Eighteen That Year, Standing There Like a Lackey

Next, Weiwei questioned them. Everyone had already prepared their answers beforehand.

"You entered the Desolate Forbidden Land?"

People from Big Dipper also spoke Chinese. Though Weiwei's accent was somewhat unusual, it was very pleasant to hear, and understandable if one listened carefully.

They lied that they had been hiking and sightseeing elsewhere when, for some unknown reason, Stars Shift suddenly transported them into the Desolate Forbidden Land.

Weiwei was very curious about why Jiang Yun and the other two had not grown old, so Jiang Yun, Ye Fan, and Pang Bo told her the truth.

They had eaten the little red fruits so long ago that they had already been completely digested, so there was nothing to fear.

Weiwei, floating in midair, paid close attention to Jiang Yun and the other two. After all, having consumed the sacred fruits and undergone transformations akin to rebirth, they would gain enormous benefits for their future cultivation.

"Alright, I'll take you out of this desolate ancient forest first."

Faced with everyone's questions, Weiwei found it difficult to explain and decided to take them back first.

She had also come to gather information, and many people were still waiting behind her.

Weiwei gently waved her hand, and a sheet of rainbow light scattered down around them. After enveloping everyone, it slowly carried them into the sky, where they stood alongside Weiwei.

The divine rainbow carried them forward as swiftly as lightning, leaving the endless mountains and forests beneath them far behind.

Even at such incredible speed, they flew for over an hour before finally leaving the Desolate Forest Mountain Range.

The sky had already darkened. Upon reaching the edge of the desolate forest, they saw a brightly lit town, strikingly conspicuous amid the endless night.

As they approached, seven or eight streaks of rainbow light immediately shot into the sky to receive them.

The rainbow lights came in different colors and looked exceptionally beautiful. Within each one stood a human figure.

"Weiwei is back. Did you discover anything?"

"Did you find anything around the Desolate Forbidden Land? Experts from the nearby Heavenly Caves and blessed lands have all been sent here, as though they are searching for something. You didn't run into them, did you?"

"Since our ancestors sensed something from the Desolate Forbidden Land, the powerful figures in those Heavenly Caves and blessed lands naturally could not have failed to notice it."

Several elderly people stood within those rainbow lights. They appeared to be elders of the girl called Weiwei.

"These people are..."

"Could they have accidentally entered the Desolate Forbidden Land and then walked out alive?"

When they heard the girl named Weiwei confirm it, the elders immediately burst into laughter.

"Hahaha... Not bad. The Sea of Bitterness within them has been activated. They are good cultivation seedlings!"

The group quickly descended into the town and entered a brightly illuminated hall.

"Why are they so young?"

Upon seeing Jiang Yun, Ye Fan, and Pang Bo, the elders immediately revealed astonished expressions, finding it hard to believe.

"Could they have eaten that legendary fruit? This... is impossible!"

One elder found it utterly unbelievable and exclaimed, "Nine Holy Mountains surround the Desolate Abyss. Legend says that each Holy Mountain holds a Divine Spring and a strange sacred fruit—nine Divine Springs and nine kinds of sacred fruits in total. Obtaining even one can transform one's body! But how could a few mortals like them possibly approach that place?!"

Next, the elders carefully questioned everyone and examined the Buddhist artifacts in their hands. They repeatedly sighed; the Dao Runes inside these powerful artifacts had nearly all been worn away. What a pity.

Following Weiwei's earlier questioning, their answers were flawless. Jiang Yun and the others had discussed everything together beforehand.

They were all mortals. These cultivators could see through anything they possessed at a glance and did not suspect anything. This world was simply too vast.

There were also far too many things the cultivators did not understand, so they could only attribute everything to the remnants of an ancient formation.

"Could you be from the Western Desert? Did you accidentally trigger the formation runes left behind by some divine monk and arrive here?" Seeing the Buddhist artifacts in Jiang Yun's hands and hearing that one of their classmates came from the western region, one elder offered a guess.

"To cross the Western Desert and arrive directly in the Eastern Wilderness—what kind of heaven-shaking genius could have laid down such astonishing formation runes? It is simply unimaginable!" an elder sighed.

"So we have come to the Eastern Wilderness." Zhou Yi seized the chance to ask, "How large is the Eastern Wilderness?"

"The Eastern Wilderness is boundless. Even if mortals lived for dozens of lifetimes, they would still struggle to traverse it all."

Everyone was repeatedly shocked afterward. The Eastern Wilderness, Southern Ridge, Western Desert, Northern Plains, and Central Plains were the five great regions, with the Central Plains being the greatest of all—vast and limitless. Ordinary cultivators could spend their entire lives without crossing it.

The Yan Kingdom, where they currently were, spanned two thousand li from north to south and three thousand li from east to west, yet it was merely one corner of the Eastern Wilderness.

There were countless nations in the Eastern Wilderness comparable in size to the Yan Kingdom. If not for the Desolate Forbidden Land, one of the Eastern Wilderness's seven great Life Forbidden Zones, the Yan Kingdom might not even have been occupied by six Heavenly Caves.

These elders explained so much to Ye Fan's classmates because they had emerged alive from the Desolate Forbidden Land. Their Sea of Bitterness had therefore been activated, allowing them to achieve twice the result with half the effort on the path of cultivation. Every one of them was a talent.

