Weighing

The Spirit Beast Mountain disciple did not panic at all upon seeing several flying swords darting toward him, merely commanding a giant bear to charge at Xiao Yu.

Reaching the halfway point, the giant bear let out a "Roar!" and then raised its massive claws, slamming them fiercely toward the flying swords!

With a few "Clang, clang, clang!" sounds, the master sword and four sub-swords of the Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords were knocked aside by several feet, brushing past its body as they flew by!

At this moment, the remaining two streaks of green light consecutively stabbed into the giant bear's body, yet no blood appeared, leaving behind only two white marks!

The giant bear let out a ferocious, frantic roar, evidently stung by the two flying swords.

Hiss! Xiao Yu inwardly drew in a sharp breath at the sight. The giant bear's physique was actually this formidable! Even top-tier magic tools could barely leave a white mark on it! It seemed this must be a strength- and defense-type spirit beast, so he could not fight it head-on.

Thinking this, Xiao Yu pinched a spell seal with his hand, channeling the Wind Riding Art into his body, and with a flash to the left, he lightly and gracefully evaded the giant bear's pounce.

After missing its pounce with an angry "Roar!", the giant bear lunged toward Xiao Yu once more.

Seeing this, Xiao Yu manipulated the Mother-and-Child Swords to circle around the giant bear and directly attack the Spirit Beast Mountain disciple, while once again utilizing his speed to dodge the giant bear's lunges.

The Wind Riding Art Xiao Yu had currently cast upon himself was an enhanced version, which was twice as powerful in boosting human speed compared to the normal Wind Riding Art. Thus, when he sprinted at high speed over a short distance, only a blurred afterimage of him could be seen.

The giant bear truly lacked speed, its pounces at Xiao Yu repeatedly missing, which made it roar in continuous fury.

Meanwhile, the seven flying swords manipulated by Xiao Yu also reached the top of the Spirit Beast Mountain disciple's head, unleashing a dense barrage of slashes against him.

The Spirit Beast Mountain disciple flipped his hand to retrieve a prismatic shield from his Storage Bag, and amidst a few spell seals, the shield swelled to five feet in size, protecting his entire body. In the blink of an eye, the Mother-and-Child Swords slashed against the prismatic shield, and the collisions of "Thud, thud, thud!" rang out amidst the intertwined green and white lights.

Finding that his shield defended against the frontal attack of the Mother-and-Child Swords, Xiao Yu immediately shifted his fingers through a few spell seals, causing two sub-swords to instantly fly off to the side, intending to bypass the shield and directly attack the Spirit Beast Mountain disciple.

Discovering this situation, the Spirit Beast Mountain disciple chanted incantations, and amidst a flash of yellow light, a yellow light barrier protected his entire body.

Immediately following this, the Spirit Beast Mountain disciple took out another fork-shaped magic tool, intending to deploy it and show that brat opposite him a taste of his might. Lifting his gaze, however, he saw a large handful of talismans suddenly appear in the hands of the brat opposite, who looked ready to activate them, causing him to shout in a hurry:

"Fellow Daoist, stop! This is a misunderstanding, let's talk this over!" At the same time, he commanded the giant bear to halt its attack. He had a hunch that if the opponent unleashed those Spirit Talismans against him, even if he didn't die he would still be skinned alive, so it was wiser to cease fighting.

Grasping dozens of Enhanced Fire Serpent Talismans, Xiao Yu looked at the man, his gaze flickering as he weighed his options inwardly. At this point, they hadn't even entered the central area yet, and not a single primary ingredient for the Foundation Establishment Pill had been found; there was no need to fight this person to the death here.

Although he still had around two hundred of these Spirit Talismans, he couldn't afford unnecessary waste either, and should save them for the subsequent contention of spiritual herbs. Hence, he intended to first hear what this person wanted to say.

"Hmph, what does Fellow Daoist have to say?" Xiao Yu stared fixedly at the opponent, ready to strike without hesitation at the slightest sign of abnormal movement from him.

"Hehe, greetings, Junior Brother. I am Zhang He of Spirit Beast Mountain; I wonder how Junior Brother is addressed?" The Spirit Beast Mountain disciple named Zhang He actually asked with a chuckle to greet Xiao Yu.

"This one is Xiao Yu of the Giant Sword Sect," Xiao Yu replied ungraciously.

"Hehe, please forgive me, Junior Brother Xiao. I am only here to gauge the strength of those entering the central area and weed out any fish swimming in muddy waters! That is why I made a probing move against Junior Brother. I hope Junior Brother will be magnanimous."

