"Three Seniors, the people from Shrek Academy are right here."
The words of the Tianhun Empire soldier interrupted Wang Nan's thoughts. Looking down, he saw that some temporary tents had already been set up, with many Spirit Masters sitting cross-legged—either meditating or using charging spirit tools to recover their spirit power.
The spread of the poisonous miasma did not immediately cover half of the Sunset Forest; instead, it gradually expanded from the center. Spirit Beasts generally wouldn't abandon their habitats without reason, so at first, they only migrated outward, causing the Spirit Beasts living on the periphery to leave the forest.
Later, as the range of the poisonous miasma expanded, Spirit Beasts with higher cultivation levels began to flee.
The Tianhun Empire reacted quickly. When they first discovered Spirit Beasts leaving the Sunset Forest, they had already sent Spirit Masters and troops to block the higher-cultivation Spirit Beasts, preventing them from causing greater destruction.
Following the soldier's guidance, Wang Nan quickly saw a familiar face: Immortal Lin'er, the Dean of the Soul Guidance System at Shrek Academy. At this moment, she wasn't meditating but was frowning, looking in the direction of the Sunset Forest.
"Dean Xian."
"The Elite Competition is over," Immortal Lin'er said, noticing the three land. Her gaze swept over them. "Why are only you three here? Where are the other elders of the Academy?"
"They… still have some matters to attend to." Zhang Lexuan glanced around, seeing many people and ears, and didn't elaborate.
Immortal Lin'er saw Zhang Lexuan's expression and did not press further.
"Several Seniors, I shall take my leave now." Seeing that Wang Nan's trio and Immortal Lin'er knew each other, the Tianhun Empire soldier finally relaxed completely and requested to be excused.
"You've worked hard."
"It's my duty."
Watching the soldier leave, Zhang Lexuan retracted her gaze and looked at the boundless sea of beasts before them. "Dean Xian, what's the situation here?"
"If it's just the Spirit Beast riot, we've completely suppressed it; they basically won't leave this area. However, with such a large number of Spirit Beasts, if the source of the problem can't be resolved, we can't just kill them all here, can we?"
Immortal Lin'er's words highlighted the most difficult situation. After all, the Sunset Forest was not like the Star Dou Great Forest; without a 100,000-year Spirit Beast in charge, it would certainly not be a match for human Spirit Masters.
However, human Spirit Masters need to obtain spirit rings to break through their realms, and the Spirit Beasts living here were also a valuable resource. Neither the Tianhun Empire nor other Spirit Masters wished to see this Spirit Beast gathering place disappear.
"Have people been sent into the forest to investigate?"
"The Body Sect has already sent people to investigate, but the miasma in the forest is dense. They've gone in several times but haven't been able to go too deep. They only suspect that other Spirit Masters or Spirit Beasts are controlling this poisonous miasma, but the specifics are unclear."
"Dean Xian, I want to get closer and take a look," Wang Nan, who had been listening to Zhang Lexuan and Immortal Lin'er's conversation, suddenly spoke.
"Do you have a plan?" Immortal Lin'er asked, looking at Wang Nan.
"I have no clue yet, just some guesses."
"Alright." Immortal Lin'er pondered for a moment, then nodded. "I can take you into the Sunset Forest, but my Spirit doesn't have a good solution for the poisonous miasma, so I can't go too deep."
"Dean Xian, that's not what I meant."
"Huh?" Immortal Lin'er looked at Wang Nan in surprise.
"No need to trouble Dean Xian. I just need two higher-Rank spirit tool shields, a map of the Sunset Forest, and Xiaotao and I can go together."
Immortal Lin'er's gaze swept from Wang Nan to Ma Xiaotao, finally resting on Zhang Lexuan. After seeing Zhang Lexuan nod, she finally spoke, "Alright, I have a Rank seven spirit tool shield here, and I'll contact the Tianhun Empire for the map."
Immortal Lin'er acted decisively. In a moment, she reappeared before Wang Nan, handing him the prepared items while also giving him a few uneasy instructions: "If you find it impossible to go deeper, don't force it. Return quickly, and we'll think of another way."
"Alright, Dean Xian."
With that, Wang Nan turned to look at Ma Xiaotao.
Ma Xiaotao was puzzled but still followed him.
It wasn't until the two had left that Immortal Lin'er slowly spoke, looking at Wang Nan's retreating figure, "Wang Nan is always quite resourceful. I hope this matter can also be resolved smoothly."
Zhang Lexuan glanced at Immortal Lin'er in surprise.
Immortal Lin'er retracted her gaze and looked at Zhang Lexuan. "You probably don't know yet, but the reason our Academy's Soul Guidance System became what it is today, although Qian Duoduo and I personally orchestrated it, was due to this child, Wang Nan."
"Elder Mu was right; the vision of young people is always ahead of us old folks. Oh, by the way, you just mentioned that the elders of the Academy had other matters to attend to. What happened? Why haven't we received any news since you participated in the Elite Competition for so long?"
…
"Do you know what caused this Spirit Beast riot?"
On the other side, Wang Nan and Ma Xiaotao had already ascended into the air. Although some flying Spirit Beasts tried to attack them, Wang Nan merely revealed a hint of his energy, scaring away a large number of them.
"Why do you ask?"
"Although you said you were just going to try, I always feel like you knew in advance what we would encounter."
"Hmm… I probably know what caused the poisonous miasma here, but whether it will work does indeed need to be tested, and the one doing the testing is you."
Wang Nan was telling the truth. In his impression, Extreme Ice should have no problem passing through this layer of poisonous miasma, but the current poisonous miasma was far beyond its original scale. With Huo Yuhao's cultivation, even with an Extreme Spirit, it would be extremely difficult.
As for whether Extreme Fire could pass through, that was just a guess; the specific situation would only be known after testing.
At their speed, they had already entered the Sunset Forest after only a couple of sentences.
The Spirit Masters outside, blocking the Spirit Beasts, occasionally looked up, only to see two streaks of light flashing in the air, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
The outermost perimeter of the Sunset Forest had not yet been covered by the poisonous miasma, but a large number of Spirit Beasts had already gathered here, some of which had cultivation levels even approaching 100,000 years.
Although they couldn't speak human words like 100,000-year Spirit Beasts, they already possessed considerable intelligence. They knew that running out would lead to being blocked, and behind them was the deadly poisonous miasma, so they could only huddle here.
Sensing Wang Nan and Ma Xiaotao's approach, several tiger-like and bear-like Spirit Beasts continuously roared, challenging the two.
However, in the next moment, a golden light flashed, and a loud dragon roar echoed through the forest. Some Spirit Beasts were immediately frightened into prostrating themselves on the ground. The few Spirit Beasts that had been growling softly were somewhat unwilling but ultimately dared not raise their voices again.