The Trapped Beast Forest, spanning over a thousand li, was sealed off by the Wen Dao Sect's Formation Restrictions, leaving only one entrance. From afar, this entrance resembled a gaping maw, ready to devour any life that entered the forest.
As a training ground for the Wen Dao Sect, while Disciples were not forbidden from entering, those who dared to venture deep inside were at least Outer Sect Disciples, and most chose to go in groups.
At this moment, many Outer Sect Disciples were gathered at the entrance, in groups of three to five, chattering loudly. From the tokens they wore at their waists, it was easy to tell that they came from the Asking Dao Five Peaks.
The reason they gathered here was to wait for their companions; after all, having more people increased safety.
“Why hasn’t Senior Brother Wang arrived yet? Once he gets here, we’ll have enough people.”
“Where’s Junior Brother Li? He said he was going into the Trapped Beast Forest today. Could it be that he’s scared?”
“Time’s almost up. Five of us should be enough. How about we don’t wait any longer?”
Suddenly, the noisy crowd quieted down, as Jiang Yun’s figure appeared in everyone’s sight. When they saw his disheveled appearance and the grey Utility Disciple robes he wore, expressions of disdain appeared on their faces, and they began to discuss again.
“Who is that? A Utility Disciple dares to enter the Trapped Beast Forest?”
“Look at how disheveled he is. It looks like he just got severely beaten. Could it be that he’s given up on life and wants to commit suicide in the Trapped Beast Forest?”
“He doesn’t need to come here to commit suicide. He could just find a mountain and jump off. That’s much better than dying in the mouths of those Vicious Beasts, without a complete corpse!”
Jiang Yun completely ignored the discussions of the surrounding people, his gaze fixed on the dark entrance of the Trapped Beast Forest. His steps did not falter as he walked past everyone and directly into the Trapped Beast Forest!
His entry naturally caused another commotion. Some Outer Sect Disciples even wanted to follow him in to see, but considering their own lives, they ultimately gave up on the idea.
The matter of Jiang Yun entering the Trapped Beast Forest would soon be forgotten by them. After all, he was just a Utility Disciple, the lowest existence within the Wen Dao Sect, and no one would care about the Life and Death of a Utility Disciple.
Most people entering the Trapped Beast Forest for the first time appeared nervous. However, Jiang Yun was the exact opposite. Standing on the slightly damp ground, feeling the scent of various plants and soil mixed in the air, he closed his eyes slightly, a hint of recollection appearing on his face, as if he had returned to the Ten Thousand Mang Mountains.
In just a fleeting moment, Jiang Yun reopened his eyes, and there was no longer any light in them. After scanning his surroundings, he moved swiftly and arrived beside an inconspicuous patch of grass. He reached out, grabbed a handful of green grass, and quickly smeared it on his body.
Vicious Beasts are extremely sensitive to the smell of humans, especially the smell of human blood. Since Jiang Yun was not there to hunt, he naturally did not want to waste time on Vicious Beasts, so he first needed to eliminate the human smell and blood on his body to avoid attracting a large number of Vicious Beasts.
After making sure that no smell emanated from his body, Jiang Yun re-examined the forest. After all, he knew nothing about the environment here, and to find Lu Xiaoyu, he first had to choose a general direction.
“Blue Light Wolves like places covered in light, and there must be a water source nearby. So, following the water flow, the probability of finding Blue Light Wolves is relatively high.”
Jiang Yun quickly identified a direction and moved swiftly.
It had to be said that although the Trapped Beast Forest could not be compared to the Ten Thousand Mang Mountains, as Jiang Yun went deeper into the forest, he indeed encountered many Vicious Beasts.
By relying on his understanding of the habits of various Vicious Beasts, Jiang Yun could naturally easily avoid them, but looking at these Vicious Beasts, a question arose in his mind.
“Disciples of the Wen Dao Sect enter this Trapped Beast Forest almost every day. Even if the Disciples’ strength is not good, overall, the probability of Vicious Beast deaths is certainly greater than that of Wen Dao Sect Disciples. So, over the years, the number of Vicious Beasts here should have sharply decreased, but why are there still so many?”
