To the south of Gu Xuan Yu, there are seventy-two great mountain ranges, layered one on top of another, resembling seventy-two great dragons lying horizontally.

  The Ghost Mountains, located in the far south of the ancient Xuan domain, stretch for 780 million miles from east to west. There are countless towering peaks and deep rivers crisscrossing the range. Among them, there are 100,000 mountains with heights exceeding 10,000 meters, and 100,000 great rivers stretching over 100 million miles. Therefore, the Ghost Mountains are also known as the "100,000 Rivers and Mountains".

  The terrain in the mountains is treacherous, with many steep cliffs and poisonous valleys, so there are few people, and sometimes it's hard to see a single house for thousands of miles.

  "Ah..."

  Two streaks of light flashed across the sky, and with a loud crash, they fell into a dense forest where ancient trees grew in profusion. A flock of birds was startled, and after a brief moment, they fluttered their wings and settled down again.

  "That old guy is too vicious, I almost threw up from the impact."

  "I lost one of my shoes."

  "The clothes were also blown away, fortunately there was still a pair of pants left..."

  ……

  Kuo Yehun's body was left with only a palm-sized pants, which was also tattered and could barely keep him from being exposed. Kuo Lu wasn't much better off either, his lower body was wrapped in several pieces of torn cloth, and the shoe on his left foot had gone missing somewhere.

  "Is this really the ancient Xuan domain?"

  Guo Yi felt the air around him cool and refreshing, his four limbs and eight meridians seemed to be breathing, and his whole body was filled with strength. In such an environment, the speed of cultivation would increase by at least five levels.

  The air here is like it has spirituality, and can automatically drill in and out of the skin.

  The surrounding ancient trees reach the sky, with heights of hundreds to thousands of meters, as if they are about to pierce through the clouds and connect with the heavens. The trunks of these massive trees, in shades of purple, red, and green, have diameters of up to seven or eight meters, completely blocking one's line of sight, having grown for tens of thousands of years.

  On the ancient tree, a red bird with a length of several meters flew and chirped loudly, its voice was so loud that it made my eardrum ache. The nests as big as houses were everywhere, various spiritual birds flew in and out, some had three heads growing, some had four pairs of wings, and some had their whole body burning with flames. There were even strange birds with a length of five meters, covered with scales all over the body, and having fangs as long as one foot in its mouth.

  Kuo Lu felt a chill in his heart, everything he saw before him was too beyond reason.

  Kwok Yat was also shocked by the scene in front of him, but he began to look for a way out. This place is very eerie and must be left as soon as possible.

  "After being blown away by that old rascal, I seemed to see a vast expanse of eternal stars, each one infinitely distant. I thought I also saw an iron chain thicker than the stars stretching across the sky, but as soon as I turned around, a boundless and endless continent appeared in my field of vision, then crashed into a huge mirror, and then came here."

  "Are we being swept from one star to another, or from one end of a vast empty land to the other?"

  "I think we've already arrived at the Ancient Mystical Realm." Guo Lu looked at that five-meter-long, scaly strange bird and felt a chill run down his spine. "Let's leave here early! I feel like those strange birds have noticed us." Guo Lu's voice grew smaller as he spoke, because that scaly strange bird had folded its wings and was walking step by step towards them.

  "Run quickly!"

  The strange cries around them grew more and more numerous, countless large birds gathered, filled with an atmosphere of hostility, directly frightening the two until they turned pale.

  "What the f***, is this place trying to kill people?"

  Guo Lu was after all the body of Wu Sheng, his speed was unknown how much faster than Guo Ye.

  Guo Yi was carried on Guo Lu's back, fleeing in the mountains and forests. A group of birds chased after them relentlessly, occasionally flying out a stone from their claws, hitting Guo Yi until his head was covered in bandages.

  Until noon, the two of them finally got rid of the birds' attack. By this time, Guo Lu was already panting like a cow, and even the body of the Martial Saint was exhausted to the point of being sprawled on the ground, not wanting to move at all. Guo Yao's body was covered in bruises, all caused by the strange birds throwing stones at him, and he was gritting his teeth in pain.

  The water flowed gently, a small stream ran from under their feet, the water was clear and sweet, like nectar, after drinking it made their whole body feel refreshed. The creek had green stones like jade, transparent and crystal clear, schools of fish could be seen clearly. The two hungry people naturally had another satisfying meal.

  "Following the stream downwards, you will surely see signs of human habitation."

  A small stream winds its way through the mountains, its destination unknown. Along the way, strange rocks form a forest and ancient trees block out the sky, but it seems to have no end in sight.

  The two had been walking for three days, covering a distance of over 300 miles. During the day, they would hurry along quickly, and at night, they would sit by a stream to meditate and cultivate their inner energy.

  In three days, Guo Yi practiced "The Great Martial Arts Manual" every night and had completely stabilized the third layer of his realm. He could now easily execute the eighteen forms of the Great Martial Fist without any strain, unlike before.

  "Huh, what smell?"

  A faint scent of fragrance lingered around Guo Yi's nose, and just smelling the aroma made one feel their breath growing stronger, their cultivation slowly increasing.

  "It's a bit like the smell of bamboo, but also somewhat different. Bamboo can't possibly have such an intense fragrance, it's medicinal!"

  "Is there some kind of spiritual medicine around here?"

