Chapter 284: The Soul-Bewitching Stone Forest

A distance of several hundred miles was covered in an instant.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, the two appeared upon the Teleportation Array.

"Everyone, come quickly to the Teleportation Array to regroup; I have already found the passage to leave this place!"

Xu Chen's voice rang out in the ears of Guiling Zhenjun, Lu An, Zhong Hui, and Wang Daolin.

Soon, a ripple of spiritual light appeared, and Guiling Zhenjun emerged on the Teleportation Array. Seeing Xu Chen, he could not help but be both shocked and delighted, bowing deeply as he said, "This time, surviving the tribulation was thanks to Daoist Friend Xu's assistance; otherwise, this poor Daoist would have already perished and vanished."

Xu Chen returned the bow and smiled, "Senior, you are too kind. In truth, it was not entirely this junior's credit, but there are other hidden circumstances that are inconvenient to disclose at this moment!"

Guiling Zhenjun nodded hurriedly, "Understood, understood. The divine abilities of a Demon Lord are not something we small cultivators of the Mortal World can fathom."

Xu Chen breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that it was best if he thought that way, but he still sent a voice transmission to remind him, "Senior, regarding the matter of Demon Lord Youtong, please keep it a secret in the future. It is fine to speak of it in the Underworld, but it is said that the Mortal World and the Underworld have had a deep blood feud since ancient times. If this spreads, I fear it will be disadvantageous for us both!"

Guiling Zhenjun nodded vigorously, his expression earnest as he promised, "Rest assured, Daoist Friend Xu, I will absolutely not reveal a single word of it!"

At this moment, three streaks of light were speeding over from different directions.

Xu Chen stopped the conversation and bowed in congratulation, "Congratulations, Senior, on surviving the Great Tribulation of the Spirit Transformation. From now on, our Shenzhou has gained another true True Monarch."

Guiling Zhenjun's expression turned wistful, his face full of gratitude as he said, "Today's Heavenly Tribulation was truly terrifying, more than ten times stronger than what this poor Daoist had originally anticipated. Now that I have fortunately survived, it feels like a dream from which I have yet to wake. There are still three ferocious Demon Beasts here, and even with my current strength, I fear I am powerless to deal with them, so we should leave as soon as possible. By the way, this treasure of yours should be returned..."

As he spoke, Guiling Zhenjun handed a blue Space Stone to Xu Chen with both hands, his face looking somewhat embarrassed.

"The Heavenly Tribulation was too strong just now, and this poor Daoist was forced to take it out to resist the Tribulation Lightning, but it has been somewhat damaged. When there is an opportunity in the future, I will certainly find something better to compensate you, Daoist Friend."

Xu Chen curiously took the Space Stone and probed it with his Divine Sense, discovering that the originally ten-foot-large, massive Nether Beast skull was now reduced to a single three-foot-long, pitch-black, curved horn, with a white jade-like lump growing on one end, and a pale golden crystal the size of a fist embedded in the center of the lump.

The aura of the entire curved horn was still indistinguishable from the Nether Beast skull, but the shape...

Xu Chen could not help but twitch his face a few times.

It was too indecent.

I fear it will be somewhat difficult to bring out in the future.

When others throw out Magic Treasures, they are either Flying Swords or Array Disks; if I throw out this thing, will people laugh their heads off?

Especially, how would those female immortals view it?

For a moment, Xu Chen stared at this treasure with mixed feelings.

He had previously felt that the Nether Beast skull was too large, crude, and barbaric, making it unsightly to bring out for a fight, and it was not very handy either.

He had once thought about waiting until he had time to refine it to see if he could change it into a better-looking and handier shape.

Now, the shape and size were indeed much handier, but the style was just too embarrassing.

Seeing Xu Chen's constipated expression, Guiling Zhenjun's old face also looked somewhat awkward, and he could only carefully apologize, "Daoist Friend Xu, this poor Daoist was forced by necessity just now. I will certainly find a way to compensate you later; I will definitely not let you suffer a loss, Daoist Friend."

Hearing this, Xu Chen laughed out loud, withdrew his Divine Sense from the Space Stone, and waved his hand, "Senior, you are too kind. I should be thanking you instead. I used to think this Nether Beast skull was too large to carry and use easily. Now that it has become like this during the Heavenly Tribulation, it actually saves me a lot of trouble. You must know that the skull was incredibly hard, and it was very troublesome to process; I had thought of many ways but could not break it. Now it is just right!"

