The Martial Unity

"By the way, I just assumed you have the navigation part under control," Kane murmured. "You do, right?"

"Yeah, I do, I added an ultra-high-definition map of the map to my Mind Palace," Rui remarked. "Courtesy of the guildmaster of the Adventurer's Guild."

"Good, then give me a heads up if we head into an unknown zone."

"Funny you should mention that," Rui remarked, turning to Kane.

"Because we are about to."

The two of them turned front, spreading their senses into the distance.

"What is that?" Kane raised an eyebrow.

Rui's expression grew grim.

"Marsh."

"Oh, hell no!" Kane shook his head. "I am not setting foot in there. I bet there's a gigantic-ass anaconda or python that will eat me in one go."

"Then don't," Rui remarked. "We can sky-walk. We don't need to go anywhere near the marsh."

It was a fair point.

"…Only if my senses don't warn me against it," Kane replied apprehensively.

"Fair."

The two of them treaded through the forest as the lands beneath their feet grew increasingly less solid and increasingly marshier.

"Eugh," Kane grimaced as the two of them slowly began escalating into the air to avoid the marsh.

The flora began changing, gradually shifting from large trees to shorter and detached plants that loosely floated in the marsh.

The two of them cautiously entered the new marshy region that gradually expanded while the forest was left behind them, keeping their senses active.

The moment they entered, they felt peril.

WHOOSH

Instantly, they surged higher into the air, putting distance between them and the marsh, quickly reaching the clouds.

By the time they realized that the danger came from above and not below, it was too late.

"SSSSS!!!"

A blindingly fast viper strike emerged from the clouds, lashing out at them.

WHOOSH!

Rui and Kane barely managed to evade death with active Martial Hearts as the viper's fangs missed them by inches. Being inflicted with venom in the Beast Domain was game over for any adventurer. It was recommended that one conveyed their final will to any party members along with them in the Beast Domain because that was a hopeless situation.

THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!

Rui fired off three Might Roar Flash Blasts at the serpent, striking its scales hard.

"SSSS!!"

It slithered back into the clouds it came from, evidently surprised at the power that the small creature was capable of unleashing.

Yet, just as the two of them could even think of relaxing, a myriad of serpent strikes converged on them, seeking to tear them apart.

"SSSS!!"

There was no room for escape.

In just the briefest fraction of milliseconds, Rui unleashed one of his most powerful techniques. One that he hadn't used in a long time.

'Mind Mask.'

Suddenly, his aura skyrocketed.

It shot far past the Senior Realm, reaching a higher Realm of power.

A Master-level aura spread across the entire battlefield, pressing down on the minds of those of Lower Realms.

Thankfully, the serpents had a powerful survival instinct. They shivered, ceasing their strike midway as they immediately slithered away from the two.

The two of them panted heavily, breaking into a cold sweat.

"Damn…" Kane murmured. "Not gonna lie, that was pretty close."

Rui nodded grimly, keeping his Master-level aura.

Whenever he got to the peak of a Realm, he gained the ability to project the power of a Higher Realm using the Mind Mask technique.

This was the first time he had projected the power of a Martial Master. Thankfully, it was successful.

"Good going," Kane heaved a sigh of relief. "Surviving that would have been…difficult."

"I can keep this Mind Mask active for a short amount of time at most," Rui replied. "So let's get past this marshy area quickly."

Kane nodded before the two of them shot forward, sky-

walking through the region at top speed.

Rui glanced at the clouds with narrowed eyes as he extended his senses to them. He knew that they housed serpents, but alas, his senses could not pick out any particular serpents among them.

Only when he used the Riemannian Echo could he sense them, even if barely. This showed how powerful their camouflage was, that they could fool the senses of a powerful Martial Senior like himself.

"You really can't let your guard down around here," Rui grumbled as he kept his senses active.

He could see why this region was marked as unknown.

Most Martial Artists who entered it probably had the same thought that they did, staying away from the marsh when, in actuality, it was the clouds that were dangerous. In most cases, the ambush of the vipers was probably devastating and game over for the Martial Artists.

The Adventurer's Guild did not deploy Martial Artists to try and map the Beast Domain.

It was futile.

Not only were senses hampered in the Beast Domain, which explained why Rui and Kane failed to notice the vipers in the clouds, but the size of the Beast Domain was greater than the surface area of Planet Earth from his previous life.

Despite being a fraction of the Panamic Continent, it boasted a mind-boggling amount of area. It was impractical to try and actively map such an enormous environment. The Adventurer Guild relied on reports of adventurers to try and piece together a picture of the Beast Domain, but that was hardly enough to know every region of the Beast Domain inside out.

It wasn't too long before the two of them managed to exit the marsh region. The marsh slowly reverted back to mud before growing drier and coarser.

"I'm glad the marsh is behind us, but…" Kane murmured at the sight before them. "I'm not sure if I want to deal with this.

WHOOOSH

The cold winds of a blizzard blew against them. In the distance, an enormous spiral of ice, snow, and freezing cold winds churned in circles. The cold spread out as prickling winds blew over towards them.

"Fun," Kane murmured.

"Let's go, we don't have time to waste."

-