Chapter 62 - Chu Yun
Qin Nan glanced at Xiao Leng calmly; he clearly knew that the pressure from his Divine Battle Spirit after leveling up to the ninth-grade Huang rank would shock Xiao Leng. Hence, he immediately said, “Don’t think too much; let’s move out, and search for the Three-Petalled Golden Lily.”
Xiao Leng’s thoughts were interrupted by Qin Nan’s words as he turned back to normal. Despite that, the shock in his eyes had no sign of vanishing.
“This guy, it seems like he’s hiding his trump card; maybe what he said was true, he does have the strength to compete with Ling Zixiao!” Xiao Leng thought to himself while he stared at Qin Nan’s back. He then stopped his thoughts and caught up to Qin Nan using his movement technique.
Following this, with Qin Nan lead the way under the guidance of the map, the two advanced among the woods at high speed.
After the time it took for three incense sticks to burn, Qin Nan came to a stop and inspected the map again, before saying, “The place is just ahead, Xiao Leng, hurry up.”
After saying this, Qin Nan executed his Mystical Eight Steps, causing his figure to turn into a lightning streak, and vanished among the woods.
An astonished expression could be seen in Xiao Leng’s eyes; Such remarkable speed, even someone at the eighth-layer Body Tempering Realm would have trouble catching up without an outstanding movement technique, or a Martial Spirit capable of boosting one’s movement speed.
Xiao Leng let out a wry smile; he clenched his teeth and gathered all his might to catch up.
After ten breaths’ time, the density of the woods started to clear up; Qin Nan’s eyes flickered as he thought to himself, “This must be the place.”
He leapt into the air and landed on top of a big tree, observing what was before him.
After this observation, Qin Nan creased his eyebrows.
In front of him was a huge lake, which was encapsulated by a thick white mist; the mist had an eerie feeling to it, and had a tiny red colored hue in it, which was undetectable without looking carefully.
Due to the spooky mist, everything within the lake was concealed.
The mist on its own was not enough to cause Qin Nan to frown; quite a number of figures could be seen spreading around the lake; they were all new disciples participating in the Trials of Versatility.
Qin Nan was familiar with some of the disciples, as they were among the two hundred and twenty disciples who sided with Ling Zixiao.
Xiao Leng finally caught up to Qin Nan; when he saw Qin Nan frowning his eyebrows and that he remained in place, he then followed his gaze and looked forward. A shocked expression appeared on Xiao Leng’s face as he exclaimed, “Isn’t this the Blood Barrier Mist?”
“Blood Barrier Mist?” Qin Nan looked curiously at him.
Xiao Leng took a deep breath and said, “The Blood Barrier Mist is a type of mist formed naturally, which is extremely poisonous. Even a tenth-layer Body Tempering Realm cultivator would die instantly, and his body would vanish due to corrosion after entering the mist; it’s quite terrifying.”
After saying this, Xiao Leng continued to be stunned as he saw the disciples around the lake.
“What’s happening? Why would there be disciples here? Are they here for the Three-Petalled Golden Lily too?” Xiao Leng blurted out three questions as his expression changed.
“I don’t know.” Qin Nan shook his head and said, “It seems like the disciples are patrolling around the lake instead of leaving, so they must know that the Three-Petalled Golden Lily is here on the lake.”
At that instant, Qin Nan was extremely bewildered.
The only reason he and Xiao Leng knew this place was because of the map they found among Wang Meng’s possessions.
How did these disciples know about this place? How did they know there’s a Three-Petalled Golden Lily here?
Qin Nan took a deep breath as he decided to leave his questions behind. He observed the lake before him using his Eyes of the Divine Battle Spirit.
Even though it seemed like the whole lake was encapsulated within the Blood Barrier Mist—hindering people from seeing what was inside—with Qin Nan’s observation, the Blood Barrier Mist appeared to be vanishing at a very slow speed.
Qin Nan thought for a moment, before saying, “This Blood Barrier Mist would need another two days to disperse. Let’s hide here for the time being; when the time comes, we will find out how these disciples know about the location of the Three-Petalled Golden Lily.”
