They sat up camp for the rest of the night. Lin Xiao was, surprisingly, the one who needed the most time to heal.
Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were on high alert all night. They spread out their spiritual sense to keep watch for enemies in the darkness.
Hei Gou spent the night to improve his Soul Guard skill, and Lin Xiao was healing his soul while also cultivating the Soul Guard skill.
The time went by slowly. The night was black as ink before, slowly, the sun started rising in the east.
With the rising sun, there was a beautiful display of crimson colors on the sky, looking so beautiful that even Xue Wei could not drag his eyes away from the wonders of nature.
Lin Xiao was the first to stand up. He released a breath of foul air and looked at the others with gratitude. He knew that his wounds had caused them to spend more time recuperating than what they had wanted, but they were a team. No one was left behind.
"Let us advance again," Xue Wei said. Together, the quartet moved deeper into the grasslands once more.
On the way, they saw signs of furious battle; corpses were left on the ground, some complete with only their souls missing, others with incomplete bodies, having been ripped to shreds by the attacks.
Of the ones they saw, the bandits were not the only ones that had lost their lives. They also came across corpses with the black wristband on their arms, and when they saw this, their mood turned somber.
This could have been them, had they not been extra careful. Even now, if they were not careful, it was obvious that they would end up dead.
Xue Wei and the others advanced carefully. The energy in Yan Dalu was different from the energy back in Chang'an. Where his spiritual energy had been capable of extending more than a hundred kilometers for surveillance back in Chang'an, he could only reach one kilometer in range here, making it much easier to just look with the eyes.
Feeling that he could no longer scan a large expanse of land around him, Xue Wei felt slightly weakened, but he understood that the other members of Yan Dalu were in the same position as himself.
Although they cultivated spiritual energy, Xue Wei understood that they had the same suppression on their spiritual energy as he had. They could not see much further than him unless their rank was much higher than his.
"Oh look," Hei Gou was the first to talk while they were walking, and he pointed into the distance. "A group is coming towards us."
Although he spoke casually, Xue Wei and the others tensed up right away. If someone was coming towards them, there was a fifty percent chance that they were enemies.
Knowing this, they all prepared for battle. However, a few moments later they noticed the black wristbands on the arms of the advancing group.
Although the advancing group should have seen that Xue Wei and his friends were wearing black wristbands, they were not stopping and continued towards them, causing Xue Wei to frown.
"Hello, fellow students," someone from the group said with a cheerful voice. It was a three-eyed expert with spiritual energy at the Earth Knight rank.
"Hello," Xue Wei greeted them with a nod. He was slightly apprehensive and unsure of what exactly they wanted, but he did not feel any hostility so he was also rather polite.
"We are gathering all the students into a large group now," the leader said. "We are going to start the final push on the bandits, but to do so we need everyone who can participate in the battle."
Xue Wei was surprised, but he quickly nodded his head. It made sense.
"So where do we meet?" He was not against teaming up with the others. There were a few things he had yet to fully understand, but a free for all melee would be ideal to him and his friends.
In a free for all melee, everything would descend into chaos, allowing Xue Wei and his friends to inch close to people and execute them with their superior physical strength.
As long as they did not encounter too many Primordial Beasts specializing in Qi, they should be fine.
"How do we split the points?" Xue Wei asked. The one who had taken the initiative to greet them flashed him a great smile as he answered, "Don't worry, anyone who gets the killing blow will get the points. That is how the black wristbands are made to work."
Xue Wei nodded his head, but then he frowned. "Won't that mean that many will try to steal the final blows?"
"No, although there might be one or two trying to do so, the majority won't. We of the Garden of Shadows are righteous people," the man declared with a grin, not insulted in the least.
"I see, well in that case it is great for us," Xue Wei agreed readily. "We are on our way to the gathering point now," the man who had spoken before said with his friendly voice. "Why not follow us? We will help you find the others and then we can set out all together."
Xue Wei was not very used to people being this friendly towards him. He had been told that they would be looked at with disdain, and although some did look down upon them, the majority of the people he had interacted with so far had been very friendly and open.
It was in complete contrast to how people had been behaving towards him back in Chang'an. The feeling of being accepted was truly great.
Together, the two groups made their way towards the gathering point. On the way, they engaged in idle chatter with one another.
"I know you are from outside of the continent," the one who had been speaking before once more spoke with Xue Wei, his curiosity clearly showing on his face.
