Shen Yuan stayed silent as he had no answer to that question, but just then Yue Lan chimed in.
[It’s due to your Purity Physique and False Chaos Body. They both increase your awareness towards Qi to the extreme while your body will only take in the purest Qi from the surroundings and refine it again with the help of your physiques and cultivation method. That’s why you can feel the subtle difference in the Qi.]
Shen Yuan raised his brow in surprise as he didn’t know how much pure Qi his body was taking in, ‘I see, so that’s why I can feel the subtle difference, while the disciples don’t refine their Qi to the same level as me, and that’s the reason they can’t sense the difference.’
Even though he understood how he was able to sense the difference, he decided not to tell the rest about it as it might negatively affect them.
“Maybe it’s because of how handsome I am.” Still, he answered Ling Mei’s question in a teasing way to lighten the mood.
Ling Mei rolled her eyes while the rest of the disciples giggled at his narcissism, but the atmosphere felt much lighter as they moved forward.
Soon, they came before a broken gate which was embedded into a mountain. Shen Yuan felt chills running down his back as soon as his gaze landed on the gate.
But it went away as soon as it arrived, so Shen Yuan took a deep breath and solemnly looked ahead.
[Yuan’er, do you want to head inside?]
Yue Lan’s serious voice sounded in his mind, and he knew the situation up ahead would be serious since even Yue Lan’s tone turned solemn.
‘Yes, I need to at least see what is inside.’ He paused, and before Yue Lan could warn him of the danger, he continued, ‘And don’t worry, I will make some preparations before heading inside. I also feel like this place is unusual.’
Yue Lan got silent as she didn’t speak again, while Shen Yuan stopped looking ahead and looked at Wan Ling and the others.
They still looked here and there cautiously, almost as if someone was going to attack them at any point.
Shen Yuan began observing the surroundings for a while and spoke, “Listen here, you all,” after making sure everyone was listening to him, he continued, “I will go inside the gate alone. That place seems odd to me, so I don’t want to take the chance and risk the lives of everyone here.”
The girls’ eyes widened as Chen Yue hurriedly spoke, “But what if there are dangers ahead? We can be of hel-”
But before she could continue, Ling Mei interrupted, “We would only be a burden to him. It’s better for us to stay outside and wait for him.” She clenched her fist at the end of her words, feeling the powerlessness much more clearly than when she had to face the beast upon entering the Mystique Realm.
Wan Ling gazed at Ling Mei for a second before turning her focus back to Shen Yuan, “Please return safely, Senior Brother Shen Yuan.”
Shen Yuan smiled and walked forward, patting her head as he softly whispered, “I will be back safely.”
He moved a few steps away from them before taking out a mini house-like structure, “You all should go inside and wait for me to return. It can keep you safe from the beasts of this forest at least; the formation on this is at the level of an Inner Sea realm cultivator, so the Mystique Realm won’t restrict it.”
Chen Yue and the rest of the girls lit up in surprise as they looked at the mini room, “Wow, this looks so cozy. Where did you find this treasure, Senior Brother?” Chen Yue asked as she walked around the treasure to inspect it.
“I found it while traveling to the sect.” He lied, as this was one of the things he got for completing daily missions set by the system.
“Wow, we should also travel out more from the sect to look at the vast world. Maybe we can also encounter fortune like Senior Brother.” One of the younger disciples joked in a light tone.
Shen Yuan shook his head and looked at Wan Ling for a second before handing her a talisman, “Keep it safe. If anything goes south inside, then I will use this talisman to teleport outside.”
Even though he had absolute confidence in his ability, he still took precautionary steps to make sure he wouldn’t die inside.
“Are you sure you will be fine inside that place, Brother?” Wan Ling asked with worry as she felt something amiss inside the gates.
Shen Yuan replied with confidence, “Do not worry, nothing in the Mystique Realm can do anything to me. I am the strongest here.”
Wan Ling heaved a sigh upon hearing his absolute confidence in himself.
Shen Yuan didn’t stop to think further as he headed towards the gate, ‘Now, how should I go about opening them?’
He thought as he looked for any keyholes or something similar, yet there was none, ‘Ah well, fuck it.’
He thought as he punched the gate.
BOOM!
A boom echoed in the surroundings as the punch blew up winds all over. The disciples hurriedly looked in his direction to see him preparing for a punch again, their eyes widened as they knew if he used more force, then they would blow away due to the strong winds.
They hurriedly ran inside the treasure given by Shen Yuan, and just then—
BOOM!
Another punch landed as the gate cracked from the middle. “Aha, it was supposed to open like this, but due to the long passage of time, the gate joined together.”
He smiled as he grabbed the gate and pushed it; slowly, the gate began opening as an influx of weird Qi gushed out, but the disciples didn’t notice it as they were already inside the treasure, and the weird Qi couldn’t penetrate inside.
Shen Yuan’s eyes scanned the Qi as it seemed to be trying to fight his own Qi, ‘What a weird Qi…’ he tried to capture some of it, but it scattered into the environment.
‘Hmm… there will be more from where this came from.’ he thought as he entered inside the huge doors.
The disciples watched with bated breath as he vanished from their vision.
…
Inside, he soon stopped after walking for a while, “Hmm… I should do that.” He spoke aloud and took out a few items from his storage space.
A protective talisman, a defense armor, a formation plate.
[Oh? Weren’t you so confident earlier that you are the strongest in this Mystique Realm and whatnot. How did you change your colors so soon?]
Shen Yuan shook his head as he wore the armor, “I’m absolutely certain that I’m the strongest in this realm because no other Inner Sea realm cultivator can match me, but some things are out of my control, such as this weird Qi.”
He soon finished wearing his armor as he placed the talisman on his chest plate and hung the formation plate at his waist, “Oh, now that we are on this topic, do you know what this weird Qi is?”
