Yuan Ming stood at the edge of the forest, his gaze swept back and forth through the peach forest, and while doing so, he released his Divine Sense into the forest to explore, his face suddenly showing a look of surprise.

Just as he released his Divine Sense into the peach forest, this thread of Divine Sense rapidly dissipated. He then tried to use his Divine Sense in another direction, but it was still the same, completely unable to form an effective probe.

"This peach forest indeed contains its mysteries; I have seen many Divine Sense barriers, but this kind of barrier, which scatters the Divine Sense, is the first I have encountered," Yuan Ming thought to himself.

While considering his options, he controlled the first soul within the Stealing Heaven Tripod, sitting upon the White Jade Lotus Platform, and extended his Divine Sense for exploration.

The barrier within the peach forest naturally couldn't block the exploration of the first soul; however, the first soul's Soul Power was limited, and it could at most explore a range of twenty to thirty miles, unable to glimpse the full extent of the peach forest.

While Yuan Ming was continually attempting exploration, not far from him, Lei He and Yan Xiang stood still, faces also very solemn, clearly having also noticed the anomaly within the peach forest.

"Such a strange peach forest, could it be another trial?" Lei He pondered aloud.

Yan Xiang did not speak, but waved his hand over his Spiritual Beast Bag. Immediately, a ray of red light flew out from his waist and lightly landed on the ground, transforming into a fiery red Fire Mink with bright fur.

Upon landing, the creature immediately circled around Yan Xiang, then made "squeak squeak" noises, obviously very fond of the environment of the Golden Sunflower Immortal Island.

"Go," Yan Xiang commanded.

The Fire Mink spirit beast immediately began pulling its fiery red tail, turning into a red streak of light, and quickly entered the red peach forest.

"My Fire Mink is more intelligent and sensitive than ordinary cultivators; any danger it detects will be communicated to me through our connection of minds. With it scouting ahead, you can rest assured..." Before he could finish saying the word "assured," Yan Xiang's expression abruptly changed, and his unfinished sentence was cut off.

"What's wrong, Fellow Daoist Yan Xiang?" Lei He asked hesitantly.

After calling out twice, Yan Xiang finally snapped back to reality, his expression slightly stiff as he said, "The connection of minds has been severed, I can't sense the Fire Mink anymore."

Hearing this, Lei He and Yuan Ming exchanged glances.

Neither of them had any intention of mocking Yan Xiang; instead, a look of seriousness passed through their eyes.

"It seems this peach forest is no benevolent place, it would be best if we detoured around it," Lei He suggested with a frown after a moment of silence.

Yuan Ming thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Yan Xiang seemed reluctant to leave his Fire Mink behind but after a moment's hesitation, he chose to take the detour.

The three of them chose a direction and began to bypass the side of the peach forest.

They walked for nearly two hours but still hadn't reached the edge of the peach forest.

Walking like this, it was unclear when they would reach the end, so Yuan Ming decided to fly up, intending to fly directly over it.

But then a bizarre spectacle occurred.

As soon as he began to fly up, the peach forest in front of him grew taller in tandem, blocking his way no matter how high he flew.

"Ah, it seems detouring won't work," Yuan Ming said as he landed, shaking his head.

"Why do you say that?" Yan Xiang inquired.

Yuan Ming shared with the others what he experienced after trying to fly over.

"Let me try," Lei He said as he patted his Spiritual Beast Bag, and two Golden Eyebrow Swallows flew out.

With a wave of his hand, the two Golden Eyebrow Swallows immediately flapped their wings and flew at high speed toward the peach forest above.

Just as they entered the airspace above the peach forest, the trees below suddenly stretched upwards at a visibly fast pace, growing significantly taller in a short time.

One of the Golden Eyebrow Swallows, caught unprepared, was obscured by the surging branches and quickly vanished from sight.

The other swallow shot straight up into the sky.

As it continued to rise, the branches of the peach forest extended incessantly, showing no sign of stopping.

Just as the Golden Eyebrow Swallow was about to fly higher, it seemed to have been attacked by something, suddenly changing direction and hastily flying back toward them.

It almost crashed into Lei He's palm, looking extremely disheveled.

Yuan Ming and the others quickly looked over, only to see that the back of the Golden Eyebrow Swallow was scorched black, as if it had suffered serious burns. Had it not turned back in time, it probably would not have been able to return.

"It seems flying too high is also not an option; the higher you go, the hotter it becomes, and even spirit beasts cannot endure," Yuan Ming said, glancing skyward and narrowing his eyes.

"Since we can't fly over it, let's try tunneling under it," Yan Xiang said, with furrowed brows.

"The Fire Attribute Spiritual Power beneath the ground is even denser than in the air; tunneling here is extremely challenging unless one is particularly adept at the Earth Tunneling Technique, otherwise the only outcome is being burnt to death underground," Yuan Ming replied slowly, shaking his head.

"It seems our only option is to pass through the peach forest," Lei He said with a sigh after healing the Golden Eyebrow Swallow's wounds and putting it away.

"It seems that's all we can do, this place is likely, just as Fellow Daoist Lei He previously said, another test for us," Yuan Ming commented.

