233: Chapter 233 Temptation

"... I tell you, the Wuxiang Sect we are currently in can only be considered a second-rate Sect in the entire Eastern Region. Above it, there are those true first-rate Sects, and even the legendary Holy Land! The Disciples there are all heaven's pride, and it is said that they are born with the cultivation of the Foundation Establishment Stage!"

"... And our current Cultivation system: Body Refining, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul... Each major Realm is divided into nine layers, and the gap is terrifyingly huge! Just like us in the Qi Refinement Stage, we are no different from little chicks in front of Seniors in the Foundation Establishment Stage; they could crush us with a single finger."

"... And the Yao Beast here are also divided into nine ranks, corresponding to the nine major Realms of us Cultivators. The most we've encountered so far are first-rank Yao Beast, which are equivalent to the Qi Refinement Stage. If we encounter a second-rank one, we're dead for sure!"

Tianxin shared the information she had gathered from various channels with Gao Feng without reservation, opening a window for this "ignorant" newcomer to understand the world.

And Gao Feng, in turn, repaid Tianxin's trust with his rich wilderness survival experience.

He would teach Tianxin how to distinguish directions through wind direction and plant growth; how to judge whether there were large Yao Beast nearby through animal feces and footprints; how to make fire using simple tools when there was no fire source; how to build a shelter that was both hidden and safe at night...

These skills, which seemed incredibly magical and practical to Tianxin, made the young girl admire Gao Feng greatly, and a hint of worship appeared in her eyes when she looked at him.

The two of them, one sharing common knowledge of the Cultivation world and the other teaching wilderness survival skills, gradually built mutual trust through this complementary exchange.

When night fell, the two found a dry cave and lit a bonfire.

Tianxin took out Talisman paper and cinnabar, and by the firelight, began to concentrate on drawing Talismans. She carefully squeezed out the juice of that blood pattern fruit, mixed it into the cinnabar, and wrote like flying; one after another, mysterious runes took shape under her pen, emitting a faint spiritual light.

Gao Feng was responsible for keeping watch. He sat at the cave entrance, vigilantly watching the darkness outside the cave while silently operating that nameless technique, absorbing the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth.

With Tianxin, the "mobile encyclopedia of the Cultivation world," his understanding of this world deepened, and his plan for his future path became clearer.

He knew that this trial was just the beginning.

To truly gain a foothold in this world where the strong are respected, he still had a long, long road to travel.

The night passed without a word.

The next morning, when the first ray of sunlight pierced through the mist in the forest, Gao Feng and Tianxin packed up their belongings and continued on their journey.

With a few new "Qi Guiding Talisman" and "Lightness Talismans" drawn by Tianxin, the two's travel speed increased significantly. Along the way, they teamed up to deal with a few blind first-rank Yao Beast, harvesting two more blood pattern fruits.

As they went deeper, the terrain of Dao Hu Mountain became increasingly complex, and the aura of Yao Beast in the mountains and forests was significantly richer than on the periphery.

Just as the two crossed a ridge and prepared to enter a denser jungle, three figures emerged from the dense forest in front of them without warning, blocking their path.

The leader was a tall young man with an arrogant expression. He wore a well-tailored green martial outfit, which formed a sharp contrast with the wide grey robes of the Utility Disciple. His cultivation had reached the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, making him the Disciple with the highest cultivation Gao Feng had encountered since entering Dao Hu Mountain.

To his left was a thin, small young man with sinister eyes. His hand was always vaguely resting on a small leather bag at his waist, and his whole person exuded a dangerous aura like a venomous snake.

To his right was a young girl with delicate features who looked quite kind. She wore a gentle smile on her face, but Gao Feng keenly noticed that her fingers were flicking out wisps of imperceptible spiritual power at a very subtle frequency, silently setting up something on the ground around them.

"Two Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters, please stay."

The young man named Wang Sheng, who was in the lead, had a smile on his face that he considered very approachable and took the initiative to speak.

His gaze swept over Gao Feng and Tianxin. When he saw the bulging fronts of their robes and the seemingly abundant Talisman bag at Tianxin's waist, a trace of greed flashed deep in his eyes, hard to detect.

Tianxin immediately became vigilant. She quietly moved half a step behind Gao Feng, one hand already resting on her Talisman bag, ready to act at any time.

Gao Feng remained his honest and dull self. He stepped forward, shielding Tianxin behind him, cupped his fists at Wang Sheng, and asked in a muffled voice: "Senior Brother, what advice do you have?"

Seeing this, Wang Sheng's smile grew even wider. He waved his hand and said: "Junior Brother, no need to be nervous, we have no malice. I am Wang Sheng, and these two are my companions, Zhou Qingqing and Wu He. We saw that you two Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters have extraordinary strength to be able to go so deep here, so you must also be here for the blood pattern fruit, right?"

