Xu Qing was not unfamiliar with the night in the forbidden zone.
Whether it was the ruins of the city or this forest.
He had lived in the former for more than ten days, and he had experienced several nights in the latter.
At this moment, he was hiding in the crevice of a giant tree. His eyes were half-closed, and he was quietly breathing in the dense and foreign spiritual power in the forbidden zone.
After the spiritual power entered his body, it was separated by the Sea and Mountain Art. The pure part nourished his body, and the foreign part merged into the shadow.
Xu Qing was already used to this change.
He even had a vague feeling that cultivating in this forbidden zone might be because of the shadow, or because this place was dangerous, and he had to be vigilant at all times.
Under high concentration, the speed of his cultivation also increased a lot.
Now, he was not far from the fourth level of the Sea and Mountain Art.
"It's like sharpening a knife …" Xu Qing muttered.
He did not know any great principles, but he remembered that the blacksmith in the slums once said that a good knife needed a better whetstone to fully reveal its sharpness.
At this moment, the dangerous forbidden zone seemed to have become Xu Qing's whetstone.
After a long time in this honing cultivation, Xu Qing, who had finished a cycle, silently opened his eyes.
He raised his head and stared at the darkness of the night outside through the crevice of the tree. At night in the forbidden zone, the roars of exotic beasts rose and fell in the distance, echoing in the forest like the whispers of gods and demons.
The gloomy coldness was everywhere, invading all living things here. It also drilled into the crevice of the tree where Xu Qing was hiding and spread over his body.
It was very cold.
This scene made him feel as if he had returned to the ruined city. Slowly, a wisp of loneliness spread over his body.
However, Xu Qing was already very familiar with loneliness.
After a long while, he closed his eyes again and continued to cultivate.
Just like that, time passed.
Because he found the right place to rest, this night was considered safe. Only in the middle of the night did Xu Qing, who was cultivating, hear footsteps from the outside world.
It was very messy, as if many people were walking in a line.
Xu Qing's expression was slightly serious. He narrowed his eyes and looked outside, but there was nothing but darkness outside the crevice of the tree.
However, Xu Qing's heart suddenly sank because the moment the footsteps sounded, the roars of the exotic beasts in the nearby forest suddenly disappeared. This made Xu Qing suddenly increase his vigilance.
He remembered the singing footsteps he encountered last time, but this time, it gave him a different feeling.
"It doesn't seem to be the footsteps of the singing that day, and there was no singing either."
Xu Qing quickly analyzed the situation. He didn't act rashly. Instead, he forced himself to calm down. He held his breath and stared at the dark night outside.
Gradually, the sound of footsteps became clearer and clearer, as if a group of people were lining up and approaching.
At the same time, waves of coldness that exceeded the scope of Yin and Yang, as if it could freeze one's body, violently attacked at this moment.
Xu Qing was no stranger to this sort of cold. Whether it was the song from that day or those strange existences that appeared at night in the ruins of the city, they all emitted this sort of temperature.
However, the degree of the song was different. Back then, the song had been able to freeze his soul. But now, the coldness only made his body feel uncomfortable. It hadn't reached the point where he couldn't move.
"It's something similar to the strange ruins!"
After coming to this conclusion, Xu Qing gripped the metal skewer tightly, took a deep breath, and suppressed the fluctuations in his heart. He forced himself to close his eyes, not opening them.
Do not look, do not touch, do not encounter.
After Xu Qing closed his eyes, the sound of footsteps suddenly became hurried, getting closer and closer, as if countless people were circling the tree he was in.
Xu Qing's mind shook. He forced himself to restrain the impulse to open his eyes and see just what these people were like.
After a long time … when the sun rose in the skies, the chaotic sound of footsteps finally stopped and slowly faded away.
The sky had brightened.
Xu Qing didn't immediately open his eyes. He waited for a moment before slowly opening them. He saw that the crack in the tree he was in was covered in a thick layer of ice, and his entire body was sealed in ice.
Through the layer of ice, sunlight sprinkled onto Xu Qing's body. He let out a deep breath and pressed his left hand against the ice. With a fierce push, the ice shattered and fell to the ground.
Xu Qing slowly crawled out. He first observed his surroundings. He saw that the wolf corpses that had been there yesterday had all disappeared. And on the ground … there were a massive number of footprints.
