Xinyin and Celia Maya dropped into a postcard-green forest, the air rinsed with the scent of leaves and rain. Trees pressed close like a crowd, wildflowers spilled color, and small animals played tag through the grass. To any eye, it was a place for sightseeing, a lazy shore for the mind.
Wansheng had landed here too, curiosity bright as a lantern as she ranged the woods. She sensed many powerful beasts—mid-tier and above of the Law Realm—lying quiet in the deep like sleeping ridgelines. They held no malice; when they saw her, they greeted her first like friendly neighbors over a fence.
After two or three circuits, Wansheng mapped the land, the exit tugging at the compass in her bones toward the southwest. A teleportation array waited there, its center hollow, missing the magic crystal that would wake it.
She returned to find Xinyin and Celia Maya a little adrift, a veil of confusion on their faces. She shared what she’d seen, setting each detail like stepping stones across running water.
“Really? So many mid-tier Law Realm beasts hidden in the depths—do we have to beat them to pass?” Celia Maya asked, worry rustling like leaves.
“We shouldn’t.” Wansheng shook her head. “They gave off no sharp edges. They felt friendly, like wind through branches.”
“Then how do we get through?” Relief loosened Xinyin’s chest first, then thought followed; fighting on their turf would be a stacked deck.
“You want to pass? That’s not hard.” The answer didn’t come from Wansheng. A handsome youth stepped from thin air, his aura a shade weaker than Wansheng’s, as if he’d only just touched the Zenith of Law Realm.
“Allow me a proper introduction.” He gave a crisp salute, ceremony neat as a blade. “I’m Aites Bol, guardian of the Azure Forest. Your luck is decent; this is the simplest trial in the second stage.”
“Then what do we do to pass?” Wansheng asked, voice calm as still water.
“Simple. You’ve seen the teleportation array at the exit, right?”
“Yeah. Its core is missing a magic crystal. You want us to find it?” Wansheng’s eyes lit with understanding.
“Exactly. Here are the rules. You get three hours to search, and the trial starts in half an hour.” His tone was even, like rain on stone. “Fail the limit, and you’ll head back the way you came.”
He paused, then added a single spark. “By regulation, one hint—the teleportation array’s magic crystal is hidden where the Azure Forest is both highest and lowest.”
“That’s all. Good luck.” His figure winked out like a candle pinched by wind.
“Sounds easy when he says it,” Xinyin murmured, thoughts drifting like smoke. “Highest and lowest… that feels like a knot.”
“That’s normal. It’s the second stage; they won’t hand us a key for free.” Celia Maya exhaled, shoulders lightening like lifting a curtain. “Counting prep, we’ve got three and a half hours. We can take it steady.”
“Let’s check the high places first and see if any clues shake loose,” Wansheng suggested, voice steady as a plumb line.
“High is easy,” Xinyin said, a frown as soft as mist. “But the lowest… the ground, or underground?”
“That part’s messy,” Wansheng admitted. “Let’s scout and read the land before we decide.”
“Okay.”
“No problem.”
The Azure Forest offered many high places; at its heart stood a sky-piercing giant, a tree that speared the heavens and drank the clouds. Even from afar, it struck awe, thunder resting in wood and leaf.
Clearly, the Soulless Sanctuary was more than a simple ruin; its inner space braided with the outer world, a hidden valley inside a shell. That much was written in the air.
On the way to the giant tree, Xinyin, Celia Maya, and Wansheng found no useful clue, though rare sights bloomed at every turn like lit lanterns. Some of them didn’t exist even on the Central Continent. If not for urgency breathing down their necks, they would have stayed to play.
“The highest place should be the treetop, right?” Xinyin looked up, eyes wide as water.
Half the tree vanished into cloud, a white river swallowing green. The size jolted her, a first in her life, a mountain grown from a seed.
“More or less. Reaching the top may be troublesome.” Wansheng’s gaze climbed and narrowed, a hunter sensing a wire.
“Why? Is the top so high even we can’t touch it?” Celia Maya asked, brow tilting like a bow.
“No. The height isn’t the wall; there’s a restriction pushing us back.” Wansheng pointed upward, finger steady as a needle. “Above the cloud line lies an anti-magic field. Go farther and you might wake something dangerous.”
“An anti-magic field? How hard does it hit?” Xinyin’s brows drew together, a quiet ripple across calm water.
“It’s woven with a wisp of the Primordial Source. It’d shave off about eighty percent of your strength,” Wansheng said, each word heavy as stone.
“That harsh? Then how do we reach the crown?” The thought pricked; with eighty percent gone, even the climb would turn into a cliff.
“We can set an isolation ward around us first, try to drown out the field and cut the loss to the minimum.” Wansheng’s tone stayed even, a hand on the rudder. “How long it holds inside, we’ll only learn by stepping in.”
“If you feel strain, say it. Don’t grit your teeth and pretend. Promise me,” she added, soft but firm as a bell.
“Got it. We’ll be in your care, Wansheng,” Xinyin said, gratitude warm as sunlight.
“I’ll try not to drag us down!” Celia Maya clenched her fists, resolve like a small flame.
In the Dragon Realm, Xinyin and Celia Maya stood near the summit, crowns by any measure. Yet before Wansheng, they moved like juniors, hearts folding small and earnest.
“No delays. Let’s prepare,” Wansheng said, cutting clean as a blade.
In warding, Wansheng outclassed them; she’d been trained hand to hand by the progenitor of magic. She traced the layout herself, lines in the air like calligraphy strokes.
Xinyin and Celia Maya followed to reinforce, layering strength over strength like silk on silk.
Minutes slid by like clear water. A solid isolation ward enclosed them, bright as glass and firm as stone. Fully prepared, they didn’t hesitate; they shot for the canopy at full speed, three streaks arrowing into cloud.
