True Lord Hu Xiao walked in front and explained to everyone that the place where Xian Shiyu picked the flowers was strictly off - limits to the disciples of the Beast Taming Sect.
As time went by, the disciples began to call it the Forbidden Area.
The Forbidden Area was close to the uninhabited depths of the Beast Forest, but there were no poisonous little spirit beasts or spiritual herbs around.
As for why the disciples were prohibited from approaching, it was a rule passed down by the ancestors of the Beast Taming Sect. Even True Lord Hu Xiao didn't know the reason.
But it was said that the Forbidden Area held a great secret in the Beast Forest. Once, a disciple was brave enough to venture into the Forbidden Area, but disappeared silently.
Although his life - token in the sect was still intact, he never came back, as if he had suddenly vanished from the world.
This situation was quite similar to what happened to the sect disciples deceived by the Main Shrine before.
Wasn't Ling Zhou the same? The life - token in the sect was still there, but his physical body had disappeared.
So True Lord Hu Xiao was so angry when he learned that Xian Shiyu had entered the Forbidden Area. She simply didn't value her own life.
But Xian Shiyu explained aggrievedly, "I didn't go in on purpose. Once I made a bet with Fei Fei. He said there was a top - grade spirit beast near the Forbidden Area and that I definitely couldn't catch it. If I caught it, he would give me ten top - grade spirit stones."
"When I got there, I found that the top - grade spirit beast was at the Nascent Soul stage. I realized I had been deceived by Fei Fei. In a panic, I could only flee into the Forbidden Area."
"But I can swear by the Dao that I just wandered around the entrance of the Forbidden Area and didn't go deep inside."
"I picked those flowers near the entrance of the Forbidden Area."
Hearing this, Shen Qing immediately understood that Xian Shiyu had been tricked by Fei Fei.
It was clearly Fei Fei who deliberately led Xian Shiyu in and made her discover those flower petals.
Shen Qing asked, "Did you come up with the idea of making the sachet... on your own?"
Xian Shiyu didn't understand what Shen Qing meant at first. Li Xian helped to translate.
"Shen Qing is asking if you came up with the idea of making the sachet on your own?"
Xian Shiyu thought for a while and shook her head. "No. Fei Fei said that my master was not like his. My master always looked dirty and smelled bad. He also said that many disciples laughed at my master behind his back. So I came up with the idea of making sachets with the flower petals."
True Lord Hu Xiao rolled his eyes speechlessly and tapped Xian Shiyu on the head with his fist.
"Are you stupid? You even believed Fei Fei's words. Do you know how many disciples envy the strong masculine aura on me?"
Xian Shiyu gave her master a strange look and then suddenly realized that she had been used by Fei Fei.
"So... it was all Fei Fei's doing on purpose. But why... the sachet had been on my master for a long time without any problem. If Sister hadn't crushed the flower petal this time, I wouldn't have known the secret."
Elder Yaoyue glanced at True Lord Hu Xiao and knew that he hadn't told Xian Shiyu about True Lord Kun Shan.
But Elder Yaoyue could understand. After all, True Lord Kun Shan's matter was of great importance. If she told Xian Shiyu, it might scare the timid girl out of her wits.
True Lord Hu Xiao understood the meaning in Elder Yaoyue's eyes. He immediately said to Xian Shiyu in disappointment, "Whether there is a problem or not, you really had a lot of nerve to touch the things in the Forbidden Area!"
"You'd better hope that you haven't caused a big disaster this time. Otherwise, even I won't be able to protect you easily."
"Yes... Master."
Xian Shiyu knew that True Lord Hu Xiao wouldn't really ignore her. But one should be punished for making mistakes. If her flower petals really caused Shen Qing to be seriously poisoned, she wouldn't plead for mercy and would surely accept the punishment sincerely.
Before, she thought that her senior brothers, sisters and master had protected her too much in the sect. Now, thinking about it, her muddled character made her prone to making mistakes. If it weren't for their protection, she might have suffered bad consequences during the secret realm exploration or training.
The more she thought about it, the more she despised her previous thoughts.
Just thinking about how she used to dislike the sect's protection, she wanted to slap herself.
The cultivators walked very fast. Before long, they had covered about half of the journey.
But strangely enough, they didn't see a single disciple along the way.
True Lord Hu Xiao also found it strange. They had just passed by the habitat of the Jinxi Lizards. The list said that the disciples were required to collect the tails of the Jinxi Lizards.
But there wasn't a single disciple in the Jinxi Lizard's habitat. They didn't even find any traces of the disciples' stay.
"It's strange. Normally, we shouldn't have missed all the twenty - five disciples."
Shen Qing didn't say a word because she already had a guess in her mind.
The deeper they went, the lower the temperature became. They even felt a chill down their spines.
"Master, have you noticed that the temperature has dropped? I didn't feel like this when I came out this morning."
True Lord Hu Xiao then remembered that Xian Shiyu had just come out of the Forbidden Area.
"How did you get past the elders to enter the Forbidden Area? Didn't you see your senior brothers and sisters when you came this morning?"
Xian Shiyu looked away guiltily and then whispered, "I said I was on your order to go in and pick herbs, so the two elders let me in. I was quite nervous when I went to the Forbidden Area, so I didn't see my senior brothers and sisters along the way."
She even felt a bit proud of herself at that time...
True Lord Hu Xiao was almost mad with anger at Xian Shiyu. To avoid fainting from anger the next second, he decided to ignore her for the time being.
They walked for several hours. In the middle, they flew with their swords for a while. True Lord Hu Xiao also summoned some mounts with his beast - taming technique, and they rode the mounts for a while.
The sky had completely darkened. The Beast Forest in the darkness seemed extremely dangerous.
Shen Qing suddenly admired Xian Shiyu. She really had a lot of courage to come to such a dangerous place in the middle of the night.
Judging from the time she returned to the sect today, Xian Shiyu should have come last night.
"It's strange. When I came last night, I didn't even use the Cold - Resisting Spell and didn't feel cold. But today, I feel that the temperature is so low that it's creepy."
Xian Shiyu moved closer to her master and looked around, with a hint of fear gradually emerging in her eyes.
Shen Qing silently complained. It turned out that this little girl would also feel scared.
When they got close to the Forbidden Area, True Lord Hu Xiao frowned and told everyone to be on high alert.
Because he sensed that there seemed to be something abnormal ahead. But his divine sense couldn't reach there, and the smells were very chaotic. So even though True Lord Hu Xiao felt something was wrong, he couldn't tell exactly what was there.
The entrance of the Forbidden Area was full of broken walls, like the ruins of some place.
There were very few spirit beasts in this area, but there were many towering trees that blocked out the sky and the sun.
When they got closer to the entrance, everyone was surprised to find that all the twenty - five disciples who had entered the Beast Forest were here.
They had been frozen into ice sculptures and were standing neatly at the entrance of the Forbidden Area. Chu Lanqiu was among them.