Chapter Thirty: Nan Yun's Black Forest

  Ahh!

  With a clear and loud bird cry from high above, the beautiful large bird with its whole body seemingly having a raging flame came diving down from the clouds in the sky.

  Landing on the ground, two men and one woman flew down from above the firebird. The two men were both wearing white robes with a flowing cloud emblem embroidered on their chest.

  One of them had sword-like eyebrows and tiger-like eyes, with a slender yet slightly weak build. However, between his open eyes, there was a hint of lightning flashing within, and his body emitted an aura that burst forth like mountains and peaks, making no one dare to doubt his strength.

  Another man, however, had a dark complexion, which formed a stark contrast with his white robe. He had eight-shaped eyebrows, a small black beard, and small eyes that looked like soybeans, giving off a somewhat despicable appearance. Nevertheless, his strength was not to be underestimated. His muscles were as hard as steel, radiating a metallic luster, and the arm exposed outside of his white robe was knotted with muscles, resembling a rock!

  The woman, surrounded by two men like a moon among the stars, had a face as lovely as a peach blossom and was a stunning beauty of her generation. Her looks were even more captivating than those of Ling Shuiyan, but her eyes lacked the clarity of Ling's gaze. The eyes are the gateway to one's soul, and this woman's soul was far from being as pure as Ling's.

  But at this moment when Xiao Chen was observing these three powerful individuals, a disciple on the other side suddenly exclaimed.

  "It's the Flareon! It's a cool and handsome Pokémon... Flareon!"

  "Yes, it's really impressive. To be able to tame such a powerful demon beast as a mount, this demon beast can be equivalent to a warrior in the Tongxuan realm!"

  "These three senior brothers and sisters are all core disciples of the martial arts, what's the big deal about subduing a commander-level demon beast?"

  The crowd of disciples discussed it in a flurry, the woman with a face as beautiful as a peach blossom looked slightly annoyed and furrowed her brow, but didn't say anything and walked straight towards Xiao Chen.

  Xiao Chen was slightly stunned, no one had expected that this woman would ignore everyone else and walk towards Xiao Chen.

  "Give him to me." The woman with a face as lovely as a peach blossom said.

  Xiao Chen suddenly realized that it wasn't the woman who was looking for him, but rather because he was supporting the weak and frail Ma Tian Gang, that's why they were coming for Ma Tian Gang.

  At this moment, Xiao Chen handed Ma Tian Gang over to this woman.

  "You saved Master Ma, making a great contribution to the sect. Take this and have some fun." As she spoke, the woman flipped her hand, and a flying sword appeared in her hand, which she tossed to Xiao Chen.

  "Thank you, Sister," Xiao Chen thanked her, although this woman's eyes didn't have a hint of looking up to him, but he wouldn't reject something that was given to him for free.

  " Entrust Red Fairy, not to shame the mission..." Ma Tian Gang said weakly, only halfway through his sentence, because he was exhausted to the extreme, plus the crisis was lifted, and his spirit relaxed, he actually fell asleep.

  In the Yuncheng Sword Sect, core disciples have a higher status than ordinary elders, unless they are elders of the first hall, second department, and third chamber. Therefore, Ma Tiangang has to address them as "below".

  Ma Tian Gang's words were cut off as he fainted, causing Ying Hong Xian Zi's eyebrows to furrow. She then stretched out her slender hand and gently pushed against Ma Tian Gang's back, pouring a vast amount of true yuan into his body to repair his injuries...

  After a cup of tea's time, Ma Tiangang slowly woke up, and his spirit had become much stronger.

  "Where is the map?" asked the Red Fairy.

  "I've kept it with me all along." Ma Tian Gang said, pulling out a folded map from his bosom, which still had bloodstains on it, and handed it over to Ying Hong Xian Zi.

  "Protecting the treasure has merit, I will report it truthfully. Who knows, the sect might let you return and give you a comfortable position." The Red Dress Immortal took over the map, examined it briefly, and said with satisfaction.

  "Thank you for your kind words." Ma Tian Gang's face lit up with joy.

  "Let's go." The Red Fairy didn't say much, turned around and said a sentence to the two men, then jumped onto the Firebird, after which the Firebird let out a loud cry, flapped its wings, took off into the sky, stirring up a cloud of dust that made all the disciples wave their hands and cough repeatedly.

  "Awesome! This is what being a person should be like. Although we are just outer sect disciples, compared to Hong Xianzi, we're nothing but ants. Only by becoming someone like that can we truly stand out."

  "Yes, without mentioning their unfathomable strength, just using a phoenix as a mount is something we probably can't achieve in this lifetime!"

  “……”

  After Hong Xianzi and others left with the map, the disciples sighed, their eyes filled with envy. Xiao Chen, however, did not speak, at this moment, he somewhat understood why the Gui Pu would suddenly launch a full-scale attack on Huangshi Town.

  Xiao Chen guessed that it was probably because of that map, although he didn't know what the map represented, but apart from the map, there was no other suitable reason, even the attack on Yellowstone by unknown creatures and the task issued by the outer gate were all because of this map.

  At this point, Xiao Chen couldn't help but become even more curious. What was hidden on that map? And what's even stranger was why the core disciple didn't come to take the map earlier, and instead waited until now. If the core disciple had come earlier, probably many outer sect disciples wouldn't have died.

  If it's for the sake of giving outer sect disciples experience, then this experience is really a bit too much!

  However, with this, the task is now considered complete. The map has been successfully handed over to the core disciple, and from now on, anything that happens has nothing to do with the outer door disciples. Strength determines the depth of involvement.

