Zheng-Fu and Qi-Da-Tang continued to walk toward the center of the Forbidden Forest. They remained friendly to one another as usual and did not encounter any monsters at all. When the night fell, they found a good spot to call it a day. They knew that it was not wise to travel at night…

*It seems like the clan's map is similar to his map. The two Elders of the Forbidden Forest gave me the safest route. And the test has been our clan's tradition for many years. How is it possible that the Forbidden Forest belongs to his clan? So, which one is true!?*

Zheng-Fu mumbled in his mind with sorrow. He thought that if Qi-Da-Tang was right, it meant that there was a portal in the forest that linked the two continents together. However, he also thought that was unlikely to be the case. Then he remembered the man that he helped when he first got into the jungle. He wrote him a map to get out of the forest.

Now Zheng-Fu was worried that if the forest was a portal, then the man would not be able to get out…

The morning finally came. And as usual, Zheng-Fu would exercise to stay fit after he woke up. It was the kind of exercise that he always did in the previous world, so he did not have to force himself to do it when he practiced martial arts…

"Tsk!"

Zheng-Fu noticed that Qi-Da-Tang was watching him quietly, not from afar. He did not feel bothered much, but let out some air from his mouth and continued the routine. Qi-Da-Tang watched Zheng-Fu until the end of the routine, which made Zheng-Fu admire the man's patience. Zheng-Fu turned to Qi-Da-Tang and pretended to be startled by him. He said…

"Are you awake, brother Da-Tang?" Zheng-Fu asked innocently while wiping off the sweat on his forehead…

"Well… Yeah! I got up a while ago and didn't see you, so I walked around and found you here. I saw you in the middle of the practice, so I didn't want to say anything," Qi-Da-Tang replied with a smile…

"When did you get here?" Zheng-Fu pretended to ask…

"I got here a few minutes before you finished practicing. If I got here long before that, I would have called you," Qi-Da-Tang answered calmly…

"I see," Zheng-Fu mumbled quietly and excused himself to clean up at the pond nearby…

Whoosh!

"Did he know that I'd been watching him since the beginning? It's impossible. I disguised my energy level and existence. Or did he just try to bluff?" Zheng-Fu's question prompted Qi-Da-Tang to get psyched instantly…

The man realized that he did not know much about what Zheng-Fu could do. He knew that Zheng-Fu was very quick and made good decisions. Other things, like his strength or power, were something that he did not know at all. Qi-Da-Tang also wondered where his servant monster was. The whole thing made him think a lot about Zheng-Fu. He did not know how he could find out more about the boy…

"Never mind! There's still more time to get to know his real strength. Besides, it's not easy to get to the center of the forest. I don't even know if I can get there." Qi-Da-Tang sighed while speaking his mind. He did not know that Zheng-Fu had heard everything…

Zheng-Fu did not intend to take a bath. He just wanted to walk away to disguise himself from Qi-Da-Tang to spy on him. The disguising technique that he modified was more exceptional than others…

The technique did not disguise just his energy level but also his whole existence. Anyone who was even a stage higher than him would find it hard to detect him. The people who were in the Immortal stage would not be able to sense him unless they possessed superior detectors…

However, there was a downside to the technique because Zheng-Fu could not move abruptly under the disguise. The technique was only perfect for eavesdropping…

*Tsk! I know that I can't trust you! Do you want to trick me? In your dream!* Zheng-Fu mumbled and cursed Qi-Da-Tang in his mind…

He had a feeling that Qi-Da-Tang was not being truthful. He noticed that the man showed a quick glimpse of savageness in his eyes and a killing intent when he heard Qi-Fu-Er's name. Even though it happened in just a second, Zheng-Fu could pick it up. That was why he had been doubting Qi-Da-Tang all along. And now he knew that his doubt was true. The man did not wish well for him and Qi-Fu-Er…

After half an hour, Zheng-Fu decided to get out of the disguise because he did not get any more information from Qi-Da-Tang. He started to carefully walk away from his spot, released the disguise, and walked towards Qi-Da-Tang, smiling at him when their eyes met…

"Whoa! You did take a long time taking a bath." Qi-Da-Tang tried to fix a friendly face for Zheng-Fu…

"I'm sorry, brother Da-Tang. I enjoyed the water too much. It was really cool in there, so I lost myself in time," Zheng-Fu replied with a firm smile…

"I see. Well, shall we start to move?" Qi-Da-Tang did not see anything strange about Zheng-Fu's gesture, so he stopped doubting him and suggested they continue the journey…

"Yeah! But before we move, can we go to this place first?" Zheng-Fu's request stopped Qi-Da-Tang. He turned to look at Zheng-Fu with a questioning eye…

"Which place?"

