A group of three people, in each group, ten experts.
Members of the Piercing Mountain Sword sect bid farewell to their friends, hugged their lover, teared up as they said goodbye to their teachers.
The same can be said to the Grand Martial Sect, although the majority of them are men, they are still filled with yang energy, there are some females at the sect and those that are together here bid their goodbyes.
Some manly men merely bid their goodbyes at the elders and sect master.
For the Celestial Azure Pavilion, they only have one elder and Wu Shan Mei to bid farewell to, they had paid a huge price in order to save Wang Guan.
Meanwhile… For some reason, many cried when Mo Xie was about to embark, most of them single women from the Celestial Azure Pavilion, Wu Shan Mei couldn't help but sigh.
Mo Xie didn't know why but he thought of something ridiculous; 'Maybe they felt that all the time they gave me food will be wasted if I die…'
(Author'sawesomenote: Yeah, they sure would, don't worry, sorry about this)
After he thought of that, he approached Wang Guan: "Senior Wang, you should take this, as soon as your body is completely healed, drink it and digest everything, you should be able to become stronger."
Wang Guan took the flask, he didn't know what it is, but all he knows is that Mo Xie will cause him and the group no harm, he cupped his hand: "I'll do my best."
Mo Xie nods his head: "Then, till we meet again."
As they were about to depart, Mo Xie stayed near the cave exit and looked at the brave 29 people, he smiled at them and cupped his hand respectfully: "May we all return alive and healthy."
The others hearing this felt shock at first, then, a moment later felt solemn, a few more moments later, they felt warm, they felt a tinge of fear from death, but then, something is keeping them up.
All of those that weren't participating felt that they were about to cry, they cupped their hand and respectfully said: "We hope that you all return alive."
The other 28 experts felt something burning in their heart, they resolutely bowed and cupped their hand: "We will do our best!"
As they did, all walked out of the cave and separated in three directions.
The two advance parties were tasked to scout five hundred kilometers from both left and right, Mo Xie's advance party is tasked with the front.
Mo Xie isn't going to just scout a mere five hundred kilometers, he'll go as far as he could, if he could no longer push forward, then, that's the time he'll recuperate back to the back.
He led everyone with fast speed, the members including Bingyun felt worried, they are worried that Mo Xie's shouldering the responsibilities alone and would like to escape the place faster and faster.
But as time went on, they didn't think so. They would stop once in a while, they would keep a low state and would let a few dangers pass by.
They couldn't help but look at Mo Xie in shock, he could sense danger a few kilometers away, this caused their trust in the latter to increase.
Sometimes, they would stop as Mo Xie would pick some random herb or stone, well, to them it might be random, but they thought that Mo Xie has uses for it.
Their journey was smooth thanks to Mo Xie's extremely sensitive perception, they would sometimes stop and see a horde of animals they hadn't seen before yet, their cultivation is already at Immortal Ascension rank with the weakest at Heaven Encompassing.
Well, they are short on food, hence, those that were weak and were left behind were killed and stored immediately.
3 days past, 650 kilometers scouted.
Due to Mo Xie's smooth leading, their speed had far surpassed the other two advance parties who should only have been at more than two hundred kilometers tops, without Mo Xie's sensitivity, they need to trek with extreme caution.
"Senior Mo, we should already be done with our quota right?" One from the group spoke. His respect for Mo Xie is already like that of a teacher, through their journey, Mo Xie would sometimes teach them some knowledge.
Mo Xie nodded his head: "But I wish to further scout. If there's a single kilometer left before we can find clues, isn't it a waste? I wanted everyone to get out of this dangerous place as soon as possible."
He paused for a bit, yes, if he wanted to, he should've scouted alone, but he smiled and looked at them: "Do you guys want to return? If you guys want to, we could."
As they heard his words, they didn't even need to think and shook their heads: "No, I also wish to help as much as I can."
"Me too, senior brother, we're not complaining, we just thought that you're pushing yourself too hard."
"Yes, senior brother, we can go ahead, you should rest for a bit, let us do get some actions too."
Mo Xie smiled at them, but he shook his head: "You guys don't need to do that, it will be troublesome." He paused for a bit, he looked around and added: "If we're in familiar territory, then, I'll let you guys go ahead and search, but this is a dangerous place, a single step can cause us so much trouble even to the point of death. This place is always dark, without good perceptions, we can definitely be lost."