Zhang He turned Xiao Yu's name over in his mind, failing to recall any proud prodigy of the Giant Sword Sect named Xiao Yu, and it seemed Yue Kingdom had no formidable Xiao family either. Yet this person's strength was not weak,

and vaguely gave him an extremely dangerous sensation, which was why he explained to Xiao Yu.

"Then how does Fellow Daoist gauge things now? Shall we keep fighting?" Xiao Yu asked with a calm expression.

"With the strength Junior Brother has displayed, you naturally qualify to enter. Hehe, nobody has harvested valuable spiritual herbs-including the primary ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill-yet, so there is no need to fight to the death at this moment. What does Junior Brother think?" Zhang He expressed his thoughts.

"Then many thanks for Senior Brother showing mercy. This one will take his leave!" Xiao Yu spoke and prepared to walk inward.

"How about Junior Brother stays here and keeps the gate with me? Anyway, the thick fog in the center won't be dispersed until tomorrow, and staying here might even yield unexpected gains." Zhang He turned his eyes and offered the proposal.

"Not interested. Senior Brother, keep guard by yourself; this one shall take his step first!" Without waiting for a reply, Xiao Yu strode toward the flower-lined path.

He had no desire to stay with a stranger. Forget about engaging in this business of killing people to seize treasures; even just traveling alongside him was something Xiao Yu would refuse. He lacked the energy to constantly be on guard against someone who might ruthlessly backstab him at a critical moment.

"Uh, well, alright..." Zhang He watched Xiao Yu's receding figure and opened his mouth with some helplessness.

The area of the Forbidden Grounds' central region was very large, occupying well over a third of the entire Forbidden Grounds, and was enclosed into a large circle by surrounding stone walls.

Starting inward from the periphery of the four bronze gates, the entire region was divided into three major inner and outer layers, much like the peel, flesh, and core of a fruit, with distinct boundaries.

Upon entering the bronze gates, one reached the "peel" layer. The distance from here to the next layer was not far at all, with a straight-line distance of probably just over a mile.

The flowers, plants, and trees growing within this range, although each and every one of them was rare and precious, seldom seen in the world, those capable of serving as spiritual herbs with practical utility for immortal cultivators were exceptionally few. Most of them were only useful for viewing and appreciation.

To harvest top-grade spiritual herbs of genuine, great utility to immortal cultivators, one still had to come to the second layer of the central region. A considerable quantity of various rare spiritual herbs grew here, among which were the three major ingredients for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Every time the Forbidden Grounds opened, disciples of various sects mostly came for the spiritual herbs within this region, with the primary ingredients of the Foundation Establishment Pill naturally being their biggest target. And Xiao Yu was equally determined to secure these three primary ingredients and their seedlings!

The entire second layer was a massive ring-shaped mountain range, sealed tightly year-round by impenetrable mist. Within these mountains, there were both natural spiritual sites such as caves, dense valleys, and cliffs, as well as man-made structures like stone houses and stone halls, with various heavenly spiritual herbs growing within all these locations.

Countless fierce beasts also lived upon the ring-shaped mountains, ranging from the low-tier grade-one Flame Mouse and Wind-Chasing Rabbit to the peak-tier grade-one Golden-Light Python and Ice-Fire Wolf, encompassing almost all the species of grade-one Demon Beast that disciples of the Seven Sects had ever heard of or never heard of.

Furthermore, likely due to the restrictions of this place, the Demon Beasts here possessed at most peak grade-one cultivation; nobody had ever witnessed the existence of Demon Beasts above grade two.

In addition, for reasons unknown, these Demon Beasts seemed endlessly inexhaustible. Every time the Forbidden Grounds opened, a large number of Demon Beasts were slaughtered by disciples of various sects, yet by the time they entered the next time, the population of these beasts had not decreased by much.

As for the third layer in the center of the Forbidden Grounds, it was situated right at the absolute core of the Forbidden Grounds. It was located within an area encircled by the second layer, where a giant pagoda standing a hundred zhang tall towered at the center, surrounded by vast stretches of dense green forests that locked the pagoda in impenetrably. This was the so-called third layer, and also the very core of the Forbidden Grounds!

However, because restrictions existed there, it was completely impossible to enter with Qi Refining Stage cultivation. Wishing to go in and hunt for treasures required carrying a restriction token for entering the center, as well as possessing cultivation at or above the late Nascent Soul stage.