The Stone House

To the naked eye, this stone cliff seemed completely unremarkable. Had the Heavenly Eye Butterfly not alerted him, Qin Sang on his own might have overlooked it entirely. Even if cultivators from the Nanyin Mountains stumbled in here, they would never have uncovered the secret. Qin Sang and the Heavenly Eye Butterfly examined it closely for a long time before finally confirming that the restriction upon the cliff was exceedingly bizarre. It harbored the aura of divine runes—it originated from the Witch Clan! Had this been the Canglang Sea, Qin Sang would not have found it strange. Before the Hall of Seven Kills emerged and the Four Sages of the Human Clan rose to drive the Witch Clan out to the Witch God Continent, the Witch Clan had been the true masters of the Canglang Sea. Yet in the Xiaohan Realm, whether from what Qin Sang had seen with his own eyes or heard in various rumors, there was not the slightest trace of the Witch Clan. In fact, no such legends existed throughout the entire Beichen Realm. Deep within the Heavenly Scar, there was actually a Witch Clan restriction! Could this place be connected to the Heavenly Corpse Sect? Could it be that the Heavenly Corpse Talisman was a secret technique of the Witch Clan, and the method to unravel it had to begin with them? If so, he had truly returned empty-handed from a mountain of treasures! Back in the Canglang Sea, Qin Sang had once seen the corpse-refining methods of the Witch Clan. They were very similar to human corpse dao techniques, and vastly different from those of the Heavenly Corpse Sect. Unless the corpse dao heritage of the Canglang Sea's Witch Clan had broken off and drifted here. Regardless, encountering a Witch Clan restriction here meant he definitely had to go inside and take a look. Qin Sang did not act recklessly. Cooperating with the Heavenly Eye Butterfly, he channeled the Heavenly Eye divine ability to comb through the restriction within the cliff inch by inch, searching for a way to break it. Gradually, Qin Sang found a lead. "The restriction isn't particularly powerful, but whoever set it up was ingenious and exceptionally meticulous. It's divided into several layers. The outer restriction isn't just for concealment; it carries an intent of destruction. If forcefully breached, it will instantly self-destruct. The inner restrictions seem to involve illusions, defense, and even teleportation, allowing whoever is inside to escape..." Qin Sang analyzed it patiently, finally gazing at the cliff face with some doubt. "Why does it feel like this is meant to protect a cave dwelling? Its power isn't terrifying like the ancient restrictions I've seen before, either. Could some immortal cultivator have obtained a Witch Clan legacy and carved out a cave dwelling here?" Qin Sang possessed only superficial knowledge of the Witch Clan and could not confirm his conjecture, yet his instincts told him something was off. After thinking it over, he did not rashly make a move. Instead, he withdrew from the area, habitually setting up fallback measures outside, before attempting to touch upon the restriction on the cliff. It was equivalent to sending in a signal requesting a visit. He waited patiently for a long time. When several probes went unanswered, he decided to wait no longer. On the butterfly's wings, the Heavenly Eyes opened wide. These were real eyes, not mere patterns. Incomparably profound, their pupils held a chaotic void. The gaze of the Heavenly Eye Butterfly was nearly tangible, tinged with wisps of lightning. The Heavenly Eyes stared intently at the cliff face. With twelve demonic banners planted around him, Qin Sang sat cross-legged before the cliff. Channeling the Jinchen Sword, he unraveled the restriction bit by bit like peeling silk from a cocoon, his movements exceedingly subtle and careful. Doing so made unraveling the restriction very slow, but it avoided triggering any backlash during the process. The reason he could do this so smoothly was, first, that his cultivation was high enough, and second, that he had seen the cultivation methods of Witch Clan divine runes and understood them to a certain degree. Of course, the most crucial factor was the Heavenly Eye Butterfly. Layer after layer of the restriction was broken, gradually revealing the original appearance of the cliff. As expected, it connected to a secret realm. Even after the restriction was completely undone, there was still no reaction from within. Qin Sang waited for a moment. Once certain