Yu Daiyue parted his lips, seeming as though he wanted to persuade him further.
Just then, a black vortex suddenly appeared on the stone stele, and a figure stepped out from within. Hair tied in a topknot, he was a middle-aged Daoist priest whose robes bore only a few creases, his aura merely slightly ruffled.
His expression was quite relaxed as well; evidently, the trial of the abandoned abode had not caused him much trouble.
Caught off guard by the sight of two people standing before the stele, the middle-aged Daoist froze for a brief instant. His gaze sharpened with vigilance, his demeanor instantly taut. Only when he clearly recognized Qin Sang and Yu Daiyue did he relax again, cupping his hands in greeting with a smile.
"Ah, two junior brothers from Shaohua Mountain. Greetings from Wen."
"Greetings, Senior Brother Wen!"
Qin Sang and Yu Daiyue returned the salute in unison. This man was a disciple of the Shangyuan Qingjing Palace. As Shaohua Mountain maintained good relations with the palace, they had exchanged words outside the Tianjing Secret Realm and shared a nodding acquaintance.
Possessing a late Foundation Establishment cultivation, he was among the strongest individuals to enter the abandoned abode this time. No wonder he had passed the trial with such ease.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, the middle-aged Daoist chose a direction and departed on his own.
Nor did he head straight west, showing that everyone tacitly acknowledged that region as the domain of the few Core Formation stage cultivators.
Interrupted by the middle-aged Daoist, and seeing that Qin Sang's resolve was unyielding, Yu Daiyue refrained from trying to persuade him any further. Picking a direction at random, he flew off.
Watching Yu Daiyue's silhouette vanish into the depths of the dense woods, Qin Sang retrieved the jade ruyi talisman treasure, a contemplative look on his face.
During his time in the Tianjing Secret Realm, he had already been forced to use the talisman treasure once to escape danger. After using it again just now, the cracks across it had deepened further.
During the trial, when surrounded by the humanoid ghosts, Qin Sang had seen that Yu Daiyue was making no move to act, leaving him no choice but to unleash the jade ruyi talisman treasure. Its power went without saying—transforming into myriad phantom jade ruyi, it had instantly cleared away a massive swath of the humanoid ghosts ahead, carving out a path to survival.
Qin Sang was certain Yu Daiyue was not without trump cards of his own, yet the man had kept them hidden all along.
Even so, Qin Sang knew that Yu Daiyue's decision to withhold his trump card was not necessarily born of malice.
Looking at it from the other man's perspective, such a reaction was entirely natural.
Upon passing the second trial, Yu Daiyue had been covered in wounds and utterly battered, forced to sacrifice an arm just to preserve his life. Qin Sang, by contrast, did not bear a single scratch; the difference between them was obvious at a glance.
Even though Qin Sang had offered the excuse of detonating a top-grade magic tool, there was no way to verify it, making it hardly convincing.
To Yu Daiyue, Qin Sang was likely shrouded in an aura of mystery, his true strength far exceeding the cultivation level he displayed. Without forcing out some of Qin Sang's hidden cards, Yu Daiyue could never put his mind at ease.
In the cultivation world, the foundation of cooperation had never been fraternal sect sentiment.
Precisely because Qin Sang had deduced Yu Daiyue's thoughts, he had not hesitated to unleash the jade ruyi talisman treasure. After all, his true trump cards did not lie with this talisman treasure anyway.
Had he waited any longer, Yu Daiyue would only have grown more convinced that Qin Sang harbored ill intent, and might rather see both of them go down in ruin than leave Qin Sang an opening to exploit.
No one was a fool!
Tracing the cracks on the talisman treasure, Qin Sang sighed softly and stored it away into his mustard seed bag. Finding a spot near the stone stele, he laid down a restriction and began taking in spiritual energy.
Before long, Qin Sang's strength was restored to its peak. He rose to his feet and bounded onto a treetop to gaze into the distance.
