After running at full speed for three days, Dai Yaun finally reached the mirrored Inner Layer on the opposite side.
Huff! Huff!!
He stopped suddenly, panting heavily in an attempt to steady his breathing. Even for a martial artist who had long surpassed the level of ordinary cultivators, running at full power for more than six hours in a row was incredibly tiring. Several times throughout the chase, Dai Yaun had even had to force himself to continue running through the dangerous Core Region. The overloading power of his runes had allowed him to maintain his incredible speed.
"…"
Dai Yaun looked around, stunned. Along the way, Dai Yaun had made many assumptions about what the mirrored region of the Brightmoon Forbidden Forest would be like. It might have been completely different from the area he had been in, or it might have been almost identical. However, what he actually saw left him speechless.
It was almost exactly the same! From the trees to the path, the environment here was virtually indistinguishable from the one he had been in previously. The only difference was that it seemed to be slightly warmer and more desolate. There were far fewer signs of beasts here, and it almost seemed completely devoid of life.
"If it wasn't for the difference in the weather and the lack of beasts, I would have thought that I ran in a circle!" Dai Yaun exclaimed, letting out a breath of relief as he calmed himself down. He took careful steps forward while observing his surroundings.
Chirp! Chirp!! Chirp!!!
Having taken shelter for the night in a grove several hours ago, Dai Yaun raised his head to the sky, inhaling the fresh morning air along with the cheerful sound of the birds.
As the sun rose higher into the sky, slowly drawing near the western horizon,
Dai Yaun stretched leisurely, relaxing his body which had been sore from the night's sleep. It had already been two weeks since Dai Yaun had entered this mirrored region of the Brightmoon Forbidden Forest, although he was still in the inner layer. Fortunately for him, it seemed that this part of the forest had suffered a devastating catastrophe that caused it to rid itself of all beasts and monsters.
As Dai Yaun picked up his weapon, which had turned dark brown from the congealed blood covering it, he couldn't help but sigh in relief at the lightness of it. It was strange how the weapon that he once struggled to carry had suddenly become so light. As Dai Yaun headed off, he took a moment to observe his surroundings, lost in thought. According to his estimations, he would be able to exit this region within the next two days and enter the mirrored Outskirts.
If he pushed himself hard enough, there was no doubt that he would be able to get out of this cursed forest within a week and enter Baixin Province.
In total, it had been nearly a month since he had set foot in this place.
As he drew nearer and nearer to his goal, Dai Yaun's mood unintentionally brightened. Thinking about how far he had come, he felt a wave of satisfaction rush over him. In about another week or so, he would finally be out of this dreaded place.
Although it had been nearly two weeks since he had entered this region, Dai Yaun hadn't encountered many beasts. Compared to the other side of the Brightmoon Forbidden Forest, this place seemed almost devoid of them. However, that did not mean that his journey had been smooth and safe. Along the way, a few monsters had appeared from time to time in an attempt to kill him.
Although Dai Yaun made every effort to avoid them, he was forced to deal with them several times nonetheless. The most recent encounter had even caused him to overload his two shamanic runes!
Two days ago, while he had been taking a nap under a Balma Oak tree, a fierce Jungle Hyena had jumped out and ambushed him. Despite being slightly lower in cultivation than the beast, at the level of an early second-tier beast, the cunning creature had refused to fight him directly. Instead, the Hyena used the terrain to its advantage and harassed him, attacking him at times and retreating at others. This continued for quite a while.
The Hyena's attacks were random, and it seemed to appear everywhere at once. Luckily for Dai Yaun, he was not the type to sleep deeply, and so he was able to dodge the attacks, narrowly avoiding death several times. However, the Hyena did not give up easily and wasted no time in launching another attack. Luckily for Dai Yaun, the hyena was not strong enough to immediately kill him. After dodging the attack, he rushed forward and knocked the beast away, preventing it from continuing its assault.
Instead, the Hyena looked at him strangely for a moment before circling around him and making mocking noises. The hyena circled Dai Yaun, and so did Dai Yaun, constantly rotating, never giving the beast a second chance to attack.
"Ugh, this is annoying!" Dai Yaun said to himself as he activated both runes, raising his realm by two stages and reaching the peak of the golden-bone stage. It wasn't long before Dai Yaun caught up to the hyena and killed it. Although he was severely injured, Dai Yaun was able to recover and heal his wounds with the help of the hyena's body. By overloading the runes, activating them in a different way, Dai Yaun was able to draw out the energy of the beast and use it to heal himself. The healing power of the shamanic runes was truly extraordinary.
However, unlike ordinary healing, Dai Yaun had to carve occult runes onto the body of the beast so that the energy would enter his body through them. This alone was incredibly time-consuming and took about an hour for Dai Yaun to finish. Even the serious injuries he had sustained, such as the long gash on his back that the hyena had caused with its claws, were repaired. The more powerful the beast was, the faster and more efficient the healing process would be.
Dai Yaun had stumbled upon knowledge of this particular occult art when he meditated on the memories stored within his mind. For some unknown reason, there were more and more things that he could understand lately. Dai Yaun was convinced that it had something to do with his cultivation realm advancing.
While walking on the road, Dai Yaun recalled another thing he had discovered recently. Although the runes increased his rate of cultivation dramatically, it seemed that he needed exponentially more low-class beasts to continue his growth. It was entirely unclear to him what the reason for this was, whether it was because of him reaching a higher realm or something else.
"I really wish there was an alternative here, or that it would change in the future. Otherwise, it would seriously affect my cultivation progress. Although I believe that things will be different when my realm increases or I get stronger runes, it's a pity nonetheless," he said sadly and shook his head. When he thought about it, he was a little worried.
"Heh, never mind that for now," Dai Yaun muttered and moved on.
After thinking it over, Dai Yaun decided to try to increase his speed so that he could get out of this cursed forest as soon as possible. With his current level of Silver Bone cultivation, he should have been able to get through the Brightmoon Forbidden Forest in a month, but it seemed that he would have to spend an additional week due to the various battles.
Whoosh!!
Dai Yaun did not waste any more time and quickly ran forward, his large figure vanishing into the distance. The grass bent and cracked under his feet as he pushed himself to his limits, sending up a thick plume of dust in his wake.
Hoot!! Hoot!!
The call of the owls echoed, vibrating through the trees as the moonlight shone through the leaves, casting ghostly shadows on the forest floor. The ambient temperature had dropped considerably, indicating that it was already evening. After running at full speed for an entire day, Dai Yaun was able to reach the outer region of the forest.
The journey through the inner region was relatively uneventful for Dai Yaun, aside from the last encounter with the hyena that attacked him. He either avoided the monsters he encountered on his journey or ran past them at full speed. It wasn't uncommon for him to hear the sound of monsters fighting in the distance, but he chose to ignore it.
"…It's already been more than a month since I've heard anything other than the sounds of beasts and birds," Dai Yaun muttered as he sped forward. Rather than deal with the mystery of the strange noises, Dai Yaun chose to ignore them and focus on getting out of this cursed forest as soon as possible.
Dai Yaun hurried down the road, leaving the mysterious sounds behind him.