Zhu Yao carefully looked at the map, and then glanced at the surrounding trees that were as tall as the clouds.

  “Master, why are we here?”


  “Naturally, to find the Nascent Divided Pearls.” Yu Yan replied seriously.

  “Are you certain we can find one here?”


  He reached out his hand to stroke her head. “Previously, the Nascent Divided Pearl was inside a demonic beast’s body, and demonic beasts usually conceal themselves within dense forests.”


  “But master…… We have already circled around for a month?”


  “Demonic beasts do not emit out auras, so we are unable to find them with our divine senses.”


  “But we have already walked through this path three times today.” Are you sure we’re not lost?

  The white figure in front of her stiffened for a moment. Then, he immediately said with a stern look once more. “Do not be anxious.” Saying that, he turned towards another small road.

  “Master, we came from that road earlier.”


  “.……” His figure paused for a moment, and then, he decisively turned towards another road. Mn, he simply wanted to have a closer look. He definitely wasn’t lost.

  Zhu Yao caught up to him with a darkened expression. So her master was not just face-blind, but had a poor sense of direction as well. Without the GPS known as divine sense, he was completely unable to find his way. It’s no wonder he’s a shut-in?

  In the next few days, a certain master completely demonstrated his basic conduct as someone with no sense of direction.

  “Master, we walked through that road before.”


  “Master, at the end of this road is the riverside which we rested at earlier.”


  “Master, we crawled up from that boulder over there earlier. Did you forget?”


  “Master, stop marking on this tree. You have already marked it four times, this makes it the fifth.”


  “Wait! Master, why are you turning back? We just came from there.”


  “Master……”


  “Yu…… Yao!” Yu Yan frowned as he finally stopped. He pulled in his disciple and said with a stern expression. “Your master feels that it’s best that we search from the sky, and use our divine senses to probe the area.”


  The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched. “Master, weren’t you the one who said that we can’t use our divine senses to search for demonic beasts?” You’re just trying to escape the fact that you have no sense of direction, right?

  “Your master feels that for something such as Nascent Divided Pearls, they might not all be inside demonic beasts.” He analyzed with a serious look.

  “.…… Master, are you certain you’re not lost?” Enough, enough! I know you have no sense of direction already. Please pass me the authority to lead the way, alright?

  “Nonsense.” A certain master still kept up his stern expression. “Previously on the first floor, among the five Nascent Divided Pearls in the five secret realms, not all of them were found within demonic beasts. It must be the same for this place as well.”


  “Then master thinks that……” Enough! Though having no sense of direction isn’t an illness, please do not give up treatment!

  “The Nascent Divided Pearls. They might be somewhere else.”


  “Hoho……” Master, the way you’re quibbling is so refreshing. She took a deep breath, and casually picked an unknown fruit from the tree next to her. “If it’s not inside demonic beasts, are you saying they can even be grown from trees?”


  Ting!

  You received 1 Nascent Divided Pearl. Gate Key 2 – Completion Rate: 1 / 10

  Zhu Yao: “.……”


  Yu Yan: “.……”


  Yue Ying: “.……”


  She looked at the fruit in her hand that suddenly turned into a green pearl, staring at it silently for three seconds……

  They’re really growing from trees, hey!

  Where’s your most basic conduct as a quest item? Do you have to be this random?

  “Mn, it seems the path that your master has chosen isn’t wrong.”


  “.……” Master, do you have to be this shameless?

  ————————————————


  Zhu Yao carefully inspected the tree, and it looked extremely normal. If not for it being filled with fruits hanging on its branches, it wouldn’t even have any decorative value either. Furthermore, the fruits on the trees were extremely green. Just by looking at it, she knew that they were the type where their sourness would seep into her tastebud with just a single bite. However, a tree like this was actually filled with Nascent Divided Pearls. At that moment, Zhu Yao felt that she had truly stepped on dog shit.

  It seemed like them circling around this forest for more than a month was not a fruitless effort.

  All of them grabbed ten each. After hearing a series of notification bells, the ten Nascent Divided Pearls merged into a colourful marble-like pearl. Written on it was ‘Gate Key (2)’.

  Zhu Yao never expected that they would pass this stage so easily this time. It was so easy, she couldn’t believe her own eyes. After adjusting themselves, they decided to hurry back to the previous divine city and head up to the third floor.

  This time, they did not need to look for demonic beasts, and so they could wantonly use their divine senses to look for the path back. In the end, after scanning through, she found out that they were actually at somewhere extremely north of the second floor. Zhu Yao recalled that when they left the city back then, they had clearly gone south. Yet, they actually managed to find their way to the northern side. She had to admit that her master’s standard of direction sense was already beyond godlike.

  “Let’s go.” Yu Yan held his disciple with his usual look, and flew up into the air. They, he headed straight in the direction of the divine city. In the depths of his heart, he was already experiencing waves of joy. With the powerful GPS known as the divine sense, a certain master had instantly turned into an expert guide as he picked the nearest road. He could finally fly confidently, fly freely, and fly willfully! His disciple no longer had to worry about him not having a sense of direction either!

  Because they made an incredibly huge detour in the beginning, they naturally did not pick the same road as before. Zhu Yao thought that their speed would increase dramatically, but her master suddenly stopped after flying for an hour and stayed in the air.

  “What is it?”


  Yu Yan frowned as he looked towards the distance. “There’s people in front of us.”


  Zhu Yao swept her divine sense through, and indeed, there were auras of Deities in the surroundings. However, they were quite a distance away, so she couldn’t get a clear sight of them. Furthermore, a faint scent of blood was lingering in the air. “Who is it?”


  He did not reply, instead, his expression simply turned heavier.

