The night passed uneventfully.
Early the next morning, everyone grabbed their weapons and walked out of the metal buildings.
Then, each squad set out in different directions.
Ian Song didn’t leave with them. Only after they’d vanished into the jungle did he release his bronze flying sword, leap on, and shoot off as a streak of sword-light toward the distance.
Seeing this, Vice Commanders Logan Long, Vaughn Jin, Jason Zhou, and Samuel Wang all showed looks of envy.
After Ian Song disappeared, Vaughn Jin turned to Logan Long and said, "Old Long, I heard Ian Song has ten Dragon Guard Directorate slots. Why don’t we shamelessly ask him for one?"
Jason Zhou couldn’t help but interject, eyes burning with excitement: "I heard that if you join the Dragon Guard Directorate, you can cultivate real Immortal-Dao techniques. Logan, you’re always in the know—is that true?"
Logan Long nodded. As a scion of the Long Family—one of the Ten Great Families—he’d already received a recommendation slot for the Dragon Guard Directorate. But the family head wanted him to ask Ian Song for a slot too, so the Longs could send two people into Dragon Guard.
If he couldn’t get one, the Long Family would simply nominate him with their own slot.
“Sword flight—traveling a thousand li in an instant. Just thinking about it is exciting!” Samuel Wang exclaimed, full of longing.
"Maybe we should find a good time to talk to him about it?" Vaughn Jin suggested.
............
Flying on his sword, Ian Song had no idea the four vice commanders were plotting to ask him for a Dragon Guard slot. To be honest, those ten slots didn’t mean much to him.
For people close to him, he could just teach them Immortal-Dao techniques himself—no need to join Dragon Guard. Take Shelly Song, for example; once he got back, he planned to guide her into cultivation.
After a while, Ian was already a hundred li from the base. He pressed down his sword-light and took out the Silverglow Skiff. Flying with the Skiff was much faster than sword flight—it was a specialized flying spirit artifact, after all.
He could put off gathering Spirit Medicines for now—this world was so vast, he had plenty of time. Instead, he was more curious about the world’s true nature.
Stepping onto the Silverglow Skiff, he rose into the sky again, picked a direction, and cruised at fifty li per second.
Three minutes later.
Ian had already left the base by more than nine thousand li. Strangely, he still hadn’t flown out of the forest—this showed just how massive it was. But he did notice that the farther he went, the higher the terrain got.
After another five minutes, Ian was more than twenty-four thousand li from the base, yet he still couldn’t see the edge of the forest.
"Damn, just how big is this forest? Does it even have an end?"
"ROAR!"
Suddenly, a roar echoed up from the forest below. Hearing it, Ian Song couldn’t help but shiver, his face turning pale. He quickly cranked up the Silverglow Skiff’s speed several times over.
Ten seconds later, he stopped the Silverglow Skiff in midair, his expression especially grim.
He was sure that roar had come from at least a Golden Core–stage Demonic Beast. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have felt that soul-deep tremor.
Ahead was still dense forest, but he hesitated, wondering if he should keep going. He had a feeling that if he did, he might run into something even stronger.
He was only at early Foundation Establishment. Even if he went all out, he probably couldn’t take a single hit from a Golden Core Demonic Beast.
So, going forward would be really dangerous.
But giving up now just felt too frustrating.
His expression flickered uncertainly for a while.
After about two minutes of thinking, he decided to keep going.
So he fired up the Silverglow Skiff again.
After flying another ten thousand li, another roar came up from the forest below—another Golden Core Demonic Beast. Ian didn’t dare linger for a second; he ramped up the Silverglow Skiff’s speed again, hitting two hundred li per second.
He kept up that speed for over a thousand li before dropping back to normal.
Now his expression was even more grim. He’d guessed right—the farther he went, the stronger the Demonic Beasts got. He could feel the pressure in that roar was way higher than the first one.
After flying another eight thousand li, a piercing screech suddenly rang out in the sky.
"A Golden Core–stage flying Demonic Beast!"
Ian cursed to himself and immediately stopped the Silverglow Skiff, scanning the sky ahead. He didn’t see the flying Demonic Beast—just heard its call.
He didn’t dare fly any farther, worried he’d run smack into that Golden Core flying beast.
Suddenly, a mass of dark clouds appeared in Ian’s sight, rushing toward him at incredible speed.
The mass of dark clouds drew closer, finally revealing its true form—a bird, its black wings spread nearly an acre wide.
"Screech!"
A piercing cry burst from its mouth, sending ripples of sound waves at Ian Song.
Run!
This flying Demonic Beast’s pressure was far greater than the previous two roars—most likely a late Golden Core–stage beast.
He quickly turned the Silverglow Skiff and cranked the speed up to two hundred li per second, fleeing sideways. Behind him were still Golden Core Demonic Beasts, and Golden Core–stage beasts could fly too—he definitely didn’t want to get caught between two of them.
No doubt about it, the Silverglow Skiff was a fantastic treasure. Ten seconds later, he’d already fled two thousand li sideways—and thankfully, that flying Demonic Beast wasn’t chasing him.
Ian let out a quiet sigh of relief and considered: should he keep going?
Suddenly, a scene of that flying beast flashed through his mind. He mentally calculated its speed—about ten thousand meters per second, which was twenty li per second.
Of course, that was probably just its normal flying speed. If it pushed itself, maybe it could double or even triple that. So its maximum speed would be forty to sixty li per second.
But the Silverglow Skiff could hit a thousand li per second. In other words, if he ran into a Golden Core beast, he’d have a very good chance of escaping.
With that in mind, Ian didn’t hesitate anymore. He pushed the Silverglow Skiff forward again, this time cruising at eighty li per second—just in case something tried to ambush him, he wouldn’t be caught off guard.
Over the next hour, Ian ran into five Golden Core Demonic Beasts—three were land beasts and not much of a threat, but two were flying beasts. One of those flying beasts was especially fast, nearly one hundred sixty li per second. If he hadn’t stayed alert, he’d have been eaten for sure.
Ian ended up encountering five Golden Core Demonic Beasts in total—three were land beasts, which generally weren’t much of a threat, but two were flying beasts, and those brought real danger. One of the flying beasts was especially fast, nearly reaching a speed of a hundred and sixty li per second. If Ian hadn’t stayed on high alert, he would’ve been eaten by that flying beast.
"Huh!"
Suddenly, Ian stopped the Silverglow Skiff—he’d just spotted what looked like the edge of the forest.
Ahead loomed a mountain range so tall its peaks disappeared into the clouds, bare and black, as if it connected heaven and earth. It looked like a colossal wall splitting the world in two, stretching so far he couldn’t see either end.
Without hesitation, Ian guided the Silverglow Skiff directly to the foot of the mountain.
Landing at the base, Ian felt utterly insignificant compared to the mountain—like a tiny, tiny ant.