Chapter 976

"Since there are demonic artifacts as a reward, I will naturally do my best." The Ancient Demon nodded indifferently.

"Good, having your word is enough. Everyone, follow me into the bottom of the lake. Although this place is remote, we must still be careful not to be bumped into by passing cultivators, to avoid extra complications." After the square-faced cultivator finished saying this, spiritual light flashed on his body, and he fell straight toward the lake surface.

Seeing this, the others also flew down one after another.

In the blink of an eye, after the lake water rippled, these cultivators disappeared from the lake surface without a trace, leaving only a clear breeze blowing over the lake, silent and soundless.

And at the bottom of the Yin-Yang Cave, ten thousand miles away from the small lake, Han Li's party encountered some small trouble.

With a thought from Han Li, a cluster of golden light burst forth from before him, easily smashing the single-horned Yin ghost that had lunged at him from the opposite side into smithereens.

Almost at the same time, golden light flashed above his head and beneath his feet, slicing the other two into halves with a sword, after which their ghost bodies turned into clusters of black mist and dissipated.

Only then did Han Li shift his gaze to look at the others beside him; the old man surnamed Fu and the others were also driving their magic treasures, having exterminated the other few ghost creatures as well.

These Yin ghosts were all small in size and petite, but each one was baring fangs and brandishing claws, fierce and unafraid of death.

Han Li did not show joy on his face; instead, he frowned.

"Brother Fu, we have been walking for several days. We still haven't found any traces of the Yin Spirit Horse. Although these ghost creatures are just low-tier ghosts condensed from Yin energy and lack even spiritual intelligence, killing our way through like this is not a solution." The burly man surnamed Yuan couldn't help but say what Han Li wanted to say after pointing his hand and piercing a small ghost with a green flame.

"Brother Yuan, don't be impatient. This underground cave is so large, and the Yin Spirit Horse is adept at concealment; how could it be discovered so easily? Although these little ghosts are endless, killing them is effortless for us. As long as we pay attention to using spirit stones to recover our magic power, we can hold out for a considerable amount of time." The old man surnamed Fu, however, was confident.

"That may be true, but resisting this Soul-Startling Yin Wind also consumes quite a bit of magic power. With our mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivation, we can stay underground for at most two months." Bai Bai Yaoyi looked at the situation around them and sighed lightly.

They were in a massive passage, about several dozen zhang high, with sparkling black cold ice covering the earth walls on both sides. And the black wind, which was much thicker than at the entrance, swirled around them incessantly, emitting bursts of terrifying sharp shrieks that made one's heart tremble and one's mind unstable.

But as soon as these Yin winds entered the halo emitted by the old man's treasure pearl, they were automatically neutralized by more than half. Even so, Han Li and the others were still covered in dazzling spiritual light, not daring to let the residual black wind touch their bodies at all.

And those little ghosts emerged incessantly from the black wind all around, lunging at the few people like moths to a flame.

When cold light flashed and a little ghost was turned into an ice sculpture by Bai Bai Yaoyi's flying knife and shattered into powder, the ghost creatures around were finally swept clean. The few people immediately retrieved their magic treasures and continued to drift forward along the passage.

There were bursts of Yin wind in this Yin-Yang Cave, and spiritual sense could not be released too far, so no one dared to drive their escape light at high speed. Otherwise, they could have explored all the passages in just a few days' time.

After only a short while, the black wind ahead suddenly intensified, and a three-forked intersection suddenly appeared in the wind, with one large and two small passages appearing before the five people.

The figures of the few people naturally paused.

"Another intersection; this won't do. If there are a few more forks, two months will not be enough for us to investigate all the caves; we must act separately." Han Li's eyes flashed with cold light as he spoke suddenly.

"Separately? But there is only one Purple Nether Pearl. Without the protection of this pearl, the consumption of magic power to resist the Soul-Startling Yin Wind will immediately double, and the time we can stay in the cave will be even shorter." The burly man surnamed Yuan glanced at the treasure pearl in the old man's hand and shook his head.

"If it is the Purple Nether Pearl, this old man can consume some essence blood to temporarily reinforce the divine light of this pearl for you fellow daoists. But the time cannot be sustained for long; as long as the size of the Soul-Startling Yin Wind remains unchanged, it can be maintained for about seven or eight days each time." The old man surnamed Fu said with a flicker of expression.

"Seven or eight days should be enough for us to explore a branched passage. But we must be able to accurately find you, Fellow Daoist, to reinforce it again before the Purple Nether divine light is exhausted. Therefore, we must leave magic power marks on each other so that we can rely on secret techniques to find each other." Han Li seemed to have considered this.

"Although it is unlikely, what if we encounter a high-tier ghost creature that one person cannot deal with?" Bai Bai Yaoyi frowned slightly and said.

"Hmph! If it's a ghost creature that even mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators like us cannot deal with, it is at the very least a Ghost King level. This is not the true Yin Underworld; how could such a ghost creature be formed by just this Yin energy? At most, there are a few fierce ghosts in the depths of the cave. The rumored Ghost Kings equivalent to great cultivators are just random rumors from others; who has ever seen one with their own eyes? This risk is worth taking. Otherwise, once the magic power is exhausted and the Yin wind weakening period ends, it will be even harder for us to enter this place again." The burly man surnamed Yuan, as a Southern Border cultivator, naturally knew more about the situation of the Yin-Yang Cave.

The old man surnamed Fu and the beautiful woman in black couldn't help but look at each other upon hearing this, and both of them revealed a hint of hesitation on their faces.

