Chapter 4240 — The Eastern Continent's Yellow-Rank Academy
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"The Rufeng Forest! Group expedition to the Rufeng Forest—we've got seasoned guides, guaranteed to bring back a haul so big you'll need both arms to carry it. Sign up now if you're interested!"
"Golden Core Great Perfection experts forming a team! Safety absolutely guaranteed—anyone bound for the Rufeng Forest, come quickly!"
"Still room for one more in our Rufeng Forest group—we're just short of a single person, leaving right away. Hurry, hurry!"
All around, the same ceaseless cries rang out. Wei Zhao swept his gaze across the crowd. Most of these people were Golden Core cultivators, though there were a few in the Foundation Establishment stage as well—at the very least, late-stage Foundation Establishment or Great Perfection—while of Nascent Soul cultivators, he did not see a single one.
Naturally, with the sheer drawing power a Nascent Soul cultivator commanded, wherever they might be, if they truly wished to form a team, a single shout would summon a crowd beyond counting—likely enough to fill every slot on the spot. They would never need to hawk for recruits as strenuously as the people before him.
What struck both Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao as most peculiar, however, was that every one of these cries, as if by prior agreement, mentioned the same place: the Rufeng Forest.
What did all these people want in this so-called Rufeng Forest? Could it be that the reason so many had gathered in Zhenduan City was precisely for this Rufeng Forest?
Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao were utterly baffled. After glancing around, they picked one of the men hawking his services by the roadside.
"Brother, might I ask—what exactly is it you all intend to do, forming teams to go to the Rufeng Forest? Why is everyone headed there?" The man Wei Zhao had chosen was a blue-robed fellow of the mid Golden Core stage, whose appearance and bearing seemed amiable enough that he should prove easy to talk to.
"No way—you actually don't know?" The blue-robed man stared at Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao as though they were some rare freak, his face a mask of disbelief. The corner of his mouth twitching, he said, "Even if you two are cultivators from out of town, coming to Zhenduan City at this particular time—aren't you here to adventure in the Rufeng Forest?"
"We only ended up here by accident, so we know nothing at all about it. Could you tell us, brother, why so many people are heading to this Rufeng Forest?" Wei Zhao asked curiously.
"Very well, then, I'll fill you in." Seeing that the two were, as best he could tell, early Golden Core cultivators—and therefore potential recruits for a team—the blue-robed man patiently explained, "Have you ever heard of the Rufeng Forest? It's a primeval forest bordering the Southern Isle, and like the rest of the Southern Isle, it's shrouded in miasma the year round. It seldom disperses, and we human cultivators cannot enter. However high one's cultivation, force your way in and you won't come out again—nine and a half out of ten die in there."
Wei Zhao nodded. Before setting out from Wei Arc City, he had heard Qi Wenmo speak of the savagery of the miasma: unless one was a great cultivator of the Nascent Soul stage or above, this thing simply could not be withstood by an ordinary human cultivator. No matter how strong you were, you could not hold out—after all, even protective true qi, if used continuously, must eventually run dry.
Of course, Wei Zhao had no fear of his true qi running out. And in the mortal world he was immune to a hundred poisons besides. The problem was that the poisons of the Cloud-Tier Isle were another matter—he had no confidence there at all. The Immortal's Draught from before was proof enough! Whether the miasma would prove a problem for him was truly hard to say. What was more, the miasma could drastically shrink one's range of perception, and in a dense forest teeming with peril, that was utterly deadly. One misstep, and it could all be over.