Wu Shidao then took out the brocade bag and handed it to Duan Rong.
Duan Rong took the brocade bag, cupped his fists slightly, and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother Wu."
Wu Shidao smiled and said, "You and I are from the same sect, Junior Brother, no need to be formal."
Duan Rong's eyes moved slightly, and he said, "Right, Senior Brother Wu, where did the Statue of the Unmoving Bright King in our cultivation chamber come from? It looks a bit out of place there."
Wu Shidao's heart skipped a beat, this guy sure has a lot of questions. However, he still smiled and said, "The Statue of the Unmoving Bright King was already there. There used to be a secret chamber. As for the cultivation chamber for direct disciples, it was remodeled from the original chamber."
As expected, Duan Rong showed a knowing expression, and continued to ask, "During the test in the Deep Valley, I also saw the Statue of the Unmoving Bright King. However, if I remember correctly, there were four statues in the valley, forming a quadrilateral. Shouldn't it have been the same here? Since it was remodeled, what happened to the other three statues?"
Wu Shidao replied, "The other three were naturally modified into the cultivation chamber. Two of them are in the other two vacant chambers, and the last one is in Senior Sister Fan's cultivation chamber."
"I was just curious, thank you, Senior Brother Wu, for clarifying my doubts." Duan Rong smiled.
Wu Shidao said, "Junior Brother, you are not only dedicated to hard cultivation but also have a tenacious curiosity. You will surely become a pivotal figure in our sect one day."
"Senior Brother, you praise me too much! I won't disturb you any longer. I'll return the Geomancy Map after I've studied it."
"No rush for that. You can take your time with it, no problem."
"Thank you, Senior Brother! Farewell!" Duan Rong slightly cupped his fists again and turned to leave.
As Duan Rong walked along the corridor, he began to mutter to himself. The two vacant cultivation chambers are easier to deal with, but the one statue in Fan Hongjiao's chamber is a bit troublesome. Missing one or three statues makes no difference in the end; either way, it's incomplete and useless for practice.
Thinking like this, Duan Rong returned to his room in the pavilion with the brocade bag, having also brought out the Exotic Beast Manual and the ancient Geomancy Map from the cultivation chamber.
Sitting at his desk, he spread open the ancient Geomancy Map and the map he just received from Wu Shidao, comparing them side by side.
Over the past month, Duan Rong had been entirely focused on hard cultivation and hadn't even flipped through the Geomancy Map.
Now, even a cursory glance had him utterly amazed.
This underworld's Dark Forest spanned nearly a thousand miles, almost as vast as the Endless Mountains of the Changling Mountain Range.
"It's practically an underworld!"
Duan Rong stared at the map spread out before him on the desk, his eyes full of astonishment.
From the looks of it now, the place they entered last time was merely the fringe of the fringe, the outskirts of the outskirts.
Duan Rong further noticed that Wu Shidao's soft Beast Hide Map covered less than a tenth of the entire map, focusing on the southwest corner extending outward from near the landing point of Yunfu Peak.
Duan Rong prepared ink and colors, transferring the annotations from Wu Shidao's Geomancy Map onto his own ancient map.
With Wu Shidao's annotations being quite detailed, Duan Rong only selected the most crucial information to transcribe.
As he transcribed, Duan Rong suddenly felt a twitch in his brow.
"Black Fire Lotus?!"
The lotus seeds of the Black Fire Lotus were the auxiliary medicine for training to the Twelfth Layer of the Fetal Concealment Scripture.
In fact, as a direct disciple of the Elders, at such a high level of standing, the sect should provide such medicine. However, acquiring it through the sect would reveal that he had already cultivated to the Twelfth Layer of the Fetal Concealment Scripture, wouldn't it?
So, Duan Rong had long decided to obtain the Black Fire Lotus seeds himself. While he hadn't had the chance to gather information on this, he unexpectedly found this crucial piece of information on Wu Shidao's Geomancy Map.
From Wu Shidao's annotations, the place where the Black Fire Lotus grew was home to Fire Toads and Fire Weasels, both low-tier Primordial Beasts who also fed on the Black Fire Lotus.
Beside Wu Shidao's information, he'd noted the word "troublesome." Wu Shidao was a Martial Artist of the Qi Vortex Realm; if he found them troublesome, these two beasts would indeed be formidable. Moreover, the Two-legged Frenzied Python, also a low-tier Primordial Beast, had almost killed Wu Shidao.
It seems that obtaining the Black Fire Lotus seeds will have to be postponed. Since he hasn't even reached the First Level of the Primordial Qi Realm and given that he would have to face two tough Primordial Beasts deep within the Dark Forest, there's a good chance he might not make it out alive.
Why take unnecessary risks?
This matter will have to wait.
Duan Rong spent several days in his room, studying the Geomancy Map and the Exotic Beast Manual diligently.
During this time, Lu Geng and Wang Yue came to chat with him.
They quickly discovered that Duan Rong was not only madly focused during cultivation but also buried himself in studying, spending days on end without moving.
Such monotonous activities were unbearable for them!
Several days later, Duan Rong had gained a detailed understanding of the terrain and the habits of the Primordial Beasts around Yunfu Peak's landing site.
That day, Lu Geng visited him again, bringing along a plate of fruits from the mountains.
Lu Geng smiled and said, "Junior Brother, take a break and have some fruit."