Chapter 126: The Fire Crystal Tiger

The sound of glass shattering reached everyone’s ears, followed shortly by the voice of the Heavenly Wood King.

"Attention all participants of the new space exploration: the one-month duration of this mission begins now. During this period, you are forbidden from killing one another, and you are forbidden from acting recklessly out of greed."

Ye Bai was certain he had been standing in the same spot the entire time without even closing his eyes, yet the figures of the Heavenly Wood King and the old man who had been nearby had long since vanished. The others who were supposed to be participating in the exploration with him were gone as well; even Bai Wan'er, who had been closest to him, no longer felt present.

His field of vision was filled with a grey, misty haze. Occasionally, silvery-white threads streaked across the sky, and the sound of dripping water echoed periodically.

"Brother Dong, everyone has been sent inside. It is time to close the space."

The Heavenly Wood King, his hair and eyes now a stark white, spoke to the powerhouse from the Earth-Core Clan opposite him with a look of ease. In reality, his forehead was beaded with sweat; tearing through space was still a struggle even for someone of King-tier status.

"Agreed." The space where the two stood was filled with grey currents that appeared formless, flowing in and out of the chests of the King and the Earth-Core powerhouse before weaving into the surrounding void.

Suddenly, the Heavenly Wood King’s white hair and eyes faded, returning to his original appearance, as did Old Dong of the Earth-Core Clan.

Two massive, sky-obscuring hands—one green and one blue—appeared and strained to pull something across the sky. Where the hands passed, the azure sky reappeared, and the grey currents vanished. The moment the two hands touched, the entire world seemed to tremble, and a giant bubble manifested before them.

"Done." Old Dong let out a long sigh of relief, looking at the resealed space before walking toward the Heavenly Wood King.

"You have worked hard, Brother Dong," the Heavenly Wood King said, wearing the same smile.

Old Dong frowned slightly, looking at the Heavenly Wood King, who showed no signs of fatigue. Feeling a surge of surprise, he feigned a troubled expression and said, "I am old and useless. Opening a new space has left me gasping for air."

The Heavenly Wood King said nothing more and walked away with Old Dong. As they departed, the giant bubble behind them gradually faded from sight.

Just as the opened space closed, all the grey currents within the bubble suddenly became incredibly heavy, plunging rapidly toward the ground. Before long, the surroundings were no longer grey, and Ye Bai could see the others nearby.

Just as Ye Bai was about to call out to Bai Wan'er, his wrist-mounted smart device vibrated.

"Purple Star Academy, gather here," the message from Bai Wan'er read.

As Ye Bai walked, he noticed there was no sun in the sky, yet everything was brightly lit. The ground was no longer a dull yellow but had turned grey; with every step, he felt as if something were shifting beneath his feet.

"Is this the inside of the space?" Ye Bai wondered, looking at the area devoid of any mutated beasts or plants.

The world seemed to consist only of a bald white sky and grey earth. As far as the eye could see, there was not a single sign of life.

When he reached Bai Wan'er, he saw that Feng and Dao had already arrived. The three of them stood in silence, each facing a different direction. This left Ye Bai feeling awkward, unsure of where to stand, so he ultimately chose a position near Bai Wan'er.

Soon, two others arrived: a girl who had been led by Instructor Zhang Yue, and a boy led by Instructor Mo. Everyone had already been introduced at the auditorium. The girl was named Wang Jiao, who had not stood out during the first month of freshman trials and had failed to place in the top ten. The boy, however, was Li Feng, the young master of Li City and third on the Divine Wood Ranking.

It was said that his mastery of fire-attribute power was vivid and lifelike, though Ye Bai wondered how it compared to his own "Fire Bodhi" and "Blazing Fire Over the Heavens." The latter was an upgraded version of the former, a name Ye Bai had adopted simply because he liked how it sounded when a monk had mentioned it.

"Now that everyone is here, there are some things that must be said," Bai Wan'er stated. Her black eyes held no emotion, and her voice was cold and distant.

"First, do not be clever. If your stupidity leads everyone into danger, I will be the first to abandon you. Second, do not expect to receive benefits without contributing. If you have such thoughts, you may as well hide here until the space opens again in a month. Finally, I do not care about your personal grievances from the outside; you are forbidden from seeking revenge here, otherwise..."

As she spoke, a yellow light flew from her sleeve, carving a massive fissure into the grey ground that stopped only at the feet of Wang Jiao, who stood opposite her.

