Chapter 193: Qingzhou

With a “crack,” a rushing stream began to freeze rapidly alongside a sudden surge of frost!

From within the ice, a fist smashed through the surface.

“Where was I teleported to?”

The ice shattered, and a youth with short black hair climbed out.

He swept out with his Divine Sense, and everything within a few thousand meters was immediately known to him.

This person was none other than Lin Jing, who had been teleported from the academy to an unknown location by the Immortal Palace’s teleportation compass!

As the teleportation ended, Lin Jing immediately observed his surroundings.

Since it was a random teleportation, if he had been sent to a Yao Beast’s nest as Senior Divine Pine had warned, his life would be over.

On the Tianyuan Continent, the territory of the Yao Beasts was not much smaller than that of the Human Race.

The Mist Forest, Cloud Sea Mountain Range, and Western Desert Snowfields all had Yao Emperors comparable to the Dao Inquiry Stage, ruling over their own Yao Beast Empires.

However, after a sweep of his Divine Sense, Lin Jing found that he wasn’t that unlucky; he was simply in the middle of an unknown forest.

There was nothing dangerous within a few thousand meters, not even a Foundation Establishment Stage Yao Beast.

“A forest—” A mere forest environment wasn’t enough for Lin Jing to determine his location. Following that, his three pet beasts—the Pine Leaf Squirrel, Fire Scale Dragon, and Ice Soul Gu—popped out one by one due to the sudden anomaly.

“Squeak! Hey!!”

“Roar!!!”

“Fortunately, you guys have a contract bond with me and are treated as one entity.” With the three Pet Beasts by his side, Lin Jing felt a bit more at ease.

Senior Divine Pine had also been teleported to an unknown place and couldn’t protect him. If he had been separated from his three Pet Beasts as well…

…then his remaining combat power would offer him no sense of security at all.

“This stupid compass.”

Lin Jing checked the Ten Thousand Beasts Circle again and couldn’t help but curse under his breath upon finding that the swarm of Mosquito Beasts had indeed been stripped away.

The Mosquito-Powered Mecha was temporarily unusable.

Fortunately, Mosquito Beasts weren’t anything rare. As long as he could return to Hidden Dragon Academy, he could just commission an academy teacher to catch a couple for him in the Cloud Sea Mountain Range; they would breed into a swarm quickly.

However, since he was currently in an unknown environment, Lin Jing wouldn’t dare use the Mosquito-Powered Mecha even if he had it, to avoid being recognized by the demonic sects.

“What should I do next?”

The Ice Soul Gu had also heard Divine Pine’s warning and knew they might have been jointly targeted by the Yin Corpse Sect and the Gu God Sect. Although the Yin Corpse Sect demonic cultivator only claimed it was revenge for the academy’s experts interfering with their plans, Lin Jing’s side didn’t believe the truth was that simple.

Most likely, they still had designs on his Longevity Physique.

“Could the Gu God Sect have some special secret technique to find you?” Lin Jing asked the Ice Soul Gu.

“I don’t know! How about I fake death and hibernate first?” The Ice Soul Gu cried out, also very frightened.

For the Ice Soul Gu, although its status with Lin Jing wasn’t high, it would rather cry inside the body of a Longevity Physique than laugh inside the body of a Gu cultivator from the Gu God Sect.

A bird chooses a good tree to roost in, and a Gu is the same. It really didn’t think Lin Jing’s potential was inferior to the entire Gu God Sect. Didn’t the Gu God Sect just have a Gu God comparable to the Dao Inquiry Stage?

It felt that as long as it assisted and protected Lin Jing as he grew, let alone the other nine Strange Gu, it would eventually be able to swallow even the Gu God.

“Then go ahead and fake your death. Don’t reveal your aura unless necessary.”

“Our general direction must be to return to the Ancient Kingdom as soon as possible—” Lin Jing took out a golden leaf that Senior Divine Pine had given him before the teleportation.

Senior Divine Pine said this leaf could help him mask the heavenly secrets to some extent, preventing powerful experts from deducing his location. However, Lin Jing wasn’t sure how far this golden leaf could go.

“It should be somewhat useful. Senior Divine Pine was able to break through to Soul Transformation silently and stayed hidden in the Beast Taming Sect for so many years without being discovered. He must have some tricks up his sleeve.”

“With this leaf combined with the Moulting Technique and Thousand Transformations, as long as I act carefully and don’t expose my identity, the two major demonic sects shouldn’t be able to lock onto me for a while. If they do, then I’m just unlucky.”

