Deceitful Forbidden Land described some of the death zones on the Extreme Martial Continent that no one had ever entered, or dared to enter. Mu Chen had committed the book’s entire contents to memory in just over ten minutes. On the Extreme Martial Continent, a total of six Deceitful Forbidden Lands had been discovered from antiquity to the present day: three Deceitful Realms and three Forbidden Lands.

The first Deceitful Realm: the land of clouds and rain, eternally swept by storms—the Stormy Mysterious Realm. The summary stated that the Stormy Mysterious Realm was perpetually shrouded by a massive hurricane. Anything that approached this hurricane, be it living or inanimate, even a stone or a sword’s blade, would be instantly torn to shreds upon contact. It was rumored that not even a Martial Emperor could take a single step inside.

The second Deceitful Realm: the land of thunder, eternally standing amidst lightning strikes—the Thunderous Mysterious Realm. The summary mentioned that the Thunderous Mysterious Realm had once made a fleeting appearance on the Central Continent. It only appeared in the eyes of the world that one time, for a mere day. But in that single day, more than ten Martial Saint experts perished within the lightning, and from then on, no one dared to search for this Deceitful Realm again.

The third Deceitful Realm: a triangular land with one-hundred-times gravity—the Thick Earth Mysterious Realm. This was an extraordinary Deceitful Realm. Its range was vast, spanning an area equivalent to several Imperial Capitals, and it was situated in a triangular shape in a place called Sunset Canyon. The Thick Earth Mysterious Realm, as its name implied, was a land of heavy earth. One-hundred-times gravity might not sound like an insurmountable number for humans—for example, Mu Chen could currently withstand gravity a hundred times greater than his own—but could it really be that simple? Since it was called a Deceitful Realm, it naturally had its deceitful aspects. The so-called hundred-times gravity wasn’t additive; it increased exponentially. Meaning, upon entering, the gravity you had to endure was your body’s... to the one-hundredth power.

Reading this, Mu Chen’s face paled just thinking about it. ’To the one-hundredth power... If that’s true, then no matter what goes in, it would be instantly flattened into a thin film on the ground, without even a bone fragment left to find.’

"How terrifying. So these are the so-called Deceitful Forbidden Lands?"

Mu Chen swallowed and continued reading. After the three Deceitful Realms, the book described the three Forbidden Lands. ’The term "Forbidden Land" seems easier to understand than "Deceitful Realm,"’ Mu Chen thought. But after he finished reading about the three Forbidden Lands, he realized just how naive his thinking had been.

The first Forbidden Land: the Eternal Frozen Snowfield. Mu Chen was extremely familiar with this place; it was where his Master once lived. An eternally frozen region where no Magical Beasts or humans could be seen. It was boundless—no matter which direction you walked, the temperature would only drop the deeper you went. An ordinary person would be instantly frozen into an ice sculpture just by touching the edges of the Eternal Frozen Snowfield. Deeper within lay the Ultimate Ice, capable of freezing even the soul. Three years ago, under the Profound Old Ghost’s protection, Mu Chen had entered the deepest part of the Eternal Frozen Snowfield. Only after absorbing the Extreme Ice Attribute Spirit did he no longer fear the encroaching cold. It could be said that this was the first death zone he had conquered. With a sigh of emotion, Mu Chen continued reading.

The second Forbidden Land: the White Flame Cave. White Flame. The moment he saw those two words, the first thing Mu Chen thought of was the Ultimate Fire Attribute Spirit. That’s right. Among the tiers of flames, white flame was a Divine Level flame. If even a speck touched your body, you would burn away and vanish like dust. The White Flame Cave was completely filled with this white flame, known as the Divine Flame. It was rumored that this cave was located deep beneath the Blazing Flame Desert. The Blazing Flame Desert was a region that was the complete opposite of the Eternal Frozen Snowfield. Not a speck of green would ever grow on its surface; you couldn’t even find a single intact clod of soil. Aside from fine sand and gravel, there was only a scorching aura that distorted the very space around it. The sight alone was daunting, let alone entering it. Besides, no one would be interested in a desert anyway.

