209: Soul Crystal, Three Paths
The monsters that had consumed human blood were churning with grey mist. Their shriveled bodies seemed to swell a size, and the cold, sinister aura they emitted surged instantly, sweeping over like a tangible wave of frigid air!
Zhang Sheng's pupils constricted, and alarm bells rang wildly in his heart: "What the hell are these things!"
Xiao Buyu's voice transmitted urgently, exploding within everyone's Sea of Consciousness with unquestionable gravity: "Thunder Spells! Light Spells! Hurry! They fear these two types of power!"
Before the words had even faded, the Immortal Cave was suddenly filled with blinding light and violent energy!
"Boom!"
"Crackle!"
Dazzling thunder tore through the gloom, and the incandescent white light pierced the thick black mist like a sharp sword, casting the distorted shadows of the monsters onto the rugged cave walls, weaving a bizarre battlefield of life and death!
In the midst of the fierce battle, Zhang Sheng caught a glimpse of something unusual from the corner of his eye—Song Xuan Sha!
He saw that, at some unknown point, a string of ancient-looking prayer beads had appeared on his wrist, the beads shimmering with a gentle, warm luster.
Even more bizarrely, those ferocious monsters that pounced toward him seemed to encounter an invisible barrier, screeching as they bypassed his position!
Immediately after, Zhang Sheng clearly felt the air around Song Xuan Sha suddenly become scorching hot!
The fire-element spiritual power was like a lit powder keg, suddenly turning violent!
Flowers of flame, shaped like lotus buds and brilliant yellow in color, condensed out of thin air. They floated out silently, circling slowly around him and emitting a searing, oppressive heat.
When one of the lotus-like flames lightly touched a monster that had lunged close, there was a soft "hiss." The monster didn't even have time to scream before it instantly vaporized in the yellow flame, vanishing without a trace, leaving only a wisp of charred smoke.
Song Xuan Sha's face was as calm as water. He immediately transmitted to Song Cultivator in the shadows: "Uncle Xiu, these monsters that don't fear physical attacks and only fear specific Divine Abilities, what exactly are they?"
Song Cultivator's steady voice echoed in his Sea of Consciousness: "Your Highness Xuan Sha, according to ancient legends, in the depths of these isolated ruins, ancient Cultivators fell with deep resentment. Their grudges condensed and refused to dissipate. After being subjected to Erosion over long ages, their souls could transform into vengeful spirits or wandering ghosts!"
"They are formless and incorporeal, fearing the might of thunder, the purity of light, and the power to slay evil! Your 'World Purifying Lotus Flame,' Your Highness, is precisely their nemesis!"
At this moment, the Immortal Cave was a chaotic dance of Divine Abilities, with light splashing everywhere!
Qian Che reacted extremely quickly. With a low shout, he slammed his palms onto the ground!
Amidst a thunderous roar, eight thick stone walls rose from the ground and instantly closed together, wrapping him and Wen Tao tightly inside to form a massive stone fortress.
No matter how frantically the monsters outside clawed and rammed it, the stone sphere remained unmoved.
Zhang Sheng's Divine Sense, however, remained like a cold viper, tightly coiled around a graceful figure in the fray—Li Meier!
That provocation by Xiao Xuantian must have been instigated by this woman!
As a fellow Qinglan Guard, this woman had an excellent reputation within Qinglan Academy. Even now, while she said nothing, several experts in the Divine Power Realm were spontaneously guarding her side.
However, when a Cultivator shielding her was pounced on by several monsters and instantly drained of his blood essence, turning into dry bones, Zhang Sheng's sharp gaze pierced through the chaos and clearly captured the change in Li Meier's beautiful eyes—only cold indifference!
She possessed a powerful Eye Technique and clearly had the Opportunity to intervene and rescue him just now, yet she chose to remain indifferent!
These grey-shadow monsters were even more bizarre and difficult to deal with than the seven outside the first stone gate!
Screams rose and fell; Cultivators kept falling, only to be submerged by the swarming monsters.
Zhang Sheng also noticed that Li Meier was not the only expert on the scene with an Eye Technique, but most of them were flickering their gazes, either closing their eyes to focus solely on protecting themselves or watching coldly as others died miserably, with no one extending a helping hand.
After the grey monsters were killed and dissipated, they would leave behind pitch-black crystals the size of pigeon eggs, shimmering with a faint, eerie light.