"We are," Xue Wei acknowledged. "Well, what is the outside world like?" The one who spoke was named You Shan. He had been a student at the Garden of Shadow for three years now. He had been on various missions within Yan Dalu so far, but he had never before left the continent. In fact, almost no one was allowed to leave as it was almost impossible to survive the journey through the sea if one was not guided by the envoys.
"I don't know about other continents, but we came from Chang'an. It is rather far away from here," Xue Wei said honestly. "On Chang'an, spiritual energy is also cultivated, but the majority specialize in Qi. There is a constant war raging between the Primordial Beasts and the humans."
Xue Wei did not withhold much information. Even if this person wished to visit Chang'an, it would be impossible. They had only managed to get there by relying on the trans-dimensional tunnel that Lan had made.
In fact, they were unsure of where in the world they actually were. It was clearly Yan Dalu, but where in the world was Yan Dalu located? None of them knew. Even the people of Yan Dalu were unsure as they never really left.
"A continent where Primordial Beasts and humans are constantly fighting?" You Shan was shocked. "Why would they fight? Humans and Primordial Beasts have a lot in common. They are able to fight side by side, their intellect is quite similar, and their goals in life are not too different either. Of course, it is impossible to fall in love across races, but that does not mean you have to fight one another."
"Well, it seems as if the continent of Chang'an has had a war for the past many millennia. There was a time when the humans lived as slaves and livestock to the Primordial Beasts, but one day they rose in a rebellion and fought for their freedom."
"They overthrew the power of the beasts, but they could not wipe them out. As a result, all of them are now fighting for supremacy in the continent."
"In Chang'an, we have legends about other continents, but we were sure that the other continents were only myth. The inhabitants of Chang'an are too busy fighting amongst themselves. They cannot focus on the outside world."
"I see." You Shan went silent. "In that case, I actually don't think Yan Dalu is so bad."
"Although we have bandits and schemes run deeply in the royal court, we are not in constant war." After comparing their two worlds, You Shan suddenly felt very satisfied with living in Yan Dalu.
As they spoke, they spotted a large group of experts in the distance. Many of these people were three-eyed. A few were two-eyed and four-eyed.
The two-eyed were all Primordial Beasts, and they had all turned around to look at the groups led by You Shan and Xue Wei as they headed towards the gathering point.
When they saw them, some looked with disdain at Xue Wei, but the majority knew that this group of two-eyed experts were from outside of Yan Dalu, and thus, although they had some ingrown disdain towards two-eyed experts, they could not look down on Xue Wei and his friends as they normally would.
Many also had curiosity in their gazes, and as Xue Wei looked around, he also saw Tang Jiu.
Noticing Tang Jiu, he saw that the man was moving towards him, with a great smile on his face.
"My brother!" he called out, stunning Xue Wei. Were they really close enough to consider each other brothers? This was kinda weird.
When they had met the first time, Xue Wei had felt that Tang Jiu was very arrogant, but seeing him now, this arrogance was completely gone. Instead, there was gratitude in his eyes when he looked at Xue Wei.
"I have to thank you for helping me break through to the Ordinary Knight rank!" he exclaimed, not lowering his voice at all, and many close by heard it. They perked their ears and listened in on the conversation.
"The pill you gave me must have been a very rare item, no?" he asked, slightly embarrassed, but Xue Wei just shook his head.
"It is a pill I learned to refine on the way to Yan Dalu. It is not very rare, but I do not know whether or not the herbs exist here in Yan Dalu, so as to how rare they are here, I do not know."
How could Xue Wei not know that Tang Liu wanted to get his hands on even more of these pills, most likely to share them with his friends?
Although Xue Wei had the materials on him to create around a thousand of these pills, he would never admit it. They were made to increase the absorption of the essence of the heavens and the earth. It could be used to increase one's cultivation. Since they could help him, why would he give them away for free?
On the other hand, if they brought their own materials, creating the pills was no problem. He would gain experience in pill concocting at the same time as he would increase his spiritual energy. Only an idiot would decline.
"What materials do you need?" Tang Liu asked curiously. His eyes were shining. Xue Wei took out the requisite herbs from his storage ring.
"I need Copper Leafed Magnolia as the main component of the pill, and on the side of the Magnolia I also need a Spiritual Orange Blossom and a Thousand Nebula Flower."
The three herbs he mentioned were indeed the three herbs needed for the Spring Powder Pill. The reason he took out the herbs was because he was unsure of what they might call the plants on this continent.
It was hard to say if they had the same herbs but called them different names. It was another continent after all.