Such an anomaly could not possibly be the divine ability of that band of fiends and demons; even Old Man Hunmo and Great Sage Tianpeng joining forces could not achieve this.
Hall Master Jiang and Elder Mei were dumbstruck.
When they set out, they had not truly expected any major mishap to occur. If Hunmo and the others had trespassed into the depths of the Sacred Ground and inadvertently been caught in the chaotic currents, suffering severe injuries, there might even have been a chance to reap the spoils.
The sight before their eyes shocked them into near-speechlessness.
The Sacred Ground they knew so intimately actually concealed a secret unknown even to them.
"This..."
Elder Mei's mouth parted slightly. Only after standing dazed for a long moment did she murmur, "Just what did the Palace Master do?"
Old Man Hunmo had been lured here by Yin Changsheng.
Naturally, her suspicion fell upon Yin Changsheng.
Gazing into the space deep within the mist, Hall Master Jiang said in a deep voice, "The Grand Elder questioned them just now. The Palace Master originally instructed them to create an illusion around the stone tablet and lay down a killing formation, waiting for Hunmo to walk into the trap. Beyond that, there should not have been any other arrangements..."
If Yin Changsheng had known of the existence of the stone tablet's space, he would surely have opened it long ago.
"Could it be... that Hunmo or Tianpeng saw through the tablet's secret? A secret that generations of Xuantian Palace cultivators never discovered?"
Elder Mei's voice wavered slightly; it was simply too incredible.
Xuantian Palace had been guarding a mountain of treasures all this time without knowing it.
Yet that band of fiends and demons had discovered the mysterious space on their very first visit and unsealed it.
What kind of heaven-defying fortune was this!
Could the stone tablet be a sacred relic of the demonic path or the demon race?
Qin Sang and Liuli flashed to their side, both watching the white mist expand outward without pause. It was Liuli's first time entering the Sacred Ground, so she felt less shaken, only curious.
Qin Sang asked, "Is this the first time an anomaly has occurred with the stone tablet?"
Hall Master Jiang nodded. "To say nothing of an anomaly this astonishing, our predecessors made all manner of attempts, yet no matter what we did, the tablet never showed the slightest reaction..."
Qin Sang commanded the Heavenly Eye Butterfly to push its divine ability to the fullest. As far as the eye could see, immortal mist swirled, within which phantom silhouettes resembling halls and pavilions seemed to loom, though it was impossible to tell whether they were real or illusory.
The stone tablet and the lotus pedestal had vanished completely.
This space had been sealed for countless years—why had it suddenly opened at this moment?
Qin Sang pondered privately, wondering if it might be related to the sword spirit. Had the sword spirit sensed a Killing Sword fragment, thereby triggering some restriction within the space?
The more Qin Sang thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
Regardless, he had to make the trip.
After inspecting the surroundings carefully, Qin Sang said, "There are no traces left by Hunmo and the others here."
"The space is opening gradually. The stone tablet was likely the inception, or rather the entrance. Even if they had made some arrangements, those were probably swallowed along with the tablet," Hall Master Jiang said with a nod toward the front, assessing the situation. "Now the entrance to the space spans nearly ten li. It appears they entered quite some time ago!"
Hall Master Jiang looked troubled.
Though he understood there was no time to lose, inside was a pack of ferocious fiends and demons. There were only four of them—far too few. Acting rashly would not only fail to yield any opportunities, but might also cost them their lives.
Elder Mei furrowed her brow and made a swift decision. "I will head back at once to inform the Grand Elder and bring reinforcements. You three act according to the circumstances!"
With that, Elder Mei summoned her magic treasure and sped off at the fastest pace of her life, vanishing into the chaotic spatial currents in the blink of an eye.
Qin Sang exchanged a glance with Liuli and said, "Hall Master Jiang, we intend to go in first to scout ahead. What do you think?"
