Every time Gu Yuan passed a section, he wouldn't deliberately call out to the leisurely Students behind him. Instead, the Students would send someone to stand by the wall between the sections and listen.
If they heard Gu Yuan's footsteps fade away, they would call the others to follow, taking the opportunity to scavenge items in the new section.
After pushing forward through several small sections, Gu Yuan suddenly stopped.
The Evil Qi had become so thick around Gu Yuan that he could barely move along the Dao.
The Rotten Wolf cloak Gu Yuan had crafted was made from parts stripped off an Evil Creature.
Gathering Evil Qi was one of its uses, but few people did so, as Evil Qi, no matter how it was utilized, always carried risks.
Moreover, spoils taken from an Evil Creature, if not yet converted into a Magic Treasure or other Materials, would still attract other Evil Creatures.
Gu Yuan knew this well from experience.
Many Sects leveraged this characteristic, having Cultivators skilled in movement carry the flesh and blood of an Evil Creature to draw attention.
A hundred years later, an even stranger school of thought known as the "Evil Qi Dao" emerged.
The Sects' development of Evil Qi had not yet reached its limit; there was still room for improvement.
Now, Gu Yuan sat cross-legged in the cleared safe zone, beginning to circulate the Breathing and the Wandering Evil Body Absorption Heart Sutra, feeling the Evil Qi flow through his body.
Compared to the miserable state he was in during the first absorption, Gu Yuan could now endure the intense pain while maintaining a calm expression.
Years of secluded cultivation had granted Gu Yuan an unflappable mindset and a level of endurance incomprehensible to ordinary people.
When Gu Yuan opened his eyes again, he was still drenched in sweat, looking as if he had just been pulled out of the water.
After absorbing another batch of Evil Qi, Gu Yuan felt that his Dantian had become much fuller.
In truth, the process of going from a Mortal to a Qi Refining Cultivator was like searching for a water source in a desolate desert.
Ordinary people might spend their entire lives without finding the source of water, while a Cultivator's Mind-Cultivation Technique was a map showing the location of the "Oasis."
Practitioners would have different sizes of "deserts," distances to the Oasis, and different resources within the Oasis, depending on their innate talent.
For some cultivation Geniuses, the "desert" inside their bodies was immensely vast and highly malleable; not only could they quickly find the Oasis, but they could also continually improve the environment within it, eventually transforming the desert into a "Paradise."
Gu Yuan's talent was not considered top-tier.
Not only was his talent ordinary, but his Spiritual Root was also the very common Mixed Spirit Root, placing him at the lowest rung of existence within the Cultivator community.
This was why Gu Yuan had to put in more effort than others. And now, after the cleansing effect of the Evil Qi he had absorbed.
Gu Yuan could clearly feel that his Physical Body had reached the peak of the "Mortal" Realm.
He estimated that he could break a wooden board with just four fingers and bend common iron bare-handed.
His Spiritual Root, which had previously been severely depleted, was now not only replenished but had also advanced significantly.
Coupled with the solid foundation provided by the Breathing, Gu Yuan roughly estimated that he was now truly what could be called a "Half-Step Qi Refining" existence!
None of the Students present could possibly be his opponent anymore.
Unless an accident occurred... But there was one more issue: the "pollution" of his body!
The Wandering Evil Body Absorption Heart Sutra was created by a wicked monk, whose ultimate fate was to absorb excessive Evil Qi and eventually assimilate with an Evil Creature.
Gu Yuan knew very well that he absolutely must not absorb even a single thread of Evil Qi this time.
Furthermore, after leaving, he would have to spend more time purifying the Evil Qi within his body, or it would affect his future cultivation... But regardless, he was already at the peak of the Mortal Realm, Half-Step Qi Refining!
Within the entire Death Prison, apart from a Second-Tier Evil Object or a Cultivator, who could harm him in the slightest?
Gu Yuan exhaled a mouthful of foul air, and his eyes became clear and bright.
Lin Tian, who was sitting in the distance wiping his iron sword, saw Gu Yuan suddenly stand up and immediately felt increased pressure.
This Gu Yuan... had grown stronger again!
This speed made people wonder if this kid's cultivation was riding on the backs of the ancestors of the Breathing technique.
However, for Lin Tian, there wasn't actually too much pressure.
The reason was simple: Gu Yuan's natural talent was fixed.
No matter how fast he achieved a Breakthrough, it was useless; the Mixed Spirit Root was his greatest obstacle in the future.
What good was leading for a moment? Only leading for an entire lifetime was true capability!
Gu Yuan couldn't be bothered to guess what these guys were thinking; after finishing the absorption, he chose a direction and continued pushing forward.
Gu Yuan was like a ruthless map-clearing machine.
Every time he reached a new section, he would glance at it indifferently. If he felt he had taken a wrong turn, he would retreat; if he thought he could handle it, he would strike alone.
After slaying the Evil Creature, he would quickly scavenge and then continue advancing.
The speed left Lin Tian and the others dumbfounded.
Could it be... that he wasn't just fast at cultivating, but also a Genius in combat?
What exactly was going on with this Gu Yuan fellow?
Unlike the other gossiping Students, Lin Tian had truly felt the pressure brought by a First-Tier Evil Creature.
In a rapidly changing situation where a single mistake could cost one's life, how did Gu Yuan manage to maintain constant concentration?
