Facing Ning Wuhui, Qin Sang felt a subtle pressure that had never been there before.
This struck Qin Sang as rather strange.
So long as he did not directly face a Nascent Soul Patriarch, neither Blood Bat nor Daoist Xiaoyun had ever made him feel pressured. Qin Sang still possessed ample confidence in his own strength.
Qin Sang thought to himself, *For Ning Wuhui to undergo such a sudden change after the trial, could he have obtained some heaven-defying opportunity in the Trial Realm?*
That would explain it.
No wonder he hadn't gone to fight for the Soul-Washing Liquid!
It seemed the Trial Realm held many unknown secrets, fortunes left behind for posterity by human forebears.
"It is good to see that you are unharmed, Fellow Daoist Ning. Having waited so long without your arrival, I feared you were trapped by the Thousand Mountains Formation or had met with some mishap, and I truly did not know what to do," Qin Sang said with deep feeling.
Ning Wuhui repeatedly explained, "Earlier, I hadn't expected our sect to demand that all disciples travel together, leaving me no chance to inform you. My participation in the trial this time was for the sake of a spirit herb that grows in the Trial Realm. I never imagined it would delay me for so long..."
"Did you manage to find it?" Qin Sang asked with concern.
Ning Wuhui nodded and said in a relaxed tone, "Though there were many twists and turns, I ultimately managed to harvest a mature spirit herb. Afterward, it took some time to refine it, which is why I came out so late."
From Ning Wuhui's tone, that spirit herb seemed even more precious than the Soul-Washing Liquid.
The change in him was likely related to it.
Curiosity stirred in Qin Sang's heart, but seeing that Ning Wuhui was disinclined to explain further, he did not press the matter.
"The hour grows late. If you have no other pressing matters, Fellow Daoist Qin, let us set off," Ning Wuhui said, turning to look toward the depths of the Inner Hall without asking whether Qin Sang had seized any Soul-Washing Liquid.
Qin Sang nodded. His only goals were to meet Senior Qingzhu and locate the ancient teleportation formation; beyond that, he cared for nothing.
After making minor adjustments, the two flew down the mountain and ventured deeper into the Inner Hall.
Ning Wuhui led the way.
Qin Sang followed behind, his expression gradually turning solemn.
At first, it had not been noticeable, but as they pressed deeper into the Inner Hall, the space grew increasingly unstable. Not long after entering, they spotted a spatial rift.
According to Ning Wuhui, further inside there were even moving and invisible spatial rifts.
The immortal restrictions left behind from antiquity also appeared with growing frequency.
Many of them had never been explored—not out of a lack of desire, but sheer helplessness. Even gazing at those immortal restrictions from afar, Qin Sang could sense how perilous they were.
Predecessors had charted various paths that allowed one to delve deep into the Inner Hall, but they were only relatively safe. Intruders had to adapt to circumstances on the fly; they could not afford the slightest negligence, much less charge about blindly.
Without sufficient strength, entering was mere suicide.
These paths led in different directions, and Ning Wuhui had chosen one that required a wide detour.
At the moment, they were walking on foot across the ground. Though spatial rifts were uncommon here, they dared not fly through the air.
"Chirp! Chirp..."
Strange cries echoed from an adjacent mountain.
*Whoosh...*
A vast shadow abruptly rose from the mountaintop. Looking closely, they saw bizarrely shaped birds taking to the sky, circling near their territory and scanning for enemies in all directions.
Qin Sang and Ning Wuhui concealed themselves in the shadow of a colossal boulder, holding their breath.
Only after the strange birds had flown overhead did they hurriedly depart and continue forward.
Similar encounters had happened more than once.
It was not that they could not defeat the strange birds, but rather that being surrounded by ferocious beasts in the Inner Hall might trigger a chain reaction, drawing over even more formidable creatures.
Even Nascent Soul Patriarchs acted in the exact same manner.
"Chirp!"
