Su Li looked at Gong Xiao on the ground and had just reached this point when he noticed her slowly standing up. He hadn’t brought his own Crocodile Tooth Turtle Number One on this trip, so he could only borrow Gong Xiao’s Crocodile Tooth Turtle Number Two for now.
Gong Xiao said, “I’ll go with you too. This crocodile tooth turtle of mine only listens to my commands. It’ll be troublesome if I’m not around—it won’t obey you.”
Su Li hesitated for a moment but didn’t refuse. He nodded. After all, bringing one or two people didn’t make much difference. This trip north wasn’t for fighting but for scouting out the specifics. Besides, the crocodile tooth turtle was Gong Xiao’s mount, attuned to her will, so it would be much better for her to control it.
Ling Yi’s lips twitched as he glanced at Su Li, then at Gong Xiao and Jiang Shuijue, as if about to say something. Su Li spoke up first: “Brother Ling Yi, don’t say you want to come too. That crocodile tooth turtle can only carry three people. I know you have your own crocodile tooth turtle, but two of them would be too conspicuous. You should head back with the others. The Golden Eagle Alliance needs manpower right now. The Forgotten could attack at any time, and we have to stay vigilant.”
Hearing Su Li say this, Ling Yi’s lips moved, but in the end, he didn’t insist on going. He just nodded and squeezed out two words: “Be careful.”
“Don’t worry.” Su Li smiled at him to reassure him.
After that, the group caught a few spirit source beasts from the water. Gong Xiao and Ling Yi each killed one, absorbing the spirit source to recover from their injuries. As for Luo Jun, he was unconscious and couldn’t hunt monsters, so they’d have to wait until he woke up.
Once Gong Xiao’s injuries were healed, Su Li led her and Jiang Shuijue to the edge of the building. Gong Xiao’s Crocodile Tooth Turtle Number Two was already waiting for them below.
Gong Xiao put away the Unquenchable Spear and jumped down first, followed by Su Li, and finally Jiang Shuijue.
The three of them sat steadily on the turtle’s back, with Su Li positioned between the two women. To the onlookers, it seemed a bit intimate, but Su Li had no such thoughts at the moment—his mind was entirely on the Forgotten Human Clan.
To them, this was an extremely serious threat.
“Which direction exactly?” Gong Xiao asked Su Li.
Su Li said, “You said those people came from the north, so let’s head north. Keep an eye on the water along the way. If the Forgotten Human Clan’s lair is really close by, we’ll find something—unless they live underwater. But judging by their appearance, they’re almost no different from us, so they probably don’t live in the water.”
Su Li thought of the higher undead clan, which was closer to spirit source beasts and lived underwater. Since the Forgotten Human Clan called themselves new humans, they might be more accustomed to human habits and live above the water.
“Alright.”
Gong Xiao nodded and directed the crocodile tooth turtle to swim north.
Ding Longyun, Ling Yi, Xu Haishui, and the others took the unconscious Luo Jun back on a raft.
Knowing that the Forgotten Human Clan existed and was so close to their Golden Eagle Alliance, everyone’s mood grew heavy.
Su Li sat between the two women, constantly scanning the water ahead. Although he hadn’t enhanced his eyes, reaching level 9 meant his vision had undergone nine minor improvements. It was far better than an ordinary person’s sight, though nowhere near someone like Xu Xuehui, who had specifically enhanced her eyes several times.
He could see scattered buildings emerging from the water in the distance, mostly just one to three stories above the surface, with nothing particularly striking.
After traveling about four kilometers north like this, a tall building finally appeared in the distance.
This building had more than ten stories above water, a structure with over forty floors in total.
Gong Xiao patted the crocodile tooth turtle, signaling it to slow down as they approached the building.
“Do you think this building is the lair of the Forgotten Human Clan?” Jiang Shuijue spoke up.
Su Li said, “It’s too early to say. We’ll only know when we get closer. We’re too conspicuous like this—easy to spot. Have the turtle submerge.”
“Okay.” Gong Xiao had the crocodile tooth turtle carry the three of them as it slowly sank. Their bodies began to dip into the water until they were fully submerged, with the water just covering their heads, hiding them completely. When they needed to observe, they could lift their heads slightly to expose their eyes above the surface.
Soon, they were within a kilometer of the building, and now they could clearly see three giant characters on it.
“City of the Forgotten.”
The characters were enormous, visible even from a distance, and they immediately understood that this building was indeed the lair of the Forgotten Human Clan.
Su Li gestured to Gong Xiao, signaling her to bring the turtle closer.
The three of them and the turtle crept silently through the water. Su Li occasionally lifted his eyes above the surface to observe the approaching “City of the Forgotten.” Finally, his eyes widened as he realized that the three characters “City of the Forgotten” were actually made from human corpses.
These corpses were tied and fixed to the front of the building with ropes and steel bars, forming the three characters.
From far away, they had only seen the characters, but now up close, they could see they were pieced together from human bodies.
