An immense presence from above made everyone break out in cold sweat in disbelief. Finally, they understood why not even an ancient patriarch returned after entering that place; there was no option to turn back, only to move forward. And they didn't have the ability to resist even the aura of one of those weak divine beasts, even if it was extremely distant.

The whale rose from the ground without abrupt movements, lifting Mira and turning towards the horizon. No one could discern any expression of fear or doubt on it; automatically, everyone stood up, eagerly awaiting its orders. However, in the whale's mind, things were quite different.

'We're screwed. I knew our luck was never good. How are we going to survive in this place? If we had stayed on the third level, it would be easier.' Gael was agitated.

'Don't be dramatic. We're so weak and pathetic that those beasts won't focus on us immediately.' Zane retorted.

Both thought frantically, despite being experienced in desperate situations, until they felt the small hand firmly gripping theirs. When they turned to look at Mira, unlike the others, she seemed to realize that that impassive face was just a mask built by millennia of experience.

Soon, the minds of Zane and Gael seemed to clear, without needing to exchange a word. Even though they had faced countless crises in the past, they felt, for the first time, that something inside them was different. They weren't alone, and they didn't have to handle everything with their own hands.

It lasted only ten seconds, and Gael looked back up. This time, he noticed something peculiar: 'Something seems off about this beast... it created a spiritual root, but it's not using it to merge with the fragile laws of this planet.'

When a cultivator reaches the Heaven Stage Realm, they must undergo a celestial tribulation. First, the mind is tested with illusions in a dream world. Then, celestial lightning tests the physical body. Upon passing the test, a spiritual root is created within the body, becoming a link between the body, soul, and heavens. With this, it is extremely simple to fly through the skies without any Qi expenditure or effort.

Zane observed closely and thought, 'He's just using his wings and body to fly... seems like a lack of intelligence... but it's impossible for a divine beast to reach this realm without understanding laws and Qi.'

'We have no other options; we have to bet on this.' Gael concluded, turning to Mira. Then, he gave a slight mental smile; they were good at dense and powerful physical things. But she had talents opposite to theirs.

Her attentive eyes immediately changed after seeing that new look, and then the mental message arrived In Mira's mind. 'I'll put all my Qi in you. Use everything with mental power to cover us.'

Mira heard that and nodded confidently.

If this divine beast really lacked intelligence, then the solution was to hide. Normally, it would be completely impossible to hide with such a cultivation difference. But the main enemy of something not very intelligent was mental power, which attacked the mind directly. Mira wasn't strong enough, but she had the necessary talent to deceive the wild and dumb senses; all she needed was Qi. And now she received a giant amount.

Every drop of their Qi was given without hesitation through the Yin and Yang tattoos. Then, they closed their eyes, and upon opening them, a subtle brown color of the earth permeated around them. They had already burnt the two drops of the bloodline they had recovered during the last escape; there was no rest or time for it to naturally restore. Still, they had stored a good amount of Qi from the abyss crystals in their inventory, and then they absorbed it all forcefully, giving a new lease of life to their bloodline. It was very brief, but it was enough.

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From the failure to the return, approximately one minute passed. Then, Langrum and Zanou watched the exchange of glances between the whale and Mira. A moment later, Mira seemed to float, emanating a dense violet Qi throughout her body. Both felt their minds tremble in awe when, suddenly, a Qi lotus appeared in Mira's small hands, expanding and covering the entire group.

At that moment, the whale struck the ground with his fists, causing the agitation and opening of the laws of the earth.

"Quick!" he exclaimed, jumping and digging a giant tunnel at an astonishing speed.

As they entered the tunnel, it closed the surface soil again. The disturbance in the laws of the earth should be as clear as the noonday sun to those with a spiritual root. With just a thought, those with spiritual roots could sense changes in the laws and accurately determine their location several kilometers away.

