Chapter 205: The Demon Cultivator’s Plot
Chapter 205: Chapter 205: The Demon Cultivator’s Plot
The ground beneath Li Ping’s feet also cracked open, revealing the outline of an Array.
"What is this?"
He couldn’t help but jump in fright. When faced with something he didn’t understand, his first instinct was to flee.
SWOOSH!
Li Ping took out the Dharma Artifact, the Treasure Mirror, needed to open the secret realm, and flew rapidly toward the entrance.
But he was clearly too late.
Just as he was flying toward the entrance, the Array covering the entire secret realm grotto-abode was activated. A misty, milky-white light shot into the sky, enveloping Li Ping within it.
Witnessing this, Li Ping finally recognized what it was from his memories.
This was actually a massive Teleportation Array.
At this, he was completely dumbfounded.
’God knows where this massive Teleportation Array will send me. I was doing just fine in the Western Wilderness. I don’t want to leave my comfort zone and randomly show up in some strange place.’
But things obviously weren’t going to go the way Li Ping had hoped.
The Teleportation Array activated too quickly; he didn’t have time to open the secret realm’s passage and leave.
The huge Teleportation Array suddenly let out a humming sound. By the time the light faded, Li Ping’s figure had vanished.
And after that one teleportation, the Teleportation Array seemed to have fulfilled its mission and directly disintegrated. Even the entire secret realm began to dissolve under the aftershock of the Array’s collapse.
It began to dissolve and dissipate from all sides...
Of course, what Li Ping didn’t know was that aside from his secret realm grotto-abode...
At the same time the Spirit Control Sect’s Foundation Establishment Cultivators opened the hidden space within the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm, the Teleportation Arrays in two other micro-secret realms were also activated. After teleporting, these two micro-secret realms, just like the one Li Ping was in, were subsequently devoured by a spatial storm.
However, unlike the secret realm Li Ping was in, the other two micro-secret realms were completely empty. There was nothing inside.
...
The moment his feet were steady, before he even had a chance to survey his surroundings...
Li Ping slapped his Storage Bag. The two puppets, Jia Yi and Jia Er, shot out and protected him from the front and back. At the same time, a streak of bloody light flew out of his Storage Bag, rapidly expanding into a ten-foot-long Blood Transformation Shield that hovered with extreme spiritual awareness in front of him.
The Desolate Fire Sparrow also flew out of the Spirit Beast Pouch, circling above Li Ping’s head.
Only after doing all this did he relax enough to look around. There was no danger in the stone chamber, but Li Ping didn’t rush to put away his puppets and Spirit Bird.
When he got a clear look at his surroundings, his expression couldn’t help but turn ugly. After being teleported, he had appeared in a tall stone chamber, which also contained a massive Teleportation Array.
Right now, he was standing in the center of that Teleportation Array.
Furthermore, he didn’t know if the Teleportation Array on the other side was broken or if it was one-way, but he was completely unable to activate the array beneath his feet to return.
At this point, Li Ping could only accept the fact that he couldn’t go back.
Fortunately, he was accustomed to carrying all his belongings with him, so even though he had been teleported without warning, he hadn’t suffered any material losses.
He glanced gloomily at the four walls of the stone chamber.
The walls of the stone chamber were smooth, as if carved by blades and axes. The ceiling was inlaid with numerous Luminous Pearls, illuminating the space below as bright as day.
To his left was a stone door several dozen feet high, which should be the exit from this chamber.
After a moment of thought and a sigh, Li Ping stepped off the Teleportation Array and walked toward the exit of the stone chamber.
Stepping out of the stone chamber, Li Ping found himself facing a long tunnel. Even his Divine Sense couldn’t probe its end.
’Am I inside a mountain?’
With the Blood Transformation Shield in front and his two puppets clearing the way, Li Ping flew toward the end of the tunnel. The Desolate Fire Sparrow let out a clear cry and followed him.
After flying for dozens of miles, Li Ping finally saw a light ahead. It seemed he had reached the exit.
He couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart, raising his vigilance to the maximum.
He didn’t dare relax in the slightest until he understood his current surroundings.
Fortunately, no accidents occurred by the time he flew out of the tunnel. After briefly adjusting to the bright environment outside, he found himself on a platform jutting out from the mountainside.
The platform was made entirely of massive cyan boulders and was completely empty.
Li Ping looked up, only to see a vast, white curtain of light. The sky of this strange place looked somewhat similar to the sky of his grotto-abode secret realm.
Of course, the sky in his grotto-abode secret realm was only a thousand feet high.
But in this strange place, the mountain he had just flown out of was definitely more than ten thousand feet high.
SWOOSH!
Li Ping rode a cyan Escape Light and flew toward the sky. As he flew higher and higher, more of this strange place was revealed before him.
After flying for dozens of miles, all the way to the edge of the sky, he finally confirmed that the sky here was indeed like that of his grotto-abode secret realm—formed by a protective Array wall. Beyond the incredibly thick barrier was a raging spatial storm.
This was also a secret realm.
Of course, this secret realm was far, far larger than the grotto-abode he had come from.
Even with Li Ping’s powerful vision, standing dozens of miles up in the sky, he could only get a rough overview of the secret realm.
