Chapter 694: Soul-severing Mountain

Soul-severing Mountain.

This place is shrouded in dark clouds, withered branches and fallen leaves visible everywhere, birds and beasts have vanished completely, leaving only a bare mountain peak standing alone. Strangely, the surrounding area is all plains, while elsewhere vegetation thrives, making this even more strange.

After Yan Buji and Ye Lin arrived here, Ye Lin took out the ox horn he had previously obtained; seeing the ox horn glow, he nodded and said, "It should be on the mountain."

Yan Buji kept calculating something on his fingers, without responding to Ye Lin.

Ye Lin looked over curiously and asked, "Hall Master Yan, what are you doing?"

"Oh, I am estimating the spatial nodes of this place," Yan Buji said.

"Can spatial nodes even be estimated?" Ye Lin wondered.

Yan Buji explained: "Using this place's highest point as reference, I establish a numerological model of low points, high points, and three and one‑sixth, then...."

Yan Buji rattled off a bunch of his own methods for estimating coordinates, and Ye Lin listened with a completely bewildered expression.

Seeing that he still didn't understand, Yan Buji smiled, took out a jade slip, and said, "If you're interested, you can study it yourself."

"Sure, thanks, Hall Master Yan!" Ye Lin laughed.

Yan Buji calculated for a while, but found no problem.

The location of Soul‑severing Mountain should not originally be a spatial node, but after experiencing a great battle, the space here became extremely unstable; although Yan Buji cannot deduce why this instability arose, he can still sense it himself.

Through his senses, Yan Buji can perceive that the spatial node at Soul‑severing Mountain is highly unstable; even though he possesses the Heaven Gate Law for traversal, he dare not traverse such an unstable spatial node.

It is like skating on ice: sliding from a thick ice area to a spot as thin as a sheet of paper would surely cause one to fall into the water.

Likewise, spatial traversal follows the same principle; each time Yan Buji uses the Heaven Gate Law, he must first calculate whether these spatial nodes have changed, and sense any traces of movement, after all spatial nodes can also drift.

However, Yan Buji has now found a way to calculate this pattern, so locating a landing point is not difficult.

Meanwhile, Ye Lin looked ahead and said, "If that's the case, Hall Master Yan, what are your plans?"

"If we don't go look, we'll never know what will happen; since we came for the secret realm, let's see how that ox horn in your hand guides us."

"All right, let's go!"

The two flew toward Soul‑severing Mountain; as they neared it, Yan Buji felt waves of fragmentation, as if they had entered a cup full of cracks, where a single misstep could plunge them into endless void.

"Wait!"

Yan Buji immediately called for Ye Lin to stop; Ye Lin turned around and asked, "Hall Master Yan, is there a problem?"

"The space here is too fragile; remember not to unleash overly powerful mana, or it may shatter instantly," Yan Buji said solemnly.

"All right, but I think we are nearing the entrance to the secret realm," Ye Lin laughed, and the ox horn in his hand burst forth with a white light even brighter than before.

Yan Buji raised his eyebrows and nodded.

The two continued forward, arriving safely at the place indicated by the ox horn, which happened to be the summit of Soul‑severing Mountain.

Gazing far into the distance, everything in view was a scene of desolation. The mountain peak, which should have been lush and full of life, was now bald, as if all vitality had been drained away, with not a trace of green. The trees that once had thick branches and foliage were reduced to dry trunks, like desperate hands reaching toward the sky. The ground was carpeted with withered yellow leaves and weeds, swaying gently in the breeze and rustling, adding to the feeling of sorrow.

Moreover, the air in this heaven‑and‑earth was unusually oppressive; not a trace of spiritual energy could be felt. As practitioners know, spiritual energy is vital—it is the source of life, nourishing all growth. Yet here there is none, causing extreme discomfort and even a suffocating pressure welling up in the chest.

Ye Lin looked solemnly around and said, "Even ordinary people couldn't possibly have zero spiritual energy; this place is truly a dead land."

"How do we enter the secret realm?" Yan Buji said, not bothered by these details, after all he had experienced such things before.

Only Ye Lin was seen holding up the ox horn, murmuring incantations.

As the ox horn glowed, it slowly rose into mid‑air, and from its tip a fierce white light shot out, instantly piercing the space ahead—like shattering glazed ware, a cracking sound like a silver bottle breaking rang out, and the two were sucked in at once!

In the blink of an eye, the surroundings were completely different from outside!

No dark clouds covered the sky; instead, a river of stars illuminated the four directions. There was no bright moon, but a unique blood‑red star took its place, casting a red light that made the surroundings look especially bewitching.

"Is this the interior of the secret realm?" Yan Buji felt the distinctly different spiritual energy in the air and sensed a hint of danger.

Ye Lin frowned, looking around, feeling uncomfortable all over, and asked, "Hall Master Yan, do you know what that star is about?"

"The sudden appearance of red light is not a good omen," Yan Buji narrowed his eyes, gazing around, "Let's first explore the vicinity."

"All right."

The two set off and began searching nearby.

Just as a lion entering a forest or a tiger heading onto the plains feels, in an unfamiliar environment one's vigilance heightens.

Yan Buji and Ye Lin walked on, when suddenly vast sheets of red mist rose from the ground, engulfing them.

"Hall Master Yan?!"

"It's fine; this red mist isn't dangerous.... but it does block divine sense probing." Yan Buji tried it—just as he was about to release his divine sense to check the surroundings, he found it completely blocked by the red mist.

"Hall Master Yan, where are you?"

"I should be to your right."

"What? Hall Master Yan, so you're here."

Yan Buji had just shouted when he saw Ye Lin walk out from beside him, smiling and looking at him.

"Are you all right?" Yan Buji laughed.

"I'm fine...."

Pfft!

Suddenly, Ye Lin inexplicably lunged forward with a sword; Yan Buji raised his eyebrows, lifted his hand, channeled mana to unleash Wenwu Fire, and set the Ye Lin before him ablaze!

"Ahhh!" Hearing Ye Lin's miserable scream, Yan Buji felt a chill in his heart.

"This isn't Ye Lin...."

Watching the monster gradually reveal its true form, it turned out to be a twisted mass of flesh; under the scorching of Yan Buji's Wenwu Fire it could not maintain Ye Lin's appearance, and was finally burned to ashes.

"Ye Lin, be careful—monsters hide in the red mist, capable of taking on our appearance!"

No wonder the red mist blocks divine sense probing; such a shape‑shifting monster, if not noticed, could easily be killed by the opposing side.