Originally, to ensure safety, they had never thought of acting separately. But the vastness of the Yin-Yang Cave's underground and the number of passages and caves far exceeded their original expectations. If they did not act separately, it was truly possible they would return empty-handed.

Bai Bai Yaoyi also seemed to be persuaded; after pondering for a moment, she no longer voiced any opposition.

"Fine. Let's follow the words of you fellow daoists. But everyone, take note: do not leave this old man for more than three days' journey, otherwise it may be too late to find this old man to reinforce the divine light." The old man surnamed Fu finally made a decision and cautioned them carefully.

"Rest assured, there must be a main passage in this underground cave; I imagine the branched passages cannot be too long. Three days is enough for us to explore clearly." Han Li looked at the passages of varying sizes at the intersection and said indifferently.

Hearing Han Li say this, the old man did not hesitate to open his mouth and spray a cluster of essence blood onto the Purple Nether Pearl.

The pearl shone brilliantly!

The old man cast several incantations in succession, then grabbed at the void toward the treasure pearl with one hand.

Suddenly, a cluster of piercing purple light emerged from the pearl and flew slowly to the old man's hand.

The old man held the purple light in his hand, swept his gaze over the other four people, and immediately flicked his hand toward the beautiful woman in black beside him.

Purple light flashed, and the light cluster instantly sank into the beautiful woman's body and disappeared without a trace. Following this, a layer of purple light emerged, shrouding the beautiful woman within it, exactly the same as the halo of the Purple Nether Pearl.

Seeing that this secret technique was indeed effective, the burly man and the others felt at ease, and then they let the old man surnamed Fu do the same for them.

After the few people planted magic power marks on each other, they divided into three groups and entered the three passages respectively.

The old man surnamed Fu naturally grouped with his Junior Martial Sister and took the lead in entering the thickest passage in the middle, while the burly man and Han Li each entered the passages on the left and right.

And after Bai Bai Yaoyi hesitated for a moment, she followed Han Li into the same passage.

Sensing that the palace-dressed woman had come out behind him, Han Li hesitated slightly before slowing down his speed until the woman flew to his side, and the two advanced side by side.

"Does Brother Han feel that this Yin-Yang Cave is somewhat unworthy of its name! It is said that once a cultivator enters this cave, they will be separated by Yin and Yang, seemingly extremely dangerous. But after we entered the cave, apart from the Soul-Startling Yin Wind being somewhat troublesome, we haven't truly encountered any major trouble. Could it be that the name of the forbidden land is just blown out of proportion?" Bai Bai Yaoyi asked suddenly as soon as she caught up to Han Li.

Han Li was somewhat surprised to hear this, but he replied with a faint smile:

"Although I don't know much about this place, the name of the seven forbidden lands of Great Jin should not be false. Fellow Daoist Bai, don't forget that this Soul-Startling Yin Wind is so powerful; if a cultivator below the Nascent Soul stage were to enter this place, even with their natal magic treasure protecting them, they would be torn into fragments by the Yin wind vortices at the entrance. It is only because we have the protection of the Purple Nether Pearl's divine light and our own cultivation bases are far beyond ordinary cultivators that we have been safe and sound until now. Moreover, we have only entered the underground for a few days, and what we have seen has always been the lowest-tier Yin ghosts; if we go deeper, the Yin energy will certainly be thicker, and there should be more powerful ghost creatures."

"Brother Han's words are reasonable; it is I who was somewhat impatient. Eh, these Yin ghosts are here again!"

Bai Bai Yaoyi had only spoken a few words with Han Li when suddenly seven or eight of the previous Yin ghosts emerged from the nearby Yin wind, lunging fiercely at the two of them.

Cold light and golden radiance burst forth, and in the blink of an eye, these ghost creatures were slaughtered clean by the two.

Just like that, the two temporarily formed a team and searched forward slowly. After more than half a day, they had found nothing.

Just as the two emerged empty-handed from a cave again, suddenly the Yin wind brought a burst of shrieking sounds, the sound shrill and piercing, filled with tyrannical intent.

"What is this?" Bai Bai Yaoyi was stunned.

"It seems to be the sound of a corpse-refining ghost; it looks like we've encountered a high-tier ghost creature." Han Li's eyes flashed as he said indifferently.

"Corpse-refining ghost? Such a coincidence!" The palace-dressed woman raised her eyebrows, somewhat surprised.

The two were naturally unafraid and followed the sound forward.

As a result, after a turn in the passage ahead, a cave several zhang high suddenly appeared on one side of the passage. Black wind whistled incessantly within, far more fierce than the Yin wind in the passage.

And that ghost shrieking sound was faintly transmitted from this cave.

"Eh! What is this?" Bai Bai Yaoyi caught sight of an object stuck beside the entrance of the cave, but its entire body was frozen in cold ice, sparkling and translucent.

Bai Bai Yaoyi raised her hand, and several fist-sized fireballs shot out, striking the object.

Suddenly, with a bang, the crimson flames melted the cold ice instantly, revealing the true face of the object.

It was actually a blue flying sword, its entire body embedded in the wall, with only a small half-section exposed.

But the moment the cold ice melted, the originally dead-like flying sword suddenly flickered with weak spiritual light, emitting bursts of clear ringing sounds, and then the sword hilt began to tremble incessantly, wanting to break free from the ice wall like a spirit snake.

A look of surprise appeared on Bai Bai Yaoyi's jade face; she shook her fragrant sleeve, and a crimson rope shot out from her sleeve. With a flash of red light, it wrapped around the sword hilt.

With a light shake, she pulled the flying sword out of the ice wall and swept it into her jade hand.

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