Although it was noon with a bright glaring sun in the sky, Huang Xiaolong, the little cow, and void devil beast Xu Baisheng felt cold yin qi brushing across their skins, while they stood in front of the Odious Ghosts Forest.
It felt as if they were standing in an ancient cemetery.
Huang Xiaolong could see wisps of black-energy currents floating and rolling within the forest with his Eye of Hell. There was a hint of green-energy current interwoven between the black-energy currents.
The black-energy current was ghost qi while the green-energy current was cold yin qi.
As Huang Xiaolong's group of three stood in front of the Odious Ghosts Forest, a group of twelve disciples clad in exquisite ember-colored battle robes was traveling towards them. Each one of these twelve disciples was a powerful cultivator, with their strength ranging from Eighth Order, Ninth Order, and even early Tenth Order Ancient God Realm.
Looking at these disciples' exquisite ember-colored battle robes, Huang Xiaolong immediately identified them as disciples of Clear Spirit World's Burning Sky Sect. The Burning Sky Sect was a prominent first-rank force, even though they could not be compared to Xiao Family.
'Are these Burning Sky Sect disciples planning to train inside the Odious Ghosts Forest?'
Even though the Odious Ghosts Forest was one of the Clear Spirit World's six perilous lands that was filled with sinister ghosts, it was also a popular training spot for many first-rank forces and top sects' disciples.
Moreover, numerous Clear Spirit World's masters were buried inside the Odious Ghosts Forest during the ancient times, and buried with them were various treasures. If these disciples were lucky, they had a great chance of bumping into these treasures left behind by ancient masters, while training in the forest.
Just as Huang Xiaolong glanced at the group of disciples, they also saw Huang Xiaolong.
"An early Seventh Order Ancient God Realm?"
"Haha, do you guys see that? An early Seventh Order Ancient God Realm disciple wants to enter the Odious Ghosts Forest alone."
Burning Sky Sect's disciple Du Gao pointed at Huang Xiaolong and laughed loudly.
The sinister ghosts inside the Odious Ghosts Forest were quite strong. One could easily come across high-level Ancient God Realm strength ghosts, even at the outer edge of the forest. Therefore, very few Seventh Order Ancient God Realm disciples dared to enter the Odious Ghosts Forest alone.
Given this, Burning Sky Sect's disciple Du Gao could hardly be blamed for laughing at Huang Xiaolong.
Huang Xiaolong could clearly see that this Burning Sky Sect's disciple bore no ill-will towards him, as it was merely a passing mention to his companions.
In a few moments, the Burning Sky Sect's group arrived next to Huang Xiaolong.
"Little brother, are you planning to enter the Odious Ghosts Forest? Since you are alone, you are a little lacking in strength, do you want to follow us?" A delicate and pretty looking Burning Sky Sect's female disciple with an almond-shaped face asked Huang Xiaolong, as she smiled at him.
'Little brother?' Huang Xiaolong blanked for a second after hearing the Burning Sky Sect's female disciple calling him little brother.
This term was really… different!
The little cow pressed her lips together as she tried hard to hold in her laughter.
Huang Xiaolong smiled wryly and declined, "Thank you, Sister. There's no need to trouble all of you. I can enter alone by myself."
Since someone had already called Huang Xiaolong 'little brother,' it was only right that he returned the courtesy by calling the other 'Sister.'
Burning Sky Sect's disciple Guo Jie was stunned at Huang Xiaolong's answer, she hadn't expected in the slightest that he would refuse.
Generally speaking, the expected reaction in this kind of situation would have been to be overjoyed and then agreeing to follow them...right?
Burning Sky Sect's other disciples were also surprised by Huang Xiaolong's refusal.
"Hey hey! Senior Sister Guo Jie, the little brother doesn't appreciate your kindness." One of the disciples named Liu Yang, joked.
Du Gao laughed, "A man, right? They surely need to maintain their reputation."
Guo Jie tried to persuade Huang Xiaolong, "Small little brother, you really don't want to come with us? Although being 'manly' is important, but being alive beats that. Also, it must have been difficult for you to cultivate until the Seventh Order Ancient God Realm, then why throw away all those efforts over being stubbornly 'manly'."
Obviously, she had thought that Huang Xiaolong was refusing because he wanted to maintain his 'manly' reputation.
Huang Xiaolong was speechless.
