In the dark abyss, everyone had been walking for nearly an hour, and at this moment, seeing a sudden light ahead, they all felt a sense of relief.
Long periods without sunlight can easily make people feel suppressed, especially this kind of endless darkness, which is even more likely to make people feel despair.
Han Badou keenly noticed that the moment the light appeared, their feet were no longer treading on tree roots, but on brown soil instead.
Bending down, one could even see a tender sprout that had just broken through the soil.
"Let's go."
Chen Bugu led the way, walking towards the light screen.
As they drew closer, Han Badou noticed that more and more tender sprouts were emerging from the ground.
When everyone approached, they realized it was a huge gate, with two white colossal stone slabs forming the door panels, wide open; however, the scene inside the gate was obscured by a white light screen, making it impossible to see anything.
Standing outside the gate, illuminated by the light screen, everyone could see clusters of green emerging from the ground beneath their feet.
Yan Kuan was now standing before the two massive white stone slabs, unable to resist examining them.
"These two large stone slabs seem to be Sunlight Jade!"
Yan Kuan touched the surface of the huge stone slab before him, only to find it smooth as jade and radiating a faint warmth.
"What is Sunlight Jade?"
Lin Xiaoxiao moved closer; she knew that ever since Yan Kuan received the blacksmith's inheritance, he was very knowledgeable about crystals and minerals.
"It's a natural light-attribute crystal, a natural illumination stone. The light it emits is almost indistinguishable from sunlight. The surrounding vegetation can grow, presumably thanks to the Sunlight Jade. Additionally, this jade stone is the top-tier light-element enchanting stone, capable of adding a light attribute to weapons."
Yan Kuan explained as he walked around the two massive Sunlight Jade slabs, examining them.
These two Sunlight Jade slabs were about four meters high, two meters wide, and one meter thick. Their surfaces were smooth, and when tapped, they produced a crisp and pleasant sound, indicating they were top-grade Sunlight Jade.
However, what concerned Yan Kuan more was that the cut edges of these two Sunlight Jade slabs were also extremely smooth and flat, as if they had been cut by some sharp weapon and then discarded here.
"Light-element? Good stuff! Why are we just standing there? Pry a piece off for Lin Lin!"
Lin Xiaoxiao acted immediately. With a flick of her fingers, a Cold Steel Flying Daggers spun upwards, tracing an arc in the air. After accelerating, it flew straight towards one of the door panels.
"Wait..."
Chen Bugu and Yan Kuan spoke almost simultaneously.
"Screech~"
Unfortunately, they were a step too late. The Cold Steel Flying Daggers struck the Sunlight Jade and then fell to the ground.
The surface of the Sunlight Jade remained smooth as before, without a single chip, while Lin Xiaoxiao's Cold Iron Dart was bent and lay on the ground.
"The hardness of Sunlight Jade is among the hardest of all crystals..."
Chen Bugu turned to look at Lin Xiaoxiao. He hadn't been paying attention, and this girl was trying to chip away at the gate.
In his previous life, it wasn't that no one had thought about these two Sunlight Jade slabs, but they were too hard and heavy. Black Iron Grade attacks couldn't even chip off a piece.
And within the Starting Forest, without special shielding items, both Silver and Gold Grade abilities would be suppressed to Black Iron Peak.
Therefore, few people could take these two Sunlight Jade slabs.
"It's okay, I'll help you fix it later."
Yan Kuan picked up the Cold Iron Dart from the ground and quietly put it away before Lin Xiaoxiao could react.
"Where does this door lead?"
Bai Ting walked to Chen Bugu's side and reached out to touch the huge light screen before them. He could feel his hand seemingly passing through to another place.
"It leads to a place where we can leave here. Let's go."
After Chen Bugu finished speaking, he took a step and disappeared into the light screen.
Liu Shifu didn't hesitate for a moment. He was perhaps the most eager to leave this place and followed directly with a step into it.
Seeing that Chen Bugu and Liu Shifu had both disappeared before their eyes, the others had no choice but to brace themselves and follow.
As everyone stepped into the light screen, they felt themselves enveloped by light, and the world before their eyes became dazzling, so dazzling that they couldn't open their eyes.
