"So, is the 'Omniscient' prediction actually true?!"
Xiang Mantang stood upon the roaring waves, looking at the uncertain Barlow and Leon, beginning to recall the old man's warning.
"It's possible that the old man deceived me, but why did he want me to come here to find the Garden of Eden in the first place? And why did he change his mind about me coming?"
"Could his prediction of the future be true?"
Xiang Mantang pondered, finding it difficult to deduce which faction might be trying to deceive him.
Or were they plotting against him together?
"Enough, even if 'Omniscient' did not deceive me, their predictions may not be accurate. After all, the matter with the Old Dragon King is a lesson from the past!"
"Even if a great terror arises because of me, I am willing to bear the sin to save my brother. No matter the outcome, I shall shoulder all the karma!"
Xiang Mantang was after all a mortal, how could he see through what sort of scheme lay between 'Omniscient' and Paradise Lost that involved him?!
After not being able to think it through, he finally made a decision, no longer to ponder it further. He simply cut off all the various speculations in his mind, and moved forward resolutely!
Afterward, Xiang Mantang's expression became serene, his eyes glittered with sharp light, now devoid of the suspicion, doubt, probing, and uncertainty he had when conversing with Barlow.
"Let's go!"
Xiang Mantang moved his legs, striding swiftly across the tumultuous waves.
And Barlow and Leon, frightened to a pallid complexion, involuntarily followed his lead, their legs moving as if pulled by strings, keeping close to Xiang Mantang.
Xiang Mantang, leading the two of them, ran constantly through the lost river.
Half a day went by.
Or perhaps longer.
At the end of the river, there finally appeared a world teeming with flowers and grass, where butterflies danced and bees flew.
"This... This is the Garden of Eden!"
"We have finally found the lost Garden of Eden!"
Barlow and Leon, looking at the world before them, and standing atop the waves, were unable to contain their excitement, hugging each other and jumping for joy on the crest of the waves.
Xiang Mantang, however, frowned slightly, not feeling as elated as they were.
After all, according to the scriptures, the Garden of Eden should have four rivers; the first one should have gold, the second one pearls and carnelian, while the third and fourth are the two rivers of the outer world, but without any particular mention of possessions.
Yet now, as he followed the river, running into the world suspected to be the Garden of Eden, he saw neither gold, pearls, nor carnelian...
Xiang Mantang glanced at the excitedly dancing Barlow and Leon and silently shook his head, "Never mind, it's useless to think too much. After all, we have reached this place; let's take it one step at a time."
With vigilance, Xiang Mantang took Barlow and Leon and stood in this lost beautiful world.
Smelling the fresh scent of earth and flowers in the air, Barlow and Leon couldn't help but spread their arms wide, as if embracing the world.
While Xiang Mantang remained on guard.
After all, if this really was the lost Garden of Eden, according to the scriptures, an Archangel guarded this place!
"Thump!"
At that moment, a strange noise came.
Xiang Mantang immediately turned his head alertly.
It was Barlow and Leon, who had collapsed on the ground like drunkards, their faces flushed, bodies convulsing uncontrollably, and foam beginning to emerge from their mouths.
"Is there poison in the air?!"
Xiang Mantang instantly judged that there was an odorless, colorless poison in the air causing the two of them to suffer.
Quickly, he sealed his own respiratory tract, no longer breathing the air of this place.
Just as he was about to remove his mask, his action suddenly paused.
Could their affliction be because they were not wearing this mysterious mask?
And not because the air was poisonous?
Xiang Mantang held his right hand level in mid-air, struggling with hesitation, unable to reach a conclusion.
Amidst his indecision, Barlow and Leon stopped convulsing, completely expired.
In less than a moment, their complexions turned from red to white, then to a purplish black.
It truly seemed as though they had died from being poisoned.
"Ah, what a pity, to die just like that!"
Xiang Mantang watched the two of them pass away and sighed with regret in his heart.
He wasn't mourning the loss of two lives, but their deaths meant that it was impossible to prove whether they were just cannon fodder from Paradise Lost, which made it even harder to predict if the aims of Paradise Lost were as simple as they seemed!
"To die before one's skills are shown!" Xiang Mantang withdrew his gaze from their corpses and turned to look around, sealing his airway and began to check carefully.
Without finding the Archangel who guarded the gate, and with two people who could have scouted ahead now dead, this was certainly not a good start.
Just as Xiang Mantang was looking for traces of the Archangel and cautiously stepping forward.
The two corpses behind him suddenly opened their eyes with an eerie glare, their pupils gleaming a blood-red, filled with endless malice and malicious intent, fixing their gaze on Xiang Mantang's back.
Xiang Mantang's Divine Sense was extremely sharp, and he instantly felt it when their eyes fixed on him. He spun around sharply to face them.
And the bodies of Barlow and Leon also appeared very strange; the moment Xiang Mantang turned, they closed their eyes once more.
"Just now, I felt like I was being watched by some malevolent presence; was it them?!"
Xiang Mantang stared at the corpses of Barlow and Leon for a few moments, then shifted his gaze around, muttering, "Or is there some creature, hiding in the shadows, spying on me?"
Xiang Mantang wasn't quite sure.
Amidst his suspicions.
Xiang Mantang dared not face this direction continually and turned back once again toward the front.
To prevent being stealthily attacked without realizing it.
And as Xiang Mantang turned away.
Barlow and Leon's corpses once again opened their eyes and then closed them once more.
At that moment, their corpses began to undergo a terrible transformation, with intricate Curse Marks spreading from their chests to the rest of their bodies.
Their corpses were rapidly decaying, with rotten flesh and guts falling to the ground, emanating a foul stench.
"Hmm?"
Xiang Mantang, having sealed his breathing, couldn't smell anything, but his Divine Sense was too sensitive; he still felt the commotion behind him and turned once more to look at the two corpses!
"Decaying so fast?"
Xiang Mantang watched the corpses' transformation with a look of surprise and suspicion.
Wondering whether to leave this place and stay away from these two corpses.
But, it was a bit too late.
While Xiang Mantang hesitated, the flesh on Barlow and Leon's faces also decayed away, and what should have been empty eye sockets began to flicker with a strange red light.
Like skull lanterns with a light inside, but that light gave off a very unpleasant feeling, filled with malice, despair, murderous intent, resentment, ferocity...
And all other kinds of negative emotions!
Whoosh!
Three pairs of Bone Wings suddenly grew from the backs of the two skeletons!
They hovered in the sky, looking down at Xiang Mantang!
Xiang Mantang's expression changed instantly.
Seeing their appearance with three pairs of Bone Wings, although they were like undead creatures, didn't it mean that they were the Archangels guarding the Garden of Eden?
But not angels radiating light and righteousness, but Skull Angels, Fallen Angels...