Last time, Jiang Baiyu heard about it from someone else, but this time, he witnessed it with his own eyes. Jing Yanhang looked like a carefree slacker, not very reliable at all, but his brain was no joke; he cracked the formation that had trapped everyone in just one day.

It was like using hearing to catch and judge the lock core on a heavily secured door, and at the last moment, with a click, he successfully unlocked it. The self-repairing formation was broken once again.

“Although the structure has changed a bit, the essential core of the formation remains the same, so there are clues to break it. It was two days faster than before,” Jing Yanhang said, standing tall and proud, clearly pleased with his victory.

Jie Yan rolled his eyes at his smugness, “Alright, stop showing off. We all know you’re smart and capable.”

Jing Yanhang accepted the compliment without any modesty, “Of course.”

Jie Yan looked even more disdainful and said irritably, “Now that the formation that trapped us is broken, what do you plan to do next? Just charge over to the other side for an adventure?”

Jing Yanhang raised an eyebrow, placing a hand on Jie Yan’s shoulder, “Of course, we should send someone back to the academy, and the rest of us will go explore together. I think having Senior Jiang explain things would be the most convincing. Senior knows more than we do, but if we go without the strongest Senior Jiang, the risk for the four of us will undoubtedly increase a lot. If we get trapped again, at least with Senior Jiang around, we’ll have someone clear-headed. Saying it like this makes it sound like we’re all just burdens.”

He grinned, “Let’s explore first. If we find we can’t handle it, we’ll run back. It’s thrilling, but being reckless isn’t wise. Let’s just send someone back to the academy to report, and it’ll be safer for the rest of us to explore together.”

“Adventures are worth trying, but life is only one, so we can’t be careless.”

Jie Yan frowned deeply, “So who should we send?” He scanned the group, muttering, “What a hassle.”

Jing Yanhang waved his hand, “There’s no other way. If we all go back to report, the teacher might think it’s too dangerous and could prohibit us from participating, sending more powerful elders instead. Then this matter would have nothing to do with us. It’s rare to encounter such a bizarre situation; if it just ends like this, it would be too frustrating. Lying in bed at night, scratching my head and unable to sleep, I’d want to know what happens next.”

“We can split into two groups: one goes to explore, and the other goes back to get help. Even if we encounter danger, as long as we hold on until the teacher arrives, we’ll be fine. Such opportunities are rare; don’t say you’re not tempted. Remember, risk and opportunity coexist; perhaps there are unknown chances hidden behind this.”

“Anyway, I’ve never heard of such things from my old man. Even just to broaden my horizons would be good.”

“With the academy’s teachers backing us, if we don’t dare to take risks, we’ll probably miss out on all future opportunities.”

Jie Yan turned his head away, “Don’t call me; I’m not going back.”

Jing Yanhang grinned, “I know you’re still unwilling. You won’t feel at ease until you figure it out.”

The air fell silent as everyone looked at each other, no one speaking.

Jing Yanhang said, “If no one wants to go, there’s a way: we can entrust someone else to send a message to the academy…”

Bai Xianzhuz suddenly spoke up, “I’ll go.”

He said, “For such an important matter, it’s better to explain it to the academy in person. If someone else delays, the consequences could be dire.”

Lou Yuzhu hesitated, “But if you go, you won’t be able to explore and seek opportunities.”

Jing Yanhang raised his hand, “I propose that we share a portion of what we find during the exploration with Senior Bai.”

Jie Yan: “…”

Jing Yanhang lightly nudged him, then pursed his lips, “I agree.”

Jiang Baiyu finally withdrew his gaze, “I’m willing to give up twenty percent. If the academy’s teachers come, it will increase our survival rate and safety. Reporting back seems easy, but it’s crucial for those exploring, as it concerns whether we have a stable retreat. The teachers might not come just because they hear the news; convincing the academy to send support in time is a skill.”

He had been quietly observing Jie Yan earlier.

When the sweet dew fell, Jie Yan was the first to succumb, and after three waves of sweet dew, he was the most frantic, deeply trapped in illusions.

As the second in the grade, his performance was rather lacking. Especially after waking up, even though Jiang Baiyu was sitting there lost in thought, the moment the four of them made a sound, he immediately focused on them.

He saw the joy on Jie Yan’s face when he opened his eyes, and the shock of realizing his surroundings were wrong; he noticed it all.

This poor kid really thought he had ascended on the spot.

Jing Yanhang, with the title of ninth in the grade, appeared more mature, considering everything around him.

No wonder Lou Yuzhu and Bai Xianzhuz had such a good impression of Jing Yanhang; it was clear they liked him, while their perception of Jie Yan was rather average, filled with social politeness.

Jing Yanhang smiled, “Then I’ll also give up twenty percent.”

He quietly tugged at Jie Yan’s clothes.

Jie Yan’s expression was flat, “Agreed, I’ll also give twenty percent.”

Hearing the three of them say this, Lou Yuzhu naturally had no objections and quickly followed suit, “I’ll do the same, twenty percent.”

Bai Xianzhuz chuckled, “Looks like I’m taking advantage of everyone; I can just report back and wait for the rewards.”

Jing Yanhang bumped him with his shoulder, grinning, “It’s Senior Bai’s loyalty, so of course, we should be generous!”

The five reached a consensus: Bai Xianzhuz would go back to report, and the four would explore together.

