Chen Yan withdrew his hand as if he had only done something insignificant, and turned to look at them.
Let's go.
The calm voice startled them from their dazed state.
Zhou Zheng jolted awake, his eyes filled with awe and even a hint of barely perceptible fear as he looked at Chen Yan.
He quickly bowed and said, "Yes, senior!"
The other three team members also seemed to wake up from a dream, and quickly followed suit with a bow, their movements as stiff as marionettes.
The group left the deadly place without lingering and headed deep into the Painting Saint Mountain.
The atmosphere was terribly oppressive throughout the journey.
The four members of the Broken Eagle Squad followed behind Chen Yan and Bai Lingshuang, not daring to even breathe loudly.
They would steal glances at Chen Yan's back every now and then; in their eyes, the boy's figure was more terrifying than any ferocious beast in the mountains.
Upon entering the first mountain range of Painting Saint Mountain, the forests become increasingly dense, with ancient vines coiling around like dragons and snakes.
The air was filled with the smell of decaying vegetation and earth, occasionally punctuated by the low growls of unknown wild beasts.
"Your injuries are quite serious, let's treat them first."
Chen Yan suddenly stopped.
He stretched out his hand, and a soft, emerald-green halo appeared in his palm, full of vibrant life.
With a casual wave of his hand, three beams of green light entered the bodies of the three seriously injured team members.
The three of them shuddered, feeling a warm current instantly spread throughout their bodies. The deep wounds on their bodies, which exposed bone, began to wriggle and heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The torn flesh healed itself, and the shattered bones made a soft "crackling" sound as they quickly rejoined.
In just a few breaths, their injuries were mostly healed, and their depleted True Essence was also largely restored.
The three looked at each other, their faces filled with astonishment.
What kind of technique is this? It's hundreds of times more effective than the best healing pills they have!
Finally, Chen Yan's gaze fell on Captain Zhou Zheng's empty left sleeve.
Zhou Zheng's heart tightened, and he quickly spoke, his tone becoming even more respectful. "No need for you to trouble yourself, senior! This arm will regenerate once I return to the base and exchange my military merits for a ' Small Creation Pill '."
The Small Creation Pill, a priceless treasure in the Military Department treasury, is enough to bankrupt a Grandmaster.
He made it sound so easy, but everyone knows how difficult it was.
"Try it and you'll see."
Without saying much, Chen Yan placed his palm directly on Zhou Zheng's severed arm wound.
A rich life force surged in, and at the same time, a faint, almost imperceptible golden aura quietly seeped in as well.
Indestructible Internal Breath.
Zhou Zheng felt an indescribable tingling and warmth coming from his shoulder, as if countless ants were crawling and gnawing at his flesh.
He looked down, and the next moment, his pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints.
On the smooth surface of his wound, crimson granulation tissue broke through the scab and began to grow, extend, and intertwine wildly!
They are like living vines, twining and shaping at an unimaginable speed.
First the bones, then the meridians, then the flesh and blood...
To everyone's astonishment, a brand new arm rapidly took shape from nothing.
At first, it looked like a smooth white dough ball, without any skin texture, which seemed a bit strange.
But soon, the skin began to regain its color, and nails slowly grew from the fingertips, becoming no different from those of a normal person.
Zhou Zheng subconsciously moved his fingers, his five fingers opening and closing flexibly, conveying an incredibly realistic tactile sensation.
His... his arm really did grow back!
Moreover, he could feel that this new arm, in terms of both strength and the resilience of its meridians, was far superior to the one before!
"This... this..." Zhou Zheng stammered, his mind blank.
He can annihilate hundreds of powerful enemies with a flick of his finger, and regenerate severed limbs with a turn of his hand.
What kind of extraordinary means are these!
He had originally thought this senior was an unparalleled expert specializing in killing, but he never expected that he would also have such incredible skill in healing!
A storm raged in Zhou Zheng's heart, and an idea popped into his head uncontrollably.
No wonder... no wonder he dared to venture into this perilous world of Rift with only a young girl in his arms.
With such strength, where can't one go?
He took a deep breath, knelt down on one knee solemnly before Chen Yan, and performed the most solemn salute in the Military Department.
"I will never forget your kindness in saving Zhou Zheng!"
"Get up." Chen Yan withdrew his hand, his expression unchanged.
For him, this was indeed just an experiment.
The combination of the Life Law and the Indestructible Internal Breath had an even better effect than he had anticipated.