These were human footprints.
They were densely packed together, as if hundreds of people had walked past.
But, Xu Qing had never heard of hundreds of people entering the forbidden zone at the same time.
In particular … these footprints were really footprints and not shoe prints.
Xu Qing was silent. After a long time, he looked away. He had a much deeper understanding of the strangeness of the forbidden zone. Taking advantage of the light of day, when the dangers of the forbidden zone were less than at night, Xu Qing didn't give up on exploring.
Several hours later, Xu Qing finally arrived at the furthest place they had gone last time, the small canyon where the Thunder Squad had picked the seven leaf grass.
The canyon was the same as when they had left. Sunlight sprinkled down from the canopy of vines and trees. The fragrance of flowers filled the air, isolating them from the dangers of the outside world. It was like a paradise.
After arriving here, Xu Qing let out a sigh of relief. He looked up at the other end of the canyon, towards the temple complex in the distance.
After staring for a moment, Xu Qing looked away. After a simple rest, he rushed towards the temple complex.
The forest outside the canyon was even more lush and the sunlight was even less here.
It was unknown whether or not it was because the ancient temple complex still exuded the glory and pressure of their era, but as he approached the canyon, there was much less danger.
The lush forest also seemed to have a much gentler aura.
In fact, the forest closest to the temple complex didn't seem much different from the trees Xu Qing saw outside. They were no longer sinister or pitch black.
Some of the seven leaf grass here had been picked by Xu Qing.
All of this left Xu Qing a bit surprised, but he didn't let down his guard. He carefully approached.
Another two hours passed. As dusk approached, he walked out of the forest and arrived in front of the temple complex.
There were very few trees here. Sunlight sprinkled down, causing Xu Qing's eyes to blur.
What entered his eyes were huge domed buildings that were hundreds of feet tall.
Even though they were collapsed, even though they were broken, even though they were covered in moss, the temple complex was filled with piles of stone that were even larger than his body. It was filled with a vast and boundless feeling.
As Xu Qing walked in and stepped on the broken bricks, he felt as if he had arrived in a kingdom of giants.
Ruins could be seen everywhere, each one exuding an ancient aura of time, as if they were telling Xu Qing about their experiences.
Further in front of him was a collapsed statue.
The lower half of the statue was gone, transformed into countless fragments that were difficult to piece together. The head could be considered complete, but its appearance was blurry.
Even so, it was still over 300 feet tall. It could be imagined that before it collapsed, it was at least 200 feet tall.
Standing in front of it, Xu Qing's existence was unremarkable.
At this moment, a wind blew by. It was like the sound of a flute, bleak and desolate. It seemed to separate time and space, leaving behind only the gazes of future generations.
Xu Qing calmly looked at the statue for a long time.
He thought back to the ruins of the city outside the slums. He wondered if, after many years, the people of that era would be like him now, carefully entering the forbidden zone and looking at the city as if they were looking at history.
After a long time, Xu Qing looked away. He searched the temple complex, but he didn't find the special stone that Lei Dui spoke of.
When he came to his residence, he had already asked around. This special stone emitted a rainbow-colored light.
It seemed to grow naturally, and there was no pattern to its appearance.
After searching for nothing, Xu Qing felt a bit of regret. He leapt up and arrived at the top of a temple. Standing there, he looked around.
Behind him was the outer region of the forbidden zone's jungle. Although he couldn't see the end, he could still see part of it. Calculating the time, today was the fourth day that the bone saber that bought insurance from him had spoken of.
Yesterday, Xu Qing hadn't seen any fog in the jungle, and there was no fog today either. Thus, he didn't need to go and save him.
Thus, he turned his head to look in another direction of the temple complex. That place … was the depths of the forbidden zone's jungle.
After a moment of thought, Xu Qing looked up and noticed that it was getting late. He prepared to explore a small area deep in the jungle and return before nightfall. He would rest here tonight and return early tomorrow morning.
With a plan in mind, Xu Qing immediately moved. He jumped down from the temple and headed deeper in.
The moment he stepped into the depths of the jungle, his nerves tensed. He became even more vigilant and cautious.
This was because he knew that the degree of danger here was far greater than the periphery.
In fact, this was true. After only an hour, Xu Qing's figure reappeared in the vicinity of the temple complex.
