After about an hour, the injured ones were mostly healed thanks to Luo Shangyan and Li Muxue. Yu Yifeng looked up at the sky and said, "We still have six hours. Before nightfall, we must find a safe place to spend the night. There are monsters in the Forest of Illusory Moon that seek and attack targets on their initiative. It"s especially dangerous at night."
No one protested. They knew they would reach the Grade 4 district if they advanced southeast, so they picked a relatively easier path. With Yu Yifeng leading the way and blazing the trail, the team made their way southeast.
The weather in the Forest of Illusory Moon was strange. Sometimes, the clear sky stretched as far as the eye could see. Sometimes, the sky was filled with dark, heavy clouds. Sometimes, multi-colored radiance lit up the sky. Every now and then, there would even be howling of beasts coming from the depths of the mountain range. Most cultivators would just give up after two or three days if they were left to journey on their own.
They continued to use Xiao Chen"s method along the way and ended up gathering close to forty Hearts of Illusory Moon. However, some creatures were more cunning than others. Instead of running back to their nest, they led the group to somewhere dangerous. They were nearly plunged into danger quite a few times.
When twilight arrived and exhaustion was beginning to creep on everyone, Xiao Chen looked up and saw yellow-tinted clouds floating in the sky. Under the cover of the vast twilight radiance, the strange stones that dotted the rugged path made for a very strange picture. He told his neighbor Yu Yifeng, "It"s about time. Let"s find a place to rest."
Yu Yifeng nodded. He narrowed his eyes at the eastern horizon and saw a mountain shrouded in a thick, white fog. The mountain appeared to be rich with spirit energy and the regular spiritual creatures would likely avoid that place at night. He said, "Let"s go up that mountain."
"Sure," Xiao Chen said. He was about to retrieve his flying sword when Yu Yifeng reached out to stop him. "No, Junior Brother Xiao. It"s best to avoid using flying swords in the Forest of Illusory Moon."
All it took was a few seconds of contemplation for Xiao Chen to grasp his meaning. Not only would it be for them to attract the attention of nefarious monsters on their flying swords, but their whereabouts would be easily exposed as well. It would be a ha.s.sle if other cultivators started targeting them. Moreover, there appeared to be restrictions placed on this forest.
Then, the team began to cut through the thistles and thorns of the forested path as they traveled on foot. Before the curtain of the night fell, they finally arrived at the mountain and found a cave.
Yu Yifeng immediately lay down a formation to act as a Barrier for the cave entrance. He also pasted several seal talismans on both sides of the cave walls to prevent the invasion of spiritual beings at night.
Zhou Li took out a few bundled-up straw mats and rolled them out on the ground. Xiao Chen returned to the cave with some firewood that he gathered from the nearby woods and built a bonfire. Then, the rest sat in a circle around the fire and began making plans for the next few days.
Yu Yifeng said, "Usually, the compet.i.tion in every district will turn very intense after the first three days. The seventh day will be the worst. Since we must avoid the other cultivators as much as possible, we can"t build a bonfire when the time comes."
When he heard no protest, he picked up a twig and drew a simple map of the districts. He pointed to several spots in every district and said, "Abyss of the Nether Spirits, Slope of Buried Souls, Weeping Ghosts Cliff, King of h.e.l.l Palace—these places are even more dangerous than the Grade 8 district. The Abyss of the Nether Spirits, in particular. Those who don"t know the place must never come close to it."
"We"ll go down this path, where we"ll greatly reduce the chances of encountering enemies. We should be able to reach the Grade 4 district tomorrow evening." He drew a small path in the map. "Thoughts?"
"I"m fine with it." Qingyu was the first to raise her hand. Zhou Li grinned and said, "If Junior Sister Qingyu is fine with it, I"m naturally fine with it as well."
Yu Yifeng nodded and then looked at Mu Shaoai. "Junior Brother Shaoai, what do you think?"
Mu Shaoai looked indifferent as he kept his silence. Xiao Chen was frowning. It was true that their chances of encountering enemies would be drastically lowered if they went with Brother Yifeng"s plan, but the only way to obtain the Hearts of Illusory Moon was to find the Illusory Moon Beasts.
His method could have yielded them at least three hundred Hearts in the first few days, a sum that smaller sects that failed to make the qualifying round would consider large. However, it was nothing compared to the sum that large sects like the Divine Mist Sect could gather.
The right to enter the Violet Illusory Land was based on the rankings determined in the qualifying round. Only the top ten would be allowed to enter Heaven-level Illusory Land. The Violet Illusory Land was divided into three levels: Heaven, Earth, and Human. Every level was further divided into low-rank, middle-rank, and upper-rank. Three hundred Hearts of Illusory Moon would qualify them to enter a low-rank, Earth-level Illusory Land at most.
His frown deepened as he considered this. If he couldn"t make use of his cultivation in the Violet Illusory Land to break into the Nascent Soul Realm, it would be an uphill battle for him to break into the top ten rankings of the Immortal"s Sword a.s.sembly two months later.
