Yin Demon Spikes

Outside the Wuxiang Immortal Sect. The cultivators each displayed their divine abilities, wading through the passage. Bringing his incarnation along, Qin Sang initially had to keep a vigilant eye behind him to guard against any mantis stalking the cicada. Once he confirmed no one was following close, he focused entirely on breaking through the obstacles ahead. Whether isolated restrictive formations or chaotic spatial torrents, with Qin Sang's current cultivation, he had ways to deal with either. However, these adverse conditions merged together here, creating utter chaos that cost Qin Sang tremendous effort to navigate. Cultivators of weaker cultivation would have long been overwhelmed, struggling merely to survive; thus, it was only natural that Old Ghost Chou and his group had joined hands. *Whoosh!* A fierce wind came rushing head-on. Out of the corner of his eye, Qin Sang caught only the phantom image of a crimson flying sword. Its sword Qi was exceedingly sharp, making Qin Sang feel a faint ache between his brows. Yet before the flying sword could draw near, the Heavenly Eye Butterfly had already spotted it and sounded a warning. The Heavenly Eye Butterfly saw clearly: the sword had no physical existence, but was formed from condensed sword Qi, shaping an illusory phantom of a sword. Still, its lethality was not a whit inferior to that of a genuine treasure sword. Strangely, despite being an illusory sword-phantom, it was a broken sword with only half a blade. Could even an illusory sword be broken? There was only one explanation: the spirit array or restrictive formation conjuring the sword had deteriorated. No wonder Qin Sang had witnessed such disorder ever since entering. *Back then, not only were the two southern barbarian prefectures battered to pieces, but the Wuxiang Immortal Sect's mountain gate surely didn't escape unscathed either. I wonder whether the mountain gate was swept up in the demon turmoil, or if it was ruined by internal strife among human cultivators after the turmoil ended...* As this thought crossed Qin Sang's mind, he remained unhurried in the face of the incoming sword. Guiding his sword, he slashed toward the front-left. In that direction, a vital green glow was shining. Within the green light lay a dense forest, its ancient trees bearing emerald foliage so fresh they seemed ready to drip, a refreshing sight to behold. A closer inspection revealed it was actually only a dozen-odd ancient trees, with the rest being their branches. In places rich in spiritual energy, lush vegetation and ancient trees of this kind were not uncommon. Setting up concealed traps with them often yielded remarkable results. Yet in an environment like this, it was far too conspicuous. Ordinary trees could never have survived until now; without even thinking, one knew something was amiss—it had to be some kind of remnant array. *Boom!* The Jinchen Sword stabbed toward the thickest ancient tree. Sure enough, just as Qin Sang expected, before the sword even struck the trunk—as soon as it entered within a hundred zhang of the ancient tree—the ancient tree underwent a sudden mutation and sprang to life! *Swish! Swish! Swish!* Green light flared blindingly as countless vines shot wildly from the tree trunk, like the dancing hair of an ancient colossus, lunging aggressively at the Jinchen Sword and instantly ensnaring it tightly. Even so, Qin Sang's true body did not recall the sword, while his external incarnation sheathed his saber and stepped behind the true body. *Creeeak! Creeeak!* The vines possessed immense force, viciously tearing at the Jinchen Sword. Judging by this ferocity, Qin Sang couldn't help suspecting that if he didn't retrieve the Jinchen Sword promptly, the magic treasure might well be torn to shreds. However, Qin Sang did not need to confront the ancient tree directly. The moment the tree trapped the Jinchen Sword, the incoming flying sword arrived, stabbing unerringly into the vines. Everything unfolded just right, entirely within Qin Sang's calculations! *Boom!