The third Forbidden Land: the Ten Thousand Poison Demon Abyss. Poison. It has always been the most terrifying thing in this world. It wasn’t like the duels between Martial Artists, which were fought out in the open, a contest of strength. With poison, you could die inexplicably, without even knowing who your killer was. If you were to ask what was more reviled than a Dark Attribute Martial Artist, the answer would be a Poison Master—or, by their full title, a Poison Cauldron Master! If you were to ask what a Poison Cauldron Master both loved and hated, it would undoubtedly be the Ten Thousand Poison Demon Abyss. Poison Cauldron Masters loved to gather around the edges of the Ten Thousand Poison Demon Abyss, as no place was more suitable for their Cultivation. But ironically, even they, as Poison Cauldron Masters, could not venture even half a foot into it.

True to its name, the Ten Thousand Poison Demon Abyss was filled with countless poisons. Any single one of these poisons could instantly kill a Martial Venerable. And that was just at the edge of the abyss. A Martial Artist once speculated that not even a Martial Emperor could necessarily penetrate one-third of the way into the Demon Abyss. As for what lay at the bottom, no one on the entire Extreme Martial Continent knew.

Gently closing the book, Mu Chen fell into deep thought. He had read this book to understand the relationship between the so-called Death Zones and the Extreme Attributes. The appearance of the Extreme Ice Attribute Spirit in the Eternal Frozen Snowfield alone suggested that these death zones were likely all greatly related to the Extreme Attributes. For example, the White Flame Cave should be related to the Extreme Fire Attribute, and the Stormy Mysterious Realm was very likely connected to the Extreme Wind Attribute. The same should apply to the others.

The only one Mu Chen couldn’t figure out was the Ten Thousand Poison Demon Abyss. This place didn’t seem to be connected to any Extreme Attribute, yet it was still listed as one of the Deceitful Forbidden Lands, and by the looks of it, the most bizarre one. Furthermore, there was no mention of the Ultimate Spirits for the Water, Light, Dark, or Wood Attributes. Mu Chen was momentarily stumped.

"Could it be that some of the Forbidden Lands just haven’t been discovered yet?"

Unable to find an answer, Mu Chen could only speculate. Otherwise, they would have been listed as well. His Master had once told him that the place that could restore his arm was also an extremely terrifying location. Since even his Master called it terrifying, its danger level was probably no less than that of the Deceitful Forbidden Lands.

Setting aside the summary of Deceitful Forbidden Land, Mu Chen then opened the first page of the Brief Introduction to the Regions of the Extreme Martial Continent. The first thing that appeared was a huge map. The words "Extreme Martial Continent Regional Map" were written above it. After scanning it, Mu Chen realized the map wasn’t very detailed. Besides the territories governed by the various large and small Empires, it also showed divisions for forests and sea regions. However, the divisions for the sea were rather vague; beyond the continent, the entire edge of the map was just blue ocean.

In the center of the map, a nearly oval-shaped area had the two words "Central Continent" written on it. Mu Chen wasn’t familiar with this name. His Xuanling Empire was a remote small country on the northernmost side of the continent, and its total land area ranked among the smallest on the entire map. Only now did Mu Chen realize that the country he lived in was merely an insignificant presence on this continent.

A sudden melancholy filled his heart, but it lasted only a moment before Mu Chen adjusted his mindset. ’Unless I have strength, feeling sad is pointless.’ The existence of the Deceitful Forbidden Lands was no longer a secret; they were even marked on the map. What surprised Mu Chen was that, apart from the Eternal Frozen Snowfield which he had been to and was relatively close to the Xuanling Empire, the other Deceitful Forbidden Lands were a world away.