His complexion was gloomy and there was a lingering fear in his eyes.
But the leather bag was bulging, as if it had been filled to the brim.
Before, he had only walked less than a mile and he had already seen many aged seven leaf grasses that hadn't been picked for a long time. This pleasantly surprised Xu Qing, because these aged seven leaf grasses were very valuable.
But as he picked them, he could clearly feel the density of the strange substance increase. If it weren't for his shadow being able to absorb it, it would have been difficult for anyone else to take a single step forward.
Moreover, in the distance, he also saw the strange jellyfish that he had seen in the forbidden zone …
And there were more than ten of these jellyfish here. They were much smaller, but the cold and gloomy aura they exuded was obvious.
Luckily, most of these jellyfish were slumbering in the trees. After Xu Qing saw them, he carefully avoided them.
But as he moved forward, he had a strong feeling that in the depths of the jungle, there were countless gazes filled with greed that fell upon him from an unknown direction.
All of this caused Xu Qing to feel a prickle in his back.
And this was only the edge of the forbidden zone's depths. The area inside was even larger, and it was impossible to imagine just how terrifying it was.
Xu Qing didn't dare to continue. He retreated without any danger.
It wasn't until he retreated to the vicinity of the temple that the prickle in his back dissipated.
It was as if the temple was a boundary that prevented the malice from coming from the depths of the forbidden zone.
Xu Qing took a deep breath. Taking advantage of the setting sun that was about to set, he found a barely intact temple and stepped inside.
He found a crack in the rocks and prepared to spend the night.
Captain Lei had said that this place could allow him to temporarily avoid danger.
He had also inspected the temple. It was very spacious and gave off a strong feeling of the passage of time. Whether it was the saber-wielding stone statue enshrined in the main seat or the many statues carved on the surrounding walls, they had all become blurry in the sands of time.
At the same time, there weren't many strange beast excrements or traces in the temple.
If there were none or a lot of them, Xu Qing wouldn't have chosen either.
Because this wasn't normal, only if there were traces but not many of them would it be relatively safe.
After all, although the temple was in the jungle, there were very few trees here. So, it was reasonable that strange beasts that were used to living in the jungle didn't come here often.
Soon, night arrived.
As the roars of the outside world appeared, Xu Qing silently breathed in and out.
Time passed. Just as he had judged, there were very few strange beasts in the temple at night. Although the roars were still there, they mostly came from far away.
But just like yesterday, when Xu Qing breathed in and out until midnight, the strange and chaotic sound of footsteps appeared once more!
This time, it appeared outside the temple.
"Again?"
Xu Qing frowned. He didn't know why the sound of footsteps had appeared where he was twice. He felt a bit uneasy. After thinking about it, he did as he did yesterday and didn't open his eyes.
But this time, the sound of footsteps didn't fade away like yesterday. Instead, there were more and more of them.
As they constantly gathered, a cold and gloomy feeling filled the air. It was as if countless strange creatures had gathered outside the temple and were about to invade it.
Xu Qing's heart sank. He gripped his iron skewer and his mind rapidly began to construct the environment of the temple as well as how to deal with any danger he encountered.
And at this time, the sound of footsteps gathering outside suddenly vanished. It became incomparably silent.
Not only did this silence not allow Xu Qing to breathe a sigh of relief, it made him feel as if a storm was about to arrive. All the hairs on his body stood on end. He could faintly feel that the strange creatures gathering outside the temple seemed to be hesitating whether or not to enter.
In the next moment, in this silence, the strange creatures outside finally chose to step into the temple. Xu Qing heard the sound of footsteps stepping on the stone tiles inside the temple.
Pa.
This sound was like a boulder that fell into Xu Qing's mind, causing his heart to sink. But at this moment, murmurs suddenly echoed within the temple, bringing with them an incomparable holiness.
There were even strands of golden light that suddenly scattered from the temple walls, illuminating the entire temple. It also filled Xu Qing's area, causing the world under his eyelids to immediately shine with light from its original pitch-black darkness.
And under this golden light, Xu Qing's eyes stung. For the first time, he opened his eyes when he encountered such a strange creature.
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A new book has been released for a week and nearly 90,000 words have been updated. This amount is not easy for a little newbie … Should everyone give him some encouragement?