Chapter 334: 334
Xue Wei was unaware of what thoughts Gu Yan was having . If he knew that his casual attitude had caused such immense doubt and fear, he would have snorted in disdain .
How could Gu Yan call himself a cultivator when he had such unnatural and sudden fear .
As a cultivator, although they could be cautious and alert, they should never doubt themselves or their achievements . If they started questioning themselves, a heart demon would appear, and it would become difficult for them to advance in the future .
Xue Wei understood this very well, and if he had known that Gu Yan was already starting to doubt himself, he would feel that he had already managed to win half the battle .
As they began walking, Xue Wei, Lin Xiao, and Hei Gou were all on high alert, looking at everything in their surroundings, but nothing appeared .
Instead, they came to the foot of a mountain . This mountain was towering above them, spreading so far into the sky that it was impossible to see the peak .
"Go east, and around the mountain," Gu Yan said, not at all caring for how commanding he sounded . He was already very wary of Xue Wei, and he could no longer hold on and pretend that they were on friendly terms .
"This is the first of the two gate mountains," he continued . "Between the two mountains is a narrow passage, and this is where we need to go through before we can enter the actual treasure trove that is the Thunder Graveyard Island . "
Xue Wei frowned . If it was already the final challenge before they would encounter riches, then he had to act soon .
Although the central part of the island could not be danger-free considering that an Evil Spirit resided there, it should not be as challenging as what they had encountered when they met the remnant soul fragments .
Even so, they could not help but feel uncomfortable . The forest had already been this dangerous . Who knew what level of danger the passage they had to pass would bring them .
Still, worrying about it would not make it less troublesome, and thus he continued forward without saying anything, all his senses were on high alert . At the same time, he kept an eye on Gu Yan . Although he knew that they were here to die for him, he could not help but feel that Gu Yan was uncomfortable about them .
If he were unable to keep it in, then he would attack them when they least expected it .
This was Xue Wei's plan . To attack them when they did not expect it . Unfortunately, it seemed now that their behavior had caused Gu Yan to fear them, and now he was not sure who would be the first to act .
Although Xue Wei had to admit that it was less than ideal, he had to admit it was not as bad as it could be .
Gu Yan was familiar with the Thunder Twilight Zone, and even the Thunder Graveyard Island .
If he picked a place to attack Xue Wei, it would definitely be a safe location . It would be somewhere that they would not suddenly get ambushed by other unknown entities, and thus it was actually not too bad .
Xue Wei knew nothing of the Thunder Graveyard Island, and he could not pick the right place or time to attack . All he could do was wait and see what Gu Yan did, or to kill them all when things became messy because of outside factors .
With this in mind, a part of his focus was always on Gu Yan, but he was managing to hold himself back, and their group continued to move forward .
During their advance, Xue Wei had picked up various herbs . Most of them were Blood Ginsengs and Corpse grass .
Although these herbs were widespread, they were all rather old, and Xue Wei had a use for them, so he happily harvested everything he came across .
Gu Yan did not stop him . Although these herbs were widespread in the outside world they were rare in the Sea of the Enchanted, and they would definitely want the herbs, but all of them could not help but feel that Xue Wei would definitely die, and then everything within his storage treasure would naturally fall to them .
Guessing their intentions, a cold flash appeared in Xue Wei's eyes, but he continued harvesting the herbs . He did not trust that they knew how to harvest them correctly, so he would much rather do it himself, and make sure they were stored right in their jade boxes .
While the mercenaries thought he was dumb, Lin Xiao and Hei Gou could not help but exchange a look of apprehension and slight pity .
These mercenaries were strong, and they had an Ordinary Saint as their leader . Any other place they would have been capable of winning, but this was against Xue Wei .
Xue Wei was literally a little monster . He was a Sovereign Beast, and he had a fighting strength that others could simply not compete against .
These mercenaries had no way of knowing about Xue Wei's real strength . Even Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, Bai Tianyi, and Luoluo were currently unaware of his real strength .
Alone it would be hard for him to defeat Gu Yan, however, he was not alone . Xue Wei had the aid of two spirits and a mutated beast, not to mention a diviner .
Diviners were native to Chang'an . They were the process of thousands of years of experimenting and finally succeeding in taming of beasts .
No matter which other continent they had visited or heard about, taming beasts was simply impossible . Beasts were as free as humans, and their status in the world was equal .
Although human slaves and beast slaves existed, that was not a complete submission such as the taming contract made .