Only then did Guiling Zhenjun breathe a sigh of relief and nod, "That is indeed true. Moreover, after experiencing this Heavenly Tribulation, this Nether Beast horn has also absorbed a lot of purple energy, and its power is only stronger, not weaker. If it were refined into a Magic Treasure, I fear there would not be many treasures in the Mortal World that could rival it."

Xu Chen was immediately astonished. He probed the Space Stone with his Divine Sense again and took out the black horn. Sure enough, the moment the horn was revealed, a rule-based aura, even more powerful than before, rippled out. Almost without Xu Chen needing to use the Slave Seal to drive the Nether Beast's demonic soul, he could feel waves of intense spatial fluctuations spreading out in layers in all directions. The entire Teleportation Array was trembling slightly, especially the teleportation passage above, which was flickering with light halos under the influence of these spatial rule fluctuations.

This was a sign that the spatial rules had manifested, reaching the standard of a sixth-grade spiritual object.

In other words, the Nether Beast skull had actually received the recognition of the Heavenly Rules during the process of resisting the Heavenly Tribulation, receiving a reward of purple energy, and even advancing in rank.

Could it be because of the Nether Beast's demonic soul inside?

Could a Nether Beast also survive a normal Heavenly Tribulation?

Xu Chen recalled the special blood-colored Heavenly Tribulation that occurred after he integrated the False Golden Core, and he felt he had gained a brand-new understanding of the creatures of the Underworld.

Just as Xu Chen was pondering this, the three streaks of light landed one after another on the teleportation altar.

Wang Daolin, Lu An, and Zhong Hui all stayed over a hundred feet away, their faces full of surprise and not daring to approach. Even Chen Yang, who had been standing by Xu Chen's side without speaking, kept retreating under the pressure of this terrifying spatial aura, his face full of horror, and his eyes even filled with awe and strangeness when looking at Xu Chen.

Before he went missing, Xu Chen had not yet entered the Taiyuan Sect, so the two were essentially strangers.

Meeting at the Minghuang Boundary, it was only because they belonged to the same sect that he felt a sense of intimacy. But as Xu Chen displayed more and more strange and incredible abilities, especially after experiencing the Heavenly Tribulation just now, he suddenly felt very strange toward Xu Chen.

This was because all the abilities Xu Chen displayed seemed to have nothing to do with the heritage of the Taiyuan Sect.

Xu Chen had no mind to care about the emotions of Chen Yang and the others. Seeing that everyone had arrived, he quickly put the Nether Beast horn into his mysterious gold bracelet, then released his Divine Sense to scan the entire space, discovering that the three ferocious Demon Beasts also seemed to be slowly approaching the Teleportation Array at this time. Therefore, he quickly said, "This place is not suitable for a long stay. I will activate the Teleportation Array to leave this space right now!"

As he spoke, Xu Chen took out the Space Stone and began to quickly fill the remaining slots. Soon, another illusory teleportation passage appeared.

Xu Chen breathed a sigh of relief, and soon he removed all the Space Stones from the stone pillars of the passage leading to Minghuang, only then saying to everyone, "If my deduction is correct, this passage leads to the Mortal World!"

Guiling Zhenjun took a step forward and said, "This poor Daoist will go out first to scout the situation; Daoist Friend Xu and everyone else can follow!"

After speaking, Guiling Zhenjun stepped into the illusory spatial passage and disappeared.

A moment later, Xu Chen said to Chen Yang and the others, "Let's go!"

Thus, the group followed Xu Chen one after another and rushed into the passage.

Southwest of Shenzhou, tens of thousands of miles deep in the Southern Border, there were vast mountains and primeval forests everywhere.

Here, the four seasons were like summer, with high heat, continuous rainy seasons, and streams and rivers roaring day and night. Various plants blocked the sky and sun, making it a paradise for birds, beasts, insects, and snakes.

In this deep mountain forest, rarely visited by humans, there was a strange place where steep mountain peaks, hundreds or thousands of feet tall, rose up like stone pillars, densely packed and reaching toward the sky, forming a rare stone forest landscape.

The stone forest was crisscrossed with gullies, and white mist lingered all year round.

This stone forest was like a labyrinth, already difficult to discern direction, and the white mist had the effect of isolating and confusing the Soul.

Once one entered it, even a Spirit Realm Great Cultivator could easily get lost.

This place was the most famous dangerous place in the Southern Border, ranked in the top three of the ten Evil Lands of Shenzhou, known as the Mihun Shilin.

