With a distance of fifty or sixty zhang, Li Weiyi, with his current cultivation, could cross it in an instant. However, being within this dimly lit, cobweb-filled underground spider hole felt exceptionally profound, as if he were stepping closer to a bizarre and dark underworld.
His spirit was highly tense, and all five senses were wide open, vigilant of the ground beneath and the surroundings. After walking over forty zhang towards the purple flesh-based Cistanche, Li Weiyi stopped, glancing back. Ten zhang away, the shadow of the slender figure of Yin Twenty-Four was slightly blurred, but he could see her stunning and beautiful face.
Further away, by the blood river, Yao Yin had shrunk down to the size of a fingertip, nearly merging completely with the darkness. They were already very far away. Beyond that was the unknown area enveloped in purple mist.
The seven Phoenix Wing Moths were immensely powerful, yet after entering, they vanished without a trace, never to return. As their master, Li Weiyi had lost connection with them. In the center of the purple mist stood the Cistanche, towering over a meter, exuding a crystalline sheen, its colors flowing and vibrant.
However, its alluring form and the medicinal fragrance it released made Li Weiyi feel no desire; instead, he perceived it as a naked, dangerously enchanting woman, a true femme fatale. Yin Twenty-Four tightened her web rope even further and nodded towards him. With powerful beings from the Five Seas Realm behind him, Li Weiyi felt somewhat reassured.
Holding the Yellow Dragon Sword, he quietly activated his power to enhance the corpse-clothing armor he wore, and then stepped into the purple mist area.
"Whoosh!"
It felt like stepping into the eye of a storm; he was unsteady, leaving the ground as everything in his vision vanished. Inside the purple mist region, it was anything but tranquil. Chaos filled the space, vibrating with disordered forces.
Li Weiyi’s heart sank. As he shouted “Pull me back!”, he struggled to stabilize himself, his feet landing back on solid ground, stumbling out of the purple mist; then, he went completely still. He found he was no longer in the spider hole.
“What is this place…”
Beneath him was a fine black sandy soil, as delicate as dust. In his field of vision, the space was vast, with earth mounds resembling Yadan landscapes rising starkly, bizarre and jagged, riddled with wind-eroded furrows. It was the light from the purple Cistanche illuminating this area.
A hundred zhang away, the edge of the purple glow dissolved into darkness. But Li Weiyi believed there were broader regions hidden within the shadows. The web rope around his waist had long since broken, and he suddenly turned back to look.
The purple mist still loomed, swirling in the wind and sand, taking on various forms.
“Li… Weiyi…”
A soft, distant voice resonated. Moments later, Yin Twenty-Four drifted in the purple mist like a light, fluttering leaf, only to swiftly fall sideways. Li Weiyi waved a hand to release a wisp of spiritual energy; she quickly regained her balance and gently landed on the ground.
As her feet touched down, she immediately sensed something wrong with the ground, which was softer than the desert, her legs sinking down half a foot. Releasing spiritual energy, her body became light, and she slowly withdrew her legs. After surveying the surroundings, the look of shock in Yin Twenty-Four’s eyes grew stronger.
“How could there be such an eerie place beneath the Nine Li Insect Valley? This doesn’t seem like the lair of the Flying Winged White Spider.”
“Why didn’t you pull me back?”
Li Weiyi asked. Yin Twenty-Four shot him a glare, her round, large eyes filled with exasperation.
“I tried with all my might; the web rope snapped. I could not hold on.”
Realizing the severity of their situation, Li Weiyi remained alert while moving towards the purple mist.
“You shouldn’t have come! You should have taken Yao Yin and left quickly to seek help from Yin Jun. I feel that this place…”
Just as Li Weiyi stepped into the purple mist, he lost his center of gravity and was swept back by an extremely chaotic and powerful force, flung several zhang away. Yin Twenty-Four exhaled, transforming into a gust of clean wind that enveloped him.
She certainly understood that what Li Weiyi said was the most correct strategy, but feigned indifference, saying, “I am from the Five Seas Realm; I have the responsibility and obligation to bring you back safely.”
After stabilizing on the ground, Li Weiyi looked at her with a wary expression and pointed towards the purple mist as if saying, “You’re from the Five Seas Realm, then you go.”
Yin Twenty-Four carried the aura of a formidable being, releasing abundant spiritual energy from both palms, taking large strides towards the purple mist, wanting to tear a path out. However, the spiritual energy on her palms dissipated into nothingness as soon as it touched the mist. The stronger the force she released, the greater the backlash.
