Leaving the Great Poison Swamp without encountering any problems along the way, Xuan Hao found a quiet place before taking out the Great Poison Scripture and starting to read through with a curious expression on his face.
"An alchemy book...?" Muttering this to himself as he began reading through the book, Xuan Hao did not take long to understand that the Great Poison Scripture was a book about alchemy. However, different from a normal book about alchemy, the Great Poison Scripture only recorded different poisonous spiritual herbs, pills and potions.
"To think that the Great Poison Scripture is actually something left behind by a Poison Master..." Narrowing his eyes as he continued reading through the Great Poison Scripture, Xuan Hao could not help exclaiming to himself after realizing that the Great Poison Scripture was actually left behind by an ancient poison master that had once been part of the ancient sect located beside the Great Poison Swamp.
The title of Poison Master alone was something that only a highly skilled Master Alchemist focused on making poisonous pills and potions could obtain... And that is not mentioning the fact that the one who had written the Great Poison Scripture should have already surpassed the realm of a Master Alchemist!
Even if he did not specialize in poison when it came to alchemy, the insights left behind in the Great Poison Scripture would be extremely useful for the current Xuan Hao. Maybe it would even allow him to breakthrough from the Artisan Alchemist Realm and officially become a Master Alchemist!
Rustle~
Putting away the Great Poison Scripture after understanding how precious it was, Xuan Hao decided not to read any more of the Great Poison Scripture for now. Fearing that he would end up getting too absorbed in exploring the mysterious work left behind by a powerful alchemist that was likely to have surpassed the Master Alchemist Realm...
Whoosh-!
Jumping into the air after having put away the Great Poison Scripture, Xuan Hao continued his journey towards the capital city of the Great Sky Empire.
Different from his original plan of exploring the different dangerous areas he would pass through if he wanted to reach the capital on time, Xuan Hao instead planned to avoid some of the more dangerous places. Not wanting to end up trapped inside a dangerous place like the ancient sect ruins he had just escaped!
...
At the same time Xuan Hao was making his way towards the capital city of the Sky Empire, Bai Ning and Hui Ying who had been moving towards the nearest way out of the underground tunnel network below the jungle, came to a stop in front of a small and narrow passage leading up to the surface of the jungle.
Stopping in front of the path, Bai Ning could clearly feel how nervous both he and Hui Ying were at the moment.
Given how dangerous things would be after they reached the surface, Bai Ning understood this, as he himself also felt afraid when thinking of them possibly encountering a Nascent Soul Realm demon beast again.
"Are you ready...?"
Turning to look back towards Hui Ying as he said this, Bai Ning could see how she tightened her grip around her weapon for a short moment before slowly nodding her head in response.
Even if both of them wanted nothing more than to stay in the underground tunnel network of the jungle to avoid running into the dangerous demon beasts above, they both understood that this wasn't possible.
Not only were they running out of food, but if they wanted to leave the jungle, they would have to venture above ground to look for one of the portals leading out of the jungle...
Rustle~
Beginning to make their way up through the narrow passage that only allowed one of them to pass through at a time, Bai Ning who was walking first cautiously approached a small rotting wooden hatch located at the end of the passage.
Creak~!
Pushing open the small hatch, Bai Ning did not relax in the slightest as he began inspecting his surroundings with one of his best defensive artifacts ready in case there was a demon beast lurking around the area ready to attack him the moment he stepped outside.
"Wha..."
Having pushed the small rotting wooden hatch out of the way and made his way above ground, Bai Ning could not help freezing on the spot for a few seconds as he ended up face to face with a massive demon beast easily the size of a small hill!
"Hm? Did something happen- This!? What is this massive skeleton!?"
Hearing Hui Ying calling out behind him, Bai Ning quickly recovered from his shocked state before he let out a sigh of relief.
Indeed, the massive demon beast the size of a small hill had already been dead for a long time and did not pose any threat to them!
Feeling himself calming down again after this thought passed through his head, Bai Ning turned his attention away from the massive skeleton of the demon beast before trying to figure out where they were.
According to the map, their current location should be some kind of outpost of sorts... However when Bai Ning looked around for the outpost that had been drawn on the large map, there was nothing other than a few ruined buildings that had all collapsed over the years and been reduced to nothing more than a few scattered rocks on the ground.
Out of all these ruins, the one that remained the most intact was the one Bai Ning and Hui Ying were currently inside of... And all that was left of that building was a stone wall barely a dozen centimeters in height...
For the outpost to decay to such a degree, it could easily be imagined how many years it had been since the outpost had still been in use. Especially considering the stones and wood used in the construction of the outpost were all special kinds of spiritual stones and wood that would be able to last for thousands of years without showing any signs of age!
"Bai Ning! Looks at this over here!"
As Bai Ning was still inspecting their surroundings, Hui Ying who had also made her way outside called out with a surprised expression on her face as she pointed towards something inside the large skeleton.
"Hm? What is it..."
Hearing Hui Ying calling out to him all of a sudden, Bai Ning turned his attention away from the ruins located around them as he soon showed a similarly surprised expression on his face when looking towards the direction Hui Ying was pointing in-
"A spiritual herb...?"
Indeed, in the middle of the massive skeleton, Bai Ning could see an almost translucent flower surrounded by a rainbow-coloured mist.
"Yes! It's a Dream Soul Flower! The spiritual herb I was searching for is a weaker version of the Dream Soul Flower called a Dream Flower, I really didn't expect to encounter the evolved version of the Dream Flower here!"
Filled with excitement as she said this, Hui Ying was overcome with happiness as she looked towards the small flower. Almost not able to stop herself from directly rushing over to grab the spiritual flower.
"Is it a really precious spiritual herb...?"
"Yes! Even if its use is limited, it is extremely useful for people with a special physique!"
"So... Does a Dream Soul Flower normally have a guardian demon beast watching over it...?"
"Of course, it does! The Dream Soul Flower is really useful to demon beast who are in the Core Formation Realm and can in some cases even allow them to directly reach the Nascent Soul realm. Even demon beasts in the Nascent Soul Realm find it useful and will be able to break through a minor realm by consuming it- Ah..."
Freezing on the spot as she suddenly realized what she was saying, Hui Ying slowly turned towards Bai Ning with a fearful expression on her face.
"T-the guardian demon beast!"
Barely saying this as she looked towards Bai Ning, Hui Ying understood that the weakest guardian demon beast of such a precious spiritual herb would have reached the Core Formation Realm, while the strongest might even have reached the Nascent Soul Realm!
No matter what, there was no way for them to fight against such a powerful guardian demon beast!
"Calm Down. From the looks of it, the guardian demon beast is not here at the moment. For now, we should still have some time to leave before it shows up... Let's leave this place as quickly as possible!"
Calming down Hui Ying who had started looking around herself for the guardian demon beast, Bai Ning was about to start leaving when Hui Ying suddenly dashed forward and picked up the Dream Soul Flower before carefully putting it away in a small wooden box she had been carrying with her all this time.
Rolling his eyes as he saw this, Bai Ning walked up to Hui Ying and took the small wooden box before storing it away inside his interspatial.
"Ah-! My Dream Soul Flower!"
"Let me carry the spiritual herb in my interspatial ring so we won't end up getting tracked down by the guardian demon beast."
"Yes..."
Whoosh~!
Whoosh~!
Not wanting to spend even a second longer in the ruins of the old outpost after the Dream Soul Flower had been put away, both Bai Ning and Hui Ying quickly left the place.