"It's here!"
The loud voice of the city lord, Leung Tinhou, rang out, drawing everyone's attention.
Aotian took a step to the side, leaning slightly over the railing and looking down, causing the wind battering his face to intensify.
But all he saw beneath their feet was vegetation, and more vegetation.
Leung Tinhou noticed Aotian's actions, which were in no way meant to be discreet.
"It's very well hidden, with nothing apparent—that's why this testing ground wasn't discovered until recently." He laughed softly, his tone patient and instructive, like a senior guiding a junior just beginning to understand the world.
Aotian did not react much, only nodding calmly.
The ship then, under the city lord's command, quickly lost altitude, approaching the tops of the enormous trees below.
With thunderous crashes, the bodies of the worms carrying the ship slammed like demolition balls into those trees, smashing them to pieces as if they were nothing, directly opening a path for the massive ship to enter the interior of the forest.
Beasts below, ranging from the size of rats to the size of houses, of every kind of race, fled desperately upon sensing the aura of the nine worms invading their territory.
The tremendous destruction caused by the ship's entry into the forest raised a large cloud of dust, which quickly blocked the view.
When the dust settled, all that remained was a wide trench of broken stone and splintered wood in the middle of the forest and, at the end of that destruction, a robust ship half-sunk into the earth, with nine large chains driven deeply into the ground, as if holding it firmly in place.
'Subtle…' Aotian's mouth twitched at the thought, as he thanked his powerful body for handling such intense jolts during the landing without needing to use spiritual energy.
"We've arrived!" Leung Tinhou's lively voice rang out, and the four Infinite Dao Sect disciples, who had already regained their balance, exchanged glances and quickly followed him, leaping off the ship.
Leung Tinhou flew calmly, smiling, and approached a rock sunk into the ground not far away, which had two fissures carved into it.
"It's this way." He smiled at Aotian and the others, then entered the fissure that could barely fit a single person.
Slightly surprised by the location, they did not think much and followed him inside.
Of course, Aotian was constantly creating missions to assess danger, so he did not advance recklessly or foolishly into an unknown place.
The others also had their own thoughts, and even Cang Song, who hesitated slightly, did not refrain from entering.
As the 'leader,' Hui Lang was the first to enter the fissure after the city lord, with Aotian coming right after, followed by Rihai and finally Cang Song.
Moving sideways through the fissure that barely accommodated them, they groped along the rocks and slowly descended deeper underground.
'Thankfully, the slight claustrophobia I had when I was an ordinary human no longer affects me, especially with my avatars spread throughout the world…' Aotian sighed softly in relief.
People with claustrophobia would certainly faint just by seeing the scene they were in now, where everything felt confined and even breathing seemed difficult. But everyone here was not an ordinary human, but a cultivator.
Strong cultivators did not need to breathe, did not need to fear an ordinary cave-in, and of course, their brains, nerves, and spirits were shaped by cultivation, making them far braver and more resolute than mortals usually are.
The only environment that could truly be considered claustrophobic for a cultivator, in the end, would be a place without spiritual energy. Only there, with no possibility to grow or recover energy, would they feel trapped and desperate.
As they descended, time passed slowly and, after a long thirty minutes of going down that seemingly endless fissure, a faint light finally appeared at the end of the path.
Aotian, shrouded in darkness but easily perceiving everything around him through spiritual energy, blinked thoughtfully.
'Who was the first madman to come all this way and discover this place?' he thought, at a loss for words.
But then he remembered that even on Earth, ordinary people often did far crazier things. In a world of cultivation and immortality—where even rats could knock down houses—such a feat hardly seemed worth mentioning.
The arrival at the light did not take long, and soon they all found themselves exiting the fissure in the rock and entering an open space.
To the surprise of Aotian and his group, they were not alone. There were several cultivators there, with swords and other weapons in hand, watching them cautiously.
They looked tense and ready for combat, apparently guarding a small teleportation circle at the back.
But as soon as they saw Leung Tinhou, their eyes lit up and they immediately lowered their weapons in relief, quickly cupping their fists and bowing respectfully.
"City Lord!" they shouted in unison, revealing their identities as Leung Tinhou's subordinates.
They were the guards tasked with preventing outsiders from entering the testing ground.
"Hmm…" The city lord nodded, cast a warning glance at them, and then stepped aside, allowing Hui Lang and the others to move forward.
The guards, seeing those well-dressed people arrive, in addition to the look Leung Tinhou had sent them earlier, immediately came to their senses and knelt humbly.
