, and it was nearly impossible to escape by any means.

Hearing Su Lun's words, he also vaguely guessed something but chose not to reveal it, merely reminiscing, "Seems like the old man was worrying too much..."

Then a faint smile surfaced on his aged face.

Su Lun didn't further explain and simply said, "This space overlaps with the outside, which means, if we continue to sail westward, we are also heading towards the target waters. There are no problems on that route."

Pausing, he continued in a relaxed tone, laughing, "If we look at it from an optimistic angle, even if we were sailing outside, the danger would still be increasing. In this cursed space, there are countless ancient treasures waiting for us to discover. If we encounter monsters that we cannot resist, we will implement Plan B. But everyone shouldn't be too careless, just like the senior Bartolo said, the dangers here will be greater than anything we've encountered before..."

But with that, the crowd got excited again.

"Hahaha... So, are we here for an adventure in Hell this time?"

"Oh, this cursed space has probably been around for hundreds of thousands of years; who knows how many treasures are here!"

"Hehe, I think this will be the most unforgettable adventure of my life..."

"Guys, we're here to adventure in Hell! It's a magical experience that no one else will ever have, only us from the Dawn Era!"

"We're off!"

"..."

Immediately, the previously tense atmosphere turned into one of anticipation for the adventure.

As long as it was not a situation certain to result in death, all members had been prepared for great risks.

It was after Su Lun's reassuring words that Dr. Banks also brought some good news.

He had been analyzing the composition of the air this whole time, and having now reached a conclusion, he interjected, "Additionally, the matter of mutation due to the hellish energy isn't too serious. Su Lun has previously experienced a similar mutation, so I've developed a specific anti-mutation Potion... in the short term, no one needs to worry too much about mutations."

Everyone, "Wow! Dr. Banks, mighty!"

With the threat of mutation gone, and it not being a death sentence, the situation completely turned around.

...

Not long after the captains' brief meeting on deck ended, the good news spread throughout the Eternal Night.

With morale boosted, it seemed like all difficulties were easily surmountable.

The members of the Dawn Era hurried about their posts, preparing for the tough battles ahead.

Because their perception was limited, the Eternal Night did not dare to sail at full speed. Everyone also tried their best to conceal their presence to avoid detection by higher-level monsters.

The only one unaffected was Grandpa Crow.

The death herald was a creature from hell, and this environment was its home turf.

It soared joyously through the sky, providing one of the few guarantees of visibility.

On the deck, Su Lun, Qiantiao, Barrett, and other high-level fighters from the Dawn Era group were also on full alert.

Bartolo was reminding everyone of some precautions: "If we encounter monsters, we must kill them quickly; if not, more and more will be drawn in over time. These hellish creatures lack intelligence, but their combat prowess was strong in life. And corrupted by the hellish qi, some are even more ferocious than before... Our Black Sam group didn't know this when we first came in and were entangled by an eighth-tier sea monster. We managed to kill it, but the fight attracted too many monsters. We fled, and the aura we left behind attracted even more monsters, resulting in the loss of over a third of our comrades..."

The others nodded frequently as they listened.

The Black Sam Pirates had fought desperately here for half a month years ago, eventually meeting their demise in this place.

But Bartolo had brought out the precious experience they had paid for with their lives.

It was also thanks to this experience that the Dawn Era group had prepared so many things in advance. Otherwise, they might have faced great trouble as soon as they entered the cursed space.

"Ah..."

As Bartolo spoke, sighs often escaped his lips.

He hadn't expected to come here again in his lifetime, nor did he imagine that his old bones could still offer some help to the younger generation.

Thinking back to the despair of those days, and now looking at the thriving Dawn Era group in front of him, it was clear that each generation was indeed stronger than the last.

Having shared much of his experience, there seemed little left to say; there were only two survival rules upon arriving here: first, either carefully avoid the monsters, or second, just keep killing.

At that moment, Bartolo turned to Qiantiao, his eyes narrowing slightly as if he noticed something, and asked, "Are you about to make a breakthrough?"

Qiantiao nodded calmly: "Yes. The rules of heaven and earth here are much more complete than outside. I feel... the opportunity to breakthrough to the eighth-tier body tyrant is coming."

Upon hearing this, the faces of the high-level fighters from the Dawn Era group changed in unison, expressing surprise.

If memory served, wasn't it just a few days ago that Qiantiao fused with a seventh-tier exoskeleton, and now she's already touching the threshold of eighth-tier?

Su Lun, however, was not surprised.

He had also noticed that since coming to this cursed space, Qiantiao seemed to be in her element as the rules from the hell plane seeping into the alchemical plane provided her with many visible benefits.

It was like when they were in the Netherworld, Su Lun discovered that her Sword Dao made astonishing progress in the hell environment, and it was then that she comprehended the Sword Saint Realm and her triple-solution talent.

Considering that the "Rakshasa Woman" mythological talent was believed to be that of a legendary Hell God General, and after her triple-solution, she had unlocked certain special hidden talents.

Su Lun felt that if they could safely get through this adventure in the Dragon Country, Qiantiao might become very strong.

However, while everyone was discussing and chatting on the deck, suddenly, a black crow in the sky let out a "caw caw."

Su Lun's pupils constricted, immediately warning, "A very powerful monster is coming at us!"

In an instant, everyone was on high alert.

The sky was shrouded in a grey haze, with low visibility, but in a flash, the Old Sword God Bartolo drew his sword without any hesitation and slashed out a Sword Qi.

By the time Su Lun and the others came to their senses and watched the Sword Qi enter the cloud cover, they saw two massive creatures falling from the sky.

On closer inspection, it turned out to be a giant dragon enveloped in dark qi?

Indeed, the reputation of the "Dragon Hunter" was well-deserved!

Moreover, this dragon looked very high-quality, with its dragon scales shiny and bright, obviously not a mixed-blood dragon.

To Su Lun's astonishment upon closer examination, it was... a pure-blooded sixth-tier necrotic dragon?

A casual slash, and a pure-blooded dragon was felled?

The people on the deck acted quickly as well, launching several steel cable nets that caught both parts of the dragon carcass and brought them back.

On realizing the truth, Su Lun understood instantly.

This was the cursed space left over from the Ancient Dragon Country era... the era when dragonkind thrived and pure-blooded giants roamed everywhere!

Most creatures in this cursed space were those that had died trapped within over countless years.

This was not some skeletal undead but a complete necrotic dragon.

"A necrotic pure-blooded dragon... isn't it perfect for my exoskeleton?"

Su Lun had wanted to find a death or darkness series dragon to forge an exoskeleton, but after inquiring in the Silver Dragon Country, found no clues.

He didn't expect to come across one so soon after arriving here, the first monster he encountered?

Although its tier was a bit low...

But with death series creatures all over this space, why worry about not encountering higher-tier ones?

If this journey goes smoothly, not only him, but all the high-tier exoskeleton needs of other members of the Dawn Era group could be fully satisfied.

At that time, Bartolo warned again, "Be careful, there are a few more behind us!"

The members of the Dawn Era group became serious, no one expecting that their first encounter in this cursed space would be so grand!