Chapter 251: Outside the Forbidden Zone

Over the next three days, the teams of Jiang Qing'e and Li Luo worked without rest to process five Level 1 Purification Towers, and it was only now that the three of them—Li Luo and his companions—truly understood what high-intensity combat meant.

In those three days, the time they actually spent resting could be counted on one hand, and the three of them had to maintain a high level of mental focus at all times; because after seeing them successfully process a Level 1 Purification Tower on their own, Jiang Qing'e no longer provided them with full protection, and sometimes, while advancing on a Level 1 Purification Tower, although she would not let them handle it alone, she would assign them a specific direction to be responsible for.

During this period, they naturally encountered more than a few tricky Otherkind, but fortunately, as their experience gradually grew, Li Luo and his two companions were no longer as green as they had been at the start when dealing with them.

It was just that the Black Swan team's pace of advancement was simply too fast; the Otherkind near those Level 1 Purification Towers posed no threat to them, but for the Justice team, they were formidable enemies that required their full strength to combat.

Therefore, every time Li Luo and his companions exhausted themselves to clear their assigned direction, the Black Swan team would have already activated the purification tower and would be waiting for them to regroup.

Then, without giving them much time to rest, they would immediately move to the next target.

Such a high-intensity method put Li Luo and his companions through a lot of hardship, but even Bai Mengmeng, who looked relatively delicate among the three, never once asked to slow down the intensity, instead gritting her teeth and stubbornly keeping up with the pace and rhythm of the advance.

This resilience actually surprised Qiu Bai and Tian Tian.

This Justice team was indeed worthy of being the number one ranked team among the freshmen; even if they still appeared a bit green at the moment, the potential they had displayed could no longer be underestimated.

Given time, it was not impossible for them to become a top-tier elite team in the Saint Xuanxing Academy.

However, over these three days, although Li Luo and his companions were pushed to a state of utter exhaustion, it was not without its rewards; the constantly accumulating academy points were an important motivation that supported the three of them in gritting their teeth and persevering, and another point was that under such high pressure, all three of them could clearly feel their own resonant power growing rapidly.

A mere three days were worth half a month of bitter cultivation in the academy.

Sure enough, if one could withstand the dangers brought by those Otherkind, this Dark Cave could be considered an excellent sacred site for cultivation.

And following three days of high-intensity advancement, Jiang Qing'e, Li Luo, and their group finally arrived at their initial destination.

The outskirts of the Forbidden Zone.

Li Luo and the others stood on a hill, gazing into the distance; they saw rolling mountains standing tall, with clouds and mist swirling among them, and there was not a trace of the oppressive black mist that made one feel stifled.

The evil-thought pollution within seemed to not exist at all.

If not for the black mist still flowing in the world around them, Li Luo and the others would have had the illusion of being in the outside world.

But these illusions were ultimately extinguished, because they all understood that this picturesque mountain range before them was by no means the peaceful place they imagined.

On the contrary, the danger within was countless times more ferocious than any of the areas around the purification towers they had encountered before.

Because hidden within those mountains was a Spirit Beast of terrifying strength.

It was a fierce creature that could even escape the pursuit of the academy's Purple-tier mentors.

With the strength of students like them, once they were targeted, they would likely die without a doubt.

"That Spirit Beast has been holed up in the depths of the mountain range for years and rarely comes out, while our target, the Dark Spirit Pool, is only located on the outskirts of the mountain range. Over the years, many students have come to this Dark Spirit Pool, but none have ever attracted the attention of that Spirit Beast."

"So you don't need to worry too much." Jiang Qing'e stared into the depths of the mountain range for a moment, then reassured Li Luo and his companions.

Li Luo and his companions nodded, looking around in all directions, and then discovered that they could see groups of students appearing here as well; looking at the direction they were heading, it was clearly the same as theirs.

"The Dark Spirit Pool is a very popular place in the Dark Cave, so every time the Dark Cave opens, students will rush here. After all, the energy contained in each Dark Spirit Pool is limited; if you arrive late, the effect will be worse," Tian Tian explained to Li Luo.

"Our speed is quite good; we should be able to catch the first wave of the most vigorous energy at the Dark Spirit Pool."

Jiang Qing'e nodded and smiled at Li Luo and his companions: "You've worked hard these past three days. Bringing you to this Dark Spirit Pool now is a consolation for you."

Li Luo and his companions exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with some anticipation.

"Let's go."

Jiang Qing'e did not say much more, walking straight ahead first, descending the high slope, and heading toward the outskirts of the mountain range.

Li Luo and the others hurriedly followed.

By the time they reached the outskirts of the Forbidden Zone mountain range, half an hour had passed. The mountain paths were steep, but as they approached this mountain range, the black mist permeating the world became much thinner.

Led by Jiang Qing'e and the others, Li Luo and his companions traveled rapidly through the mountains. After a while, the view before Li Luo suddenly opened up, and he saw a spacious clearing appear before his eyes.

This area was extremely peculiar; the ground was covered with black lotus leaves, each about a zhang wide, and at this moment, some figures were already standing on these black lotus leaves.

Li Luo looked further ahead and saw that in the central position, there was a deep cyan pool. Within the deep pool, extremely vigorous heaven and earth energy surged out in waves; the strength of that energy was such that even from a distance, Li Luo could still feel a sense of oppressive force.

Inside the deep pool, there was no water, but rather it was filled with extremely dense heaven and earth energy.

Clearly, this cyan deep pool was the target of their trip: the Dark Spirit Pool!

And with the appearance of Jiang Qing'e, Li Luo, and the others, they attracted the attention of everyone present, and when they saw Jiang Qing'e, their expressions all changed slightly.

Generally, Third Star Academy students would not spend time coming to this Level 2 Dark Spirit Pool because they had already cultivated here many times, and the cultivation effect was gradually weakening, so they would tend toward higher-level Dark Spirit Pools. Jiang Qing'e and her two companions were the elite of the Third Star Academy, so the three of them would not look down upon this Level 2 Dark Spirit Pool, but the fact that they still came here made the answer self-evident: it was clearly for Li Luo and his companions.

However, every time this Dark Spirit Pool erupted, there were more monks than gruel, and fierce competition was inevitable.

Jiang Qing'e did not care about these gazes. With a light flick of her slender jade finger, the heavy sword in her hand suddenly shot out, carrying vigorous Light resonant power as it descended from the sky and plunged directly onto the black lotus leaf closest to the Dark Spirit Pool.

On the heavy sword, Light resonant power bloomed, seemingly forming a light barrier to resist the violent impact erupting from the Dark Spirit Pool.

"I want this spot," Jiang Qing'e said calmly.

Li Luo and his companions blinked; although they did not quite understand the mechanism of this Dark Spirit Pool, it was clear that the closer one was to the Dark Spirit Pool, the greater the advantage.

And since the Dark Spirit Pool was constantly erupting with energy impacts, Jiang Qing'e's action directly secured a spot for them, while the Light resonant power radiating from the heavy sword could also alleviate their pressure.

This thigh to hug was very thoughtful.

In the clearing, many students looked at each other. The spot where the heavy sword landed was considered one of the best positions here. They had been eyeing it covetously, trying to advance step by step, but they had not expected that as soon as Jiang Qing'e arrived, she would take it directly.

However, in the end, they said nothing; after all, there were other good spots, and there was no need to clash with Jiang Qing'e.

But clearly, not everyone thought so.

"Senior Sister Jiang, doing this seems a bit against the rules, doesn't it?"

As a voice rang out abruptly, everyone's heart skipped a beat, and then they cast their gazes over, wanting to know who had the courage to confront Jiang Qing'e directly.