The Divine Bird slowed its descent, tearing through the sky, and glided down with elegance.
Finally, it landed smoothly on the outer edge of a vast sea of trees.
It was a huge circular clearing.
The ground was paved with whole pieces of azure jade, smooth as a mirror, reflecting the sky.
It looked like a natural porch to the forest.
Beyond the clearing lay the domain of towering ancient trees.
They were silent sentinels, their trunks gnarled and their canopies like clouds, silently exuding an eternal majesty.
The air was filled with the fragrance of plants and moist earth; a deep breath even accelerated the recovery rate of Mental Energy.
Golden light flowed, and the massive firebird transformed back into the stunningly beautiful woman in crimson palace robes.
Feng Yan stepped barefoot onto the cool jade, her expression tinged with a hint of nostalgia.
"This is the place. That old guy's taste is still the same as ever."
She curled her lip, her tone full of the complaints shared between old friends.
"He doesn't even know how to replace these broken floor tiles at the entrance after tens of thousands of years."
She turned around and smiled at Lin Qingyue.
"Little friend, my retirement life has just begun, so I won't accompany you to see that old stubborn man."
"I need to find a place first to taste the... hot noodle soup you mentioned, and see what it actually tastes like."
As she spoke, she winked playfully at Lin Qingyue, her figure transforming into a stream of light and vanishing with the wind.
She left behind only a light, airy remark.
"We'll meet again. If that old guy bullies you, just give my name and say... I haven't received my retirement pay yet, and let him deal with it."
Lin Qingyue couldn't help but laugh.
This newly retired deity was adapting to her new identity at an astonishingly fast pace.
After seeing Feng Yan off, the four turned their gazes back to the Giant Wood Forest before them.
"Are we... just going to walk in?"
Lin Xiyue gripped her shield, asking with some uncertainty.
This forest was too quiet.
So quiet it made one's heart race.
There was no birdsong, no insect chirps, not even the rustle of wind through the leaves.
Only the life aura, so immense it had almost solidified, proved that this was no dead land.
"I'm afraid it won't be that simple."
Xia Lian's gaze swept forward, finally fixing on the boundary between the forest and the jade ground dozens of meters away.
"Look over there."
Everyone followed her gaze in the direction she pointed.
There, the space rippled with barely perceptible waves, as if an invisible force were shimmering.
Unless you looked closely, it was completely undetectable.
Su Wan raised her staff, and a slender probe of ice element silently extended forward.
However, the very moment the probe was about to touch that distorted space,
It vanished into thin air.
It wasn't shattered, nor melted, but directly "erased" from existence by a higher-level rule.
"It's a barrier."
Su Wan's brow furrowed slightly.
"An exceptionally sophisticated Rule-based Barrier. It simply erased my spell from its underlying logic."
"Rule-based?" Lin Qingyue's interest was piqued.
"Yes."
Su Wan nodded as she explained, "You could understand it as my spell being judged 'out of bounds' the moment it touched the barrier, causing the rule to decompose it immediately."
Lin Xiyue listened, halfway understanding: "So what do we do? Try breaking in?"
She weighed her shield in her hand, eager to try.
Lin Qingyue didn't stop her. Instead, she crossed her arms, sporting an expression as if she were about to watch a good show.
Lin Xiyue took a deep breath, planted [ Blackstone's Protection ] in front of her, and walked toward the barrier step by step.
As she drew closer, the invisible pressure grew heavier.
When she was less than ten meters from the forest's edge, a complex magic circle, composed of countless emerald green vines and ancient runes, slowly materialized in the air ahead.
A vast, emotionless voice, as if emanating from every leaf in the forest, echoed directly within everyone's hearts.
[ No Courtesy, No Entry. ]
The words were brief, yet carried an unquestionable majesty.
Lin Xiyue paused for a moment, then gritted her teeth and continued forward.
She refused to believe a simple access control could stop her!
Just as her toes were about to cross the boundary line on the jade floor, the emerald green magic circle erupted with light.
Thud!
A heavy thud echoed.
Lin Xiyue felt as if she had been brutally rejected by the entire world.
A colossal force, irresistible in its magnitude, crushed her from all directions!
The force bypassed her shield and armor, leaving her arms numb and her inner energy churning violently.
She, along with her shield, was sent flying backward like a cannonball!
She forcibly twisted her body in midair, her feet plowing two long grooves into the smooth jade floor, sliding over twenty meters before finally regaining her footing.
The "Immovable as a Mountain" special effect on [ Blackstone's Protection ] looked like a joke at this moment.
"Such incredible power!"
Lin Xiyue shook her numb arms, her face full of shock.
This was just a warning.
The other party had not used a lethal move at all.
"Experimental Report One: Forcing one's way in counts as 'impolite' behavior."
Lin Qingyue recorded this as if it were a serious matter,
"It seems Senior Azure Dragon dislikes it when others are too passionate."
"Then what is his rule?" Xia Lian asked, already checking the surrounding environment, trying to find clues.
"No Courtesy, No Entry."
Lin Qingyue repeated those four words, analyzing with great interest,
"The question is, what exactly counts as 'Courtesy'?"
This question stumped all three of them.
Did they need to bow in greeting? Or was it a matter of offering a sacrifice?