In the Mang Mountain, for survival, various villages needed to frequently hunt Vicious Beasts, but no matter which village hunted, they did so with great discretion. Simply put, they never hunted to extinction and never continuously hunted in the same area.
Therefore, Jiang Yun was a little puzzled by the situation in the Trapped Beast Forest, but he did not think much about it. After all, the Wen Dao Sect was a Dao Sect, and it had Disciples like those from Hundred Beast Peak who were skilled in the Dao of Beast Taming. Perhaps they had special methods to ensure that the number of Vicious Beasts would not decrease significantly.
However, the deeper he went, the greater Jiang Yun’s doubts became, because in addition to the large number of Vicious Beasts he encountered, the Rank of the Vicious Beasts he encountered also consistently remained within a fixed boundary.
All were below Rank Seven!
Within the Wen Dao Sect, the disparity in identity Rank led to clear distinctions in the living places of all Disciples, but for Vicious Beasts, it was not so.
As the saying goes, one mountain cannot hold two tigers, but that does not mean that there are no other Vicious Beasts in this mountain besides one tiger.
Most Vicious Beasts live together. In the Mang Mountain, Jiang Yun had even encountered situations where Rank Nine Vicious Beasts and Rank One Vicious Beasts lived together, but in this Trapped Beast Forest, he had walked for twenty to thirty li. Although it was not deep, the Vicious Beasts he encountered should absolutely not have been there, and all were below Rank Seven!
Especially in a few places Jiang Yun passed through, which were extremely suitable for several Rank Seven Vicious Beasts to live, he did not see a single Rank Seven Vicious Beast.
This made Jiang Yun fall into deep thought, but in the end, he still attributed the answer to the Wen Dao Sect, especially the words Sha Jingshan had said earlier—do not go deeper than a hundred li into the forest.
“It should be that the Wen Dao Sect used some special method to confine all Vicious Beasts above Rank Seven beyond a hundred li into the forest. Doing so is naturally to protect the Disciples who enter here, after all, Rank Seven is equivalent to the Tongmai Realm Seven, and this also happens to be the Realm possessed by Outer Sect Disciples.”
Thus, Jiang Yun continued to delve deeper into the Trapped Beast Forest along the direction he had set, until a Blue Light Wolf appeared in his sight!
Seeing this Blue Light Wolf, Jiang Yun’s eyes immediately lit up. As a pack Vicious Beast, a Blue Light Wolf could not come out to forage alone; its lair must be behind it.
Jiang Yun’s heart involuntarily quickened its beat. After forcing himself to calm down, he silently bypassed the Blue Light Wolf like a ghost.
Just a moment later, Jiang Yun stood in the lair of the Blue Light Wolves. Although there were at least a hundred adult Blue Light Wolves around, under the powerful Qi he emitted, not a single one dared to move. They all lay quietly on the ground, their bodies trembling.
Soon, Jiang Yun could determine that Lu Xiaoyu had not been here.
This result did not relax his mood at all; instead, it became even heavier, because he had completely lost the clue to finding Lu Xiaoyu.
Without hesitation, Jiang Yun immediately left, changed direction, and continued searching in the Trapped Beast Forest.
This search lasted for a full three days!
Three days later, Jiang Yun, with bloodshot eyes, stood in a place where a boundless, blood-red light, as dazzling as fresh blood, lay beneath him!
This red light was surprisingly composed of countless blood-red “Restriction” characters!
The dense “Restriction” characters, just by looking at them, would make one’s scalp tingle and one’s mind tremble.
This red light was set up by a master within the Wen Dao Sect. Its existence served as a warning, because where the red light was, it marked the hundred-li boundary of the Trapped Beast Forest.
Crossing the red light was equivalent to entering another Forbidden Land, a Forbidden Land that was extremely dangerous for all Wen Dao Sect Disciples.
In these three days, Jiang Yun had already searched the entire hundred-li range of the Trapped Beast Forest, and had even inquired with several groups of Outer Sect Disciples, but still found no trace of Lu Xiaoyu.
In fact, by this time, even he himself knew that Lu Xiaoyu was likely in grave danger, but he still refused to give up, which was why he came to this hundred-li boundary.
With a “rip” sound, Jiang Yun suddenly reached out and tore off his tattered grey robe, revealing the beast hide he wore close to his body. He then stepped over the red light!