Shen Yuan looked at her and smiled, “I got what I was looking for, and this inheritance site is one of the core places of this Mystique Realm. I doubt we can find anything better than this.”
The rest of the disciples started to calm down as they glanced back at the forge from time to time.
“When I saw the flames, I thought I might die just by standing near them. I don’t know how you managed to survive it. And where did that flame vanish, anyway?” Chen Yue exhaled a long breath as she placed a hand on her ample chest.
“I absorbed it,” Shen Yuan replied with a light chuckle.
The disciples had expected this, but the confirmation of it still hit them like a rock. One of the younger disciples gathered her courage and asked, “Should we leave now and explore other places?”
Shen Yuan looked at her, making her scared, thinking she might have done something wrong. But he replied while smiling gently, “It’s indeed time to leave. Let’s go to the heart of this realm to see what it has.”
All of them left the giant coliseum while glancing back from time to time; they couldn’t forget the scene of Shen Yuan being engulfed in the flames.
“No need to dwell on that; the life of a cultivator is fleeting, we can die at the blade’s edge at any time. Stand tall and walk the path with pride; not everyone has the courage to walk on this path without succumbing to the darkness,” Shen Yuan softly said while walking in front of everyone.
The disciples’ eyes lit up as they heard what he said; they fell into contemplation as they mulled over the meaning of his words.
Seeing this, Shen Yuan smiled and shook his head. He knew they weren’t toughened out by the harsh reality of this world, and he needed to show them that, but they didn’t need to learn everything at once.
…
Soon, the group came in front of a particular area inside the dense forest.
There seemed to be something restricting the flow of Qi, as the air seemed denser inside. Shen Yuan squinted his eyes to closely observe what it was as he revolved the Qi in his eyes.
The rest of the disciples didn’t find anything weird about the situation as they only stopped because Shen Yuan was standing in front of them.
“Is there something wrong, Senior Brother?” Chen Yue asked softly, seeing Shen Yuan’s furrowed brows.
Shen Yuan took his eyes away from the strange part of the forest and glanced at Chen Yue. He thought for a second before taking out a gourd of pills and throwing it to her.
“Take two and distribute two to each one of you. Eat one right now, and we will advance inside the forest after that,” Shen Yuan said as he looked deeply into the dense air of the forest ahead.
The rest of the girls nodded their heads in confusion since they couldn’t understand his thoughts, yet they had enough trust in him that they ate the pills without further questioning.
Shen Yuan also took one pill and ate it before walking inside the forest. The rest of the disciples held their breaths and looked around cautiously because they felt there would be danger since Shen Yuan was looking ahead so seriously.
Sweat formed on the girls’ foreheads as the tension seemed to reach its peak, just then a sudden sound echoed in the forest.
“Boo!” Shen Yuan shouted all of a sudden, scaring the hell out of the disciples as they stumbled back.
Some even dropped to the ground as they hurriedly looked at Shen Yuan, only to see him laughing wildly.
“Hahahahahaha,” he laughed as he saw their faces, “Why are you guys so tense? Almost as if you are marching towards your deaths. No need to be so nervous when you have me.”
He wiped the tear from the corner of his eye yet still chuckled softly, seeing their embarrassed faces.
“Ugghhh, it’s your fault for making us this tense,” Ling Mei spoke as her face burned in embarrassment since she was among those who dropped to the ground.
“How did I even make you guys tense?” Shen Yuan asked with a light chuckle, though he already knew.
“Hmph! You know it already.” Ling Mei snorted and looked the other way.
“Okay, okay, no need to be so nervous. I did that bec-” Just as he was about to finish talking, they heard a sudden voice from their right. Shen Yuan sharply turned his head in that direction to see what it was.
Yet the dense bushes blocked his vision as he couldn’t see anything beyond a certain point.
The disciples also stood up and gathered together as they listened intently to find the source of the sound.
Wan Ling whispered, “The sound seems to be coming from that direction.” She pointed to her right after saying that.
The rest of the disciples looked in that direction as they could also hear some faint sounds.
Shen Yuan unsheathed his sword and moved forward. He pushed away the bushes from his front as he slowly leaned forward.
His eyes widened at the sight before him, but he soon smiled. The rest of the disciples also came to his front after clearing some bushes.
Their eyes widened as well as they saw the sight in front of them, but they also couldn’t help but softly laugh as they saw the situation before them.
The members of the Ironwood Mountain Clan lay in front of them, spasming from time to time.
Wan Ling stopped laughing as she looked at Shen Yuan and asked, “What happened to them, Senior Brother? Why do they seem to be dying?”
Shen Yuan said with a shake of his head, “They didn’t think much before entering a forest full of poisonous miasma. Of course, they would end up half-dead inside the forest.”
Chen Yue’s eyes lit up as she clapped her hands, “No wonder! So that’s why you had us eat those pills, Senior Brother! You already realized that the forest is filled with poison.”
Wan Ling’s eyes shined brightly as she looked at Shen Yuan in admiration, “Senior Brother is really a genius. He found out about the poison before any of us could. We would have died for nothing here without Senior Brother.”
Ling Mei looked at the disciples for a while and spoke with furrowed brows, “But what shall we do about them? We can’t leave them dying here; after all, our sects and clans made an agreement outside for us.”
Almost as if they heard what Ling Mei said, they spasmed more violently to gather pity from the disciples. One of them, who was barely hanging by a thread, said, “You…can’t…let…us…die…sect…agreement.”
Shen Yuan looked at the disciple as his eyes twinkled mischievously, “Who says that we won’t save them? We are people of the righteous path! Of course, we will save those in need.”
Wan Ling and the others felt like leaving the clan members to die, as Ling Mei softly whispered in his ear, “I say we leave them to die, Senior Brother. No need to save these ugly pigs.”