The secret realm was roughly several hundred square miles in area. He was currently in one corner of it, and beneath his feet was a colossal, sky-piercing mountain about thirteen thousand feet high.
At the same time, in the other three corners of the secret realm, there were three other colossal mountains no smaller than the one beneath Li Ping’s feet.
The four great mountains stood firm in the four corners of the secret realm, like four giant beasts faintly suppressing the plains in the center.
This layout gave Li Ping the feeling that these four peaks were like four nails, viciously pinning the entire secret realm in place.
Li Ping spent the better part of half a day carefully inspecting the mountain below him, only to find it completely dead. Not to mention birds or beasts, not even a single tree or blade of grass grew on it.
It was perfectly quiet, without the slightest unusual sound.
Li Ping didn’t mind such an environment. After all, he had the Jade of the Spiritual Eye. As long as it was safe, he could cultivate even in a Land Without Spirit.
But the problem now was that he didn’t know if this secret realm was safe.
After a moment of thought, Li Ping flew directly toward the center of the secret realm.
He had to at least confirm the safety of the secret realm and find a way out before he could stay and cultivate in peace.
Just as Li Ping was flying toward the center of the secret realm, intending to explore it...
「In the center of the secret realm.」
Here stood a majestic palace built of black stone. Its gates were wide open, but the interior was pitch-black, and nothing could be seen clearly.
But suddenly, a Fireball shot out from the palace gates. After briefly getting its bearings, it sped off into the distance.
Behind the Fireball, six figures in black robes gave chase, shouting curses. Every one of them had an extremely ugly expression.
Just a short while ago, they had followed the Grand Elder’s orders, opened the passage to the second level of the secret realm, and arrived at this palace. After painstakingly breaking the Array, they were just about to obtain the Treasure.
But then Xiao Yunzhi had suddenly appeared and attacked them.
While they were shocked at Xiao Yunzhi’s appearance in the palace and were joining forces to deal with her, a Spirit Bird suddenly darted out at high speed and snatched the Treasure away.
The Treasure had thus fallen into Xiao Yunzhi’s hands.
How could the six members of the Spirit Control Sect, having worked so hard for nothing, let it go? They immediately used their various techniques, attempting to kill Xiao Yunzhi and reclaim the Treasure.
One of them waved his hand and released a large golden cloud, which buzzed loudly as it rushed toward Xiao Yunzhi. A closer look would reveal that the golden cloud was actually composed of countless thumb-sized, golden spirit bees.
These spirit bees had mandibles several inches long that glinted with a cold, sharp light. They were clearly not to be trifled with.
Another released a horned Exotic Beast, which spat a thick beam of light at Xiao Yunzhi from its mouth.
...
The Cultivators of the Spirit Control Sect were not particularly outstanding in their own personal strength, but they excelled at raising spirit insects and Spirit Beasts.
In battle, once they released their spirit insects and Spirit Beasts, they could create a mob effect, making them extremely difficult to deal with.
Facing the incoming attacks, Xiao Yunzhi dodged rapidly while fleeing into the distance.
At the same time, her heart was still reeling in shock.
’The reason I risked exposing my position to forcibly snatch that item was that I recognized its origin.’
’An item this taboo was most likely sealed here by ancient Cultivators.’
’How could I possibly allow it to fall into the hands of Demon Cultivators and be used to harm living beings?’
"The secret realm is only so big, she can’t escape," Kun Hu said viciously. "We’ll split up and surround her. Since she dared to follow us in, today is the perfect day to kill her right here!"
"So what if she’s a Cultivator with a Celestial Spiritual Root? A dead one is worthless!"
The other five nodded with grim expressions, then spread out to form a dragnet, closing in on the direction Xiao Yunzhi had fled.
Kun Hu was right. They held the means to leave. As long as they didn’t actively open the passage, Xiao Yunzhi could only run circles around them in this space.
No matter how fast she was, she couldn’t escape the encirclement of six people.
Considering that Xiao Yunzhi’s combat power was far beyond that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator, aside from Kun Hu and another Late-stage Foundation Establishment Demon Cultivator...
...the remaining four Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Demon Cultivators all carefully maintained their distance from one another, wary of a surprise attack from Xiao Yunzhi.
However, none of them—not the six Demon Cultivators, nor Xiao Yunzhi—had noticed.
After the seal was broken and Xiao Yunzhi had taken the item from the black palace, this hidden space—the so-called second level of the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm—was gradually becoming unstable.
Of course, this change was very slow.
But although the change was slow, the final result would be the complete annihilation of this second-level secret realm, along with the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm itself.
...
The Foundation Establishment Cultivators inside the secret realm could not sense this, but the Core Formation Cultivators outside immediately noticed something was wrong.
Especially Old Demon Lu, who was sitting cross-legged. When he sensed the entrance to the secret realm becoming unstable, a smile couldn’t help but touch his lips.
’Such a change clearly means the Cultivators I sent into the secret realm have already obtained the item.’
He immediately stood up. "Everyone, it seems the entrance to the secret realm is a bit unstable. To prevent any accidents, why don’t we open the passage now and let the juniors out?"
Qiu Changfeng snorted coldly. "I’d say you’re the one behind this."