'I may have fucked up.' Li Yuan thought with a wry chuckle as he kept walking, trying his best not to kick up a cloud of sand with each step forward.

  Yes. Sand. Because he was currently walking through what seemed like an endless expanse of desert, with sand dunes spanning from horizon to horizon for as far as his eyes could see.

  Three days ago, he had steeped into the Forbidden forest. Since then, he had crossed mountains, swamp, a marsh, and now, a fucking desert.

  The Forbidden Forest.

  'Forest'.

  'Heh.' He let out another humourless chuckle.

  Whoever had named this place 'forest' had either never entered it, or had a cruel sense of humour. This place wasn't a forest. It was an entire region.

  A continent masquerading as a single Forest. Over two thousand miles across in every direction. Mountains, marshes, ravine, forests, and apparently… even a fucking desert.

  Calling this place a forest was like a country the size of Australia a Forest.

  Even the name 'Outer Belt' had proven deceptive. The name suggested a narrow belt of some kind. A thin strip of land that you could enter and exit with impunity. A place that you could enter in the morning, hunt at throughout the day, and then exit for dinner.

  Sorry, this map is not very accurate but it was the best I could do.

  The truth, he'd come to learn, was completely different. Especially since something would always try to kill you in this place, if you're not careful enough.

  On the very first day he'd entered this place, he had spotted a pack of Mistfang Direwolves cresting a ridge in the distance. There were dozens of them in that pack. With every single adult in that pack radiating the pressure of a 2nd Grade spirit beast.

  He had crouched behind a boulder and watched them pass.

  The corpse of even a single one of those beasts would fetch thousands of spirit stones in the market outside. And that's on the premise that they don't have a Beast Core inside. If they did? Then that price would skyrocket.

  On the second day, he had seen a flock of Stormcall Rocs circling far overhead, their size large enough to rival airliner.

  Every so often, one of them would dive toward the earth in a blitz of lightning, and then fly up into the sky once again, this time carrying another 2nd Grade beast in their claws.

  Later, the next day, a herd of Thunderhorn Stags had thundered across the mountains, numbering in the thousands. The ground had trembled from their passing, and he had even seen a landslide occur in the distance.

  Once again, almost all the adults in that herd had been 2nd Grade beasts. All of them worth fortunes. And all of them capable of killing him easily.

  But the large group of beasts weren't the worst. The herds, the packs, the flocks, all of them had simply passed by without even noticing him.

  The worst were the ones he couldn't see.

  The ambush predators that simply waited for the unwary soul to pass by, and then *bam*, that guy was dead.

  And that's how he would've died as well. If not for his halo going pitch black and warning him in advance.

  So far, his Halo has gone Pitch Black twice. And the first time, the one who attacked had been the Thousand-Eye Canopy Spider.

  He hadn't even noticed the web. The silk had been thinner than spiritual threads, stretched between two withered trees. His foot had brushed it—

  And then the spider had fallen upon him like the motherfucking death reaper itself.

  His Veil of Borrowed Heaven had not mattered as the Spider already knew there was something down there. And then, its poison had entered his meridians, and the technique no longer worked regardless.

  He could still remember the vision of the giant bus sized spider poisoning him and then cocooning him in that translucent silk of its before the vision finally came to an end.

  He had given that area a large detour afterward. And had grown even more cautious with each step forward. Alas, that had not been enough to save him from dying a second time.

  The second vision had been worse.

  It was a tranquil lake. A deceptively beautiful place with still water that reflected the sky, creating a beautiful scenery. He had just stopped nearby to admire the view for a moment when he saw pale lights shimmering beneath the surface.

  He stepped forward to check out that shimmer, wondering if he'd run into some type of underwater treasure. With each step forward, that shimmer had brightened. And with each step, he went deeper and deeper into the water. Until finally, he saw the creatures that had emitted that light. And by then, it had been too late to turn back.

  Drownlight Lanternfish. An entire school of it.

  Their glowing lures pulsed with hypnotic spiritual waves that lowered the wariness and fear of the unwary and invited them under water with the false promise of 'something good'.

  The vision of himself being ripped apart by a dozen set of teeth still sent a shudder of fear through him.

