Chapter 493

Top-grade Spirit Stone?!

When the Vermilion Bird phantom shot up into the sky, a formation restriction appeared in the divine sense of all cultivators around, and someone quickly noticed that the formation base of this restriction was actually inlaid with top-grade spirit stones!

This is a top-grade spirit stone!

One piece is worth over a hundred high-grade spirit stones!

It's not that the total amount of spirit energy in a top-grade spirit stone is greater than that of over a hundred high-grade spirit stones; rather, the concentration of spirit energy in the two types of spirit stones is completely different.

Just as ordinary cultivators can recover mana by absorbing the spirit energy from medium-grade spirit stones but cannot absorb low-grade spirit stones, because the impurity level in low-grade spirit stones is too high; absorbing their spirit energy not only fails to restore mana, it can even affect one's cultivation base.

And the spirit energy in top-grade spirit stones is undoubtedly much purer than that in high-grade spirit stones.

Using the spirit energy from top-grade spirit stones to recover mana is obviously a waste; it is more suitable for refining some magical treasures or elixirs.

Of course, the most suitable use is naturally for constructing formations and restrictions.

You should know that even with Yunhe's current cultivation base and status, his storage bag contains only high-grade spirit stones, not a single top-grade spirit stone.

Because the spiritual energy of the cultivation world is gradually depleting, top-grade spirit stones have become a treasure far rarer than Four-Junction Elixirs.

As for saying that one top-grade spirit stone is worth a hundred high-grade spirit stones in price, one can only say that rarity drives value; even producing two hundred high-grade spirit stones may not find a trading partner.

After all, if any top-grade spirit stones were really circulating, they would have long been collected by the major sects of the Eastern Realm and kept as a reserve.

Yet such scarce items, at this moment appearing in the divine sense of all cultivators, are no fewer than forty or fifty pieces!

Not counting the concealed portions.

What a grand handiwork.

One cannot help but sigh in admiration; truly worthy of a top-tier God Transformation cultivator!

At the same time, the appearance of this restriction and the top-grade spirit stones undoubtedly conveys a message to all cultivators.

Without the 'Southern Vermilion Bird Token,' don't even think of entering this secret realm; even a formation grandmaster would be absolutely helpless against such a handiwork.

Furthermore, all cultivators wishing to enter the secret realm must consider carefully.

If that 'Vermilion Bird True Sovereign' has tampered with the restriction in this secret realm, getting in may be easy, but getting out might not be so simple.

Boom—

Accompanied by a series of muffled booms and the ground's tremor shifting from heavy to light, the restriction within Vermilion Bird Valley gradually stabilized.

When the entire Vermilion Bird Valley fell into silence, yet no cultivator, demon, sea, or abyss race took action for a long time.

A strange, heavy atmosphere gradually spread from Vermilion Bird Valley.

Undoubtedly, those who enter the secret realm first will have correspondingly more opportunities to obtain its treasures.

But likewise, they must first face unknown dangers.

Moreover, although most people have learned some details about the 'Vermilion Bird Secret Realm' through various channels, the true situation is unpredictable.

Hmph!

Just then.

A cold snort came from outside the valley.

Only see a cultivator clad in a black robe soaring into the air, his icy gaze sweeping the surroundings: 'Since none of you dare, let me take the lead!'

Rakshasa Old Devil!

Upon seeing the person who had flown up, many cultivators were secretly startled.

But soon.

The Rakshasa Old Devil then flew toward the edge of the restriction, while a reddish token resembling wood appeared in his hand.

After inputting the spell seal, the token trembled slightly and a fiery-red aura rose, gradually enveloping the Rakshasa Old Devil.

The next moment.

With a flash, he disappeared outside the restriction.

Only the ripples undulating on the restriction spoke of what had happened.

Let this old devil go first!

After the Rakshasa Old Devil disappeared, a burly man wearing a white fur robe flew out from the demon side, with two short whiskers at his mouth—none other than the Tiger King of the Howling Mountain Tiger clan, who had fought the Rakshasa Old Devil for three days and nights without a clear victor.

He seemed unwilling to show weakness, and quickly produced a token, sinking into the restriction.

With the Rakshasa Old Devil and the Howling Mountain Tiger Tiger King taking the lead, the cultivators outside the valley could no longer restrain themselves.

One by one they turned into rainbows and, in the blink of an eye, vanished outside the restriction.

Human cultivators, demons, sea folk, and abyss folk.

All beings possessing the 'Southern Vermilion Bird Token' became eager to rush in, fearing that if they entered late there would be no treasures left.

And at this moment.

