Yu Mei had only partially unlocked the heart mirror, however, the partial features were sufficient to give her team a leg up in gaining ground.
The heart mirror was similar to a spiritual sense in that it could be used to detect the surroundings on a detailed level and wasn't affected by the concept of darkness and light.
However, there were a few differences between the spiritual sense and the heart mirror, one of which was versatility. The spiritual sense was much more versatile than the heart mirror when it came to using it outside of combat. It could be used to investigate ores, artifacts, and weapons down to researching the structure of herbs and spiritual plants.
When it came to the heart mirror, however, it couldn't be used in those investigations. It was useless in anything outside of combat. That was where its true brilliance lay. With the heart mirror the user could detect hidden attacks from their fluctuations; the owner could even see through certain techniques that aim to impair the sense of the cultivator.
The range and the strength of the heart mirror were tied to both the strength of the user and how much of their physique potential they have excavated.
In Yu Mei's case, her range was restricted to a 25-meter radius around her, and how much she could read via the heart mirror was still a bit vague at times or overt. An assassin with true skill at the peak of qi refinement could kill her before she could even react.
In addition, she had not used the attribute for long, so she couldn't adjust her reactions and judgments accordingly, and that could only be done with continuous training of both her attribute and her combat and body response.
However, despite the shortcomings, the heart mirror was still sufficient for the team to avoid ambushes, traps, and extremely dangerous locations along the way, which helped them gain a lot of ground and cut down their time on reaching the peak.
Only nine spots were left in the top fifteen. If they failed to make it, then they would have to go through torturous death-inducing training for a month. They may not have a clue how bad it was, but they could use their imaginations.
They, therefore, had sufficient motivation to be among the fifteen, and Yu Mei's heart mirror came in handy in achieving that target.
....
Almost one and a half hours had passed by since the announcement was made and Zou Yi and his team had already crossed the halfway point of the mountain. There were notices all around that informed them they had crossed the halfway point.
Zou Yi and the others, all had excited looks as they took a short rest beneath a honey locust tree. They were working at regulating their breathing and had a few shallow injuries on all of them, but they all were otherwise okay and pumped.
They had tangled with spirit beasts and spiritual herbs that were more vicious than the scarlet crown hummingbird and the snapping willow tree respectively. However, they managed to get through effortlessly with their increased strength that came from the improvement in their cultivation bases, cultivating moves from the 108 steps of the autumn cultivation art gave them explosive strength and they also had seamless cooperation built up.
They had also stocked up on weapons and supplies. The century iron pebble was still a trusty weapon that could not be matched by anything in the special zone, but they now had versatility in weapons which even though were used by mortals could still have an effect on their foes, especially when laced with poisons courtesy of He Shan's handiwork.
Zou Yi was terrified when he saw how effortless and gifted He Shan was with poisons and the tranquil and joyous face he had on as he was brewing them. They applied different kinds of poison to the arrows, short spears, and the sword that Zou Yi and Yu Mei carried.
He Shan even had the crazy idea of them storing the poison in their mouths and playing bait so as to draw the spirit beasts closer and spraying it on them the moment they did. He was brutally rejected on that plan and the team would have given him a beating had they not seen how 'gifted' he was in brewing and choosing how to use the poison.
"If we keep going like this, in a matter of hours we will be at the top.." Zou Yi said with a wide smile on his face as he panted.
"Thank you, Sister Yu Mei, your ability really saved us.." Zou Liqin offered a big thumbs up to Yu Mei as she said this.
"We can't celebrate yet, we still need to keep our guard up. The latter half will definitely be more dangerous and difficult than what we have experienced..." said He Shan dousing the joyous atmosphere with a cold water of reality.
"What a sour ball.." Zou Yi muttered under his breath as he snorted at He Shan who didn't seem like he cared as he casually picked his ear wax and conveniently flicked it close to his direction.
"Let's go..." said Zou Yi as he got up along with the rest, all wearing stern and determined expressions.
They had decided on taking a fifteen-minute break to condition themselves to be in peak form to pull through the latter half of the mountain. Just as He Shan had said, they all knew the latter half would not be easy, and they needed to be at the most optimum state to try and get through it.
Ten minutes after they begin traversing through the latter half of the mountain heading to the peak, another announcement from Yang Qing came in announcing the seventh participant to make it through which was someone by the name of Shen Liu.
Five minutes after that another announcement came in announcing the eighth participant by the name of Shi Hong.
The team got nervous since it meant only seven more spots were left which was cutting it close since there were four of them already.
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