Chapter 528

While Yan Buji searched for spiritual material, he also discovered a deeply hidden blood slaughter qi in this secret realm, though it seemed suppressed by some object, making the leaked aura very faint.

"Interesting, what exactly is Yu Fei hiding from me? And Gu Yue— that girl isn't some clueless airhead either; I deliberately mentioned my guess to her before, and her reaction suggests she also knows something about this secret realm."

Yan Buji recalled the situation before he even reached the Heavenly Meridian— both Yu Fei and Gu Yue knew more about this secret realm than he did, making it basically impossible to get information from them.

But do they even know their own true strength?

However, Yan Buji worries that perhaps one of them has obtained a great treasure from this secret realm and will use the terrain against him; no matter how strong Yan Buji is, he couldn't truly break the secret realm and defeat both of them.

Of course, this assumes they actually obtained some treasure. If it's something shameful or extremely terrifying that requires killing to keep secret, then Yan Buji also has to consider whether he should strike first to take the treasure.

"Eh, this is...."

Yan Buji looked down at what he was stepping on, picked it up, and examined it closely.

It was a transparent crystal, similar to quartz, but upon close inspection one could see faint wisps inside.

Yan Buji pinched and shattered the crystal, watching the wisps in his palm bounce about, impossible to grasp, so he instinctively used his mana to control them.

"Cloud‑Soaring Spider Silk... great stuff!" Yan Buji's eyes lit up.

This Cloud‑Soaring Spider Silk is an obscure spiritual material taken from the body of a demon beast called the Cloud‑Soaring Spider. Although its grade is only fourfold transformation, it actually possesses extraordinary toughness, comparable to some six‑transform immortal materials of the same type.

Of course, the drawback is obvious: the silk has high tensile strength but poor elasticity.

"But precisely because of that, if it's only used for small components, the refining cost isn't that high." Yan Buji smiled.

Since there is Cloudsoaring spider silk here, we might still be able to find traces of the Cloudsoaring spider.

It wouldn't be bad to catch a few and keep them.

Thinking this, Yan Buji pressed forward, following the traces and indeed found a pair of white spiders the size of a palm in a thicket!

"Chee-chee-chee!!"

"You want to apply for battle? Fine, just don't kill them—catch them for me."

"Chee-chee!"

Defiant Nightcandle flapped its wings, flew over and chirped a few times.

The two Cloudsoaring spiders were startled and hurriedly spat out silk.

But Defiant Nightcandle seemed to have a natural restraint against these poisonous insects and beasts—just a sweep of its two chicken-like claws snapped the silk, and after a couple of flutters it caught them!

"Chee-chee-chee....."

Yan Buji hurried over, looking at the Cloudsoaring spiders killed by Defiant Nightcandle, and said speechlessly: "You won't ease up even if I tell you to? Fine, eat them."

"Chee-chee!"

Defiant Nightcandle happily began eating the Cloudsoaring spiders.

Yan Buji searched around, and luckily not bad—he found a nest of spider eggs nearby, stored them in his spirit beast bag, and also dug up quite a few crystals containing Cloudsoaring spider silk, so it wasn't a loss.

"Whoosh!"

Yan Buji was just about to rise and continue treasure hunting when suddenly a killing intent surged!

"Huh?!"

In the blink of an eye, a blade of blood light shot straight to his throat; Yan Buji, without bothering with other Immortal Essence outbursts, reached out and crushed it!

"What the hell is this?!"

Yan Buji furrowed his brow, looking at the blood-colored humanoid shadow before him, and his heart jumped involuntarily.

"How can there be so many?!"

In the blink of an eye, thirty or forty blood-colored silhouettes suddenly appeared around Yan Buji; these shadows were not like demons, but rather seemed to be formed from some... peculiar blood fiend, and even the strongest three of them possessed Nascent Soul-level strength!

"I knew it wouldn't be that simple." Yan Buji chuckled.

On the other side.

Having arrived beneath the giant broken sword, Gu Yue and Yu Fei seemed to have reached some agreement, now joining hands and advancing together, they successively employed various techniques to dispel the blood-colored shadow before them.

"This filthy blood shadow is really tough to deal with." Yu Fei sighed.

Gu Yue nodded: "Good thing we only ran into a Golden Core cultivator this time; if it were Nascent Soul level, we'd be in trouble."

"Who knows how many lives this fortress has slain; the surrounding baleful aura, via the heavenly meridians, gradually gave birth to such a lethal entity, which especially loves beings with thick blood essence. I myself am of the demon clan with thick blood essence, so fairy, you must be careful." Yu Fei said.

Gu Yue smiled: "No matter, it's just a petty filthy blood shadow, lacking spiritual wisdom—can't we beat it or at least outrun it?"

Having said that, Gu Yue looked toward the sky-obscuring, earth-covering broken sword ahead and asked: "Is this the demon clan's war fortress?"

Yu Fei nodded: "This is the war fortress 'Must-not-approach Fort' built by the ancient demon court."

"Those who seek life must not approach; those who seek death will find no mercy. I, a lowly woman, have also heard of the fame of Must-not-approach Fort—it is said to have once battled the sages?"

Yu Fei's face twitched, and he said nothing.

If Must-not-approach Fort hadn't been destroyed in its ancient battle with the sages, how could the demon clan's royal court have ended up so fragmented?

Moreover, the demon emperor who once wielded the Man-slaying Sword was also slain by the sages, and that sword was destroyed, drifting with Must-not-approach Fort into the boundless sea.

Yu Fei naturally had his own chance encounter to learn of Must-not-approach Fort's existence; he had originally thought he could deceive these two humans, but he hadn't expected there to also be a Gu clan cultivator versed in ancient history, making his efforts wasted.

"Come to think of it, since Fairy Gu Yue and Daoist Yuejin came here together, why not inform him of this?"

"Daoist Yuejin... he's too strong; if I, a lowly woman, continued to partner with him and told him the situation here, I'm afraid we'd end up with nothing." Gu Yue smiled.

Yu Fei's face turned cold: "So Fairy Gu Yue thinks I'm easy to bully?"

"Not at all." Gu Yue waved her hand: "Precisely because you and I are of similar cultivation, we can keep each other in check. But Daoist Yuejin is different—that fellow isn't just ordinarily strong; he might be concealing his true cultivation."

Yu Fei's face changed: "Isn't he just early Golden Core? Could he already be late Golden Core?!"

Gu Yue also wasn't sure, but having previously encountered an ambush together with him, Gu Yue had beforehand mentioned that she had taken a Nascent Soul Pill, yet he showed no reaction at all, which struck Gu Yue as quite strange.

Which normal Golden Core cultivator wouldn't want a Nascent Soul Pill?

Do we really believe him just because he says he took it? Not necessarily, but his demeanor seems utterly indifferent.

Thereafter, judging from Daoist Yuejin's displayed strength, the other party seems to utterly disregard both me and Yu Fei, and even when on guard appears fearless.

If such a person harbors any ill intent, Gu Yue also doesn't know whether she could escape with her life.

Moreover, since we already know the whereabouts of the God King Cauldron, there's no need to continue moving forward with them.

I just hope the other party spends more time searching in the secret realm and doesn't come disturb us.