"Let’s go. Let's see what this new space is truly like," Bai Wan'er said, walking ahead.

"Are we not already inside the new space?" Wang Jiao, the only girl among the three freshmen, asked the very question Ye Bai had been pondering.

Ye Bai had heard the Heavenly Wood King’s voice and assumed this was the newly formed space, but according to Bai Wan'er, this was not it.

Bai Wan'er and Feng ignored the question, and Dao remained uninterested. But Li Feng, the young master of Li City, was different. Since childhood, he had viewed beauties as precious jade, always seeking to hold and toy with them.

He had been captivated by Bai Wan'er's aura at the auditorium and had intended to curry favor with her during the exploration. However, her recent display had extinguished that thought, so he turned his attention to Wang Jiao instead.

Li Feng walked over to Wang Jiao, catching a faint, maidenly scent, and smiled with what he considered a handsome, gentlemanly charm. "Sister Wang Jiao, surely you realize we are still inside the 'gate'? The King and the Earth-Core powerhouse merely formed a gate on the surface of the new space to send us in. The gate is still here; once everyone leaves, it will vanish. It will only reappear in a month when the King activates it again."

Li Feng sighed internally, thinking that while she was still naive, this girl had shades of the current Flower King, Zhang Yue.

Wang Jiao took a few steps away from him. "So we aren't in the new space yet?"

Ye Bai glanced at Li Feng. He was certainly handsome enough to have capital to attract girls.

Li Feng caught up to Wang Jiao. "Yes and no. Think of it like nested bubbles. The largest bubble is our original space, the next is the newly formed space, and the final one is the gate the King created to send us in."

"Quiet, we have arrived."

Wang Jiao frowned, clearly displeased by his proximity, but before she could retort, Bai Wan'er’s voice cut through.

The white sky was gone. Before them stood a square, black incision that seemed to isolate the white sky, its surface shimmering like flowing water. From a distance, it looked exactly like a doorway.

Bai Wan'er stepped into the flowing space first, and the others followed. Almost everyone felt a darkness fall over them; Ye Bai felt as if something had dropped onto his head.

"Ding."

As his vision cleared, ripples spread out near him, and a wave of dew-heavy air rushed toward his face.

"Back in the Divine Wood Mountain Range?" Ye Bai felt a refreshing coolness. Around them were towering trees, and moisture was constantly evaporating from the leaves and soil.

"Use your attribute power to probe the ground beneath you. See if you can sense any earth-attribute energy," Bai Wan'er’s voice came from ahead.

Upon probing with his power, he found that there was indeed no earth-attribute energy in the ground—in fact, there was no energy at all.

"What is this...?"

If there was no energy, that meant there were no physical entities. If so, what were they standing on? What was this so-called space?

"You feel it, don't you? Everything here is different from what we know on Earth. There is no attribute power, and the energy stored within your body will only deplete as you use it. Therefore, use your power sparingly."

She ran her fingers through the leaves of a nearby tree; they offered no resistance. As expected, everything in this nascent world was virtual. This world had only just come into existence, and many of its rules were incomplete. It was a land of both opportunity and danger.

A dewdrop fell onto Bai Wan'er’s finger and seeped into her skin, and she felt the circulation of her internal attribute power face a slight obstruction.

"Sister Wang Jiao, look at this lush, green world. If we weren't on an exploration, I would love to take you for a spring outing." The season was long past spring, but Li Feng seemed capable of saying such things regardless.

Bai Wan'er frowned. She detested it when people engaged in idle romance during a mission. She knew that in the wild, the slightest distraction could lead to casualties.

"Roar!"

Before Bai Wan'er could issue a warning, a roar came from nearby. The temperature rose sharply, and the dew in the air vanished in an instant.

Massive trees began to snap with loud cracks as a giant, fiery-red mutated beast charged out from the depths of the forest.

"Alert!"

Bai Wan'er’s lips parted. Feng had disappeared since they entered the new space, but at her single word, he reappeared from the foliage, rushing toward the location of the beast.

"Everyone else, stay where you are." Bai Wan'er raised her arm, crouching down to signal everyone to gather together and minimize noise.

Soon, the ghost-like Feng appeared before her.

"What is it?"

"A mutated beast born from the primitive space—a Fire Crystal Tiger. It doesn't pose much of a threat to us, but..." Feng did not finish, but Bai Wan'er understood. He was referring to the freshmen.