Everyone nodded in understanding, although Mo Xie is far weaker than them, they respected his every word and decision.
Mo Xie smiled at then and spoke: "We should stay here and make camp, it will be darker soon."
Everyone nods their head, they searched for a huge tree and started to dig at it to set up camp.
Four cultivators are flame type cultivators, sadly, they couldn't make a fire or it else, it will attract predators.
They heated the meat they got through their palms alone, those good with earth cultivation also started to make some walls to block the outside from seeing them and those good with the wind element kept gathering a cycle of wind to not let the smell of the heating meat from going outside the trees.
This instruction were strictly spoken by Mo Xie before they left, all three advance party hence had the preparation done. With the palm cooking the meat, the smell could be contained at a bare minimum.
After a while, they feasted.
When all of them slept, Bingyun and Mo Xie stood on guard, the latter can sense something and frowned: "I'll scout for a while, you stay here."
Bingyun wanted to stop him but after some thought, she nodded, if it's something dangerous, then, all of them might be in a grave dangerous strait. It will be too late to react at that time.
Mo Xie started to scout, tens of miles out from the camp, the sense he felt grew stronger, also, the spiritual energy grew thicker, the yin energy grew stronger.
Since its dead of the night, Yin energy would become stronger while yang energy would grow weaker, but what Mo Xie's feeling is extremely weird due to the energy going extremely rampant as he drew closer.
They had gotten used to this place, although it's constantly dark, they had decided that a fogless time is a day and a foggy time is night, the fog at night is so thick that one could barely see anything from it.
Moments later, Mo Xie's pace decreased drastically until a complete halt, he observed the surroundings as it's getting hard to see from the thickness of the fog: "It's difficult to see without any good eye techniques…"
But as he spoke of this, the area surrounding him glowed ethereally, Mo Xie lowered his posture in an almost crawling one and moved closer and closer.
Croak~
He heard something like the noise a frog would make, he felt shivered immediately, there are three types of frogs that liked to slumber within the center of a thick yin energy location, and he felt that the most dangerous one would be living in it just merely based on the noise.
Still, he held hopes that it isn't. Since he made his conjecture, he slowly backed away, but then…
Croak~
Croak~
Croak~
The continuous sound of croaking frogs was heard from all directions, Mo Xie couldn't help but stand still, he merely hopes that nobody followed him here, else, he'll definitely have no way of escaping.
But as he as the situation grew dire for Mo Xie, a huge gust of wind started to assault the ground.
Mo Xie couldn't help but duck to take cover at the tall grass, still, it was blown away by the violent wind together with the fog, he held on the ground as much as he can.
But as he opened his eyes, he saw the frogs quite clearly, they are all waking up from their slumber. All of them have the height of a tall average tree and the size of two houses, their belly glowing green.
'Firefly frogs!'
Firefly frogs are a demonic beast at a minimum of Immortal Foundation rank, but all of the frogs here are Immortal Saint ranked beasts! There are thirty of them too! But what shocked Mo Xie is something else.
The sky is dark, but he could see the visage silhouette of a bird, it has spikes all over its body other than its wings, has three glowing eyes and a beak stacked with razor-sharp teeth!
'Ancient… Primordial Draconic Dark Crow!'
Swosh~ Swish~ Gust of wind continuously blew on to the ground with each of its wings flapped.
Mo Xie immediately felt that one of its eyes gazed at him, he felt panic at first before the gaze moved towards one of the frogs; 'I was too small of a meal for it…'
CAAAAAAAAAW!!! The Dark Crow's screeched, the frogs didn't even need to look to know what the predator aiming at them looks like
The size of the crow is twenty times the size of a single frog, hence, its appetite surely would be big, Mo Xie would feel much more like a bean than its food.
The frogs immediately made a run for it, each leap as far as a kilometer, but an unlucky one was still caught with the crow's talons before it flew away through the sky bringing its meal for the night!
Mo Xie couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief; 'Further staying here is futile.'
But before Mo Xie could walk away, he saw the location the frogs are staying at; 'A graveyard…'
He looked at the grave until the frog returns before making his way back.
Mo Xie felt that the grave can either be good or bad depending on the circumstance, because a graveyard can only mean two things: "People are living here… or used to be…"
Out of all the races, only the human race is using a graveyard to respectfully make a person rest.
Then, Mo Xie has one other thought; "They can be very good or very bad…"
To live in this place, one needs to be strong, and sometimes… brutal.