*Hiss, hiss...*
The centipede slithered back and forth, its antennae tapping against the ground. Suddenly, it stopped in one spot. Its mouthparts opened wide, tearing through the rock as it burrowed underground.
Yin Xingge had prepared for this. He immediately shot out a stream of spiritual power, sealing the centipede. Sensing his surroundings, he found the power of the astrolabe had already grown very faint here, so he had no choice but to activate his own cloud tool to mask this area, then brought forth a spirit sword to cut into the ground.
The ground was exceptionally hard; even with Yin Xingge's cultivation, his cutting progressed quite slowly. After digging down some distance, he found nothing other than a single piece of Qianyang quartz.
Yin Xingge released the centipede, and it still attempted to burrow deeper underground.
Gradually, a fissure over ten zhang deep was excavated into the ground, yet there was still nothing to show for it. Yin Xingge began to grow impatient. Frowning in thought for a moment, he brushed a hand across his mustard seed bag, and several streaks of radiant light flew out—spirit swords of various designs.
Under Yin Xingge's control, these spirit swords moved in unison. Sword qi whirled like wheels, swiftly carving into the ground.
The fissure grew deeper and deeper, and the subterranean earth and stone turned increasingly black, as if capable of swallowing light, taking on an inexplicable eeriness. For some reason, a sudden wave of unease welled up within Yin Xingge's heart.
Yin Xingge furrowed his brow slightly and looked around with caution. His surroundings were deathly still, without the slightest anomaly to be seen. He couldn't help offering a self-deprecating smile.
Unexpectedly, before the smile could even fade from his face, strange cracking sounds suddenly echoed from deep beneath the ground.
Startled, Yin Xingge jerked his head down, staring fixedly at the ground below.
He watched as the unyielding earth and stone began to ripple like water, followed by a series of muffled thuds as countless outward-bulging handprints surfaced, as though countless monstrous hands had been awakened and were trying to tear through their seal from within—an utterly bizarre sight.
*Boom!*
The earth and stone detonated abruptly, sending shards of rock flying everywhere.
In an instant, a wave of pitch-black demonic energy surged outward, within which countless ghostly silhouettes seemed to churn.
Pale with fright, Yin Xingge flashed his spiritual power. His figure blurred, on the verge of vanishing on the spot, when a withered palm suddenly reached out from the demonic energy, gripped Yin Xingge's ankle, and forcefully dragged him out of the illusory state.
The ghost hand was unnaturally cold!
...
*Crack!*
A fissure suddenly split across a jade Buddha.
The three looked closely and saw that it was the one belonging to Yin Xingge; their expressions altered in unison.
Qin Sang and Mu Yifeng exchanged a glance, both filled with doubt and alarm. According to the intelligence they had gathered, at most Yin Xingge wanted to hoard the Qianyang crystal for himself, and they needed only to sit back and reap the benefits. What had he done down there?
"What could Senior Brother Yin have encountered...?"
Yunqiong Sanren's voice trembled slightly. Yin Xingge was the sole middle Foundation Establishment stage expert among the ten of them. If he had run into a danger even he could not handle, not one of them would be able to escape!
Before her voice had even faded, three crisp snaps sounded in succession. Another three jade Buddhas fractured, calling for help.
In an instant, so many people had encountered danger at the same time!
"Save them!"
Qin Sang barked, rising abruptly to his feet.
Panicked and beside herself, Yunqiong Sanren scrambled to her feet. "Right! Save them—hurry and save Senior Brother Yin..."
Mu Yifeng firmly pressed a hand down on Yunqiong Sanren. "Fellow Daoist Yunqiong, stay here and activate the astrolabe regardless of the cost. Whatever you do, do not let the cloud beasts outside detect us, or we will have no way out. Junior Brother Qin and I will go down to rescue them, but we cannot save Fellow Daoist Yin first..."
Yunqiong Sanren froze. "What are you saying? Why not save Senior Brother Yin first? His strength..."
"Fellow Daoist Yin didn't tell you the truth, did he? It seems Fellow Daoist Yunqiong has no idea what goal he had in coming here this time."
Spiritual senses clashed, communicating at lightning speed. In an instant, Mu Yifeng conveyed the whole story to Yunqiong Sanren, leaving her completely stunned.
Qin Sang quickly made a decision as well, his voice grave. "Whatever happened below was undoubtedly caused by Fellow Daoist Yin, and the most dangerous place is wherever he is. The others are far weaker; once faced with a crisis, they won't last long. This astrolabe cloud tool is very peculiar, akin to a restriction implement. Its full might cannot be brought out simply through high personal cultivation—it requires enough people. If the other six fellow Daoists perish here, then even if we save Fellow Daoist Yin, the four of us alone won't be able to channel the astrolabe well enough to hide from the cloud beasts' senses. We would certainly be trapped and die here. Furthermore, only by gathering everyone's strength will our chances of rescuing Fellow Daoist Yin be higher."
Though complicated to explain, their exchange had actually taken place in a fraction of an instant. Having persuaded Yunqiong Sanren to spare no expense in channeling the astrolabe with all her might, Qin Sang and Mu Yifeng split up to the left and right, moving as quickly as possible to rescue the others.
The pressing priority was to save as many people as possible to secure an escape route.
As for Yin Xingge, he could be left to fend for himself for now.
With his strength, he would not die so easily; if he truly lost his life here, he only had himself to blame.
Qin Sang still had no idea what had actually transpired below. If it was a danger even Yin Xingge could not handle, Qin Sang would not dare approach lightly either.
Pushing his movement technique to its limit, Qin Sang followed the direction guided by the auras left on the jade talismans, and soon sensed a cultivator ahead.
Everything around this person was normal; he had just slain an incompletely formed cloud beast. Taken aback by Qin Sang's sudden appearance, he faltered, "Senior Qin, what...?"
"Several fellow Daoists are in danger. Fellow Daoist Wei, hurry up to help Fellow Daoist Yunqiong stabilize the astrolabe..."
Qin Sang hastily threw out the instruction, then dashed toward the others without looking back. The subterranean passages formed an interconnected web, all leading into one another.
The Wei-surnamed cultivator was secretly alarmed. Seeing Qin Sang's hurried demeanor, he felt uneasy, but he also understood that with his cultivation, he could never be of help to Qin Sang and would only hold him back. He quickly followed Qin Sang's instructions, putting away his magic tool and that piece of Qianyang quartz, and headed back up to assist Yunqiong Sanren.
In his hand, Qin Sang held two jade talismans, one of which had just fractured, indicating another person had run into danger. Qin Sang's heart sank deeper and deeper; he could only pray they would hold out a bit longer. He noticed they were very close to each other and likely gathered together. That was actually a good thing, greatly increasing their chances of survival.
Guided by the jade talismans, Qin Sang took no detours and drew closer and closer to the two. As he moved, he summoned the ebony sword ahead of time; still feeling uneasy, he also secretly palmed the talisman treasure, Profound Yin Thunder, and other items in his hand just in case.
Sweeping to the front of a passage, Qin Sang came to a sudden halt and stared ahead in astonishment. This passage was filled with black demonic energy that was rapidly billowing outward.
This demonic energy not only obscured vision, but even spiritual sense struggled to penetrate it. According to the guidance of the aura on the jade talismans, those two were trapped inside the demonic energy.
Chapter 208