“Bang!”
Yin Twenty-Four was thrown back, crashing heavily to the ground, and Li Weiyi was unable to catch her in time. Her slender body was nearly completely buried in the black sandy soil.
After a moment, she finally crawled back out, looking exceedingly disheveled; her face was covered in dust, her hair was loose, and long locks cascaded down to her waist.
Yin Twenty-Four quickly righted herself, restoring her cold and proud demeanor as a master: “Be careful of the black sandy soil below; if you do not use spiritual energy to lift your feet and body, you might be buried and fall into an extremely deep underground, suffocating to death.”
Li Weiyi had sensed this danger long ago, using his power to peer into the distance, saying, “This place does not look natural; there may be unpredictable dangers. I just hope Yao Yin can be wise and return to seek help from the Hidden Gate as soon as possible.”
“Whoosh!”
The purple mist began to surge violently again. Yao Yin, dressed in a white cloud robe, fell down from within. Li Weiyi closed his eyes and sighed heavily.
Yin Twenty-Four stepped forward, exasperated, “What did you come in here for? The two of us are trapped; you should have left the spider hole immediately to seek help from Yin Jun.” Ignoring the two women behind him, Li Weiyi scoured the area and found the seven Phoenix Wing Moths.
They buzzed around a wind-eroded pillar several meters high, joyfully munching on the sand atop. Feeling perplexed, Li Weiyi used his mind to communicate with them, receiving a chillingly horrifying response. They said they were eating the precious medicinal Cistanche.
But the purple Cistanche was clearly still dozens of zhang away… What they were eating was, without a doubt, the sandy soil on the wind-eroded pillar. Li Weiyi’s scalp tingled, and cold sweat broke out on his back.
He hurriedly used his mind to tell them the truth, but it was in vain. The seven Phoenix Wing Moths firmly believed they were consuming precious medicine.
“This is not good… Ah, this place is full of great danger!”
Li Weiyi's voice trembled, and he wanted to rush over and bring the seven Phoenix Wing Moths back, but as soon as he took a step forward, he quickly withdrew his foot, afraid to follow in their footsteps. Instead, he mobilized his mental force, inscribing insect-like scripts, forcibly commanding them to return.
The insect scripts within the seven Phoenix Wing Moths flickered, powerless against Li Weiyi’s mind, which now reached the “Fangcun Minghuo” level, thus they buzzed back. But just as they flew near him, they plummeted to the ground, their bellies swollen like balloons, solid to the touch.
Yin Twenty-Four and Yao Yin hastily joined Li Weiyi, already aware of the previous bizarre situation, deeply frightened, wanting nothing more than to escape immediately.
“Quickly, let’s go!”
Li Weiyi stuffed the seven Phoenix Wing Moths into the insect tube, rushing towards the purple mist, activating the Yellow Dragon Sword and swinging it forward. Yin Twenty-Four and Yao Yin also unleashed their powers.
Unfortunately, not only did they fail to open a path, but after the area shrouded in purple mist endured their attacks, it began growing smaller, eventually vanishing altogether.
“What’s going on?”
Li Weiyi moved closer, first swinging his sword, then waving his hand; the area where the purple mist had been was now empty, desolate. His expression turned extremely grave: “Now there’s no way out!” Yao Yin crouched down, examining the fine black sandy soil on the ground.
“Sister, could this be an Ashen Region?”
Yin Twenty-Four had sensed it earlier, her expression heavy.
“Perhaps, but how is this possible? This place is underground. The records state that even the smallest Ashen Regions span hundreds of miles.”
“What Ashen Region?”
Li Weiyi asked. Yao Yin replied, “I’ve never seen it myself; I only read about it in books. There are six or seven such mysterious places in the Lingxiao Profound Realm.
Life is extinct in these regions, and danger is rife, so each Ashen Region is also known as ‘Ashen Hell.’
“The largest and most dangerous Ashen Region is located west of the Western Domain Prefecture, spanning thousands of miles, unattainable by human effort. It is said to be the remnants left by ancient immortal beings after burning a realm.”
“Look at this sandy soil; doesn’t it resemble the ash formed after vegetation burns? It’s so soft that if we don’t use spiritual energy to lift our bodies, we will slowly sink into the depths of the earth.”
Li Weiyi had little knowledge about Ashen Regions but understood how dangerous their current predicament was.
“With our cultivation levels, we may not be able to continuously release spiritual energy; we need to find a way out as soon as possible.”