Hearing the cry, Qin Sang looked up and saw a strange bird that, for some reason, was not with the flock. Having lurked somewhere unnoticed, it suddenly popped out and spotted their tracks.
Alerted by their companion, the flock of strange birds fell into a commotion.
In an instant, Qin Sang felt countless vicious gazes fixate upon him. Cursing inwardly, he summoned the ebony sword without hesitation. At the same time, light flared behind his back as he unleashed the Heavenly Demon Transformation as well.
Ning Wuhui was no slower to react.
*Swish! Swish!*
A red-gold spirit sword and the ebony sword pierced toward the bird in unison. The strange bird flapped its wings to dodge, but in vain, ultimately slain by a streak of sword light divided from Qin Sang's attack.
Channeling his true essence with a sudden pull, Qin Sang hurled the strange bird's corpse far into the distance. Then, his body gleaming with escape light, he fled the area alongside Ning Wuhui.
Having lost their quarry, the flock of strange birds screeched in fury, but they were soon lured by the scent of blood and swarmed to devour their companion's carcass.
Having shaken off the flock, the two immediately withdrew their escape lights and landed on the ground.
"Every step in the Inner Hall is fraught with peril," Qin Sang lamented. There was still a great distance between here and Ning Wuhui's destination.
He simply kept the Heavenly Demon Transformation active rather than retracting the Phoenix Wings, lest an unexpected situation catch him unprepared.
Qin Sang glanced at Ning Wuhui beside him.
Even though he had only activated the Heavenly Demon Transformation, his speed surpassed that of peers of the same realm, yet Ning Wuhui was able to keep pace alongside him with effortless ease.
Ning Wuhui was also covertly examining Qin Sang's wings. The Phoenix Wings were far too striking and exceptionally gorgeous; only upon close inspection could one discern their ethereal nature.
"I never imagined that not only is your swordsmanship superb, Fellow Daoist, but you are also versed in such profound escape arts!"
Ning Wuhui praised him endlessly, mistaking the Phoenix Wings for the manifestation of some top-tier escape technique.
Qin Sang countered, "You are the one who is truly unfathomable and at ease, Fellow Daoist."
Ning Wuhui smiled faintly and said frankly, "Before today, I was inferior to you."
Hearing this, Qin Sang was astonished. Ning Wuhui had indeed obtained a tremendous opportunity in the Trial Realm.
The two spoke as they traveled.
The dangers along the way went without saying. The terrain did not consist solely of rolling mountain ranges; they had even spotted an expanse of golden halls, but all were sealed by grand formations, rendering them inaccessible.
"Having walked for so long, why haven't we spotted any traces of the Nascent Soul Patriarchs?" Qin Sang asked curiously.
The Nascent Soul Patriarchs had entered before them, yet not a single trace of them could be seen along the way.
"The Secluded Valley is one of the deepest locations currently explorable, and many paths lead to it. The one I chose covers the longest distance, and virtually all the restrictions that could be cracked along the way have already been looted, making it essentially a dead route. Nascent Soul Patriarchs have no need to tread as cautiously as we do, so they rarely take this path..."
Pausing, Ning Wuhui added, "Coercing low-level cultivators to go ahead and die to test the power of ancient restrictions is an occurrence far from rare in the cultivation world. Those old devils of the demonic path in particular would never mind having a couple more puppets at their side. To avoid the Nascent Soul experts, I chose this route with great care."
The destination of their journey was precisely the Secluded Valley!
As they spoke, both men suddenly came to a halt.
Directly ahead, the flat terrain vanished, replaced by a dark forest.
Towering ancient trees rose into the sky, specimens a thousand zhang tall standing everywhere. Their broad canopies interlocked, shading the heavens and blotting out the sun, yet not the slightest trace of vitality could be felt within.
This was because the forest had long since died. All the vegetation had turned to hard petrified stone, preserved entirely intact over untold ages, becoming a sinister stone forest.
Chapter 1053