  He has been wary of going near large bodies of water ever since.

  That second death was also what had finally destroyed his arrogance.

  Yes, his arrogance.

  He had believed that Complete Perfection in the Veil of Borrowed Heaven would make him untouchable in the Outer Belt. That even if he faced some setbacks, it won't be enough to truly stop him.

  News flash: It hadn't been enough.

  It only meant he died less frequently. Nothing more.

  And it pointed out the fact that he had not prepared well enough for this excursion. That if not for his cheat powers, he would already be long dead by now.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  A hot wind gusted across the dunes, stinging his face and bringing him out of his dour thoughts. He looked into the horizon and saw that the sun was finally reaching the horizon.

  It would be nighttime in a few hours.

  And from what he'd seen so far. Night was worse.

  The first evening he'd spent in this place had been enough of a lesson for him. The sight of so many nocturnal creatures coming out to hunt. The sound of their shrieks and clicks… as well as the fact that some of them used special abilities to search for their prey, some of which could even see through his Veil of Borrowed Heaven…

  After nearly dying to a Bone-Wind Bat who had somehow managed to sense him through his Veil of Borrowed Heaven, he had hidden inside his Ancient Spatial Ring and had not dared to come out till the next morning.

  Each night since, he had retreated inside his ring, wondering how it is that other sect disciples survive in this place. Likely with the use of Formations, or perhaps they have permanent camouflaged bases here in place where they could hide within for the night.

  Regardless, three days in the Outer Belt, and whatever swelling pride he had carried from the sect had been ground into dust. Like the sand currently beneath his boots.

  Good.

  Better his pride died than he did.

  Of course, it was not all bad. If there's one thing he could say about this area, then it was that it was brimming with ambient Qi. And that energy had given birth to numerous Spirit Herbs.

  He couldn't walk a dozen steps without encountering a Low-grade spirit herb. Herbs that Outer sect disciples had to spent an entire day gathering at the edge of the forest, were scattered everywhere here.

  There were so many of them, in fact. That if he started collecting them, then he would make absolutely no progress at all.

  Hence why he had started ignoring them. And only focused on picking up the Mid or High-grade herbs.

  Even with him being that picky, he now has hundreds of Spirit Herbs planted near his Spirit Lake within his Spatial Ring. Of those spirit herbs, three were part of 4 main Spirit Herbs required in the creation of the Foundation Establishment Pills.

  If he could find the fourth herb, and find a way to grow them properly, he could start harvesting them for parts every decade or so for an entire batch of pills. And that would solve much of the dilemma of his family not having enough Foundation Establishment Pills for its members.

  And even if he failed to grow them properly, he would at least have the ingredients required for a single batch of Foundation Establishment Pills. One of which he would give to his mother, who was also at the Peak of Qi Condensation realm.

  Aside from the Spirit Herbs, he had also managed to pick up a few other treasures along the way. Each of which would go for thousands of Spirit Stones on the market.

  So, even if he could not get his hands on the Heavy Spirit Water for one reason or another, it couldn't be said that he had made this trip in vain.

  Eventually, he crested another dune and let out a relieved sigh as he finally saw the end of the desert and the start of yet another forest.

  Except this was a rather familiar forest. Quite similar to the one that he had seen in his vision. In fact, it was the same place where that Treasure-Seeking Rat had found the Heavy Spirit Water.

  'Finally. Fucking finally.' He thought, as he closed his eyes, his shoulders loosening a fraction as he let out a relieved sigh.

  Three days of multiple near-death situations. And finally, he was here. Finally, it would all be worth it.

  —————

  'This place is not natural.' Li Yuan thought as he entered the Underground cave, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness.

  The vision had only shown him the entrance of this place, and then that Inner Sect disciple entering this place and finding the cavern which held the Heavy Spirit Water.

  It had not shown him the entire underground cave. And now that he could see it for himself, he could tell that this was definitely a man-made place.

  After all, he could see that the tunnel, even overgrown with grass as it was, sloped downward in a straight, deliberate line.

  Not only that but the walls also bore shallow grooves, and were parallel and evenly spaced. There were also tool marks on the walls, as well as the fact that the ceiling arched in a uniform curve, reinforced at intervals with dark metal beams sunk deep into the stone.

