The Cold Food Forest lay to the northwest outside Fengyuan City, roughly over seven thousand li away, and there stretched a vast expanse of woodland.

It was said the Cold Food Forest extended for hundreds of thousands of li, running across the territories of more than five Alien Races.

Of course, the side that bordered Fengyuan City was only the outer rim of the Cold Food Forest.

A distance of seven or eight thousand li, for Zhou Yu’s group of Nascent Soul Realm and above experts, would take only about two hours to cover.

They did not travel at full speed along the way, but even so, three hours later, an endless ancient forest appeared before Zhou Yu’s eyes.

Reaching the edge of the forest, Zhou Yu and the others immediately descended.

Zhou Yu took stock of the forest in front of him, and a look of surprise could not help but flash across his eyes.

The trees here were extremely strange, each nearly a hundred zhang tall, densely packed together, exuding an astonishing presence.

The moment he stepped into the woods, he immediately felt a bone-piercing cold that cut straight to the heart.

"So this is the entrance to the Cold Food Forest."

"Captain, from here on we have to stay fully on guard."

Guo Liang reminded him from the side.

As he spoke, he waved his hand, and a Spirit Talisman flickering with a faint golden light appeared in front of him.

At the same time, similar Spirit Talismans also appeared in front of everyone else.

Seeing this, Zhou Yu was taken aback.

"What is this?"

Faced with Zhou Yu’s question, everyone else was also stunned.

Guo Liang asked in puzzlement:

"Captain, you... don’t know?"

"This talisman is a Warning Talisman, a Spirit Talisman specially refined by the Elder Council against the Alien Race. Once activated, it can enhance one’s perception of the Alien Race."

"Once any Alien Race approaches, this talisman will change color as a warning."

Zhou Yu finally understood, and laughed.

"So that’s how it is."

"This is my first time on a mission, I really didn’t know."

At these words, everyone’s eyelids twitched, and they fell silent; but it was obvious the atmosphere in the team had grown even heavier.

Guo Liang let out a silent sigh, then took out a Warning Talisman from his Storage Ring and handed it to Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu accepted it without ceremony, then poured True Yuan into it, activating the talisman.

After doing all this, Zhou Yu took the lead, stepping into the Cold Food Forest ahead of the others.

The rest closely followed after him.

In no time, the group had vanished within the Cold Food Forest.

Only after entering the Cold Food Forest did Zhou Yu realize that its situation was far more complicated than he had imagined.

As they went deeper and deeper into the trees, the air around them became increasingly oppressive, and the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power within the forest actually carried a chill as well.

Zhou Yu himself was fine; but his Nascent Soul Realm subordinates, especially the two in the Early Stage, were already feeling somewhat unwell.

However, they had come prepared. After swallowing a few Pill Medicines, their expressions quickly returned to normal. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

That still wasn’t the most troublesome part; the most troublesome thing was the poisonous miasma that permeated the forest.

Throughout the Cold Food Forest, there were large swathes of poisonous miasma everywhere.

Within these miasmas, poisonous insects ran rampant, impossible to guard against.

Of course, as long as one raised a Protective Spirit Shield, they could still be blocked.

But what made people’s heads ache was that the poisonous miasma could actually corrode the Protective Spirit Shields.

Thus, within the miasma, everyone’s True Yuan was being consumed thirty percent faster than usual.

The group had only been patrolling for half a day when they were repeatedly attacked by poisonous insects several times in a row.

At first, everyone could still handle it.

But as they ventured deeper, and their True Yuan consumption grew, everyone’s mental state began to reach its limits.

At that point, with poisonous insects still attacking, many were finding it difficult to cope.

It was then that Zhou Yu made his move.

With a casual wave of his hand, several streaks of flame swept out, and those terrifying poisonous insects were instantly burned to ashes.

Seeing Zhou Yu act so effortlessly, the originally jittery group suddenly felt as if they had found some sense of safety; the tension that had suffused the team seemed to dissipate quite a bit.

Like this, the group moved in starts and stops, following the area outlined by the mission, as the days passed one by one.

In the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by.

During this half month, aside from encountering some trouble within the poisonous miasma, the days that followed were unexpectedly peaceful.

No accidents occurred at all.

And the Warning Talismans in front of everyone had never shown any abnormality.

Their nerves had long since gone from taut at the start to completely relaxed by the end.

Some, like Ma Liang, were even chatting and laughing, exchanging cultivation insights and a few amusing anecdotes.

That day, around noon, the group, during their patrol, came to a waterfall deep within the forest.

Guo Liang immediately hurried over to Zhou Yu and said in a low voice:

"Captain, we’ve almost finished the patrol mission. The environment here is pretty good; why don’t we rest here for half a day?"

Zhou Yu glanced around, then nodded.

"All right."

With that, he walked alone to a boulder at the side, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes to cultivate.

The others, seeing this, were long since used to it.

Over this half month, their initial doubts about Zhou Yu had completely turned into genuine conviction.

Because along the way, no matter what danger they encountered, this young captain remained calm, and every time he made a move, he could quickly resolve the problem.

This gave them an unprecedented sense of ease.

Moreover, this captain was an especially quiet person who never wasted words.

Whenever there was nothing urgent, he was basically always cultivating.

Everyone couldn’t help but admire him from the bottom of their hearts.

Seeing Zhou Yu close his eyes to cultivate, the others also each found a place to sit and rest.

Xu Ling and another beautiful married woman went over to the waterfall to wash up.

"Huh, the water here seems to have a hint of Spiritual Spring in it!"

The beautiful woman suddenly let out a cry of surprise!

Hearing this, the others were drawn over as well.

"A Spiritual Spring?"

Everyone hurried over and gathered in front of the waterfall.

"It really is."

"Though the aura of the Spiritual Spring is very faint, it is indeed a Spiritual Spring."

"Could there be a natural Spiritual Spring somewhere near this waterfall?"

"If it really is a Spiritual Spring, then this trip will have been worth it."

"A natural Spiritual Spring is a top-tier treasure for enhancing the Spiritual Power of a Spiritual Land."

For a time, everyone scattered, beginning to search the surroundings.

Just then, Zhou Yu suddenly opened his eyes as well.

He did not look toward the waterfall; instead, he turned his gaze in the opposite direction.

About a hundred meters from the waterfall stood an ancient tree.

Zhou Yu’s eyes locked firmly onto this ancient tree, a strange light flashing in his gaze.

At that moment, a sudden cry of alarm came from the side.

"Look, there seems to be something under the waterfall."

That shout immediately drew everyone’s attention over.

Just as the group approached the center of the waterfall, a terrifying water column suddenly surged forth, sweeping toward them.

"Not good, it’s a trap, fall back!"

With a shout from someone in the crowd, everyone immediately circulated their True Yuan, preparing to take to the air.

However, that terrifying water column suddenly split into nine, instantly turning into nine pillars of water that wrapped around each of the nine people.

In the blink of an eye, all nine were ensnared and dragged down toward the base of the waterfall.

Everyone blanched in terror; while struggling and resisting, they cried out loudly.

"Captain, save us!!!"