The branches pursued relentlessly, shattering afterimage after afterimage in rapid succession, yet they failed to catch Qin Sang.
Qin Sang's figure flickered like a phantom. Borne by the power of the Thousand Illusions Divine Sound, his speed was astonishingly swift. At first, his footwork had been somewhat erratic, as though he struggled to control his suddenly surging speed, and several times he had nearly been wrapped by the branches.
As time passed, however, his movements grew increasingly steady. Looking closely, one would see that the rhythm of his motions matched the shifts of the branches perfectly; every time the branches attempted to encircle him, he evaded them beforehand as if foreseeing each strike.
Afterimages multiplied until it seemed countless duplicates of Qin Sang were moving through the air. The branches whipped about ever more violently, gradually unable to keep pace with him, until they snarled together in tangled chaos.
Yet Qin Sang's expression grew only graver.
A moment later, his eyes flashed. He halted abruptly and shot backward in explosive retreat.
The instant he pulled back, a beam of black light burst from the tangled cluster of branches, shooting forth like lightning—resembling a splash of spilled ink chasing furiously after him.
Because Qin Sang had seized the initiative and retreated in time, the black light failed to reach him, finally exhausting its momentum and slowly dispersing.
The two withered trees returned to normal once more.
Qin Sang looked down at the hem of his robe. A thumb-sized black hole had burned through the fabric, emitting a foul stench. It had been caused by the fringe of the black light—a flaw Qin Sang had deliberately left exposed.
This allowed him to gauge the black light's power.
The black light was intensely corrosive, serving as the deadliest strike of this restriction.
After this probe, Qin Sang understood seventy to eighty percent of the restriction's workings.
Fortunately, he held the Tianyin Conch. Otherwise, he never would have dared test the restriction with his own body. Relying solely on his own eyes from the outside, the chance of deciphering the restriction would have been minuscule, and breaking it virtually impossible.
Gazing at the branches on the withered trees, Qin Sang pondered briefly, formulated a plan in his mind, and set out once more.
The scene unfolded similarly to before.
Though forced back by the black light several times in succession, the confidence on Qin Sang's face only mounted.
On the final attempt, Qin Sang dealt with the surrounding withered branches with utter composure. His gaze remained locked on the depths of the branches. The very instant the black light began to coalesce, he suddenly pushed the Tianyin Conch to its utmost, wrapping himself entirely in the power of the Thousand Illusions Divine Sound, and made a shocking move.
Ignoring the black light surging toward him, he turned and charged straight into it!
Qin Sang plunged into boundless darkness. Piercing pain wracked his flesh as an all-encompassing colossal force squeezed violently inward, threatening to crush him into mincemeat. The power of the Thousand Illusions Divine Sound shielding his body was compressed until it warped out of shape, yet it remained resilient and did not break.
Everything before his eyes was swallowed by darkness, but in the next instant, his sight returned.
Qin Sang landed firmly on the ground. Panting for breath, he turned to look back.
The black light was gone, and the withered branches hung limply like slaughtered snakes, revealing a narrow path beneath them.
"Very good! Continue!"
Old Man Dique's voice sounded within his origin soul space. Qin Sang sneered inwardly and turned back around.
The dead forest seemed boundless. Behind Qin Sang lay an additional winding path by which he could retreat at any time, while ahead of him remained a ghostly domain.
Layer after layer of restrictions were broken by Qin Sang. It was by no means devoid of danger; along the way, he accidentally triggered a hidden restriction and was nearly sucked into a vortex by immense suction.
With the Tianyin Conch tied down at the time, Qin Sang had to sacrifice a magic tool along with a zombie to barely buy enough time to reverse the Tianyin Conch and wrench himself free of the vortex.
To say every step was fraught with peril was no exaggeration.
Qin Sang was drenched in sweat, his energy severely depleted, yet he dared not slacken in the slightest. Inwardly, he could not help but admire Daoist Xuan Yu, who had not only broken the restrictions with ease, but had also possessed the leeway to leave secret markers behind.
Along the way, Old Man Dique had successively discovered three talismans and one concealed restriction.
Daoist Xuan Yu was cautious to the extreme.
One of the talismans had even been ingeniously embedded within a restriction. The moment the restriction erupted, the talisman would have instantly been activated. Fortunately, Old Man Dique had not been distracted by other matters and was able to detect and seal it in time.
As yet another layer of restriction broke, Qin Sang's expression visibly relaxed. The dead forest vanished!
Having finally made it out, Qin Sang used his spiritual power to sweep away the sweat covering him, but the deep exhaustion weighing on his body could not be so easily cleared. He turned to look down the mountain. Only now did Old Man Dique and Ren Hong set out and enter the dead forest.
Once they emerged from the dead forest, the trio continued their ascent. After a quiet stretch of road, they arrived before a thatched cottage. Its wooden door stood ajar, but the interior was flooded with dark-yellow light, obscuring whatever lay within.
Qin Sang had already handed the Tianyin Conch over to Ren Hong so he could familiarize himself with it.
The thatched cottage, naturally, fell to Ren Hong to breach.
Ren Hong took a deep breath, pushed the wooden door open, and stepped inside.
Qin Sang had expended a tremendous amount of energy, so he seized the time to sit quietly and recover. After an unknown period, he suddenly heard Old Man Dique let out a cold sneer.
"Quite full of petty tricks!"
Before his voice died away, the wooden door slammed open with a bang.
Enveloped by the Tianyin Conch, Ren Hong crashed out through the door, his body stiff, and slammed hard onto the ground. Across his chest ran a long, narrow saber wound, where sharp saber qi still squirmed, running rampant.
Ren Hong's face was deathly pale. Clearly, his injuries were severe, having already reached his internal organs.
Old Man Dique turned a blind eye to his injuries. Waving a hand, he tossed him a jade bottle of medicinal pills and said coldly, "Take a pill and swallow it yourself. I prepared more than enough healing pills for you two long ago! Now I have only the two of you at my side. One trial each—so long as you don't die, neither of you escapes. The power of the restrictions will only grow stronger. If an injury drastically cuts into your strength, you'll only die faster! Take the pill, then go back inside."
With that, Old Man Dique cast a glance at Qin Sang, an implicit warning in his eyes.
Qin Sang understood that Ren Hong had likely gotten injured on purpose, only to be seen through by Old Man Dique. No wonder the old man had sneered; even with restrictions separating them, not a single move made by either Qin Sang or Ren Hong could escape Old Man Dique's eyes.
Having experienced this, Ren Hong understood as well. Offering no argument, he silently consumed the pill, healed the saber wound, pushed the door open, and re-entered.
Before long, Ren Hong's figure appeared behind the thatched cottage.
In this manner, restrictions were broken one after another.
The three made their way silently toward the summit, steadily drawing closer to Daoist Xuan Yu.
Qin Sang and Ren Hong grew increasingly practiced. Though injuries were unavoidable, they managed to scrape through without disaster each time. Old Man Dique had not lied; his supply of healing pills was exceptionally plentiful, and he handed them out one after another for the two to take without the slightest stinginess, as though his stockpile were endless.
Dark clouds weighed heavily upon the mountain as if ready to topple it.
The closer they drew to the cloud layer, the more a pall seemed to cast itself over Qin Sang's heart.
The power of the restrictions was growing ever more terrifying.
Among the restrictions they had breached along the way, though some assailed the origin soul, they were always accompanied by other terrifying attacks. Deprived of the Tianyin Conch's protection, Qin Sang would surely die.
Only if he encountered a pure illusory maze or a restriction that tested the state of mind could he rely on the power of the jade Buddha to gain some room to maneuver.
Chapter 254