Inside the Mirage Portal

The inside of the mirage portal was a world within a world.

There were tall mountains and thick forest everywhere. Also, the spiritual aura was extremely dense in this place but it was not as dense as outside to give flight ability.

Also the heavens above glowed yellow, pink and red to give it an unnatural appearance. 

An exhausted Ye Fan and Fairy Xuan Xueqi found themselves in a dense forest, surrounded by 100m tall trees. 

Although they could not see any cultivators but they could see beams of light flashing from the skies to somewhere around them.

These flashes of light were actually the cultivators that had entered into the mirage portal and everyone was appearing in a different location. 

This was good to Ye Fan as he could avoid getting some unwanted attention from some 'old' friends. 

"Where will the Dao Fruit be?" This was Ye Fan's first question in this unknown place.

Fairy Xuan Xueqi smiled, "In the end, we still have to search for it in this vast wonderland."

Then she looked around her curiously, "The spiritual aura in this place is quite dense and it is difficult to use our divine sense to sense the Dao Fruit. Therefore, we can only depend on our eyes."

Ye Fan slowly nodded, "Then we ought to walk with caution. There should be many cultivators that are nearby."

Fairy Xuan Xueqi nodded, "Many of the cultivators would be trying to slaughter one another for this one Dao Fruit. If we see any 6th realm and higher cultivators, we ought to run away."

Ye Fan nodded, "Then let's be on our way after a short rest. How about an hour later?"

He was quite breathless and tired after entering the mirage portal. 

Fairy Xuan Xueqi smiled, "This is good. You can have more time if you want to."

Ye Fan shook his head, "Anything longer than this may not be wise. Our divine sense is greatly reduced in effectiveness here and we may be ambushed by the other cultivators that have recovered faster than us." 

"Alright then," Fairy Xuan Xueqi nodded. 

Many of the cultivators were probably also meditating to get back some of their profound strength as soon as they were inside the mirage portal.

After all, the way inside the mirage portal was not easy and it drained the cultivators a lot of their profound strength.

Even if a high level cultivator like a saint may find it easier to enter the mirage portal than the others, he or she would likely to be using a powerful internal profound art to make their trip easier. However, the very act of using an internal profound art exerted a huge drain to their profound strength. 

In the end, all the cultivators that had reached the mirage portal either had to meditate to cultivate back their profound strength or to consume some profound pills. Or both. 

And so, Ye Fan and Fairy Xuan Xueqi began to close their eyes as they sat down to meditate and to cultivate back their profound strength. 

After an hour, both Ye Fan and Fairy Xuan Xueqi had both opened their eyes. 

As they did so, they nodded to each other and cordially stood up together and to be on their way.

Ye Fan asked, "So which way should we go first?"

Fairy Xuan Xueqi said, "I feel that it doesn't matter which way we should go first. Because once the Dao Fruit appears, we will know."

Ye Fan curiously asked, "You mean that the Dao Fruit has not descended yet?"

Fairy Xuan Xueqi replied, "That's right. Once it descends, then the direction of the descend would then be quite obvious and everyone will also be rushing there. Right now…"

She looked up to the heavens to look at the flashes of light that are still bringing in the cultivators, "Right now, there are still cultivators that are coming in. Once the mirage portal has closed and no more cultivators are coming in, then we will know which direction to go."

Ye Fan nodded, "This makes sense. The cultivators will also be grouping together to seize the Dao Fruit. Autonomous cultivators like us have little chances."

Fairy Xuan Xueqi smiled, "And you still want to come to this place?"

Ye Fan laughed weakly, "Even if it is 0.1% chance or lower, I'd attempt it for my Xueqi."

Fairy Xuan Xueqi flushed coyly, "This is too big a gambit for me. I'll rather that you will have a long life instead of myself."

Ye Fan inhaled heavily, "What is the point of I having a long life without you? Is there a point?"

After a short hesitation, he decided to say. "Xueqi, maybe we ought to ask your father for help. I feel that he loves you and he won't let you die. Why don't we ask him for help?"

Fairy Xuan Xueqi smiled weakly, "I know that one day you will ask me this…"

She had wondered when Ye Fan would ask her this question that she had wanted to avoid answering to him. 

"My Papa won't help me. It is because he believes that this is my own bad karma and I should solve it myself. After all, I am a cultivator and I should not depend on him. Moreover, I am not his only daughter."

When she had said this, she was also silently saying: I am sorry, Papa. I've to make you into a bad Papa for now.

Ye Fan was startled by Fairy Xuan Xueqi's reply and how cruel her father was to her. 

He began to sigh heavily before he said tenderly to her, "Xueqi, don't worry. I'll help you myself. I will cure you of this affliction and this is my promise to you."

 "Ye Fan…" Fairy Xuan Xueqi muttered tenderly to him.

All of a sudden there was a laughter that interrupted them.

It was from a bearded golden celestial and that had suddenly emerged behind them.

He laughed jovially, "I wonder who is sweet talking in the forest. So it is a couple." 

This bearded cultivator was a Sage and he was at the 6th realm cultivation. 

Ye Fan was alarmed and he had quickly displayed his earth-step divine sword at the bearded cultivator. 

It was because this bearded cultivator had a heavy malevolent and he was now saying, "This veiled maiden looks beautiful. Why don't you stay around and let me play with you? As for this young man, I can be happy to let you go if you let your sweet heart stay behind to entertain me."