"The life-saving formation can't operate correctly away from the [Palace] grounds, but it still can teleport you back to them. Regretfully, it can only do so if you imbue it with sufficient will and qi, so always keep in mind..." Hudie Xiuying's parting words, meant for those who decided to continue the event, reached everyone, even Bai Qi, though the last part got blurred enough for most to comprehend them.

After all, no matter what powerful cultivation she had, not even a Saint could make all of their words reach over two hundred people located in a radius of over five hundred miles from their location. What to say about a powerful and peaked but still Warrior Emperor cultivator?

"The boy's connection to the root is confirmed, with the [Fairy's First Root] resonating to his presence and even granting him the primordial weapons, the ones that the first cultivators to reach this land wielded." The [Wise Elfin], Huang Song, outlined what every Elder council member knew but didn't continue further, allowing another elder of the five gathered in a small room with no decoration but a few carved wooden statues to continue.

"Mmm, even while I had personally disagreed with using the [Sixty-three wing flaps of the Fairy] or gathering this rabble from the weaker powers and even allowing rogues to participate, the mere discovery of this boy, Bai Qi, is enough for me to accept I was wrong." Hudie Min, actually an adopted disciple of the [Brave Hairstreak], even if some two hundred years ago, wryly smiled, once again finding that she wasn't anywhere close to her Master and now Head Elder, even at her age and cultivation of a 5th level Warrior Emperor.

"And so did I, although my reasons were more about granting the participants, this time, the same rewards as the usual geniuses that gather, yet I see that our Head Elder Hudie is still the wisest of us, as always. Even if they acted as cowards, the harvest is far above the usual, with far fewer people fighting for others' harvest but gathering the herbs." Elder Zhi Yui also nodded, revealing her surprise at such a result.

"And I can't help but be amazed by the sudden change as I can't help to be even more amazed by the result. Two hundred of the heaviest scorers decided to move to the wild lands, even at their risk, without knowing there would be no rescue!" Elder Hao Shuren chimed in, overly loud and upbeat, as she always spoke, at least when no one of the lower-ranked elders or [Palace] people saw her. In fact, with her duty as the Head Healer of the [Palace], no one could even expect Hao Shuren to laugh as she did after saying such a disturbing thing as there being no rescue.

"Mmm, that's definitively a satisfactory outcome, as with neither of them coming from a power that can even dare to glare at us, their deaths will bring only benefits with none of the usual political bickering and their effects." The absolute contrast to Hao Shuren, Elder Xun Guo spoke in a far more solemn tone than she usually showed to people outside the council. A stark contrast of one! After all, she was actually known as the easiest to approach, joyful, and carefree Senior Elder of the [Palace].

"Yet, I would have assumed that someone like Bai Qi would actually notice the trap and not fall for it." Elder Zhi Yui shook her head, feeling somewhat disappointed by the lack of restraint from what else appeared to be not just a talented genius but a demon-tier one.

"Mmm, but thankfully, the Superior Elder even thought of that. She didn't send someone else to officiate this part as suggested, but she actually did it herself! All to prevent the worst situation, even manipulating the main formation so the boy goes nowhere but to the safest zone!" Hao Shuren chimed in again, not holding back a single ounce of her praise and glee.

While Elder Hao's enthusiasm wasn't so proper for a nearly four-hundred-old Warrior Emperor, the other four elders gathered didn't say anything to curb it, each thinking along the same lines. So sure they were of everything going along with their plan that even the six-hundred-old [Wise Elfin] flinched at Hudie Xiuying's somber expression as she materialized from thin air inside the circle comprised of the five of them.

"...the Fairy Goddess refused me." The de facto leader of the entire [Delicate Forest Palace] only gave a short explanation before suddenly warping away again, leaving five of the most powerful cultivators in the surrounding thousand miles with mouths agape.

Bai Qi analyzed the situation he was now in as he looked around - finding himself surrounded by trees so tall that he could barely see the green crowns of their foliage, his senses still limited to mortal ones.

Even if his cultivation unsealed as soon as he got teleported, his dantian was empty, a consequence of such a long seal. And with his battered and exhausted state, even Bai Qi's outstanding qi accumulation barely managed to reunite enough to start healing himself; what to say about recovering his actual strength?

While, with time, he would recuperate entirely, right now, he was far from being able to channel qi even to his senses, something that was so natural since the Spirit realm that no cultivator starting from the Soul one even thought about it.

His equipment and [Void Rings] had returned to him as they always had been there, but in his current state, it was even dangerous to think about taking any recovery pill, not before his circulation was back to normal.

