"A detour?"
"With your current qualifications, joining Greenwood Mountain and becoming a Core Disciple right away would be quite simple. However, within Greenwood Mountain, if you don't have anyone looking out for you, the road ahead won't be easy."
"From what I know, not far from here, there is the Southern Greenwood Forest. The Southern Greenwood Forest is no simple place — it is a branch force of Greenwood Mountain, stationed here specifically to select talented disciples and send them up to Greenwood Mountain."
"If you join the Southern Greenwood Forest first, and then have them recommend you to Greenwood Mountain, it will provide you with considerable help. Although you'll ultimately still become a Core Disciple of Greenwood Mountain, and there will be some extra steps involved, the outcome will be completely different."
"The Sect Leader of the Southern Greenwood Forest is not only powerful in cultivation, but also has significant connections within Greenwood Mountain. If you can earn the Sect Leader's favor, after he recommends you to Greenwood Mountain, he will definitely use his connections to ensure your growth within Greenwood Mountain."
"Because if you develop well within Greenwood Mountain, that won't just be the Sect Leader's honor — it will be the honor of the Southern Greenwood Forest as well," Grandpa Luo said solemnly.
"Thank you for your guidance,
After hearing Grandpa Luo's words, Chu Feng found them to be perfectly reasonable. Although joining the Southern Greenwood Forest was indeed taking a detour, if he could truly gain some help along the way, then taking that extra path would be entirely worth it.
Having made his decision, Chu Feng wasted no time. After seeing Grandpa Luo home, he headed straight for the Southern Greenwood Forest.
The Southern Greenwood Forest was not far away, so it only took Chu Feng a single day to arrive.
However, upon reaching the Southern Greenwood Forest, Chu Feng was stunned by the boundless forest composed of towering trees that seemed to pierce the heavens.
"The Sacred Land of Martial truly is extraordinary — even the trees can grow to such heights. If the Southern Greenwood Forest is already like this, I can only imagine what Greenwood Mountain must be like." Standing outside the Southern Greenwood Forest, Chu Feng felt his blood boil with excitement. After all, if the Southern Greenwood Forest was already this impressive, he could only imagine how magnificent Greenwood Mountain must be.
It would undoubtedly be a force beyond Chu Feng's imagination, and only such a force would have the caliber necessary to take Chu Feng in as a disciple and allow him to cultivate anew.
Chu Feng understood very well that no matter how glorious his time in the Eastern Sea had been, now that he had arrived at the Sacred Land of Martial, everything would start over from scratch.
So his mindset was calm — he had let go of his past glory and entered this wondrous Sacred Land of Martial with the bearing of a newcomer.
Though the Southern Greenwood Forest was vast, one couldn't simply walk in. It was protected by a barrier formation, and only through specific entrances could one enter. Chu Feng entered through one such entrance and openly declared his intention to join the Southern Greenwood Forest.
The elder at the gate didn't bother examining Chu Feng's cultivation. Instead, he casually directed Chu Feng into a formation. Within the formation were numerous obstacles — to put it plainly, the formation served as an entrance examination.
This examination was no trivial matter. It had stumped many people, causing numerous aspirants who had come seeking to join to be turned away at the gate, unable to pass and forced to leave.
But how could such an examination pose any challenge to Chu Feng? He passed through it with ease, and at remarkable speed. Yet this did not earn him any special attention from the elder. Many people joined the Southern Greenwood Forest, and many passed the examination — Chu Feng was simply one among the rest, proceeding to face the elders' subsequent evaluations.
The earlier test had assessed strength and ability, while the later portion involved verifying the applicant's background. When it came to Chu Feng's turn, he racked his brain but couldn't come up with a suitable-sounding place name. In the end, he told the elder that he was from the Southern Sea.
Hearing this answer, the elder looked somewhat surprised and couldn't help giving Chu Feng a couple of extra glances, but said nothing further. He simply handed Chu Feng an identity token and a set of disciple robes, then directed him to a large courtyard.
This courtyard contained quite a few buildings, though none of them were particularly grand. In comparison to other structures in the area, they could even be called rather plain.
Only later did Chu Feng learn that this was the living quarters for those from distant regions, and that everyone currently residing in the courtyard was from the Southern Sea.
Upon learning this, Chu Feng seemed to understand why he had encountered that massive formation when exiting the Heavenly Path — it turned out the formation had been set up by the Southern Greenwood Forest, intended to test those who emerged from the Heavenly Path in the Southern Sea.
However, it appeared that Chu Feng had arrived late. By the time he emerged from the Heavenly Path, the Southern Greenwood Forest's welcoming party had already withdrawn. All that awaited him was the trial formation.
Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, night had fallen. The treatment for Chu Feng and the others from the Southern Sea was indeed rather poor — no one brought food to their doors. If they wanted to eat, they all had to gather at the designated dining hall within the courtyard.
And upon arriving at the dining hall, Chu Feng finally saw the others who had come from the Southern Sea.
There were quite a lot of them. At the very least, nearly a hundred people were visible in Chu Feng's line of sight. They were all young, with the youngest being around Chu Feng's age and the oldest certainly not exceeding thirty.
The reason they were all young was likely because the Southern Greenwood Forest only recruited young disciples. But regardless, Chu Feng was still surprised that so many people from the Southern Sea had made it through the Heavenly Path.
He found that their cultivation levels were generally not strong. Most were at the Heavenly Martial Realm, with the strongest among them only reaching the Fourth-grade Martial Lord. This level of cultivation was still far behind the top geniuses of the Eastern Sea, to say nothing of comparing with the same generation in the Sacred Land of Martial.
At this moment, Chu Feng seemed to grasp something. He understood why the people from the Southern Sea received such poor treatment at the Southern Greenwood Forest — in the end, it was because their foundation was too weak.
In this world where the strong reigned supreme, treatment was determined by power. That was simply the way of things.
"Hey brother, I don't think I've seen you before. Are you from the Southern Sea too?"
Just as Chu Feng had taken his seat and was about to begin eating, a young man in his early twenties, of average height and unremarkable appearance but with a beaming smile on his face, sat down beside him.
"I'm Chu Feng." Chu Feng nodded politely at the young man.
"So it's Brother Chu Feng! My name is