Marquis Nanlong glanced at the stone gate with a pensive expression before letting out a long sigh, “That’s right. This is the Blood Curse Gate.”
Lu Weiying looked at it for a moment and worriedly asked, “The blood Qi on the gate seems to possess a strong devilish nature. Will there be any problems with it?”
Marquis Nanlong turned to look at Lu Weiying and said, “The gate was sealed by ancient cultivators by using essence blood. Naturally, it will differ from common restrictions. What? Does Brother Lu want to turn back?”
Lu Weiying shook his head and solemnly said, “Turn back? Since we’ve already arrived, how could I do something so foolish? But we still be careful just in case.”
After a moment of thought, Marquis Nanlong’s expression relaxed and he said, “That is reasonable. The gate does give one a sense of discomfort. How about this? First we’ll lay down several restrictions outside the gate. If anything strange occurs, we’ll be able to escape without a problem.”
“Good, then let’s do that.” Lu Weiying promptly nodded.
As a result, Marquis Nanlong and Lu Weiying took out several spell formation setup tools and began to place them at the bottom of the pool.
As Marquis Nanlong and Lu Weiying made their preparations for the Blood Curse Gate, there were a group of people slowly travelling up a huge black stone mountain in another area of the valley. They were headed by a middle-aged cultivator with a stern face while an azure-robed old man stood by his side. They were Wang Tiansheng, Wang Tiansheng, and Wei Wuya. As for Wang Tiangu, he was following three meters behind them. In addition to the three of them, there were four Ghost Spirit Sect Core Formation cultivators closely following behind them.
Wang Tiangu glanced at the red mist not far above him and muttered, “This wicked land is truly evil. Even remote areas have a restriction placed every fifty kilometers. You can’t fly for more than ten meters at a time.”
Wang Tiansheng calmly replied, “The more constrained the area, the more it illustrates we’re in the right place. If we were the ancient cultivators, we would’ve placed restrictions most likely to dissuade other cultivators from treading here. After all, it would take at least a day by foot to travel through here.”
Wang Tiangu revealed an expression of helplessness and said with a chuckle, “Having spent so much effort on this, I certainly hope we didn’t find the wrong place. We’ve already lost three disciples on the way here.”
At that moment, Wei Wuya was looking at the mountain top and expressionlessly said, “After we entered the valley depths, we walked for three days. Don’t tell me that we will have to walk for several more days before we arrive.”
Wang Tiansheng didn’t dare to neglect Wei Wuya and slowly said, “Be at ease, Fellow Daoist Wei. We’ll be there once we pass through this mountain. Once this is done, our Ghost Spirit Sect will be the greatest Devil Dao Sect in the Heavenly South and Fellow Daoist Wei will breakthrough to Deity Transformation Stage. It is only a matter of time.”
Wei Wuya grew silent for a moment before he derisively snorted, “To tell the truth, I don’t put much stock in the legends of the Spirit Ether Garden. They were most likely false rumors spread by ancient cultivators. If there was such a space that linked the Spirit World to ours, it should’ve already been found. How could it have been kept secret until now?”
Wang Tiansheng didn’t reveal any surprise and instead curiously asked, “Since Brother Wei didn’t believe it, why did he immediately accept our invitation?”
Without further thought, Wei Wuya bluntly said, “Fellow Daoist Wang seemed to mobilize half of the elites of his sect for this matter. It seems that you have some confidence in your trip to Devilfall Valley. Even if you don’t find the Spirit Ether Garden, you should still find a secret ancient cultivator area. Since I knew this, I agreed to allow you to draw support from my reputation and suppress the other cultivators in the valley. The share of treasures you give to me should be quite generous.”
The Ghost Spirit Sect roared with laughter and said, “Brother Wei is quite sharp! However, this is something you misunderstood. My sect has spent such efforts in order to truly travel to the Spirit Ether Garden. The Spirit Ether Garden isn’t some false rumor. Rather, Devilfall Valley was created by ancient cultivators for the sole purpose of protecting the Spirit Ether Garden. Once we pass this mountain, it will only take six hours before you can personally see it with your own eyes. When we open the way to the pocket dimension it is located in, we will require much of Fellow Daoist Wei’s power.”
When Wu Weiya heard this, both excitement and surprise appeared on his face. “If you say this with such certainty, you must’ve acquired evidence that the Spirit Ether Garden exists.”
“That’s right. Our sect has a certain confidence that the Spirit Ether Garden exists. As for the evidence, Fellow Daoist Wei will know when he gets there.” Once the black-robed middle-aged man finished speaking, he wore a mysterious expression. Although he was only an early Nascent Soul cultivator, his confident disposition gave Wei Wuya a feeling of unease.