  He might know much about caves, but he had enough common sense to know that Natural caves didn't look like this.

  They didn't run straight for dozens of meters. And they definitely didn't branch into side chambers with squared doorframes.

  'This place is man-made. Someone lived here.' He thought as he checked the corroded doorframes. 'Multiple someone, by the looks of it.'

  More than that. This wasn't some temporary shelter dug out in haste. The scale was too large. There were side rooms at measured intervals—storage, cultivation chambers, perhaps even sleeping quarters.

  He also noticed something else in the place. Formation Flags. They stood out in the corners of hallways and chambers. Thin rods of precious-alloy, along with silk pennants covered in thousands of tiny, faded Formations.

  'The formations must've been active till some time ago.' He judged. Which partly explained why this place was not filled to the brim with underground creatures.

  He studied the Formation flags a bit longer before coming to another obvious conclusion. The formation created here used to be a Tier 3 formation. Meaning that this place belonged to a Golden Core Expert. Or possibly even a Nascent Soul expert.

  From what he could see, this was not even a proper living place. Just a base they had dug out to live in temporarily.

  Meaning that this place was likely a staging ground. A place where they could stop and rest at temporarily before going deeper into the Forbidden Forest.

  There was something else about the Formation Flags that bothered him though. The reason why they had stopped working. Which was that they had begun to rust.

  Tier 3 Formation Flags didn't rot in a decade. They lasted centuries before they started to go bad.

  He studied the erosion, the mineral deposits creeping along the base where moisture had gathered over time and came to another obvious conclusion to someone who had some knowledge about Formations.

  'These formation flags have been here hundreds of years at least.' He thought.

  Looking within the various rooms. He was disappointed to find that anything that could've been of use to him, had long since rotted away, or turned to dust. But it also served as another confirmation that no one has been in here for a long, long time.

  And judging by how he could seen some personal items scattered about within those rooms, he made another conclusion.

  The owner or owners of this cave must've died abruptly.

  If they had left voluntarily, they would have dismantled this place. Taken the formation flags with them. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn't casually abandon resources of this scale.

  So they died. Likely somewhere deeper in the Forbidden Forest.

  Li Yuan exhaled slowly.

  He would search the entire base later for anything of value. Even the half corroded Formation flags would sell tens of thousands of Spirit Stones in the Market. If for nothing else than the precious alloy they were made from.

  Maybe, if he was lucky enough, he would be able to find hidden compartments filled with valuable items.

  But that could wait for later. For now, he needed to secure the Pool of Heavy Spirit Water.

  With that thought, he moved deeper into the cave system.

  The tunnel narrowed, then widened again before opening into a cavern large enough to swallow an entire mansion. The air here was thicker, dense. No, it was not the air but the Qi in the atmosphere. There was dense amount of Qi in this place. Even more so than the Qi Gathering array attached to the Mid-grade Spirit Lakes back home.

  'Well, this would at least explain how the Heavy Spirit Water was able to form here.' He thought as his gaze went to the pool that shimmered with a golden light.

  His heart beat sped up as he looked at the pool. After all, this pool right here, was worth millions of spirit stones. Then, he frowned as he noticed something else. Something he hadn't noticed in the vision.

  Formation flags were planted around the edges of the cavern. And unlike the others he'd seen before, these ones had not collapsed. No. These ones were still active. Still working.

  He felt a shudder go thought him at the idea of what would've happened to him had he stepped into the Formation without realising it was there.

  Slowly and cautiously, he approached one of the flags from the outside of the formation. He lowered himself into a crouch and then studied it. His fingers hovered just above the surface, spiritual sense extending into the structure.

  The inscription layers were… absurd. Beyond anything he'd ever studied. And it took him a moment to realise just what he was looking at.

  A Tier 4 formation.

  That would explain why this formation was still active while the ones up above had collapsed. If Tier 3 formation flags were crafted to last for centuries, then Tier 4 formation flags were crafted to last for thousands of years.