It had taken Mu Chen nearly a year and a half just to travel to the Eternal Frozen Snowfield. Although he had made several stops along the way, the journey would have taken a full year even if he had traveled nonstop. Now, looking at the distances on the map, the closest Deceitful Forbidden Land was actually the Ten Thousand Poison Demon Abyss, followed by the White Flame Cave, one of the Forbidden Lands he speculated was related to an Extreme Attribute.

This gave Mu Chen a major headache. Based on distance alone, it would take at least five years to reach even the closest one, the Ten Thousand Poison Demon Abyss, let alone the farthest, the Stormy Mysterious Realm.

"Do I really have to reach the Martial Venerate Realm and use Space Transfer?"

Mu Chen’s brow furrowed tighter and tighter as he once again grew confused about the path ahead. After looking at the map, he felt there was no need to read the rest of the Brief Introduction to the Regions of the Continent. Slowly closing the book, he glanced at Mo Qing, who was still silently immersed in her sea of books across from him. To avoid disturbing her, Mu Chen left his seat with light feet. Controlling his Primordial Power, he didn’t make a single sound.

Returning to the shelves, he put the two books back in their original places. Mu Chen’s thoughts calmed from their earlier confusion. ’The more troublesome something seems, the more solutions there are—and usually more than one. For now, my goal should be to perfectly clear the Tower of Calamity. As for the rest... I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.’ 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

After selecting a few more interesting books from the shelves, Mu Chen sat down again to read quietly. Time always flew by when he was reading. Five in the afternoon, the time he had agreed to meet Lingyun, had already arrived. Mu Chen finished the last page of the book in his hands and gently closed it. At the same moment, Mo Qing also gently closed her copy of Minstrel’s Journal. Mo Qing was a very serious and focused reader, so she wasn’t very fast; one book was enough to occupy her for an entire day. As for Mu Chen, he had already read no fewer than ten books that day, covering history, geography, biographies, and all sorts of other knowledge.

Mo Qing saw the seven or eight books piled on Mu Chen’s table and smiled. "You read really fast."

Mu Chen laughed. "It’s a habit I developed from reading a lot as a child. These are all common books, nothing too hard to understand, so there’s no need to study them too deeply." Just then, the clamor of footsteps drifted down from the second floor. Mu Chen glanced at Mo Qing and continued, "Looks like the other students are coming down."

As soon as the words left his mouth, flushed-faced students began rushing down from the turn in the staircase, some of them still looking like they wanted more. Little Tiger, Ye Shuangshuang, and Qing Lei were at the back of the crowd. Seeing Mu Chen and Mo Qing standing by their table and smiling at them, the trio waved back.

"Brother Mu Chen, Sister Mo Qing," Little Tiger called out enthusiastically, his face beaming with a smile.

Mu Chen took a step forward, patting the dust off Little Tiger’s shoulder. "You all look so flushed and excited. Did you find a lot of useful books?"

Qing Lei quirked his lips. "Yeah, it was a real eye-opener. The books up there contained so much information. After reading them, I suddenly realized how many wrong turns I took in my past Cultivation. Thinking about it now, I was so stupid back then."

Mu Chen smiled and nodded. Apparently, Qing Lei had found some notes on Cultivation techniques.

Ye Shuangshuang said, "Heh, what’s that? I found a scroll with a Fire Element Battle Skill that’s perfect for me! I’m not afraid of the life-and-death training ahead at all anymore."

Only Little Tiger was being shy. Mu Chen asked, "What about you, Little Tiger? From your expression, you must have gained a lot too."

Little Tiger gave an honest smile and scratched the back of his head. "Hehe, my luck wasn’t so good. I didn’t find any Cultivation techniques or a Combat Skill that suits me. I just casually read a book about the habits of Magical Beasts and discovered some interesting things, that’s all."

"I see." Mu Chen remembered the copy of Blast Fist he had in his ring and hadn’t given to Little Tiger yet. He said, "In that case, Little Tiger, come to my room later tonight. I have something to give you."