Watching Bai Xianzhuz fly away on his sword towards the direction of the Ascending Immortal Academy, everyone withdrew their gaze.

Jing Yanhang sighed, “Last time we were just focused on escaping, and I didn’t even notice that this formation space connects to another place. Luckily, we didn’t run into any monsters, which allowed us to successfully rescue the missing people.”

Jie Yan said coldly, “If there really are monsters, according to the missing people, they only come once a month. No wonder the first person trapped said they were alone and didn’t find anyone else. Ordinary people can’t possibly last a month without food or water; this formation is truly extraordinary.”

Jing Yanhang stretched lazily and did some warm-up stretches, eager to try, “Senior Jiang, where is the connection above?”

Jiang Baiyu pointed, and Jing Yanhang immediately summoned his flying sword and jumped up, gesturing excitedly to the three, “I’ll go test the waters first!”

As soon as he finished speaking, with a whoosh, he shot up, passing through a layer of barriers, creating ripples like waves, and his figure vanished.

Jie Yan’s pupils suddenly constricted, staring intently above.

After a moment, Jing Yanhang returned, stumbling as he jumped off the flying sword, nearly losing his balance.

He looked a bit strange; in just a short while, it was as if he had done intense exercise, panting heavily, as if he couldn’t catch his breath, his face flushed, his eyes dazed, and his body faintly trembling.

“Let… me catch my breath… huff huff…”

Jing Yanhang struggled to speak, sweat dripping down.

Seeing he didn’t seem injured, just reacting oddly, Jiang Baiyu and Lou Yuzhu didn’t rush to ask.

Jie Yan frowned, “What did you do?”

Jing Yanhang gasped, swallowing hard, “That place… is very strange. I mean… the spiritual energy is completely different from here… the moment I leaned in, I felt my heart racing, my body heating up, like I couldn’t handle the influx of spiritual energy, and I… couldn’t take it anymore after a while, so I hurried back.”

“I guess the spiritual energy on both sides is different; it’s best to set up a protective barrier all around before passing through the barrier.”

“But…” his eyes lit up, “the benefits are also very obvious! You’ll know once you go.”

After saying that, he quickly sat cross-legged to refine what he had gained.

Jie Yan immediately summoned his flying sword and took off, unhesitatingly passing through the invisible barrier, his figure disappearing into the layers of ripples.

About a quarter of an hour later, Jing Yanhang opened his eyes, seeing Jiang Baiyu and Lou Yuzhu, but not Jie Yan.

“Senior Jiang? Senior Lou?”

Jiang Baiyu said, “Let’s go; we’ll set off together.”

Jing Yanhang asked, “How long has Jie Yan been gone?”

Lou Yuzhu replied, “You just sat down, and he went in; it’s been about a quarter of an hour.”

Jing Yanhang’s expression changed slightly, “He hasn’t come back yet?”

Without waiting for the two to answer, he quickly jumped onto his flying sword, “I’ll go check!”

Watching his figure disappear, Jiang Baiyu slowly said, “The relationship between the two junior brothers seems closer than ordinary classmates, almost like brothers.”

Lou Yuzhu replied, “Although they’re not brothers, they grew up together, so their bond is naturally stronger than usual.”

Jiang Baiyu casually responded with an “oh.”

The two didn’t delay any longer and flew towards the invisible barrier above, passing through the layers of ripples with their protective barriers.

Just as Jing Yanhang had said, the spiritual energy here was very different; even with the protective barrier, they could feel the surrounding spiritual energy’s activity and richness. If they hadn’t set up protection in advance, it would have surged into their bodies, impacting their bones and flesh.

This was the natural spiritual pressure formed by the difference in spiritual energy, usually only strong individuals would intentionally release such a field.

It proved how significant the difference in spiritual energy was between the two sides.

Jiang Baiyu took a deep breath, feeling a faint sense of déjà vu.

Surrounding them was a desolate plain, with towering ancient trees everywhere, but he didn’t see Jing Yanhang or Jie Yan.

Lou Yuzhu looked around, then turned to the direction they had come from, where there was a pool. When they passed through the invisible barrier, it felt like passing through water waves, and it turned out the connection was indeed water.

Standing by the edge of the pool and looking down, it was deep and mysterious.

Lou Yuzhu looked up, intending to ask Jiang Baiyu what to do next: whether to look for Jing Yanhang and Jie Yan or to walk and search at the same time.

As soon as their eyes met, her mouth opened, but no sound came out, her face filled with shock.

After a couple of seconds of being frozen, Lou Yuzhu finally found her voice.

“Your face…???”

The light in the formation space was strange, so no one had noticed. Once they stood under the normal sunlight, the palm prints on Jiang Baiyu’s cheeks were very obvious.

One on each side, and they were quite symmetrical.

With the red marks left by the slapper, Jiang Baiyu remained calm, as if he didn’t see Lou Yuzhu’s astonished gaze, “Don’t mind it.”

Lou Yuzhu was full of question marks.

Jiang Baiyu said, “This is a new kind of face makeup, called ‘Red-faced Beautiful Youth.'”

Lou Yuzhu: “Huh?”

Jiang Baiyu spoke seriously, “In my heart, there’s a pure and flawless beautiful youth. When he spreads his arms, invisible wings leave marks on my cheeks, proving he has been here.”

Lou Yuzhu: O_O|||