Just as the elders wished to guide them into joining their sects and embarking upon cultivation, more than a dozen rainbow lights suddenly descended from the sky outside the hall. Their owners entered the hall without the slightest courtesy.

Jiang Yun knew that they were people from the other five Heavenly Caves.

He had not yet decided which Heavenly Cave to join. In any case, he had no intention of considering Spiritual Void Cave Heaven; the Shaking Light Sacred Land behind it had been infiltrated by the Ruthless One's Lineage until it was riddled with holes.

Jiang Yun still wanted to use a Heavenly Cave to cultivate properly before joining a Sacred Land. Joining a Sacred Land offered countless benefits, and if he could become a Holy Son, would he still need to worry about finding a high-quality Dao companion?

He did not want to become a chosen protagonist like Ye Fan, constantly fleeing while cultivating. It seemed safer to use a Heavenly Cave to enter the Sacred Land behind it.

The biggest reason Ye Fan was constantly hunted throughout Big Dipper was not because he had no backing.

Of course, he had no backing in the open.

If Ye Fan had possessed the background of a Sacred Land, then so long as he did not deliberately provoke trouble, very few people would dare hunt him openly.

He just did not know the backgrounds of the other five Heavenly Caves, making the choice somewhat difficult.

The dozen or so people who entered all appeared to be cultivators in their forties. In the Yan Kingdom, they were generally cultivators trapped at the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm stage.

Geniuses like Weiwei, who were about twenty and nearly finished cultivating the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm, were rare.

Even if there were many such people, they would have been sent away. Those left behind were naturally older and lacked much potential.

"The six Heavenly Caves and blessed lands within Yan have always shared a common bond. Now that we have suddenly found so many outstanding seedlings, we naturally must take a few away." An Old Woman with graying hair said this.

"Elder Li Ying is right. I shall represent Jade Cauldron Paradise and select one or two promising seedlings to take away."

An elder named Ma Yun, his white hair flowing, stepped forward and spoke calmly, his gaze particularly fixed upon Jiang Yun, Ye Fan, and Pang Bo.

The elders of Spiritual Void Cave Heaven immediately lost their composure. "No. You may take everyone else, but these three are absolutely out of the question."

Next, people from the various Heavenly Caves began selecting candidates at once. For a time, tensions ran high as neither side yielded, and the atmosphere in the hall became tense.

"It seems we can only compete before making a decision." A steady-faced middle-aged man with an imposing aura said this.

"That is how it should be. We shall stop at the proper point and not harm our harmony."

The elderly Ma Yun, his beard and hair entirely white, lightly stroked his beard and calmly agreed. He was confident in his own strength.

"Exactly so."

In an instant, more than a dozen long rainbows shot into the sky, exceptionally bright beneath the cover of night. The contest between the various Heavenly Caves began.

Jiang Yun felt faintly saddened. He had thought they would get to choose, but in the end, no one even asked their opinions.

"Eighteen that year, standing there like a lackey."

Ye Fan and the others, however, watched in dazzlement. Just moments ago, these people had looked like old men and women lounging beneath apartment buildings, yet now they shot into the sky.

They flew through the heavens and tunneled through the earth. The aftershock from the battle outside struck an ancient tree requiring seven or eight people to encircle it, easily shattering it into pieces.

Divine light crisscrossed the sky while fierce winds raged across the ground. Sand and stones flew everywhere, and after fighting for a while, they disappeared who knew where.

Half an hour later, the cultivators returned from their battle. Some were full of vigor, while others looked pale and drained. In the end, Weiwei overwhelmed everyone and claimed first place.

Elder Ma Yun remained as calm as ever, except a section of his beard had been cut off. He ranked second.

Some of the others had bloodstains on their clothes, while others had even had their walking staffs broken.

"I never expected it. At this age, Weiwei has already surpassed us. Spirit Ruins Paradise has produced an unparalleled genius!" Ma Yun sighed.

"Since we lost, there is nothing more to say. Your Spiritual Void Cave Heaven may choose two first, and Jade Cauldron Paradise may choose two afterward." The Old Woman named Li Ying said coldly.

The elders of Spiritual Void Cave Heaven stared intently at Jiang Yun, Ye Fan, and Pang Bo for a long time.

They even circled around the three twice, just short of touching them.

In the end, they chose Ye Fan and Pang Bo. The two looked younger, around thirteen or fourteen, and had greater potential for molding.

Elder Ma Yun of Jade Cauldron Paradise then stepped forward and took Jiang Yun and one male classmate.

Next, each of the four remaining Heavenly Caves selected two people they considered talented. In the end, thirteen people remained unselected, and they would be distributed evenly.

Just as the thirteen people began to feel uneasy, an elder from Spiritual Void Cave Heaven suddenly cried out, "How could this be?!"

Jiang Yun thought, Ye Fan has been discovered. They found out he possesses the Ancient Sacred Body.

Sure enough, the elders from the various Heavenly Caves all gathered around him.

Watching Ye Fan's helpless appearance as a group of old men surrounded him and felt him all over, Jiang Yun began to sympathize with him.

He truly wanted to pull out his phone and record this scene, then show it to Ye Fan after he became an emperor. He could surely extort one or two Undying Medicines from him that way.

"Un... par... al... leled, peer... less... Sacred... Body!"

The elderly Ma Yun of Jade Cauldron Paradise recognized this physique and spoke each word slowly.