  Though, Yue Ying at the side spoke up. “It’s the people we formed a squad with before.”


  “Our former squad?” Zhu Yao was stunned. “Squad Captain Nangong Huang!? Let’s go over!”


  She increased her speed and immediately flew in the direction where the scent of blood was coming from. As she had expected, fifty kilometers away, Former Squad Captain Nangong was lying on the ground covered in blood. He was missing an arm, and the wound there was uneven, as though it was tore out by something. A large pool of fresh blood stained the ground as he panted, half-kneeling on the ground. His aura was unstable, and even the number above his head was constantly flashing between ‘2’ and ‘3’. Was he about to drop a level?

  “Nangong Huang!” Zhu Yao could not help but call out.

  “I’m called Nangong Cheng.” The person on the ground roared back out of habit, and then he was stunned when he saw Zhu Yao. “Why is it you? Why…… are you all here……”


  “I’m the one who should be asking you that. Why are you injured so heavily? Where’s the others?” Zhu Yao cast a few arts to stop his bleeding. Wasn’t he in a squad with that Mary Sue? Why was he here alone?

  “The others……” Just as he was about to explain, he suddenly recalled something and pushed her away. “Hurry and leave this place. Otherwise, it will be too late.”


  “What?” Before Zhu Yao could even figure out the situation, she hearing a sharp and terrifying roar. The surrounding atmosphere felt as if it had dropped by several dozen degrees as a bone-piercing chilling wind blew.

  “It’s too late!” Squad Captain Nagong’s face instantly turned miserably pale.

  “Yu…… Yao!” Yu Yan pulled up his disciple and shielded her behind him. Forming hand seals with his two hands, various inscriptions instantly flew out of his hands. At that moment, spanning a territory of several dozen meters in radius, a transparent barrier was instantly erected. Dozens of enormous spiritual swords descended from the sky, circling around the surroundings and firmly protecting the people within.

  This was…… the Five Ways Sword Spirit Formation! A defensive formation that merely second to the Nine Tribulations Five Ways Lightning Formation of Lightning Divine Palace!

  The moment the formation was completed, the surroundings rumbled. Several hundreds of demonic beasts of various types and sizes appeared. They then began to wildly crash against and bite the barrier.

  Zhu Yao was stunned. Earlier, there wasn’t even a single movement. Just where the hell did all these demonic beasts come from?

  “It’s no use.” Nangong Cheng’s face turned ash-grey in defeat as he looked at the three people in front of him with eyes filled with guilt. “This demonic beast is lured over by an Annihilation Formation. More and more of them will appear. Forget about the three of you, even if there’s thirty of us, we definitely wouldn’t be able to defeat all of them.”


  Annihilation Formation……

  The Annihilation Formation that would annihilate all living beings! Who would place down such a formation?

  Yu Yan frowned even deeper. He directly called out his own Life Artifact, the lightning sword, and took a few steps forward.

  “I’m sorry…… for pulling you all down.” Nangong Cheng looked at Zhu Yao with a face filled with guilt.

  “Do not speak for now.” Zhu Yao cast an art to temporarily stop his bleeding, and then entered his body to inspect it with a strand of divine sense. She realized that his internals were damaged especially heavily, and even his meridians were about to turn into mush. His Dantian even had the dangerous traces of cracking. She immediately sat down in a lotus position behind him. “Focus and calm yourself, I will help restore your Dantian and heart meridians.

  “Nevermind!” Nangong however shook his head. “We are not even able to escape now. You will just be wasting your divine energy. Dongfang girly, don’t care about me any longer. I can’t live for long anymore. If you all of you charge out with all of your strength, there might be a sliver of hope……”


  “What’s with all these nonsense that you’re spouting!” Zhu Yao ignored his words and immediately slammed her palm onto his chest and inserted a strand of divine energy into his body. This strand stabilized his collapsing Dantian with all its might.

  Nangong Cheng still insisted on explaining. “There are so many demonic beasts, and not to mention, they are demonic beasts with an extremely dark attribute. If you bring me along, you guys basically can’t escape at all. Take this opportunity where the demonic beasts are not stacking up yet and flee.”


  “Shut up!” She did not realize it before, but he was even a chatter.

  “I’m being serious, Dongfang girly!” Nangong Cheng was anxious. He persuaded her while spitting out blood. “This gratitude for helping me, this old man shall pay back in my next life.

  However, this crowd of demonic beasts are all extremely dark beasts that stay in the north. Only lightning can deal with them effectively. You guys beat them.” The more he spoke, the more he felt despair. “If we don’t leave now, we won’t make it in time. Unless you guys are capable of inviting the people of Lightning Divine Palace……”


  Rumble!

  Before he could even finish, lightning sparks lighted up the entire sky. Lightning bolts with the width of a bucket and descended from the sky. The lightning bolts that surrounded the encircling demonic beasts struck fiercely. In the sky, a snow-white figure was currently holding onto a lightning sword. Even with a light swing, lightning sparks continued to fill the sky.

  Eh!?

  “Light…… Lightning…… Lightning Divine Palace!” There must be something wrong with how I got injured. Why the hell does Daoist Beichen know how to wield lightning-type arts!? “Dong…… Dongfang girly!”


  “What?” Zhu Yao used this opportunity to guide out her divine energy and sealed four out of five of his damaged meridians. Then she stabilized his near-collapse Dantian, before standing right up.

  “He…… Is he really your master?”


  “Mn.”


  “Direct disciple?”


  “Of course!” If he’s not my direct master, are you telling me that you’re my master?

  “.……” Didn’t they say that only a single person from Lightning Divine Palace had entered? When did it become a total of three?