“These human corpses might be from the survivors in this building,” Su Li thought silently, clenching his right hand.
As they got closer, Su Li and the others approached within four hundred meters of the building from underwater. Now they could clearly see that inside the forty-two-story building, figures were moving everywhere.
Su Li couldn’t estimate how many people were inside, but he was certain the number far exceeded that of his Golden Eagle Alliance.
He calculated the distance in his mind. The straight-line distance from this “City of the Forgotten” to the Golden Eagle Alliance was only about seven kilometers.
This was an extremely dangerous distance. It was only a matter of time before these Forgotten Humans discovered their Golden Eagle Alliance.
To avoid detection, the three didn’t approach the “City of the Forgotten” any further. Instead, they maintained a distance of several hundred meters and circled around to the other side, because they had noticed a dark shadow floating on the other side of the building. It was blocked by the structure, so they had to go around to see it clearly.
The three and the turtle submerged again, swimming around to the other side. When they lifted their eyes above the water, they saw what the massive dark shadow was, and shock appeared in their eyes.
It was a floating island.
Or more accurately, it was the remains of a blood crystal beast, even larger than the floating island parked at the Golden Eagle Alliance.
Of course, seeing another blood crystal beast corpse wasn’t what truly surprised them. After all, if they had seen one appear during the rain, and the city was so vast, it wasn’t strange for there to be a second or third one.
What truly stunned them was that on this floating island, the size of one and a half football fields, there were figures everywhere.
They were all humans, at a glance numbering at least over five hundred.
From a distance, they seemed to be training in formation or fighting, with faint sounds of battle reaching their ears.
Over five hundred people on this floating island alone, plus those in the building—how many people did the Forgotten Human Clan have? How did so many people appear here, and how did they survive? How much food would they need in a day?
Seeing the number of people on the floating island, the three felt their scalps tingle.
Su Li patted Gong Xiao and pointed back, signaling her to return immediately. They had gotten the information they needed; there was no need to stay longer. If they were discovered, it would be trouble.
Gong Xiao immediately patted the crocodile tooth turtle’s neck and pointed in the direction back.
The crocodile tooth turtle turned in the water, carrying the three as it began swimming back.
After swimming just a few meters, Su Li suddenly heard a sound from the “City of the Forgotten” building several hundred meters away. He quickly lifted his head above the water to look toward the building.
He saw a silver-gray shark, about five meters long, emerging from the water beside the building. Ropes were wrapped around the shark several times, and it burst out with a loud splash.
Immediately, a man and a woman leaped down from a balcony above, landing precisely on the silver-gray shark’s back. They grabbed the ropes and mounted it.
Behind them, figures one after another jumped from the corridor onto a row of rafts floating on the water, shouting loudly, creating quite a commotion.
The man and woman steadied themselves on the shark’s back, and the shark carried them, cutting through the water like an arrow, heading straight for where the three were.
“Damn, let’s go!” Su Li suddenly realized they had been discovered. The shark was chasing them, with a group following behind.
This shark, like the crocodile tooth turtle, was likely a spirit source beast that could be tamed as a mount.
In fact, without Su Li’s instruction, the crocodile tooth turtle immediately started paddling frantically. To increase its swimming speed, it surfaced, exposing the three above the water to reduce resistance.
“Is it afraid of that shark?” Su Li noticed the crocodile tooth turtle’s demeanor—it was clearly scared.
Seeing the three and the turtle surface, visible three to four hundred meters away, the Forgotten on the rafts in the distance shouted angrily, or perhaps excitedly, and began paddling furiously to catch up.
The crocodile tooth turtle was incredibly fast, shooting off like an arrow into the distance. The rafts couldn’t possibly keep up.
Soon, the “City of the Forgotten” was far behind.
But the silver-gray shark carrying the man and woman clung tightly to the crocodile tooth turtle, closing the distance from nearly four hundred meters to within three hundred meters quickly.
The silver-gray shark was slightly faster than the crocodile tooth turtle, and with an extra person on the turtle, it was even slower.
“Su Li, what do we do? They’re catching up.” Jiang Shuijue kept looking back, seeing the silver-gray shark rapidly approaching, the distance shrinking fast.
Su Li frowned. The man and woman might not be terrifying on their own, but if they were intercepted, the large group of Forgotten on the rafts would soon catch up.
“Gong Xiao, don’t head toward the Golden Eagle Alliance. Let’s go south.” Su Li reminded Gong Xiao. If they fled toward the Golden Eagle Alliance like this, they might easily expose it.
“Okay.” Gong Xiao nodded in understanding.
The crocodile tooth turtle changed direction, swimming south.
Soon, the silver-gray shark closed to within two hundred meters, while the rafts were already over a kilometer away, barely visible.
“Head for that building.” Su Li spotted a building emerging from the water not far ahead. It was originally a thirty-story structure, now flooded up to the thirtieth floor, with only half a story above the surface.
Gong Xiao immediately understood—Su Li planned to deal with the pursuing man and woman.