Glancing toward the direction where Yu Daiyue had disappeared, Qin Sang turned his gaze away. The path Yu Daiyue had actually taken was certainly not that one, so using him to scout the way was out of the question.
Those senior brothers of higher cultivation had entered the ancient cultivator's abandoned abode so far ahead of them, yet as Qin Sang scanned the area thoroughly, he failed to spot any signs of combat.
He wondered whether the deeper parts of the ancient cultivator's abandoned abode were just as safe.
After watching for a long time without gleaning anything useful, Qin Sang tapped his foot against the branch, chose a direction at will, and flew off north on his sword.
At first he traveled by sword-flight, but upon reaching the edge of the mountain range, he put away the spirit sword and proceeded forward in absolute silence.
On the mountains, just as below, the vegetation was withered and lifeless, steeped in dead silence.
Midway up the mountain stood an old, seven-story wooden building. It was dilapidated beyond measure, its exterior smothered in withered yellow vines. Its doors and windows had long vanished, leaving behind dark, gaping openings through which the vines had crept inside; the interior was likely an utter mess as well.
Qin Sang's figure appeared before the wooden building. He knew full well that nothing was likely left inside, but there was no harm in entering to have a look and get a sense of things.
A gust of chilly wind howled toward the structure, carrying icy blades that easily cleaved open a path while cleanly slicing through all the vines outside at their roots.
The wooden building looked brand-new in comparison.
Qin Sang climbed the steps and reached the doorway, inspecting it inch by inch with meticulous care. Sure enough, he discovered traces of leftover formations that had been broken by brute force.
"Just as I thought!"
Qin Sang mused inwardly. This wooden building had once been protected by formations, but by now it had surely been ransacked clean by the demonic sects.
Stepping into the first floor, he found countless withered vines and yellow leaves amidst a thick blanket of dust. Along the base of the wall facing the entrance stood seven wooden posts, still relatively intact.
To his surprise, atop one of the posts lingered a circular curtain of light.
Qin Sang was somewhat surprised; he had not expected an intact restriction to remain. Treasures had probably been placed atop all seven posts originally, but they had long been taken away—even the interior of the light curtain was empty.
He stepped forward and sensed the strength of the restriction, finding that breaking it would require a tremendous amount of effort even for him.
Ascending from the first floor all the way to the seventh at the very top, the number of wooden posts grew fewer and fewer until only a single one remained on the top floor. The treasure once placed here must have been extraordinarily precious.
Yet without exception, every single one was bare; nothing had been left behind.
"What a bunch of bandits," Qin Sang cursed under his breath, then leaped out through a window and shot straight toward true north.
Whenever he encountered similar wooden buildings along the way, he did not pause. Earlier, on the seventh floor of the wooden building, he had spotted a fresh footprint, showing that someone had already set foot in this direction. Only by rushing toward the depths of the abandoned abode at top speed could he seize the advantage.
The space within the abandoned abode was even larger than imagined. Qin Sang flew for a long time without seeing any boundary. He searched several ruins in succession, finding nothing at all. In the end, he located what appeared to be the site of a medicine garden. Its protective grand formation was almost completely intact, but inside was overgrown with weeds, and every spirit herb had long been plucked clean.
Walking out of the medicine garden, Qin Sang shook his head and sighed with every step. Finally stopping outside the garden, he let out a long breath. He no longer held much hope for this ancient cultivator's abandoned abode.
After pondering for a moment, Qin Sang brushed his palm across his spirit beast bag, and the Fire Jade Centipede appeared in his hand.
Having switched its feed from Qianyang quartz to fire elemental stones and nurtured it for over twenty years, the Fire Jade Centipede showed not the slightest change, remaining the exact same size as twenty years ago. Nor had Qin Sang managed to make it acknowledge him as master.
Releasing the spiritual power restraining it, the Fire Jade Centipede probed left and right. Finding nothing of interest, it began crawling around aimlessly.
Chapter 240