"Old Mister, are there many places like this with the Nine Extremes Divination and Beast Slaying Technique? Can you take me to them?" Luo Kai was very interested in this.
The old man chuckled and said, "Many, very many. There are a total of five stone halls in the outer ring. The murals inside cover astronomy, geography, mathematics, and medicine. This old man can bring you there, but the meat just now is not enough."
"Of course." Luo Kai directly handed over the animal skin bag with the jerky.
The old man looked at him in surprise and said, "Don't you want to leave some for yourself?"
Luo Kai shook his head and said, "I don't have a big appetite. I don't need meat."
The old man didn't take it and sighed, "Young man, you are new here, so you don't know how precious food is. Every creature in the Realm of Shattered Spirit is very aggressive. If a person with a weak physique eats it, he or she will turn into a pile of mud or become a monster like the people in the hall just now. Physique Masters are better off, but if they eat too much, their energy will be disrupted. You can give me half and keep the rest for yourself."
"Okay."
Luo Kai agreed with a smile. With his physique, he wouldn't have any disrupted genes. However, he didn't say anything and gave half of the jerky to the old man.
The old man carefully hid the jerky in his clothes and looked at the sun. He shook his head and said, "I can't do it today. The sun is about to set. When it gets dark, all kinds of strange creatures will come out to hunt. Let's find a place to rest first and wait for tomorrow."
The sun was setting. Everything here seemed to be no different from the outside world. The bluestone path was lined with green vines that were growing in twos and threes. In the distance, there were mountains and fields.
The old man led Luo Kai to a lush forest and introduced the situation of the outer three rings as they walked.
Different from the conventional concept of space, the Realm of Shattered Spirit was bigger as one went into the inner ring. The outer ring was like the mouth of a gourd, but the inner ring was infinitely wide and filled with all kinds of strange things. Even a Saint wouldn't dare to go too deep.
The plants in the small forest were also very strange. They were also green with a hint of black. When the breeze blew, they produced a crisp sound like bells, like metal and stone. As soon as Luo Kai approached, he felt an extremely active wood element frequency coming towards him. They seemed to be very curious about Luo Kai, an outsider.
"Little Wu, you can't eat these plants, and it's best not to touch them. They are scarier than any monster. Not only are they very hard, but they can also release strong toxins. If you anger them, you'll be in trouble. But they are a very good defense. We usually stay in the forest at night."
Luo Kai was about to reach out to touch a branch that extended from the top of his head, but when he heard the old man's words, he could only withdraw his hand. Halfway through, the branch reached out and gently curled around his palm. A frequency like an electric shock came to him, and a numbness spread from his consciousness to his whole body. It was a wonderful feeling. He couldn't help but speed up the circulation of his blood and Qi, increasing the resonance efficiency, and carefully comprehending the "thoughts" transmitted to him.
It was a strange feeling of joy mixed with fear. They seemed to be yearning for him, but also a little afraid.
Luo Kai was a little confused. When he wanted to examine it more carefully, the branch slowly withdrew.
Two men and a woman were resting under a big tree in the forest. The three of them were very young. The two men were holding some kind of cylindrical gun, and their faces were cold. The woman was about sixteen or seventeen years old, with a slender body and a beautiful face.
After seeing the old man, the young woman immediately stood up and respectfully said, "Grandpa An, you also came."
The old man smiled and asked, "Did you find what you were looking for?"
The young woman regretfully said, "No, I hope Grandpa An can help."
"It's too late. I've been this little friend's guide for the past few days." The old man pointed at Luo Kai.
The young woman looked at Luo Kai and said in surprise, "It's you."
Luo Kai was also a little surprised. The young woman and the two attendants next to her were the three people he had met in the Wasteland Oasis. They were the family of some Rosy Cloud City's City Lord, and seemed to be called Lin Xiaolei. It seemed that they were also looking for the entrance to the Broken Spirit Realm. It was just that the three of them were very young, and they weren't even Conjoined Warriors, yet they dared to enter the Broken Spirit Realm.
"Why? Do you know each other? Haha, this little friend is more generous than you."
Lin Xiaolei shook her head. "No, I don't know him. I've only seen him once."
The old man laughed and said, "Little girl, you're braver than your grandpa. That old man only dared to enter the Broken Spirit Realm when he was about to die. You, on the other hand, dared to enter the Broken Spirit Realm at such a young age. Aren't you afraid that you won't be able to get out?"
Lin Xiaolei sighed. "Since grandpa entered the Broken Spirit Realm, our family has no Conjoined Warriors. If we try again, I'm afraid that our family won't survive."
The old man frowned and didn't say anything else.
The sky gradually darkened. They started a fire in an open space in the forest. Lin Xiaolei looked around from time to time and asked in confusion, "Grandpa An, why didn't anyone come to take refuge tonight?"
The old man stood up and looked around. Then, he shook his head and said, "I don't know. Maybe they went to another forest."
Luo Kai had been looking at the sky. As he had expected, there was no moon. Moreover, the positions of the stars he was familiar with had changed. The Broken Spirit Realm wasn't on Earth. It was in a separate space on Venus.
After a while, his expression suddenly changed. He got up and walked into the depths of the forest. There was a hideous corpse hanging on a low shrub. The chest and abdomen of the corpse had been dug out. The shriveled face still had the expression before death. It was a mixture of fear, astonishment, pleading … all kinds of strange expressions mixed together.
The old man followed him. When he saw the corpse, his expression changed. He said solemnly, "The monster must have drained the corpse's blood essence."
"Monster?"
"Yes, it's a kind of monster that has mutated the Evil God's bloodline. They're invisible and very scary."
Lin Xiaolei and her two servants also walked over. She said in horror, "Didn't you say that the forest can defend against monsters?"
The old man said with a gloomy face, "Do you really think that the Broken Spirit Realm is a good place? People who come in here can die inexplicably at any time, including me."
The few of them scouted their surroundings and soon found several identical corpses.
The old man stopped in front of one of the corpses and said solemnly, "This person is called Hao Wei. He's an intermediate physique master. This won't do. We have to go to the shelter in Zhige Valley. Follow me." Then, he hurried into the depths of the forest.
Luo Kai hesitated for a moment before following him.
The forest was very big. They saw many corpses along the way. Roughly counting, there were at least a hundred corpses.
Half an hour later, they arrived at a concave valley. Dozens of people dressed in all kinds of clothes were sitting together. When they heard the commotion, they all looked over with fear. When they saw that it was a poor old man, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
A man in a short robe walked out and bowed. "Old Master An, did you see the corpses outside?"
The old man said solemnly, "They should be monsters. These things have been appearing more and more frequently recently."