Zhang Sheng was quick-eyed and nimble-handed; he snatched one and held it in his palm. An incomparably pure and cool, jade-like Mental Energy instantly surged into his Sea of Consciousness!
"Good stuff!" He felt a surge of joy in his heart and didn't hesitate to put the black crystal into his storage ring.
Looking around, the others were clearly more active in killing the monsters, their eyes flashing with greed. Clearly, the marvelous use of these soul crystals had already been discovered by everyone!
Zhang Sheng no longer hesitated. He formed hand seals with both hands, and blinding electric light leaped from his fingertips!
"Crackle, crackle, crackle!" Bolts of swift lightning struck the monsters with precision. Killing, snatching crystals—his movements were flowing and seamless, all done in one go!
Finally, no new monsters poured out from the second stone gate, and the remaining ones in the area were quickly wiped out by the collective efforts of everyone.
His Divine Sense swept over the devastated battlefield; the number of survivors had plummeted.
Someone silently bent down, removed a storage ring from the finger of a corpse that was still warm, and then flicked a wisp of true fire to burn the body to ashes.
A short-haired Cultivator nearby, holding a twelve-foot spear, witnessed this scene. His eyes were wide with rage, and he pointed his spear tip directly at the man, roaring: "You bastard! When a person dies, the lamp goes out; you still want to profit from the dead?!"
The man casually slipped the storage ring onto his own hand, a cruel sneer curling his lips: "Should I leave it to feed the next wave of monsters? If he died, it's because he had no ability! This storage ring is just waste recycling. What? If you end up lying down in a moment, don't worry, I promise to give you the same 'treatment'!"
"You—!" The spear-wielding Cultivator's eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins. His lips trembled violently, his teeth clenched tight, and his knuckles gripping the spear made a soft cracking sound from excessive force, the spear shaft itself humming slightly! But in the end, he didn't say another word, though that suppressed rage seemed as if it would ignite the air.
Zhang Sheng's gaze fell on the spear and its owner. A flash of inspiration crossed his mind, and he quickly recalled information from the fledgling tiger ranking—Lin Ming!
A Genius in the top one thousand of the ranking, though he had not yet formally stepped into the Divine Power Realm, his combat power far exceeded that of ordinary Divine Power Realm Cultivators. He was an Ascender who had only risen to prominence in recent years!
The surrounding Cultivators, regarding this scene, were either expressionless or had a faint, mocking curl to their lips, fully revealing the cold reality of the cultivation world.
There were ninety-seven Cultivators when they arrived; now, only forty-five remained! The storage rings left behind by the dead had all fallen into the hands of the living.
Zhang Sheng quietly retreated half a step, his aura retracted, as if blending into the shadows of the background, doing his utmost to minimize his presence.
Xiao Buyu's voice broke the heavy silence, carrying a trace of imperceptible fatigue: "Let's go! The main hall is just ahead!"
He still took the lead, his figure disappearing into the broken gap of the second stone gate.
Someone cast a light-element Spell, and the soft glow dispelled the thin black mist remaining in the passage ahead that had been blocking their Divine Sense.
After traveling a short distance, the view suddenly opened up! An extremely spacious main hall appeared before their eyes, estimated to be a thousand meters in circumference!
As everyone entered, the airflow above the ground shifted slightly. Those originally scattered and fallen meditation cushions, shattered stone tables and chairs, and the murals on the surrounding walls, covered in the dust of ages with their primitive and strange lines, were revealed under the faint light.
In the center of the main hall, an exquisite stone platform standing several feet above the ground stood quietly.
Zhang Sheng felt as if he could traverse time and space, seeing billions of years ago: high on the platform, immortal music drifted, and an expert was expounding on the Dao; below the platform on the meditation cushions, a crowd of Cultivators listened, intoxicated and entranced, to the profound principles of Divine Abilities...
However, the scene before him exuded an air of ruin and chaos, as if this place had once experienced a terrifying catastrophe.
With the influx of fresh airflow, the dust that had been sealed for who knows how many millions of years was disturbed, and those long-decayed stone tables and meditation cushions silently turned into fine ash, falling with a rustling sound.
