Chương 143: Entering the forest

"Is this the Yin ghost forest? It is quite scary" Long Feng muttered calmly after gazing over the foggy forest below. The fog was special in the sense that it was impenetrable by any energy. Nothing could see through it, not even Long Feng's soul power or his immortal sight. That could also be due to his miniscule achievement in the soul cultivation and the immortal sight.

"This is the Yin ghost forest. The first test of the competition begins now!" Bei ya spoke up. She had been flying at a distance behind the golden feathered eagles. As she spoke, she waved her sleeve. Streaks of light appeared and and shot into the hands of every junior present. The lights faded away, revealing exquisitely carved jades that glowed with a silver hue.

"These were specifically created for this competition. The jades you are holding are created by a soul formation master of the sect. They are all closely linked together. That way, when you kill someone else or seize an opponent's jade, you only have to shatter it to get half of the person's points. Also, the jades contain a detection formation. Any beast that is killed, the points would go to the person closest to the dead beast or the Yin ghosts." Many people were shocked upon hearing that.

"Wouldn't I have free points if I am closer to a dead beast than the person who killed it?" This was what crossed people's minds.

"Finally, the jades contain the map of a thousand miles in the outermost region of the Yin ghost forest. You're not allowed to step out of the mapped region. If you do, your fate will be left in your hands. If no one has any questions, you can get going. You are all to gather here in one week time!" Bei Ya added.

"A map?" Many people acted desperately and hurried inserted their consciousness into the jades. Weng! A brilliant light exploded from the jades of almost everyone present.

"There really is a map!" Many people were ecstatic at first, but they soon looked dejected again.

"This map is only a rough description of the place. It is next to useless in a situation like this." Yan Jian sighed while shaking his head.

"In the end, we still have to rely on ourselves." Long Feng muttered calmly. The golden feathered eagles flew down and everyone began leaping off the golden feathered eagle's backs.

"Let's go" Many people steeled their nerves and walked into the fog, either in a group or individually. A few people actually decided not to enter the forest at all and instead stood hesitantly outside. Lady Bei didn't bother about them. It was their choice whether to participate and risk death or leave and keep their lives but let this chance slip past them. Long Feng, Yan Jian, Li Yu'er and Hua Liuli silently walked into the fog. Upon stepping into the fog, it felt like they had entered a different dimension.

All around them was a world of white eerie fog that severely suppressed their eyesight until they couldn't even see their hands. More importantly, The dense Yin energy that filled the forest instantly began to seep into their bodies. Although they could use their energies to protect themselves, that was not a long term plan as they didn't have an endless reserve of energy.

"This forest is weird. Can you hold on?" Long Feng asked. Although he couldn't clearly see the other three, he knew that they were behind him from their faint outlines. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"We can. I can hold on for a few days at most." Yan Jian replied instantly.

"I'm fine" Hua Liuli also replied. Long Feng took Li Yue'er's silence as she was fine.

"The Blue Sky sect seemed to have planned this. They gave us a time limit of one week knowing that few people can last over a week alive." Long Feng muttered. Yan Jian snorted, "Hmph! Of course. The Blue Sky sect isn't invisible. All the juniors who came to participate in the competition are geniuses backed by powerful groups or individuals. If they end up killing everyone and creating a grudge with the everyone's backings, it won't be easy for even them to survive."

"Well we here aren't backed by anything or anyone. That means they automatically have a few less grudges to create." Long Feng replied. Yan Jian coughed and didn't reply to that.

"If we have to constantly use a portion of our energy to protect yourself, won't our combat power drop? We won't be able to use our full strength." Long Feng stated another problem as they walked deeper. A little moment later, Yan Jian replied.

"You're right. I can only use about sixty percent of my full strength." Hua Liuli also voiced "I can use eighty."

"Hmm. I guess the other competitors are facing the same problems." Long Feng nodded.

"Come to think of it, why don't you seem strained? It's like you are not protecting yourself against the Yin energy. I can't sense any energy ripple coming from you and Li Yue'er's direction." Yan Jian inquired.

"That's because i'm not. I don't know why but the Yin energy isn't harming me. It seems to be lightly comfortable instead. What of you Miss Li?" Long Feng replied and questioned Li Yue'er. He really wasn't feeling the corrosion of the Yin energy. His demon energy seemed to completely disperse the effects of the Yin energy. Li Yu'er replied after a moment of silence.

"I cultivate a Yin based dao, the dao of Ice." she replied curtly in a small voice.

"Yin based dao huh? I cultivate the demon dao, a Yin based dao as well." Long Feng's eyes brightened.