“Let’s go up and finish this quickly.” Su Li said softly. They needed to take out the pair before the Forgotten on the rafts caught up.
“These two dared to chase us alone—they might be strong.” Jiang Shuijue suddenly spoke up.
Su Li grunted, his brow slightly raised.
The Forgotten man and woman might be powerful, but Su Li wasn’t afraid. He had just killed eighteen Forgotten, including a level ten Forgotten spirit master, and that was without using the more powerful third form of “Demon Muscle.”
Under Gong Xiao’s command, the crocodile tooth turtle quickly reached the building ahead. Su Li stood up from the turtle’s back and jumped onto it.
Then Gong Xiao and Jiang Shuijue followed, jumping up as well.
The Forgotten man and woman riding the silver-gray shark had closed to within a hundred meters.
“Interesting. They want to fight us?” The woman sneered.
“Since they can’t escape, they might as well go all in. They have three people, so it makes sense.” The short-haired man in front said calmly.
Apart from forgetting their past, they were almost identical to humans. It was hard for most people to tell them apart.
If there was any difference, it was their pale skin—a sickly white like someone soaked in water too long, slightly different from normal fair skin, though it required close comparison to distinguish.
Beyond that, their pupils were the biggest difference between the Forgotten and normal humans.
Their pupils weren’t as dark as humans’, but a grayish color—they had gray pupils.
Su Li reached the rooftop and extended his right hand to his chest. Soon, two energy orbs emerged from his chest, which he took in his hands.
One orb was a misty green, and the other had a metallic sheen.
Su Li immediately gave the green orb to Gong Xiao and the metallic one to Jiang Shuijue.
“These are spirit source equipment. Fuse them quickly.” Su Li said, then looked toward the man and woman on the approaching silver-gray shark.
They had closed to within a few dozen meters.
Though he had some confidence, to be safe, he took out the extra spirit source equipment and gave it to Gong Xiao and Jiang Shuijue to boost their combat power as much as possible.
He gave Gong Xiao the Green Rainbow Belt and Jiang Shuijue the Thunderclap Fist Gloves.
The Green Rainbow Belt was originally meant for Gong Xiao, and the Thunderclap Fist Gloves were intended for Xu Xuehui. But with danger right in front of them, to ensure a better chance of victory, he had to give the gloves to Jiang Shuijue. He’d have to find another way to get spirit source equipment for Xu Xuehui later.
The two women fused the Green Rainbow Belt and Thunderclap Fist Gloves respectively, their faces showing surprise.
Soon, a green belt appeared around Gong Xiao’s waist, and then a blood-red energy shot from her chest, forming the Unquenchable Spear in her hand.
Jiang Shuijue brought her hands to her chest, and a metallic glow enveloped her hands and forearms, quickly forming a pair of heavy, massive mechanical gauntlets.
“Amazing.” Jiang Shuijue felt the power within the mechanical gauntlets, especially when activating the spirit source, which could unleash the devastating “Thunderclap Flash.”
Though she hadn’t used it yet, a brief sense told her the “Thunderclap Flash” was unimaginably powerful.
Just as Jiang Shuijue manifested the Thunderclap Fist Gloves, the silver-gray shark reached the building. The Forgotten man riding in front let out a long laugh, leaped up, and with a single stride, landed on the rooftop, which was only about two meters above the water.
With a “Hey,” the short-haired man roared, grabbed the sword hilt emerging from his chest, and pulled it out. It was a green-glowing longsword, completely different from the bone weapons used by the Forgotten Su Li had encountered before.
Sensing the energy fluctuations of the green-glowing sword, it was a genuine spirit source weapon, like his Dragon Rhinoceros Sword and Ice Python Sword.
Su Li’s “Peek Rune” activated instantly, locking onto the short-haired man.
“Name: Spirit Swordsman, Level: One, Race: Forgotten Human Clan. The Spirit Swordsman is promoted from a powerful Forgotten Warrior. They not only possess a strong physique and高超 swordsmanship but can also use spirit source to unleash powerful spirit techniques. They are warriors born from the perfect fusion of sword and spirit technique.”
As the information flooded his mind, Su Li’s heart jolted.
“Spirit Swordsman? This guy is a Spirit Swordsman beyond the Forgotten Warrior?” Before Su Li could think further, the Spirit Swordsman wielding the green-glowing sword had already attacked.
With a single step, his sword appeared before Su Li and the two women. His speed was indescribable—compared to the group of Forgotten Su Li had faced earlier, this Spirit Swordsman was several times more terrifying.
With a low growl, Su Li drew his Dragon Rhinoceros Sword and, before the two women could react, precisely parried the green-glowing sword.
The two swords clashed head-on. In terms of pure strength, even without activating Demon Muscle, Su Li still had the advantage, knocking the Spirit Swordsman’s sword aside. But then, the green-glowing sword suddenly burst with dazzling light.
Su Li recalled the information he had just sensed—the Spirit Swordsman’s true terror lay not only in his swordsmanship but also in his ability to use spirit source to unleash spirit techniques.