Even with his eyes closed, Liu Shifu could feel the world turn a bright white through his eyelids.
He instinctively wanted to put on his sunglasses, but then remembered that they had been shattered by the strong winds brought by the mysterious demonic beast high in the sky when they first entered the Starting Forest.
Fortunately, the dazzling light didn't last long, and Liu Shifu gradually felt the light in the world before his eyes return to normal.
He tried to open his eyes, and what greeted him was another world entirely different from before.
They seemed to be in a spherical space, with a giant circular platform beneath their feet, large enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people. The curved walls and ceiling were covered in blood-red redwood.
At this moment, on the vast circular platform, apart from them, there were hardly any other people to be seen.
About a hundred meters to their right, there were two twin men in tattered tracksuits, each holding a long blade emitting a faint green glow. In addition, there was a curly-haired woman in a red leather outfit.
Fifty meters to their left, there was only one person. It was a shirtless Bald Man with a black dragon tattooed on his chest, his gaze fierce.
Yan Kuan and the others also gradually opened their eyes, observing this strange space. They seemed to have been teleported here, and the door behind them had long disappeared.
Han Badou walked to Chen Bugu's side and whispered, "The twins over there are Black Iron Four Star, the woman is Black Iron Five-Star. Their energy clusters are one blue, one red, and one pink. According to what Chen Dage said before, they should be magic-type, enhancement-type, and spirit-type, respectively. The woman is spirit-type. As for the Bald Man on the left..."
Han Badou suddenly paused, staring at the Bald Man as if he had activated "Energy Monitoring" again, then he spoke once more.
"Black Iron Six-Star, golden energy cluster, a Myth-Grade Awakened. His energy intensity is not weaker than yours."
Chen Bugu was also surprised, completely not expecting to meet these two here.
The three people, including the woman in the red leather outfit, and the Bald Man seemed to have arrived here earlier than Chen Bugu's group. At this moment, they were all looking at Chen Bugu's group who had suddenly appeared.
However, the curly-haired woman in the red leather outfit was staring at Han Badou, while the Bald Man was looking at Bai Ting.
The moment Bai Ting met the Bald Man's gaze, faint arcs of electricity spontaneously surged around his body.
Chen Bugu, whose eye gene lock had been Decipher, saw faint dragon scale patterns emerge on the Bald Man's shoulder in that instant, then disappear.
Chen Bugu knew this was the empathic perception of Myth-Grade Awakeneds.
In his previous life, Chen Bugu had also enjoyed this "privilege," but in the eyes of other Myth-Grade Awakeneds, he was an anomaly.
Liu Shifu ignored the others. After recovering, he quickly floated up and looked around the huge spherical space.
In the center of the circular platform was a three-meter-diameter hole. Looking down from above, the words "Zero Realm" were carved on the ground to the left and right of the hole, but the hole itself was pitch black, its depth unknown.
The edge of the platform did not directly meet the blood-red redwood, but instead left a distance of three to four meters.
Looking down through the edge of the platform, the area below resembled a lake, but the water was completely emerald green, churning and surging on its own without wind, appearing quite eerie.
Liu Shifu returned to his original spot, disappointed, as he hadn't seen anyone else here.
"Chen Bugu..."
Chen Bugu saw the scene before him and guessed what Liu Shifu wanted to ask, so he spoke directly.
"Liu Shifu, anyone who walks beneath the Soaring Sky Tree will eventually come here."
"You now have two choices. First, wait here. You might wait until your family appears."
"Second, if your wife and daughter also came to the Starting Forest, and if their random teleportation location was relatively close to the Soaring Sky Tree, they might have arrived here earlier than us. In that case, it's not impossible that they have already left."
"You've already seen the way out; it's that hole in the middle. Jump down, and you will completely leave this forest."
After Liu Shifu listened, he fell into a dilemma.
Just as Chen Bugu said, the teleportation points to the Starting Forest after the Great Disaster were random. He had already confirmed this with Han Badou, and it couldn't be ruled out that some people were initially teleported near the Soaring Sky Tree.
Just as Liu Shifu was still struggling, Chen Bugu's next words surprised everyone.
"Liu Shifu, although I really don't want to say this."
"But, no matter what decision you make, we will have to part ways here."