"Dragon seeds!" They saluted again, even more respectful and fearful.
The four had already expected something like this upon seeing the earlier exchange of looks, and could only sigh inwardly.
"There's no need to kneel, we won't waste time on such things," Hui Lang spoke simply, ignoring them and focusing on the teleportation circle.
It was not the time to get hung up on such matters.
The guards remained kneeling awkwardly, unsure whether they should stand, but Leung Tinhou understood that the man was serious and urged his subordinates to rise and report whether anything had happened.
To everyone's relief, nothing had occurred while they guarded the place.
The city lord then guided the group of 'dragon seeds' to the array there, explaining seriously.
"Well, this is the entrance to the testing ground. The cultivators who discovered it tried to activate the circle, but no matter what they did, everything failed in the end."
"After that, unable to make progress after many months of trying, they resigned themselves to selling this information to me, and that's how it all began."
Leung Tinhou explained seriously, stepping aside and allowing access to the four.
Aotian was the first to approach, which made the city lord raise an eyebrow. Still, seeing Hui Lang's calm gaze, he said nothing.
As soon as Aotian approached the pattern-filled circle, which glowed faintly in a dull yellow, a blue color began to spread, becoming increasingly intense with his approach, as if sensing someone worthy of entry.
City Lord Leung was slightly surprised by the scene.
In truth, he had concealed the fact that he had also tried for a long time to enter after obtaining the information and silencing the sellers, but had never succeeded, due to knowing nothing about formations. Thus, all that remained for him was to hand over the information.
Yes, despite appearing to be a friendly person, the short city lord with brown hair and a contagious smile was by no means the naive fool he seemed to be.
The sellers not only wanted to charge a high price for the information, but also intended to sell it to others, which brought them death. Even so, one could not be certain that, even if they had been honest, Leung Tinhou would have let them leave.
This was the world of cultivation, and a fair exchange, more often than not, depended on both sides having fists of equal size.
Aotian crouched at the edge of the teleportation circle and gently touched the ground with his hand, transferring energy as he analyzed what it actually did.
'Hmm… it really is a normal teleportation circle. But this one has an entry and exit lock and, for some reason, I'm on the list…'
He pondered, and as Rihai, Hui Lang, and Cang Song approached, the light of the circle grew even stronger, making him raise an eyebrow.
'… It seems all four of us are… but what exactly are the requirements to enter this list? Elemental affinity? Or mastering some of those few spells? Both, perhaps? No, Rihai doesn't have water affinity, at least not this body of hers.'
'There's also an age and cultivation limit, not exceeding four thousand years or the Soul Formation realm. And, more importantly…' Aotian's brow furrowed as he reached this point in his thoughts. 'It seems only two people can enter.'
That was a big problem.
'If only two of us enter, two would have to stay with the city lord and his guards, running the risk of the true dragon seeds arriving, which would cause a mess.'
'And if none of the four of us enter, besides losing this potentially great opportunity, we'd still have to fool the city lord so we could leave, which could raise his guard, allowing him to discover something and prevent us from departing.'
'I also can't forcibly manipulate the array, nor find the control points in less than a day. My main body's cultivation being so poor limits both of these options…'
An odd silence fell over the cave, everyone looking at Aotian in confusion, not understanding what he was waiting for.
But he, frowning more and more deeply as he frantically thought through options, suddenly blinked in surprise.
A change had occurred. He felt the formation's mechanism being altered in real time as his hand pressed against it.
The slots, previously limited to two, suddenly began to change, and soon Aotian sensed that four people were authorized to pass—exactly the number of people with him.
Narrowing his eyes, he quickly searched for the source of the alteration, but all traces led to a single place… the main formation of the small world.
Upon realizing this, only two possibilities emerged.
The first was that someone with cultivation and mastery of formations far superior to his had done everything perfectly, preventing him from finding even a trace of the true origin. That would be terrifying, but unlikely.
Alternatively, the second possibility was simpler. Everything was exactly as it seemed, and the small world was opening slots for him, Rihai, Hui Lang, and Cang Song.
'Why is that? Why would it show such favorability? Or is this something common? Is it because of the extraordinary spell I cast? Or the disciples' excellent performance?' he continued to ask himself, narrowing his eyes, but soon shook his head.
Whatever it was, he would find out eventually.
At that moment, it was not the time to hesitate, because there was already a ticking time bomb behind them, and it would be better to leave before it exploded.
