At Eighteen, I Stood There Like a Lackey

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

"You entered the Desolate Forbidden Land?"

People of the Big Dipper also spoke Chinese. Although Weiwei's accent was somewhat unusual, it was very pleasant to the ear, and understandable if one listened carefully.

They lied that they had been hiking elsewhere for fun when, for some unknown reason, the stars shifted and they suddenly entered the Desolate Forbidden Land.

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

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

Weiwei, hovering in midair, paid particular attention to Jiang Yun and the other two. After all, having consumed Sacred Fruits and undergone transformations akin to rebirth would be of great help to their future cultivation.

"Alright, I'll take you out of this 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 lightly waved her hand, and a sheet of rainbow light descended, spreading around the group. Once it enveloped them, it slowly carried them into the sky, until they stood beside Weiwei.

The divine rainbow then carried them forward like lightning, leaving the endless mountains and forests below far behind.

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

By then, the sky had already darkened. Upon reaching the edge of the forest, they saw a brightly lit town, strikingly conspicuous in the boundless night.

Just as they approached, seven or eight streaks of rainbow light shot into the sky and came to meet them.

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

"Weiwei is back. Did you find anything?"

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

"Since several of our ancestors sensed something from the Desolate Forbidden Land, the experts of those Heavenly Caves and blessed lands could not possibly have failed to notice it."

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

"These people are..."

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

When the girl named Weiwei gave an affirmative answer, the elders immediately burst into laughter.

"Hahaha... not bad. The Sea of Bitterness in their bodies has already been activated. They are fine seedlings for cultivation!"

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

"Why are they so young?"

When they saw Jiang Yun, Ye Fan, and Pang Bo, the elders immediately revealed expressions of shock and disbelief.

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

One old man found it utterly unbelievable and cried out, "Nine Sacred Mountains surround the Desolate Abyss. Legend says that each Sacred Mountain has a Divine Spring and a strange Sacred Fruit—nine Divine Springs and nine kinds of Sacred Fruit in all. Obtaining even one can transform one's body and bones! 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 sighed repeatedly. The Dao Runes within these powerful artifacts had almost all been worn away. What a pity.

Following Weiwei's earlier line of questioning, the group answered without a single flaw. Jiang Yun and the others had discussed it together beforehand.

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

There were far too many things even these cultivators did not understand. They could only attribute everything to the remnants of some ancient formation.

"Could you be from the Western Desert? Did you accidentally trigger formation runes laid down by some divine monk and arrive here?" Seeing the Buddhist artifacts in Jiang Yun's hands and hearing one student say they came from the western region, one elder made a guess.

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

"So we have arrived in 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 find it difficult to traverse it all."

The group was repeatedly shocked. 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 boundless. Even ordinary cultivators could spend their entire lives without crossing it.

The Yan Kingdom, where they currently were, stretched two thousand li north to south and three thousand li east to west, yet it was only a corner of the Eastern Wilderness.

There were countless nations in the Eastern Wilderness the size of the Yan Kingdom. If not for the Desolate Forbidden Land, one of the Eastern Wilderness's seven great restricted life zones, the Yan Kingdom might not even have six Heavenly Caves established within it.

These elders explained so much to Ye Fan's classmates because they had walked out of the Desolate Forbidden Land alive. Their Sea of Bitterness had therefore been activated, allowing them to progress in cultivation with half the effort. Every one of them was a talent.

Just as the elders were about to guide everyone into joining a sect and embarking on the path of cultivation, more than a dozen rainbow lights suddenly descended from the sky outside the hall and entered without the slightest courtesy.

Jiang Yun knew that the people from the other five Heavenly Caves had arrived.

He had not yet decided which Heavenly Cave to join. In any case, he did not want to consider Spiritual Void Cave Heaven, since the Shaking Light Sacred Land behind it had been infiltrated by Ruthless One's Lineage like a sieve.

Jiang Yun still wanted to use a Heavenly Cave to cultivate properly before joining a Sacred Land. Joining a Sacred Land came with 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, cultivating while constantly fleeing. It was safer to use a Heavenly Cave as a stepping stone into the Sacred Land behind it.

The biggest reason Ye Fan was constantly hunted throughout the Big Dipper was not because he lacked backing?

Of course, he lacked backing in the open.

If Ye Fan had a Sacred Land behind him, then as long as he did not actively provoke trouble, few would openly pursue and kill him.

The problem was that Jiang Yun did not know the backgrounds of the other five Heavenly Caves, making the choice difficult.

The dozen or so people who entered all looked like 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 when such geniuses appeared, many were sent away. Those left behind were naturally older and lacked much potential.

"The six Heavenly Caves and blessed lands within Yan have always been united. Now that you have suddenly found so many excellent seedlings, naturally we must take a few away," said an old woman with graying hair.

"Elder Li Ying is right. On behalf of Jade Cauldron Paradise, I will simply choose one or two promising seedlings to take away."

An elder named Ma Yun stepped forward, his white hair flowing as he spoke calmly. His gaze was especially fixed on Jiang Yun, Ye Fan, and Pang Bo.

The elders of Spiritual Void Cave Heaven immediately lost their composure. "No. You can take anyone else, but absolutely not these three."

Next, the people from the various Heavenly Caves began choosing at once. The atmosphere in the hall immediately became tense, with everyone at each other's throats and refusing to yield.

"It seems we can only have a match before making a decision," said a middle-aged man with an imposing presence and a steady expression.

"So it should be. We will stop at the proper point and not harm our fellowship."

The white-haired and white-bearded Elder Ma Yun lightly stroked his beard and calmly agreed, confident in his own strength.

"Exactly."

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

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

"At eighteen, I stood there like a lackey."

Ye Fan and the others were dazzled by the sight. Just moments ago, these people had looked like the uncles and aunties downstairs from their neighborhood, yet now they were soaring into the sky.

They flew through the air and tunneled through the earth. A stray shockwave from the battle outside struck an ancient tree so wide that seven or eight people could barely encircle it, shattering it with ease.

Divine light crisscrossed the sky while fierce winds surged across the ground. Sand and stones flew everywhere, and after battling for a while, they vanished to some unknown place.

Half an hour later, the cultivators returned. Some were radiant, while others looked dispirited. 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 another had even had his walking stick broken.

"I never expected it. At Weiwei's age, she has already surpassed us. Spiritual Void Cave Heaven has produced an unparalleled genius!" Ma Yun sighed.

"Since we have all lost, there is nothing more to say. Your Spiritual Void Cave Heaven may choose two first, and Jade Cauldron Paradise may choose two after that," the old woman named Li Ying said coldly.

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

They even circled the three of them twice, only stopping short of laying hands on them.

In the end, they chose Ye Fan and Pang Bo, because both looked rather young, around thirteen or fourteen, and had greater potential for shaping.

Elder Ma Yun of Jade Cauldron Paradise stepped forward and took Jiang Yun along with one male student.

The next four Heavenly Caves each chose two people they considered talented. In the end, thirteen people remained unselected, and they would be distributed evenly among the rest.

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, They discovered that Ye Fan possesses the Ancient Sacred Body.

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

Seeing Ye Fan's helpless appearance as a group of old men poked and prodded him, Jiang Yun began to feel some sympathy.

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

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

Elder Ma Yun of Jade Cauldron Paradise recognized this physique and spoke one word at a time.