Xu Qing wasn't unfamiliar with the dark night of the forbidden zone.
Regardless of whether it was the ruins of the city or this jungle.
He lived in the former for over ten days and he has also experienced several nights in the latter.
At that moment, he, who was hiding in the cracks of a giant tree, had his eyes half-squinted. While he was taking a nap, he silently cultivated the spirit energy in the forbidden zone that was mixed with dense anomalous substances.
After the spirit energy entered his body, it was separated by the Mountains and Seas Art. The pure part nourished his entire body while the anomalous substances fused into his shadow.
Xu Qing was already used to such changes.
He even had a faint feeling that he cultivated in this forbidden zone because of his shadow, or it might be because this place was dangerous and so he was constantly on high alert.
Under his high concentration, his cultivation speed also increased greatly.
He wasn't far from the fourth level of the Mountains and Seas Art.
"It feels like sharpening a knife…" Xu Qing mumbled.
He didn't understand any great logic but he remembered that the blacksmith in the slums had once told people that a good saber needed a better whetstone to completely reveal its edge.
At that moment, the dangerous forbidden zone seemed to have become Xu Qing's whetstone.
During this day of tempering cultivation, Xu Qing silently opened his eyes after a long time.
He lifted his head and stared at the darkness of the night outside through the crack in the tree. At night in the forbidden zone, the roars of mutated beasts rose and fell from afar, echoing through the jungle like the low-pitched cries of gods and demons.
The cold intent was from the myriad of lifeforms that invaded this place also entered the cracks between the trees where Xu Qing was hiding and permeated his body.
This scene made him feel as though he had returned to the ruined city. Slowly, a hint of loneliness permeated his body.
However, Xu Qing was already very familiar with loneliness. After a long time, he closed his eyes again and continued cultivating.
Just like that, time passed.
Because the resting place he found was very correct, the night was considered safe. Only in the middle of the night did Xu Qing, who was cultivating, hear footsteps from the outside world.
It was very messy, as though many people were moving forward in a line.
Xu Qing's expression turned serious as he narrowed his eyes and looked at the outside world. However, it was pitch-black outside the crack in the tree. There was nothing there.
However, Xu Qing's heart suddenly sank. This was because the moment the sound of footsteps rang out, the roars of the mutated beasts in the nearby jungle instantly disappeared. This caused Xu Qing's vigilance to rise abruptly.
He recalled the singing footsteps he had encountered previously. However, the feeling it gave him now was somewhat different.
"It's not like the footsteps that sang that day. Also, there was no singing voice."
Xu Qing quickly analyzed and didn't act rashly. He forced himself to calm down and held his breath as he stared at the dark night outside.
Gradually, the sound of footsteps became clearer, as though a group of people was lining up and gradually approaching.
At the same time, waves of coldness that exceeded the possible scope of it, as if it could freeze one's body, also invaded fiercely at this instant.
Xu Qing wasn't unfamiliar with this coldness. Regardless of whether it was the singing voice back then or the strange existences that appeared at night in the ruins of the city, they all emitted this kind of temperature.
However, the degree of coldness was different. Back then, the singing voice could freeze his soul but the cold now only made him feel unwell. It didn't cause him to lose his mobility.
"It's an existence similar to the bizarre existences in the ruins!" After Xu Qing made his judgment, he clutched the iron stick tightly and took a deep breath to control the fluctuations in his heart. He then forcefully closed his eyes, not wanting to open them.
Don't look, don't touch, don't see.
After Xu Qing closed his eyes, the sound of footsteps suddenly grew hurried, getting closer and closer. It was as though countless people were circling around the tree he was on.
Xu Qing's heart trembled. He tried his best to control his impulse to open his eyes and see what the other party was like.
After a long time… when the sun rose in the sky, the chaotic footsteps finally stopped lingering and slowly moved away.
Xu Qing didn't open his eyes immediately. He waited for a moment before he slowly opened his eyes. He then saw that there was a thick layer of ice at the entrance of the tree he was in, and his entire person was sealed within it.
Through the layer of ice, the sunlight cascaded onto Xu Qing's body. He let out a breath and pressed his left hand on the ice. With a violent push, cracking sounds rang out as the ice layer shattered and fell to the ground.
Xu Qing slowly emerged. He first observed his surroundings and saw that the wolf corpses still there yesterday had all disappeared. Also, there were… a large number of footprints on the ground.
They were human footprints.
There were so many of them that it looked like hundreds of people had passed by.
Xu Qing had never heard of hundreds of people entering the forbidden zone simultaneously.
Especially since… these footprints were really footprints and not shoe prints.
Xu Qing fell silent and retracted his gaze after a long time. He could sense the strangeness of the forbidden zone even more deeply now. At this moment, he took advantage of the fact that the danger in the forbidden zone was lesser at dawn compared to the night. Xu Qing didn't give up on exploring and left in a flash.
A few hours later, Xu Qing finally reached the furthest place they had gone previously, the small canyon where the Thunder Team plucked the seven-leaf grass.
The interior of the canyon was the same as when they had left. The sunlight streamed down from the top of the vine tree and landed on the ground. The fragrance of flowers filled the air, isolating them from the dangers of the outside world. It was like a paradise.
At that place, Xu Qing heaved a sigh of relief. He then lifted his head and looked at the other end of the canyon where the cluster of temples was located.
After staring for a moment, Xu Qing retracted his gaze and rested for a while. His body then sped off, heading straight for the cluster of temples.
The jungle outside the canyon was even lusher and there was less sunlight there.