Chapter 251: Outside the Forbidden Zone

Over the next three days, Jiang Jiang Qinge and Li Luo's two squads handled five first-grade purification towers without rest, and only now did Li Luo and the others truly understand what high-intensity combat meant.

In those three days, actual rest time could be counted on one hand; the three of them had to maintain intense concentration at all times, because after seeing that they could handle a first-grade purification tower on their own, Jiang Jiang Qinge no longer gave them full protection. Sometimes when advancing through a first-grade purification tower, although she no longer let them handle things alone, she would still assign them a direction to be responsible for.

During this period, they naturally encountered quite a few troublesome aberrations, but fortunately, as their experience gradually grew, Li Luo and the others were no longer as raw as they had been at the very beginning when dealing with aberrations.

However, the Black Swan Squad's pace of advancement was simply too fast. The aberrations near those first-grade purification towers posed no threat to them, but for the Justice Squad, they were powerful enemies that required their full effort to deal with.

So every time Li Luo and the others exerted themselves to clear the direction they were responsible for, the Black Swan Squad had already activated the purification tower and was waiting for them to regroup.

Then, without giving them much rest time, they immediately relocated and headed for the next target.

Such a high-intensity method gave Li Luo and the others a thorough taste of hardship. However, even the seemingly more delicate Bai Bai Mengmeng among the three never opened her mouth to request a reduction in intensity, instead gritting her teeth and stubbornly keeping up with the speed and rhythm of the advance.

This tenacity, on the other hand, somewhat surprised Senior Qiu Bai and Tian Tian.

This Justice Squad truly lived up to its reputation as the number one squad among the freshmen. Although it still appeared somewhat green at the moment, the potential it had revealed could no longer be underestimated.

Given time, it might well become a top-tier powerhouse squad in the Sacred Mystic Star Academy.

However, over these three days, although Li Luo and the others were pushed to a wretched state, it was not without gains. The constantly accumulating academy points were an important motivation that supported the three of them in gritting their teeth and persevering. Another point was that under such high pressure, all three of them could clearly feel their own phaseforce increasing rapidly.

Three short days were equivalent to half a month of bitter cultivation in the academy.

Indeed, within this Dark Cave, if one could withstand the dangers brought by those aberrations, it could indeed be considered an excellent cultivation holy land.

And with three days of high-intensity advancement, Jiang Jiang Qinge, Li Luo, and the rest finally arrived at the destination for this initial phase.

The outer perimeter of the forbidden zone.

Li Luo and the others stood on a hill, gazing into the distance. They saw the rolling mountains rising up, shrouded in mist, with not the slightest bit of the oppressive black fog to be found.

The malice pollution within seemed not to exist either.

If not for the black fog still flowing through the surrounding world, Li Luo and the others would have had the illusion of being outside at this moment.

But these illusions were ultimately snuffed out, because they all understood that the seemingly tranquil mountains before them were not the peaceful place they appeared to be.

On the contrary, the dangers within were countless times more ferocious than those around any purification tower they had encountered before.

Because hidden within those mountains was an extremely terrifying spirit beast.

It was a vicious creature that could even escape the pursuit of the academy's Purple Radiance mentors.

With the strength of students like them, once targeted, they would almost certainly die.

"That spirit beast has been holed up deep in the mountains year-round, rarely venturing out, and our target, the Dark Spirit Pool, is only at the outer perimeter of the mountains. Over the years, quite a few students have come to this Dark Spirit Pool, but none of them have ever drawn the attention of that spirit beast."

"So you don't need to worry too much," Jiang Jiang Qinge said soothingly to Li Luo and the others after gazing into the depths of the mountains for a moment.

Li Luo and the others nodded, their gazes sweeping in all directions, and then they noticed that some groups of students had also appeared here. Judging by the direction they were heading, it was clearly the same as theirs.

"The Dark Spirit Pool is an extremely 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, and if you arrive late, the effect will be diminished," Tian Tian explained to Li Luo.

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

Jiang Jiang Qinge nodded and smiled at Li Luo and the others: "You've worked hard these three days. Bringing you to this Dark Spirit Pool now is meant as a token of appreciation for you."

Li Luo and the others exchanged glances, a hint of anticipation in their eyes.

"Let's go."

Jiang Jiang Qinge didn't say much more, taking the lead straight ahead, walking down Gao Po toward the direction of the outer perimeter of those mountains.

Li Luo and the others hurried to follow.

By the time they reached the outer perimeter of the forbidden zone mountains, half an hour had already passed. The mountain path was steep, but as they approached these mountains, the black fog permeating the world had indeed become much thinner.

Led by Jiang Jiang Qinge and the others, Li Luo and the three of them sped through the mountains. After a while, Li Luo's field of vision suddenly opened up, and a wide clearing appeared before him.

This clearing was extremely peculiar. The ground was covered in black lotus leaves, each roughly a zhang wide, and at this moment, several figures were already standing on these black lotus leaves.

Li Luo's gaze swept further ahead, and then he saw that at the central position, there was a pool of deep cyan. Within the deep pool, waves of extremely majestic world energy surged out. The intensity of that energy was such that even from some distance away, Li Luo still felt a pressure.

There was no pool water within the deep pool; instead, it was filled with extremely dense world energy.

Clearly, this cyan deep pool was the target of Li Luo's trip—the Dark Spirit Pool!

And with the appearance of Jiang Jiang Qinge, Li Luo, and the others, they also drew the attention of every figure present. And when they saw Jiang Jiang Qinge, their expressions all shifted slightly.

Generally, students from the Three-Star Academy wouldn't bother spending time at this second-grade Dark Spirit Pool, since they had already cultivated here many times and the benefits were gradually diminishing, leading them to prefer higher-grade pools. Jiang Jiang Qinge and her two companions were elites of the Three-Star Academy, so the three of them certainly didn't look down on this second-grade Dark Spirit Pool; yet they still came here. The reason was self-evident—clearly for Li Luo and the others.

But every time this Dark Spirit Pool erupted, there were too many monks and too little porridge; fierce competition was inevitable.

Regarding these gazes, Jiang Jiang Qinge didn't care at all. Her slender jade finger flicked lightly, and the heavy sword in her hand suddenly shot out, wrapped in majestic light phaseforce, descending from the sky and plunging directly into the black lotus leaf closest to the Dark Spirit Pool.

On the heavy sword, light phaseforce bloomed, seemingly forming a light shield that withstood the violent impact erupting from the Dark Spirit Pool.

"This position, I'm taking it," Jiang Jiang Qinge said calmly.

Li Luo and the others blinked. Although they still didn't quite understand the mechanics of this Dark Spirit Pool, it was obvious that the closer to the Dark Spirit Pool, the greater the advantage.

And the Dark Spirit Pool was constantly erupting with energy impacts. Jiang Jiang Qinge's move directly secured a spot for them, and the light phaseforce emanating from the heavy sword could also alleviate their pressure.

What a thoughtful thigh to cling to.

In the clearing, many students exchanged glances. The spot where the heavy sword landed was one of the best positions here. They had been eyeing it covetously, trying to inch their way forward step by step, but they hadn't expected Jiang Jiang Qinge to arrive and directly claim it.

But in the end, they said nothing, after all, good positions weren't limited to that one; there was no need to clash with Jiang Jiang Qinge.

However, clearly not everyone thought this way.

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

As a voice suddenly rang out, everyone's hearts skipped a beat, and then their gazes turned that way. They wanted to know just who had such audacity to confront Jiang Jiang Qinge directly.