These disciples who appeared out of nowhere caused Qin Nan to be alert, which was why he decided not to show himself yet.
Even though, with his current strength, he had no trouble of eliminating them all.
“Alright.” Xiao Leng nodded his head; hiding from the crowd was the best option for now.
Meanwhile, eight new disciples dashed out from the woods and landed close to the lake with forceful auras; they had no intention of concealing their presence.
The sudden entry of these eight disciples immediately attracted the focus of the other disciples.
“What is happening here? What kind of mist is this?” The eight disciples who were initially joyful had their expressions change after seeing the strange mist on the lake, and the disciples around them, “What’s going on here? Why are you all here?”
The disciples who were initially spread around the lake started to gather; one of them said, “To be honest, we all found the map of the Three-Petalled Golden Lily, which guided us here. Apparently, the sect has crafted a hundred pieces of this map and spread them around the Island of Versatility.”
“A hundred pieces?” These eight disciples straightened their faces after hearing this.
Qin Nan and Xiao Leng—who were hiding on the tree—looked at each other with stunned expressions, before a wry smile was seen on each other’s face.
They had never expected the Mystic Spirit Sect to be so cunning.
Although the validity of the words was still not proven yet, judging from the situation, it seemed like the sect had indeed crafted a hundred maps showing the location of the Three-Petalled Golden Lily, prompting all these disciples to gather here.
At that moment, before the eight disciples could recover from the shock, an attractive figure appeared from the woods and landed slowly.
It was a woman this time.
The lady had shoulder length black hair; she was wearing a long black dress with golden stripes that was kept tight against her skin, presenting her attractive physique. Together with her beautiful face, and a pair of attractive flickering eyes, it caused one’s heart to beat faster after seeing her appearance.
The entrance of such a gorgeous woman instantly attracted everyone’s focus.
One of the disciples screamed after collecting his thoughts, “Chu Yun, it’s Senior Sister Chu Yun. Did she find the map of the Three-Petalled Golden Lily too?”
Hearing the words, the disciples who were immersed in Chu Yun’s beauty woke up instantly while bearing respectful expressions.
“According to the rumors, not only is Senior Sister Chu Yun attractive, she also possesses a cultivation base of the eighth-layer Body Tempering Realm; she is ranked fifth among the top ten geniuses.”
“Even Senior Sister Chu Yun is here; who can even compete with her for the Three-Petalled Golden Lily when the Bloody Barrer Mist is gone?”
“Looks like we are out of luck this time; I never expected Senior Sister Chu Yun to be here.”
“……”
The eight disciples who arrived most recently all let out wry smiles as they saw Chu Yun; now that Chu Yun was here, they were convinced that the Mystic Spirit Sect had indeed crafted a hundred maps and spread them across the Island of Versatility.
It was the only explanation as to why so many disciples—including the fifth ranked of the top ten geniuses—were there.
Chu Yun wore a calm expression, as if she did not hear the discussion among the disciples. She stared at the Blood Barrier Mist for a while, before she turned around and looked in Qin Nan and Xiao Leng’s direction and said, “You two in the woods, how long do you guys plan to hide?”
Even though Chu Yun’s voice was soft and pleasant, it was like an explosion among the disciples.
Everyone immediately glanced where Qin Nan and Xiao Leng were hiding full of vigilance.
An enemy hiding in the dark was more terrifying than an enemy in the open.
If Chu Yun had not said so, they would have had no idea there were two pairs of eyes observing them from the dark.
A wry smile appeared on Qin Nan’s face as he was slightly dismayed; since Chu Yun was able to sense their presence, Qin Nan realized that this lady was no ordinary person; a mere cultivator of the eighth-layer Body Tempering Realm would not be able to detect their presence.
“What now?” Xiao Leng asked in a low tone; Qin Nan had gradually become his backbone.
“What can we do? Since we’re already exposed, let’s go down.” Qin Nan gave him a stern look and dropped to the ground from the tree.
The moment Qin Nan appeared, the whole place fell silent; every disciple had their eyes opened wide.
Even Chu Yun, the fifth ranked of the top ten geniuses, was slightly stunned after seeing Qin Nan’s face.
Qin Nan was the one hiding in the dark?