629: I was actually under an illusion?

Who would have thought that after coming in, he didn't even feel any Death Qi…

He walked down the mountain, following the direction of the river, all the way forward.

It was dead silent, quiet, with nothing alive; even the trees looked more like they had withered and died.

After traveling along the river for a day, he finally saw something other than the bare trees.

The skeletal remains of a giant beast, hundreds of meters long, lay on its side in the Wood Lin.

The giant beast was shaped like a fierce tiger, its body covered in a layer of dry, cracked tiger skin, beneath which only dark golden bones remained, covered in incomprehensible text.

Shen Bei still recognized some earth's surface cave text, but most of the text on this was not that kind, though it had a faint glow.

Shen Bei walked to the skeletal remains of the giant beast and merely tapped it lightly.

“Rumble…”

The skeletal remains crumbled like a mountain collapse, shattering into dust, and the tiger skin completely disintegrated, with only a very few tiger bones remaining.

Shen Bei picked up a few of the thick ribs and tapped them with his finger, producing a metallic clang.

“What good Materials?”

Shen Bei was puzzled.

The earth's surface was very interested in the supplies produced in the earth's surface cave.

“This is all money.”

With a thought, Shen Bei put them away.

Although his savings were nearly a hundred million, who would complain about having too much money?

It would be good for buying luxury goods for Jian Tong.

Continuing along the river, the giant trees he encountered grew larger and larger, but they were all bare, with no green leaves to be seen, at most only occasionally some dry leaves hanging from the treetops of some giant trees.

Three days later, there was still no significant change in the surroundings, only the variety of giant trees seemed to have changed somewhat.

From the bare branches, aerial roots hung down, re-inserting themselves into the earth's surface, transforming into thick trunks; looking out, every tree was connected, making it impossible to distinguish which was the original main trunk.

“A single tree forming a Wood Lin…” Shen Bei sighed.

Shen Bei touched the withered giant tree next to him; although these giant trees were immense, upon closer inspection, they did indeed seem to be banyan trees.

He just wondered if there was also a banyan tree demon here…

Back in Wu Bi'an’s Realm, he had been chased like a dog by a tree demon.

Looking at the bare tree trunks around him, Shen Bei didn't dare to think further.

He walked inward along the Wood Lin for three thousand li, and the giant trees he saw grew thicker and thicker, and the dry leaves on the trees also increased, filling Shen Bei's heart with a little hope.

Following the direction of the distribution of the dry leaves, he walked all the way to the center of the Wood Lin, where he finally saw a towering giant tree, standing in the center.

Its main trunk was immensely thick, its crown reached unseen heights, its branches spread out, completely bare, with many large dry leaves sparsely hanging, and a small portion of leaves that had not yet fully withered, still showing a faint hint of green.

Desolate, dead silent.

He could barely feel any vitality, as if it had truly withered and died.

He continued to walk forward.

He saw a misty swamp.

“A bit familiar.”

Shen Bei vaguely remembered that the last time he and Zhuang Bifan entered Wu Bi'an’s Realm, it was a swampy area, where there were many strange water ghosts; he just didn't know if there were any here.

But the experience he had was only relevant until after he crossed the swamp.

He accelerated through several thousand li, constantly using the Seven Stars Steps; without danger, his traveling speed was not slow, covering the distance in less than a day.

After this section, there was indeed a steaming, misty swamp ahead.

Light gray mist floated above the swamp, miasma breeding, and poisonous Qi pervasive.

There were no green water plants to be seen inside, only some places where one could step, with some dry grass remaining; in most places, exposed was semi-dry, semi-wet black mud, or large and small puddles.

Large and small bubbles constantly seeped out of the small puddles, either miasma or poisonous Qi, continuously transforming into light smoke, drifting upward, forming a hazy Qi that enveloped the entire swamp.

As far as the eye could see, he could only make out a few li; beyond that, everything was completely hidden in the fog.

Shen Bei squatted at the edge of the swamp, staring at one of the puddles for a long time, but couldn't see what was inside; besides withered water plants, there was nothing.

He also didn't know where everyone else had landed, or if they were near him.

Perhaps some of the others, with good luck, landed directly near the center…

He, on the other hand, had to honestly cross this black mud swamp…

Taking a shortcut to get in might not be a good thing.

Perhaps the Burial Sea Secret Lord wanted to test his descendants, which is why he made people take a shortcut to get in, only to have to start from the beginning.

After discerning the direction, Shen Bei stepped into the black mud swamp.

The miasma and poisonous Qi here were not a big problem; his poison resistance was already very high, so they couldn't cause any harm to Shen Bei.

After walking for an hour without seeing any monsters appear in the small puddles, Shen Bei secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

However, the True Qi in his Physical Body remained restrained, and the Hidden Breath Technique was temporarily applied to him, just in case.

After half a day of travel, the black mud swamp remained calm, but Shen Bei felt that something was amiss.

Just as he was thinking, he caught a glimpse of a shadow appearing in a puddle to the side.

When he turned to look, he saw nothing; the puddle still contained only withered water plants and continuously seeping poisonous Qi.

Something was wrong.

Shen Bei's brows furrowed; although he hadn't seen it clearly, in that fleeting glance, he distinctly saw what appeared to be a figure beneath the water's surface.

Stopping in his tracks, Shen Bei gritted his teeth and approached the puddle.

What he called a puddle was actually more like a pond, stretching for several hundred zhang, and from the outside, the pond appeared dark.

He squatted by the pond and watched for a long time, seeing nothing, just as Shen Bei was about to stand up and leave.

He saw a human face emerge from beneath the water's surface.

The person's eyes were slightly closed, eyebrows like crescent moons, eyelashes like curtains gently falling, and a gently closed mouth, slightly upturned, with a shy smile.

At first glance, it looked more like a pure and lovely girl next door, shyly closing her eyes, nervously tilting her head up, waiting for the handsome boy next door to bravely kiss her.

Shen Bei leaped a zhang high in surprise, a ripple appeared, and the human face in the water vanished with it…

Landing by the pond, Shen Bei was so startled that a layer of cold sweat appeared on his back, and his hair stood on end.

What the hell!

Shen Bei waited in place for a while, seeing that it seemed to have no aggressive intent, then turned and left.

Leaving the pond, he continued forward.

But the frequency of the girl's appearance grew higher and higher.

He just lowered his head for a glance and saw the girl's face in the roadside puddle, still with a shy and timid smile, her eyebrows slightly trembling as she tilted her face.

And at this moment, he could also see the girl's arms, fair and tender, fingers long and sculpted, gently waving, beckoning Shen Bei to come closer.

The throbbing in Shen Bei's heart grew stronger and stronger; each time he saw the reflection beneath the water, his Physical Body's reaction became more direct.

When both of the girl's arms appeared, and then her upper body…

The girl, clad in a gauze dress, waved her arms as if dancing gracefully in the water; each sway seemed to brush directly against his consciousness, his Divine Soul, captivating his attention.

A wavering occurred between his Physical Body's instinct and his consciousness, and Shen Bei's expression showed a struggle; was the Hidden Breath Technique not working here?

Shen Bei's eyes were sometimes distant, full of expectation, and then, when focused, he avoided it like a snake or scorpion.

After another half day, Shen Bei was utterly exhausted.

He stared at the girl dancing gracefully underwater, clad in a gauze dress, yet like a pipa player half-hidden by her instrument, he could only see her exquisite figure, curves like finely sculpted lines, but no sensitive points at all.

It was like scratching an itch through a boot, gently teasing, teasing at one's heart…