(A while has passed since Lin Xin's entry to the spatial realm)
"What an odd place to be at, out of all places I could be at they teleport me to the middle of the forest? I can't even see anything other than the trees."
"Well, I have to find my way through this forest and get to the dao comprehension tree. That place is the real treasure here, if I manage to find it first I'll have a nice boost to my strength."
"The hints said that it's a tree next to a lake somewhere in the forest inside the spatial realm, but if other people knew about this place as well then a battle is sure to happen to claim it, I have to get going."
("I'll try going east first, thankfully since the sun is still up I can find my direction easily. I'll try all other directions until I find it.")
(After an hour has passed, he found himself at the edge of the forest, there was a waterfall in the distance in front of him.)
"Huh? a waterfall here? I could trace the source of the water, the only source of water I heard of was the lake next to the dao comprehension tree, it seems the heavens favour me today."
(After tracing the source, it does indeed look like the place he was trying to find, but he felt that it was too quiet)
"Could I really be the first to find this location? Well there's no time to waste, if I remember correctly I'm supposed to cultivate right below the tree for a full day to aid my next breakthrough to greater heights, possibly above the nascent soul realm."
(After taking position below the tree, he sat quietly and began cultivating, he felt the energy at this place was higher than any other place he had been in so far, his mind was also at peace.)
(The sun has set for over 6 hours by now, he remained focused on his goal, and the area remained quiet and undisturbed, until the sound of footsteps could be heard nearby.)
"I told you it was this path! We've finally managed to find the dao comprehension tree, it also appears that we're the first here!"
"Stay quiet, I feel the presence of someone else nearby."
"Someone beat us to it? Let us see who they are then."
(Two cultivators of the nascent soul realm approached Lin Xin's position under the tree, seeming determined to earn their place here)
"Greetings junior brother do you know why we're here?" (The older of the two said, in a cold tone.)
"How could I know? I can't read minds." (Lin Xin has felt their presence before they appeared before him, but sensing that their Qi took on the red color, he knew they weren't a tough opponent to begin with.)
"This place we're in is called the dao comprehension tree, rumors say that cultivating here speeds up your breakthrough progress by ten folds. If you don't mind us junior brother, we'd like to have this location for a while until we complete our breakthrough." (The other said, in a domineering tone. they weren't there to negotiate.)
"And what if I refuse? What are you gonna do about it?" (Lin Xin got up from the place he sat, feeling the seriousness of the situation.)
"We're all of the human race after all, you have to share resources with us for the greater good, don't be selfish."
"It doesn't matter whether you refuse or not, I could sense your cultivation is weaker than ours, you've had some time to spend here, now if you don't mind us, if you don't leave we will have to resort to violence."
"Is that so? Then don't blame me for not showing any mercy."
(Lin Xin immediately dashed towards the weaker of the pair and punched him straight in his guts, The force of the punch sent him flying back until he collided with a tree, defeating him almost instantly.)
"W-Wait junior brother, we acknowledge that you're stronger than us and my brother has already been defeated so I have no reason to pursue this matter any longer." (He tried pleading with Lin Xin to spare him so he doesn't face the same fate his brother and have his foundation damaged)
"I'll spare you on one condition. That sword you have, where did you obtain it from?"
"It was gifted to me by my late grandfather before he passed away, it's my most treasured possession"
"Senior brother, if you don't mind it can you lend that sword to me for a while?" (Lin Xin looked genuinely interested in that sword, the material it's made off was not seen by him before.)
"Anything but that! I can give you money or secrets that are inside this realm, just not the sword." (After saying that, he was knocked cold instantly, ultimately sharing the same fate as his other brother again)
"What a shame, I tried to give him a chance, but if I'm being honest I was still planning to do this whether he accepted or not. He just gave me the excuse." (Gripping the sword in hand, he felt the energy from it resonate with him, It seemed like this sword holds secrets of it's own as well)
"Now that those two are dealt with, I can go back to my cultivation. I've wasted enough time already."
(The sun has started to rise after the long night, the birds were already chirping, and the sound of the waterfall could also be heard. it was truly a sight to behold.)
"I've finally managed to reach the nascent soul realm, although at the first level of it, I have to conceal my cultivation or I'm gonna become a target soon enough. Most of the people here have already reached nascent soul realm and possibly higher, it'd be incredibly risky to fight them head on."
"Now that my business here is finished, it's about time that I seek out my partner." (Lin Xin leaped into the forest again, taking the same path he came from at the beginning)
(On the other side, battles after battles have been happening, hundreds of cultivators have already been eliminated)
(On the day the examination began, a few hours after everyone became familiar with their surrondings)
(A female cultivator, slowly starts to approach a cornered person near the edge of the cliff.)
"Let me hear it again, why did you any your friends target me? Have you thought that I was easy to defeat and take advantage of?" (Marun said, in an ice cold tone that could pierce the defeated cultivator's heart like a dagger.)
"No! Not at all! It was the fool who was leading our group's idea to attack you, I swear by the heavens that I had nothing to do with it!"
"But you still contributed in the battle against me, and that warrants a punishment. And naturally, I can't leave any witnesses behind, how could I be sure that you won't reveal that I defeated your group of seven alone? I can't take that risk after all."
(With a single slash of wind, the man before her was out of sight.)
"Those fools couldn't even scratch me, yet they had the audacity to attack me first. I don't know who they took me for."
"This wasn't my first battle today as well, how do I always manage to run into trouble when I'm not actively seeking it."
(Looking around her, she realized this place was a nice position to scout ahead from, seeing that the area appeared to be mountainous she wasn't sure of where to go now that her meeting with Lin Xin was a day from now.)
"I could rest for the rest of the day, or I could start searching the places where I could potentially see Lin Xin, now that I think about it I could use those spiritual stones to make them detect the presence of a cultivator's Qi. I'm glad I brought enough of them with me."
(After carefully setting the stone in place, she could feel her own Qi from it.)
"Great, so it does work after all, now I should set enough of those around those peaks where Lin Xin could be. Looking at it, I need 15 stones only for this which is great!"
(After setting the stones in place, they formed an array that acts as if she was present in all locations at once, not only could she sense a presence in any of the locations, she could also physically teleport between them as well.)
"Those could serve very well if I meet any danger, since it doesn't take time to activate, now that all of that is dealt with, I can finally eat those snacks I brought with me as well!"
(Beneath the cliff she was on, there was at least a dozen defeated cultivators. They'll remain motionless until the end of those 7 days, all defeated by her.)
(Back to the present time)
"This place is a labyrinth, I've been searching for hours now, yet I still can't find a single high point I was hoping to find, it appears I'm back to the middle of the forest again. Hopefully if I take the north direction I could find something different this time."
(Lin Xin said as he began his journey towards another direction yet again. The search in the south and west directions proved to be useless.)