Hall Master Jiang hesitated. "I shall search nearby to see if I can uncover any clues, and wait for the Grand Elder and the others. The tablet is part of the Sacred Ground, so this space must share some connection with the floating mountain outside; perhaps there is something that can be leveraged. The fiends and demons hold the upper hand, so you must exercise the utmost caution. Liuli, take this golden toad."
As he spoke, Hall Master Jiang took out two thumb-sized golden toads.
Each golden toad held a pearl in its mouth.
Handing one to Liuli, Hall Master Jiang explained, "The space inside shouldn't be excessively vast. This is a special magical artifact I obtained during my travels many years ago. Within a certain range, it can transmit simple messages, unless obstructed by a special spirit array or seal. If anything goes wrong, call for help immediately!"
In a place like this, having a means of communication was certainly advantageous.
As Liuli accepted the golden toad, Qin Sang tapped his corpse puppet bag and brought out Hall Master Yin's imprisoned Nascent Soul.
He unsealed a portion of the restrictions.
Hall Master Yin awoke, momentarily disoriented. But upon seeing Qin Sang's face and realizing his current predicament, he said coldly, "Still refusing to give me a swift death? Are you still deluding yourself into thinking..."
Halfway through his sentence, Hall Master Yin finally realized something was amiss with their surroundings. Staring intently at the white mist, his Nascent Soul's face betrayed an uncontrollable shock.
Seeing Hall Master Yin's reaction, Qin Sang knew the answer. It truly had not been Yin Changsheng's doing.
Resealing him, Qin Sang and Liuli flashed forward into the mist.
The entire entrance to the space was sealed by immortal mist.
The mist looked profound and mysterious.
Not daring to be careless, Qin Sang had Liuli follow behind him, slowing his pace to advance with caution at every step.
Only after venturing some distance inward did they realize there were no obstructions whatsoever. Not even restrictions or protective spirit formations existed; the path was entirely clear.
Qin Sang gradually quickened his pace. After moving swiftly for a while, the mist began to thin.
The phantom silhouettes of halls and pavilions they had seen earlier were indeed no illusion.
Stepping out of the mist-shrouded expanse, what met their eyes was a small lake. Pavilions stood built above the water, adorned with flying eaves and interlocking brackets, exceptionally exquisite.
Qin Sang and Liuli halted, concealing their auras as they surveyed their surroundings. They found an endless layer of clouds above, hanging extremely low and imparting a deeply oppressive, perilous sensation.
Across the small lake lay a mountain.
The lake had run dry, and the mountain no longer possessed the spiritual elegance of days gone by.
Yet the pavilions and the connected galleries behind them remained pristine as new, undamaged in the slightest. The mountain sparkled everywhere with wondrous radiance—the light cast by ancient restrictions.
Qin Sang saw no sign of Hunmo and the others, but he noticed fresh traces on the mountain where someone had forcibly broken through the ancient restrictions.
The traces pointed toward the most prominent wooden pavilion behind the halls.
This building stood only two storeys high. At its apex was carved a red gourd, tilted slightly, bearing three large characters: Danxiang Pavilion.
"Danxiang Pavilion... could it be a place where ancient cultivators concocted pills? A pill room right past the entrance—what kind of layout is this?"
Qin Sang silently remarked to himself. Seeing that the restrictions around Danxiang Pavilion had already been broken, he estimated it had probably been ransacked several times over by that band of fiends and demons.
Past Danxiang Pavilion, several flights of jade steps branched off, leading in different directions.
No figures were visible in any direction.
After a brief discussion with Liuli, Qin Sang quietly drifted toward Danxiang Pavilion.
Since they had entered late anyway, a brief delay hardly mattered.
Although someone had beaten them to Danxiang Pavilion, examining the restrictions inside could help them understand this mysterious space.
With predecessors clearing the way, Qin Sang and Liuli reached the entrance of Danxiang Pavilion without the slightest effort.
The two exchanged a glance, surprise in both their eyes.