Once they reached a considerable depth, the whale stopped, creating a small cavern, and they directed their attention upward, with Mira still fully radiating her mental power around them. In no time, they concluded that their suspicions were correct. The beast was so wild and dumb that, despite having a spiritual root, it didn't use it properly. Only its most primitive instincts, linked to its physical body, were active. It limited itself to flapping its wings in a primitive and slow manner instead of using the power granted by its spiritual root.

Tense minutes dragged on, turning a suffocating hour into two. Then, the whale sighed heavily and turned his gaze to Mira, who was trembling and nearly collapsing. Langrum and Zanou reassured themselves upon seeing the leader's expression, though.

"The beast is gone. I'll rest for an hour; you can relax," announced the whale, collapsing backward with a resounding thud of his weight.

Langrum and Zanou's hearts stopped at the exaggerated noise. They had never felt so helpless or powerless in their entire lives. Then, the thunderous sound of a snore echoed from the whale. Only then, witnessing Mira crawl and climb the mound of blubber before fainting onto the whale, surrendering to a deep sleep, did they manage to relax.

***

An hour later, they opened their eyes and soon felt a renewed flow of Qi circulating through their meridians. This fourth level might be dangerous, but at least they could use their Qi again. Of course, such a change didn't do much to their situation as they were still ants in front of any of the divine beasts.

They sat down, supporting Mira, who stretched under the strange gazes of Zanou and Langrum. Suddenly, a muffled sound from her small body made them jump back.

"Hm? You broke through... you seem to be growing healthy and quickly," Gael commented, watching her with a radiant smile. Now, she had reached the fifth level of the Qi Gathering Realm.

They expected her to reach this level only by the age of twelve. However, all the tribulations and daily training seemed to accelerate her development.

Then, a voice murmured, half scared, "Let's stay here, safe, and wait for time to run out, okay? You're not crazy..."

The whale didn't even bother to look at him. "A good pet just follows in silence. We're just stepping back to assess the environment better, and we'll start walking again soon."

With these words, even Langrum shivered; he was truly insane. Meanwhile, Mira was full of energy and enthusiasm.

They focused on creating a tunnel southward with great caution towards that huge grayish light source. Although it was distant, they believed it would be the entrance to the fifth level.

Before, they were on top of a mountain, but with the depth they dug, they should already be close to ground level, so they went further down. The challenge, however, was to avoid another divine beast. Thus, they carefully examined the path ahead, as the realm of these beasts was so high that even getting a little closer generated intense physical pressure for everyone.

To their surprise, all the beasts seemed to be lying quietly and sleeping on the ground. The quantity was so large that, at times, Mira had to use her mental power to divert from some clusters. Thanks to that, no beast seemed to notice their presence. However, this strategy couldn't be used infinitely; Mira was still relatively weak, and their Qi wasn't infinite to be distributed. Moreover, time was running out. They only managed to move a few kilometers below the ground in an hour.

Then, Zane spoke in a surprised tone after analyzing the Qi of the earth: 'The infernal laws... are present in this place. Now I'm sure.'

He paused, focusing above their heads, where a beast was soundly asleep. They could sense it through their connection with the earth. 'The terrain and everything here are special. The beasts lie on the ground, absorbing some form of energy from the earth to cultivate. This energy is mixed with infernal laws, just like infernal crystals, but in a smaller proportion. Their bodies are sealing the infernal laws, similar to the symbol of the evil god. The absence of a vast density of this law here is due to the number of beasts and their extremely high realms.'

Gael nodded, acknowledging that Zane was the current expert in these laws close to Yin. 'Even the elders of the three sects couldn't easily cultivate in the prison to avoid reducing the density of this law. But at this level, with thousands of powerful divine beasts and over the millennia, they must have absorbed everything, leaving only a trace in the ground.'

After this analysis, Gael made a decision. 'Let's go up. Maybe there's a hidden opportunity waiting for us.' They could only do that as tunneling forward would never be fast enough to reach their destination before the end of the test.