there was nothing amiss inside the secret realm, he left Fat Chicken on guard outside, summoned the twelve demonic banners, and flashed inside. Space shifted around him, and in the next instant, he appeared atop a mountain peak. "How dilapidated!" That was the first impression the secret realm gave Qin Sang. There were no flowers, plants, or trees; no pavilions, terraces, or towers. A monotonous expanse of gray ground stretched all the way to the horizon. Though it appeared empty at first glance, a closer look revealed that the ground was blanketed in a fine layer of dust and grit, as if ravaged back and forth by a violent storm that ground everything to powder. Even calling it a ruin seemed inadequate to describe its devastation. Qin Sang recalled the explosive surge of ripples from a hundred years ago. Had this place been struck by that shockwave, turning out like this? Or perhaps this was the source itself! Qin Sang flew through the air into the depths of the secret realm. Along the way, the view was relentlessly desolate. After flying for a distance and nearing the edge of the secret realm, Qin Sang finally spotted something different: a stone house! The stone house was built inside a crater surrounded by raised ground, yet it was just as dilapidated as everywhere else. Qin Sang's gaze focused, and his divine consciousness swept outward. All was silent around the stone house; he detected no presence of anyone else. After a moment's thought, Qin Sang landed before the stone house, effortlessly dismantled the restriction on it, pushed open the door, and stepped inside. Seeing the layout of the stone house, he was taken aback. The stone house was not large, visible at a single glance. On the left side of the room sat a prayer mat and a jade table. The right side had cleared out more than half of the space to lay out a Mystic Ice Spirit Array. It was still functioning even now, but the spirit stones within the array had turned pale and their spiritual energy was long depleted, barely sustaining itself by absorbing spiritual energy from the surrounding void. The master of the house had clearly been gone for a very long time. Wisps of chill emanated from the Mystic Ice Spirit Array. At the center of the spirit array, the frost had condensed into an oblong ice platform that only reached knee-height. The ice platform was completely empty. Seeing the ice platform, Qin Sang immediately thought of something: the crystal coffin he had once given to Tan Hao to hold Tan Jie's physical body. Its length and width were identical to this. This looked tailor-made as a place to hold the crystal coffin. "Could the master of this stone house be Tan Hao?" Qin Sang was quietly astonished. The mystic ice platform and Mystic Ice Spirit Array seemed designed to complement the crystal coffin in protecting Tan Jie's physical body. This caught Qin Sang completely off guard. He had made many conjectures, but never in his wildest dreams had he linked this to Tan Hao. When had Tan Hao learned Witch Clan divine runes, and to such a high level of mastery? Even the Witch Clan in the Canglang Sea would likely be unable to lay down a divine rune restriction of this caliber. "Judging by the setup of the stone house, Tan Hao lived here for a very long time before leaving for reasons unknown..." Qin Sang deduced from these clues. Yet what puzzled Qin Sang was whether the Witch Clan restriction outside had already existed and Tan Hao broke through it to enter just like he had, or if Tan Hao had set it up with his own hands. What had he discovered here, and why had he lingered? Pondering this, Qin Sang walked over to the prayer mat. Aside from the Mystic Ice Spirit Array, the stone house contained only these mundane furnishings. It did not appear that an enemy had attacked Tan Hao and forced him to flee in haste, nor had he left behind any useful messages here. "Where did Tan Hao go after leaving this place? If he had to set up a Mystic Ice Spirit Array to store the crystal coffin, did he fail to find the Heavenly Corpse Sect's legacy, or does the Heavenly Corpse Sect not have a way to unravel the Heavenly Corpse Talisman either? If that's the case, why didn't he return to the Xiaohan Realm to see Tan Yi'en? Or did something else happen to him afterward?" Many questions arose in Qin Sang's mind. These discoveries cast an added shadow over Qin Sang's heart. If even the Heavenly Corpse Sect could not undo the Heavenly Corpse Talisman, his sole hope of awakening Yagu would have to rest on Bai.