Song Xuan Sha's figure flickered, transforming into a crimson streak of light, and he instantly appeared on the central platform. With a sweep of his sleeve, he took the only intact, seemingly ordinary meditation cushion on the platform into his possession—to have survived to this day through such long ages, this object was definitely no ordinary item!
Other Cultivators also scattered, searching in the corners of the hall and along the edges of the murals for potential surviving treasures. A rusty, ancient lamp and a fragment of Ore shimmering with a strange metallic luster were carefully collected.
Xiao Buyu and his group did not move. Their gazes were like torches; they had long since judged that this place was a place for expounding the Dao, and apart from that meditation cushion, there were no major treasures left behind.
Zhang Sheng's attention, however, was not on these trifles. His sharp gaze scanned every inch of the hall, thinking to himself: "A sealed ruin... where is the remains of the owner of the Immortal Cave?"
Soon, everyone discovered that this spacious hall, in addition to the way they came, was actually connected to three tightly closed, massive stone gates!
"Your Highness Xuansha," Xiao Buyu looked at Song Xuan Sha, "Three paths, where should we go?"
Song Xuan Sha's gaze swept over the three stone gates, his tone indifferent: "Three paths, let everyone rely on their own Opportunity."
Before the words had even faded, he raised his hand and pushed through the air, and the stone gate in the middle opened in response!
There was no Formation light, no monster screeching, and no thick black mist. Behind the gate was a deep, dark passage. Embedded sporadically on the cave walls were night-luminescent pearls emitting a faint glow, like ghost eyes in the darkness.
His Divine Sense probed in, but it was still like a clay ox entering the sea, unable to penetrate deep.
Almost simultaneously, the stone gates on the left and right were also pushed open by other Cultivators, and the situation was identical—deep, dark, and with Divine Sense obstructed.
Everyone's tense nerves finally relaxed, and they let out a long sigh. The real choice was before them: three unknown paths!
Song Xuan Sha did not hesitate, stepping into the middle stone gate in one stride. Xiao Buyu and the seven other guards followed closely behind.
"Zhang Sheng, follow me!" Song Xuan Sha's voice echoed in Zhang Sheng's Sea of Consciousness.
Zhang Sheng looked troubled and quickly responded: "Your Highness, I am honored, but my cultivation is low, and I fear I will become a burden. Being able to witness such a scene is already a stroke of luck. I will wait here in the hall for Your Highness's triumphant return and soak up some of the good fortune."
"Heh, suit yourself. When I obtain the treasures, don't be envious!" Song Xuan Sha's voice carried a hint of mockery, and his figure quickly disappeared into the darkness of the middle passage.
Zhang Sheng remained standing where he was, like a rooted stone pillar.
The other Cultivators, seeing this, immediately surged toward the stone gate on the left—compete with Song Xuan Sha? They weren't that stupid.
Li Meier moved with light steps, merging into the stream of people entering the left stone gate. At the moment the shadow of the stone gate was about to swallow her, Zhang Sheng keenly noticed that the corner of her eye seemed to glance extremely subtly in his direction.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang Sheng," Qian Che's voice echoed in Zhang Sheng's Sea of Consciousness. He and Wen Tao had finished refining the Spirit Medicine in their hands, and their auras had recovered quite a bit. "Which side are you planning to go to? If the three of us join forces, we'll have a better chance."
Zhang Sheng did not answer immediately. His gaze, like the most precise scanner, repeatedly examined the three open stone gates and the darkness extending behind them.
Based on the secret archives he had consulted before setting out, he deduced that these three paths most likely led to: the Immortal Cave owner's core meditation room, the treasure pavilion housing Magic Treasures and secret techniques, and the herb garden for cultivating heaven and earth Spirit Medicine!
Among them, the herb garden had the lowest value—after endless ages without care, the spirit plants had long since turned to dust, leaving only ruins.
When the stone gate on the right was pushed open, an indescribable, thick aura of mustiness, decay, and the fishy smell of soil surged out, instantly permeating the entire main hall!
The vast majority of Cultivators immediately frowned and covered their noses, judging almost instantly: behind this gate must be that worthless, abandoned herb field! Almost no one chose this path.
However, Zhang Sheng's gaze lingered for a moment on the entrance of the dark passage filled with the aura of decay. His eyes narrowed, he hesitated no longer, and his figure moved like lightning, silently flashing into the stone gate on the right that emitted the aura of corruption!