Atop the back mountain, where Kaelen and Raizel grew up, a mysterious old Daoist faced the endless horizon with a pensive expression. He peered into the distance as he observed a group of exceptional teenagers entering the Western Wilderness. "Once every myriad years, the two great junctions—Chaos Harmony and Divine Hell—collide and open the gateway to the Inner Cosmos, pitting the three great factions at the peak of power against each other. Each time this occurs, a massive conflict erupts as countless races battle for a chance to enter the Inner Cosmos. We're on the cusp of a new cosmic war, on the scale of the Great Clash of Primordial Times, a war that will affect a majority of the worlds within the two boundless Divine Cosmic Rings. As residual members of the primal immortal clans, all three of you will be at the forefront of the ensuing conflicts. You must grow quickly…" The sage mumbled to himself while watching the group from afar.
He closed his eyes for a moment, and abruptly opened them. A mystic grey light came bursting forth as finger-tip wide complex runic wheels covered both his irises, he turned upward towards a certain region of space; his gaze traveling through spaces rapidly. After about ten minutes, the white around his eyes began to blush and the grey wheels slowly crumbled into tiny dust.
"Cough-cough." Old Dai violently coughs, having similingly overdrawn himself.
"Looking into the star-field center, there already seem to be a increased amount of activity. The Flaming Sun Empire will soon begin to scour the star-field to find nutureable geniuses, it'S subsidiary stellar kingdoms will most likely enter countless worlds in their search, including this one - this world will soon become chaotic." Old Dai waved his hand away from his mouth. Red liquid sprinkled away in small drops as he turned his back and disappeared in a purple glare.
...
"Swoosh-woosh,"
In a highly dense forest with countless interwoven branches, four boys and two girls traveled on foot. The lush environment, marked by thick foliage and underbrush, made it difficult for them to pass through easily, forcing them to occasionally cut down what impeded them. "Gosh, this place is a real drag to traverse. We've been traveling for the last three days, and I don't feel like we've gotten anywhere," complained a fair-featured, purple-haired boy among the group, occasionally waving his short blade. Beads of sweat dripped down his face as the powerful rays of sunlight pierced through the thick trees, bathing his entire body in golden splendor and accentuating the metallic yellow accents of his purple hair strands.
"Rai, you started complaining a few minutes after we set foot in the Western Wilderness; I don't think it will ever get better for you—so you might as well get used to it," retorted a tall, amber-skinned boy. His six-foot-tall, muscular yet slim frame gave him an older appearance, but his bright sun-gem-like eyes still radiated obvious innocence. The highly dimorphic traits of his face—his chiseled jaw and thick hair and brows with a piercing gaze—coupled with the sun-like aura that enveloped his body, exuded an extremely masculine energy.
"Kaelen, how close are we to the first treasure?" Rai asked, ignoring the previous comment, a pained and exasperated look on his face.
"Quite far, actually. All the missions take place in the inner wilderness, which begins roughly five hundred miles from the entrance of the outer wilderness; we have about a few weeks' worth of traveling still. The treasure map for the extreme difficulty mission shows a bunch of areas of interest where we can find other treasures. While not on the level of the Four-leaved Flame Lotus—a heavenly treasure—they are still at least earthly treasures. We can also hope to encounter a few powerful beasts along the way," Kaelen said with a smile, his last sentence filled with excitement.
"Hehh…" Tang Hao, also struggling to walk through the thick foliage, gave a side-long glance at Kaelen. "This freak... he just came back from what—six months, seven months' worth of fighting powerful beasts, and he's still looking forward to fighting."
He wasn't the only one; Raizel and Thorin's eyes also revealed a blank stare. "Chuckle." "Anyways, guys, I think there's a treasure not too far ahead and another day of traveling later," Kaelen dismissed the obvious glares and added.
"What treasure is it?" Tang Hao asked with a curious look.
"I don't actually know," Kaelen shrugged his shoulders and lifted the map to look closely at it. "There's a small picture on the map—Su Yao, take a look. Do you know what this is?" Kaelen pointed at the small drawing along the path they were following.
The gorgeous maiden approached until their shoulders touched and she lifted herself on her toes while peering intently at the small drawing, he lifted the map over his head, shining some light on it and allowing her to see the map clearly.
"Hm?" A light flashed in her deep violet irises. She took a small step back and took a moment to think her long and violet eye-lashes flickered about as she furrowed her brows. After a minute or two, she nodded to herself.
"I think I know what it is," she lifted her small face to look at Kaelen and said with some certainty.
"You do?" He exclaimed in an interrogative manner.
"It should be a Pristine Heart Root; a peak earthly treasure used in various medicinal concoctions or can be ingested for cultivation benefits at the Spirit Realm and above. It doesn't have much benefit for realms below that," she answered in a soft, clear voice.
"Oh." Everyone around reacted. "Spirit Realm, huh. Let's go find it since it'll be useful for most of us in the next few months," Kaelen thought for a bit before deciding what to do.
The group continued to walk for a day and then camped when night came near a fire of their own creation. As they sat in a circle, each held a stick full of meat that they pointed toward the large flame to roast. The rustling sounds of wood burning soothed the atmosphere. The silver and purple moons coated the beautiful and endless greenery in sight; where they sat, high above, the trees were less dense, showing a bright starry sky with countless celestial bodies of different sizes. It was a beautiful scene. While everyone else was talking and enjoying their food, Su Yao hugged her knees as she looked at the vast starry expanse.
