After listening to Xiao Jin's words, Liu Yunqing felt that her life was one of being pushed forward, where stopping meant certain death.

With a long sigh, Liu Yunqing cleaned up his spatial storage bracelet and made a rough plan for his cultivation during the training. The sky was already beginning to lighten.

As the first rays of dawn broke and they completed two cycles of spiritual energy circulation, the five of them tacitly opened their room doors, gathered in the living room, and continued their journey.

Since Jihunjian is not affiliated with any faction, it is naturally not in a good location. It would take two or three months to travel by flying boat from Luoxia City.

In the two or three months that were neither long nor short, the five of them gradually became truly familiar with each other.

Of course, familiarity does not equate to harmony.

As the flying boat slowly came to a stop outside the Soul-Gathering Forest, Feng Piaopiao and Ruan Qing had already started arguing for the twenty-eighth time.

As for the reason for the argument? There was no reason.

If we had to find a reason, it would be that one of them was sarcastic and the other was sarcastic.

Liu Yunqing reached out and expressionlessly separated the two, then leisurely disembarked from the flying boat. Wuchen and Zhuoying, unwilling to be affected, hurriedly followed closely behind Liu Yunqing.

After the three disembarked from the flying boat, Liu Yunqing turned around and immediately put the flying boat away, without even looking at the two who had been thrown out and almost fell flat on their faces.

"I didn't sense any fluctuations in the formation."

After observing the Soul-Possessing Forest for a while, Zhuo Ying spoke first.

Liu Yunqing nodded and turned to look at Wuchen:

"Shall we go in now? Or should we find a place to make a temporary cave first?"

Looking at the dense forest, which moved without wind and was clearly green yet eerily cold, Wuchen's clear and ethereal eyes held a hint of provocation as he looked at Liu Yunqing and said:

"A temporary cave dwelling built in the Soul-Gathering Forest, do you dare?"

Wuchen wouldn't harm her, Liu Yunqing's answer was crisp and clear:

"dare!"

Zhuo Ying's dark eyes swept over the two of them, wondering if they should ask me too.

Clearly, neither of them had that intention.

By the time the arguing duo realized something was wrong, the group of five had already reached the edge of the Soul-Gathering Forest.

"Stop! If we keep arguing, I feel really creeped out."

After Feng Piaopiao told Ruan Qing to stop, she shrank back and rubbed her arms, a hint of relief in her expression, and asked Liu Yunqing:

"Zhenru, why don't we find a temporary cave dwelling before going in?"

Before Liu Yunqing could speak, Zhuo Ying spoke up expressionlessly:

"Because the cave dwelling was chosen to be located in the Soul-Gathering Forest."

"Huh?" Ruan Qing reacted the most, almost jumping up upon hearing this, hugging herself tightly and saying:

"Why isn't anyone objecting? Senior Sister Zhuo, why didn't you stop them!"

Zhuo Ying rolled her eyes and said without any politeness:

"What? Are you planning to argue with me now?"

Upon hearing this, Ruan Qing pursed her lips, then softened her tone and said:

"Why would Senior Sister Zhuo say that about me? We are the real fellow disciples!"

As he spoke, he reached out to hug Zhuo Ying's arm, but Zhuo Ying quickly stepped aside, gesturing a refusal:

"As the team leader, Fellow Daoist Zhenru, we will naturally follow your lead in everything."

After Zhuo Ying finished speaking, she followed Liu Yunqing into the Soul-Gathering Forest.

Ruan Qing had no rebuttal. Seeing that everyone else had gone in, she quickly followed.

"Feng Piaopiao, slow down, wait for me!"

"You were just scolding me, and now you know to make me wait?"

"..."

The eerie atmosphere of the Soul-Ghost Forest remained, but the trees swayed more and more, even making a "whooshing" sound, as if they were being disturbed from their sleep.

The two who had been arguing had stopped arguing at some point, and like the other three, their faces were now solemn and wary.

"call--"

A gust of cold wind swept by, carrying a bone-chilling cold that seeped into their bodies.

Ruan Qing, whose cultivation was the weakest, was suddenly hit by a gust of wind, and her teeth chattered from the cold. Even her spiritual energy shield couldn't keep her warm.

"What kind of eerie wind is this? It's so cold!"

"You...you two don't seem cold at all?"

Ruan Qing looked at Feng Piaopiao and Zhuo Ying, whose situations were not much different from her own, and then at Liu Yunqing and Wuchen, who had no reaction, and asked in confusion.

Wuchen glanced around but didn't answer Ruan Qing's question. However, he began to turn the prayer beads in his hand, and the group felt a hazy light spreading from Wuchen's body, causing the cold wind to stop and warmth to spread wherever it went.

Seeing this, Liu Yunqing thought of something and said to Wuchen:

"Don't waste your spiritual energy, just put this on."

As he spoke, he flipped his wrist, and several small sachets appeared in his hand.

As soon as Liu Yunqing took out the sachet, a large area of ​​forest around them, centered on the group of people, fell silent.

The biting wind and chilling cold seemed to filter out this area, isolating it from all else.

"One for each person, and keep it close to your body as much as possible during your stay in the Soul-Gathering Valley."

Having witnessed the efficacy of this simple, even somewhat ugly, sachet, everyone readily reached out and took it, obediently placing it close to their bodies, without uttering a single criticism of its appearance.

Including Ruan Qing, who usually loves Yin-Yang Liu Yunqing the most.

After distributing the sachets with a stern face, Liu Yunqing secretly breathed a sigh of relief when she saw everyone looking obedient.

There was no other way. In order not to expose the Fusang Divine Tree, Liu Yunqing did not give the leaves directly. Instead, he mixed the leaves with other spices, sewed them into sachets, and then gave them to the people.

Despite the enhancement of her cultivator's magic, the needlework she produced, well, at least contained both spices and sacred tree leaves.

However, none of that mattered. Seeing that no one was criticizing her handiwork, Liu Yunqing quickly returned to normal and gestured for Wuchen to continue leading the way.

The other three showed no surprise, guessing that the sachet was valuable, but they only assumed it was made from a variety of medicinal herbs and did not think anything of it.

Wuchen, who was walking at the front, had his back to everyone and looked no different from his usual handsome and otherworldly self. Only the shock in his eyes showed that he was not as ignorant as the others about the contents of the sachet.

At this moment, Wuchen vaguely understood why his master always made him revolve around Liu Yunqing.

At the same time, he began to realize what his master was hiding in his furrowed brows and what scheme he was trying to find in his broken knuckles.

Wuchen's steps became more steady, and his otherworldly demeanor more composed.

Liu Yunqing, who was following behind, looked up at Wuchen's back with some confusion.

She felt that Wuchen's aura had just changed, but upon closer inspection, she couldn't see any difference.

Before Liu Yunqing could investigate further, Wuchen, who was walking ahead, pointed at Liu Yunqing and said:

"Let's choose this place as our temporary cave dwelling. It's the only place where sunlight can shine in. If we go any further, it will be difficult for ordinary people not to have their minds affected."

"Then let's build the temporary cave dwelling on that mountain wall."

Liu Yunqing glanced around and noticed that the nearby vegetation was indeed somewhat different from the rest of the forest, so he nodded in approval.

However, she didn't know if it was just her imagination, but she always felt that when Wuchen talked about ordinary people, his gaze lingered on her for a moment.