Yan Li could not see through the mist-covered valley, but somehow picked up a faint, unintelligible noise coming out of it.

“Hey, Spirit, tell me what you have on the people here in the valley.” Yan Li asked.

“There are 503 people in the valley here, but only three people worth mentioning with two being level-one Mi realm pract.i.tioners and one level-two.”

“What? Three Mi realm masters in here?” Exclaimed Yan Li, “Please don't tell me that the pieces of the Blood Monster Sword are here!”

“Yep! This is the place!”

Rolling his eyes, Yan Li scoffed, “Are you crazy, Spirit? You want me, a Shenyuan realm pract.i.tioner, to just waltz into a valley with three freaking Mi realm masters holding down the fort? Is this even feasible?”

“How'd you know if you never tried?”

Yan Li pursed his lips, “I don't know about that! But what I do know is that I'd pretty much be busted and killed right away if I just swaggered in like this!”

“Come on, have little faith in yourself.” The Spirit cooed.

However, Yan Li just would not bite it, “I've always had faith in myself, but I'm not stupid, alright? Only one Mi realm master could've smashed me into pieces, not to mention when there are three in the valley!”

“Really, boy? This is what you got? How are you supposed to take on the world when you couldn't even take on three Mi realm pract.i.tioners?”

“Save it,” Yan Li huffed out a sneer, “It doesn't work for me! I know you have to be brave to be a martial artist and whatnot, but that doesn't mean you have to recklessly put yourself in danger all the time! I mean, that's just stupid!”

“Well, maybe I place my bet on the wrong guy! You know what, so much for reaching the top and seeing the love of your life again, you pathetic coward!”

Yan Li's expression altered, “Enough! No matter what you say, I won't go in there and help you get those pieces, at least not until I reach Tianxuan realm!”

“No,” the Spirit flatly rejected, “The sooner we get the pieces of the Blood Monster Sword, the better!”

Yan Li felt his head throbbing.

“Listen, Spirit, I know you want this thing to be done as soon as possible, but you have to stand in my shoes and think for me just little a bit! How about this, I'll go talk to the management when I get back to Dahuang Palace! You know, they have lost quite a lot of disciples to the Misty Forest, so you bet they're going to take this seriously and send some experts to deal with it! And then, I'll be able to retrieve those pieces for you, what do you say?”

“Okay, fair enough! Let's just go with what you said!” The Spirit had to admit that Yan Li did have a point and gave his consent reluctantly.

Guided by the Sword Spirit, Yan Li finally walked out of the Misty Forest.

He was planning to hang around in the Dahuang woods for a while longer, seeing if he could pull off the level-one skills in the Mixed Yuan Cla.s.sic, but now that he had promised to help the Spirit find the pieces of the Blood Monster Sword, he had to make an early return to Dahuang Palace.

After traveling non-stop for three days, Yan Li showed up at Dahuang Palace before pondering for a second, and then headed straight to the Testing Palace, whose manager, Ying Changkong, was sort of an acquaintance of.

“Look who's here,” the two enforcers at the Testing Palace spotted Yan Li and greeted him with a big smile.

“Nice to see you again, s.h.i.+xiong,” Yan Li took a bow and continued, “Could you tell Mr. Ying Changkong that Yan Li here wants to meet him?”

He was just barely able to finish his sentence when a figure popped up in front of him and turned out to be a gray-haired and healthy looking Senior, who was none other than Ying Changkong.

Standing with his hands holding behind him, Ying Changkong slightly tilted his head and smirked, “So, you finally decided to become my student, you little brat?”

Clearly, Ying Changkong had misunderstood his arrival here, so he quickly explained, “Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Ying, but that's not why I am here. Actually, I have something very important to report.”

The light in the elder's eyes instantly dimmed as he feigned annoyance to cover his awkwardness, “Follow me, son!”

Yan Li could not help but shake his head a little as he followed Ying Changkong into the palace.

“Go ahead, no one else is here!”

“Okay! Have you ever been about the Misty Forest, Mr. Ying?” Yan Li asked in a serious tone.

“The Misty Forest?” Ying Changkong frowned as he recalled that, every year, there were always cases where disciples of Dahuang Palace disappeared into that forest and never came out.

The management had had sent two Mi realm Seniors there to investigate, who then got trapped in the forest for three whole days before barely making it out alive.

Ever since that, the clan had demanded its disciples not to get close to the Misty Forest whenever they were practicing in the Dahuang woods.

Seeing the look on Ying Changkong's face, Yan Li knew that he would be interested in what he was about to say, “Mr. Ying, I think I found a secret of the Misty Forest when I accidentally stumbled into it!”

“What? You went into the Misty Forest?” Ying Changkong stared at him out of surprise, asking curiously, “Then how did you get out? And what secret is that?”

Yan Li had already rehea.r.s.ed his reply, so he slowly began, “So, here' s the thing, Mr. Ying. I have read some fragmented descriptions of a weird vigor array called the Reversed Yin-Yang Vigor Array in one of those ancient books owned by my family, and it is because of that that I didn't get lost in the forest. But, unfortunately, I have no idea how to break the array.”

Ying Changkong was quick to follow, “You mean the array in the Misty Forest is this so-called Reversed Yin-Yang Vigor Array?”

Yan Li nodded, “Exactly! I thought I knew something about this array, so I somehow managed to get in there and saw a valley, where there were three, I a.s.sume, Mi realm masters and five hundred disciples of various clans serving as slaves to them.

In order to make himself sound more convincing, Yan Li had made sure to ask the Spirit what the people in the valley look like; and according to his description, those five hundred zombie-like ones were probably disciples missing from each clan.

Hearing this, Ying Changkong, his expressions grave, contemplated for a while before replying, “If what you said is true, kid, then this is a serious matter and I don't have the final call on this thing. So why don't you come with me and we'll go see the Enforcing Senior!”

Among all four strata of disciples, core disciples were the equivalent of Seniors; and among all Seniors, the Enforcing Senior represented the highest authority, but were still topped by the a.s.sistant leader of the palace.

Yan Li felt a grip on his shoulder as Ying Changkong hauled him up from the ground and started flying towards the Enforcing Senior's palace.

Once a pract.i.tioner reached Mi realm, he could start flying in the air; however, it was pretty vigor-consuming and if not necessary, not a lot of people would choose to travel this way.

About fifteen minutes after they set out from the Testing Palace, a colossal building appeared in front of their eyes.

The guard outside the palace saw it was Ying Changkong and immediately greeted with respect, “Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ying!”

“You, too!” Yan Changkong gave him a nod and continued, “Go tell Mr. Yuan that Ying Changkong has a very important issue to discuss with him.”

The guard went to report and came back in a few minutes, signaling that the Enforcing Senior was ready to meet them now.

“Let's go!” Ying Changkong started walking inside with Yan Li trailing close behind.

Sitting in the middle of the palace was a black-haired man in his fifties, wearing a golden robe, looking extremely intimidating.

As they approached, the man rose from his seat and burst into hearty laughter, “To what do I owe the honor, Brother Ying!”

Then, he directed his sight to Yan Li, who, strangely, felt some kind of pressure seeping out of that seemingly friendly look.