They could not tell what materials had been used to construct this building, only that it was definitely no ordinary substance, but some spirit material they had never seen before!
Still, the more mysterious this stone tablet space was, the greater the likelihood of a Killing Sword fragment being here.
Qin Sang had seen the Inner Hall of the Hall of Seven Kills and the fully restored Ziwei Palace; both were magnificent beyond measure. Originally, he had felt that Xuantian Palace's Sacred Ground was hardly worthy of housing a Killing Sword fragment.
Confirming there were no traps nearby, Qin Sang and Liuli stepped up to the door. With a gentle touch, they pushed it open, revealing the scene within.
The ground floor was an expansive, empty hall.
The only object was a jasper pill furnace. Standing as tall as a person, it had large handles and a rounded belly, with small circular vents arranged across its lid, though no smoke emerged from them now.
The spiritual fire beneath the furnace had also long since died out.
No ancient restrictions remained here, but the lingering aura of Daoist arts and divine abilities had not fully dispersed.
Old Man Hunmo and his cohort had attempted to take the jasper pill furnace, but had failed.
Clearly, this object was far from as simple as it appeared!
Liuli seemed intrigued by the carvings on the furnace and stepped closer to examine them.
Qin Sang did not act rashly. Casting a casual glance around, he climbed the stairs to the second floor, where the sight proved even more unexpected.
The furnishings on the second floor were just as simple.
Identical tables were set against each of the four walls, presumably intended for storing medicinal pills.
At this moment, treasure gourds used to hold pills rested upon all four tables—astonishingly, none had been taken!
"This..."
At this sight, Qin Sang's estimation of the stone tablet space rose by another level.
So many powerful experts had racked their brains to break the restrictions of Danxiang Pavilion, yet in the end had failed to take even a single gourd—it was simply unthinkable!
Sensing something strange, Qin Sang hesitated for a moment, then walked over to the table opposite him. Raising his hand, his true essence surged forth, condensing into an ethereal palm that reached out to grasp one of the treasure gourds.
Swish!
An astonishing scene unfolded.
The instant the palm touched the treasure gourd, light distorted, and it passed right through the gourd effortlessly, as though passing through thin air.
As soon as the hand withdrew, the treasure gourd instantly restored itself to its original state.
Qin Sang froze, surprised. "An illusion?"
An illusion so vivid it seemed indistinguishable from reality.
The Heavenly Eye Butterfly had failed to detect it in the least.
Though the butterfly's divine abilities were formidable, they were constrained by its cultivation; it was impossible for it to see through every illusion.
Qin Sang attempted it several more times. All the treasure gourds were the same: visible, but intangible.
Turning, he immediately headed downstairs and found that the jasper pill furnace was no different.
Qin Sang had to admit his knowledge was limited; he truly could not tell whether these gourds were mere illusions or had been sealed in a profound, intangible state by some special restriction.
No wonder there were so many lingering auras of Daoist arts and divine abilities in the vicinity.
Treasures lay right before their eyes, yet remained out of reach like flowers in a mirror or the moon upon water. It was little wonder those fiends and demons had grown furious and aggrieved.
"It seems opportunities are not so easily seized. Who will ultimately claim them remains to be seen."
Qin Sang mused inwardly, then glanced at Liuli, who was intently studying the furnace. "Did you discover anything?"
Liuli raised a hand, pointing at one of the carved scenes on the furnace.
Qin Sang looked over and found the carving rendered with very sparse lines, yet upon closer inspection, one could discern that it depicted the area surrounding Danxiang Pavilion.
Several figures sat cross-legged in the pavilions on the lake, drinking wine and composing poetry, uninhibited and carefree, while curling wisps of blue smoke drifted from Danxiang Pavilion behind them as young attendants busied themselves within.
Following the lines further, one could see that the illustration seemed to encompass the entire stone tablet space.
The sections farther back were rendered in an even more impressionistic manner, yielding no precise details.