Initially, Guo Jie had called him a 'little brother', but now, she had added 'small' in front of it.
"I'm just going inside to take a look, just for a few days and then I'll leave. So, there is really no need to trouble anyone." Huang Xiaolong could only politely explain it this way.
He couldn't be rude and say—'in truth I am stronger than all of you, and one of me can replace all of you, therefore, I don't need your protection.'
"Only going in to take a look?" Guo Jie nodded then said, "Alright then, but you must be careful even if you're just going in to take a look."
Huang Xiaolong nodded and said, "Yes." This exchange left a good impression of this Burning Sky Sect's female disciple on Huang Xiaolong.
Whether it had been in his past life or the present one, such kind people were rare to come by.
"Let's go." Guo Jie looked over her shoulder and said to the others. Clearly, she was the leader in this group of disciples.
A moment later, the Burning Sky Sect's disciples broke through the thick yin ghost qi and flew into the Odious Ghosts Forest. A few moments later, they disappeared from Huang Xiaolong's line of sight.
"Small little brother, you really don't want to come with us?" The little cow imitated Guo Jie's voice as she blinked her eyes at Huang Xiaolong.
Huang Xiaolong smacked her butt and commanded, "Let's go!"
The throbbing pain on her butt made her look grievously at Huang Xiaolong, as she complained, "Master, I am a girl, don't always smack my butt."
All of a sudden, Huang Xiaolong felt cold sweat trickling down his forehead.
The three of them soon entered the Odious Ghosts Forest.
Sinister yin ghost qi rushed towards them as soon as they entered the forest from all around, like great waves.
Huang Xiaolong's Archdevil Supreme Godhead began spinning and it instantly started devouring the yin ghost qi from his vicinity into his body.
The yin ghost qi had appeared from the ground after numerous Clear Spirit World's experts had died in the ancient times. No doubt it would be beneficial if a cultivator could refine this yin ghost qi.
Thus, Huang Xiaolong traveled onwards with the little cow and Xu Baisheng as he continued refining the yin ghost qi.
Huang Xiaolong kept as close to the outer edge of the forest as possible, even though a Second Order Ancestor God Realm Xu Baisheng was accompanying him.
Although keeping to the outer edge of the forest would take them more time to reach their destination, they could still reach the Stone Buddha Mainland in two to two and a half months, with their current speed.
There were a total of seven mainlands in the Clear Spirit World, and the Stone Buddha Mainland was the biggest amongst all the seven mainlands.
Furthermore, the Xiao Family's territory on the Stone Buddha Mainland was adjacent to the Odious Ghosts Forest. After passing through the Odious Ghosts Forest, Huang Xiaolong's group would reach the Xiao City, Xiao Family's headquarters in another ten days' time.
…
Time flew by and six days passed in the blink of an eye.
At night, one could barely see the moon from inside the Odious Ghosts Forest.
During this particular night, Huang Xiaolong's group was resting by a bonfire in a small valley.
Even though a bonfire had a great chance of attracting sinister ghosts, Huang Xiaolong's group was not too concerned about it. Taking their strengths into consideration, even if all of the sinister ghosts at the outer edge of Odious Ghosts Forest were to attack them, they could still leave unscathed.
After all, three of them were well fed and watered with meat and wine. Therefore, Huang Xiaolong began cultivating the Grandmist Parasitic Medium beside the bonfire.
In the last two years, his Grandmist Parasitic Medium had improved significantly, reaching the peak late-first stage. Judging from this, he'd be able to breakthrough to the second stage very soon. When that happened, he could try to resurrect that petrified divine elephant at the Ten Thousand Elephant Royal City.
While Huang Xiaolong was cultivating, there were sudden sounds of whistling winds in the distance.
"The Ghost Manor has appeared again! I wonder if it's true!"
"It's probably true! From the news that I have heard—because of the Ghost Manor's appearance, the Xiao Family, Chen Family, Ma Family, and many other forces' genius disciples have appeared in the Odious Ghosts Forest."
"Is the Ghost Manor holding another Ghost Conference?"
"Wrong, it is said that this time, the Ghost Manor's Lord is going to select a personal disciple!"
"Tsk, tsk, the Ghost Manor's Lord's personal disciple... I wonder who will be so lucky to catch the eye of the Ghost Manor's Lord!"