She tried her best not to think about Gu Li and focused on improving her spiritual power. Soon, the morning of the day after tomorrow arrived.
Staying up all night took a toll on Yong Shanling. She forced a smile and looked at Mu Yijie. Seeing her exhaustion, he tapped her on the head and sighed.
"Don't do this again. You look so weak today."
Yong Shanling yawned and lay on his back, smiling playfully. "Got it, Uncle Shu. I'll just take a nap in the car and I'll be fine."
As soon as the car started, Yong Shanling leaned against Mu Yijie and fell asleep. He looked at the materials about the Misty Forest in his hand, feeling quite troubled.
Most of them were just urban legends. A hundred - member expedition team went into the forest but none of them returned. Developers who tried to develop the forest encountered ten strange incidents in a row, and so on.
Finally, Mu Yijie just glanced through the materials casually and threw them aside. "They're all useless stuff."
The closer they got to the forest, the darker the sky became. Dark clouds covered the sky and drifted with the wind, hovering in the gloomy air. After an unknown amount of time, drops of water started to fall on the window, one by one, then two by two...
The heavy rain poured down non - stop. The dark sky seemed as if it was about to collapse at any moment. The loud sound of the rain woke Yong Shanling from her deep sleep.
She rubbed her eyes and sat up, looking a bit dazed. Maybe because she had just woken up, her head ached. "Uncle Shu, haven't we arrived yet?"
Not getting a response from the person beside her, she turned around curiously. Mu Yijie was also asleep, leaning against the window. Without the coldness and defensiveness on his face, he looked like a big boy.
Yong Shanling moved closer to his face and looked at his long, slender eyelashes and fair skin. She suddenly felt a bit jealous that he was so good - looking.
"Have you had enough of staring?"
Mu Yijie's sudden voice startled her. She playfully slapped his shoulder.
"Why did you scare me?"
Mu Yijie rubbed his nose and stretched. Looking at the forest that was starting to take shape in the distance, he said casually,
"It's your fault for suddenly getting so close. I thought something was wrong."
"Little one, there's something following us."
Qing Yuan suddenly spoke up, making her immediately vigilant. She looked back and saw a black car following them. But... it seemed vaguely familiar.
"Uncle Shu, did you ask someone else to come?"
"I didn't, but Ye Lin asked Ye Sen to come."
Hearing Mu Yijie's words, she slightly let down her guard and told Qing Yuan telepathically.
"Don't worry. He's one of us."
As the heavy rain gradually stopped, the forest revealed itself. The once - gloomy forest now seemed full of vitality, lush and green, exuding a pleasant coolness.
Sunlight filtered through the layers of branches and leaves, shining sparsely on the grass. Countless spiritual flowers bloomed on the grass. Birds in the forest flew and chirped in the air, and the gurgling sound of the stream echoed in the gentle breeze.
The three of them got out of the car. The biggest problem was how to pass through the barrier and enter the forest.
"Qing Yuan, how do we get into the forest?"
"Near the river, there's an entrance to a stone cave. But we need tokens. Each person has a special token. Unfortunately, when we were expelled, our tokens might have become invalid."
"Can I have a look?"
As soon as Yong Shanling finished speaking, a token landed in her hand.
"What's this?" Ye Sen was a bit confused when he saw the suddenly - appearing token.
"This is the token to enter the forest, but it's already invalid."
Ye Sen took the token and waved his hand. The token changed its appearance, but it was still more or less the same.
"Will this work?"
"It's just a disguise. We can add a bit of hypnosis later and it should be okay."
The three of them walked along the river for a while and saw a cave entrance. But before they could go in, two rat demons came out.
"Who are you?"
Yong Shanling didn't answer. She just took out the token. The two rat demons took the token without looking closely and let them pass. Everything was so easy that she could hardly believe it.
"Looks like these rat demons are still as stupid as ever after all these years." Qing Sui chuckled.
"This will make our mission a bit easier." Yong Shanling also felt lucky at this moment.
"Little one, the Misty Forest is not as simple as you think. There are plenty of cunning things in there."
"What do you mean?"
Qing Sui interrupted Qing Yuan, smiled, and said, "It's a secret of the heavens. You'll know when you get into the forest."
After walking into the forest for a while, there was no change, and the marks they had left were still nowhere to be seen.
"Qing Yuan, did we go the wrong way?"
"Seems not. Everything here looks almost the same."
Mu Yijie took her hand and walked forward. "Where should we look for the supreme spiritual beasts?"
"Actually, the supreme spiritual beasts are considered the highest - level spiritual beasts by most people. But in fact, there are four levels among spiritual beasts. Qing Yuan and Qing Sui are the highest - level ones. Since Wu Shu didn't specify, we can just catch five lower - level ones for him."
"Who are Qing Sui and Qing Yuan?" Ye Sen was a bit confused by their conversation.
"Can you come out?"
Yong Shanling asked tentatively.
"Of course we can, little one."
A wisp of green smoke slowly rose in front of the three of them, and then Qing Yuan and Qing Sui appeared. When Qing Sui saw Ye Sen, she couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and Qing Yuan looked at her.
Seeing that something seemed wrong with them, Yong Shanling thought something had happened.
"What's wrong? Is there something nearby?"
Qing Sui glanced at Ye Sen and then looked away. She answered absent - mindedly,
"No, nothing. It's just that the surrounding aura is a bit strange."
Ye Sen looked at the two women without showing any emotion in his eyes. "What's so strange? I haven't sensed anything approaching."
Just as Qing Yuan was about to retort, Qing Sui raised her hand to stop her. "I've lived for a thousand years. Do you think I'm worse than you, a little one who's only been around for a few decades?"
"In the path of cultivation, it's about strength, not how long you've been cultivating. Even if you've been cultivating for a long time, it's useless if your cultivation skills are not high."
"Looks like we're not good enough in your eyes, even though we're at the tribulation - crossing stage."
Qing Sui took out her fan and waved it playfully, looking at Ye Sen with an indescribable affection in her eyes.
"You..."
"Alright, Ye Sen. Let's go. Don't waste any more time."
Seeing that the two of them were arguing non - stop while Yong Shanling was watching from the side, Mu Yijie had no choice but to step in.
Ye Sen glared at Qing Sui angrily after seeing that the others had already left, then followed them. He didn't know what was wrong with him. Whenever he met this woman, it seemed that his emotions were completely in her control.