Despite his fears that another being might be ready to ambush him at any moment, Bian kept on pressing forward.
The ghosts fled from him like a plague, and those that didn't know what was good for them were absorbed by the Solum Mirror.
He kept his momentum up for days until it finally showed results.
A structure was visible in the distance. It was about the size of a skyscraper and was made entirely of black metal.
It had three long and thick antennae that stretched into the gloomy clouds and couldn't be easily discerned from afar.
Green arcs of lightning traveled down the antennae and into the main structure. Bian guessed it was powering something.
He slowly approached the structure, taking in the sights of the ghosts and land formation. Of course, the majority of the ghosts had already fled when they saw him approaching.
Bian was soon overshadowed by the building, walking into its eerie embrace.
There were no doors or windows, only smooth metallic ground leading to an elevated platform.
On this platform was a standing strange dark circle, which looked like a living liquid. No light that landed was reflected back, giving the weird liquid an unfathomable darkness.
Both Bao'er and Bian were spooked, especially when they registered it to be some sort of portal.
"It's between this and the shelter filled with sacred-blood zombies," Bian said with a shrug.
He really couldn't handle the sacred-blood zombies, so there was no choice in the matter.
He called the Scornful Bane and dismissed the Solum Mirror and then, holding Bao'er closely, placed one foot in the portal.
His leg landed on solid ground and no force sucked him in. Bian closed his eyes, extended his senses, and walked through the portal.
It felt like moving through a thick layer of honey. Its stickiness was trying to hold him back.
But his body allowed him to push through. Bian immediately figured out that the ghosts could not pass through this portal.
He was sure of it. The portal wouldn't allow those without a physical body to phase through.
After a moment, he was on the other side of the portal, ready to confront any adversary.
A bunch of creatures had him surrounded, and Bian saw quite a few spirits also.
"Someone came through the portal!"
"Are the dead finally invading?"
"Send word to the duke. We will hold this thing back!"
The corners of Bian's mouth twitched at the last comment.
'This thing? Your dad is a thing!'
Obviously, these people knew about the ghosts on the other side. They must have mistaken the area for some land of the dead.
They wouldn't entirely be wrong, but they were still off the mark. It was just another phenomenon of the sanctuaries.
Just as Bian was about to speak, a figure came out of the crowd and approached him.
"It's just one of them, and this one even has a child on his shoulder. No need to involve the duke!"
The spirit who just spoke was clad in bronze armor protecting his entire body, with only his head and joints slightly exposed.
The other spirits seemed to listen to him, and some even looked at him with reverence.
"It's Earl Shin! Earl Shin actually showed up!"
"We're going to see his dagger art today!"
The voices, which were first frightened, now turned cheerful. It was as though the presence of this one person had determined the outcome of this fight.
'These guys aren't listening.'
Bian felt his patience waning rapidly. His grip on the Scornful Bane tightened, and he stepped forward.
"I don't know who you guys are, and I don't care. Get out of my way!"
All the other words he wanted to say were thrown down the drain. There was no point watering a rock, and soon his point was proven.
"So lively for one who just came from the land of the dead. Let's fix that!"
After he spoke, Earl Shin summoned his geno core and charged forward.
An Ebony Cloak materialized, extending from his left shoulder to his feet.
At the same time, an Ivory Dagger manifested in his right hand.
His speed was just as fast as Bian expected. An Earl fell under the aristocrat rank, which was equal to mutant creatures.
With his current fitness, fighting him was impossible. Bian had to activate the Body Pillar to boost his physique.
His body turned to a jade sculpture, and a deep power flowed from within accompanied by a sense of wholeness.
Bian rushed forward to meet the Earl, swinging the Scornful Bane in a wide horizontal arc.
Hmph!
With a scoff, the cloak on Earl Shin moved forward to obstruct Bian's vision.
Bian summoned the Solum Mirror and let his attack land, rending the cloak apart.
The Ivory Dagger struck from an angle, giving his arm no chance to react.
Clang!
One-fifth of the Ivory Dagger sank into the surface of the mirror before it finally stopped right before his eyes.