Since time immemorial, countless immortal cultivators who could fly and escape had been lost within it, never to emerge again.

Therefore, this Mihun Shilin had almost become the largest forbidden zone for life in the Southern Border, and no one dared to venture deep into it.

However, although the Mihun Shilin was dangerous, it also grew a large number of Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure that were hard to find elsewhere in a hundred or a thousand years. Therefore, there were still cultivators from all over the world exploring the outskirts of the stone forest year-round to strike it rich.

Deep in the mist-filled forest, although the white mist was pervasive and the environment harsh, it was not devoid of life. On the contrary, apart from various rare flowers, exotic plants, and Demon Beasts that were hard to find in the outside world, there were even traces of human cultivator activity.

A male and a female, two Zhenyuan Realm cultivators, were fleeing for their lives in a wretched state.

The male cultivator was in his thirties, with a burly build and an honest-looking face.

The female cultivator is twenty-five or twenty-six, with a curvaceous figure and a pretty face.

However, at this moment, both of them have tattered clothes and are covered in wounds, their hair disheveled, looking like savages.

If not for the fluctuations of Yuan Qi as the two ran, it would be hard to associate them with cultivators capable of flying through the sky and escaping into the earth.

The two are moving very fast, constantly looking back in terror as they run.

Behind the two is a vast expanse of white mist, yet it seems nothing can be seen.

But the two do not feel safe at all; instead, their emotions are even more terrified.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

From within the maze-like fog comes a faint sound, like something hard scraping against gravel, making one's Soul feel incomparably numb and sore.

"Junior Sister, you go first, I will block the Fog Ghost?"

The man roars and turns around, a tattered-looking Flying Sword rising into the air, hovering a zhang above his head, releasing a faint green light that pushes the surrounding white mist away to clear a space of several zhang in radius.

"Senior Brother, I won't run anymore; we can't get out anyway, if we're going to die, we might as well die together!"

The woman also turns around and releases a Flying Sword, her pretty face deathly pale, standing shoulder to shoulder with the man.

The man originally wanted to shout a reprimand, but then a bitter smile appeared on his face, and he said in a gentle voice: "Junior Sister, although this Fog Ghost is troublesome, it is not impossible to deal with. I will entangle it for a moment, and then we will meet near the Altar."

The woman shakes her head and says: "No, this Fog Ghost is powerful. We haven't been able to shake it off for several days. Right now, our Spirit Pills are exhausted, and our Yuan Qi cannot be replenished. Even if we shake it off temporarily, we won't survive. It is better to fight to the death!"

The man shakes his head and says: "You cannot give up on searching for Fourth Senior Brother. That strange Altar might be the clue. You go quickly, I will lure the Fog Ghost away and then come to catch up with you!"

The woman's eyes turn red, and she shakes her head: "Actually, Master was right. Fourth Senior Brother's disappearance is my inner demon, which I have never been able to shake off. This time, I have implicated Eldest Senior Brother to suffer and endure hardship with me. How could I possibly flee for my own life? In fact, I have long since realized that Fourth Senior Brother must have passed away long ago. It is only because I was too stupid and too self-righteous that I implicated Eldest Senior Brother to die with me..."

"Actually... actually, I also know that Eldest Senior Brother is good to me. It is just a pity that after being trapped in this Foggy Stone Forest for so long, we have no way to escape alive. Otherwise, I would have accompanied Eldest Senior Brother for a lifetime, staying together day and night at the Taiyuan Sect."

The man stands blankly for a moment, a strange radiance appearing on his honest face. He grabs the woman's hand and says tenderly: "I have always had ordinary aptitude and never hoped for immortality. Now that I can die with Junior Sister, I am content. Since that is the case, let us join forces to deal with this Fog Ghost and live or die together!"

"Good, live or die together!" The woman nods, two lines of tears rolling down her cheeks uncontrollably.

The man reaches out to gently wipe away her tears and smiles: "We have practiced cultivation and refined Qi; at the very least, we are Foundation Establishment True Persons. It is not so easy for them to want us dead. Junior Sister, please provide cover for Senior Brother for now, and watch me turn it upside down with a slaughter first!"

Before the man's voice fades, a shriek that pierces the Soul is heard from the mist, and then a snow-white humanoid monster lunges out from the fog.

Almost simultaneously, the man pinches a sword incantation and presses forward, the Flying Sword hovering above his head suddenly releasing brilliant radiance, sweeping toward the monster.

(End of this chapter)