After dinner.
Everyone sat cross-legged by the campfire to meditate and cultivate, with arrays set up by Ian Song all around—no need to worry about being ambushed by exotic beasts.
Inside the Creation Forest, the strange energy greatly boosts cultivation—even Ian could sense a faint improvement while meditating.
Around midnight, Ian suddenly opened his eyes during cultivation, quickly scanning the surroundings—he realized they’d been surrounded by a herd of exotic beasts.
There were a huge number of exotic beasts—at least five or six thousand.
Ian was startled and quickly woke everyone up.
“Why are there so many exotic beasts?”
Drake Liu exclaimed.
Prince Rowan Vance added, “If all these exotic beasts have Demigod-level strength, we’re in for a tough fight!”
Just then—
The nearest exotic beasts moved, pouncing toward Ian Song and the others. With a booming sound, the hidden array revealed itself, rebounding all the charging beasts and making the formation tremble.
Ian Song frowned slightly, took out several formation disks and sent them into the void. Instantly, the array flashed, its defensive power increasing dozens of times. He then said, “Everyone, attack them from inside the formation!”
As soon as he finished speaking, even more exotic beasts pounced, but all were bounced back by the array.
“Kill!”
A Scarlet-Scale Army soldier swung his longsword, sending out a crimson sword light tens of meters long that struck a tiger-like exotic beast. Unexpectedly, the blow merely knocked the giant beast flying without even scratching its fur.
“Such strong defense!”
Even a first-tier war general wouldn’t dare take that sword head-on, but this exotic beast was completely unharmed. In other words, its strength was already comparable to a third-tier war general.
“Kill!”
With shouts of “Kill!”, everyone attacked together.
Chloe Snow controlled a pale-green flying sword, weaving among the exotic beasts and cutting them down one by one.
Chloe Snow is now an early Fusion Realm cultivator. Ian Song taught her a set of Immortal sword techniques and gave her a ninth-grade spirit artifact, making her attack power extremely formidable.
As for Lynne Ward, she also uses sword arts. Her swordplay appears very gentle, but gentleness is the most deadly. After bringing Lynne back, Ian also sent her into the Divine Temple to train, and taught her an Immortal sword canon obtained from the Radiant Emperor’s treasury.
Now, her cultivation has reached late Saint Sea Realm, but her combat power rivals a third-tier war general.
Looking at Rosie Ning, Wes Wei, and Holly Hong—
All three have reached late Saint Sea Realm. After cultivating the imperial Canon Ian passed down, their strength soared, and each now has power comparable to a Demigod.
However, these exotic beasts are all Demigod-class. They can’t kill them alone, but by working together and with the array blocking the beasts so they don’t need to defend, they managed to slay seven or eight beasts in half an hour.
Muse and Winnie are both super prodigies of the Blood Demon Race, with strength surpassing ordinary ninth-tier war generals. These beasts, though strong, couldn’t withstand their slaughter. The two of them, together with three other Blood Demon prodigies, slew hundreds of beasts in half an hour.
Conrad Wu was relatively weaker; in half an hour, he only managed to kill one beast.
Soon, the battle lasted for half an hour. Most of the exotic beasts were slain, and the rest, seeing they couldn’t win, retreated.
“Brother Chu, I didn’t expect your arrays to be so powerful. Without your arrays, we could never have achieved such results!”
Prince Rowan Vance exclaimed.
Ian Song smiled, “Everyone rest. After suffering such a loss, those beasts probably won’t come back.”
The next day—
They retracted the array and continued on their journey.
That day, they encountered even more exotic beasts, but also harvested more precious Treasure Herbs and Spirit Medicines. Lynne Ward, Rosie Ning, Wes Wei, Holly Hong, Conrad Wu, and Yanna Zhou all broke through to the Demigod Realm after eating a divine fruit.
Chloe Snow’s cultivation also rose a level, reaching mid Fusion Realm.
However, the strongest beasts they met today had the strength of fifth-tier war generals.
So today, the group only advanced a little over two hundred li before camping again.
According to Ian Song’s estimation, the Creation Sky Monolith is at least ten thousand li away, probably at the center of the Creation Forest. He’s in no rush, since even if he goes, he can’t obtain the Creation Divine Light yet.
Based on his conversation with Prince Rowan Vance, the Creation Divine Light is hidden deep within the Creation Sky Monolith, and can only be seized when the Monolith opens—which won’t happen for at least a year.
As time passes, more and more people enter the Creation Forest, but every day, countless lives are lost within.
In the blink of an eye—
Ian Song’s group has now spent a month inside the Creation Forest, having penetrated five thousand li deep.
After a month, everyone’s strength has soared. Prince Rowan Vance and Princess Myra Vance’s soldiers have multiplied their power several times over.
Even Ian Song himself has improved by about ten percent. He can’t help but wonder if there might be a super divine fruit or treasure herb ahead that could let him ascend straight to immortality or perfect his martial path.
He even suspects that, during this period, some prodigies might ascend to godhood right inside the Creation Forest.
But, five thousand li in, things have become extremely dangerous. Except for Ian Song, everyone else’s divine sense and spiritual awareness are completely suppressed inside their bodies. Even Ian can only extend his divine sense a thousand meters, and his clairvoyance is limited to two thousand meters.
As for the exotic beasts—
Their numbers have sharply decreased, but the ones they do encounter are far more formidable. In recent days, every beast they’ve met has had the strength of an eighth-tier war general.
Fortunately, Ian Song and his group are also incredibly strong.
Aside from Ian Song, the Dragonfolk and Blood Demon Race prodigies all possessed strength surpassing ninth-tier war generals. Prince Rowan Vance and Princess Myra Vance each had two ninth-tier war generals at their side, and over the past month, both Rowan and Myra’s own power had also risen sharply, reaching the ninth-tier war general level.
A few days later.
A powerful fluctuation suddenly rippled from somewhere in the forest, but due to the Creation Forest’s suppression, the wave quickly faded. Ian and the others exchanged surprised looks.
"Someone just ascended to godhood. I wonder which race they belong to!"
Prince Rowan Vance spoke with a hint of envy.
In the days that followed, more divine fluctuations erupted. At least a dozen individuals ascended to godhood within the forest.
On this particular day—
One of the Dragonfolk prodigies ate a mysterious divine fruit and could no longer suppress the surging energy inside his body. The power rapidly converged in his sea of consciousness.
Two hours later, a Godhead Crystal formed in his sea of consciousness, and a towering divine fluctuation surged skyward...
"Byron, congratulations!"
Drake Liu smiled at the Dragonfolk prodigy.
The others all offered their congratulations as well. With a new god among them, the team's overall power had risen dramatically.
Two days later.
Ian Song’s group had now penetrated seven thousand li into the Creation Forest. Suddenly, Ian’s brows knit—he realized that the forest’s suppression on his soul had multiplied yet again. Now, his divine sense could only extend two hundred meters outside his body, and his Clairvoyant Vision was restricted to a mere thousand meters.