Chapter 274: Clues

At this, both of them were somewhat dumbfounded.

Especially True Monarch Guiling; after hovering above a hundred-foot-tall boulder and observing his surroundings carefully for nearly the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, his facial muscles twitched incessantly.

This giant bird was likely only Fourth-Rank, and in his eyes, its defense and attack power were not considered formidable, but it was a creature native to this fog, and thus more accustomed to the environment and terrain here; he had not expected that after this chase, not only would he lose track of the bird, but he would even become completely disoriented.

However, both were people with firm Dao hearts, so after a brief observation and exchange, they decided to continue expanding their search range.

Judging by the previous situation, Wang Daolin was likely in grave danger.

When Wang Daolin was first snatched away by the giant bird, he was still screaming miserably and calling for help incessantly.

But as the chase dragged on, the cries grew weaker and weaker, until finally, there was no sound at all.

Although Wang Daolin's character was lacking, his strength among the six was quite good, and he counted as a very powerful teammate.

Losing one person would naturally have a huge impact on the subsequent search operation.

Therefore, the two decided to try their best to find a way to rescue Wang Daolin.

They set a time limit of one hour; if they truly could not find him, they would give up.

Because if they still could not find him after an hour, it was estimated that Wang Daolin would have already turned into a pile of bird droppings.

At the moment, it was unclear exactly how far they had penetrated into the Fog Zone, but they could only roughly estimate it to be around one hundred miles.

Even if they were lost at this distance, it was not a death trap for the two of them; it would just take more time, and they would certainly be able to get out, which was the reason why the two did not intend to abandon Wang Daolin.

Likewise, as the two walked, they left various marks along the way.

Soon, more than half an hour passed, and the two had searched a radius of several hundred miles without finding any trace of the giant bird. Just as they were discussing and preparing to withdraw, a violent crashing sound suddenly came from deep within the white fog, followed by sharp bird cries.

The two exchanged a glance, then simultaneously unfolded their figures, flashing like lightning and leaving behind several afterimages, disappearing in the direction of the sound in the blink of an eye.

Before long, the two stopped together around a clearing of boulders more than ten miles away.

The scene was incredibly chaotic with mud and rocks, and some feathers and a large amount of blood were scattered on the ground, along with a huge, broken, grayish-white eggshell.

"Waa~ waa~"

Suddenly, two slightly harsh sounds rang out not far away. Both of them swept their Divine Sense over simultaneously and discovered that a furry bird head was poking out from a gap in a pile of collapsed rubble, screaming at them.

This was a hatchling!

Xu Chen made a judgment instantly.

Judging from the eggshells scattered at the scene, this should be the nest of that giant bird.

It was just that the nest seemed to have been attacked by another Demon Beast; the giant bird had either been killed and dragged away, or it had gone off to chase the Demon Beast.

"Eh, there is someone inside, it seems to be Daoist Friend Wang!"

Xu Chen's Divine Sense observed the furry hatchling stuck by the rocks for a moment before penetrating into the gap, and he was surprised to see a figure pressed underneath; the aura was exactly that of Wang Daolin.

Upon hearing this, True Monarch Guiling raised his hand and grabbed; immediately, a whirlwind of Spirit Qi roared out, sweeping away the entire pile of collapsed rubble. Even the small bird, weighing several dozen catties, was tossed a hundred feet away, and a man wearing tattered animal skins was wrapped in Spirit Qi and pulled out.

"The body is not seriously harmed, he has only fainted."

Before the person even landed, True Monarch Guiling had already sensed Wang Daolin's state. He pointed his fingers in the air at his glabella and several vital points in succession, inputting Spirit Qi to activate his vitality, and then used a Soul Impact on his soul. Wang Daolin's body shook violently a few times and he suddenly opened his eyes.

After being dazed and blank for several breaths, Wang Daolin slowly came to his senses. After feeling himself all over, he discovered that he seemed to be unharmed, so he let out a long breath, climbed up in both surprise and joy, and bowed to thank True Monarch Guiling and Xu Chen.

True Monarch Guiling frowned and said, "There is no need for thanks, but because of your carelessness, we have already lost our way trying to save you!"

Wang Daolin's face immediately became incredibly ugly. He did not dare to refute and could only bow submissively and say, "Senior, it was indeed my negligence; I did not observe the appearance of this Demon Beast. What should we do now?"

True Monarch Guiling said, "Since you are fine, we still need to find the way back as soon as possible. Did you observe what happened just now?"

Wang Daolin's face turned bright red, and he lowered his head in embarrassment, saying, "That giant bird's strength was too great; it completely suppressed this junior's vital energy and soul. This junior truly does not know what happened afterward."

True Monarch Guiling was speechless, sighed, and said, "To think you are a cultivator of the Danyuan Realm, yet so useless!"

Wang Daolin was so ashamed he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. He dug his toes fiercely into the mud and sand on the ground, feeling both ashamed and angry inside, but he did not dare to show it in the slightest.

"Senior, this place is not suitable for a long stay; it is better to leave as soon as possible. This should be the nest of these giant birds; there might be more than one..."

"Boom~"

"Waa~~~"

Just as Xu Chen was speaking, another crash suddenly came from the thick fog, followed by the giant bird's unique, harsh, shrill cry.

However, the distance seemed very far, and Xu Chen's Divine Sense could not detect it at all.

True Monarch Guiling observed intently for a moment before shaking his head dejectedly: "The distance is too great, at least ten miles away. My Divine Sense cannot see clearly at all, but that direction seems a bit strange."

