Chapter 432: Chapter 419: Before the Gate to Sublevel 3
Gu Ming focused his senses. Cyan Treasure was coiled on his shoulder, its emerald-green pupils glinting with vigilance.
It flicked its tongue, seeming to catch the scent of the unusually active flow of Memory Essence in the air.
Ah Kun occasionally opened its mouth, devouring the newly-grown wild Spirit Medicines by the roadside. A rumble would sound from its belly as it immediately began their Refinement.
The Spirit Medicines inside the Yichuan Ruins were all quite valuable, and everyone else was gathering them too.
However, Ah Kun’s behavior—devouring everything it saw and immediately refining it in its stomach—was unique.
Not a single other Pet Beast in the entire group did the same.
After all, the properties of these Spirit Medicines needed to be taken back to the university for Identification to avoid poisoning.
Everyone also had to be careful to avoid an accumulation of medicinal toxins when consuming them.
Ah Kun’s complete disregard for accumulating toxins, focusing only on Devouring, made many of the students unable to resist reminding Gu Ming.
But Gu Ming wasn’t concerned. He waved his hand, telling everyone to focus on exploring.
So, no one pressed the matter further.
"Thirty paces to the front-left, in that patch of blue moss. The flow of Memory Essence has an abnormal vortex," Gu Ming suddenly called out.
Elder Huo shot Gu Ming a slightly surprised glance.
Ahead of them was a vast, enchanting expanse of flowing auroras. If one extended their Divine Sense into it, the interference would make it impossible to see the path. Not only that, but the routes perceived by Divine Sense were distorted by the Spiritual Field emanating from the Primordial Dream Butterfly Memory Essence.
Therefore, scouting on the second sublevel was not easy. What the eyes could see was useless, and what the Divine Sense perceived could also be misleading.
Using the trends of the Arrays to determine a route had its merits.
At least for now, there was no problem identifying short-range directions based on the Array trends.
Coupled with Mianmian’s innate Perception, which could spot dangerous Memory Essence flows within five meters, everyone’s safety was guaranteed.
However, having guaranteed survival was one thing.
Exploring a route more than three steps ahead was extremely difficult.
Let alone a distance of thirty paces.
This was what surprised Elder Huo; Gu Ming had actually foreseen the risk in advance.
There should have been a gap in their Divine Sense Perception ranges. No matter how incredible Gu Ming was, his Spiritual Power couldn’t possibly be stronger than Elder Huo’s.
Elder Huo didn’t ask how Gu Ming had made his judgment. He lowered his head and made fine adjustments to the Array Pet in his hands.
Light flowed as he shifted his feet lightly, leading the team forward at a slow pace.
Before long, the group drew near the area of moss.
Elder Huo cautiously released a normal, non-sentient white mouse, the kind commonly used in laboratories.
Controlled by Elder Huo’s Spiritual Power, it ran directly toward the blue moss patch.
Above the blue moss patch, there was a clear flow of Memory Essence. Its current was slow and its direction was fixed.
Elder Huo was confident in his technical skill, believing he could guide the white mouse safely forward along the flow of Memory Essence.
However, the moment the white mouse entered the mossy area, its paws touching the ground and brushing against the moss, it began to tremble violently. White foam instantly frothed from its mouth, and then it collapsed to the ground.
Elder Huo’s Spiritual Power had already sensed a powerful force. He immediately executed a Relay Cultivation Method for the entire group to resist, blocking the external Spiritual Attack.
A few seconds later, everyone steadied their minds and let out a long breath, cutting off the mental connection assisting the white mouse.
At that moment, Elder Huo nodded and said, "Your judgment was correct."
The group spent another half an hour calculating before changing direction. They advanced toward their left flank—an area that looked even more dangerous on the surface—pausing with every step.
There, the flow of Memory Essence was faster and its fluctuations were much more frequent.
Yet, when they actually entered that way, they walked more than ten paces without incident.
Looking back, the aurora above the blue moss patch presented a completely different scene, as if it had grown even more treacherous.
Meanwhile, the path they had just taken now appeared calm.
This meant that the perceived danger of the two areas was misleading.
Gu Ming’s single warning had allowed everyone to correctly avoid that region.
"Kid, your Perception Power is getting more and more monstrous."
He clicked his tongue in amazement but didn’t ask further, simply assuming it was due to Gu Ming’s special Cultivation Technique or extraordinary Talent.
With the protection of Elder Huo’s powerful Array and Gu Ming’s occasional "Predictions," the team advanced at an extremely fast pace.
They soon reached the depths of the second sublevel, approaching the border of the third.
The scenery here was growing even more bizarre. Massive crystal clusters grew everywhere, pulsating slowly like living creatures.
Streams of silvery, mercury-like liquid Memory Essence flowed across the ground.
Countless fragmented, chaotic whispers echoed in the air, trying to worm their way into everyone’s minds.
"We can’t rely on my Array Pet to push through anymore. It’s taking over half an hour for every ten steps. Let’s rest here."
Elder Huo stopped, his expression grave as he looked at a particularly chaotic area ahead.
The auroras of the Illusion Realm there were practically interwoven into a colossal, multicolored net.
"We’ll need to send Pet Beasts ahead to scout and pinpoint a safe path."
"The interference here is too strong. Even my Star Compass Beast can’t make a complete Prediction."
As Elder Huo said this, he added, "Of course, I’m not asking you to send your Pet Beasts to their deaths."
"My Star Compass Beast will bestow a blessing on your Pet Beasts, allowing them to briefly Escape into Space to avoid prolonged physical corrosion from the Memory Essence."
"We’ll stay close. Once we’ve secured a safe point, we can explore toward the third sublevel step by step. If anyone accidentally falls into a dream state, we can rescue them in time."
What Elder Huo was proposing was a point-by-point method: first secure a safe spot, then use that spot as a base to have the Pet Beasts physically test out a safe path.
It was a crude method.
But in a dangerous area where no other methods worked, the crude method was the best method.
Gu Ming was tempted to act. He could, after all, continue to guide them with his "Flashes of Inspiration."
’Weren’t the hundreds of reincarnations I experienced in the Dream Cultivation Space all for the sake of exploring the Yichuan Ruins?’
’I can’t just watch everyone exhaust their Spiritual Power and Physical Strength before we even reach the third sublevel.’
Several of the upperclassmen were discussing the matter with worried frowns. Their Divine Sense was heavily suppressed in this place.
"Let my Cyan Treasure and Mianmian give it a try," Gu Ming said, stepping forward.
He exchanged a glance with Lu You, who understood his meaning in an instant.
Cyan Treasure leaped lightly from Gu Ming’s shoulder, landing without a sound.
After its Evolution to Three-star and obtaining the Qi Refining-star Cluster, a hidden Talent had gradually awakened within Cyan Treasure’s body.
Cyan Treasure itself was originally unaware of this.
Gu Ming had been focused on the Time Talent the system had mentioned.
So, in his dreams, Gu Ming had Cyan Treasure train to try and unearth this time-related Talent.
And now, it could already make preliminary use of the "Time Reversal" Talent Ability the system spoke of.
This was also the ability the system had given him to investigate corruption within the "Hidden Sect." He hadn’t found any corruption, but it was turning out to be useful for the Yichuan Ruins exploration first.
However, one point had to be made.
In reality, the "Time Reversal" mentioned by the system wasn’t as outrageous as its name suggested.
It was more like an upgraded version of a super Sixth Sense, allowing Cyan Treasure to have a Time Reversal-like experience when encountering a critical moment.
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