Wei Wuya nodded and his expression returned to normal, but he coldly smiled in his mind. No matter how extravagant the Ghost Spirit Sect Master’s words may be, unless he personally saw the Spirit Ether Garden, he would remain completely skeptical. Of course, he wouldn’t say these words directly to him. He simply smiled and changed the subject, saying, “After your sect’s Elder Zhong entered the valley, he had his own matters to attend to. Now that such a long time has passed, do you think you could tell me about his whereabouts? He can’t be like the other cultivators. Surely your sect didn’t send a mid Nascent Soul elder to Devilfall Valley on a trip of leisure?”
Wang Tiansheng didn’t appear to mind his question and casually replied, “Brother Wei must be joking. I won’t conceal this from you. Elder Zhong has been sent to collect treasures from another secret area of the valley. Of course, while the treasure may be precious, it isn’t nearly as important as the Spirit Ether Garden.”
When Wei Wuya heard this, he dryly laughed and declined from asking further about the matter. As a result, the party of cultivators continued on their way in silence.
…
In an expanse of rough and uneven stone, there were seven Ghost Spirit Sect disciples scattered around and continuously searching for something. The Ghost Spirit Sect Elder Zhong was floating at the area’s center without making the slightest movement.
Although his spiritual sense was able to easily envelop the wilderness for tens of kilometers around him, he needed to find a particular mark, something that could only be found with deliberate and meticulous effort. As a result, he stifled his impatience and sent the disciples under his command to slowly sift through the rocks.
…
In another area of the valley, peals of thunder suddenly echoed from a ravine covered in rainbow light. Afterwards, following a storm of lightning and thunder, a group of cultivators emerged from the rainbow light.
The ones leading them were a green-robed old man and an old Daoist. Although the two didn’t appear to have suffered any injuries, they each had a miserable appearance and ashen complexions. They were Daoist Heavencrystal and Dongmen Tu, the grand elder of the Controlling Spirit Sect.
The other five green-robed cultivators walked behind them with similarly ruined robes and pale complexions as if they had suffered through quite a bit of pain. As for the two fiendish puppets, they appeared entirely unchanged without even the slightest damage.
After flying a hundred meters away, Dongmen Tu turned around to glance at the ravine behind him before turning to look at the two fiendish puppets. “We’ve finally broken through the barrier and entered the valley depths. I didn’t think that Fellow Daoist Heavencrystal’s two puppets would rival the power of a cultivator at the peak of early Nascent Soul stage. How truly envious!”
Having hearing this, Daoist Heavencrystal said,“The puppets are merely puppets. No matter how powerful they may be, how could they compare to your subordinates. With their elemental techniques, I’m sure they would be able to contend against even a late Nascent Soul stage cultivator.”
Daoist Heavencrystal was clearly wary of Dongmen Tu. As soon as they left the ravine, he kept his distance from him. His puppets stood behind him as they both began to flicker with various colored light.
When Dongmen Tu saw this, his face grew sullen and he soon sighed. With a wry smile he said, “Isn’t Fellow Daoist Heavencrystal overly wary of me? We’ve spent the last two days in a united effort to break through the formations. Fellow Daoist shouldn’t have anything against me. Wouldn’t it be better to reconsider joining hands and looking for treasure together? It’ll be far safer than heading out alone.”
“Brother Dongmen, I have nothing against you. It is just that I am fond of being alone. Please don’t suggest joining hands again. Since we’ve already entered the valley depths, we should part ways.” Daoist Heavencrystal chuckled and saluted Dongmen Tu. However, he didn’t depart and was instead staring at him with caution.
When Dongmen Tu saw this, he frowned for a moment before smiling. “Since Fellow Daoist Heavencrystal is unwilling, I won’t force you. We will split up here. I hope you have a large harvest.”
“Hehe! Then I wish you luck as well.” Daoist Heavencrystal’s expression relaxed and he headed away with his puppets following after him. Dongmen Tu watched him as he departed into the distance and his face grew sullen.
Dongmen Tu sighed with annoyance. “That old ghost is truly too cautious. It’s been two days and he hasn’t let his guard down. With those two puppets, searching the valley depths would be far safer.” He then glanced around and slapped his spirit beast pouch. With a gust of wind, a sparkling silver bat appeared in front of him.
Dongmen Tu raised his hand and tossed a jet-black medicine pill into the mouth of the silver bat. The bat then flew once in the air before shooting off into the sky.
When Dongmen Tu saw this, he hastily called out to the five cultivators behind him and led the way. In the blink of an eye, the party disappeared from sight.