Yin Twenty-Four looked up, releasing a wisp of misty spiritual energy. Her slender waist twisted as she leaped up, stepping on the misty bridge to seek the top of this Ashen Region. Soaring up for a dozen zhang, she fell back down, caught by the spiritual energy Li Weiyi released.
“How is it?”
She shook her head, her mood heavy.
“I can’t see the top; this place cannot be gauged by common sense.”
Li Weiyi pondered for a moment, took out the Ghost Flag, unfolded it, and placed it on the ground, sitting upon it to buffer his body’s natural descent. He closed his eyes and used his mental energy to consult the three masters in the Blood Mud Space.
The three elders were knowledgeable and experienced, incomparable to those fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls. What Five Seas Realm experts? In the face of real danger, they were utterly unreliable.
The Coffin Master said,“I don’t know much about the Hidden Gate, and I'm unaware of such a peculiar place hiding here. From your description, it certainly resembles an Ashen Region.”
“There are numerous dangers in Ashen Regions, all kinds of strange occurrences. The earlier behavior of the seven Phoenix Wing Moths is tough to guess at. But it likely involves some mysterious external force interfering with their consciousness.”
“You can try using your unique breathing technique to keep your awareness clear and unperturbed by the external environment.”
The Spirit Position Master said,“You can also try it with mental energy! I’ll teach you a mental technique that allows you to cultivate a spiritual eye.” The Jar Master said,“Using the golden vein line to shine a light on it may expose abnormalities.
As long as the yang energy is sufficiently strong, no evil will intrude.” It was only when the Jar Master mentioned that Li Weiyi suddenly recalled that he had been marked by the Six Desires Talisman for nearly four months. The pill Yin Jun mentioned still hadn’t been obtained.
No one knew when the Six Desires Talisman would erupt. Remaining trapped in this cursed place would be a significant trouble. The Coffin Master said,“Since there is a way in, there must be a way out.
The key is that you must first glimpse the layout here; I feel this Ashen Region was artificially created.” Li Weiyi withdrew his mental energy from the Blood Mud Space, glancing at the two women trying various methods to find a way out several zhang away; they probably hadn’t realized that the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish had activated moments ago.
“There is some food stored inside the Evil Camel Bell, but three cannot hold out for too long.”
He cleared all distractions from his mind and began cultivating the spiritual eye technique taught by the Spirit Position Master. After about three hours, Yin Twenty-Four and Yao Yin had run out of all methods; not to mention finding a way out, their internal spiritual energy had also been completely exhausted.
They could only sit on the Ghost Flag, using the breathing technique to adjust and recover their state.
“Whoosh!”
Li Weiyi formed a hand seal above his head, slowly bringing it down from his forehead. Spiritual light and fire emanated from the center of his brow, condensing into a golden spiritual eye.
According to what the senior from the Spirit Position had said, this was a method of the Dao Sect, called the“Heavenly Communication Eye,”distinctly different from the mental eye of an ordinary great mentalist. Even in its initial form, it could discern illusions, penetrate veils, and observe minute details. This was her ultimate skill!
With this technique, she had once bested the Coffin Master in coffin-opening arts, thereby forming a bond and alliance. Li Weiyi peered into the distance with the Heavenly Communication Eye, golden light illuminating his surroundings. He noticed that the positions of the Yadan-landscape-like wind-eroded hills seemed to shift, as if they were two worlds misaligned on top of each other.
Undoubtedly, one world was real, the other fake. Standing up immediately, he swiftly removed his outer robes, revealing a strong, aesthetically pleasing musculature.
“Whoosh! Whoosh…”
One by one, golden vein lines began to emerge beneath his skin, intertwining like a group of dragons, coursing through his body, illuminating the area. Yin Twenty-Four was startled, sitting on the Ghost Flag, lifting her head in awe; her eyes filled with astonishment, unable to describe her shock.
She had always considered herself a top genius, and after reaching the Five Seas Realm, she looked down on the younger generation, finding few worthy of her attention.
But standing beside her was Li Weiyi, only at the Nine Springs realm, and the extraordinary aura erupting from him was already on par with the Five Seas martial artists and great mentalists. She suspected that once Li Weiyi broke through to Nine Springs, he could compete with her in sheer strength.
Yao Yin’s charming eyes sparkled, hiding nothing of her admiration and appreciation. Li Weiyi’s figure seemed sculpted by the hands of a deity; it was not only beautiful but also radiated a masculine charm capable of absorbing souls.
(End of this chapter)