Zhou Wen attempted to summon Six-Winged Guardian Dragon, but he couldn’t. It was as though he was restrained by some kind of nomological force.
The few Companion Beasts he had summoned previously had already automatically turned back into tattoos. He couldn’t summon any of them. Only Truth Listener remained in its earring form and wasn’t sealed.
“Can you summon your Companion Beasts?” Zhou Wen asked Liu Yun.
“No, none of my Companion Beasts can be summoned.” Liu Yun shook his head with a heavy expression.
Without Companion Beasts, he and Zhou Wen were only at the Epic stage. It would be difficult to resolve many matters.
Liu Yun took two steps as he spoke, hoping to see if he could use any Essence Energy Skills. However, after taking a step, he realized something strange happening beneath his feet. He immediately stopped.
Zhou Wen also looked at the stone slab beneath Liu Yun’s feet.
At a glance, the entire street was filled with such stone slabs. Every stone slab was uniform—about 40 centimeters wide by 60 centimeters long. At the end of the stone path was a stone staircase. At the end of the stone steps was a strange building that looked similar to a memorial steele.
Just now, when Liu Yun took a step, the stone slab he stepped on lit up immediately, emitting a faint light. It made the originally grayish-blue stone slab become crystalline like jade.
And on the stone slab, a faint light condensed into a number: 364.
“Do you feel anything wrong with your body?” Zhou Wen asked Liu Yun.
Liu Yun shook his head. “Apart from not being able to summon Companion Beasts, there aren’t any other problems. I’ll take another step.”
With that said, Liu Yun took another step. With that step, Liu Yun’s foot stepped onto the stone slab beside him. After his foot lifted off the stone slab, the light immediately vanished. The stone slab he was stepping on now suffused a faint glow as numbers appeared on it.
However, it wasn’t 364 this time, but 363.
“From the looks of it, the number should decrease by one with every tile. But what does this number mean?” Liu Yun frowned.
“I have a very bad feeling about this. Those people are standing motionless on the streets. The stone slabs beneath their feet are also glowing. I believe it’s not that they don’t want to move, but they don’t dare to because of the numbers,” Zhou Wen said as he took a step forward. He wanted to verify his guess.
The city gates had already closed. Zhou Wen took a step and walked to the stone slab in front of him. Indeed, the stone slab lit up as numbers appeared. It was 365.
“That’s not fair. Why was my number 364 when I took a step? Yet, you’re one step ahead of me?” said Liu Yun.
Zhou Wen ignored him and took another step back. The stone slab beneath his feet lit up as the numbers turned into 364.
“I reckon that no matter where we go now, the number will decrease by one. The ghost face said that both our feet can’t leave the ground, or we will be killed. In other words, it’s impossible for us to fly over. We can only walk across the stone path.”
Zhou Wen glanced at the people ahead and said, “Do you think the numbers on the stone slab represent our remaining steps? If they’re used up, maybe something very bad will happen.”
“From the looks of it, it’s indeed very possible.” Liu Yun agreed with Zhou Wen’s view. After some thought, he said, “What will happen if we stay here forever?”
“I don’t know, but I believe the dimensional creatures in this city wouldn’t make us stand here forever, ” Zhou Wen answered very quickly. Everything in Netherworld City was too strange, so he couldn’t guess what would happen next.
The two of them stood there, looking at each other. Neither of them dared to move.
“Just standing here won’t do. Why don’t we go over and ask the people in front of us and see what’s going on here?” Liu Yun said to Zhou Wen.
“Alright, you can go over and ask them,” Zhou Wen answered.
Liu Yun wanted Zhou Wen to go, but he had made it clear that he wanted him to do it. Therefore, neither of them moved.
Zhou Wen wasn’t idle. He tried summoning his Companion Beasts one by one to see if there were any other Companion Beasts that responded to his summoning other than Truth Listener.
In such a place, having an additional Companion Beast meant an additional chance of survival.
Torch Dragon... No response... Golden Overlord Sword... No response... Fiend-Armored Tiger Soul General... No response... Demonic Neonate... Zhou Wen was delighted. Demonic Neonate had actually given him a response. He could sense Demonic Neonate’s consciousness and she was waiting for his summoning.
Demonic Neonate can be summoned! Zhou Wen didn’t summon her. He wanted to determine the situation first.
He tried all the Companion Beasts, but only Truth Listener and Demonic Neonate responded to him. There was nothing from Tyrant Behemoth.
After attempting to summon all his Companion Beasts, Zhou Wen began switching his Essence Energy Arts, hoping to see if his Life Providences and Life Souls were useful here.
Life Providences and Life Souls were normal and weren’t affected. Apart from not being able to summon Companion Beasts, everything else was the same as usual.
When Zhou Wen switched to the Dao Sutra, the jade infant actually opened his eyes. A treasure glow emitted from his body as a terrifying taboo power seeped into his body like a mighty river. In just a few seconds, the jade infant was nearly blasted apart by the terrifying taboo power. Zhou Wen was so frightened that he hurriedly deactivated Gods Retreat.
What a terrifying taboo power! For that split instant, Zhou Wen felt the connection with his Companion Beast again.
Unfortunately, it was impossible for Gods Retreat to last for a long period of time. It was basically impossible to use such a short period of time for combat.
The taboo power of Netherworld City is even more terrifying than the taboo power on Jade Emperor Peak. It’s no wonder no one from Netherworld City can return. I’m afraid it’s a near-death situation this time. Zhou Wen pondered.
However, there was too little useful information at the moment. He had no idea how he could leave Netherworld City.
Liu Yun opened his mouth and shouted. He wanted to catch the attention of the people on the street. Liu Yun’s voice was very loud. With his volume, even if he stood outside the city, one should be able to hear him.
However, the people on the streets didn’t seem to hear his voice at all. They ignored them and continued about their own business.
“Stop shouting. They probably can’t hear you,” Zhou Wen said.
“How do you know they can’t hear?” Liu Yun asked.
“Didn’t you notice? We’ve been standing here for so long. Have you heard any sound on this street?” Zhou Wen pointed at the long street.
Liu Yun was slightly taken aback as he realized that the street was indeed a little strange. Apart from his and Zhou Wen’s voices, there wasn’t a single sound.
Although most people on the streets didn’t move, there were also some people moving around. They could even see them opening their mouths to speak, but they couldn’t hear a single sound. The entire street seemed to have been set to silent mode.