There was no other way! Since the candy-making process and procedures were indeed correct, and they did not know how to improve the candy, Celestial Way and Terranom had no choice but to continue investing a large amount of time in candy production.

  They aimed to first make enough candy for their own use for a period, and then focus on cultivation for a while. Although this approach would still slow down their progress in cultivation, switching to a focused cultivation mode would be much more effective than the intermittent cultivation.

  While diligently working, Celestial Way and Terranom also devoted themselves to cultivation. Days passed by unknowingly, and gradually, the two finally felt a slight improvement in their realm again. However, they did not feel happy about this, and instead showed bitter expressions after the slight improvement in their realm.

  Because, although their realm had improved, their witchcraft power remained stagnant. More precisely, even though their realm had improved again, they were still unable to exert more powerful witchcraft.

  The two could feel that the power within their bodies had changed, but it seemed that there was always an intangible force restraining them, making them unable to fully utilize their strength and truly exert the full power they had gained.

  After carefully sensing it, the two found that this intangible suppressive force seemed to be the mysterious fog that filled the forest. However, sadly, even after knowing who the culprit was, they still had no power to fight against it. Because, after their realm improved slightly again, they soon found that the effect of the candy had dropped off a cliff.

  This led to the situation where they now had to take more than ten candies every day, and at the same time, mobilize their newly enhanced magic power to combat the fog's attack on their spirits.

  It seemed that the higher the two's realm became, and the more substantial the human forms they had transformed into, the greater the pressure the fog exerted on them. The more effort they had to spend to resist the fog's invasion. As a result, the two couldn't help but have a bad thought.

  It seemed that it was precisely because of the human forms they had cultivated that the effect of the candy became increasingly reduced, making it more difficult for them to resist the fog's attack.

  "Since that's the case, why don't you reveal your original forms? If you appear in your original black bear forms, would you no longer be troubled by the fog?" Yun Ge interjected.

  "Hohoho! Terranom and I have naturally considered this, but we can't do it," the Candylord replied with a simple laugh.

  "Why not?" Yun Ge asked in confusion.

  "Because, once we revert to our original forms, it would be equivalent to forcibly abandoning the results of years of hard cultivation. This is a near-suicidal act of breaking one's cultivation, which is a great taboo for us," the Candylord said.

  "But if that's the case, why are you now——" Yun Ge immediately pointed at the Candylord's current half-human, half-bear appearance and asked.

  "Hey! So, this is also a choice made out of helplessness! Brother Yun Ge, let me slowly tell you, and you will soon know why I have become what I am now!" The Candylord said with a touch of helplessness.

  After realizing that the higher their realm became, the more problems they encountered, Celestial Way and Terranom inevitably felt a strong sense of frustration, making them gloomy all day long. However, the hardships and achievements of their cultivation journey so far still made them unwilling to give up.

  So, after readjusting their mood, the two once again prayed to the spirit of the forest, begging for mercy for their predicament and hoping to find a way to combat the fog and cultivate with peace of mind.

  To express their respect and devotion to the spirit of the forest, Celestial Way and Terranom not only continuously performed prayer rituals for the next ten days, but also, to demonstrate their sincerity, respectfully offered the beasts they hunted and the candies they carefully made as sacrifices during the daily rituals, placing them on an open space in the forest for the spirit of the forest to enjoy.

  Through the unremitting efforts of Celestial Way and Terranom, the two finally received a response again. One night, the two once again dreamt of that mysterious voice. The voice told them not to give up hope and informed them that in the following period, they should further expand the range of nectar collection. Perhaps, they could then find a way to optimize the candy and have the means to resist the fog's harassment!

  Believing that the mysterious voice they heard in their dream was the spirit of the forest, Celestial Way and Terranom naturally did not dare to be negligent after waking up. Instead, they immediately started the new day's nectar collection work with full energy. Then, following the guidance of the spirit of the forest, the two bravely went to more distant places to collect nectar.

  Why is it said that Celestial Way and Terranom had to muster up courage to go deeper into the forest to collect nectar from a distance from their cave? This is because the two had discovered a long time ago that since they had been cultivating in their cave, over time, they had formed a unique aura within their cave.

  This aura would diffuse outwards from the cave, forming an intangible field in the forest. As long as Celestial Way and Terranom were within the range of their own aura, they would be full of energy and spirit, and the effect of the candy would be maximized, allowing the two to better resist the invasion of the fog.

  At the same time, this kind of aura would also form an intangible deterrent to the beasts in the forest, driving them away from the area where Celestial Way and Terranom lived. This made the beasts unwilling to enter the core area of this aura even at night.

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  But once the two stepped out of the range of this aura, the effect of the candy would plummet like a cliff, forcing them to expend more effort to resist the harassment of the fog. Moreover, even the beasts that hid and slept during the day would immediately wake up after the two stepped out of the aura.

  Then, the restless beasts would constantly emit warning growls, as if they would seize the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on the two as long as they were slightly careless.

  Therefore, even though Celestial Way and Terranom had cultivated into refined beings, since they had not learned any witchcraft with actual offensive capabilities, and their cultivated human forms were much weaker than before, the forest outside their comfort zone had become a forbidden area that the two were unwilling to easily enter. It can be seen that for the two, the voice's instruction to go to a more distant forest to collect nectar was indeed a considerable challenge.

  Hearing this, Yun Ge still couldn't help but interrupt, "Excuse me, I would like to ask, why is it that during your long cultivation, apart from successfully transforming into human forms and mastering the witchcraft of making candy, it seems that you have not gained any substantial improvement?"