That wasn"t even the most crucial part. More importantly was that young and strong cultivators were springing up from all over the world. Xiaoyue of the Thousand Feathers Sect, those from the Fallen Immortals Sect, the Su youngster from before, and even Zuoqiu Yang were exerting intense pressure on him.
Over on the dark side, the likes of the Bloodied Mad Swordsman and Ye Wuxin were an even more terrifying prospect. If he couldn"t strengthen himself swiftly, he might suffer the fate of cannon fodder before even finding his Master.
Just like that, it had been almost a year since he came to the Violet Manor. He was still smug about his progress back in the East Continent. Thanks to the Mystic Cyan Sect"s cultivation method, his cultivation had been improving at a far higher speed than most people. But ever since he stepped foot on the Middle Continent, he met one powerful cultivator after another. Gradually, his thoughts began to shift.
Each era had its own powerful cultivators. No matter how strong he was in the past, he was doomed to be eliminated if he couldn"t adapt and choose to dwell in the past.
He threw away the twig in his hand and said softly, "Brother Yifeng, there"s something I"d like to say, but I don"t know if I should."
Yu Yifeng looked at him. "Junior Brother Xiao, please speak your mind."
"I don"t think there"s a need to avoid other sects. If they attack us, all we have to do is retaliate."
Xiao Chen knew that Yu Yifeng had the teachings of Taoism ingrained in him since young and that many rules had been set in stone for him. He was like that too in the past. It would have been nearly impossible to make him steal like those from the Surging Waves Sect.
Suddenly, Mu Shaoai rose to his feet and said, "We should learn as much as we can, no matter big or small. The number of Hearts of Illusory Moon determines what rank and level of Illusory Moon that we can enter. I agree with Junior Brother Xiao."
Yu Yifeng lowered his head and contemplated for a good moment. He finally said, "You"re right. Then let us adjust our original plan and head to the Grade 5 district three days later."
No one disagreed this time. The team began taking turns on guard duty as a duo while the rest slept. Food and drink could be spared in three days in the Forest of Illusory Moon, but not sufficient rest. This was to ensure that they had enough mental and physical strength to deal with outsiders.
A full moon emitting a halo of the faintest purple color gradually climbed into the sky. Xiao Chen spotted flickering flames in the distance. Other sects must have come to this mountain to spend the night as well. However, unless one had the wildest of ambitions, one wouldn"t wage a war in this forest in the middle of the night. Thus, they were able to sleep through the night in relative peace.
The next morning, Yu Yifeng left the cave to gather some dew. The team cleaned up and began setting forth on their journey. On their way, they found thirty to forty Hearts of Illusory Moon. It was almost at night when they finally approached the border of the Grade 4 district.
The border was a vast gra.s.sland, where the tallest gra.s.s could reach one"s head and the shortest gra.s.s could reach one"s knee. When the wind swept the gra.s.sland, wide expanses of gra.s.s would be flattened before springing forth again. From afar, it looked like the waves of the sea.
"This is the common boundary. Creatures known as Cangyuan Wolves lurk here. Their strength lies in between Rank 3 and 4. They tend to flock together and take the initiative to attack their targets. Everyone, please be careful."
After warning the team, Yu Yifeng looked at the golden radiance in the west where heaven came into contact with earth. There seemed to be a hidden hurricane. "Moreover, there are numerous spatial cracks in the common boundary of the districts. Keep your guard up. Even if we encounter monsters, remember not to run to strange places."
Then, the team began making their way through the area slowly and cautiously. When they spotted Cangyuan Wolves running about in the distance, they used the gra.s.s as cover and kept their bodies as close to the ground as possible. They also restrained their bodily aura until the wolves pa.s.sed them. Only then did they get back on their feet and continued walking.
They finally made it out of the gra.s.sland before nightfall. The Grade 4 district was starkly different from the Grade 3 district. Sometimes, aurora would light up the sky for as far as the eye could see. Sometimes, lightning would decorate the sky. It was all very strange and curious.
It was dangerous to travel through the Forest of Illusory Moon at night for countless nocturnal monsters lay in wait in dark places. Under Yu Yifeng"s leadership, the team found a forest of stones to spend the night in.
The next two days pa.s.sed in what felt like the blink of an eye. They spent the time gathering Hearts of Illusory Moon in the Grade 4 district. They encountered quite a few other sects coming to rob them, but Xiao Chen would always return the favor in the end. With this, his name once again became famous in the Forest of Illusory Moon. The wiser ones learned not to provoke him again.
By the fifth day, the qualifying round reached its climax. All of the large sects had suffered casualties, though the "deaths" here were mere eliminations after their jade notes were crushed in the event of a fatal attack. Those who "died" were all sent out of the forest.
There was also a casualty on the Jade Qing Sect side. An enemy caught a disciple off guard and stabbed him straight through the heart. With the fatal attack, the disciple"s jade note broke into pieces and he was transported out.
While the war over the Hearts of Illusory Moon quietly fermented, an unknown danger was also pressing close. In a place no one knew about, layers of strange aura were seeping out of the ground and forming a dense fog of black Qi. The cultivators were still putting their lives on the line for the Hearts, unaware of this danger.