* Amid the green radiance of the vines, a spark of crimson suddenly erupted. The flying sword's power surged forward like a rolling torrent of flame, engulfing countless vines. Crimson light blazed like fire, incinerating the vines with overwhelming force. The vines were extensions of the ancient tree's power. Under attack, the ancient tree reacted immediately and counterattacked: the trunk swayed violently, and the entire forest began to grow madly. The trunks of all the ancient trees stretched forward, twisting to an extreme until their original shapes were unrecognizable. A green wave rose like water, determined not to stop until it extinguished the sword's fire. Qin Sang did not linger to see the outcome of the clash between these two forces. Seizing the chaos, he retrieved the Jinchen Sword and flickered into motion, timing his passage perfectly through the gap. The sword and the ancient tree's restriction were locked in combat, completely unresponsive to Qin Sang's approach. Qin Sang effortlessly bypassed this perilous barrier. Relying on early warnings and his ability to quickly analyze restrictions, Qin Sang frequently used this method of pitting strength against strength, deflecting thousand-jin weights with four ounces of force. Along the way, the Heavenly Eye Butterfly had been of immense help to him. Though he could not match Zhu Wudao and his cohort relying on their altar, or Daoist Zilei's group combining forces into a formation to overcome all obstacles with sheer power, his speed was by no means slow. Even so, after entering the passage, Qin Sang had not encountered anyone who entered ahead of him. He wasn't sure whether the others possessed secret treasures and divine abilities that made them faster, or if the area was simply so vast that they had inadvertently missed each other. According to Qin Sang's analysis, the space inside the passage could not be measured by ordinary logic. It was clearly warped by the arrays and restrictions, giving rise to all manner of anomalies that unwittingly led travelers astray in different directions. Moreover, conditions here were ever-changing; even along the same route, each person's experience would differ. Qin Sang and the Heavenly Eye Butterfly gave their all, doing their best to avoid getting lost, lest they fall far behind and miss the chance to explore even if they managed to break free. "Eh?" Just after clearing the range of the ancient tree's restriction, Qin Sang suddenly sensed an anomaly and came to an abrupt halt. He looked around. He stood suspended in empty void, with nothing above or below. Endless darkness surrounded him, with chaotic spatial currents darting through like shooting stars. Combining his divine sense with the Heavenly Eye's vision, Qin Sang pondered briefly, then came to a sudden realization. "So it's an illusion array!" This kind of array was precisely what he feared least. Furthermore, not a single spirit array or restriction in the passage was intact. Uniting his mind with the Heavenly Eye Butterfly, Qin Sang channeled his ocular power and easily pinpointed the flaw in the illusion array. With the coordinated strikes of the Jinchen Sword and the Snow-Treading Divine Saber, he carved out an open path and burst free. His vision instantly brightened, shifting from darkness into broad daylight in an instant. Qin Sang remained secretly on guard, for he had emerged into an unfamiliar sea of mist. The vast white mist stretched endlessly to the horizon, the only constant being the chaotic currents drifting everywhere. The scene before him reminded Qin Sang of the common practice of sects in the cultivation world: locking down mountains with white mist to isolate themselves from the mortal realm. "If this is mountain-sealing mist, the Wuxiang Immortal Sect's mountain gate might be just ahead..." Qin Sang's spirits lifted, and he sped up a little, deftly handling various unforeseen occurrences and passing through without mishap. Yet after flying for a while, he suddenly slowed down and gazed forward in astonishment. In the depths of the sea of mist, an unusual outline emerged. A long, slender white silhouette stretched across the front, extending to both sides without end. The white shape remained motionless, making it unclear whether it was living or inanimate. Keeping his guard up, Qin Sang drew closer and, with the aid of the Heavenly Eye ability, finally saw it clearly: the white shape was actually a dragon carved from clouds and mist! The condensed mist served as a spiritual material, sculpted into a solid cloud dragon whose scales and claws were lifelike, sprawling before him like a celestial dragon of tremendous grandeur. Nor was there only one dragon, but two. The two dragons faced each other head-to-head, their bodies winding outward to the sides, tails vanishing into the distance. Between their heads lay a square of cloud mist, where stone pillars stood erect. The