  "Alas! We were also very troubled by this at the time. Fortunately, later, when we began to follow the spirit of the forest's will and expand our collection range, we finally understood why," the Candylord replied with a shrug.

  "So, what exactly was the reason?" Yun Ge eagerly pursued the question.

  "Well——, to put it simply, the cultivation we were engaged in at the time was just laying the foundation. After our foundation became solid, we would then have the ability to comprehend true witchcraft.”

  “This foundational stage is very important and requires a very long time. In fact, even now, Terranom and I are still in the stage of solidifying our cultivation foundation," the Candylord answered after a moment of thought.

  Then, with a self-mocking tone, the Candylord said, "Of course, my current state requires me to spend more time solidifying the foundation. Sigh! I have fallen too far behind in this competition! If I don't hurry up and cultivate, I'm afraid I won't have a chance to turn things around in my lifetime!"

  Although Yun Ge was not clear about what the Candylord meant by the competition, he had already sensed from the Candylord's words that there seemed to be an irreconcilable contradiction between the Candylord and Rainbow Bear. Naturally, Yun Ge was very curious about what the problem was between the two.

  However, since the Candylord did not want to answer too many questions before finishing the story of him and Rainbow Bear, Yun Ge simply continued to listen to the Candylord's memories, hoping to find the answers he wanted from the story.

  The Candylord poured himself another cup of hot tea and then fell into reminiscence once again.

  Celestial Way and Terranom cautiously left the range of the aura formed by their long-term cultivation and embarked on a dangerous nectar collection mission. To ensure they would not be ambushed by beasts, the two not only set up temporary traps along the way while collecting nectar to guard against beasts but also maintained a back-to-back collection method at all times to avoid being ambushed by beasts due to facing the forest.

  Since the two had not left the range of their own created aura for a long time, they were both very nervous throughout the day's collection.

  However, fortunately, apart from occasionally hearing the low growls of beasts, they did not actually see any beasts appear. They firmly believed that it was the protection of the spirit of the forest that made the beasts dare not act rashly, so they gradually let go of their nervousness and more boldly went to more distant places to collect nectar.

  Gradually, as the range of nectar collection by Celestial Way and Terranom continued to expand, the two were surprised to find that the aura they had created through cultivation was slowly spreading to the newly expanded collection areas. So, while the two continued to boldly go to more distant places to collect nectar, they also seized the time to focus on cultivation.

  Finally, after several dangerous explorations where they nearly suffered beast attacks and almost failed to return to the cave before nightfall, the two successfully expanded the area covered by their aura several times.

  At the same time, Celestial Way and Terranom also comprehended a new kind of witchcraft. The two could jointly cast this witchcraft to impose a restriction on the area covered by their cultivated aura, ensuring that the aura covering these areas would not be consumed, thereby turning these areas into their own territory. This allowed the two to at least not encounter beast attacks when entering these territories during the day.

  But once night fell, it was because this restriction would be quietly eroded by the forest fog at night, forcing the two to still hide in their cave at night and wait until the next morning to recast the witchcraft to reinforce the restriction in the area.

  In addition to collecting nectar, making candy, and cultivating, the two now also had to cast witchcraft every morning to reinforce the restrictions within their territory, which naturally meant that they had to spend more time cultivating to ensure they had enough magic power. However, facing the daily high demand for candy, the two naturally could not reduce the time spent on collecting nectar and making candy.

  This back-and-forth led to an even more tense life for Celestial Way and Terranom. To the point where they now had to further sacrifice their sleep time to make a large amount of candy, ensuring they had enough candy to support themselves for long periods of cultivation in the following days.

  Although their pace of life became faster and their lives became much more laborious after following the will of the spirit of the forest, the two did not complain at all this time. Because they believed that the spirit of the forest would not make them do this without reason, and there must be a deep-seated reason behind it.

  Therefore, what the two needed to do now was to continue to persevere and work hard. As long as they persisted and did not give up, they would surely find a way to escape their current predicament.

  Celestial Way and Terranom gradually adapted to this busy lifestyle. However, adaptation did not mean acceptance. The power of the candy was waning day by day, to the point where even though the two increased the number of candies they took daily, they still found it increasingly difficult to cope with the fog's impact on their spirits.

  This led to the two experiencing mental dispersion and even a loss of consciousness. But even so, Celestial Way and Terranom did not experience a mental breakdown this time. Because the two firmly believed that the will they received in their dreams was correct, and as long as they persisted, they would surely迎来转机 (迎來轉機) (welcome a turning point).

  And indeed, that was the case.

  When Celestial Way and Terranom, full of hope, entered the forest at the edge of their territory to collect nectar again, they unexpectedly discovered a new creature in a meadow where a sweetaurum flower grew. Since the two creatures lying in the grass looked exactly like the forms they had transformed into, Celestial Way and Terranom initially thought that these two unconscious strangers were also beasts that had cultivated into humans, just like them.

  But the two quickly dismissed their guess. Because they did not sense any spiritual energy on the two unconscious individuals, making them appear to be very ordinary creatures, only coincidentally sharing the same appearance as themselves.

  However, Celestial Way and Terranom soon revised their assessment of the two unconscious individuals. Because, as they checked the condition of the unconscious individuals and tried to wake them up, they noticed a deep wound on the back of one of them.

  The wound on this person was clearly inflicted recently, so bright red blood was still continuously flowing out from the wound, to the point where the clothes on her back had been largely soaked red by the blood.