  Kuo Yixin's mind was racing with excitement, he still remembered what the old blind man had said. A living spiritual grass is equivalent to 10,000 spiritual grass seeds. One spiritual grass seed is equivalent to 10,000 taels of gold, and the value of a living spiritual grass is not less than 100 million taels of gold. Such a large amount of wealth, even for the former Tianwang Fu, was not a small sum.

  "What fragrance?" Guo Lu also couldn't smell anything for a long time.

  Guo Ye rubbed his nose and headed towards the source of the fragrance. After walking through a dense forest with ancient trees, the front suddenly became open, and the whole world seemed to be brightened up.

  Kuo Lu shouted: "There really is a bamboo forest!"

  Ancient trees disappeared, a cluster of emerald green bamboo as thick as water buckets, extending deep into the bamboo forest, forming an ocean of bamboo. Each pole was crystal clear, like a piece of jade carved into sections, and the ground was covered with a layer of lush green grass, each blade identical, not more than three inches high, like a layer of green carpet.

  In the bamboo forest, you can occasionally see white strange rocks. These strange rocks are like "scholars reading", some are like "strange beasts looking at the moon", some are like "flying birds singing", some are like "残局棋台" (a chessboard with pieces), and even some are like giant knives or swords. The highest ones are tens of meters high, like a grand building, while some are only as big as one person, vividly lifelike.

  "Have we intruded into some immortal's secluded retreat?"

  "These strange stones were all formed naturally and have no signs of artificial carving, nor is it known who the eccentric person was that managed to find so many strange stones."

  After walking in this mysterious bamboo forest for a day, both of them were already exhausted, but they hadn't seen any shadow of the spiritual grass. At this time, the sky had completely darkened, and Guo Lu cut some bamboo branches and set up a fire heap beside the stone statue. The burning bamboo branches crackled loudly, emitting waves of bamboo fragrance.

  "Did the young master smell this fragrance by the stream?"

  "Not the same!" Guo Yi shook his head, gazing into the depths of the bamboo forest in the darkness, and that medicinal fragrance was coming from that direction. The surroundings were so strange, and it was unknown what was hidden deep within the bamboo forest.

  Guo Lu brought some bamboo shoots, and after splitting them open, they still contained a milky white liquid. After taking a sip, it was like drinking the finest jade dew, with a flavor that was hard to express.

  "Wow! After drinking it, my arm seems to have a bit of vitality. Is this the healing spring?"

  This land is rich in spiritual energy, and every blade of grass and tree has been spiritualized. Although it hasn't reached the level of true spiritual herbs yet, it's still a rare treasure that can be sold for an astronomical price when brought back to the Yunxin Empire.

  Kuo Yi drank a mouthful of bamboo liquid and felt his body's strength increase significantly.

  His strength increased by about thirty catties.

  "The Grand Martial Scripture" increases arm strength by 100 catties with each level up. Guo Yao is currently at the third level of "The Grand Martial Scripture", with an arm strength of 300 catties, and just by drinking a mouthful of the liquid from this bamboo shoot, his arm strength increased by 30 catties, it's unbelievable to say the least, he might soon break through the boundary of the fourth level of "The Grand Martial Scripture".

  Deep in the bamboo forest, it becomes increasingly quiet. The bamboo trunks become thicker and taller, with diameters almost reaching one meter, each exceeding 100 meters in height.

  Guo Yi and Guo Lu walked in the bamboo forest for a month, covering nearly three thousand miles. The fragrance of medicine grew stronger and stronger, as if they were soaking in a medicinal spring, but still couldn't see any sign of the spiritual grass.

  Guo Yijin's progress was extremely rapid, and within a month he had already advanced two levels in one go, entering the fifth level of the "Great Martial Classics". Of course, this was inseparable from the effects of the bamboo shoot liquid; otherwise, even if it took him a year, he wouldn't have been able to reach this standard.

  Bamboo shoots liquid, after all, failed to defy the heavens. After drinking it once, the effect became smaller and smaller, until now it's almost negligible. On the other hand, the effect on Guo Lu's hands is quite obvious. For a month, Guo Lu has been drinking over a hundred bamboo shoot liquids every day, and his hands can now move freely. Except for the meridians not being fully connected, they are almost perfect.

  "It feels great to raise both hands, I will definitely use these two hands to defeat that old Taoist Lao Zu."

  Guo Lu was in a great mood, with more than a dozen bamboo joints on his back, all of which were filled with bamboo shoots. In order to help his arm recover as soon as possible, he almost didn't stop talking.

  Deep in the bamboo forest, the strange rocks became fewer and fewer, but bigger and bigger, some of which were over a thousand meters high, like stone mountains. The vast white fog gradually thickened, and after walking tens of miles, the fog grew even thicker, and only things within ten meters could be seen.

  The green grass on the ground is gone, the flying birds have disappeared, and the strange stones are nowhere to be seen. There is only a bamboo forest, white fog, and sparse footsteps.

  "Who is it?"

  Kuo Lu's soul was still unsettled and he said: "I just saw two shadows flashing by, one red and one white. The fog is too thick, I didn't see what they looked like."

  "I didn't hear any footsteps."

  "It can't be a ghost, right?" Guo Lu was so scared that he trembled with fear, feeling the surroundings suddenly filled with an eerie atmosphere, as if countless fierce ghosts were staring at him menacingly.