Lin Jing took a deep breath and recalled the Pine Leaf Squirrel and Fire Scale Dragon. He would have to use his Dao of Beast Taming abilities as little as possible from now on to avoid exposing his identity.

His body slowly floated up. While using his Divine Sense to scout the way, he turned into a streak of light and explored further outward.

During this time, his face and physique also slowly began to change.

Returning to the Ancient Kingdom as soon as possible was indeed the main goal, but the prerequisite was knowing where he currently was.

If he was just in some forest within a region of the Ancient Kingdom, that would naturally be for the best—

After flying for a while, although he hadn’t yet left the forest, Lin Jing finally spotted a living person.

A youth in the Middle Stage of Qi Refining, no more than teenage years, was walking alone through the forest, seemingly exploring something.

Seeing this, Lin Jing breathed a sigh of relief. At a time like this, the worst thing would be not encountering anyone.

As long as he met people, it meant he wasn’t far from civilization and hadn’t ended up in a dangerous place like the Mist Forest.

Buzz!

In the next instant, a gale suddenly whipped up around the youth. Lin Jing descended from the clouds and landed in front of the boy, whose expression changed.

Seeing the ordinary-looking young man Lin Jing had transformed into, the Qi Refining youth immediately felt an incomparable sense of pressure.

Foundation Establishment Stage!

He immediately knelt and bowed. “This Junior greets Senior. I did not know Senior was cultivating here. For disturbing your quiet cultivation, this Junior deserves ten thousand deaths.”

“I really only have this much. I beg Senior to let me go.” He pulled out a few Spirit Stones.

“If only the Yin Corpse Sect were as sensible as you.” Lin Jing was silent in his heart. He had been cultivating peacefully in the academy and hadn’t gone out for ten years, yet he still got caught up in this. He truly had a grievance he couldn’t voice.

.

A strand of spider silk shot into the Qi Refining youth’s body. The boy’s eyes immediately lost their luster as the Ice Soul Gu successfully took control of him.

“What is this place?”

“In reply to Senior, this is the Senluo Province, one of the Sixteen Paths of Qingzhou. We are in the Evergreen Forest, outside of Linlang City.”

The youth answered expressionlessly according to Lin Jing’s question, his consciousness completely taken over.

Qingzhou!

Upon receiving this answer, Lin Jing looked up at the sky. How did he end up in Qingzhou?

Although this place wasn’t the headquarters of the Yao Beasts, returning to the Ancient Kingdom wouldn’t be easy.

Because the mist of the Mist Forest interfered with Divine Sense and affected the Void Realm, no teleportation arrays had been established between Qingzhou and the Ancient Kingdom.

To return to the Ancient Kingdom from Qingzhou, one must traverse the Mist Forest.

And the Mist Forest was the territory of Yao Beasts, with a terrifying number of Yao Beasts reigning as kings inside. Normally, only the Lotus Pavilion had a relatively stable ability to traverse the Mist Forest.

Some suspected that the Master of the Lotus Pavilion had reached a cooperation agreement with a powerful Yao Beast.

Regardless of the reason, that was before. Now, under these special circumstances, the Yin Corpse Sect and Gu God Sect would definitely pay extra attention to the Lotus Pavilion’s Trade Routes in the Mist Forest. Even if he wanted to sneak into a Lotus Pavilion Trade Caravan to return to the Ancient Kingdom, it wasn’t a very safe option.

Furthermore, if the Cloud Sea Mountain Range was the headquarters of the Gu God Sect, then the Yin Corpse Sect’s headquarters was actually in Qingzhou, not within the Ancient Kingdom.

In this situation, Lin Jing felt that trying to safely return to the Ancient Kingdom from Qingzhou would be fraught with danger and difficulty.

“I remember Sect Master Xu Xiaoyao took Senior Brother Ouyang Hao and the others to Qingzhou with a Lotus Pavilion Trade Caravan to make a living, right?”

“Wait—given the current situation, it might not be advisable to meet up with them. It’s better to stay hidden alone and wait for Senior Divine Pine to find me.” Lin Jing fell silent. If only he had learned the Heavenly Demon Body by now; with at least four thousand years of lifespan to burn, he definitely wouldn’t be as cautious as he was now.

If he were a Golden Core now with nearly ten thousand years of lifespan, combined with the Heavenly Demon Body, he would feel even more secure.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t.

“Who are you, and what are you doing in this forest alone?” After some thought, Lin Jing…

…posed another question to the controlled youth.