Let's delve deeper.
After passing through the first mountain range, the view ahead suddenly opened up.
This is the second mountain.
The mountain is steep, with jagged rocks and sparse vegetation, replaced by a kind of dark red, hard rock.
The smell of sulfur in the air was stronger, and the temperature had risen considerably.
Upon entering this area, Zhou Zheng and his companions immediately tensed up and gripped their weapons tightly.
"Senior, be careful! This is the territory of mid-level ferocious beasts, and even high-level ones roam here. They have an extremely strong sense of territory. We lost two companions here last time..."
Zhou Zheng hadn't finished speaking.
"Roar--!"
A deafening roar came from a huge rock Rift on the left.
A massive black tiger, as large as a heavy truck, suddenly poked its head out. Its body was covered in obsidian-like scales, and its lantern-sized eyes burned with a savage, ferocious light as it locked onto the group of people who had intruded into its territory.
A sixth-tier peak ferocious beast, the Black Armor Demon Tiger!
Zhou Zheng's expression changed, and he was about to remind everyone to form a defensive formation.
The Black Armor Demon Tiger seemed to have suddenly seen something extremely terrifying. Its massive body stiffened abruptly, and the savagery in its eyes was instantly replaced by boundless fear.
It let out a short, mournful cry, like a startled cat, and its huge head swooped back into the depths of the Rift, not daring to let out a single breath.
Zhou Zheng: "..."
The other three team members. "..."
They looked at each other, both seeing the confusion in each other's eyes.
Is this still the same Black Armor Demon Tiger that chased them relentlessly, leaving them with nowhere to run? How did it become so cowardly?
Chen Yan didn't even glance in that direction and continued walking forward.
Bai Lingshuang followed behind him, a faint smile playing on her lips.
Zhou Zheng and the others were stunned for a moment, then quickly followed.
What happened next completely shattered their worldview.
Along the way, they sensed the aura of more than one powerful ferocious beast.
The seven-tiered ferocious beast " Three-Headed Water Python," which lurked deep in the mountain stream, immediately sank to the bottom the moment they approached, not daring to even make a ripple.
The flock of " Red Feather Fire Eagle " that inhabit the cliffs would shriek and flap their wings to fly away as soon as they saw them in the distance, as if they had encountered a natural enemy.
They even passed by the lair of a seventh-tier peak ferocious beast, the Earth-Splitting Bear, who was feeding. The grumpy bear merely glanced at them, let out a whimper, dropped its prey, and scrambled back to the deepest part of the cave, trembling with fear.
All beasts submit, and all evil spirits shun.
Zhou Zheng and the others had become numb.
They finally understood why their senior had remained so calm throughout.
Faced with such absolute power, what difference is there between these so-called ferocious beasts and the stray cats and dogs on the street?
This is no longer an adventure; it's more like taking a walk in your own backyard.
Zhou Zheng gazed at the composed figure ahead, the last trace of doubt and fear in his heart vanished, replaced by boundless reverence and fervor.
With such a strong leader by your side, how can you not achieve great things?
Beyond the second mountain range lay a desolate, gray plain.
Not a blade of grass grows; black sand covers the earth, and a musty smell permeates the air, as if an ancient tomb sealed for thousands of years has been suddenly opened.
At the edge of the terrain stands Triple Mountain, its body a strange bluish-black, its outline appearing particularly rugged in the thin air, like a crouching ancient Beast.
"Senior, ahead... is the forbidden area of Painting Saint Mountain."
Zhou Zheng's voice was somewhat hoarse. He looked at the dark blue mountain range, and a hint of fear unconsciously showed in his eyes.
Last time, their team suffered heavy losses here and barely escaped with their lives.
The danger there has nothing to do with ferocious beasts.
It's a more bizarre and incomprehensible kind of horror.
Chen Yan did not stop and walked straight towards the forbidden area.
Zhou Zheng and the others exchanged glances, gritted their teeth, and immediately followed.
Following in the footsteps of this unfathomable senior is now their only way to survive.
Stepping onto the dark blue-green rock, an inexplicable pressure descended upon me.
Unlike the oppressive aura of a ferocious beast, or the locking effect of a master's aura, this pressure is intangible and intangible, directly affecting one's mind and spirit, causing inexplicable irritability and oppression.
Zhou Zheng's teammates' expressions changed slightly. They quickly circulated their True Essence and focused their minds, only then did they feel a little better.