This open area was completely bare, with no hints at all.
As a Mage, Su Wan was actually more interested in this kind of rule-based puzzle.
She huffed softly, her pride as a Young Mistress not allowing her to be stopped by a simple access control.
"Crude methods don't work, so how about something elegant?"
She extended her slender jade fingers, Magic Power condensing at their tips, without any trace of aggression, but rather like an artist meticulously carving her own work.
A moment later, an extremely complex and crystal-clear ice snowflake took shape in her palm.
Each ice prism followed the perfect golden ratio, a crystallization of magic and art.
"A creation that purely showcases skill and beauty should count as 'Courtesy,' right?"
With a gentle push, the ice snowflake floated gracefully and slowly toward the barrier.
However, the moment the snowflake touched that invisible wall,
it began to silently break apart, grain by grain, starting from the outermost ice prisms, before dissolving into the most primitive ice elements and vanishing into nothingness.
The entire process was quiet and orderly.
It was as if an abnormally strict proctor was deliberately tearing up an "incorrectly formatted" exam paper.
"It seems art connoisseurs aren't welcome either," Lin Qingyue commented.
"Experimental Report Two: Showing off skills also counts as 'impolite' behavior."
On the other side, Xia Lian demonstrated the pragmatism of a Ranger.
She picked up a naturally fallen leaf from the edge of the plaza, walked to the barrier, and gently tossed it forward.
Her idea was simple: since man-made objects and energy forms were rejected, what about something from the forest itself?
Surely it would show some face?
As a result, the moment that withered leaf crossed the boundary, it turned into a handful of ash finer than powder with a "poof."
Not even a whole corpse was left behind.
"It's completely unrecognizing its own kin..." Lin Xiyue rubbed her wrist, dumbfounded.
"Experimental Report Three: Even local specialties aren't accepted. Senior Azure Dragon is completely unyielding."
Lin Qingyue sighed, also feeling that this was getting a bit tricky.
Time passed minute by minute, and everyone was stuck at the forest entrance, at their wits' end.
This feeling of having power but nowhere to use it was even more frustrating than directly facing a powerful enemy.
Lin Xiyue paced back and forth irritably:
"What is this? He gave us a rule but won't let us in no matter what? This old guy is too difficult to serve!"
Just as her complaint fell, that grand voice rang out again, carrying a hint of unquestionable majesty.
[ Impatience is also impolite. ]
As the words fell, a rune suddenly lit up on the jade floor beneath Lin Xiyue's feet.
Lin Xiyue only felt her shoulders suddenly sink, as an invisible small mountain instantly pressed down on her body.
"Thud!"
Her knees buckled, and she fell heavily onto the ground, striking the hard jade floor with a dull thud.
A terrifying gravity locked her firmly in place, making it difficult to even move a finger, let alone stand up.
Lin Xiyue: "???"
Her face flushed crimson, and her muscles tightened all over as she tried to resist this force, but it was all in vain.
[ Punishment: Quiet your mind for one minute. ]
The grand voice announced emotionlessly.
"Pfft..."
Lin Qingyue almost couldn't help but laugh out loud. Seeing her younger sister suffer such a humiliating setback, she commented with a solemn air:
"It seems Senior Azure Dragon is quite considerate. He even set up a 'Time-out Corner'."
"Besides, Xiyue, you've trained your glutes well! The sound of your butt hitting the floor was much more solid than others'."
Lin Xiyue, pinned to the ground, had the veins on her neck bulging.
"Lin! Qing! Yue!"
Being publicly shamed by her sister at such close range, her pretty face flushed crimson, yet she remained completely helpless.
This time, the remaining Xia Lian and Su Wan didn't even dare to catch their breath.
This Azure Dragon's rules were far too overbearing.
Not only had to one's behavior conform to "Etiquette," but even one's inner emotions had to meet the standard.
Under her sister's gaze of dying shame and fury, Lin Qingyue stroked her chin, her eyes brightening.
"Xiyue was punished, not because of what she did, but because of her 'mindset'."
Lin Qingyue analyzed,
"Being impatient and impulsive is not 'Etiquette.' This means Azure Dragon's 'Etiquette' refers not only to behavior, but also to our thoughts and emotions."
This thought made everything clear to her.
Her gaze returned to the azure jade floor beneath her feet.
This floor was too smooth.
It was unnaturally smooth.
Under the sunlight, there seemed to be extremely fine and complex patterns inside the jade.
She crouched down and extended a finger, gently touching the cool floor.
What came through her fingertips was not just the texture of jade.
There was also a... nearly harsh sense of Order.
She closed her eyes and felt it with her heart.
These patterns were not formed naturally but had been artificially carved, interconnected to form a huge formation covering the entire plaza.
Every corner, every curve was precise to the extreme, without the slightest error.
Rigid.
Stubborn.
Demanding perfection.
A floor demanding perfection...
A barrier rejecting all outside things...
And a sister punished instantly for being "impatient and impulsive"...
A single clue linked all these oddities together.
The fog in Lin Qingyue's eyes instantly cleared away.
Su Wan and Xia Lian noticed that the corners of her mouth were curling upward, revealing a smile of someone eager to watch the drama unfold.