"So what if we are?" Tianxin poked her little head out from behind Gao Feng and asked vigilantly.

"Hehe, Junior Sister is straightforward." Wang Sheng laughed, "To be honest, we just discovered a nest of second-rank Yao Beast 'Iron-Spined Blood Wolves' not far ahead. There are at least a dozen blood pattern fruits in that nest! It's just a pity that the Iron-Spined Blood Wolf is powerful, equivalent to a Cultivator of the Qi Refining Level Five, so it's really difficult for the three of us to handle."

"So..." Wang Sheng's gaze swept over Gao Feng and Tianxin, and he said sincerely, "I would like to invite you two to form a temporary alliance with us to wipe out that Iron-Spined Blood Wolf together. After it's done, we will split the blood pattern fruits in the nest equally among the five of us! I wonder what you two think?"

A second-rank Yao Beast nest!

More than a dozen blood pattern fruits!

This news was full of deadly temptation for any Disciple participating in the trial.

However, there was no ripple in Gao Feng's heart; instead, alarm bells rang loudly.

Relying on the sharp intuition and observation skills of a special forces soldier from his previous life, he had already taken in all the small movements of the three people in front of him.

The young man named Wang Sheng, although full of smiles and sincere words, had eyes that flickered inadvertently, and his gaze always glanced intentionally or unintentionally at Tianxin's Talisman bag. This was a typical sign of duplicity and ulterior motives.

The thin young man named Wu He did not say a word from beginning to end, but his hand never left the leather bag at his waist. That was a posture ready to launch a fatal blow at any time, full of aggression. Gao Feng could almost conclude that there was some kind of poisonous hidden weapon hidden in that bag.

And the young girl Zhou Qingqing, who looked the kindest, was even more insidious. While smiling and echoing Wang Sheng's words, she was silently setting up a simple defensive formation on the ground around them using weak spiritual power during the short moment they were talking.

Although this formation was not very powerful, it could effectively block their retreat!

These three people had no good intentions from the very beginning!

The so-called alliance was just a pretense. Their real purpose was to lure him and Tianxin into a trap and then kill them for their treasures!

Just as Gao Feng was rapidly analyzing in his heart, he felt his sleeve being pulled gently.

He looked back and saw Tianxin secretly winking at him, her little mouth silently making two shapes.

"Don't trust them."

Apparently, although Tianxin did not have Gao Feng's abnormal observation skills, she had sensed that something was wrong with the other party based on her intuition as a young girl.

A warmth rose in Gao Feng's heart; it seemed this temporary ally was quite reliable.

However, the current situation did not allow them to refuse.

Of the three opponents, the leader Wang Sheng was at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, and although the other two's specific cultivation could not be seen, it was likely not lower than the Qi Refining Second Layer. More importantly, they had already seized the initiative, silently set up a formation, and blocked their retreat.

On their side, the visible strength was only Tianxin, who was at the Third Layer of Qi Refining and skilled in Talismans, and a "burden" who was only at the Qi Refining Level One and looked honest and dull.

The strength gap was too great.

If they fell out now and clashed head-on, he and Tianxin would have almost no chance of winning.

The only way was to... play along!

Several thoughts flashed through Gao Feng's mind in an instant.

He nodded calmly to Tianxin, signaling her not to be impatient.

Immediately, he turned his head, a look of "surprise" and "excitement" on his face, and said to Wang Sheng: "Senior Brother Wang, is this true? Are you really willing to share the dozen blood pattern fruits with us equally?"

His look of being blinded by greed made the contempt in Wang Sheng's eyes even stronger.

"That's natural!" Wang Sheng patted his chest and said righteously, "We are all fellow Disciples, and we should help each other! As long as everyone works together, what is a mere Iron-Spined Blood Wolf to fear!"

"Good! Then we'll do it with you, Senior Brother!" Gao Feng slapped his thigh "excitedly," as if he had already seen a dozen blood pattern fruits beckoning to him.

Seeing this, although Tianxin was suspicious, out of trust in Gao Feng, she had to cooperate and show an "interested" expression, but her big, lively eyes were still full of caution.

"Hahaha, good! With the addition of you two Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters, our trip will surely be a success!" Seeing the two "take the bait," Wang Sheng was overjoyed, and his face smiled even more brilliantly.

"No time to lose, let's set off now!"

After speaking, he took the initiative to turn around and lead the way.

Wu He and Zhou Qingqing also put away their respective little tricks and followed on the left and right sides of Gao Feng and Tianxin, vaguely forming a pincer formation, preventing any possibility of them escaping.