THE RISE OF THE DRAGON.

223. FINDING CAVES.

UI YONG JIANG hurriedly left the area, heading towards the direction SIAN LI was in. Since SIAN LI had the advantage of flying, it was better to hand the bamboo forest quest over to him.

He would explore the forest while heading deeper into it. His current plan was to try to reach the Ninth stage of the Origin Plane,

and the best way to do that is through fighting or getting treasure.

If not for the irregularities in the forest recently, then he would have already been looking for a savage beast in the Peak of the Origin Plane to fight against.

‘It looks like looking for treasure is my best bet,’ he decided.

He began to move slowly through the forest, avoiding all the Overlord Plane beasts he felt on the road while searching for treasures.

Every time he encountered an Origin Plane beast in an area where he did not sense the Overlord Plane beast, which would fight it out to fight against him.

After that day.

The sun had already set and UI YONG JIANG was looking for a place to SLEEP all night.

He had not seen anything interesting since coming to the Magical Beast forest, and had only fought against three beasts during the day because he could not stay for long.

He took out the crystal ball that SIAN LI gave him while sitting inside the cave.

The ball immediately let out a dim light and SIAN LI's face appeared within it.

“There can I help?” SIAN LI asked.

“No, I want to see how you search,” asked UI YONG JIANG.

“Well, not so good. I have seen three bamboo forests so far, but there is no liquid you are looking for,” SIAN LI replied hurriedly.

UI YONG JIANG noticed SIAN LI occasionally looking back as he spoke to her.

“Is something wrong?” He couldn't help but ask.

“Not really, it's a bad time.. Shit!” SIAN LI exclaimed at the end of his statement before panicking and shining with a blue light.

Roars! The explosion!

“I'll talk to you later!” SIAN LI said before the light inside the ball went out.

The ball darkened and the shadow of SIAN LI disappeared from it.

UI YONG JIANG inevitably wondered what made SIAN LI look so frightened.

But given how SIAN LI managed to talk to him even before leaving, it was safe to say that he would not die, hopefully.

UI YONG JIANG took out a wooden plaque, it was the best way to find out if SIAN LI was dead or not.

As long as his light point did not move, then it could mean he was dead, but if it kept moving, it meant that he was still alive.

At the sight of the plaque, UI YONG JIANG was dumbfounded at the speed at which the SIAN LI light point moved.

“Oke, he's alive. I guess I should focus on cultivating then. I'll check it out later,” murmured before closing his eyes.

He had already set up a FORMATION array around him, and had even arranged an array to let him know if something was moving within five hundred meters of where he was.

The night ended with nothing happening. UI YONG JIANG was cultivating all night, though,

he occasionally checked the plaque to see where SIAN LI was if he was still alive or dead.

There was a time when the SIAN LI light point did not move for more than two hours. Just when UI YONG JIANG was thinking of contacting him, he realized that he was starting to move again.

Next morning.

UI YONG JIANG started moving forward once again. He could not stay in one place, and according to SIAN LI, he would leave the next day.

If SIAN LI had not found the bamboo forest before then, he would have been forced to continue his own quest.

However for some reason, he did not feel too confident to be able to find the bamboo forest.

The reason he felt this way was because the forest was too big. Even if he decided to dedicate his time to searching everywhere,

it would take countless years before he could travel around it.

‘HAIYAA, Void, it would be nice if nothing happened to you.’ He thought as he walked away from where he had missed the night.

After walking for a few hours, he met people. There is at least a group of six or more, and each group contains a minimum of seven people

maximum of fifteen people. In front of them was a cave, just like the one he entered with SIAN LI and the group.

People looked at him and looked at him. Fortunately, he was wearing his robe so that it was not there

of those who know what he looks like. If they knew he was young, some of them might want to

attacked him or pressured him to leave the place, but now, they let him.

He stared at the cave, although he could not feel anything inside, he decided to wait here with the others.

After all, all of these people would not have stayed here if there was no chance of becoming a treasure here. This cave was also relatively larger than the one he had entered before.

What he noticed was that out of the many people here, only two were at the Eighth stage of the Origin Plane, the rest were at the Ninth stage or at the Peak of the Origin Plane.

‘They are definitely the top people exploring this place, well, under Overlord Plane.’ He thinks.

There were also groups in the Overlord Plane that came to the Magical Beasts forest, but since the Overlord Plane Elementalists were not as numerous as the Origin Plane, it was difficult to deal with them.

Even with the ferocious beasts coming this far, those groups would still venture deeper within the forest.

After nearly an hour, the first group entered into the cave.

The others stood up and followed behind them. UI YONG JIANG also did not stay behind, walking behind the group.

From their cautious appearance, UI YONG JIANG knew none of them had entered the cave before, so they did not know what to expect in it.

UI YONG JIANG stepped into the cave while maintaining his vigilance,

he did not know what to expect here, and there was also the possibility of people who had gone to attack him.

As he went inside, he saw all the groups standing up carefully,

staring at the path that led deep into the cave. He tried to feel it with his earth element.

‘Hmm, not like that, but don't think it's less dangerous.’ He thinks inside.

Unlike the one previously connected to the valley, this one had a series of underground tunnels leading deeper into the cave.

UI YONG JIANG was not the only one who realized this, the others as well.

Now, it was all a matter of who went first, not just that, but which tunnel they would choose later.

The first group, led by an old man with a beard and white hair snorted before taking the first step, followed behind by his friends.

The first path in the cave leads to three more separate paths once again. The track continues to grow, while there is also free space on some lines.

UI YONG JIANG guessed if there was something on the path, they would be in this space.

