Entering the Hall

The doors of the Barren Wood Main Hall were right before them.

Bai Ye's group and the Five Great Mercenary Groups arrived almost one after the other. Of course, the seven-man team arrived first, while the Five Great Mercenary Groups' larger force came after.

"Let's go."

After reaching shore, Du Long did not even have time to put away his Divine Control Boat before taking the lead and charging into the hall.

Since he wanted to lead, the others naturally did not compete with him. They followed behind him in single file, entering through the doors one after another.

The moment they stepped through the doors, the sight before them left everyone slightly stunned.

Before them was an endless forest. Even from midair, they could not see where the forest ended.

The contrast was truly interesting.

The ruins left behind by the Desert Wood Venerable were filled with thriving vegetation.

Meanwhile, the desert outside had become a sea of dead sand.

"It seems the teleportation locations are random."

Cai Xiao looked around as she spoke.

The interior of the Barren Wood Ruins was undoubtedly an independent space. The moment one crossed through those doors, they would be randomly teleported somewhere within it.

The time between the seven of them entering had been short, which was why they had gathered together.

"Where are we going?"

Meng Youran asked.

The Mustard Seed Bracelet on Du Long's wrist glimmered faintly, and a parchment map appeared in his hand.

"This is a map of the Barren Wood Ruins."

He spoke calmly without explaining where it had come from, and no one in the seven-man team asked.

As they had said before, everyone had their own secrets. If one wanted to keep their own secrets, the best way was not to pry into those of others.

Du Long unfolded the old-looking map. Its markings were rather rudimentary, but the important place names were clearly recorded.

He pointed to a marker on the map. "Shall we go here first?"

The others followed the direction of his finger. Three words were written there: Scripture Pavilion.

"Alright."

No one objected. Without this map, they might have wandered blindly through the ruins. Now that they had one, there was no harm in following it and searching through the places one by one.

With their destination decided, the seven of them stopped wasting words. They immediately circulated their spiritual energy and sped in that direction at full speed.

When it came to seizing opportunities, every second counted. Being one step late could mean brushing past an opportunity that should have been yours.

As they traveled, Bai Ye observed the surroundings.

This forest was made of real trees, not something formed from spiritual energy or produced by some special art. These were genuine trees, one after another.

The grass beneath their feet and the fragrant flowers nearby were real as well.

Compared to the sea of sand outside, this place was practically another world.

Was it because of this hall?

Was that why the spaces inside and outside the hall were so vastly different?

This was a ruin left behind by the Desert Wood Venerable. The forbidden art he cultivated was the Wildwood Sutra, so the core of the inheritance he had left behind was most likely this sinister forbidden technique.

The greatest problem with this forbidden art was that it uncontrollably absorbed the vitality of the surrounding plants. Wherever its cultivators passed, barren land would be left behind.

The Desert Wood Venerable had deliberately arranged his inheritance grounds this way. It was difficult not to imagine that this forest was a gift he had left for his successor—the first sacrifice for that successor after cultivating the Wildwood Sutra.

Following that line of thought, was it possible that...

"Once that successor inherits everything left behind by the Desert Wood Venerable, these ruins will disappear."

"What are you thinking about?"

That voice.

Fine. It was her again.

Cai Xiao naturally moved closer to Bai Ye. Her innately seductive voice softly sounded beside his ear, quiet enough that only the two of them could hear it. The other five showed no reaction at all.

Her completely unguarded manner made it seem as though last night's near-explosive confrontation had never happened.

"Want to know?"

Bai Ye answered indifferently.

"If you're willing to tell me."

"Then forget it."

He was not very willing.

"How about we exchange some information?" Through the Serpent Mask, Cai Xiao blinked her beautiful eyes at Bai Ye. "I always feel like you know quite a few things."

"Is that so?" Bai Ye turned to look at her. "But why do I feel like you know even more?"

This woman was far too mysterious. Among the seven-man team, she was the only one he could not quite see through.

