"Are you the ones entering the Bo Hai Forest with us?" Song Qing's brows furrowed upon seeing Chu Lingwei and Yu Qinghong.
A woman and an old man nearing the end of his lifespan – they clearly possessed no combat power.
"Yes, my name is Chu Wei, and this is Grandpa Yu." Chu Lingwei noticed Song Qing's doubt and offered her a slight smile.
Chu Lingwei surveyed the team members. Each of them wore a different expression.
For instance, Song Qing's discontent was palpable. When forming a team to enter Bo Hai Forest, one naturally hoped for increasingly capable teammates. Her current expression was the most genuine.
Several others, upon seeing her and Grandpa Yu, barely reacted, as if they already knew them.
"Are you all in the Spirit Wheel Realm?" Song Qing was already unhappy. She and her senior brother needed to find Condensed Mist Grass in the Bo Hai Forest.
Condensed Mist Grass had a bewitching effect, used specifically for crafting illusions and talismans. It could only be found in the Bo Hai Forest.
Her senior brother wanted to craft a fifth-tier talisman, which was why she had accompanied him to the Bo Hai Forest.
The Bo Hai Forest was extremely dangerous, and they couldn't possibly enter alone. They had finally found people willing to enter with them, only to be disappointed by their low cultivation.
"Of course, are you looking down on our cultivation? Aren't you also just entering the Spirit Wheel Realm?" Chu Lingwei felt that being questioned once was understandable.
However, to be questioned repeatedly, especially when her own cultivation wasn't that high, was becoming irritating.
"Xiao Qing," Baili Yan, seeing Chu Lingwei's displeasure, tugged his junior sister's arm. "Junior Sister, don't speak like that."
Baili Yan gently chided his junior sister and offered Chu Lingwei an apologetic smile. "Please don't be angry, fellow cultivator. Junior Sister speaks without thinking and doesn't mean to look down on you."
Chu Lingwei smiled. His words implied that he didn't find his junior sister's behavior wrong.
Her favor towards the pair instantly plummeted. "Indeed, if anyone should be looking down on someone, it should be us. Both of you have just entered the Spirit Wheel Realm, your cultivation should still be unstable."
Baili Yan's expression stiffened. Chu Lingwei was correct; they were both cultivators who had recently entered the Spirit Wheel Realm.
"How can you speak like that?" Song Qing, seeing her senior brother being provoked, angrily pointed at Chu Lingwei and shouted.
"Just stating facts. Your strength is indeed like this, and you can't stop me from saying it?" Chu Lingwei glanced at the inn waiter outside, who was growing anxious and on the verge of tears, her voice calm.
"Pfft."
Song Qing, furious, was about to retort when a burly man beside her burst into laughter. Song Qing's face turned crimson with shame.
"Alright, stop arguing. If you still want to enter the Bo Hai Forest, we depart now," a man in his thirties, a cultivator, said sternly. His implication was that if they didn't want to go, they could leave on their own.
After speaking, the man turned and walked towards the Bo Hai Forest.
Chu Lingwei shrugged and followed behind him with Yu Qinghong. This trip to Bo Hai Forest might be interesting.
Baili Yan and Song Qing didn't follow immediately, but after a quarter of an hour, Song Qing was pulled along by Baili Yan to catch up. They trailed a respectable distance behind them.
This team of twelve was now officially formed.
Chu Lingwei and Yu Qinghong walked alongside them, and from their conversations, Chu Lingwei gained a preliminary understanding of this temporary team.
The man who appeared to be in his thirties was actually over fifty, named An Yue, a human cultivator in the Spirit Wheel Realm.
Cultivating spiritual energy nourished the body, making cultivators look young. With continuous growth in cultivation, reversing aging was also easily achievable.
Typically, one could start cultivating at the age of six, entering the Sensing Realm. If their aptitude was good, they could reach the Spirit Movement stage in three to five years.
Entering the Spirit Movement stage marked the true beginning of spiritual cultivation. Differences in aptitude, talent, and spiritual veins would lead to widening gaps.
Some could enter the Spirit Wheel Realm in ten years, while others took thirty to fifty years, or even a hundred years, only to die without ever reaching it.
A Spirit Wheel Realm cultivator at An Yue's age was normal.
Accompanying An Yue were four others: a female cultivator, Ning Yue, and three male cultivators, An Chen, Wei Tao, and Li Ruizhe. All were Spirit Wheel Realm cultivators.
From their tone when speaking with another group, they often teamed up to enter the Bo Hai Forest, seeking spirit herbs, spirit beasts, to exchange for spirit stones and cultivation resources.
The other group consisted of two men and a woman. One pair, Nan Jin and Nan Xiang, were siblings, both in the Spirit Movement stage. Only the burly man, Xia Shixun, who had mocked Song Qing, was in the Spirit Wheel stage.
The remaining were Song Qing and her senior brother.
Bo Hai Town was located on the outskirts of the Bo Hai Forest. After an hour's journey, An Yue stopped.
"You all should have flying artifacts, right? We need to use flying artifacts to enter the Bo Hai Forest now. We can settle down inside tonight."
An Yue had naturally become the leader of their temporary team. He took out a low-grade flying artifact from his storage bag and slowly enlarged it, capable of holding seven or eight people.
"Huh?"
Phantom Cat, who had been staying in Chu Lingwei's spatial dimension, let out a confused sound when An Yue produced his spirit ship.
"Weiwei, I think I just sensed the aura of a Heaven Transformation Realm expert. It disappeared very quickly." Phantom Cat thought for a moment and quickly conveyed its discovery to Weiwei.
"Mm, I know."
"Weiwei, how do you know?" Phantom Cat asked Chu Lingwei in surprise. He hadn't sensed any problem with these people initially.
"Didn't you notice that these people's cultivations are too similar?"
Chu Lingwei smiled. Human cultivators reaching a certain level could be formed for various reasons. These people, all knowing each other, possessed the same cultivation level, even being in the same stage. Except for An Yue, everyone else was in the mid-Spirit Wheel stage. This was too much of a coincidence.
Phantom Cat gave a surprised "Huh?" and indeed noticed that the cultivation levels of these people were almost identical.
"Then what do we do now?" Phantom Cat sounded anxious.
"We'll adapt as we go," Chu Lingwei wasn't in a hurry to expose them. As long as they didn't reveal their true intentions, she would pretend to know nothing.
"Weiwei, you must be careful. These people are definitely not good people."
Feng Ming, who was anxiously pacing within the spatial dimension, was truly worried that these people might harm Chu Lingwei.
"I know. You two stay put for now, and I'll find a time to bring you out later." Chu Lingwei soothed the two small beasts.
Simultaneously, she took out a low-grade flying sword to serve as their flying artifact for herself and Grandpa Yu.
Yu Qinghong's lips curved into a smile upon seeing the artifact Chu Lingwei had produced.