"It's a place that is not far from the pond. I stumbled into it and saw a strange stone there, so I wanted to see what it was."

"A strange stone?"

Qi-Da-Tang turned confused when he heard the answer from Zheng-Fu. As far as he knew, he had not seen any stones in the area. With an insincere thought that he had toward Zheng-Fu, he wanted to refuse Zheng-Fu's request. But he had to change his mind after seeing Zheng-Fu begging him with his eyes.

He had the symptom of being taken in by those begging eyes, but it only happened with boys because he hated girls… (Here we go. The truth is finally being revealed.)

"Alright! But where is the place? Why don't you lead me there?" Qi-Da-Tang could not resist Zheng-Fu's begging eyes, so he agreed to go with Zheng-Fu. He usually could hardly refuse boys who begged him…

Zheng-Fu let out a smile when Qi-Da-Tang agreed to do according to his request. He then led the man to the place instantly. From his map, Zheng-Fu knew that there was a spot nearby. So, he knew well that there would be a spell-bounded stone at the place…

Crackling! Crackling! Crackling!

Sounds of dry leaves being stepped on occurred along the way by Zheng-Fu and Qi-Da-Tang's footsteps, who were on their way to the place where the strange stone was. Not long after that, both of them arrived at the place. Qi-Da-Tang crinkled his eyebrows when he saw that the strange stone was real because he had never seen it before…

"There it is, brother Da-Tang!" Zheng-Fu said while pointing at the spelled stone that emerged from the ground…

"What kind of stone is that?" Qi-Da-Tang asked while looking at the stone with wonder. He slowly and carefully walked up to the stone, but then Zheng-Fu stopped him. So, he asked, "What is it?"

"It might be a trap. I don't think we should get any closer. I don't want to…"

"Don't worry, brother Zheng-Fu! I'm here. And that is just a stone." Qi-Da-Tang turned to boost confidence in Zheng-Fu when he saw that Zheng-Fu was being reluctant…

"I feel more confident, hearing that from you. But I don't think we should mess with it. Let's go to the center of the forest." Zheng-Fu continued to pretend to suggest that the stone might be dangerous but also acted like he was curious to know more about it…

Qi-Da-Tang felt the need to check out the stone even more after seeing Zheng-Fu act that way, so he broke free from Zheng-Fu's grab and walked to the stone with the utmost confidence…

Clomp!

"Argh!"

The minute Qi-Da-Tang stepped his foot into the spelled pattern, he had to cry out in pain, as if he had been shocked by electricity. The magical trap started to suck the man's energy instantaneously…

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Zheng-Fu, seeing that, let out a smile. He pretended to shout and asked with worry, "What's going on, brother Da-Tang?" Then he continued to pretend to touch Qi-Da-Tang…

Grab!

As soon as Zheng-Fu touched Qi-Da-Tang, he pretended to shake tremendously to show that he was also affected by the magical trap. However, he was just absorbing the man's energy with great pleasure…

Whoosh!

Qi-Da-Tang's energy continued to get sucked out violently, which caused him to become weaker and weaker. The draining of his energy happened so quickly that his energy level stepped down from the ninth to the eighth level of the Nescent Soul stage…

As for Zheng-Fu, the energy he gained from Qi-Da-Tang filled up his energy range perfectly. And all of a sudden, an explosion occurred within him. It was a sign that he had moved up to the next level…

"Argh!"

A shichen had passed, and Qi-Da-Tang's energy level was down to the sixth level of the Nescent Soul stage. The process almost tore him apart. Zheng-Fu, on the other hand, had eventually moved up to the fourth level of the Nescent Soul stage…

He wanted to let Qi-Da-Tang believe that he saved him from this tragic incident, so he stopped absorbing his energy and pulled him out of the spelled pattern. When they were both free, Zheng-Fu pretended to pass out and did not forget to suppress his energy level…

Qi-Da-Tang was the one who actually passed out because of the pain. Losing energy caused an internal injury. It was also a tragic incident for him that he had lost many energy levels because it was tremendously difficult to gain each. The man had just lost many levels within just a few shichens…

Zheng-Fu stopped pretending to pass out when he saw that Qi-Da-Tang had completely lost consciousness. He sat down and started to balance his energy instantly. The new energy that he gained at a quick pace fluctuated in his system. He planned to suppress his real energy level again if Qi-Da-Tang gained back his consciousness…

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