Yunhe, from a mountain hollow fifty li outside Vermilion Bird Valley, also took out his token from his storage bag.

This token, which he had never been able to make sense of when he first obtained it, was now slightly warm.

Now Yunhe is no longer the tiny Foundation Establishment cultivator he once was; after understanding the 'Southern Vermilion Bird Token,' he had already conducted some research on it.

However, Yunhe still did not rush to enter.

Because Yuan Xi spared no expense of his lifespan to use the 'Heavenly Derivation Disk' to calculate for him, he believes his understanding of the situation inside the 'Vermilion Bird Secret Realm' is at least enough to rank among the top three of all cultivators present.

Of course, there is another reason.

The Mysterious Void Daoist of the Tai Xuan Zhengyi Sect has not entered either, and he still has not found any trace of the Heavenly Corpse Gu.

Given the importance of the Vermilion Bird Secret Realm, Yunhe absolutely does not believe the Heavenly Corpse Gu would miss it.

But given his current divine sense strength and the corpse-soul gu's ability to sense the Heavenly Corpse Gu after transformation, the fact that he has not detected it seems somewhat abnormal.

Whoosh—

The Yellow Springs Old Ancestor glanced down and also slipped into the restriction.

More and more Yuan Ying cultivators entered the restriction one after another.

Even.

Moreover, some Golden Core cultivators with better luck and extraordinary courage also seized the opportunity at this moment and flew into the restriction.

For Golden Core cultivators, the Vermilion Bird Secret Realm is extremely dangerous, but if they manage to obtain some benefits from it, perhaps they will have a prospect for Nascent Soul formation.

And at this time, revealing the Southern Ming Vermilion Bird Token no longer needs to worry about being robbed or ambushed.

Because when one gets close to the restriction of the Vermilion Bird Secret Realm, the Southern Ming Vermilion Bird Token gains a certain protective function.

However.

How many of these Golden Core cultivators will ultimately survive and walk out is uncertain.

It's even possible that not a single one will make it out.

Trying to snatch food from the tiger's mouth in front of a crowd of Nascent Soul cultivators—how easy could that be?

Hu—

Just as Yunhe was searching for the Heavenly Corpse Gu, Xuandu Daoist also flicked his whisk and escaped into the restriction.

Huh?

But before Xuandu Daoist flew into the restriction, his sweeping gaze caused Yunhe's brows to slightly furrow.

It seemed as if Xuandu Daoist 'saw' him?

'That's right, although my divine sense is not weak, Xuandu is after all an old monster who broke through to the late Nascent Soul stage over three hundred years ago; he might indeed notice.'

This situation also made Yunhe realize that after entering the secret realm, he cannot recklessly sweep out his divine sense just because it is strong.

Not only Xuandu Daoist, given the Yuan tribe's characteristic of strong divine sense, that high priest might also be able to detect.

This, however, gave Yunhe a warning.

He continued waiting for a period of time.

Indeed unable to find the Heavenly Corpse Gu, Yunhe no longer waited, he flashed out from the mountain hollow, holding the Southern Ming Vermilion Bird Token and turned into a rainbow light fleeing toward the restriction.

'It's the Five Elements Sword Ancestor!'

As soon as he appeared, he was also quickly recognized by others.

Weng—

Accompanied by a slight ripple of the restriction, he also disappeared into the Vermilion Bird Valley.

After a brief discomfort similar to riding a teleportation array, Yunhe quickly returned to normal and began to survey his surroundings.

The reaction when passing through the restriction let him confirm one thing.

The Vermilion Bird Secret Realm should be like the ruins of the Heavenly Insect Sect, a special space opened up in ancient times, independent of the cultivation world yet somehow connected.

At the same time, he also gained a rough understanding of where he was.

This is a pile of scattered stones, with dozens of disordered huge standing stones standing before him, and in the crevices around them grow many tough weeds; behind him is a slope, not very high, but beyond it stretch boundless forests as far as the eye can see, and both sides are also covered with dense greenery.

Of course, most importantly, there is not a single person around.

As for this, Yunhe was not particularly surprised.

After all, according to the information provided by Yuan Xi, the actual space of the Vermilion Bird Secret Realm is actually quite large, similar to the space inside Yunhe's Luo Tian Hu Lu, and it is continuously expanding.

However, compared to the Luo Tian Hu Lu, the growth speed of this space is much slower, and at the same time much more dangerous.

It is said that at the edge of this space there are extremely dangerous spatial turbulence and storms; even if a Nascent Soul cultivator gets swept in, the likelihood is basically ten deaths and no survival.

