After entering the academy, Lin Xiao Tian finally had a place to rely on. Not long after, the academy sent personnel to verify his identity. Lin Xiao Tian was very nervous, as he was most worried about his identity. However, to his surprise, the other party merely checked his identity jade token and briefly inquired about his background before passing his review.
The next day, Lin Xiao Tian officially took up his post. He later learned that the academy accepted some wanted criminals, and if the identity verification process were too strict, most of them would not pass.
Thus, a month passed. During this time, Lin Xiao Tian primarily familiarized himself with the academy's operations, which was equivalent to an internship. After completing the internship, Lin Xiao Tian naturally became a lecturer.
Although he was an assistant lecturer, his status in Hei Yan City was already quite high.
After successfully becoming a lecturer, Lin Xiao Tian also recruited Wan Hao and Zhu Kai into the academy. They were not instructors and usually performed menial tasks, but their positions were stable.
The academy regularly provided spirit stones to every instructor, and other staff also received some rewards. More importantly, Lin Xiao Tian learned that they would periodically arrange opportunities to enter the Black Forest.
The Black Forest was where Lin Xiao Tian first appeared in this world. It was said to be a barrier set up by a powerful being for this world. The creatures in the Black Forest were considered outsiders by the people here, and killing them or cultivating there yielded considerable benefits.
Of course, it was also far more dangerous.
Six months after Lin Xiao Tian started his job, this opportunity arrived.
Besides instructors, others could also enter the Black Forest. Naturally, these individuals would primarily serve the instructors by fetching tea and water. Lin Xiao Tian could bring one person and thus asked for Wan Hao and Zhu Kai's opinions.
Both of them were eager to go, even though they were well aware of the Black Forest's dangers.
Lin Xiao Tian chose Zhu Kai, as Zhu Kai had no family responsibilities, while Wan Hao had a wife and children to care for.
The academy had a dedicated teleportation array. Lin Xiao Tian set off with several instructors. Zhu Kai deliberately kept his distance from Zhu Yu, while Zhu Yu maintained his usual indifferent demeanor.
The process of entering the forest was uneventful. Upon reaching the forest, Lin Xiao Tian noticed that the aura of the surrounding creatures was far too potent.
The weakest creatures possessed the strength of the early Nascent Soul stage. This was not an issue for Lin Xiao Tian, but for others here, a single monster could easily kill them.
Lin Xiao Tian had previously understood the situation here. This forest automatically filtered the level of those who entered. Lin Xiao Tian was a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage, and even if others in the group were weak, they were still in a relatively internal part of the forest.
Lin Xiao Tian had already devised a plan for this.
After everyone arrived in the forest, Lin Xiao Tian's domain was unfurled.
Since everyone was acting in a group, Lin Xiao Tian could easily control the movement of his domain, leading them towards the outer regions of the forest.
To save time, Lin Xiao Tian accelerated the movement of his domain. The group only took a few steps, but in reality, they had advanced thousands of miles.
Lin Xiao Tian specifically had everyone land in a very peripheral area where the creatures were weak, so there was no need to worry about anyone getting injured.
As for Lin Xiao Tian, he quietly left behind a clone while his main body ventured into deeper regions.
The Black Forest became increasingly dangerous the further one went. It was inhabited by various races, including even divine and demonic beings.
Humans were not restricted by the forest here, but other races could not leave their designated areas. Similar to Hei Shan in the past, powerful restrictions were in place.
Upon reaching a location accessible to Nascent Soul cultivators, Lin Xiao Tian began his preparations.
The most basic was a powder to conceal his aura, and the Divine Concealment Technique was also constantly active to prevent detection by other creatures. After all, this was the Black Forest, teeming with powerful beings. While humans appeared to be hunters, they were also prey to those formidable creatures.
The second step was setting up arrays.
Among those of the same cultivation level, the difference in combat power, aside from innate strength, was most significantly influenced by external factors. These external factors included magical treasures, weapons, and, of course, various formations.
Formations, in particular, were almost invincible in battles between those of the same level, and could at least stall opponents if one could not defeat them. The teleportation array in Hei Shan previously was also a special type of formation, whose power could even repel demon beasts at or above the Nascent Soul stage.
Unfortunately, Lin Xiao Tian had not found the method to set up such a teleportation array. Otherwise, he could have set one up now and comfortably grind experience points in the vicinity.
However, Lin Xiao Tian's Five Elements Qimen (奇门) contained many formidable formations, which were sufficient to deal with the vast majority of demon beasts.
The time they could spend here was limited. The academy had allocated them only one week, and Lin Xiao Tian had to seize this opportunity to acquire sufficient resources.
With this thought, Lin Xiao Tian glanced into the distance.
A few monsters with red hair and human bodies appeared not far away. They were of a rare demonic bloodline...
On the other side, Lin Xiao Tian's clone acted alongside Zhu Kai.
The journey was not smooth, and the group was frequently harassed by demon beasts. Fortunately, the area Lin Xiao Tian had brought them to was relatively peripheral, and the few Foundation Establishment cultivators in the group could handle them. Zhu Kai, being the weakest, inevitably suffered collateral damage during battles.
"Why are there only low-level demon beasts? I'm too lazy to even make a move," said a Foundation Establishment instructor with disdain.
"The demon beasts and herbs encountered this time are much inferior to those in the past. I was hoping to get some opportunities to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage," another instructor said. His cultivation was already at the peak of the Qi Refining stage.
"There's nothing we can do. You know the rules of the Black Forest," the Foundation Establishment instructor said, looking in a certain direction.
That direction was towards Zhu Kai and Lin Xiao Tian. However, they were clearly not targeting Lin Xiao Tian.
"Heh, I really don't understand why we have to be with people whose strength doesn't match ours," the peak Qi Refining instructor said unceremoniously.
The atmosphere immediately became awkward.
After all, Zhu Kai was brought along by Lin Xiao Tian, yet this instructor showed no respect.
Zhu Yu's brow furrowed slightly, and he was about to intervene to ease the tension when his gaze fell upon two figures not far away.
One of them had a calm expression, as if lost in thought, while Zhu Kai, clearly having overheard, showed a hint of smugness.
These two were acting strangely. Zhu Yu immediately understood that they simply didn't care.
Zhu Kai was already thick-skinned, and Lin Xiao Tian disliked trouble. The conflict could not be escalated no matter what.
Seeing that Lin Xiao Tian and the other had no reaction, the instructor was helpless. He had originally hoped to find an opportunity to vent his frustration.
To obtain better resources, everyone could only continue forward. Just then, the Foundation Establishment instructor's eyes lit up with joy.
"Haha, what great luck! We've actually discovered the lair of the Illusion Moon Demonic Wolf. I wonder if we'll encounter any juvenile wolves."
"Juvenile wolves? If we could tame one, it would be an exceptional spiritual beast!"