Everyone had seen Chen Jingzhai in action, and they were convinced that he was strong enough to lead them.
Not only did he see through an illusion and tamed the Illusion Light Rat, but he also killed more than 100 bees with a single wave of his sword.
Just the last one alone was enough to make others show him respect as he had shown that he could use the sword’s will.
The Green Venomous Bees had two Golden Core Plane celestial maidens cornered, but Chen Jingzhai was able to take all of them down and was even able to capture the queen.
Compared to the two celestial maidens, Chen Jingzhai had acted more like a Golden Core Sage while the two ladies were more like Foundation Establishment Plane cultivators.
Of course, there was the fact that the celestial maidens were in a tight spot because they stepped on a trap, but what Chen Jingzhai had done was just too insane.
“I’ve collected 33 stingers that are still in perfect conditions,” Sage Xu said. “Everyone can get 3 each. These stingers can help you a lot if you are in a pinch.”
Everyone accepted the stringers and carefully wrap them in spiritual power or magic power before storing them.
Even if they won’t use them, these stingers were still considered ingredients for making spiritual items. It was rare for some to remain intact after getting hit by Chen Jingzhai’s attack.
Chen Jingzhai tossed the seals out once again, and the golden tigers sprang into life.
He set up the Heaven, Earth, and Man Formation, and the Essence Power started to gather within the formation, giving everyone a sense of relief.
After an hour, Miao Fa was almost fully recovered after spitting out blood three times with the help of the Elixir Twilight Clan’s Antidote Elixir.
She was careless when she got attacked, and the poison managed to seep into her body. But she was still a Golden Core Sage and was able to easily remove the poison from her body.
“I apologize for making everyone wait for me.” Miao Fa finally got up.
“Don’t worry about it,” Chen Jingzhai said, interrupting Celestial Maiden Han, who wanted to say something. “We got the chance to get some rest as well. We can’t be tense all the time, can we? How are you feeling now?”
“I’ve gotten rid of all the poison in my body. I’ll be fine now.”
“Great.” Chen Jingzhai recalled the golden tigers and handed both the celestial maidens a seal each. “Take these. I’ll be able to detect it if you two are in danger, and these seals will create a formation right away.”
“Thank you!” Both of them thanked him. Miao Fa took the Heaven Seal while Celestial Maiden Han took the Earth Seal.
Chen Jingzhai kept the Human Seal for himself.
He was able to control the Golden Tiger Seals even from a long distance.
If necessary, he could immediately deploy a formation to act as another defensive layer for the ladies.
“Honger, where should we go next?” Chen Jingzhai asked.
“We’ll run into the Giant Rhino King if we keep going to the south. He’s the genius talent of the Giant Rhino clan and has gathered his demonic core just under 200 years after he was born. He can take on a human form as well. It’s better if we avoid running into him,” Ni Honger replied.
“We can’t do that,” Celestial Maiden Han replied. “We’ve already wasted an hour resting. If we took another route, the other party might get to the exit before us.”
“I agree with Celestial Maiden Han.” Miao Fa, who rarely had any opinions, agreed. “We have eight Golden Core Sages with us. If all of us are together, no demonic king can stop us.”
Chen Jingzhai silently cursed as he knew that everyone could only run for their lives if they really ran into the demonic king as it was as powerful as a lord.
However, he also understood why the two ladies would express such an opinion as the progress was delayed because of them.
“We’ll follow the original path then,” Chen Jingzhai said. “We’ll fight anything we come across at full power. The earlier we leave this forest, the better it will be.”
“It won’t be that easy, though. This isn’t the halfway to the exit,” Honger said. “You’ll run into other clans after the Giant Rhino clan.”
“Really?” Celestial Maiden Han asked with a glare.
“Yes…” Ni Honger trembled a little. “I’ve been hiding all this time, and I’ve been to almost every corner of this forest. The deepest part of the forest is very scary. That’s why I’ve escaped to this place.”
The rat’s words made everyone silent.
They almost lost two of their members to the bees’ attack. If they were to run into clans even stronger than the bees, they didn’t have the confidence that everyone could survive. Although they had already known how dangerous the forest was, they never thought that it would be to such an extreme.
“Don’t worry. There’s a reason why the Woods Ocean Ancient Path has existed for so long. As long as the demonic kings do not attack us, we’ll have a high chance of surviving through this. We just have to be extra careful,” Chen Jingzhai said.