But even if the growth is slow, after thousands of years or even longer, the size of this space probably cannot be measured in just a few days.

Only cultivators carrying the Southern Ming Vermilion Bird Token can enter the restriction, and they will be randomly transmitted to any place within the secret realm. This matches exactly the information given by my senior brother.

Yunhe also felt somewhat fortunate.

Although the place where he landed appears to have no treasures and the spiritual energy is not very abundant, at least it is not a dangerous spot, nor a killing formation; otherwise, entering the secret realm would suffer a heavy blow, which is certainly not a good omen.

Huh?

Just as Yunhe thought that the insufficient spiritual energy here would yield no treasures, he slowly extended his divine sense and soon detected some anomalies.

His figure flickered.

Soon he arrived at the back of the slope.

He saw.

A palm-sized emerald-green spiritual plant was growing on this slope, its crystal-clear leaves reflecting a faint light, appearing extremely lively.

This spiritual plant is not particularly precious; even in the Yao Shou Shijie it could be considered a relatively easy-to-find type, but that it could grow so vigorously in such a spiritually deficient place is indeed somewhat unexpected.

Moreover.

For such a spiritual plant to be growing here like this, could there be no demonic beast tending it?

Because of the previous 'lesson,' Yunhe dared not fully unleash his divine sense, lest he invite unnecessary trouble; after roughly grasping the current situation around him, he withdrew his divine sense.

He also did not go to harvest this spiritual plant; instead, his figure flickered again, he employed an evasion technique and flew about three or four li before landing once more.

This time Yunhe became somewhat cautious, not as careless as before.

After he landed, not far ahead there was a vertical huge gap, like a large curtain cut with scissors into a medium-sized opening.

Moreover, near this gap, not only is the spiritual energy scarce to almost none, but the environment also appears extremely barren, with no spiritual plants or even rubble.

Precisely because, beside this gap, from time to time a nearly transparent, pale white blade, resembling a sickle, will suddenly appear.

After flying for a while and moving a certain distance away from the gap, it gradually dissipates, finally vanishing into nothingness.

'Is this the spatial power within the Vermilion Bird Secret Realm?'

Yunhe's eyes flickered.

Precisely because the space in which this secret realm resides is constantly 'growing,' the secret realm is not very stable, thus accompanied by some stronger spatial forces that carve out gaps; the blade that disperses outward is a spatial force.

This is also one of the more dangerous places in this secret realm.

However, what truly makes people wary is not these relatively 'stable' spatial gaps, but rather some inexplicable spatial rifts that suddenly appear.

If such a rift appears during a duel between two cultivators, accompanied by tumultuous spatial force, it's possible that neither cultivator will survive.

Hum—

As Yunhe was observing, a pale white blade suddenly shot out from that gap.

Seeing this, Yunhe slightly pursed his lips, his internal mana circulated, he raised his wrist, and a blade emitting the same peculiar fluctuation slashed out.

Space Power!

The two blades, one large and one small, collided, making a 'Peng' sound, and kicked up a considerable air wave.

However, the space power previously obtained quickly flew out from within the air wave, and only after flying a certain distance did it completely vanish into nothingness.

Yunhe nodded slightly.

Indeed, as expected of space power, even just a single strand is considerably more powerful than ordinary mid Nascent Soul cultivator's techniques.

But what pleased him most was that he himself also managed to unleash a strand of space power.

Although not as strong as the naturally formed one, this also proves that the spatial weakness within this secret realm allows his comprehended space power to have a hint of possibility to be exerted.

If in the outside world, with his current grasp of space power, although he could use it a little, he absolutely could not so easily unleash a space slash like this.

"If that's the case."

Yunhe's heart stirred slightly.

The next moment.

His body vanished out of thin air.

When he reappeared, he was actually three li away!

Instant Body Technique!

"Indeed."

Yunhe was both delighted and alarmed.

On one hand, his 'Instant Body Technique' in this secret realm has greater range and direction for teleportation, and is more accurate than in the cultivation world.

Part of this is due to his further comprehension of space power, but a larger part is because the secret realm's space is unstable.

But the hidden danger of spatial instability also follows.

Each time he uses the 'Instant Body Technique', he runs the risk of being swept into spatial turbulence.

That is to say.

Although this divine ability strengthens his survival capability, a slight mishap could do him in without any enemy action.

"Alright. Better first seek what we need."

Yunhe took out a Jade Slip and a compass.

Inside the Jade Slip, it records the positions calculated by Yuan Xi for 'Space Essence' and the possible locations of some other treasures.

With the compass, it can help him find these treasures more quickly.

(End of chapter)