Chapter 4240 — The Eastern Continent's Yellow-Rank Academy

"The Rufeng Forest! Group expedition to the Rufeng Forest—we've got seasoned guides, guaranteed to bring back a haul so big you'll need both arms to carry it. Sign up now if you're interested!"

"Golden Core Great Perfection experts forming a team! Safety absolutely guaranteed—anyone bound for the Rufeng Forest, come quickly!"

"Still room for one more in our Rufeng Forest group—we're just short of a single person, leaving right away. Hurry, hurry!"

All around, the same ceaseless cries rang out. Wei Zhao swept his gaze across the crowd. Most of these people were Golden Core cultivators, though there were a few in the Foundation Establishment stage as well—at the very least, late-stage Foundation Establishment or Great Perfection—while of Nascent Soul cultivators, he did not see a single one.

Naturally, with the sheer drawing power a Nascent Soul cultivator commanded, wherever they might be, if they truly wished to form a team, a single shout would summon a crowd beyond counting—likely enough to fill every slot on the spot. They would never need to hawk for recruits as strenuously as the people before him.

What struck both Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao as most peculiar, however, was that every one of these cries, as if by prior agreement, mentioned the same place: the Rufeng Forest.

What did all these people want in this so-called Rufeng Forest? Could it be that the reason so many had gathered in Zhenduan City was precisely for this Rufeng Forest?

Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao were utterly baffled. After glancing around, they picked one of the men hawking his services by the roadside.

"Brother, might I ask—what exactly is it you all intend to do, forming teams to go to the Rufeng Forest? Why is everyone headed there?" The man Wei Zhao had chosen was a blue-robed fellow of the mid Golden Core stage, whose appearance and bearing seemed amiable enough that he should prove easy to talk to.

"No way—you actually don't know?" The blue-robed man stared at Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao as though they were some rare freak, his face a mask of disbelief. The corner of his mouth twitching, he said, "Even if you two are cultivators from out of town, coming to Zhenduan City at this particular time—aren't you here to adventure in the Rufeng Forest?"

"We only ended up here by accident, so we know nothing at all about it. Could you tell us, brother, why so many people are heading to this Rufeng Forest?" Wei Zhao asked curiously.

"Very well, then, I'll fill you in." Seeing that the two were, as best he could tell, early Golden Core cultivators—and therefore potential recruits for a team—the blue-robed man patiently explained, "Have you ever heard of the Rufeng Forest? It's a primeval forest bordering the Southern Isle, and like the rest of the Southern Isle, it's shrouded in miasma the year round. It seldom disperses, and we human cultivators cannot enter. However high one's cultivation, force your way in and you won't come out again—nine and a half out of ten die in there."

Wei Zhao nodded. Before setting out from Wei Arc City, he had heard Qi Wenmo speak of the savagery of the miasma: unless one was a great cultivator of the Nascent Soul stage or above, this thing simply could not be withstood by an ordinary human cultivator. No matter how strong you were, you could not hold out—after all, even protective true qi, if used continuously, must eventually run dry.

Of course, Wei Zhao had no fear of his true qi running out. And in the mortal world he was immune to a hundred poisons besides. The problem was that the poisons of the Cloud-Tier Isle were another matter—he had no confidence there at all. The Immortal's Draught from before was proof enough! Whether the miasma would prove a problem for him was truly hard to say. What was more, the miasma could drastically shrink one's range of perception, and in a dense forest teeming with peril, that was utterly deadly. One misstep, and it could all be over.

"But though the miasma in the Rufeng Forest never disperses all year," the blue-robed man went on, lowering his voice with an air of mystery, "there's a particular season each year when it thins for a short while, and we can enter through the Rufeng Road teleportation array. Think about it—a place no one can normally enter, where all those naturally growing heavenly treasures and earthly gems must lie scattered everywhere! I've heard tell there are even Ten-Thousand-Passage Golden Core Fruits in there!"

"Oh? Is that really true?" Wei Zhao was visibly moved at once, and even Huang Xiaotao at his side could not help but give a soft cry of surprise.

It was at Hucai's Tianwu Mountain that they had chanced upon Ten-Thousand-Passage Golden Core Fruits before, and only by that means reached their present realm. Without that treasure, Wei Zhao would likely still be at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, not even having touched the threshold of the Golden Core stage—let alone Huang Xiaotao.

The value of a Ten-Thousand-Passage Golden Core Fruit could only be described as astronomical. Even in the Middle Isle, where the finest merchant guilds gathered, Wei Zhao had never once seen one on the market. To him, a single Ten-Thousand-Passage Golden Core Fruit was essentially the equal of a top-grade Golden Core.

This thing was far rarer even than the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass he had once gone to such lengths to track down through every conceivable channel. It was the sort of thing that could truly only be encountered, never sought; however many attempts one made, whether one finally plucked it came down half to Heaven's will and half to luck.

"Of course it's true! I'm not just repeating idle rumors—the people who've found Ten-Thousand-Passage Golden Core Fruits in the Rufeng Forest are not one or two but practically every year. Otherwise, why would so many flock here, all rushing to this place at this very time?" the blue-robed man declared with the utmost solemnity.

Now Wei Zhao understood. With the allure of the Ten-Thousand-Passage Golden Core Fruit, drawing such a crowd was hardly surprising. After all, most of those present were either Golden Core experts or Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivators, and the fruit was a fatal temptation to them all. No wonder he had seen so few Nascent Soul cultivators—perhaps they had no need of such things.

"So then, all these people gathered in Zhenduan City, with every inn packed to bursting—they're all headed for the Rufeng Forest?" Wei Zhao nodded.

"Well, I wouldn't say all of them. Some are, and some aren't," the blue-robed man said with a grin, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh? Some aren't? Then what are they here for...?" Wei Zhao was taken aback.

"Heavens, how can you know nothing at all?" The blue-robed man was astonished anew, sizing Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao up once more as though they were rare beasts. But he was a warm-hearted sort, and went on to explain of his own accord, "Even coming from out of town as you are, surely you can't have heard absolutely nothing? Before long, the Yellow-Rank Academy of the Eastern Continent will be coming here to recruit students, and word has it that the Zhenduan sea region is their first stop. Many of the people who've come here are here precisely for that—they're all conserving their strength, waiting to show what they can do when the time comes. Pass the trials, and they'll be off to the Eastern Continent to study!"

"The Eastern Continent? What sort of place is that?" Wei Zhao grew only more bewildered, and it was not he alone—beside him, Huang Xiaotao wore a look of blank confusion as well, never having heard such a term in her life. (To be continued...)