251: Sky Barrier

October 11th, 20:00. The five of them were quite lucky; after continuing to travel through the Black Forest for two and a half days, they arrived at their destination without any major incidents.

Sifang Cave!

The specific location of Sifang Cave was within a massive tectonic plate beyond a huge rift valley, just past the exit of the Black Forest.

This chasm spanned an immense distance, directly separating the plate where Sifang Cave was located from the surrounding plates.

The plate where Sifang Cave was located extended toward the core plate of Blue Star, which was the direction of the three Overlord-level Civilizations. The High Martial Civilization had almost no knowledge of this region.

Generally speaking, the activity range of the entire High Martial Civilization did not exceed the territories of the Hunter, Big Eye, and Giant civilizations.

There were only rocks here, and combined with the fact that one had to pass through the territory of the Big Eye Civilization to get here, it resulted in absolutely no living creatures appearing in this area.

The only ones who might come here, the Big Eye Aliens, found the area too exposed, which made their eyes uncomfortable, turning this place into a "no-man's-land."

If it hadn't been for someone who had stumbled in here years ago and accidentally discovered a hidden entrance, even if Chen Du had handed in the map later, he wouldn't have been able to find the corresponding location.

"So this is Sifang Cave, or should I say, the Low Danger Zone?"

Chen Du looked at the rock wall in front of him, which was indistinguishable from the surrounding ones, and asked in confusion.

"Correct."

Hamon confirmed.

After speaking, he reached his hand forward, spread his five fingers, and pressed his palm firmly against the rock wall in front of Chen Du:

"Try doing what I just did."

Hamon rested one hand on the wall and turned to smile at Chen Du.

Chen Du followed his instructions, only to find that his palm passed straight through; the rock wall in front of him seemed like a virtual image, with no tactile sensation at all.

"This..."

"This is the Sifang Cave Low Danger Zone."

Hamon explained after pulling his hand back.

"Only those whose Life Strength Rank falls within the specified range can enter."

"The Life Strength Rank range for the Low Danger Zone is 10 to 14.9. For someone like me who exceeds the limit, it will only feel like a normal rock wall."

"When you look outward after entering, you will also see a rock wall, as if it were a dead end."

"This is also why we wanted you to come only after reaching Rank 14.5. Firstly, to get you closer to the upper limit here, giving you more confidence to face unknown dangers."

"Secondly, it's a matter of leaving. If you accidentally reach Rank 15 while inside, we cannot guarantee whether you will still be able to pass through this rock wall normally."

Having arrived at the destination, Hamon naturally needed to explain these precautions clearly.

"The first person to come here was a Sky Soaring Warrior who stumbled into the High Danger Zone by accident."

"After entering, he was immediately subjected to a 90% suppression, which startled him so much that he didn't dare to take a single step forward."

"Furthermore, the rock wall he had entered through became solid. With his power plummeting and the rock wall seemingly protected by some force that he couldn't destroy, he found himself trapped there."

"So, he just leaned against the wall he had passed through, thinking about how to break the deadlock."

"An hour later, the rock wall returned to the passable state it had been in before he entered, and the Sky Soaring Warrior, who had been leaning against the wall, simply fell out."

"This was the first mechanism of Sifang Cave that we discovered: after entering, the rock wall becomes solid, and it returns to normal after one hour."

"Afterward, that Sky Soaring Warrior successfully returned to the High Martial Civilization and reported the matter. We then sent people to explore the area, which led to the subsequent series of discoveries."

Chen Du listened attentively without interrupting to ask any questions.

Although he had been with Xu Tian for over a month, it had all been for practicing Martial Skills, and since Xu Tian had never been to Sifang Cave, he naturally didn't know the details.

"When Principal Xie sent the notifications to you, the final attachment contained the maps for your respective zones. You have all downloaded and memorized them, right?"

The four of them nodded. The map Chen Du had seen at first was very complex because the routes for all four zones were superimposed on each other; now that it was split into four corresponding parts, it was naturally much simpler.

Otherwise, it was just a mess of tangled lines; even if one memorized it completely, they would likely struggle for a long time at every fork in the road and still might not choose the right path.

The five of them were not here for sightseeing. After Hamon finished explaining these things, he followed the information he had received and led Chen Du and the others to their respective entrances.

These entrances looked no different from the surrounding rock walls on the surface, and only those whose Life Strength Rank met the requirements could enter.

Before entering, the four of them reached their hands in to see if they could pass through normally.

Being able to pass through meant that no creatures had accidentally entered during this time. Although the probability was very low, it was something that had to be confirmed; after all, only one person could enter an entrance, and if someone was already inside, the rock wall would be solid.

The locations of the four entrances formed an L-shape; the Low Danger Zone and Medium Danger Zone were on one line, while the High Danger Zone and Ultra Danger Zone were on the other line at a 90-degree angle.

Hamon watched them enter one by one, according to their strength, from highest to lowest.

Chen Du was the last one to enter. As Fukawa Kujako moved forward, she thought to herself, Hamon must be planning to give Chen Du special private tutoring!

"Otherwise, why would the strong ones go in first and the weak ones last?"

"Judging from the map, it was highly likely to be safe inside. I am in the Medium Danger Zone; logically speaking, as long as I am bold enough, the benefits will definitely be better than in the Low Danger Zone!"

"Just wait, I will achieve even more than Chen Du!"

Fukawa Kujako passed through the rock wall with the determination to make a stunning impression.

When it was finally Chen Du's turn, Hamon suddenly spoke up and called him back:

"Chen Du, I would like to ask, what is your Mental Energy Rank?"

"Rank 19.9. Why do you ask, Teacher?"

Chen Du replied with an unchanging expression.

"Nothing, just asking casually. Because I often deal with the Big Eye Civilization, I am quite sensitive to Mental Energy."

"When that Big Eye Civilization attacked earlier, I vaguely felt that your Mental Energy had reached Rank 20."

He then laughed: "That's truly impressive. Peng Fei's Mental Energy is only Rank 19, and you aren't even an Advanced Martial Artist yet, yet yours is actually higher than his. A true Genius."

Chen Du smiled without saying much. Seeing that Hamon didn't ask anything else, he put on his clown mask and walked toward the rock wall in front of him, entering the Low Danger Zone as if walking through a wall.

"Phew..."

Chen Du let out a soft sigh of relief after entering.

He had just lied.

His actual Mental Energy Rank was, in fact, 20.7!

1 Rank of this came from the reward for passing the 14th wave of monsters, the Steel-Armored Rhinos, and the other 0.1 Rank was gained through constant honing via the Void Immortal Contemplation Method.

It wasn't that the Void Immortal Contemplation Method was useless, but rather that Chen Du's current Mental Energy Rank was too high for his Life Strength Rank.

This Mental Energy Rank was usually only possessed by Sky Soaring Warriors, which meant that the improvements gained from his natural training couldn't keep up with this level at all, making it seem useless.

As for the lie just now, it wasn't intentional.

Because his own Mental Energy was extremely high, during his interactions with Xu Tian, the other party had also told him some things about Mental Energy.

Among them was the [Skysoaring Barrier].