Ji Feng crossed Rainbow Mountain on the outskirts of Shrek City and trekked more than fifty kilometers along mountain paths, reaching an enormous lake at four in the morning.
According to Ning Yu's description, the so-called Soul Land lay just beyond this lake. Crossing it would not be easy, but going around would take far too long.
Ning Yu had suggested hopping between the huge rocks jutting out of the water, using them to cross the lake.
These huge rocks looked strangely out of place, nothing like naturally occurring formations. They looked more as though someone had put them there.
Ji Feng activated Martial Soul Possession and used his increased jumping power to bound from rock to rock. After covering more than half a kilometer, he had just reached the lakeside on the opposite shore when he failed to notice a huge crevice in the rock beneath his feet and fell straight into it.
Fortunately, Ji Feng could extend dragon claws from all four limbs. By digging them into the cliff face to slow his fall, he avoided crashing into the ground and suffering serious injuries. Only his clothes were a little torn, which did not matter-they were Xiang Family guard clothes anyway. But the dragon claws that emerged after his Martial Soul Possession had pierced his shoes, and that pained him a little. Unlike modern society, the Douluo Continent did not have such advanced industry. Finding a good-looking pair of shoes was no simple matter.
Dusting himself off, Ji Feng looked back at the cliff face and suddenly spotted a peach branch stretching out from a crack. Peach blossoms slowly bloomed upon it, their petals drifting on the wind and falling before him.
What was so unusual about peach blossoms? These ones really were rather special. The blossoms and their fallen petals kept spinning in the breeze, swirling around Ji Feng.
These peach blossoms really were something new.
The petals kept multiplying in midair, one becoming two, two becoming four, and four becoming eight.
Before long, petals filled the air throughout the entire crevice in the huge rock.
The petals gradually gathered together and took on a human shape.
The man wore a peach-pink suit and a white dress hat.
When he approached Ji Feng, he even made a point of removing his hat and giving him a gentlemanly bow.
The Peach Blossom Man suddenly spoke. "Sir, why are you walking alone through this treacherous great lake?"
"I'm just passing through."
The Peach Blossom Man froze for a long moment before saying, "Just passing through? Surely not? This place is far from any settlement. How could you happen to pass through here? Are you going to reclaim land in the Soul Land? We happen to be headed the same way."
Reclaim land?
This man was so strange. How could he be a farmer?
"Are you a farmer?" Ji Feng asked.
"A farmer?" The Peach Blossom Man laughed. "You really are funny. No matter how you look at me, I hardly look like a farmer, do I?"
The Peach Blossom Man did not speak quite like an ordinary man. His manner sounded more like that of an effeminate gay man.
Ji Feng felt as though he was about to blurt out, "Oh my goodness, girlfriend!"
The man's martial soul was quite unusual. He could actually turn his body into peach blossom petals. He seemed to be an expert.
Ji Feng kept climbing with his dragon claws, intending to reach the top of the huge rock. Once there, he could make the final jump to the shore of the great lake.
Peach blossom petals surrounded him, keeping pace at his side.
"My friend, judging by your unusual martial soul, you must be from Shrek, right? Shrek Academy is very hard to get into. You must be rich."
"Whatever. As long as I have enough money to get by, that's fine," Ji Feng replied offhandedly.
"I've had a hard life. These days, getting into Shrek Academy costs a fortune if you don't have connections. Otherwise, even if you do get in, people will make things difficult for you at every turn."
The Peach Blossom Man was very talkative. When he brought up Shrek Academy, Ji Feng actually became somewhat interested.
"You seem to know Shrek very well. Do you have connections with anyone there?"
"Brother, are you making fun of me on purpose? Why would Shrek recruit someone with a martial soul like mine? They only want unusual martial souls with innate full soul power. Someone like me can only try his luck at those other academies."
"Try your luck? Is that how you turned yourself into peach blossoms? It's pretty handsome."
"Wow, why do you have to be so mean? I keep feeling like you're mocking me. Do you think I don't want to cultivate a proper martial soul? You need talent for that."
Ji Feng shook his head. "How am I mocking you? Look at me, climbing here until I'm out of breath, while you can just fly right up. That's the ability of an expert."
Ji Feng finally reached the top of the huge rock, and the peach blossom petals scattered around him gathered into human form again.
The Peach Blossom Man lifted his hat and bowed once more. "Thank you for the compliment. I've told you all this because I want you to know I'm an honest man. If you're also going to reclaim land for Shrek Academy, let's team up."
Team up?
Why would Ji Feng team up with someone he had only just met?
What if he stabbed me in the back?
He would never do something that stupid.
To get by on the Douluo Continent, caution had to come first.
"I really am not going to reclaim land," Ji Feng said, politely declining the Peach Blossom Man's invitation.
"If you're not going to reclaim land, then don't blame me."
"Blame you for what?" Ji Feng asked with a smile.
The Peach Blossom Man scattered into petals, countless petals pointing straight at Ji Feng.
Ji Feng faced the petals for a moment before the swarm abruptly turned and flew swiftly toward the shore of the great lake.
"If you're not going to reclaim land, I won't take you along. Hahahaha!"
This last huge rock was still some distance from shore. Ji Feng leaped into the air and, using the enormous dragon wings on the back of his martial soul to glide, just managed to reach the bank.
He watched the peach blossom petals weave freely through the trees along the shore. A few minutes later, all trace of them vanished from his sight.
Another full three hours passed before Ji Feng finally reached the end of the dense forest.
No wonder Ning Yu had come here to escape disaster. Even Ji Feng, a Soul Master with a top-tier martial soul, had found the journey this difficult. For anyone else, more than half would die in that lake just trying to make the trip.
The end of the dense forest was not the ordinary exit Ji Feng had imagined, either, but a cliff. Standing at its edge, he had two choices: jump straight down, or extend dragon claws from his hands and feet and slowly climb down, just as he had climbed to the top of the huge rock.
At a rough glance, the cliff was several hundred meters high. Both options were dangerous.
In the end, Ji Feng made the most scientific choice: he used the dragon claws on his left hand to cut open his right palm. Beads of blood seeped from the wound and kept falling below the cliff like pearls from a broken string.
Ji Feng opened the Blood Gate and entered the Undead Demiplane.
After waiting inside for a moment, Ji Feng opened the Blood Gate again and stepped out beneath a tree.
Blood was the Undead Demiplane's anchor on the Douluo Continent.
Since Ji Feng had dripped his blood below the cliff, he could naturally pass through the Undead Demiplane and emerge down there.
There were rocks ahead of him and rocks all around him. Endless boulders and loose stones occupied more than ninety percent of Ji Feng's field of vision.
Ji Feng took a step forward, and his entire lower leg sank straight into the loose stones.
He tried to pull his leg out, only to stumble and plunge into the pile of stones. That step took him deep enough for the loose stones to swallow him all the way to the tops of his thighs.
Ji Feng hurriedly activated his space martial soul, creating a thin spatial membrane around himself to push the stones aside as he prepared to climb out.
Suddenly, he sensed a hint of danger.
A numb, itching sensation spread through his lower body. Using Spatial Perception to examine it closely, he discovered a dense mass of tiny snakes darting through the gaps between the stones, constantly gnawing at his thighs.
Before you continue