CHAPTER 707: STONE FOREST

After leading the way for two hours, the Cultivator surnamed

After leading the way for two hours, the Cultivator surnamed Li changed to one surnamed Ye.

Although leading the way upfront wasn't particularly tiresome, it undoubtedly carried the greatest risk, so it was only fair to share the burden among everyone.

After Ye led for two hours, it was then Daoist Qin's turn, followed by Wang Hong and Bai Wushuang.

Although the two of them were newcomers to the secret realm, the three Soul Transformation Cultivators had no obligation to bear the risks for them.

Daoist Qin gave them a safe route map, which was already quite considerate.

Wang Hong compared this map with one he had previously purchased and found them to be similar, except Daoist Qin's was more detailed.

When it was Wang Hong's turn to lead, he also imitated the others by taking out a long stick and waving it ahead to probe the path.

Back in Fallen Fairy City, these wooden sticks were sold all over the streets, and he had seen many Cultivators buying them in bulk.

At that time, he didn't quite understand this behavior, but he went along and bought a few bundles himself, spending only a low-grade Spirit Stone in total. Now, he finally understood the benefits of these sticks.

They were cheap and practical. Just as he was thinking this, the stick in his hand suddenly snapped in half, startling everyone.

Wang Hong carefully observed ahead with his Divine Sense but found no clues, so he took out another stick to probe ahead.

When the stick broke again five feet in front of him, everyone placed their Divine Sense on the spot of the break and discovered a crack as fine as a spider's silk blocking their path.

"This is a newly appeared crack." After comparing it with the map, they confirmed that this location was supposed to be safe.

Newly appeared cracks like this were often more dangerous. Initially, they were extremely small and hard to detect, yet their danger was formidable, making them difficult to guard against.

Some larger spatial rifts were quite obvious, easily visible to the naked eye, and no one would foolishly run into them, making them relatively safer.

This was Wang Hong's first close encounter with a spatial rift. He then took out a black metal branch.

This was the iron branch from his Space, extraordinarily hard and perfect for testing the power of the spatial rift.

When this black branch extended towards the extremely fine spatial rift ahead, he only felt a slight obstruction in his hand before the metal branch snapped into two pieces, leaving a smooth cut.

Seeing Wang Hong using a black branch to probe the crack, Daoist Qin smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist Wang, there's no need to waste treasures like this. Spatial rifts are a force of Space laws, far beyond ordinary treasures' resistance. Even magic weapons are ineffective against them. Unless it's also a force of laws, it's impossible to resist the Space laws. Even if I, a Soul Transformation Cultivator, have great opportunities, I can only grasp a little understanding of the laws. How could I resist the Space laws?"

Unintentionally said, but intentionally heard, Daoist Qin's words made Wang Hong suddenly enlightened.

Using the laws of heaven and earth to counter the laws of heaven and earth might be difficult for others, but for Wang Hong, it wasn't that hard.

On the Jade Tree growing in his Space, there were innate Grand Dao Runes containing defensive aspects of the laws of heaven and earth.

However, now wasn't the time for him to test defensive laws. He took out several more wooden sticks and, along the crack, first probed its direction and length.

Since they had come along this safe passage, they surely had to continue forward; even if they returned to find another route, it wouldn't necessarily be safe.

After wasting dozens of sticks, Wang Hong finally explored the direction and shape of the spatial rift.

Then, still led by Wang Hong wielding a stick, they bypassed the spatial rift and resumed their original safe route.

The speed of their journey wasn't fast; it took them two days to successfully traverse the grassland.

At this point, all five of them remained in a safe area, taking a temporary rest.

All of them felt lingering fear about the grassland they had just passed through.

Especially for Wang Hong and Bai Wushuang, who were here for the first time, the feeling was even more pronounced. Even in this relatively safe area of the secret realm, dangers lurked everywhere, leaving them uncertain about the journey ahead.

However, none of them had any intention of backing down. Leaving aside the possibility of finding immortal fruit, just on the way here, they had encountered numerous rare Spiritual Herbs.

Many Spiritual Herbs grew by the side of their path, and spreading out their Divine Sense, they could see rare Spiritual Herbs growing all over the grassland.

Some of these Spiritual Herbs had reached ages of over a thousand years, yet no one bothered to pick them; everyone hurried past.

The obstruction of the spatial rift was only one aspect; the bigger reason was that there were better things inside the secret realm, and it wasn't worth wasting time here.

"The immortal fruit tree we discovered last time is just beyond this Stone Forest," Daoist Qin pointed out, indicating the Stone Forest ahead.

After leaving the grassland in the direction they were headed, they came upon a Stone Forest. Though called a Stone Forest, the stones inside were mostly broken and dilapidated.

It seemed as though they had been violently destroyed, with collapsed and shattered large rocks strewn about haphazardly.

Perhaps due to the spatial rifts, they had rarely seen tall trees along their journey, including in this Stone Forest, where there were hardly any decent trees.

Most of the trees had obviously been cut into several pieces by some spatial rifts.

"The spatial rifts in the Stone Forest are denser, especially with a type of movable spatial rift. Everyone needs to be extra careful," Daoist Qin warned.

After a brief rest, they set off towards the Stone Forest once again.

Perhaps the greater danger in the Stone Forest was why there were more various Spiritual Objects inside.

Of course, these Spiritual Objects mainly consisted of various Spiritual Herbs because they were renewable. Other non-renewable natural treasures had long been plundered over the years.

However, upon entering the Stone Forest, they found that the various Spiritual Herbs they discovered were only worth picking if they were valuable and relatively close.

With the Divine Sense of Soul Transformation Cultivators, they could easily detect Spiritual Herbs dozens of miles away.

But covering dozens of miles without a safe passage to pick a single Spiritual Herb would probably take up a month's time.

Right now, they were facing a Spiritual Herb a hundred feet away, preparing to pick it.

It was a Five Thousand-Year-old Golden Lotus Stone Flower, which liked to grow on rocks and could be used to refine many types of pills at the Soul Transformation stage.

Normally, a hundred feet was just a step away, but now they had to cautiously explore forward.

It took a full stick of incense's time before they finally reached the front of this Spiritual Herb and picked it.

No one opposed Wang Hong's final decision.[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and heartfelt thankyou for your support!]