As Gu Yuan continued to advance, he constantly adapted to the changes in his body through combat.
Not only was his strength improving, but his awareness and combat experience also had to grow alongside it. Otherwise, having cultivation without being able to use it in actual combat would just be a joke.
But currently, Gu Yuan was troubled by another matter.
That was... the terrain here seemed subtly different from the intelligence he had received in his previous life.
Although nothing too extraordinary had appeared in the sections he had encountered so far.
The weaker ones were easier to kill than a Rotten Wolf, while the stronger ones were no match for an Earthen Brick Stone Statue.
The Materials he had gathered were mostly useless Earth Dao Materials; he had already collected fourteen sets so far.
All of them were uniformly First-Tier Materials.
The Materials produced within each Death Prison generally did not deviate too much from the overall theme of the Death Prison.
This Academy Death Prison was primarily focused on the "Earth Dao," with others serving as supplements.
Most of the Evil Creatures appearing inside were also centered around the "Earth Dao." Take the Rotten Wolf, for example.
The Rotten Wolf itself was a combination of the "Corpse Dao" and the "Poison Dao."
But if a Rotten Wolf were to advance to the Second Tier, it might become an "Earthy Stench Wolf," which would be primarily based on the "Earth Dao" and the "Corpse Dao."
Further optimization would lead to other transformations.
Earth Dao resources were actually useful to Gu Yuan.
After all, Gu Yuan's Spiritual Root was primarily based on "Gold and Earth" dual spiritual power, supplemented by others. Although it was a Mixed Spirit Root, it still had different inclinations.
These Earth Dao resources could be said to be beneficial to Gu Yuan's body without any drawbacks.
But the Earth Dao... Gu Yuan honestly wasn't familiar with it.
If he had a choice, Gu Yuan still hoped to cultivate the "Light Path" and the "Time Dao" again. The combination of the two was the "Path of Time and Space" that Gu Yuan had cultivated in his previous life.
A powerful Dao lineage capable of reversing time and space. Ultimately, not many people in his previous life mastered it, and Gu Yuan had only seized the initiative due to a blessing in disguise.
But he might as well take these resources.
He would keep them for now; who knows, they might be useful later?
Of course, any Materials that were too trashy to bother with, Gu Yuan had long since tossed to the Students behind him.
The Students following behind became increasingly obedient, as the feeling of gaining something without effort was truly addictive.
At this moment, Gu Yuan had arrived at the location where the "Golden Gate" escape route existed in his memories from his previous life.
But... apart from a few scattered Evil Creatures, there was nothing else here.
The worst-case scenario had indeed occurred.
If the intelligence was wrong, then he would have to spend much more effort searching for the Golden Gate.
As for attacking the multi-person escape point?
Heh heh, if one wanted to court death, they could try it.
Even Gu Yuan didn't have much confidence in winning.
That was a Second-Tier Evil Object!
Evil Creatures were the same as Cultivators; there was a significant gap within each tier, and the improvement brought by advancing one major Realm was unimaginably vast.
Therefore, after Gu Yuan cleared out the Evil Creatures here, he pretended to absorb Evil Qi again.
But he was actually reconstructing the map of the entire Death Prison in his mind!
At this time, when the crowd heard that there was no sound inside.
They followed the usual routine and sent someone to check if Gu Yuan had moved on to the next section.
Seeing Gu Yuan sitting cross-legged where he was, everyone relaxed. Some stayed in the previous section to chat, while others went to the new section to search everywhere for any overlooked Materials.
Seeing that Gu Yuan seemed to be meditating and absorbing Evil Qi again, Lin Tian couldn't help but sneer.
He still dared to absorb Evil Qi?
Was he truly unafraid of the Evil Qi entering his body and turning him into an Evil Creature?
However, Lin Tian could also understand Gu Yuan.
As a common Mortal, having finally discovered a method to surpass the children of powerful families, it was natural that he would desperately try to grasp that "life-saving straw."
But little did he know, this power was both a life-saving straw and a death warrant.
Just as Lin Tian was lost in thought, footsteps suddenly came from the area adjacent to the next section.
Lin Tian looked in the direction of the sound, only to see several muddy and somewhat disheveled Students emerging from the border.
The few people over there seemed extremely tired, but upon seeing Lin Tian and the others, they quickly brightened up.
"You... are you Lin Tian?"
The speaker was the leader of this group, holding a red circular shield emitting high heat.
Lin Tian was very familiar with this person; it was Shangguan Ji, a direct descendant of the Shangguan Family, one of the Four Great Families of Wuxin City, and a peer of Shangguan Changqing!
In fact, Shangguan Ji's face was not as handsome and eye-catching as his older brother, Shangguan Changqing.
But the shield in Shangguan Ji's hand was a very conspicuous symbol.
That shield was named "fire affinity shield," and it was a genuine Second-Tier Magic Treasure!
It was also a symbol of the Old Master of the Shang Gong Family's doting affection, a Magic Treasure that only Shangguan Ji was allowed to use.
Seeing this, Lin Tian went forward to greet him, "Brother Ji, it is a truly pleasant surprise to see you here at this time."
"It truly is Senior Lin Tian! What a pleasure to meet you!"
The next moment, both men spoke simultaneously.
"Brother Ji, may I ask..."
"Senior Lin Tian, may I ask..."
"Have you seen my older brother?"
The two men asked the question that had been weighing on their minds for most of the day, almost in unison.