Mei Chao Bing watched Yun Bei Fen for a while before he went back to scrutinizing the stone desert. They were still walking forward without a break, making it impossible to take a closer look at the ground. He didn't dare to use his spiritual energy to sweep the sand away either. Even though he had already formed his Nascent Soul, he wasn't invincible. If there was another layer to this spirit gathering array that was able to trap cultivators, then he might also fall into that. And if the one who set this place up was of a higher level ...
He couldn't risk it. There was still Yun Bei Fen around. He couldn't do anything that might put him into danger.
Mei Chao Bing continued to silently follow Kui Min, wondering if she really didn't want to stop anywhere to look for clues. They walked for another hour but Kui Min didn't stop. She didn't even slow down for a moment and just continued to walk through the desert at an almost leisurely pace.
At that moment, Yun Bei Fen reached out and tugged at Mei Chao Bing's sleeve. "Senior ... Uh ... Mei Chao Bing."
Mei Chao Bing looked over and was greeted by Yun Bei Fen's slightly blank eyes. His lips quirked up. Even though his little bunny had learned how to perceive his environment with his spiritual sense, he wasn't able to distinguish it from his other senses yet. So for him whose spiritual sense translated into different degrees of light, it interfered with his ability to see. Most likely, he wasn't seeing anything but a bright spot of light in front of him right now and only knew that it was him because of the intensity.
Mei Chao Bing reached over and rubbed the top of his head. "What is it, Fen'er?"
"There's a bright spot ahead. Is it dangerous?" Yun Bei Fen stiffly turned to the front again, pointing ahead.
Mei Chao Bing glanced over. He always scanned his surroundings but the feedback was normally faint. Now that he focused on it, a melody swept through his mind, starting off with a low tone that continued to faintly ring next to his ears. It was followed by alternating waves of higher and lower tones.
Mei Chao Bing furrowed his brows. Lower tones corresponded to a lower level of spiritual energy while higher tones indicated a higher level. The closer the tone seemed to sound to his ears, the closer the source of the spiritual energy was. That constant low tone next to him was Yun Bei Fen but these waves had to be the array. That left the question of why they were alternating though.
He listened more closely and his brows knitted together further. There was a high tone in the distance that was probably the bright spot Yun Bei Fen had mentioned. Judging from the distance they had already passed, that point should be the middle of the stone desert. As for the waves of spiritual energy ... Their tones were closer to each other, the difference in their levels not very high. And with the alternating between the higher and lower ones, he hadn't noticed at first but the levels weren't static. They moved.
His eyes narrowed and he glanced at the ground below their feet. A high tone sounded, followed by a lower one before the high one sounded once more. It seemed that wave after wave of spiritual energy was washing over the land. As for where they were moving ...
He looked back up, to the middle of the desert. This array should be gathering the spiritual energy in its middle. That was why the level of spiritual energy was so high. But in that case ... the spiritual energy had to come from somewhere.
Mei Chao Bing looked over his shoulder and his brows smoothed out. Yes. Just as he had thought. The array was sucking in the spiritual energy from outside.
He continued to watch the waves roll by and his gaze grew subtle. No wonder the border region looked like this. The array wouldn't stop gathering spiritual energy until none was left. Over time, the surroundings would dry up and every bit of energy that was regenerated would be sucked away once again in an endless cycle.
Yun Bei Fen watched Mei Chao Bing's expression that went from the happy smile directed at him to furrowed brows and finally to one of worry. His senior martial brother wasn't looking in the direction that he had pointed in though. Just what was he thinking about?
He wondered if he should tug at his sleeve again but he felt that it wouldn't be good. Mei Chao Bing was probably pondering something very important. He shouldn't disturb him.
Mei Chao Bing finally sighed and turned back to the front. His gaze brushed Yun Bei Fen who was still looking up at him with big eyes while walking next to him. Mei Chao Bing's tense expression relaxed. He didn't know yet what the demonic practitioners were planning but he had at least found out what they were doing. He would report to Elder Baili later and discuss it with him. If they looked out for more signs, they would be able to solve this. As for Yun Bei Fen ... even though he lacked experience and had trouble grasping some concepts, he was willing to learn if somebody took the time to advise him. He needed a while to figure things out and he would need even more time to practice them but when he did, he was able to use them. Just look at how he had managed to see the spiritual energy concentrated in the middle of the desert when that Kui Min hadn't noticed at all!
Mei Chao Bing smiled and leaned down, kissing Yun Bei Fen's cheek. "I don't know whether it's dangerous or not but I'll protect you so don't worry."
Yun Bei Fen's face lit up at that and he nodded happily. At Mei Chao Bing's prompt, he went back to practice sensing the spiritual energy in their surroundings.