With no other option available, the three of them briefly conferred and then reluctantly proceeded to walk into the peach forest.

As soon as they entered the Peach Forest, the three of them found that the reason the trees appeared to be a reddish color from afar was not only because the peach blossoms were in full bloom, but also because the tree trunks themselves were an unusual, glowing red.

The Fire Attribute Spiritual Power in the forest was even more abundant, causing Fellow Daoist Yan Xiang to let out an exclamation of surprise after stepping into it.

"There's something odd about this forest. We'd better spread out like we did when crossing the lake, but of course, not too far apart. It's enough that we can support each other," Fellow Daoist Lei He suggested.

Yuan Ming and Fellow Daoist Yan Xiang also had this in mind and expressed their agreement.

So the three spread out in a "品" shape: Yan Xiang at the front, Yuan Ming, and Lei He to the left and right behind, forming a triangle of support, ready to aid each other at a moment's notice.

In the beginning, nothing unusual was found within the initial distance of about thirty feet.

But after walking for some time, Yuan Ming suddenly noticed that Yan Xiang, who was leading the way, disappeared suddenly after walking around a peach tree.

"Stop right there," Yuan Ming commanded loudly.

"What's wrong?" Lei He asked in surprise when he heard the shout.

"Yan Xiang is gone," said Yuan Ming immediately.

"He was just... Eh, where did he go?" Lei He's voice suddenly rose.

The surroundings fell into silence.

"Who is missing?" At this moment, however, a voice suddenly rang out.

Yet, upon hearing this voice, the look of bewilderment in Yuan Ming's eyes intensified.

There was no doubt that the voice belonged to Yan Xiang, but the direction it came from was behind and to the right of Yuan Ming.

"Yan Xiang? How did you get over there?" Lei He also noticed something was wrong and asked in astonishment.

Yan Xiang's voice came from behind again, "What happened to you two? How did you get in front of me?"

"The Peach Forest is strange. Both of you come over here and regroup with me," Yuan Ming shouted loudly.

"Alright." Replies from the other two quickly followed.

When Yuan Ming turned to look in Lei He's direction, he was still within sight.

However, while Lei He was on his way, the Peach Forest in front of Yuan Ming fluctuated slightly, and then Lei He, who had just been visible, suddenly disappeared.

"Fellow Daoist Lei He?" Yuan Ming called out.

But this time, there was no response.

When he turned again to look over his right shoulder, he could no longer see Yan Xiang; it was as if he had vanished into thin air, and no matter how Yuan Ming called out, there was no answer.

The area fell into silence, the only sound was the rustling of the breeze through the trees. It seemed as if Yuan Ming was suddenly the only one left in the entire Peach Forest.

A chill went through Yuan Ming's heart, and he quickly made the first soul in the Stealing Heaven Tripod sit on the White Jade Lotus Platform, extending his Divine Sense to cover a twenty-to-thirty mile radius.

However, within the range of his exploration, he found no trace of Yan Xiang or Lei He.

"In just a dozen breaths, could they have already gone beyond a twenty-to-thirty mile radius? Could there be some kind of teleportation matrix or trap here that escapes the naked eye? Or perhaps..." Yuan Ming frowned in thought.

He didn't rush to withdraw his Divine Sense, instead observing quietly for a moment longer.

And in doing so, he indeed discovered some clues.

Within the range of his Divine Sense, the Peach Trees which looked motionless seemed to be moving, changing positions without a trace.

This movement was extremely subtle, without the slightest sound, and the Peach Trees were similar enough to each other that without the perspective of his first soul, he would hardly have noticed.

"It appears there is indeed some kind of teleportation forbidden mechanism in this Peach Forest, no wonder Lei He and Fellow Daoist Yan Xiang vanished in an instant," Yuan Ming pondered.

Now that he had discovered the secret of the Peach Forest, passing through this place seemed to become less difficult.

Looking up at the three suns hanging in the sky, which were directly above the giant peak, Yuan Ming quickly discerned his direction, then used the Ghost Shadow Escape Technique and flew towards the Golden Sunflower Immortal Island.

He had not gone far before his vision blurred slightly, and he found himself in a strange Peach Forest.

"Eh, have I been moved as well?" Yuan Ming murmured, but he wasn't overly concerned.

This Peach Forest couldn't possibly be infinite. No matter where he was teleported, if he kept heading in the right direction, he would eventually find a way out. He estimated that this challenge shouldn't be too difficult to overcome.

But when Yuan Ming looked up, his expression suddenly froze.

The three suns that had been in the sky were now on his right, and the Golden Sunflower Giant Peak appeared on his left.

"How can this be? They were together just now; could the suns and the Golden Sunflower Giant Peak have also shifted positions?" Yuan Ming blinked, his mind struggling to grasp the possibility.

"No, I mustn't jump to conclusions. The giant peak and the sun shouldn't move randomly. It's more likely that there's something wrong with my eyes. The three suns and the Golden Sunflower Giant Peak hang in a place my Divine Sense can't reach, but I can be sure that they are real, not illusions," Yuan Ming quickly regained his composure, piecing together the various clues and information he had, and began to organize his thoughts.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.