They were horrified to discover that simply standing there caused their True Essence to drain away at an abnormally high rate.
"The spatial laws here are very chaotic." Bai Lingshuang walked beside Chen Yan, her red eyes scanning the surroundings, and spoke softly.
She has a special constitution and is exceptionally sensitive to changes in the primordial energy of heaven and earth.
"Not only that." Chen Yan's gaze fell on a strangely shaped rock in the distance. "There's still time."
The rock was half smooth and new, while the other half was riddled with weathered holes, as if it had experienced two completely different periods of time in the same location.
Zhou Zheng was completely bewildered; he couldn't understand anything about space or time.
But he knew this place was definitely not a safe haven.
"Senior, last time we came in, one of our brothers just glanced at a stone by the roadside, and suddenly he turned into a dried-up corpse, as if all his life force had been drained out," Zhou Zheng said with lingering fear.
Another team member added, "There was another one who, while walking, suddenly started to twist and fold uncontrollably, and finally... in the end, he turned into a lump of flesh that was indistinguishable from anything else."
That horrific way of dying remains a haunting nightmare for them to this day.
However, after listening, Chen Yan simply gave a faint "hmm" and did not stop walking at all.
It was as if those bizarre deaths that would terrify even a grandmaster were nothing more than ordinary scenery in his eyes.
Zhou Zheng and the others said nothing more, simply following closely behind.
They soon discovered a strange phenomenon.
As long as you walk within three steps of Chen Yan, the oppressive feeling that makes your heart pound will disappear without a trace, and even the loss of your True Essence will return to normal.
It was as if an invisible barrier kept all the strangeness and danger of the outside world out.
The group felt increasingly at ease, and their awe of Chen Yan reached a new level.
This forbidden area is vast and has complex terrain.
The mountain road is rugged, sometimes with bottomless ravines and sometimes with towering stone forests blocking the way.
Even more bizarrely, the scenery here seems to be changing at an extremely slow pace.
The giant rock that was blocking your way one moment may have transformed into something else entirely, or even disappeared altogether, when you turn the corner and look back.
If it weren't for Chen Yan leading the way, Zhou Zheng had no doubt that they would have been completely lost in this place within half an hour and would have ended up repeating the same mistake.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, the view suddenly opened up ahead.
They arrived at a huge circular valley.
In the center of the valley stands a "painting" that defies description.
It was a huge stone wall thousands of feet high, its surface smooth as a mirror, yet it was not made of any known rock material, but rather had a warm, jade-like texture.
On the stone wall, a magnificent Mountain and River Painting has been carved with superb craftsmanship.
A sea of clouds surges and rolls, mountains rise and fall, waterfalls cascade and springs flow, ancient pines and cypresses stand tall...
Every detail is so lifelike, it's as if it's not an inanimate object, but a real world sealed within it.
What's most breathtaking is the sky in the center of the painting.
That sky was not whole.
At the very center of the sky, there is a huge and abrupt hole, with spiderweb-like cracks around its edges, as if the entire Sky Curtain is about to collapse.
A dazzling, seven-colored divine light emanated from the hole, piercing through heaven and earth, and condensing into a constantly changing ball of light in the center of the valley.
Within that sphere of light, the faint silhouette of a small tree could be seen, bearing a single, shimmering fruit that exuded an irresistible allure.
Amidst her surprise, Bai Lingshuang's keen senses detected an even deeper stillness. She looked around, her expression shifting slightly. "There's no sign of life around here..."
Her voice echoed faintly in the empty valley, only serving to accentuate the eerie silence of the place. There were no chirping insects, no sound of wind, not even the rustling of settling dust—absolute, all-consuming "nothingness."
Upon hearing this, the others' expressions grew even more solemn. They unconsciously held their breath, their gazes all fixed on Chen Yan, as if he were the only guiding light.
Before Chen Yan could respond to the crowd, the thousand-foot-high stone wall in front of him suddenly rippled with water-like patterns!
It was not a visual ripple, but a shock that directly affected the mind. The world before each person's eyes suddenly blurred and faded, and in its place, the most fervent desires surging from the depths of the soul materialized.
Among the members of the Broken Eagle Squad, some saw mountains of spirit crystal treasures, some saw the smiling faces of old friends they had longed for, and some saw the glorious scene of breaking through to the highest realm and being admired by thousands...
Their expressions were rapt, their pupils unfocused, and they moved forward involuntarily.