Kaelen, who sat at an arm's length, approached further and whispered in her ear. "Hey, Su Yao."
"Hm?" The pretty maiden jumped in surprise, not expecting the sudden call and closeness.
She glared hatefully at Kaelen while pouting her lips, "Why do you always scare me like that?" She mumbled in a half-annoyed, half-embarrassed voice. Her small, oval face had a rosy color distinguishable thanks to the yellow light of the fire and the silver-purple moonlight.
"Haha," Kaelen lightly smiled and also looked at the endless space. "I wanted to ask, do you know if there are signs, we can use to see if we're getting closer to the treasure; like a special environment or something of the sort?" he asked softly.
"Hm!?" Her eyebrows pricked up slightly, realizing he had a real question. Su Yao looked at his handsome face from the corner of her eyes.
"Yes. The Pristine Heart Root can be found beneath the Pristine Heart Tree, a white-colored tree of a mysterious appearance. Depending on how tall the tree is, you can find a few roots beneath; normally, a root is formed every time the tree grows by five meters, so it can get quite large," she explained softly.
"Oh? Five meters, you say. It should be easy to locate then," Kaelen turned towards her in surprise. He looked straight into her eyes at near distance, causing her heart to pound- she avoids his gaze.
"It—it takes a long time for it to grow a meter though, we'd be lucky to even find one tree with a root," she stumbled a bit as she said. "Thump-thump-thump."
Feeling her heart racing, the young girl placed her hand on her chest as she turned away to cover her instability. "Why is my heart so unstable around him, I usually don't get so emotional," she said to herself.
"Time, how much?" Kaelen inquired.
"It takes around a hundred years for the tree to grow a hundred meters; as you know, all plants, trees, and even wildlife to an extent must absorb the essence of the sun and moon, as well as the energy of heaven in order to grow and evolve. The pure and powerful bloodlines amongst monstrous beasts and the rare mysterious plants and trees all absorb these energies to a higher degree than the average life forms, including most humans. For trees to bear fruits at the level of earthly treasures normally requires about ten to fifty years…" Su Yao stopped talking and took a light breath, regaining her composure before continuing. She took a cup from the ground, inside was a greenish boiling liquid. She blew a bit around it, letting some of the heat out, and took a few sips. The Pristine Heart root, however, is quite rare and is amongst the best earth grade natural treasures of heaven and earth, as such, for the Pristine Heart Tree to grow one requires a whopping hundred years. Luckily, every time it grows one root, the speed at which it fosters the next one is doubled," Su Yao took some time and finally finished.
"Haah," Su Yao exhaled lightly as she stopped talking. A self-deprecating smile hung on the corner of her lips.
"Aiyaa, I'm such a coward," she faced away from Kaelen and gently knocked her head on the side.
Watching the girl, Kaelen smiled slightly. He then turned toward the depths of the wilderness, where they would march toward- at dawn.
"According to what Su Yao is saying, we should see the tree soon enough. There are no dedicated beasts guarding the treasure, but animals, as well as humans, also sense powerful treasures—no, they sense those even better than us, so it wouldn't surprise me if a few monstrous animals are eyeing it. None have decided to attack, probably to avoid a fight, but once someone lays his hand on the treasure, they will plunge forward…" Thinking deeply, Kaelen anticipated the struggles they may face soon.
He turned to his friends who were all resting.
Su Yao turned back toward him and then at what he was looking at. Seeing his pensive look, she asked in her soft voice, "What's the matter, what are you thinking about?"
Kaelen raised his eyebrow and turns his lips.
"We aren't that deep within the forest, but we're deep enough that the chance of encountering powerful monsters on the earth lists and above are already high; after all, the Lower Western Wilderness is their largest resting place by far; countless beasts inhabit the lower continent, not to mention the five mysterious great monster beast clans of unknown strength deep within," he slowly explained.
"Oh," Su Yao was a bit taken aback hearing this, her thoughts raced. "He's worried about the beast clans? No, that's not it; he would probably look forward to meeting them instead from what I understand about him," she said to herself.
"Is there something about the presence of those clans that's bothering you?" She asked, taking another sip of her cup.
"No, it's not them that I'm worried about; just like we are close enough to face powerful beasts, we are close enough to the edge to encounter other powerful wandering martial artists, since the ones that come all the way here must have some strength. I'm a bit surprised we haven't encountered many people along the way. However, I sense that will change soon. I'm not worried about other students or anything like that, but here, being under no country or empire's jurisdiction, mercenaries and shady individuals can easily appear," Kaelen finally revealed what had him thinking.
"If that's the case—" right before Su Yao finished her sentence, in a weird coincidence, sounds of steps and branches moving, as well as relatively loud clamor erupted not far from where the group was staying.
Hearing them, Kaelen's large and innocent eyes turned sharp as he looked in the direction of the noise.
"Hey, guys. Look over there. There seems to be people and the place looks good for us to settle down for the night," a loud man's voice erupted through the night, alerting Raizel and the others as they also realized that they weren't alone.
Thorin and Tang Hao both immediately stood to look towards the noise, while Raizel just glanced and kept chatting to Xue Qing, who was also indiferent to the arrivants.