  After staying in Huangshi Town for a day, cleaning up the filth in the city and sorting out the casualties, what made Xiao Chen feel at ease was that no one mentioned anything about the Youming poisonous smoke or Zhao Wumian's death. The whole thing was overshadowed by the sudden attack of the Gui Pu, to the point where even the fact that Xiao Chen had obtained Zhao Wumian's magic sword went unnoticed. This left Xiao Chen's carefully crafted lies unable to be put into use.

  On the second day, the disciples and Ma Tiangang bid farewell and rode the Soul Devouring Beast to leave Huangshi Town.

  Huangshi Town suffered heavy losses this time, and the city's guardians were almost wiped out. Now, including Ma Tiangang, there are less than a hundred people still alive. However, the sect will naturally arrange for personnel to come and guard the city.

  On the grassland, many disciples rode Soul Devouring Beasts, pulling out long earthen dragons, heading back to the Chuyun Sword Sect.

  Xiao Chen is also a member of the team. Now, only five people are left in the "Dinosaur Team": Yue Ling, Qian Ming, You Jian, Xu Jinming and Xiao Chen. Three have died.

  Many disciples drove the Soul Devouring Beasts rapidly back to the Yunchuan Sword Sect, but at this moment, Xiao Chen suddenly pulled tight the reins of his beast.

  "What's wrong? Xiao Chen, junior brother." Yue Ling looked at Xiao Chen stopping and also pulled the reins to ask.

  The other members of the "Dinosaur Squad" also stopped one after another, with disciples riding Soul-Devouring Beasts whizzing by their side.

  "I don't want to go back." Xiao Chen said directly in response to Yue Ling's inquiry.

  "Don't you want to go back? Why?" Qian Ming was puzzled by Xiao Chen's thoughts.

  Xiao Chen fell silent for a moment before speaking, "I don't want to go back like this. I'm different from you all because of my Starry Sky War Body. The sect hasn't made a decision on whether I should stay or leave yet. If I want to continue staying in the sect, I need to show off my cultivation talent this time when I return, satisfy the sect, and make them decide to keep me with one strike."

  Upon hearing this, everyone else understood and nodded in agreement. Yue Ling said: "Xiao Chen, don't worry, we'll accompany you through the trials!"

  "Right, we'll accompany you!" Yu Jian also said.

  "Xiao Chen, my junior brother, I advise you to go back. It's chaotic and dangerous outside..." But Qian Ming disagreed with Xiao Chen's idea.

  Xu Jinming also disagreed and expressed his unwillingness to go together.

  "No need to persuade me, I must go on this adventure because my situation is different from yours. Fellow disciples, please return and don't follow me on this adventure, you can go back to the sect and exchange contribution points for dan medicine to cultivate safely, thank you for your kind intentions."

  Xiao Chen's words revealed a resolute tone, and even nine-headed cows couldn't pull him back.

  "But now the situation is very dangerous, you are alone... " Yue Ling said worriedly: "No! If we go, I'll go with you!"

  You Jian patted Xiao Chen's shoulder and said, "We are good brothers, through thick and thin."

  Qian Ming heard this and shook his head, saying: "Alright then, since that's the case, I wish you all a smooth journey!"

  Then with Xu Jinming together urging on the Soul Devouring Beast, they galloped away, gradually getting farther and farther.

  "Xiao Chen, Shidi, now that we are on the same front line, where do you want to go?" Yue Ling asked.

  Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen pointed south towards the dense and dark primeval forest and said: "Nan Yun Hei Sen!"

  Yue Ling and You Jian's faces changed slightly, but they didn't say much. The three of them urged the Soul Devouring Beast to head towards the South Cloud Black Forest together.

  "Shooting Star Sister, are you sure you can find the Violet Flame Lotus in Nan Yun's Black Forest?!" Xiao Chen asked as they journeyed on.

  "Of course, I personally picked it in the Nan Yun Hei Sen forest back then!" Ye Liu Xing said with absolute certainty: "And under the vast sky, only Nan Yun Hei Sen grows the Zi Yan Huo Lian!"

  Xiao Chen also learned from 'Shenmo Zhi' that Nanyun Heisen grows purple flame lotus, a spiritual grass that absorbs the essence of the sun and moon, brews the fire of the universe, contains boundless energy, and swallowing one of its lotus seeds can increase a small boundary in the condensing spirit realm.

  Xiao Chen's determination to go to Nan Yun Hei Sen was entirely due to Ye Liu Xing's persuasion, coupled with Zi Yan Huo Lian's temptation.

  The Soul-Devouring Beast flew at incredible speed and finally arrived at the edge of Nan Yun's Black Forest. Although this primeval forest was not one of the top ten forbidden places on the Divine Demon Continent, it was also not a benevolent place. Here, hundreds of beasts were lurking, and evil spirits were rampant. On the other side of the Black Forest was the first evil demonic path in the Nan Chan Department, the main gate of the Great Magic Sect!

  "Go!" When they approached, even Xiao Chen hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he couldn't resist the temptation of the Violet Flame Lotus and urged the Soul Devouring Beast to enter it.

  Yue Ling and You Jian had previously agreed to go through thick and thin with Xiao Chen, so although they were shocked at heart, they followed Xiao Chen into the unknown.

  Nan Yun Hei Sen is a primitive vast forest, with ancient trees reaching for the sky and huge canopies resembling giant umbrellas that block out the sun, making the forest dark and gloomy.

  The old wisteria vine was twisted and knotted, its roots tangled in a mess. Spider webs were visible everywhere, with spiders that had grown to the size of a small child's fist, their bodies black and yellow stripes alternating.

  "This is a tiger spider, its venom can kill an old tiger!" Xiao Chen was familiar with the 'Shenmo Zhi' and had memorized it, so he recognized this kind of spider and didn't bother to provoke it.

  In his mind, Ye Xing pointed out the route to Xiao Chen, going to the place where the purple flame lotus grew - Starfall Abyss!