Chapter 73

Before leaving, Qin Sang quietly circled around the mountain, thinking that waiting for the prey to come would be easier than a sudden encounter, but unfortunately, he found nothing.

Finally, Qin Sang headed in the direction he had previously chosen.

At this time, the entire Eight Trigrams Forbidden Area was already filled with slaughter and bloodshed.

The core area of the Eight Trigrams Forbidden Area was not large, a circular lake with emerald water, calm and still.

In the middle of the lake was a small island, covered with lush green plants and blooming flowers. At the center of the island stood a towering tree, its roots intertwined like dragons, and its fiery red leaves layered like a pagoda.

The cultivator from Yuanzhao Sect, who was operating the Moon Ferry, was meditating on a reef at the edge of the island. Suddenly, his expression changed, and he opened his eyes, looking up.

The sky suddenly turned stormy, with fierce winds raging, but they could not shake the giant tree. Two figures, surrounded by the glow of protective talismans, pierced through the gale and flew toward the island.

Recognizing the visitors, the Yuanzhao Sect cultivator's tense expression relaxed, and he asked in surprise, "Junior Brother Yu, why are you here? Where is Senior Brother Du?"

The visitor was a cultivator in his forties at the Foundation Establishment stage. Behind him was a young man in white, at the Eighth Layer of the Qi Condensation stage.

The two landed on the island, and the young man bowed, "Zhao Yan greets Uncle Master Luan."

The cultivator surnamed Yu smiled and said, "Senior Brother Luan, you don't know, but something happened in Senior Brother Du's family. At dawn today, his descendants rushed up the mountain for help. Senior Brother Du was too busy to handle it, so he entrusted me to assign miscellaneous tasks to the new disciples."

"I see, no wonder Senior Brother Du hasn't arrived."

Luan Shan was enlightened. Most of the new disciples who entered the sect during the Ascension Ceremony were independent cultivators, with rebellious personalities that needed to be tempered.

Therefore, many of the arduous tasks that the inner disciples were unwilling to do were assigned to them, under the guise of tempering their character.

This task of assigning miscellaneous tasks and accepting new disciples was not a good job, as it often caused resentment. It was usually handled by Senior Brother Du.

Since Senior Brother Du had entrusted this to Yu, Luan Shan was more than happy to comply.

"Then I'll leave it to Junior Brother Yu."

The three of them exchanged a few more words and then each found a reef to meditate, not daring to step onto the island.

...

In a canyon of a desolate mountain, it was dark and damp, with moss covering the rocks. Occasionally, strange insects crawled through the crevices, emitting a faint stench.

Qin Sang weighed the storage bag in his hand, flicked his finger to cast a flame, and burned the corpse at his feet.

This was the second opponent he had encountered since entering the Eight Trigrams Forbidden Area. He was not as troublesome as the disheveled Taoist, but he still made Qin Sang break out in a cold sweat.

First, he hid in the dark, using the Purple Soul Bell to confuse the opponent's mind, then followed up with a Yin Thunder to severely injure him, and finally, used several ice spikes. The opponent didn't even have time to activate his protective talisman.

Qin Sang was becoming increasingly proficient with this tactic.

He only wanted to snatch the jade token, but when he found the opponent begging for mercy and secretly reaching for the storage bag, with a faint red light in his palm, Qin Sang was instantly enraged. He had almost suffered from not finishing off his enemy, so he didn't dare to take any more risks and finished the opponent off completely.

Qin Sang opened the storage bag and searched through it, but found no jade token!

The jade token was either stolen or hidden by the opponent.

There was no distinction between day and night in the Eight Trigrams Forbidden Area, and Qin Sang could only estimate that he had been inside for about two hours, but he had only obtained one jade token.

Gathering ten jade tokens was much harder than he had imagined, and he couldn't be so cautious anymore.

However, this opponent's possessions were richer than the disheveled Taoist's. When Qin Sang opened his palm, he found a stack of twelve spirit talismans. Upon closer inspection, they were all Fire Feather Talismans, which made him break out in a cold sweat.

The Fire Feather Spell was a type of fire spell that, when cast, turned the sky into a sea of flames, with fiery feathers shooting out in all directions. Although the power of each feather was less than that of the Yin Thunder Spell, it was stronger than the ice spikes of the Ten Thousand Mile Ice Seal.

If the opponent had used one Fire Feather Talisman, Qin Sang wouldn't have been afraid, but twelve Fire Feather Talismans at once would have made him shudder. He was relieved that he hadn't given the opponent the chance to use them.

Apart from the Fire Feather Talismans, the opponent's magical tools were not particularly remarkable. A green silk-like defensive talisman was not as effective as the Ice Silkworm Armor, and a blood-red long sword, while decent among mid-grade magical tools, was only勉强可用.

Qin Sang swung the sword a few times, finding it quite handy, and decided to keep it.

After the corpse was completely burned, Qin Sang looked around, hid in the dark, and left the canyon. He climbed over two more mountains and found a cave to hide in.

After meditating to recover, Qin Sang picked up the blood-stained sword and set off again.

The mountains seemed endless, with extremely complex terrain. Qin Sang sped up and soon saw a solitary peak ahead, its summit almost touching the clouds. It was the highest mountain in the vicinity, offering a vast view. Qin Sang decided to climb it for a look.

In such a place, one had to be extremely cautious. Qin Sang silently climbed to the top and his gaze suddenly focused.

On a rock at the top, there was an inconspicuous mark that only the seventeen of them could understand, the secret mark given by Master Yue.

After entering the Eight Trigrams Forbidden Area, Qin Sang had already forgotten about the secret mark. He would never leave a mark for others to find him, and he thought others would have the same idea.

But he didn't expect that one of his fellow disciples had actually left a mark.

Naive, or a plot?

Qin Sang frowned. Following the direction indicated by the mark, it was the path he intended to take, suggesting that the fellow disciple was likely not far ahead.

After being inside for so long and experiencing two battles, he had only obtained one jade token, making Qin Sang realize that standing out in the Ascension Ceremony was not as easy as he thought.

Compared to the consequences of not entering the Yuanzhao Sect, dealing with a dangerous situation seemed more acceptable?

Qin Sang hesitated, pondered for a moment, and finally decided to go his own way. He didn't know who was ahead, and if it was a fellow disciple at the Seventh Layer of the Qi Condensation stage, they might have ill intentions, which could be disastrous for him.

The allure of an excellent magical tool was not much less than that of a jade token.

If he changed direction, to the left, the horizon shimmered with the reflection of a large river, with an open landscape on the riverbank and the poisonous marsh not far on the other side.

After descending the mountain, Qin Sang turned right and continued his journey through the deep mountains.