“Senior, wait up. I have other comrades. What about them? Can I go and bring them here?” Tang Wulin asked.
The elder stopped in his tracks. “You can bring them here?”
Tang Wulin smiled bitterly, “I’ll have to go back out first. But, I don’t know how to get out of here.”
The elder chuckled. “So, it’s best if you follow me first. You can’t go out from here.” He then continued walking toward the depths of the valley.
Tang Wulin said nothing more. He hastily caught up with the elder and supported him of his own accord.
This old man looked as if it was rather difficult for him to walk as he was teetering. Tang Wulin supported his armpits gently to reduce the strain his body weight was putting on his legs.
“Senior, shall I carry you on my back?” said Tang Wulin.
“Sure!” said the old man frankly.
Tang Wulin squatted down to carry the elder on his back. The old man was light. With Tang Wulin’s strength, he seemed weightless.
“Hmm, head there. What a kind young man you’re. But, I must remind you, on Demon Island, kindness will get you nowhere. It might even bring you trouble,” the elder’s voice came from behind him. Tang Wulin only smiled. He continued walking quickly in the direction pointed by the elder.
The valley was wide, and the surface of the ground was not flat. Various kinds of plants grew well here. Tang Wulin had not come across many of the plants before. Also, he noticed with surprise that his blood essence power was restored between his breaths due to the overly dense life source here. He did not even have to meditate for that purpose. At the same time, it spurred the Mysterious Heaven Method into flowing within him, and it gradually recovered from its previous depletion as well.
As expected, the academy would not find a place where it was impossible for them to survive for their military training.
Tang Wulin walked very fast because he wanted to find the exit as soon as possible and bring his comrades here. He knew that if he did not go out soon enough, everybody would be flustered when he was gone too long.
They walked through the forest and Tang Wulin had almost completely recovered his cultivation base. The terrain before them suddenly sloped down. The ground’s surface also turned into a swathe of purplish-black. What shocked him even more was that Tang Wulin saw the source of the gigantic purplish-black light column.
It was a colossal mineral rock which had an asymmetrical shape. It protruded from the ground inside the valley, the top portion exposed. The terrifying purplish-black light column extended skyward from the mineral rock. When he saw the rock, Tang Wulin felt an intense pain searing across his entire body. His body and soul felt as if they were about to fall apart. With a muffled grunt, he knelt to the ground on one knee.
Golden dragon scales appeared with the stimulus and swiftly covered his entire body. His battle armor was also unleashed in the next instant. Under their protection, Tang Wulin finally felt better.
“Eh?” The elder on Tang Wulin’s back exclaimed with surprise. In the next moment, Tang Wulin had already risen to his feet again.
“Senior, are you alright?” He could not see the peculiar gaze of the elder behind him.
“Oh, I’m fine. I’ve already gotten used to everything here,” said the elder. “You’re truly not bad. There aren’t many who could resist the Destruction Rock at first sight. Most people would’ve fainted. I thought that you’d faint too.”
Tang Wulin was slightly stunned. ‘Faint? Since he knew that I could’ve fainted, why didn’t he warn…’
His thoughts stopped abruptly when his field of vision suddenly went dark. He had no recollection of what happened afterward.
Tang Wulin fell limply to the ground. The elder retracted his hand which had hit Tang Wulin’s neck. “What a foolish young man. How can such a foolish young man survive if he were to be put at our mercy? He’s truly unafraid of dying being so friendly with a stranger. Nightmare, come out, come out! Throw this young man out. I want to see how he’s going to bring those comrades of his into this place.”
A figure seemingly walked out of thin air and stood before the white-haired elder.
He too was an elder. He looked not much younger than the white-haired elder but his physique looked much tougher.
“Blight, is this the young man from this batch? Did he come in here himself?” Nightmare pointed at Tang Wulin who still had his battle armor on.
“Yeah! He came in himself, he seems not too bad. Throw him out. We’ll see if he can bring his comrades in here by himself.” the elder named Blight waved his hand.
“Why me? Why can’t you do it?” Nightmare said with great dissatisfaction.
Blight sniggered, “It’s because you can’t beat me. It’s that simple.”
Nightmare glared. A faint, black airflow appeared around him. However, he returned to normal immediately. He hoisted Tang Wulin from the ground. “I don’t have time for you. It’s rare that we’ve gotten some little toys. I don’t have time to spare for an old geezer like you.”
After he finished, his body swayed, and he vanished into thin air in the next instant.
Blight rubbed his hands together. His clear eyes were filled with excitement. “Yes! It’s rare that we’ve gotten some little toys. I won’t let them go that easily this time. How can I let them linger on the verge of collapsing but not collapse no matter what happens? Hmm, this is a very interesting question. My skills are quite rusty. I guess I’ll just have to brush up my skills.”
When Tang Wulin came to, he was surrounded by worried gazes. Were these not his comrades?
“Captain, you’re awake.” Xie Xie called out excitedly when he saw that Tang Wulin had regained consciousness,
Tang Wulin swiftly rolled over and sat up. He rubbed his neck. Apart from that, he did not feel any discomfort elsewhere in his body.
“How did I come back?”
Yue Zhengyu shrugged. “You just flew back here from the outside like a cannonball. It was Yuanen who caught you. What happened? Did you discover anything?”
Tang Wulin hummed for a moment, then he recounted his experience.
“Could it have been an illusion?” Ye Xinglan asked.
Tang Wulin shook his head. “No, it was not an illusion. My soul power and blood essence power had truly recovered. The dense life source of that place can’t be faked. That place must be where we’re supposed to go for our military training. We must somehow find a way in.”
“Okay!” Everyone had not restored their soul powers here whereas Tang Wulin’s current condition was already at its peak.
Tang Wulin said to Xu Lizhi, “Give everyone two Recovery Pork Buns so that they can replenish their stamina until they’re in peak condition. Then, give everyone a Bloodthirst Bean Bun just in case. Also, give everyone a Crystal Bun each. After making all these buns, can your soul power still support your battle armor’s maximum defense?”
Xu Lizhi replied, “No problem. I’d only spent a small amount before this. I can do it.”
Crystal Bun was Xu Lizhi’s fifth soul skill. After it was eaten, the consumer would have a layer of crystallite protective layer on the surface of his body for one minute. It would double the consumer’s maximum defensive ability.
However, the Crystal Bun also had its own problems. The time needed to make it was longer. It was very difficult to make it during a fight. It must be prepared beforehand.
This was also the reason why Xu Lizhi could not make them in time for everyone when they faced the evil soul masters the other day.
The production of a single bun took ten minutes. It also put a great toll on his soul power. However, the effects of the Crystal Bun also worked on him.
While Xu Lizhi made Recovery Pork Buns for everyone to eat and replenish their stamina, Tang Wulin began to make arrangements for their exploit later.
After he thought about it carefully, he came up with a plan.
In terms of cultivation base, everyone had five rings. However, in terms of soul power, Yuanen Yehui was already at rank-58. She was the closest to rank-60. Ye Xinglan was at rank-56. The others were mostly around rank-55. Only Tang Wulin himself was still at rank-51.
It was not much of a problem with soul powers. The most important part was the endurance of their bodies.