After confirming, to the best of his means, that there was no immediate danger, Bai Qi moved towards the nearest tree, sitting crosslegged with his back pressed against as soon as he reached it, his eyes closing and all of his self concentrating on gathering the qi required to restart all the natural processes of his body.

***

When Bai Qi settled down to meditate and recuperate, it was already the beginning of the Ram hour. Between his wounds, exhaustion, and the fact that the formation had sealed his cultivation for over an entire day, he had calculated to move out around the beginning of the Rooster hour.

After all, his objective wasn't to get any resources or even the extra points awarded for surviving this second part of the test but to continue in the contest while reaching a determinate location. Regretfully for him, at least, the Ram hour was yet to end as he had to move out...

"The damn heavens are truly unforgiving!" While, with no one around, there was no need to hide his emotions, Bai Qi still felt odd as he cursed out loud, activating his personal [Void Ring] to store the corpse of a [Shameless Lion]. An action followed by a burst of uncontrolled [Demon Flames], a simple, not infused by qi application of the [Ghostflame] meant to hide any trace of blood or fight.

The [Shameless Lions] were merely spirit beasts of the second level, beasts that Bai Qi could fight even without his cultivation, neither their cores nor prowess enough to hunt for anything but mortals. Even with a toned, muscular body that resembled a hairless lion and a 2nd level Spirit beast core, the so-called [Shameless Lions] were far weaker than other beasts of their tier.

And yet, with their laughable name and low prowess, these beasts were known as anything beastlike, or even cultivator-like, their hunting manner being to send one of their finest members first, and if the latter failed, jump on the prey with the entire pack.

[Shameless], that word had stuck on the entire beast race since a cultivator had discovered and lived to tell the tale of this strange and peculiar beast species. And indeed, most beasts that hunted in packs would never hide. As for the ones that chose to pursue solo - they would never permit an opponent that bested them to be killed by weaker members of their pack, race, or -group. After all - even in death - true Spirit Beasts had their own pride, making the [Shameless Lions] a pariah even inside the beast circles.

This time, Bai Qi managed to keep his thoughts internal, not speaking out loud as he sometimes did, and after easily, with just a single slash of the now-returned to him his sword, [Blue Fury], dispatching the attacking beast, he concentrated on deleting any tracks of himself and quickly moving away, even in detriment to his rest.

His cultivation had barely recovered, and while his body and senses had done it entirely, his current prowess was far from his actual one, barely reaching the 2nd level of an average Warrior Lord. Yet, even as such, Bai Qi felt pretty safe,

In all truth, Bai Qi had no desire to participate in this second part of the event, the unknown female voice that had reached him several times during the [Martial Path of the Herbs] assuring him of his points. The unfamiliar female voice, which had communicated with him on multiple occasions during the Martial Path of the Herbs, had reassured him about his points. However, it was that very same voice that compelled him to deviate from his original plans.

{Your follower, Ma Su, is not in any immediate danger. She is merely detained until the conclusion of the event, although the Palace has some plans for her.} The voice had reassured him before continuing with what had made him imprint the tattoo with the will to continue - {As for Xie Ru, the situation is both a falsehood and a truth. While she is indeed away from the Palace, she is far from secure or on a safe task...}

With his senses restored, Bai Qi finally regained the ability to survey the area around him. True to his mortal eyes, an expansive forest surrounded him, towering trees reaching such heights that their canopies were barely discernible. This majestic woodland stretched for miles in every direction from his current position.

As he ventured further away from his starting point, Bai Qi discovered that the trees extended far beyond his initial observation. The trunks appeared strangely slender, only a few feet in diameter, with a light brown bark that adorned them. Surprisingly, not a single branch sprouted from these trunks until reaching a height of a hundred feet or more, where a wide crown of vibrant yellow leaves burst into existence, spanning approximately fifty feet in diameter.

With the overall direction clear, Bai Qi continued moving toward the southwest. Although relieved to encounter no immediate opposition, Bai Qi couldn't shake off a sense of unease. The absence of enemies provided him with a precious opportunity to regain his strength, yet he couldn't fully relax. Doubt gnawed at him, questioning the accuracy of his own knowledge, and he couldn't ignore the lingering sensation of being manipulated, once again, as if a mere pawn in some scheme.

{...the [Palace] had never stopped attempting to gain better control over the legacy of the Fairy Goddess. And as such, every being that shows some affinity to the latter's [Fairy's First Root], the conduit of all the [Goddess Clearing] might, is recruited, nurtured, and then made to attempt to connect to it via one of the several altars left by the first cultivators to inhabit this lands...}