"That's it. Those who cultivate Yin based dao won't be affected by the Yin energy!" This was the only explanation he could think of and it seemed plausible. That would also explain why him and Li Yu'er were unaffected by the Yin energy. The ice energy was an extreme Yin Dao. It wasn't corrosive but it contained the terrifying chill of the Yin energy. The Demon Dao was even more so. It contained a frightening chill as well as an extremely corrosive force that made it extremely similar to Yin energy.

"The fog seems to be thinning!" Hua Liuli exclaimed. Long Feng looked around and, indeed, the fog was slowly reducing. Their eyesight were becoming clearer.

"Is the fog denser at the very edge of the forest but the deeper you go, the thinner it becomes?" Long Feng murmured. They walked deeper into the forest and the surrounding fog slowly decreased until their eyesight were almost fully restored. They looked around and observed the forest. All around them were tall trees that seemed to reach the clouds. A thick ancient aura as well as extremely dense Yin energy surrounded everything they could see.

After being bathed in Yin energy for years, everything in the Yin Ghost forest was essentially a Yin based thing. Perhaps even the wild beasts would all be Yin type wild beasts.

"The forest doesn't look too bad." Long Feng murmured.

"What'd you know. We've barely stepped in. Besides, this is a safe zone. It has been cleared of nearly ninety percent of the wild beasts and dangers here." Yan jian replied. At that moment, they heard a growl nearby followed by hundreds of other growls, startling the four youths. Immediately after that, the ground started shaking as hundreds of heavy footsteps sounded from all around them, seemingly coming from every direction.

"What the hell?" They were all startled.

"This… we're so unlucky!"

"A beast horde!" Hua Liuli and Yan Jian exclaimed at the same time. In the beast world, the beast lived in groups. The largest group of beasts were known as beast tide which had over thousands of beasts led by any above spirit level beast. They could number up to tens of thousands and could even threaten the entire continent. Such tide hadn't appeared in innumerable years. As for a beast horde, it only had a few hundreds of beasts at most and we're mostly led by Yang and spirit level beasts.

Hearing that they were facing an entire beast horde, Long Feng's face turned solemn.

"They're all around us! It's like everyone that came in has been surrounded!"

"The beasts grew up in this forest so it is only natural that they detected us before we even knew they were there." Hua Liuli replied gravely.

"Focus on fighting a path out of the encirclement. Don't waste time or energy, otherwise we'd be toast." Long Feng spoke as everyone readied themselves for battle. The heavy footsteps and growls drew closer until the four of them could see which beasts were approaching them. The beasts looked like lizards, only much larger. Their scales glistened with a brownish light as drool leaked out of their mouths. Each step they took caused the trees to shake.

"Are those..." Hua Liuli's eyes glimmered.

"Black Earth lizards!" Yan Jian completed the sentence for her as his face warped in shock.

"These beast have a very frustrating defense and a more deadly venom. Even their blood is poisonous. Stay away from them as far as you can and use long range attacks!" Hua Liuli warned.

"Our luck is just this bad. Ah, I haven't married a wife yet!" Yan Jian lamented, drawing weird gazes.

"The beasts are... Weak." Long Feng observed. They were only at the peak connate or the early Yin level.

"Of course they are. They are only the weakest among the horde, sent to test our strength. In other words, they are more like cannon fodder!" Hua Liuli replied.

"Is that so? Then their leader really is quite smart for a mere wild beast" Long Feng muttered.

"Stay back. I can handle these small fries!" Hua Liuli stepped forward and suddenly sat on the floor. A silver coloured zither appeared in her grasp abruptly.

"Zither?" Long Feng, Yan Jian and Li Yu'er were all surprised. They watched with interest as Hua Liuli slowly caressed the zither affectionately. Suddenly, she pulled a string. A melodious sound filled the air, spreading out in visible waves at at frightening speed and impacting against all the lizards, causing the beasts to pause as confusion filled their eyes.

As for Long Feng and the other two, they felt a soothing feeling in their minds as their emotions calmed down and they nearly forgot about their current predicament. The only thing in their eyes was Hua Liuli's figure and her zither. Hua Liuli's fingers moved gracefully across the zither as she slowly caressed the zither and pulled another string. Another indescribably melodious sound echoed.

All the beast below the mid Yin level instantly had their minds shattered by the music and their limp bodies collapsed with several heavy thuds. They died silently without any physical injuries. But if one checked their corpses, one would notice that their brains, their organs and hearts had completely shattered from the strange sound wave.