As the girls pressed on, the darkness surrounding them seemed to grow thicker, almost like a living entity that sought to suffocate them. The air was heavy with an oppressive atmosphere that threatened to crush their spirits, but they continued forward.
However, Mira noticed, now that they were closer, that the malevolent aura almost seemed to flow toward the center of the forest rather than in reverse.
'How peculiar.' She thought but couldn't come up with a reason why this was happening and continued marching forward, keeping this in her mind.
By now, the fog that covered the area was almost purely poison. Nova and the other girls were shoveling pills into their mouths like mad, doing everything they could to prevent themselves from getting corrupted, but they couldn't keep that up for long.
Stepping over a few mushrooms, they exploded into a cloud of toxic spores, further corrupting the air around them.
The old, black trees oozed a nasty green substance that burned small holes into the ground.
Even the beasts that roamed around them were coated in a layer of toxins.
Everything was covered in poison, toxin, or venom, making it feel like they were walking on eggshells.
Finally, they arrived near the heart of the Forbidden Forest. The epicenter of the malevolent energy they had felt since they entered was now tangible and overwhelming.
"..W-While it was a pain in the ass to get here, it also wasn't as difficult as I thought it'd be," Eden whispered, her voice shaky and hoarse from the might of the evil aura.
"What we went through was just the prelude," Mira said, her eyes never leaving in front of her.
The others were curious as to why she said that, but seeing that Mira had no intention of explaining herself, they kept quiet.
As they neared the heart of the forest, their senses picked up the presence of several Soul Transformation Realm disciples guarding the surrounding area. She masked her presence using the [Hidden World] technique, while the others also used their best concealment techniques.
Mira signaled the group to stop and carefully observed the guards from a safe distance. Their faces were cold and ruthless, and it was clear that they would show no mercy to any intruders.
They all wore black robes with green belts and had skull and bone emblems on their chests, but instead, the bones were replaced with a sword and sickle.
'The Toxic Blade Sect...' Mira and the others narrowed their eyes as it seemed the rumors were true; the Toxic Blade Sect's main sect existed in the Forbidden Forest.
Knowing that a head-on confrontation would be too dangerous, Mira decided to use her Pink Tail to charm the guards. She carefully approached them, making sure to stay hidden.
Light specks of pink Qi mixed into the fog, and after a few minutes, enough of it entered the guard's bodies that she could control. One by one, the guards fell under her spell, their expressions softening as they lost all sense of consciousness.
'Ignore everything around you for 5 minutes, then return to normal.' Mira commanded through the faint connection that she formed with them.
The disciples didn't even stop walking and kept going about their regular business, but if one were to look closely, they'd see that their eyes were pink and glazed over.
With the guards neutralized, the girls resumed their journey deeper into the Forbidden Forest.
As they moved forward, the thick forest began to give way to a large, ancient stone arch. The imposing structure was adorned with intricate carvings of fearsome creatures and deadly plants, giving off an eerie aura.
Sensing countless entities ahead of them, Mira raised her hand, stopping everyone.
'From here on out, don't make a noise. Just follow right behind me.' Mira said to everyone through a voice transmission.
'Understood!' The women grew serious and huddled closer to Mira.
She used her [Hidden World] technique to the max. She was still stuck at the 5th stage, the Heavenly Connection stage, but that was more than enough to hide her presence from most cultivators.
She could go undetected if nobody swept their Soul Sense over her.
The girls moved forward, their steps light and silent as they followed Mira's lead. The stone arch marked the entrance to the Toxic Blade Sect's territory, and they knew that the danger they faced would only increase from this point on.
Once they stepped through the arch, they found themselves in a sprawling complex filled with ancient buildings and twisted trees. The air was thick with malevolent energy, and the ground beneath their feet seemed to pulse with a sinister rhythm.
Mira led the group deeper into the complex, her [Hidden World] technique helping shield them from detection. The other girls followed closely behind, using their own concealment techniques to mask their presence further.
Together, they moved like shadows, unseen and unheard by the sect members who patrolled the area.
As they ventured further in, they couldn't help but notice the wicked atmosphere that permeated the Toxic Blade Sect. Dark, twisted plants covered the walls of the buildings, and the few sect members they glimpsed seemed to be cold, pale, oddly focused, and always carrying some sort of poisonous plant.
Clearly, this was no ordinary cultivation sect, and all the disciples had some level of poison resistance.
Traveling through the Sect, the suffocating malevolence surrounding them made breathing difficult, and their hearts pounded in their chests as they crept through the shadows, carefully avoiding detection.
They passed by a group of disciples who were clustered around a bubbling cauldron, their faces obscured by the hoods of their robes. The eerie green liquid inside bubbled and frothed, emitting a foul stench that assaulted their nostrils. The girls had to bite down on their lips and focus on their breathing to stifle their gag reflexes lest they draw unwanted attention.
At another point, they came across a courtyard where hundreds of sect members were engaged in fierce 1v1 sparring matches, their movements swift and deadly as they expertly wielded their poison-coated weapons.
The girls held their breath, praying that none of the combatants would notice their presence as they slunk past, hugging the walls of the darkened buildings.
Their journey took them through an expanse of ancient buildings, some crumbling with age and others still eerily intact. These structures were scattered throughout the area, connected by a network of moss-covered pathways and dimly lit corridors. The air was thick with the scent of decay, and the ground beneath their feet seemed to pulse with a sinister rhythm.
As the girls continued through the complex, they came across a large, open area that served as the Toxic Blade Sect's training ground.
There, hundreds of Core Formation and Nascent Soul Realm disciples practiced their poison techniques, refining the deadly substances that were synonymous with their sect.
Various concoctions bubbled and hissed within glass containers while the disciples carefully studied their effects on plants, animals, and even fellow sect members who volunteered as test subjects.
The girls couldn't help but shudder at the sight of the twisted experiments, some of which left the test subjects writhing in pain, their bodies convulsing as the toxins coursed through their veins.
Evidently, the Toxic Blade Sect prioritized the mastery of their poison arts above all else, even at the cost of their own well-being.
They also came across a medicinal garden, where disciples carefully tended to various poisonous plants, their vibrant colors belying the deadly toxins they contained.
The garden was a twisted menagerie of deadly flora, each one more venomous than the last, and the girls couldn't help but marvel at the array of deadly plants before them.
As they moved on, they passed by a library filled with ancient scrolls and tomes detailing the cultivation techniques and poison formulas unique to the Toxic Blade Sect.
The air inside was thick with the smell of aged parchment and dust, and the dim lighting from the flickering candles cast eerie shadows on the walls.
Mira and the others didn't go inside, only briefly scanning some of the scrolls with their Soul Sense, but they were shocked by the complexity and dangers each technique brought, not just to the user but the victims as well.
As they continued to sneak past the sect's defenses, they noticed that the fog around them began to dissipate, gradually revealing a series of massive trees up ahead.
At the heart of this grove stood an enormous, ancient tree, dwarfing the others in size and giving off an aura of immense power. It seemed as if all the energy in the area was being drawn towards this tree, making it the center point of the entire forest.
Mira and the girls exchanged astonished looks as they took in the sight of the awe-inspiring tree.
Still, they remained silent as up in that large tree, a dark, scaly creature wrapped its massive body around the branches, pulsing with unimaginable power, sucking in all the fog and malevolent energy that permeated through the air.