  He tried to study the formation and found himself getting a migraine. The interlocking arrays folded into each other like fractals. Energy channels branched and reconnected in patterns so complex they made his scalp prickle. He could barely follow a single pathway before losing track.

  Breaking this formation? Yeah. That was definitely impossible for him. He couldn't even fully comprehend it.

  But… something about the formation gave him pause. And it took him a moment to realise what that was. It was the intent of the formation.

  No killing intent was embedded in the array. And there weren't any defensive triggers waiting for some idiot to stumble onto it either.

  He traced the energy flow again, slower this time. There was something familiar about the formation, despite all its incredible complexity. He took a step back and tried to look at the formation as a whole instead of just a small part of it. And his eyes widened as he finally realised what this was.

  His gaze snapped to the pool. Then back to the formation. Then the pool again. Then, a soft chuckle escaped his lips as he finally understood.

  The Formation was not placed here because of the Pool. No. It was the complete opposite.

  The Pool came into existence because of the formation.

  Because the Formation was none other than a Qi Gathering Array. Or at least a far more complex, and far more powerful version of the Qi Gathering Array that he has seen being used back home.

  The Formation must've gathered Qi over the years and centuries. And as it led to more and more Qi gathering in a single place, and no one to use it, it must've condensed over the years, and slowly turned into the Pool of Heavy Spirit Water that now lay in front of him.

  Then, he realised something else. Something that he felt stupid for not realising beforehand.

  Formations don't run on nothing. To keep a formation active for hundreds—possibly thousands of years required a power source. Which let to two possibilities.

  The first possibility being that someone was maintaining the formations here regularly, replacing spirit stones whenever the last batch ran dry.

  He dismissed that immediately, as there were no recent disturbances in this place. No fresh spiritual traces that his Spirit Residue Following Technique could see.

  Which left the second possibility.

  Beneath this cavern… was an underground Spirit Lake.

  A steady source of Qi feeding the formation from below, as well as filling up the formation with the Qi which then condensed and turned into Heavy Spirit Water.

  Given the scale and complexity of a Tier 4 array, the Spirit Lake couldn't be a weak one either.

  Low-grade Tier 2 at the very least. Possibly higher.

  His heart started beating fast in his chest as he realised this. Not only because of the Spirit Lake. But because of the large amount of Spirit Stones that must've gathered around that lake after centuries of non-use.

  Even if it was only a Low-grade 2nd Tier Spirit Lake, it meant over a hundred thousand Spirit Stones per year. Or a thousand Mid-grade Spirit stones. Now multiply that same number over hundreds of times.

  His breath picked up as he came to the realisation that the Heavy Spirit Water in front of him might not be the most valuable item in this place.

  The Inner Sect Senior with the Treasure Rat who entered this place in that vision must not have any knowledge in Formations and had thus not realised this possibility.

  But he did.

  The question was. What the heck was he supposed to do with such information?

  After taking a few deep breaths to calm down, he gave the matter some serious thought, and then came to another obvious conclusion that he'd somehow missed because of his greed.

  A Tier 2 Spirit Lake meant dense, continuous Qi flow—enough to sustain Golden Core cultivation. Enough to birth treasures over time.

  Enough to attract attention from things far worse than a Qi Condensation brat like him.

  Just like human cultivators, Spirit Beasts were also attracted to Spirit Lakes. Powerful ones that chased away other Spirit beasts from its near vicinity and took the lake for themselves.

  Humans called Spirit Beasts like them Guardian beasts. Not only because of their habit to guard the treasure jealously. But also because thanks to the treasure they were guarding, they slowly grow stronger and stronger over time, till they become far stronger than other Spirit Beasts of their kind.

  And what were the chances that this particular spirit lake would remain without a Guardian Beast for so long.

  Plus, that Guardian Beast had likely already consumed all the spirit stones birthed by that Spirit Lake. So his dream of collecting tens of millions of low grade spirit stones was just that. A dream.

  He let out a sigh, took out the special jade bottles from within his Spatial Ring that he'd prepared in advance for this exact reason, and then started filling them up with the Heavy Spirit Water.

  He might not be able to get his hands on the Underground Spirit Lake and its bounty but he could still get his hands on the Heavy Spirit Water that he came for in the first place.