Woosh!
A clear sky came into his view, he looked below only to see a forest stretching as far as his eyes could see.
“Hmm, this is troublesome. There is no clear direction for me to follow from here.” He frowned slightly, looking at the endless green expanse.
“Meow~” Xueyan pointed towards a specific direction. Shen Yuan raised an eyebrow and looked there, and again, all he could see was a green expanse.
“Is something over there?” He looked at his shoulder and asked.
Xueyan nodded her head and pointed her paw there again. Shen Yuan turned his head back towards the place where she was pointing.
“Do you know what is there, Lan’er?” he softly asked.
[I won’t help you now if you forget. But Xueyan has a strong nose so you better trust her.]
Shen Yuan was silent for a second before jumping down from the tree, “Well, I don’t know the direction anyway, might as well follow your lead.” He smiled and talked with Xueyan.
“Meow!” Xueyan looked at him while showing her claws, clearly unhappy that he didn’t trust her.
Shen Yuan smiled wryly before moving towards the place she pointed. Snap! A branch broke while a snake lunged towards him from the branch of a tree.
He utilized his Spatial Intent reflexively and distorted his body a little by slipping into a different space for an instant. The snake passed through his body as if passing through water while Shen Yuan took out his sword.
His sword lit up with flames as he slashed it down. Boom! The snake exploded on the spot, splattering its body all over the place.
Shen Yuan quickly scanned his surroundings for another ambush, but after searching for a while and not finding anything, he lowered his guard.
“Why didn’t I find the snake sooner? Is the restriction of this realm playing with my senses as well?” He wondered while looking at the place where the snake was.
His eyes sharpened as he felt the blood energy of the snake being absorbed by the ground.
‘Looks like one of the mysteries that I was supposed to find is here.’ He thought to himself.
Xueyan placed her paw on his cheek and nudged him to move forward. Shen Yuan helplessly shrugged while moving forward.
But this time, he was more prepared, with his sword in hand.
The two of them continued walking through the forest, and he fought against multiple beasts and ambushes in there.
“Most of the beasts here are at the peak of the Extreme Origin Core Realm, or as they say, Beast Commander Realm, with the occasional Dao Core Forming Realm beast, which is also the Beast Lord realm.” He said to Yue Lan.
[You have only faced the weaker beasts here. The truly strong beasts are deeper in the forest.]
Shen Yuan solemnly nodded his head, he knew that the beasts were also divided into different tiers based on their bloodline levels. The Royal Tier beasts here might have reached the extreme of the Dao Core Forming Realm, with battle power nearing or at the Mortal Tribulation Realm.
And if a few of them ganged up on him, even he might not be able to run from them.
“I should still be able to move relatively freely here. And I already contacted Ling’er, she found another member of our sect and now they both are working together for some opportunities.”
[Leave her fortune for herself, you can’t walk them through the Dao Path. Some hardships are necessary to forge their Dao Hearts. Otherwise, they might die from Qi Deviation or Tribulations in the future.]
Shen Yuan nodded his head and just as he was about to say something, Xueyan on his shoulder stood up while looking in one direction with sharp eyes.
He also tightened his grip on his sword while looking in that direction.
“Well well, looks like you have quite a nice beast. he noticed our presence so soon.” From behind the trees, two young men walked out.
Shen Yuan frowned, looking at them. They were not present outside the mystique realm. And both of them were at the late Dao Core Forming Realm.
“You are…” he softly asked.
The two men looked at each other and boisterously laughed. One of them stopped and looked at Shen Yuan with a predatory gaze. “We are disciples of the Cloud Demon Sect! Kneel down and give us all of your treasures, and we might spare your life.”
Shen Yuan’s eyes flashed with realization. ‘Oh, so these are the guys from the Demonic Sect. Hmm, Cloud Demon Sect, eh.’
He looked at both of them and slowly said, “I can just crush this jade and be teleported outside. Why would I need to do anything of what you said?”
He wanted to find out what the two of them had up their sleeves. After all, they looked so confident as if they could stop the teleportation of the token for sure.
The two of them smirked. “You won’t even be able to move a muscle before we kill you. Do you think an Extreme Origin Core Realm weakling has a place in this Mystique Realm?”
Shen Yuan’s face darkened with disappointment. ‘Haa…I thought too highly of them.’
He shook his head and brandished his sword, “Alright, now decide whether you will leave the secret realm or die here?”
The smiles on their faces froze as they heard what he said. One of them cleared his ear, wondering if he had heard correctly. “Brother, is this brat mentally ill?” Cultivator standing on the right asked. The two of them were wearing black robes with azure clouds on them.
The cultivator standing on the left examined Shen Yuan once again, “Brat, which sect are you from? I don’t think there was anyone from the three Divine Grade Sects who sent an Extreme Origin Grade disciple.”
“Ugh, brother, let’s not waste our time on this brat and kill him quickly. We need to group up with others to trap the disciples of Divine Grade Sects. We need to finish all of them this time.” The cultivator standing on the left lost his patience and took out two daggers.
The other guy also took a deep breath and took out a greatsword. But he felt something was amiss looking at Shen Yuan’s calm or rather condescending attitude as he looked at them.
He quickly scanned the surrounding area for any possible ambush but heaved a sigh of relief when he found nothing. Brandishing his greatsword, he bent over a little before exerting force on his legs for a push.
“Get ready for death, brat!” He roared and jumped toward Shen Yuan. The other guy quickly entered the bushes and waited for an opportunity to strike at his weak spot.
Despite knowing that Shen Yuan was clearly much weaker than them, they didn’t underestimate him; instead, they went after him with their full strength.
Shen Yuan finally raised his sword with a smile. “You took on the wrong guy.”
His sword flashed with intense thunder as he swung it toward the incoming greatsword.
The greatsword wielder’s eyes widened in disbelief, feeling the intense pressure that Shen Yuan was exuding right now.