Turning to the group, he nodded.
["Let's go, step onto the circle."]
He transmitted quickly and pulled Rihai by the hand, bringing her to his side as he stepped in.
Hui Lang and Cang Song were already prepared and, without hesitation, as soon as they received the command, also stepped onto the circle.
"Huh?!" The city lord was stunned to see them enter the formation.
A sudden flash erupted, and a dazzling pillar of blue light emerged, concealing the silhouettes of the four figures.
When the light disappeared, only the empty circle remained, and the patterns on the ground lost their blue color, returning to an even paler yellow than before, completely inert.
Leung Tinhou stood there, scratching his head, a huge question mark practically hovering above him. One thought kept spinning in his mind:
'Why the hell did the dragon seed elders enter together with their juniors?'
Unfortunately, at that moment, no one could answer him—not the guards, whose foolish expressions revealed they knew even less than he did.
But he couldn't help feeling a bad premonition about it.
…
While the city lord and his guards were still reflecting on the departure of the dragon seeds, they did not know that, in their city, the real ones had already arrived.
In the city lord's mansion, a heavy rain fell, streaming over various buildings reduced to rubble.
The bodies of dozens of guards lay everywhere, some fallen among debris, others floating lifelessly in the large flooded areas around.
Fortunately, many were still crouched in corners, alive and kneeling, not daring to move, but unharmed.
In the sky, four people—two middle-aged men and a young couple, all with blue hair and eyes—looked down on those kneeling guards with disdain, but did not raise their hands to harm them.
This was not due to any sudden kindness in their hearts, but rather to the simple fact that they lacked the ability to kill them.
The young man leading the group, responsible for the deaths and destruction that had occurred there, mocked loudly.
"This bunch of cowering little ants is really lucky not to have decent cultivation, being protected by the world." He laughed darkly, then turned his gaze to one of the fallen guards who still showed a thread of breath.
Extending his hand, the water beneath that guard's body rose like a whirlpool, flinging the man directly toward him.
With agility, he grabbed the still-unconscious guard by the neck midair and lifted him before his eyes, which gleamed with malice.
A stream of energy flowed from his hand and invaded the guard's body, shattering several meridians along the way.
"URH! AHHHHHHH!!"
A stifled gasp, followed by a scream of pain and agony, echoed all around.
The guard, who was the leader of those who had received Aotian earlier, screamed and thrashed in extreme torment, but all he could do was scream until his voice grew weak and hoarse, his eyes on the verge of rolling back, never to open again.
The cruel youth did not mind the loud screams near his ears, even smiling as he heard them. Still, he did not continue destroying the guard's body, which was on the brink of death or madness.
There were things to be done.
SLAP!
A loud crack echoed, silencing the guard leader's scream as he weakly spat blood along with several teeth.
The liquid stained his chin, flowing down until it reached the arm that was strangling him, splashing against the energy shield protecting the youth from getting dirty, before dripping from the sky along with the raindrops.
Weakened, the guard only stared blearily at the youth before him, who had killed his companions, tortured him, and now slapped him across the face as if he were nothing more than a useless animal, dislocating his jaw.
"You and your city lord have already made us waste too much time. The test is about to begin, and we've already been here waiting for two minutes, while that useless lord of yours still hasn't come to receive us."
"He really thinks you cowardly little dogs are worthy of receiving us, the ones chosen by the heavens? Even he isn't, but we mercifully granted him that honor because of the information that dog gave us. And where is he now? Does he really think we won't kill everyone in this city if he provided us with false information?"
"Perhaps the heavens protect the little ants of this city from me and my companions for now, but we of Dragon Peak have manpower to spare, with all cultivation realms within our ranks, to kill everything and everyone here with ease—and not even the heavens can stop that."
The youth spoke with sinister amusement, but his irritation was also genuine.
Bringing his face close to the terrified guard he was holding, he asked in a low tone, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Now tell me, where is he?"
His voice was neither harsh nor hoarse, even gentle, but to the guard it was no different from the voice of a demon.
["D-Dragon seeds visited earlier… a-and they, they could use spells… he used the legendary Deep Sea King's Claws… the city lord took them to the indicated location…"]
Unable to speak because of the hand gripping his throat and his dislocated jaw, the guard could only convey his words through extreme fear and pain.
But his answer brought immense surprise to the youth and his companions, who immediately furrowed their brows with dark expressions.
"What did you say?"