Even so, after analyzing it closely for a time, Qin Sang and Liuli identified three locations that appeared to be the most vital sites in this space.
With no one around, the others had likely gone to those places.
The three locations lay in three different directions, far apart from one another. Only by visiting each of them could one determine what purposes they served.
The fiends and demons had probably already split up and finished their initial exploration.
If Qin Sang and Liuli searched every location one by one, they would never make it in time.
Qin Sang took out the Yang Puppet Crystal that Dongyang Bo had given him. Releasing the demonic fire restriction, he extended his divine consciousness into it, but did not sense the Ghost General's location. Walking out of Danxiang Pavilion, he stepped onto the jade stairs and began testing them one by one.
At last, after walking some distance along one flight of stairs, the Yang Puppet Crystal finally showed a reaction.
The Ghost General was ahead!
And it happened to be one of the three locations Qin Sang and Liuli had pinpointed!
None of these fiends and demons were good-natured sorts, and there was little trust between them; they had banded together only under the pressure exerted by Xuantian Palace.
Confronted with a secret realm, it was already fortunate they hadn't immediately turned against one another; they were bound to remain intensely wary.
Great Sage Tianpeng had led armies in battle against humanity and achieved illustrious military feats, earning prestige among the demon race that surpassed even that of the Nine-Headed Great Sage. The demon kings had suffered at human hands for a long time and shared a common enemy, making them noticeably more united than the demonic cultivators.
Those demon heads would also worry about being picked off one by one by the demon race, so they were unlikely to stray far from Hunmo.
If there was a place where treasures were hidden in this stone tablet space, it was most likely there!
Thinking of this, Qin Sang called Liuli over, left a mark for Tong Lingyu in a concealed spot, and set out immediately.
The Yang Puppet Crystal's resonance was clear at times and faint at others.
Qin Sang deduced that whenever the Ghost General operated that puppet and stimulated the power of the Yin Puppet Crystal, it became easier for the Yang Puppet Crystal to detect.
In other words, the Ghost General might well be locked in combat!
"Fighting already? It seems they really found something..."
Qin Sang chuckled inwardly; fishing in troubled waters was always easiest amid chaos.
There were no ancient restrictions along the jade steps, which wound and curved through patches of exotic flora, dense groves, and slender bamboo. Yet after what had happened at Danxiang Pavilion, Qin Sang could not shake the feeling that none of this was real, that perhaps everything was an illusion.
Throughout the journey, Qin Sang maintained his vigilance, but felt no sensation of being watched.
Before long, Qin Sang and Liuli followed the jade steps up a hillside. Rounding a bend, they caught sight of the scenery further ahead: another mountain peak, with ever more branching paths.
Guided by the Yang Puppet Crystal, their steps never ceased. With a clear objective, they crossed mountain after mountain, drawing closer and closer to that place.
At the same time, the puppet crystal's resonance grew increasingly vivid.
To their surprise, across the entire journey they did not encounter a single soul, as if every fiend and demon had vanished into thin air.
"It's just ahead. Be careful,"
Qin Sang warned via voice transmission, reining in his aura and slowing his pace.
Rounding the cliff face, Qin Sang's eyes suddenly narrowed.
On the pill furnace, this place had been depicted with a single straight ink line.
In reality, the path behind the cliff plummeted sharply downward toward a deep valley, within which clouds rolled like an ocean in a chaotic expanse.
Deep inside the clouds, multicoloured rays of light flickered, surging and receding within the sea of mist, as though poised to burst forth from the valley at any moment and re-emerge into the world.
According to past experience, this was the exact sign of a treasure about to emerge.
Not a single shadow stood before the deep valley.
Yet the Yang Puppet Crystal pointed straight into the abyss.
Qin Sang surveyed the deep valley, carefully observing the entrance. Finding no sentries on guard, it appeared that the band of fiends and demons had all been drawn inside.
Chapter 1504