freenovelworld Chapter 58 Dark Night Forest
Chapter 58 Dark Night Forest
As the team leader, Wu Di decided to spend the night in the village and explore the Dark Forest early the next morning. The other disciples naturally had no objections and followed the team leader's arrangements.
The disciples of the Sword Sect surveyed the village and settled down in an empty courtyard.
Some people went to help the survivors repair their houses; others, led by Wu Di, went to rearrange the village's barrier.
In truth, there weren't many villagers left in the village, so there was really no need for them to stay any longer. However, they absolutely refused to leave the village they had always lived in. Even if they eventually decided to evacuate everyone after their investigation, this barrier was still very necessary—after all, it served as a buffer zone between the Dark Forest and the human settlements.
Fortunately, no monsters attacked that night, and everyone got a good rest.
The next day at dawn, the disciples of the Sword Sect gathered at the village entrance and prepared to depart.
Wu Di explained the precautions to everyone. These were nothing more than being careful and cautious when exploring the forest, and never getting separated from others. All the disciples earnestly agreed.
As soon as everyone entered the Dark Forest, many of those with more sensitive bodies sensed something was wrong. They felt that even the air they breathed was uncomfortable.
Lin Zhifeng learned from the system that the air in this Dark Night Forest was filled with demonic energy, and those who entered should hold their breath to avoid inhaling it. Once this demonic energy entered the body, it was difficult to expel, and if it accumulated too much, it would erode the cultivator's body, and there was even a risk of demonization.
Lin Zhifeng didn't dare to delay and quickly told Wu Di about it.
Wu Di was a cautious person. Although he had some doubts, as the team leader, ensuring everyone's safety was his top priority. So he called out loudly, "Sword Sect disciples, pay attention! There may be demonic energy permeating this Dark Night Forest. Everyone, hold your breath and circulate your protective spiritual energy. Our mission this time is primarily reconnaissance; safety comes first. If we encounter any danger later, retreat immediately."
Upon hearing this, everyone quickly followed the instructions.
They carefully crossed the outer edge of the forest and ventured deeper into it, without encountering a single monster along the way.
Those who always disliked Lin Zhifeng and Lin Jun came up to Wu Di and said, "Senior Brother, I don't think this forest is dangerous at all! What's Lin Zhifeng's intention in exaggerating like that? We're constantly using spiritual energy to protect ourselves, which is depleting our spiritual energy very quickly. We can't breathe, so we need to circulate our spiritual energy to replenish it. Soon our spiritual energy will be exhausted, and we'll have to eat Initial Yuan Pills to replenish it. These Initial Yuan Pills are quite expensive. We can't compare to those second-generation cultivators who have deep pockets. We get our Initial Yuan Pills by saving every penny and doing hard work on missions. Every little bit helps, right?"
Lin Jun was the first to object upon hearing this: "Our little Lin is reminding everyone for everyone's own good, how can you be so ungrateful? If you're not willing to part with those pills, then just ignore it, what are you doing here chattering away?"
The disciple didn't dare to confront Lin Jun directly, so he just pursed his lips and remained silent.
Wu Di said, "The survivors in the village yesterday also mentioned that the monster that attacked the village was very different from usual; its eyes were still bloodshot. It seemed like a sign of demonic possession. Everyone should be careful and not let a small matter lead to a big loss."
Another disciple, a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, quietly took out a bead and said, "Everyone, listen to Senior Brother Wu Di! This bead is a family heirloom, an evil-repelling bead, which has now turned purplish-black. This is a sign that it has been tainted by demonic energy."
Everyone curiously crowded over to take a look, and sure enough, the bead looked dark purple, with a few wisps of black energy mixed in.
With the facts laid bare, no one will dare to ramble on about anything else.
They continued onward, and as they approached the heart of the forest, they began to spot traces of a few monsters.
This forest should have originally contained many small, weak monsters like rabbit and rat demons, but they haven't encountered a single one since they entered. They've mostly encountered wolf, bear, and lion/tiger demons.
Lin Zhifeng thought: The smaller demonic beasts were either corrupted by demonic energy and died because they couldn't withstand it, or they were devoured by the mutated larger demonic beasts. In either case, the situation in this forest is already very serious, and we probably need to find a way to seal it off.
The group worked together to kill a giant, berserk bear demon. Wu Di took out the demon's crystal core to examine it, and sure enough, the core had been contaminated, turning from its original white color to purplish-black.
Wu Di took out an empty storage bag and stored the bear demon's corpse and crystal core inside. Needless to say, this storage bag was now useless and could no longer be used to store anything else.
They continued to advance towards the center, everyone on high alert.
After killing dozens of monsters, the group finally arrived at the heart of the Dark Night Forest.
What came into view was a huge fissure. The fissure stretched for thousands of meters and was more than ten meters wide.
A blinding purple light shimmered beneath the fissure. Streams of demonic energy seeped outwards from the crevice. It seemed the demonic energy permeating the entire forest originated from here.
Wu Di pondered for a moment, then said to everyone, "I didn't expect such a large demonic rift to appear here. We must seal it immediately. This matter is of great importance, and I'm afraid we can't handle it. Zhang Yang, you lead ten disciples back to the sect immediately to report to the nine elders and request that they send reinforcements. The rest of you disciples, stay with me and guard this rift."
Zhang Yang agreed and quickly selected ten disciples with fast sword-flying speed, who flew to the Sword Sect to report the news without delay.
The remaining people were somewhat uncertain: the crack was currently only spreading demonic energy outwards, and with them holding their breath and protecting themselves with spiritual energy, they were relatively safe. Their real fear was that some demonic creatures might suddenly emerge from the crack; in that case, their Nascent Soul cultivation would be insufficient. After all, even their sect leader, with his Void Refinement Realm cultivation, had disappeared during the great war between the cultivation world and the demonic world.
While everyone was feeling uncertain and anxious, Lin Zhifeng had already completed the system's mission to explore the Dark Forest and received ten lucky points.
He checked and saw that he had just enough points to upgrade his Koi skill by one level. After upgrading, he would become an Intermediate Koi, with a luck rating of 40%.
In this eerie and terrifying dark forest, right next to the rift to the Demon Realm—the very Demon Realm that even my own father fell victim to! Enough said, leveling up and staying alive is the priority.
Lin Zhifeng clicked the upgrade button and looked at the interface that had changed to Intermediate Koi, feeling a little relieved.