"Human… human… human…" The shadowy entity following behind Yuan mumbled in a ghastly voice.

Yuan's body shuddered even more after hearing this unknown entity's voice, and its glowing red eyes that emitted bloodlust didn't help either.

"What are you?! And what do you want from me?!" Yuan shouted at it while he increased his flying speed.

However, the dark entity ignored his questions and merely continued to mumble in a ghastly voice that was devoid of all emotions, "Human… human… human…"

When it noticed Yuan increasing his speed, the unknown entity also increased its speed.

After being chased for a few minutes, Yuan could see small glowing red dots around him in the distance.

"Oh, the Great One! I really hope you're not messing with me now and that the treasure room is really this way!" Yuan cried out loud as he increased his flying speed even more.

"Human… human…"

"Human…!"

"Human… human…!"

More and more shadowy figures began emerging from the darkness, and in just half an hour, there were over a dozen shadowy entities following Yuan.

Seeing this, Yuan decided to attack these entities with the Starry Abyss, but the dagger went straight through these entities' bodies.

"HUMAN!"

The dark entities suddenly screamed, causing Yuan to tremble from fright.

'I probably shouldn't have done that!' He cried inwardly after seeing the aftermath.

Not only have the dark entities sped up, but they were even beginning to attack him by spitting out these black balls that would explode after a short time!

"Whoa!"

Yuan quickly dodged these ominous-looking balls.

One of these dark balls touched the ground, and when that happened, the ground immediately disappeared the next second!

"What are these things?!" Yuan cried out loud as he sped up even more.

After flying for a few minutes while constantly dodging these shadow balls, Yuan suddenly felt a sense of danger from below, causing him to look down at the ground, and that's when he noticed the sea of shadowy hands that had sprouted from the ground out of nowhere.

These shadowy hands danced left and right, and some of them would suddenly extend and shoot straight at Yuan like a spear.

Yuan's forehead was covered in sweat at this moment. This has to be one of the most ridiculous situations he has experienced in Cultivation Online thus far.

Furthermore, the uncertainty of the situation and these unknown entities only made things worse.

"What are you doing here, human?"

A gentle voice that was the complete opposite of the ghastly voices Yuan had gotten used to by now suddenly resounded, taking Yuan by surprise.

Compared to the ghastly voices that sounded like he was being haunted, this gentle voice sounded like it came from a goddess.

Another shadowy figure appeared a few meters in front of Yuan, but it didn't take a monstrous shape like the others. Instead, it had a feminine figure— and quite the mature one at that.

Yuan subconsciously stopped moving when his path was blocked by this shadowy figure.

The shadowy figure suddenly lifted her hand and made a beckoning gesture with her hand, forcing him to fly towards her.

However, the shadowy figure also moved back as Yuan approached her.

"Continue moving. If you're caught by those things, you'll turn into one of them and be trapped in here forever. Don't mind me." The gentle voice spoke to him.

Yuan nodded and continued to fly towards the shadowy figure.

"So? What is a human like you doing here in the Shadow Realm?" The gentle voice asked him again.

"Shadow Realm? What is this place? And what are these things behind me?"

"The Shadow Realm is a forbidden land where banished souls like them— like us dwell for eternity. It's rare for living beings to appear here," she responded.

"I see… Well, I am trying to head to the treasure room… And the Great One suggested I go this way… Hopefully, I didn't go too far…" Yuan spoke to the shadowy figure while he dodged the incoming attacks from all sides.

"The Dragon Treasury? You're definitely going the right way. However, you might have to fly for a few more hours before you reach it." The shadowy figure said to him.

"I-I have to continue this for a few hours?!" Yuan felt an urge to cry.

The treasure room better be worth all this effort.

"Since we have plenty of time to spare, why don't we talk a little more? It's been forever since I have spoken with a living being." The shadowy figure suddenly said.

"I would love to chat with you, but as you can see… it's not easy to talk while trying to avoid these things behind me." Yuan said.

"Hmm…"

The shadowy figure seemed to be pondering about something.

After a moment of silence, she spoke again, "Although this is going to be problematic for me later, I guess it's worth it if I can speak with you."

The shadowy figure suddenly snapped her fingers, causing a profound black ripple to appear around her.

This black ripple instantly swept the place, and when it touched the shadowy entities following behind Yuan, it caused them to shiver before turning tails and flying the other direction.

"T-Thank you…" Yuan said to the shadowy figure after taking a deep breath.

"That will only stop the weaker ones from chasing after you. There are stronger entities in here that even I cannot control," said the shadowy figure.

And she continued, "Anyways, now that they're not bothering you, let's talk."

"What do you want to talk about?"

"How long has it been since the Primordial Era? What kind of era are we in right now?"

"Primordial Era? Sorry, I don't know…"

"That's fine. Then do you know who's the current ruler of the Nine Heavens?"

Yuan shook his head. "I don't know much about the Nine Heavens since I arrived in this world recently."

"Oh? Tell me more." The shadowy figure said, her interest piqued.

"Well… I am from a world called 'Earth', and I have come to the Nine Heavens to explore it... I guess..." Yuan said.

"Earth? I have never heard of this place before. It must be some kind of minor world outside the Nine Heavens." The shadowy figure said.

Author's Note: I have decided to start a new novel with an antihero protagonist as an experiment. Check out 'Hero's Carnage' if you're interested.