After the first group took the lead, the others followed right behind them.

UI YONG JIANG did not enter hurriedly, but rather waited until all the groups entered before sitting down.

He closed his eyes, and then spread his spiritual senses.

He wanted to see which tunnel was not too crowded before choosing which tunnel to take.

After almost a minute, he realized that the one chosen by the first group was the less crowded one.

The reason was very simple, the others who were not strong enough did not want to offend them.

UI YONG JIANG smiled and entered into the tunnel, when he got to the separated path, he directly chose the one in the middle.

Before long, he had reached the end of the road that had five roads.

Some groups that follow the first group have started to choose a different path because there is no point in following the first group when there are opportunities on other paths as well.

UI YONG JIANG had not changed his path, he continued to follow the first group.

He felt compared to the others, the first group seemed to have a clear purpose in front of them.

They did not take the time when choosing the path, once they got to the road, they would instantly take one of them.

After nearly twenty minutes, only UI YONG JIANG remained following the same path as the first group. The others have all taken another path.

“Master, the cloaked man is still following us,” one of the women in the first group walked up to the old man and whispered.

“Let him come, he will die even if he does not follow us,” said the old man indifferently.

“Good, Sir,” The woman bowed before retreating.

The expressions of the others in the group changed when they heard what the old man said.

His statement meant that whatever path others took, they would die in the end.

“Master, what's on the other line?” A man asked.

“Heh! Death,” the old man grinned as he replied.

“Without me? Deaths. With me? Treasure,” said the old man confidently.

The others looked at each other nervously, but after clenching their hands, they decided to follow him. They have no choice anyway.

After walking for another ten minutes, the group stopped, not going any further.

UI YONG JIANG who was behind them knew what they wanted to do but did not think too much about it.

He could not stop because it could cause the group to attack him.

‘Heh! Since they want to play, then we will play.’ He thinks inside.

On the way here, he had noticed some things in this place, and what he had expected was that

this place is nothing more than a death trap. Fortunately, this group was in front of him making the journey easy.

It didn't take long before he appeared in front of the group.

“Halo,” He waved at the group.

“Can I ask why you are following us?” The old man asked.

“Follow you?” UI YONG JIANG pretended not to know.

“Hmph! Stop pretending to be stupid, you won't have a second chance,” one of the men in the group snorted.

“I don't follow you guys, there is a path to choose from, and I chose a path that I think is safer,” said UI YONG JIANG casually.

“If that's the case, then why don't you continue?” The old man showed the way to UI YONG JIANG while opening a path for him.

“OK, I see no reason why you are fussy about that,” UI YONG JIANG nodded and moved forward indifferently.

The old man and the group behind him were a little surprised given how quickly he agreed to it.

They almost wanted to believe that he really didn't follow them, well, almost.

UI YONG JIANG advanced, a grin on his face. But his expression immediately changed as he walked nearly six meters from where the group stood.

He disappeared, appearing two meters back.

The explosion!

The place he was standing on exploded, lava shot out from the ground.

The group behind him laughed out loud when they saw this.

UI YONG JIANG looked at the lava, unperturbed by it. He walked forward and quickly walked past the side from which the lava was coming out.

After passing through it, he immediately disappeared from their sight.

“Come, let's go. He will help us resolve some obstacles, but do not rush in case he accidentally avoids some,” the old man ordered.

The others nodded and followed behind UI YONG JIANG. They were the ones doing the dirty work all along, now, they wanted UI YONG JIANG to do it.

‘As I expected, this place is a death trap. These people must know how to get through it, though,

if I take the lead, I might get hurt,’ thought UI YONG JIANG after dodging the next attack.

After thinking about it, it was better for him to find a way and return to the back of this group again.

Staying ahead would be of no use to him. What made things worse was that there seemed to be no other way of splitting.

He continued walking a little further before reaching a large place. This was usually a place he believed there might be treasure, though,

since he had followed the group from behind, he could not really see anything in space every time he got there.

‘OK, I'll take a look first before going behind them.’ He thinks.

His curiosity towards what he might get here made him even better.

He quickly started searching before the group got to where he was.

If there was a treasure here, then the group would try to retrieve it as soon as they entered.

The place was about fifty meters wide, considering the speed of UI YONG JIANG, it didn't take long before he completely swept through the area.

There were some plants in the area, as well as some stones. He didn't really look at them and kept everything in his storage ring.

After sweeping the place, he began to wait for the group.

A minute later, the group came.

Their facial expressions were one of shock as well as shock when they found nothing there.

They had earned some rewards from the previous ones, so they felt hopeful about what was going to happen here.

“You, where is the treasure?” One of the men pointed to UI YONG JIANG.

“Treasure? Which treasure?” ask UI YONG JIANG.

“What do you mean treasure?! There should be treasure here!” The man said.

“Well, have you seen anything here?” UI YONG JIANG asked with his arms spread out wide.

“You... you.. you must have it,” the man pointed at him.

“Where will I put it?” UI YONG JIANG asked, staring at the man as if he was an idiot.

“Stop talking,” said the old man.

The man was silent before retreating.

“Then what are you waiting for?” The old man asked.

“I am on break, I almost died many times,” replied UI YONG JIANG, before asking, “Also, why are you guys following me?”

The old man was stunned by UI YONG JIANG's question.

“This is the only way, why do you think we are following you?” The old man was trying to defend his group.

“You follow me, I don't like it, you have to go through it, or you take another path,” UI YONG JIANG give them an ultimatum.

“You seem very confident, move or die,” said a man from the group.

They were bored with the old man's calm way of doing things.