pillars were massive, each wide enough to accommodate over a hundred people, looking more like elevated arenas. What purpose these pillars originally served was unknown; now, they were severely damaged and uneven, with some reduced to mere pedestals. Only one remained reasonably intact. "People!" Gazing upon the scene around the stone pillars, Qin Sang's expression tightened slightly. He had finally caught up! Silhouettes flickered around the pillars. These people were either sitting or standing. Between the dragon heads, the spatial turbulence was noticeably sparser—a rare haven of calm within the passage. Most were racing against time to meditate and recover, but several individuals were clustered around the best-preserved pillar, launching relentless attacks as strange lights flashed. The space between the two cloud dragons seemed to be the entrance to the mountain gate. Qin Sang studied the cloud dragons and found no trace of a barrier on their bodies, but he would not recklessly test them himself. It was safest to enter via the cloud mist square between the dragon heads. Turning his gaze between the dragon heads, he discerned the attire of the group. *They seem to be people from Bajing Abbey and the Taiyue Sect; the remnants of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect have already gone inside. Daoist Zilei and Yue Lingtian aren't here either, only these people resting...* Qin Sang stopped in the distance. Noting that there were no Great Cultivators among them, he crept closer and saw a spirit herb growing on the stone pillar under attack. The herb grew from a fissure in the pillar, crooked and twisted; an uninformed observer might mistake it for a wild weed. "Blue Cloud Grass!" Qin Sang was slightly startled. The spirit herb bore neither flower nor fruit; its leaves were azure-blue, slightly curled, and marked with intricate patterns. It was a rare spirit herb from Qin Sang's memory, of great use to cultivators practicing certain specialized divine abilities! The stem of the Blue Cloud Grass showed a deep purplish-crimson hue—a hallmark of sufficient maturity and the mark of top-grade Blue Cloud Grass, possessing thirty percent more medicinal potency than ordinary specimens! Judging by where it grew, it had not been planted deliberately. Over the long years the Wuxiang Immortal Sect had lain dormant, it had naturally sprouted from the abundant spiritual energy, happening to grow on the pillar and fall under the protection of the pillar's restriction. Zhu Wudao and Daoist Zilei must have noticed the Blue Cloud Grass as well, but neither had wasted time here. These cultivators intended to seize it while resting. Qin Sang had not expected to encounter a spirit herb on the level of a heavenly treasure before even stepping inside. The Wuxiang Immortal Sect truly was an untapped land of treasures. Even setting aside the South Sea Immortal Palace behind it, this journey had already proven worthwhile! Blue Cloud Grass was of little use to Qin Sang. He looked away, pondering how to bypass this group. Just then, he recalled something. When the passage first opened, another shadowy figure had entered before him. Where had that person gone? At this thought, Qin Sang's expression darkened slightly. He directed the Heavenly Eye Butterfly to search carefully, finding no trace around the cloud mist square. But as Qin Sang shifted stealthily to broaden his search, he finally caught a clue! Outside the cloud mist square, amidst the sea of clouds, a faint wisp of black smoke drifted. Just as Qin Sang channeled his ocular power to discern the true identity within the smoke, he sensed something amiss. Unbeknownst to him, the person concealed in the black smoke was none other than Old Demon Fan. Having tracked his way here, Old Demon Fan had not rushed inside, because Blue Cloud Grass was beneficial to the cultivation of his divine abilities, something he had sought for years. Outnumbered as he was, even with Daoist Zilei absent, Old Demon Fan did not dare confront the experts of two sects alone. Thus, he had lurked here, aiming to snatch the Blue Cloud Grass from under their noses. To this end, Old Demon Fan had been secretly laying preparations around the area. Unexpectedly, before his carefully laid plans could be set in motion, Qin Sang had stumbled into the scene. The moment Qin Sang spotted Old Demon Fan, Old Demon Fan noticed him as well. The stone pillar's restriction was on the verge of breaking. Old Demon Fan was a