20 Chapter 19: Realm In The Thousand Demon Forest (2)

Three days passed, and now, both Ulquiorra and Wang Yang are at the entrance of the city along with Nian Zhen during the early morning. They were now about to set off towards the Thousand Demon Forest in order to go to the entrance of the hidden realm. Nian Zhen acted out the role of the typical elder bodyguard.

"Let's get moving." Nian Zhen said.

The three then travelled through the roads and the grasslands on their feet. Normally, if one had a Qi Condensation or lower realm cultivator tagging with higher realm cultivators like them, then they would avail for horses as the Qi Condensation realm would not be able to keep up. Fortunately, Ulquiorra was an abnormality as a Qi Condensation cultivator.

The three arrived at a path leading to a forest that was surrounded by an ominous aura. There was a thin layer of fog that filled the forest that added to the menacing effect. Nian Zhen looked at the forest with a serious expression.

"Wang Yang already knows this, but I'll say it for you, Ulquiorra. Be careful in the Thousand Demon forest. While I may stand guard as we go on, it is entirely possible for a team of Foundation Establishment cultivators to be wiped out here if they were ill prepared. The same can be said for even Golden core cultivators." Nian Zhen spoke.

Ulquiorra looked at both Nian Zhen and Wang Yang. Wang Yang didn't say anything, but his serious face showed that he also agreed with Nian Zhen. Still, he didn't really take those warnings that seriously. He'll keep it in mind at best. Ulquiorra nodded at Nian Zhen's words.

"Good! I know that your combat prowess is abnormal to the point that you can suppress even Wang Yang, but it wouldn't hurt to be careful." Nian Zhen added, but no reply was heard from Ulquiorra.

"Well, in any case, let's go inside the forest." Nian Zhen said.

The three walked on the path leading to the insides of the forest. Many have visited this forest in search of opportunities, and even wealthy merchants would go through here along with many guards considering that this forest could act as a shortcut towards the central region.

Ulquiorra also learned from Nian Zhen and the rest that they were in a kingdom called Evergeen Kingdom. The central region contained the Evergreen Palace, and other sects. Compared to the other regions, the central region's strength was a notch higher. Going back, the three followed the path, and at some point, Nian Zhen stopped.

"From here on, we will have to go off the path. From the instructions given to me by the Patriarch, we have to head east from here." Nian Zhen said.

Ulquiorra and Wang Yang nodded as they followed Nian Zhen who was in the front. They had to slow down their pace as the east led to the deeper layers of the forest. There were four known layers of the Thousand Demon forest. Nian Zhen gave Ulquiorra a brief background of the forest before coming here.

The first layer contained normal beasts up to Qi Condensation ones. The second layer contained beasts within the Body tempering to the Foundation stage.The third layer had Golden Core to Sea Refinement realm beasts. Finally, the fourth layer had beasts in the Nascent Soul and above. The exact estimation was unknown as even the Central Region can't push further in the fourth layer that easily. The beasts usually do not go out from their respective layers unless needed. Nian Zhen explained to them that the hidden realm was located near the entrance of the third layer.

The three were able to enter the second layer without much trouble. As they pushed forward for an hour, they were met with a tiger like beast with three tails. It was way bigger than a normal tiger as its height on four legs reached up to 10 feet. The tiger was in the early Golden core stage. The tiger growled at them.

"A tri-tailed tiger! It's in the second stage of the Golden core realm. Why is it in the second layer?! Both of you stay back!" Nian Zhen said.

Wang Yang nodded, but Ulquiorra remained in place. Wang Yang urged Ulquiorra to stay back. Nian Zhen was preparing to fight the tiger as she shouted at Ulquiorra.

"Ulquiorra!Get back! This tiger is-" Nian Zhen shouted, but was cut off as Ulquiorra raised his finger, and a beam of green light shot out.

The Cero quickly went through the tiger's forehead, and left a hole as big as a hand. The tiger's growls and snarls immediately stopped. Its eyes slowly rolled back, and its body fell limp to the floor. Seeing this, Wang Yang and Nian Zhen were both speechless.

"What was that?" Nian Zhen slowly mumbled to herself.

"A cero." Ulquiorra said as he walked forward. He then realized the other two weren't moving from their spots. He turned his head to look at them.

"Why do you not move?" Ulquiorra asked.

Hearing this, the two woke up from their daze. They were still baffled at what happened. A Golden core beast was taken down as easy as that! It was done by a Qi Condensation realm cultivator no less! The first one to speak was Nian Zhen.

"But how?! I knew you were abnormal, but this?! I don't know anymore!" Nian Zhen pulled on her hair. She didn't seem to care if she would pull them out despite her old age. It would also be quite difficult for her to take down such a beast so quickly.

Meanwhile Wang Yang gulped as he looked at the tiger's corpse.

'Thank the heavens that I dodged that attack when we were sparring! Who knows what would have happened!?' Wang Yang said inwardly.

"Is it so unbelievable? This is just the beginning." Ulquiorra said blankly.

Nian Zhen sighed. She rubbed her forehead, and then sighed again. She's been sighing a lot more recently. Still, she looked at Ulquiorra with a conflicted expression, but a determined look appeared in her eyes.

"I got it! From this point on, no matter what happens, if it's caused by you, then I wouldn't be surprised! I wouldn't even flinch if you were to fight a Nascent soul cultivator with Qi Condensation realm, and then win!" Nian Zhen said. Wang Yang nodded inwardly hearing his master.

"I understand master's thoughts! This is for the best! We have to do this in order to keep our mental state intact!" Wang Yang said in agreement.

Ulquiorra stayed quiet hearing both of them. It was interesting to see such a reaction. He expected to see fear from both of them, but instead, these two were oddballs that merely accepted him even though it seemed as though they were tired mentally. Still, he believed he would be hard pressed to find another pair that's this odd yet accepting.

'What an interesting master and disciple' Ulquiorra thought.

"In any case, let's move on. At the very least, I wouldn't worry anymore about our safety as long as Ulquiorra is here." Nian Zhen said as she moved after taking the golden core of the beast.

Ulquiorra and Wang Yang followed. After awhile, they heard a scream nearby. From the bushes and trees, a yellow robed female appeared as she ran. She was covered with injuries from head to toe. Her left arm was limp as she clutched it with her right arm. She shouted in desperation.

"FELLOW CULTIVATORS!PLEASE HELP ME!"

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