The Third Zone

She was curious, tempted even. But Elder Xiang's words deterred her. Out of a seven, only Shanguan Lei and Ge Yun survived. All of them had a higher cultivation so the chances of her doing better was next to impossible.

Anqing looked at the map, determining at their position and gauging the distance. They had a couple of kilometers before they reached the second pavilion.

"Let's go, its been almost seven days and we only have thirty. We shouldn't squander it", she said and looked at her comrades.

"We should rest for the night. I'd rather not bump into that centipede again."

Xukun walked towards the broken trees, grabbing twigs and branches to make a fire.

"I guess you're right. As much as I'd like to keep moving, I think I've had enough for today. Ming Yue, what about you?"

She gave a nod and helped set up for the night. In the back of her mind, she thought about the fourth and fifth zones, where monsters like the centipede dwell. What would the last three pavilions hold? After all, it was a point where few people dared to travel to.

The following day, they reached the second pavilion without so much as a hiccup. The journey there was quiet, as if the inhabitants were still afraid of yesterday's carnage.

This pavilion was different from the first. Similar in style but this one stood above a pond, one that flowed into a multiple streams that splintered into the third zone. There were much less people, only twenty to thirty. Ming Yue took a quick look at the lower floor before leaving the pavilion. There was nothing here that she had not already seen before.

"We should be careful here. I've never gone this far but from what I've gathered, this is going to be different. Many of the insects reside within the water so we must be careful with any surprise attacks. Furthermore, don't fall into the water, it isn't normal water and once you fall in, you cannot get out."

Xukun looked at the two as he spoke.

"Of everything here, the most dangerous thing that we should watch for is the Diving Dragonfly. It likes to dive into the water and come from below, using its speed to knock us into the water. Unlike the Stone Lion Centipede, it is much smaller and is said to be the size of an average man."

This area was certainly different from the first two zones. From the map, there was more water than land, which had been separated into islands. Stone bridges connected one to another as a single path. These bridges had no rails to them, it was merely a pathway. If one wasn't careful, they could lose their balance and fall.

Ming Yue walked into the Third Zone to study the water.

It was somewhat green, perhaps from moss or any plants that lived within. Strangely, it seemed incredibly still and she decided to dip her finger in.

"This...how heavy!" she thought.

This water was unlike anything she'd seen. It was dense, incredibly so. She cupped some into her hands and weighed it. Just a handful felt like she was holding fifty kilograms. Letting it flow from her fingers, she watched as it joined back without so much as making a splash.

If she were to fall, death was a certain fate.

At the same time, she felt a bit of fear for the creatures that inhabit in these waters. If they could swim through and move about with such weight bearing down on them, how tough would they be if they fought?

How strong would their limbs be?

Rather than falling to her death, it was possible that she would smacked to bits.

Everyone rested for a bit longer before walking the first bridge.

This time, Xiao Yin stayed on Ming Yue's shoulder rather than flying up high. There was no need to do so as many of the inhabitants here attacked from below. Keeping close, they traversed the first bridge. It was half a kilometer long but only several meters wide, barely enough space to fit ten people.

As the group made their way into the Third Zone, another group followed close.

"Look! they've entered, what do you plan on doing Brother Baojun?"

Entering the pavilion, Li Baojun watched closely as his band of saber users followed behind him. In his golden and white robes, he touched the saber on his back before looking away. Hun Zao looked at him, clearly wanting to suck up to this brother of his.

"We'll wait, wait for them to reach the deeper areas and see if that Diving Dragonfly comes. It is bound to attack them on the bridges and once it does, we'll trap them in between and force them into the Emerald Deepwater. They can never get out nor can anyone save them."

Li Baojun was quite ruthless with his methods. To use them as bait, trap them, and then force them into death, this type of thinking was indeed cruel but that was his character. As a well known disciple of the Saber Hall, he was prominent and steps away from becoming an elite disciple. As long as he did something of great value, he would be promoted to that rank. Something like killing a great beast of the Ninth Flower Garden worked. His path towards this position was filled with deceit and blood, often using others to help him.

He watched as Ming Yue's group disappeared and started to follow. So long as they were within his detection range, he would know what was happening. Of everyone there, Anqing and Xukun would not be extremely hard to deal with. The owl and the fox were easy targets too. It was Ming Yue, he was concerned with.

Having neither seen her or heard of her, Li Baojun didn't know exactly how strong she was. Even when he asked his group, none of them knew of her. All that he could dig up were things about her two pets, Xiao Yin and Hei Yue. As they had been out and about quite often, helping the Medicine Elder deliver medicine or do other little errands. There was nothing about Ming Yue herself.

Such a thing was expected, she never participated in any events and with the way she conducts herself, few people notice her.

He brushed those thoughts away and led his group into the next zone. There was no point worrying. They outnumbered her and had a better cultivation, there was no way he would lose to them. Yet, he couldn't shake off the feeling of anxiousness.

As for Ming Yue, she was busy looking at the garden, admiring the style. It seemed there was only one pathway as each island was connected by a single bridge. It wasn't straight path but instead a winding path that connected the scattered islands into one body.

Having counted them on the map, they found that there was exactly a hundred islands connected to each other. It snaked around the area touching all four edges of the ten by twenty kilometer area.

Every one of the islands were similar to each other, incredibly dense and full of intriguing medicines and treasures. There were rank 3 and even some rank 4 plants, though compared to the Dao Roots that they obtained far exceeded the values of the things they saw. Some of the trees and plants grew by the edge, their roots exposed and reaching into the water below them.

The first several islands didn't have many creatures and it was a relatively peaceful journey. As they made their way deeper into the zone, they started to experience a certain pressure in the air. It wasn't very strong but it was enough to make them uncomfortable. It was as if something powerful had awakened, watching them.