"Exactly." Cai Xiao clasped her hands behind her back, her body lightly bobbing through the air. "That's why we need to exchange information even more. You know quite a bit, and I know even more. If we exchange information, won't we both know more?"

"That does sound rather reasonable."

Bai Ye nodded.

"Right?"

"But I still won't tell you."

"..."

Bai Ye glanced at her. "I don't want to exchange information with someone who eavesdrops on others."

As for last night, Bai Ye guessed that she had not deliberately followed him into Thousand Snake Supreme's tent. Still, setting aside the matter of following him, she had definitely been eavesdropping.

"That was just a coincidence." Cai Xiao smiled. "I was going to find Thousand Snake Supreme too. Since I happened to run into it, it would have felt like a waste not to listen."

"Heh."

Bai Ye gave a cold laugh and said nothing.

"Ahem." Cai Xiao coughed twice, trying to ease the awkwardness. "How about this? I'll tell you something I know that might interest you first. Then you can decide whether or not to exchange information with me."

Bai Ye fell silent and quietly waited for what Cai Xiao would say next.

Seeing this, Cai Xiao did not hesitate. "Someone with impure intentions has infiltrated our group."

"?"

Are you kidding me?

Bai Ye very much wanted to ask that.

Was there only one person with impure intentions in this group? Damn it, all seven of them had motives that were anything but pure.

Even Bai Ye himself was not sincerely following the group.

Cai Xiao's words almost made Bai Ye think she was referring to him.

"That's not what I mean by impure intentions." Cai Xiao immediately saw what Bai Ye was thinking. "In any case, you only need to know that his intentions are different from everyone else in these ruins—or rather, different from everyone in the entire Great Thousand World."

Bai Ye narrowed his eyes and stared at her for a moment.

Her words gave him the faint sense that he had guessed something. It felt as though he stood only a step away from the truth, as though one more step would let him touch the answer, yet he did not dare confirm it.

"Can you guarantee that what you said is true?"

"Of course. I'm confident in that."

Cai Xiao's certainty was completely undisguised.

Bai Ye withdrew his gaze and nodded. "I understand."

If it truly was as he had guessed, then this information was indeed extremely important.

"The key to opening the Barren Wood Ruins was originally in the hands of the Wood Spirit Clan, but something might have gone wrong, and the ruins were opened ahead of time."

An exchange of information.

"The Wood Spirit Clan?"

Cai Xiao was slightly taken aback. "Did those people come to join the excitement too? Then again, the Desert Wood Venerable seemed to have come from the Wood Spirit Clan."

"Oh, right." Bai Ye suddenly thought of something and lightly tapped the corner of his clothes with a finger. "You told me something like that—are you so certain I'm not the one with 'impure intentions'?"

"Heh. Although I haven't figured out who that person is yet," Cai Xiao said with a smile, "I don't think he would also be a prodigy headed to the Great Thousand Palace for the Trial."

Bai Ye's eyelid twitched.

Although she had guessed his identity, heading to the Great Thousand Palace for the Trial was indeed a natural shield. Someone with impure intentions would not dare do that.

"Did you prompt me to fire that arrow over the Demon Sand Sea just to confirm this?"

One arrow had killed a Seventh Grade Supreme. Combined with the fact that he had never deliberately concealed his age, someone of his age and strength traveling across the Desert Continent at this time had a nine out of ten chance of being a prodigy headed to the Great Thousand Palace for the Trial.

Mu Youze was probably the same.

Now, this Cai Xiao had used the word "also," openly revealing that she was one of the same travelers.

Heh, nicely done. She had cleared half the suspicion from herself right away.

"You saw through it and still acted, so that wasn't prompting." Cai Xiao spoke seriously. "You were simply going with the flow. At most, mine was just a reminder."

In other words, she had seen it too. Even without her reminder, Bai Ye would certainly have acted. It was merely a matter of sooner or later.

Bai Ye did not refute her.

Because she was right. He could not have watched Mu Youze die there. It was not because of some vague sense of camaraderie.

