Those lessons on basic formations had been enough to survive encounters with man-made formations, but this was something else entirely.

Han Yu tried expanding his spirit sense again, closing his eyes to focus.

His Spirit Qi spread out in a wave, brushing against the terrain. At first, everything felt normal. But then, his perception twisted. The trees blurred together into vague silhouettes, and the air itself seemed to ripple.

He felt resistance in every direction, as though something invisible was pressing back against his consciousness.

Han Yu gritted his teeth and pushed harder, channeling his focus into expanding his awareness. Slowly, painfully, his spirit sense stretched a little further than before. He could now reach nearly twenty meters...double what it had been when he entered the forest!

"My Spirit sense expanded?" Han Yu was surprised.

It was a small victory, but he took it as a sign that his efforts were not entirely in vain.

Still, the discovery offered little comfort. The forest remained the same, a vast labyrinth of trees and mist.

He had tried everything he could think of; leaving deep gashes on trees, dropping spirit sign talismans along the way, even throwing stones imbued with Qi to trace their movement.

Every single time, when he returned, the results made no sense. Sometimes the stones vanished entirely. Other times, they appeared in places he was sure he had never walked through.

Even though the trees he had marked remained the same, he wondered if the same markings had appeared on other trees.

It was maddening.

'Food should last a week more.' At least his supplies were holding out.

He had rationed them carefully, drinking only when necessary and eating sparingly. His dried rations and spirit grain balls were enough to last him a few more days, but he knew that soon he would have to find a way out or risk being trapped indefinitely.

Even now, the forest offered no natural food sources.

The mushrooms were poisonous, their glow faintly corrosive to the Qi that touched them. He had tested them by tossing a few wisps of his Spirit Qi onto one. The cap had sizzled and melted, releasing a foul smoke that reeked of decay.

And as for beasts, there were none. Not a single bird, insect, or animal had crossed his path in seven days. The silence had grown so heavy that Han Yu had begun to speak to himself just to break it when Chitterfang slept.

He kept moving, using his spirit sense to chart his route.

The twenty-meter range helped him maintain a pattern in his movement. Every few steps, he would sense the markings he had made earlier, faintly glowing from the Qi he had infused into them. They served as his only proof that he was not standing still.

On the seventh night, Han Yu made camp beneath a thick tree whose roots wound together like coiled serpents. The bark was gray and rough, and it oozed a faint silver sap that hardened like crystal when exposed to air.

He made sure to sit a bit far from it, lighting a small fire using a spark of Fire Qi.

Chitterfang stirred within his robes again, crawling out to sniff the air.

"You're awake," Han Yu said softly, petting the small rat.

The little creature squeaked and looked around nervously. Its whiskers twitched, and then it ducked back into his robe, as if deciding the world outside was not worth facing.

Han Yu smiled faintly, though his eyes were tired. "You're smarter than me, Chitterfang. You know when to hide."

He leaned against the tree trunk, watching the mist swirl beyond the faint light of his fire. Sleep came slowly, heavy and uneasy.

When he woke, it was morning again or what passed for morning here. The dim sky was a dull white, the mist glowing faintly as if reflecting light from nowhere. Han Yu yawned and stood, brushing the dirt from his clothes.

He packed his things with practiced efficiency, ready to continue his journey. There was no direction to follow anymore, so he simply chose forward again.

As he walked, the ground began to slope slightly. It was the first real change he had noticed in days. The incline was gentle at first but soon became steeper.

His heart quickened. 'Could this mean I'm finally nearing the edge of the formation?'

He continued for hours, following the slope until the trees began to thin slightly. Then he reached a large, ancient tree with roots so wide they formed natural arches in the ground. He decided to rest there, waiting for the fog to lift a little before pressing on.

When he finally stirred again, the light had changed. It was still dim, but clearer now. Han Yu stretched, then stepped around the massive trunk to see what lay beyond.

And there, just past the last row of trees, his breath caught.

Spread out before him was a sight so vast he could not take it in all at once.

Beyond the forest's edge lay what appeared to be a massive complex, its structures stretching out further than his spirit sense or sight could perceive from the ground. Tall walls half-swallowed by vines, broken towers leaning at odd angles, and what looked like the remains of vast stone halls extended into the misty horizon.

Han Yu froze where he stood, eyes wide. The scale of the place was unlike anything he had expected.

"What is this place? Another tomb? A Fort? A Palace? A rundown temple? Or some Ancient City?" Han Yu uttered out loud.

For the first time in days, he felt a flicker of hope.

Whatever this place was, it was something.

And that was more than the forest had ever given him.

He took a slow, steady breath and began to move toward it, the faint sound of his boots brushing against the moss-covered ground echoing softly in the quiet air.

The forest behind him remained silent, as if watching him leave.