Chapter 21 - The Illusionary Forest

"Grandpa, Xue'er went off training on her own?" As soon as he returned home, Leng Ruohan hurried to his grandfather's study upon hearing that Xue'er had left home to train.

"Yes!" Leng Qingtian answered.

"Grandpa, Xue'er has never left home since she was a child. How could you let her go alone?" Leng Ruohan said worriedly.

"Ruohan, Xue'er has already grown up. Since she wants to go, shouldn't I support her as her grandfather?" Leng Qingtian said helplessly. No wonder Xue'er didn't want Ruohan to know. If he knew, he would have definitely followed.

"But…"

"Ruohan, Xue'er can take care of herself," Leng Qingtian said firmly. To be honest, if he didn't know that she had that magical bracelet where she could seek refuge when in danger, he would also be quite worried..

"…" Xue'er, how can you be so cruel? I love you so much, but you didn't even tell me before you left? Leng Ruohan complained in his head.

"Anyways, it's good that you're back, Ruohan. I will be going into seclusion a few days later. Oh, right, Xue'er left this for you." Leng Qingtian took out the emerald green fruit and gave it to Ruohan.

"What rich spiritual energy! Where did Xue'er get this? Why didn't she eat it herself?" Leng Ruohan was both surprised and touched as he received the fruit.

"Xue'er's master gave it to her, and she still has more. She specially left one for you," Leng Qingtian explained.

"Xue'er's master? When did she have a master?" Leng Ruohan was puzzled.

"She acknowledged a master just before leaving. Her master is very powerful, or else I wouldn't have dared to let her go out alone. So you don't have to worry about her." Leng Qingtian knew that his grandson loved Xue'er even more than him, so he said this to reassure his grandson since he didn't want him to worry and have it affect his cultivation.

"Ruohan, tell the academy that you're going to join me in seclusion. Before Xue'er left, she said that she hopes to see you becoming a Spiritual Sovereign when she returns," Leng Qingtian suggested. His grandson was already at peak Spiritual Monarch. With the fruit, it would be a piece of cake for him to break through to Spiritual Sovereign.

"Alright." Since this is what Xue'er wants, how can I let her down!

…

Leng Ruoxue had been flying for nearly half a month on the falcon, and she was finally nearing the Illusionary Forest.

In the past half month, she had been flying during the day and resting at inns during the night. Although she always booked rooms, she rested and cultivated in the Heaven and Earth Bracelet.

Three days ago, she found an uninhabited valley to advance. After the baptism of heaven and earth laws, she was able to reach intermediate Spiritual Sovereign and unlock the first seal of the Heaven and Earth Bracelet. The Heaven and Earth Bracelet gained the ability to change into any shape at will, and the small flame lion advanced to level nine spirit beast. Even the falcon she fed with pills every day had promoted to intermediate spirit beast. But Baby still had no changes and was as weak as before.

Finally here! Leng Ruoxue was excited when she saw the giant trees that shielded the forest floor from the sun and the green that stretched infinitely into the horizon.

As soon as she entered Willow City, she saw the immense forest.

Although Willow City was only a medium-sized city in the Eastern Lagoon Empire, because of the Illusionary Forest, it was as bustling and prosperous as any major city of the empire.

But the prosperous city was not that attractive to her at this moment. She most wanted to enter the long-awaited Illusionary Forest currently. Now that she was here, how could she be willing to wait? After all, she was not here to sightsee.

Leng Ruoxue came to the entrance of the forest. The sun had set, so no one was around the area. To be precise, no one would choose to enter the forest at night because the Illusionary Forest would become even more perilous. But for Leng Ruoxue, it made no difference. She had the Heaven and Earth Bracelet, so she could get out of any dangerous situations.

It wasn't free to enter the Illusionary Forest; there was an entrance fee of five hundred gold coins per person. Leng Ruoxue paid the money and was about to enter when the guard suddenly stopped her. "Miss, please wait."

Leng Ruoxue frowned. What does he want? Why isn't he letting me in after I've paid?

"Miss, the Illusionary Forest is extremely dangerous at night. You should come back during the day," the young guard kindly reminded her. He didn't want such a beautiful young lady to be eaten by the spirit beasts in the forest.

"It's okay. I'm not afraid." Leng Ruoxue thanked the guard and headed in.

Although she knew that the Illusionary Forest was enormous, only when she was here, walking among the trees, could she truly feel the boundlessness.

…

She spent almost a month in the forest, but it wasn't very fruitful. She had only seen a few high-level spirit beasts. Moreover, it seemed as though she was still in the periphery of the forest. During this time, she encountered a small mercenary team of five, from whom she inquired some information. At first, she was still surprised because she had read that there were many mercenary groups in the forest. But after almost a month, she had only met this team. They told her that it wasn't strange for her not to come across anyone in the forest because it was simply too big. Many weaker mercenary groups did not dare to proceed too deep into the forest and wouldn't spend the night here. Afterward, Leng Ruoxue declined their invitation to join their group and parted ways with them.

Leng Ruoxue continued farther into the forest. She collected all the herbs she came across along the way, and she also hunted many delicious spirit beasts for food. She had already filled up several storage rings. Alas, she had too many gluttonous little spirit beasts to feed! And, well… she also liked to eat. Although some beasts were really cute, she clearly distinguished between food and pets.

Hmmm? There seems to be fighting? Her journey so far had been rather boring. She had only encountered that small mercenary team, and all the spirit beasts she encountered were weak and didn't take much effort to deal with. Now, with the sudden sounds of intense fighting, her curiosity was piqued. Thus, she walked toward the source of the commotion.