It was true that the forest was dangerous, but the cultivators from celestial clans weren’t for show, either.
The Pulao Kingdom was able to enjoy a long-lasting peace because of all the vicious beasts that lived in the forest.
“Master-Uncle is right.” Miao Yun nodded. “We should stop competing with each other and work together as a team. That’s how we are going to get out of this ancient path alive. There’s no way we can turn back now.”
Only death awaited them if they tried to go back the way they came from, and the celestial clans would not do anything about their death.
The only way was to move forward.
Everyone reached a mutual understanding, and the hesitation they had was gone instantly.
After the rest, they re-embarked on their journey through the forest.
The team’s formation remained the same. The only difference was that a rat was now leading the way.
As an Illusion Light Rat, being skilled in deploying illusions wasn’t Ni Honger’s only talent, but she was also extremely agile.
If not for Chen Jingzhai’s Reversed Formation, she would’ve never gotten caught by the cultivators.
Now that she had become Chen Jingzhai’s tamed beast, she had to lead the way even if she didn’t want to.
They had run into less danger with the rat in the lead now.
Chen Jingzhai even managed to find a lot of rare spirit herbs and plants with the rat’s help.
The Supreme Sky Master was now classifying all new additions to the Primordial Essence World and compiling them so that Chen Jingzhai could easily find what he needed in the future.
Half an hour had passed when they met their first giant horn rhino.
It was a Grade 2 demonic beast. Qiao Haisheng took it down with his sword vapor immediately.
The attack pierced through the beast between its eyes, and it was taken down without making any commotion.
“This is a single horn rhino. They are considered as the lowest tier among the giant horn rhinos and are mostly guards or hunters,” Ni Honger explained. “We’ll run into stronger rhinos soon.”
“It’s okay. Keep moving,” Chen Jingzhai ordered.
The young man absorbed the corpse of the rhino as well. Everyone knew that he had a Starlight Demon Subduing Tower, which was huge enough to store all of the things they had come across in the forest.
A Grade 2 demonic beast was of no value to Golden Core Sages and the genius talents of celestial clans. Since the party was made up of cultivators of those degrees, none of them were against Chen Jingzhai taking the corpse for himself.
Just a few minutes later, they came to an open ground where all of the trees had been cut down and only their stumps remained. A humanoid monster with a cow’s head sat on top of a trunk, looking bored while resting a huge ax over its shoulders. The monster turned to look at the group of humans who had suddenly appeared.
“Ahh…” The beast chuckled. “It’s the cultivators who are trying to travel through the ancient path this time. Oh? Did you guys tame a beast of the forest? Don’t you know that stuff like that angers us? Do you guys have a death wish?”
The monster’s voice was deep, and it was clear that it was mocking the team. As it finished speaking, it let out an aura and pressure unique to powerful demons.
The forest turned even more silent. It was as if the wind had stopped blowing.
“Are you from the Giant Rhino clan? You dare to challenge us?” Chen Jingzhai approached from the back of the party and asked in a calm manner.
He stood in front of the party and blocked the aura from reaching them.
“Why should I be afraid? Doesn’t the rule of the ancient path state that any cultivators who want to pass through the ancient path have to be prepared to meet their demise? That demonic beast should be dealt with no matter what the method is? Death is common in this region and whoever survives is the strongest of them all.”
The beast stood up and raised its huge ax while glaring at Chen Jingzhai coldly.
Normally, a monster of its degree wouldn’t have to worry about a Foundation Establishment Plane cultivator.
However, it had heard that cultivators could be unpredictable, and it would never underestimate what one could do.
“I see.” Chen Jingzhai was lost in thought. The truth was that he had thought of defeating the monster as a group and continuing with their journey, but he had changed his mind.
“Who’s willing to come out to meet their death by my ax?” the beast asked as it waved its weapon around.
“If one of us dies, can we pass?” Chen Jingzhai asked.
“Of course not. Everyone will die by my hands.”
“Then, can I not kill you and turn you into my tamed beast instead?” Chen Jingzhai grinned.
“How dare you!” The monster glared at Chen Jingzhai angrily as its eyes turned red. Without any warning, it brought the ax down on the young man’s head.
The blade of the ax was covered in a blood-red aura, and the monster had intended to kill Chen Jingzhai with that strike.