"What is strange?" Xu Chen asked curiously.

"Hmm, I can't quite put my finger on it. It seems there is a chaotic fluctuation of Spirit Qi, but it is very weak and not very clear," True Monarch Guiling said.

"Chaotic Spirit Qi?!"

This time, not only was Xu Chen surprised, but even Wang Daolin exclaimed, then said with an excited and urgent face, "Senior, if there is a chaotic Spirit Qi fluctuation, does that not mean there are high-grade Magic Treasures or arrays nearby?"

True Monarch Guiling frowned, thought for a moment, and nodded: "What you say makes some sense."

Xu Chen was somewhat puzzled, so he asked, "How so?"

Wang Daolin hurriedly explained, "Daoist Friend Xu may have had little contact with spirit arrays in the past. In reality, any spirit object existing in the natural world has a fixed Spirit Qi fluctuation; regardless of strength, its nature is singular and will absolutely not be chaotic. Only man-made Magic Treasures and some complex arrays will mix various different Spirit Materials and construct complex spirit arrays to form various different functions. Almost no one has come to the depths of this Fog Zone; although there are a small number of spirit objects, they are all things like spirit plants. If a complex Spirit Qi fluctuation suddenly appears, it is definitely not a natural product."

Xu Chen suddenly realized upon hearing this.

Although his artifact refining was a mess, his knowledge regarding artifact refining was considered rich, especially his knowledge of basics and arrays, which could even be called profound.

In a natural environment, it was indeed unlikely for an object with chaotic Spirit Qi to appear.

Therefore, he was also somewhat excited and said, "Senior, we had best go and take a look; perhaps this is also a clue."

True Monarch Guiling nodded and said, "True, but that giant bird seems to be in a fierce battle with another Demon Beast. Do not be careless. This poor Daoist rarely comes to the depths of this white fog; if there is another accident, I fear we will truly be unable to return!"

Xu Chen and Wang Daolin both nodded vigorously, and the three of them soon left together.

A quarter of an hour later, the three arrived at a place with scattered rubble.

It could be seen that a violent battle had taken place here just moments ago; rubble of all sizes was scattered all over the ground, and there were even several large pits on the ground. On a few boulders, there were indentations that looked like they had been pecked by a bird's beak and traces similar to those made by giant claws.

The scene was still littered with quite a bit of blood and fallen feathers.

Clearly, two Demon Beasts of equal strength had had a brief fight here before running off again.

The three of them had no interest in these traces of combat; they released their Divine Sense to carefully watch for danger in the surroundings while searching for any suspicious locations.

"Found it~"

True Monarch Guiling possessed a powerful Divine Sense and quickly located the place where the Spirit Qi fluctuated.

Soon, the three of them arrived in front of a cave.

This was clearly a large hole dug out by some formidable Demon Beast beneath a boulder the size of a small hill; it was at least two zhang in diameter and looked like a massive cavern, and indeed, there were chaotic Spirit Qi fluctuations inside, which were still normal Five Elements Spirit Qi.

The cave was about a hundred zhang deep, and since the Divine Sense of all three was sufficiently powerful, they could see the situation inside clearly just by probing slightly.

At the end of the cave was a large nest piled up with gravel and all sorts of messy weeds and thorns, and the Spirit Qi fluctuations were emanating from within and around this stone nest.

"Let's go, let's go in and take a look!"

True Monarch Guiling took the lead, stirred up a gust of white mist, and charged into the cave; Xu Chen and Wang Daolin also hurriedly followed, arriving at the deepest part of the cave in a moment.

The massive stone nest was estimated to be seven or eight zhang in size, occupying almost the entire cave.

The inside of the nest was a mess, but it was clear that something frequently inhabited this place; not only were there large amounts of residual blood and excrement all around, but there were also a great number of dried or fresh bones, each as thick as a waist, and the sight of some of the huge, ferocious skulls was particularly hair-raising.

True Monarch Guiling raised his hand and grabbed an object from amidst the chaotic bones; it had Spirit Qi fluctuations and was, surprisingly, a broken Array Disk.

Xu Chen also quickly found a source of Spirit Qi fluctuations from within the messy thorns and withered grass.

This was a Storage Bag, and its exterior looked quite intact.

However, the Soul Locking Array inside had already been destroyed, and it was empty, containing nothing at all.

"There's more here!"

As Wang Daolin spoke, he also found a Magic Treasure from a crevice in the stone nest; it was actually a Flying Sword, but it had already snapped into two pieces and was completely ruined.

"There's more here too!"

Xu Chen swept his Divine Sense around and quickly discovered a purple object in a pile of excrement; he used his Yuan Qi to blast the excrement away and levitated the object in the air to examine it closely—it was a shattered Jade Bottle.

"Eh, this is the Ziyu Baoling Bottle of Zichen Hall," Wang Daolin said, stunned and surprised.

True Monarch Guiling's expression changed as he asked, "Could you be talking about Zichen Hall, the number one sect of the Yue Kingdom?"

Wang Daolin hurriedly nodded and said, "That's right, this kind of Ziyu Baoling Bottle is a signature Magic Treasure of Zichen Hall, and only Elders in the Danyuan Realm can use it. It seems a master from Zichen Hall also fell in here, but it appears their luck was poor; they didn't find a way out and ended up falling into the mouth of a Demon Beast deep within the white mist."

(End of this chapter)