He was merely curious about what Mu Youze had gone to the Five Great Mercenary Groups' camp to do.

He had a feeling that fellow's purpose would be closely connected to the coming struggle for opportunities, which was why he had casually fired that arrow. It had been no effort at all.

Only...

"You really do observe things carefully."

Bai Ye spoke pointedly.

"Mm-hm."

Cai Xiao shrugged and offered no response.

The two had no further conversation. The information exchange they had mentioned was temporarily set aside, perhaps to continue only when one of them was willing to reveal more information first.

Their conversation did not affect the others. After racing onward all the way, the seven-man team quickly reached their destination.

"Looks like no one got here before us."

Du Long surveyed the surroundings before looking at the majestic hall before them.

The Scripture Pavilion contained all the spirit arts and divine techniques collected by the Desert Wood Venerable during his lifetime.

The accumulated wealth of an Earth Supreme was indeed worthy of being stored in an entire palace.

Mu Qingshan stood beside him and nodded. "Let's go in."

There were no signs that the doors had been opened, so they had to exert extra effort to push them apart.

Once the doors opened, everything within the Scripture Pavilion was laid bare before their eyes.

The hall was vast and boundless, stretching endlessly as far as the eye could see. Most astonishingly, there was another forest inside.

"Look at those fruits."

Meng Youran seemed to have discovered something. She pointed at the things on the trees that resembled fruit.

Everyone focused their gaze. They were actually clusters of glowing spheres.

"There's something inside."

Mu Youze spoke calmly.

Mu Qingshan circulated his spiritual energy, and one glowing sphere fell into his hand.

He squeezed it hard. The sphere shattered at once, and a scroll appeared before him.

"Wood Spirit Heaven Severing Skill. This is a Low Grade Divine Skill of the Wood Spirit Clan."

Mu Qingshan was extremely knowledgeable and recognized the origin of the divine skill at a glance.

"It seems these glowing spheres are the 'scriptures' stored in the Scripture Pavilion."

"So many..." Luo Shu could not help drawing in a cold breath as he looked at the flourishing forest. Every tree had at least thirteen or fourteen glowing spheres on it. Good heavens—if that was how they counted them, just how many items had the Desert Wood Venerable collected?

"This place contains not only divine arts and divine abilities, but also the most basic spirit arts. There are quite a few Mortal Grade Spirit Arts among them. Excluding those low-grade spirit arts, the number is still large, but not unreasonable."

Mu Qingshan explained.

"Let's split up and look for divine arts that suit us."

At that moment, Du Long spoke. However, perhaps fearing that the others would misunderstand, he hurriedly rubbed his bald head and added.

"Otherwise, traveling together through such a large forest would waste too much time. We still have other places to visit, and it wouldn't be good if we accidentally ran into people from the Five Great Mercenary Groups."

"Alright, then let's search separately."

Mu Qingshan nodded in agreement.

"Then I'll follow the boss." Luo Shu hurriedly raised his hand. "I don't feel safe by myself."

Du Long hesitated for a moment.

"Fine. If you're not afraid of wasting time, follow me."

"I'm not, I'm not. Boss, don't worry about me. Our Moon Spirit Sect has plenty of divine arts anyway. We don't care about this little bit."

Such was the lavish confidence of a disciple from a major power.

But aside from Luo Shu, no one else asked to form a team.

After exchanging brief greetings, the seven of them entered the forest from six different directions.

Bai Ye transformed into ice crystals and plunged into the forest. As he sensed the strength of the light spheres on the trees, he discovered that the deeper he went into the forest, the stronger the auras of the spirit arts became.

The outer region was mostly filled with spirit arts. Even the highest grade among them was merely Low Grade Divine Skill. If he wanted divine arts, he had to break through the outer region.

With that thought, Bai Ye closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his gilded gold eyes had turned silver-white.

He looked ahead, following the directions in which the Karma Threads extended.

At last, he found his direction.