decisive man. A bird in the hand was worth two in the bush; rather than scheming for treasures deep inside, it was better to secure the Blue Cloud Grass first. Sensing another intruder, he changed his plan without hesitation and launched a sneak attack to force Qin Sang into the open. While the two sects' cultivators had their attention drawn to Qin Sang, he would storm into the cloud mist square, seize the spirit herb, and make a clean getaway! Qin Sang's true body and external incarnation shared a single mind. As the true body detected the anomaly, the incarnation did not hesitate to unleash his divine ability. His pupils turned deathly white, and a visible beam of frigid light laden with dense cold fiend Qi plunged straight toward the area beneath them. The newly cultivated Ice Soul Divine Light was being employed against an enemy for the first time. *Swish!* Before the frigid light even arrived, extreme cold had already begun to spread. Space rippled, and three glints of sinister light appeared, darting forward to pierce into the bodies of Qin Sang's true body and incarnation. The Ice Soul Divine Light remained restrained yet arrived first despite launching second, instantly freezing this stretch of space. Amid several sharp cracking sounds, several strange black spikes appeared inside the Ice Soul Divine Light. Slender and no longer than an adult's thumb, the black spikes moved without the slightest ripple, eerie and elusive. Now, all three black spikes were engulfed by the Ice Soul Divine Light. Their tips trembled slightly before white frost crept over them, freezing the black spikes solid. Immediately after, cracks spiderwebbed across the bodies of the black spikes, shattering them on the spot. Old Demon Fan was astonished, never anticipating such an outcome. These black spikes were known as Yin Demon Spikes. Each spike harbored a Yin demon within; once driven into an enemy, they would torment the victim with agonizing pain. They were renowned demonic treasures of Tianhao Tower that struck terror into all who heard of them. He had unleashed three at once, yet they were destroyed right then and there! What shocked Old Demon Fan even more was how quickly his position was exposed! Qin Sang deduced the other party's intentions in a flash and naturally showed no mercy. Ordering his incarnation to intercept the spikes, his true body flicked his sleeve, sending out streaks of black flames—every one of them Nine Nether Demonic Fire! He did not unleash all his demonic fire; this amount was already enough! The demonic fire did not strike directly at Old Demon Fan, but shot toward other locations. They were still within the passage of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect, which was just as chaotic as the outside, with only the cloud mist square enjoying relative calm. The targets of Qin Sang's attack were the fragments of restrictions and spirit arrays surrounding Old Demon Fan's hiding spot. A cracked stone tablet. A river of crimson magma. ... Various broken restrictions manifested distinct anomalies, conspicuous to the extreme. Seeing this, Old Demon Fan cursed internally and hastily produced a yellow brass alms bowl. With a *clang*, the bowl emitted ripples of yellow light that enveloped him completely. Old Demon Fan darted outward. Simultaneously, the ancient restrictions were ignited one after another by the Nine Nether Demonic Fire. In an instant, dazzling colors burst forth around Old Demon Fan, a magnificent display. To him, however, these were not the worst of his troubles. Worse still, Qin Sang could see further than anyone else. Predicting the trajectory of the spatial currents beforehand, he had already mapped out the paths of several flying swords, deliberately calculating the precise order in which each restriction was triggered. *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* Deafening blasts erupted one after another, engulfing Old Demon Fan along with his brass bowl. Enraged to the core, he spat furious curses, "Scoundrel!" The commotion of their clash was immediately picked up by the cultivators in the cloud mist square. "Who goes there?!" The cultivators of the two sects shouted in unison, halting their meditation and rushing out to investigate. Just then, a sharp whistling sound tore through the air behind them. Before they could react, a bolt of lightning pierced through the clouds and mist, streaked across the cloud mist square, and plunged straight into the Wuxiang Immortal Sect!