What appeared before Zhou Zheng's eyes was the scene of him leading his team back with a full haul and winning the Alliance's highest medal.
He was breathing rapidly and his face was flushed.
But the master's will ultimately jolted him, and he bit his tongue hard, the sharp pain bringing a sliver of clarity.
What appeared in Chen Yan's field of vision was a paintbrush that was entirely gray, but whose bristles were swirling with chaotic colors.
"Wake up!"
A low shout, like a thunderclap, exploded in everyone's minds.
Chen Yan's eyes regained their clarity, a flash of light appeared in them, and a powerful Power of Soul swept out, forcibly severing the invisible scroll's erosion of everyone's minds.
Zhou Zheng was the second to fully regain consciousness, his back soaked in cold sweat, staring in horror at the seemingly magnificent but actually extremely dangerous painting.
The others seemed to wake from a dream, staggering backward, their faces filled with lingering fear and bewilderment.
Chen Yan didn't have time to explain further. His gaze swept across the surroundings like lightning, and his heart sank suddenly.
wrong!
Just moments ago, they had been standing in a barren, rocky, circular valley. But now, looking around, where were the valley walls?
In its place lies an incredibly deep and pristine wilderness!
The ancient trees, towering and ancient, have grown for countless years. Their canopies block out the sun, filtering the already thin light into an eerie, dark green.
All sorts of bizarre and unseen ferns and vines spread rampantly, with thick, python-like aerial roots and strangler vines hanging from the branches, densely packed, like countless hanging living things, exuding an ancient and wild atmosphere.
The giant trees are beyond imagination, forming a breathtakingly vast "world of giants" together with the distant, precipitous mountain peaks.
Humans walking among them appear as insignificant as insects, and an invisible sense of oppression, originating from the level of life and the scale of time and space, hangs heavily over them.
What made Chen Yan even more wary was the "painting" itself.
It still stands in the center of the forest, but the seven-colored divine light still shines through the hole in the sky of the magnificent landscape in the painting. However, around the divine light, some tiny, wriggling black dots have begun to appear.
The black dots were tiny and blurry, like flaws on a canvas, or like ominous presences in the distant depths of space seen through a broken window.
They floated and flickered erratically, each flash exuding an indescribable eeriness and unease that sent shivers down one's spine.
What was that sound?
Chen Yan frowned and listened intently.
He was unsure whether it was just his imagination.
Bai Lingshuang, standing to the side, reacted even more violently.
Her already fair complexion instantly drained of color, and her cold, crimson eyes suddenly contracted to their limit, reflecting not her usual calmness or fighting spirit, but the purest, almost tangible fear!
Her body was even trembling slightly.
Chen Yan felt a chill run down his spine; Bai Lingshuang's reaction confirmed his ominous premonition.
That dangerous premonition, like an ice pick, pierced his senses in an instant!
Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Yan shouted, "Go!"
[ Time Stroll ] activated!
The gray Power of Time attempted to envelop himself and everyone around him, including Zhou Zheng and Bai Lingshuang, distorting the flow of time in order to achieve a near-teleportation-like Rapid Speed escape.
However, the next moment, Chen Yan's expression changed slightly.
The Power of Time encountered unimaginable resistance and distortion here!
It's as if the "time" itself in this forest, this world, is a viscous gel or a tangled mess.
The effect of [ Time Stroll ] was greatly weakened. Although they retreated several hundred meters, their speed was far less than expected, and it was more like a difficult struggle after getting stuck in the mud.
What made Chen Yan even more nervous was that the "great terror" originating from the painting, the forest, and the ground beneath his feet had not been shaken off!
It followed them like a shadow, as if it had locked onto their soul imprint.
The distance sometimes seems far, sometimes near.
Sometimes the suffocating threat feels right behind me, its chilling breath almost touching my neck; other times it seems so far away, with only a vague sense of malice emanating from afar.
But this unpredictability is far more nerve-wracking than a real chase. You don't know where it will appear next, what form it will take, or when it will launch a deadly attack.
Chen Yan stopped and shielded everyone behind him, his soul perception scanning the surroundings like a radar.
The forest was dark, and the vines swayed like snakes.
That eerie painting still lingers at the edge of the field of vision, silently radiating divine light and black spots.
The rustling sound was everywhere.
Bai Lingshuang's trembling had not yet stopped.
Zhou Zheng and the others were ashen-faced, back to back, their knuckles white as they gripped their weapons.