Bian brandished the Scornful Bane again, aiming to behead the spirit, but he jumped back with the Ivory Blade.
The damaged Solum Mirror repaired itself a moment later, as did the Ebony Cloak.
Bian frowned.
The damage to the Solum Mirror was significant and consumed souls to heal so fast. Meanwhile, the feeling of cutting the cloak wasn't as solid, meaning it was made to get damaged and rapid repair.
'Can't engage in a battle of attrition.'
Bian rushed in again, refusing to give Earl Shin a moment of respite. The katana in his hand unleashed a barrage of blades on the spirit.
"Good footwork, superior form. I can't find a single opening in your attacks," Earl Shin commented while he calmly blocked each and every one of Bian's attacks.
The Ivory Dagger in his hand was like a machine, hitting the center of Bian's blade every time.
It prevented him from mounting pressure on the spirit, and that was even when the Solum Mirror was acting as a distraction.
Unfortunately, the mirror had no special means of dealing damage, and its ramming attacks were futile against the Earl's armor.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, the cloak on his shoulders moved to cover his right hand.
Bian tensed up and readied his blade to deflect the attack of the spirit before dealing a deadly counter of his own.
Alarm bells rang in his head wildly.
The Spirit Pillar activated automatically, guiding Bian's hand to block his neck on instinct.
Clang!
The dagger pushed the katana to his neck, forcing Bian to take several steps back.
"What was that?"
"You mean my special move, Cloak and Dagger?" the spirit laughed lightly as he spoke.
"You're one of the lucky ones who managed to avoid the actual strike in time. I wonder if it was just a fluke!"
He rushed at Bian again, the Ebony Cloak shrouding his entire right arm.
Bian would be a fool if he tried to parry his attack again.
The major issue was his fitness couldn't keep up with his opponent. He had less than ten Primitive and Mutant points; therefore, even with Jadebody active, it wasn't enough to cover the difference in strength.
"I didn't want to resort to this."
A grim look appeared on his face.
Earl Shin paused his pursuit and looked at Bian, wondering what he was talking about.
Then, in the next moment—
Bian turned around and sprinted to the portal.
A decisive move called the tactical retreat.
"Dare to run?!"
Earl Shin said with a scoff, then dashed toward Bian like a ghost, his speed triumphing over that of his target.
A black octopus the size of a bucket spawned beside Bian. A fiery white aura covered the dark-scaled octopus, creating a beautiful and unique contrast.
Peeewwwwww!
Inkus shot out a dark laser, starting from the feet of Earl Shin and moving around the portal before making a complete circle.
As Earl Shin halted, the laser struck where he would have been a moment later. He summoned the geno core of a ferocious mutant beast he had killed before.
A dark blue shuriken, crackling with blue electricity, formed in his hand just to be thrown a second later.
"Watch out!" A spirit yelled out to the rest who were too close to where the laser fell.
At the same time, the ground burnt by the laser blew up, and a series of explosions followed the circular path.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The first explosion engulfed the Earl's shuriken, but how could an ordinary blast affect a gold geno core?
Shua!
The lightning shuriken split apart the head of the octopus, and Duke Earl was incensed.
"It was just an ordinary creature!"
If he had known it would be just an ordinary creature, he wouldn't have avoided the dark laser and would have aimed for Bian instead.
An ordinary creature was not supposed to possess such powerful moves. He had no way of knowing it had evolved from a Third Sanctuary super beast.
Just as he suspected, once the dust from the explosion cleared out, Bian was already long gone.
"Secure the parameters of the portal and call one of the other four. Next time our friend arrives, let's make sure he doesn't leave!"
Earl Shin barked orders at the spirits and creatures around, then he went back to the garrison. Once Bian arrived, he would coordinate with another of the four to trap him in a pincer attack.
Meanwhile, Bian, who had sunk into the earth using Terraslip, had a sour expression on his face.
He didn't expect the spirit to have another gold geno core, and that mistake had cost him the Ink Sun Dragon.
Bian could only let out a heavy sigh, slowly moving away from the barricade while masking his aura.