Also, the Fierce and Mortal beasts, which were the ones Diviners usually tamed, were less intelligent . Some were domesticated, but they could not be tamed in the same way with unyielding loyalty .
Gu Yan was not a beast . But some of the members within his group were, and for some reason, they felt an unnatural fear towards Lin Xiao .
This fear stemmed from their innermost being . At the same time, they felt reverence towards Xue Wei .
This reverence also came from their instincts . It was as if he was a monarch that they could never harm . So their feelings towards Lin Xiao was hostility and fear, while towards Xue Wei it was reverence and worship .
Even so, they said nothing to Gu Yan about their feelings, and they managed to go against their own conscience . They thought that when it came to battle, they could ignore these feelings .
They were underestimating the instincts in their bodies . None of them knew what a Diviner was, and they were even less aware of the fact that Sovereign Beasts existed .
Since they could not understand what was behind their feelings, they could only ignore them . They did not even bring it up to their friends, and thus Gu Yan was unaware that almost half of his men were unable to lay a hand on Xue Wei and Lin Xiao .
Xue Wei was aware of it .
He knew that although he was no Diviner if he were to exert his bloodline pressure, no Primordial Beast would be able to go against him .
This was not taming, but purely the sovereignty of a monarch . He was the leader of them; he was their Emperor; it was simply impossible to go against him .
But Xue Wei was not using his bloodline yet . This was something he would use when they had to fight .
This was also why he dared to fight against Gu Yan although he had a whole group of mercenaries .
Most of these mercenaries would be dealt with by the Primordial Beasts in the group . They would turn against their friends and their brothers because they had no choice . They could only comply with an order given by Xue Wei .
Everyone was thinking about their own thing as they were moving forward . Soon they reached a somewhat deserted area . There were no plants around it, and the ground was flat and filled with charred soil .
"We will camp here for the night," Gu Yan said as he looked into the sky above . The thunder and lightning were flashing everywhere; the rumbling was vaguely heard .
Although they were all cultivators, and although they were able to continue onwards for days on end without rest, they had to be on high alert at all times when being in the Thunder Graveyard Island .
Since they had to be on high alert, their souls were stretched to the limits, and they were unable to continue like this if they did not rest from time to time .
Not only would the killing intent whittle down their minds and take over their bodies, but their nerves would also be stretched taut, and their soul could become injured from being stretched too tightly .
Although Xue Wei had the assistance of the golden dragon in his mind, he was still aware that if he did not rest, then he would not last long . He might even succumb before it was time for him to face off against Gu Yan .
Luoluo was a spirit, and she had no soul as such . Her entire being was just a spirit, so she was not in the same position as Xue Wei and the other soul-owning experts .
Even Bai Tianyi, who was an artificial spirit, was more affected than her . Although he had become a spirit, he was after all imperfect .
"Luoluo, please keep watch tonight," Xue Wei asked . The team was supporting each other, and Luoluo was the one who was able to go on without rest . Although she seemed to be the youngest of them all, she was in many ways the toughest .
"Sure," Luoluo was aware that she was the one who could help in this situation, and she was also very conscious that her Big Brother and the others were putting their lives in her hands .
By daring to sleep, that meant that they trusted she would be able to warn them in time, and her heart swelled with happiness and pride .
Gu Yan and the others did not hear the conversation between Xue Wei and Luoluo, so they were rather surprised when they saw how they sat down and got ready to rest .
It was evident that the group of mercenaries and they were not on friendly terms, but they still dared to sleep?
When they saw that the only one who stayed awake was the youngest of the group, all of them were puzzled . But seeing that Gu Yan did not make any move against them, the others slowly calmed down too after making a small rotation of who would be keeping watch .
Like this, the group rested . Luoluo observed them all like a hawk, ready to awaken Xue Wei, should they make the slightest unexpected move .
Fortunately, the mercenaries did nothing and slept a couple of hours . This also meant that Xue Wei got some well-deserved rest, and after some time, he awoke by himself, feeling rested .
His soul was much better than before; it was no longer taut and nervous, but calm and able to take care of whatever might come their way .
Gu Yan had also rested, and most of the fear he had felt earlier had significantly diminished . He was an esteemed Ordinary Saint, not a simple Knight such as all the others here, and he was not going to let anyone threaten him .
A sneer appeared on his lips as his eyes glanced over Xue Wei, and then he shook his head . Why had he been scared of such a youngster? It was greatly embarrassing .
This was also because his soul was now rested, he was no longer as easily affected by the killing intent on the island, and did not fear everything around him .