Sunset Forest
The journey from Star Luo City to Heaven Dou City is a full four thousand miles.
Although the carriage that Huo Yuhao hired looked very ordinary, the horses pulling it were not ordinary packhorses, but a kind of low-level Soul Beast that had been specially trained and was called the Wind-Chasing Steed.
This kind of Soul Beast horse is not tall, with strong and powerful limbs and an iron-gray mane. When it runs, its four hooves hardly touch the ground, but when it gallops, the carriage is as stable as sitting in your own living room.
The Wind-Chasing Steed is not aggressive, but its endurance and speed are renowned.
Even so, it took a full ten days before the majestic outline of Heaven Dou City's walls finally came into view.
After resting for a night in Heaven Dou City and washing away the dust of their journey, Huo Yuhao and Jin Li set off again at the crack of dawn the next morning.
This time, they did not hire a carriage, but walked through the somewhat deserted East City Gate of Heaven Dou City.
There were few pedestrians on the official road outside the city gate. The morning mist had not yet dissipated, and the air was filled with the fresh scent of grass, trees, and soil.
After walking a distance from the city gate, the two each deployed their Soul Guidance Flying Device on their backs, then soared into the sky and flew eastward.
After traveling no more than a hundred miles, a vast and boundless emerald green ocean appeared at the edge of their sight.
The forest stretched as far as the eye could see, its towering canopies undulating like emerald waves in the morning breeze, resembling a richly colored landscape painting from afar.
"This is Sunset Forest?"
The two hovered at the edge of the forest, with a clear dividing line between the forest and the open wilderness below.
One step forward leads to a dense, lush forest; one step back leads to overgrown weeds.
Jin Li looked down at the lush greenery below, her brows furrowing slightly involuntarily.
As Soul Beast, she was intimately familiar with the atmosphere of the forest.
As Emperor Auspicious Beast, it carries the destiny of the Soul Beast Clan and has an inexplicable and mysterious connection to the rise and fall of the Soul Beast race in the forest.
At this moment, in her perception, the aura of the Soul Beast in this Sunset Forest, which was by no means small, was extremely weak.
Huo Yuhao's Divine Power was incredibly strong. At the very moment Jin Li frowned, his Divine Power at the Spirit Domain Realm had already spread out like an invisible giant net towards the Sunset Forest below.
Wherever his Divine Power passed, every blade of grass, every tree, every insect, and every beast in the forest was imprinted in his mind. However, the information that returned to him made him frown slightly.
Logically speaking, a vast and densely vegetated primeval forest like Sunset Forest should contain a considerable number and high-ranking Soul Beast.
But at this moment, in his perception, the entire forest was eerily quiet.
Let alone Ten-thousand-year Soul Beast, there are very few even Thousand-year Soul Beast.
Only at the very edge of Sunset Forest can one still sense faint fluctuations from ten-year and Hundred-year Soul Beast.
A thought involuntarily arose in Huo Yuhao's mind: Could it be that excessive hunting by humans has led to the near extinction of the Soul Beast here?
He glanced at Jin Li beside him, whose expression was unusually serious, and said, "Fly inwards and see what's going on deeper inside."
Jin Li nodded, pursed her lips and said nothing. The two flew side by side towards the central area of Sunset Forest.
The deeper you fly, the denser the forest becomes. The canopies of towering ancient trees intertwine, cutting the sunlight into countless tiny spots that scatter on the ground, making the forest dim and deep.
However, after flying for a while, Jin Li suddenly stopped in mid-air.
She hovered in mid-air, her golden eyes fixed on the increasingly dark depths of the forest ahead, her voice carrying an unusual seriousness and gravity. "Something's not right here!"
"Normally, the deeper into the forest, the stronger the Soul Beast should be."
"But we've been flying for so long, and we're already deep down here. The most we've sensed are a few Thousand-year Soul Beast, not even a single Ten-thousand-year Soul Beast."
When it comes to Soul Beast, Jin Li seems to transform completely.
Finally, she slowly raised her hand and pointed in a direction deep within the Sunset Forest: "I sensed a threat in that direction."
"Perhaps it is because of the anomaly there that there are so few Soul Beast in this forest."
Huo Yuhao didn't speak, but he had already accepted Jin Li's judgment.
He had just been speculating that the sharp decline in Soul Beast in Sunset Forest was due to excessive hunting by human Soul Master, but now it seems that speculation can be overturned.
The moment Jin Li finished speaking, an excited voice suddenly rang out from within Huo Yuhao's Spirit Sea.
"This is it! This is it!"
"I can smell it! It's the scent of the Jade Phosphorus Seven-Absolute Flower, there's no mistake!"
This is the sound of the Aromatic Silk Beauty.
Huo Yuhao's reason for traveling a long distance to Heaven Dou City was not to see the scenery; his goal from the beginning was the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
He learned from ten thousand years later that the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was located around Heaven Dou City. After extensive inquiries and repeated comparisons with records in ancient books, he finally narrowed down the search area to Sunset Forest.
The reaction of the Aromatic Silk Beauty is the most powerful proof that this king of Immortal Herb, who emerged from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, would never mistake the way home.
"Although we are still some distance from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, I can already sense the thin layer of poisonous gas in the air."
"That's the aura emanating from the Jade Phosphorus Seven-Absolute Flower. This Poison Array was personally set up by the Sea God Tang San around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well."
Back then, Tang San planted the Jade Phosphorus Seven-Absolute Flower around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, forming a Poison Array that covered the entire valley, supposedly to protect these immortal Immortal Herb from being stolen and dug up by greedy outsiders.
At that time, the immortal Immortal Herb in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well were inexperienced in the ways of the world, their minds as pure as a blank sheet of paper, and they had no idea about the complicated thoughts of humans.
Therefore, they believed everything Tang San said, and were not only grateful for it, but also obediently held onto the <Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record> left by Tang San, waiting for the "destined person" to come and accept the test.
They didn't even consider what the <Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record> actually was; it was clearly a guide to consuming Immortal Herb!
However, ten thousand years later, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well came under the control of the Tang Sect. After witnessing how generations of the Tang Sect disciples skillfully used the knowledge in the <Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record> to harvest Immortal Herb, Immortal Herb immortal herbs were finally awakened from this ten-thousand-year-long dream.
They finally understood that the Jade Phosphorus Seven Absolute Poison Array was not only for those outside the Tang Sect, but also a prison for them.
Therefore, when Aromatic Silk Beauty mentions Tang San's name now, there is no longer a trace of respect in her tone.
Huo Yuhao withdrew his gaze from the depths of the distant forest and turned to look at Jin Li, who stood beside him with a serious expression. "Come with me."
Then, guided by the Aromatic Silk Beauty in the Spirit Sea, Huo Yuhao followed the poisonous gas in the air and flew straight towards the location of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
After traveling nearly 10,000 meters, Jin Li suddenly reached out and grabbed Huo Yuhao's arm with considerable force, pulling them both to a stop in mid-air.
Huo Yuhao turned to look at her, only to find that Jin Li wasn't looking at him at all, but staring straight ahead, her handsome face filled with unprecedented seriousness and solemnity.
She narrowed her golden eyes slightly, and her nostrils twitched slightly.
After a moment, she said in a low voice, "I know, it's poison."
"There should be an extremely potent poisonous gas ahead; the deeper we go, the higher the concentration of the gas becomes."
"It is this poisonous gas that makes the Soul Beast increasingly scarce the closer one gets to the heart of the forest."
To Jin Li's surprise, Huo Yuhao showed no surprise at all after hearing her assessment.
Instead, he gave a faint smile and said two words: "I know."
Then, Huo Yuhao stared directly into her clear eyes and asked softly, "Do you trust me?"
Jin Li nodded without hesitation.
She was Soul Beast, Huo Yuhao was a human. Logically speaking, humans and beasts are different, and the word "trust" should not be given lightly.
But after spending so much time with Huo Yuhao, I can tell he's a trustworthy person.
This was not only her own feeling, but also a guidance from fate.
Huo Yuhao looked at the undisguised trust in her golden eyes and said nothing more.
He smiled, then naturally took Jin Li's small hand and flew forward.
Jin Li felt the warm touch from his palm, paused slightly, but did not struggle, letting him lead her forward.
Even after a short while, when the dense, poisonous miasma in front of her had completely transformed into a thick, tangible sea of fog, she still did not retreat an inch.