Chapter 545: The Mysterious Crack in the Ground~
Following the group of demonic cultivators while listening to them talk among themselves, Xuan Hao quickly learned that two of the people in the group were indeed from the Frost Devil Sect like he had expected when he had first discovered them.
However, this was not the most interesting thing he had managed to find out during his time following the group of demonic cultivators… Instead, it was the identity of the third demonic cultivator in the group of three! A member of the Black Rose Sect!
The fact that one of the demonic cultivators came from none other than the Black Rose Sect was more than enough to catch Xuan Hao's interest. After all, since his last encounter with the Black Rose Sect where he saved Chu Yang, he had not seen the shadow of the demonic cultivators from the Black Rose Sect, as they had seemingly disappeared over night.
Now that there was actually someone from the Black Rose Sect together with two Frost Devil Sect members, it was more than enough to cause Xuan Hao to start speculating over just what had happened to the Black Rose Sect.
Perhaps they ended up moving to the Frozen Wasteland and became a subordinate sect under the Frost Devil Sect?
This was Xuan Hao's best guess at what might have happened to the Black Rose Sect, and it was not too unrealistic, as demonic sects were more than happy to take in weaker demonic sects as subordinate sects and have the weaker sects work for them and in return get protection. Not too different from how normal sects would take care of weaker sects under them.
"Look! There is something in the distance! It looks like a large crack in the ground…"
Hearing one the demonic cultivators suddenly call out; Xuan Hao and the other two demonic cultivators all turned their attention towards the large crack in the ground that had suddenly appeared in front of them.
The size of the crack was nothing to scoff at, as it was dozens of miles long and several hundred meters wide.
Whoosh~
Using his divine sense in an attempt to find out if Zhu Lian might be inside the crack that had appeared out of nowhere, Xuan Hao was slightly taken aback when he suddenly felt his divine sense being blocked after only going a few hundred meters down into the crack.
Whoosh!
Trying a few more times to forcefully breakthrough the invisible barrier blocking him, Xuan Hao could only give up after realizing that there was no way for his divine sense to penetrate it and enter the deeper parts of the enormous crack breaking up the beautiful scenery of the frozen tundra.
Unlike Xuan Hao's frustration over not being able to search through the crack with his divine sense, the group of demonic cultivators reacted completely differently, as all of them excitedly felt the increasingly dense yin qi in the air around the crack in the ground.
"A natural formation formed by yin qi!? Haha! To think we would be lucky enough to stumble upon a natural formation formed by yin qi!" Saying this, the excitement and greed on the first demonic cultivators face became visible for all to see.
"Are you sure…? Even if the yin qi is dense around here… If there really is a natural formation formed by yin qi, it would mean that-"
"That we might have an opportunity to reach the Second Demonic Transformation! Maybe we can even reach the Third Demonic Transformation if there is a rare natural yin treasure down there! The old woman should also be down there!" Interrupting the demonic cultivator from the Black Rose Sect who was still a little doubtful about the claim, the first demonic cultivator did not bother waiting for the other two's answer, as he jumped into the enormous crack that split apparat the frozen tundra without the slightest bit of fear.
""…""
Staring blankly at each other for a short moment after seeing their companion jump into the crack, the second demonic cultivator from the Frost Devil Sect and the demonic cultivator from the Black Rose Sect quickly jumped into the crack as well.
It had to be known that neither of them believed that their companion would wait for them before consuming whatever treasure he came upon. At the same time, they had already felt the dense yin qi in the air around the crack and believed that their companion's prediction of there being a natural formation formed by the dense and pure yin qi in the crack to be correct.
After all, outside of that, for what other reason would such pure and dense yin qi be present in the air above ground?
…
A natural formation formed by yin qi…?
Not knowing what the natural formation formed by yin qi was, Xuan Hao could only shake his head as he realized his knowledge regarding formations was still quite lacking.
However, one thing was certain from watching the behaviour of the demonic cultivators and that was the fact that the so-called natural formation formed by yin qi was not dangerous at all. Instead, it looked like it was a heaven-sent opportunity for demonic cultivators given how excitedly they had entered the crack.
Even more importantly than that, the old woman, who was most likely Zhu Lian, was hiding inside the crack…
[Time Limit: 1.9 days]
Checking out the time left for the quest requiring him to save Zhu Lian, Xuan Hao could not help frowning.
If Zhu Lian was truly hiding inside the crack filled with yin qi, the demonic cultivators would easily find her within an hour. At that point in time, with her strength and in an area beneficial to demonic cultivators, she would likely not be able to escape again!
For her to be able to survive for a little under two days like this… Xuan Hao had a feeling that the crack in the ground was not as simple as the demonic cultivators believed it to be!
…
"Hah… I really can't absorb any more of this damnable yin qi or my body will collapse! Why is this irritating yin qi so pure?! Ah! How frustrating, I even need to use what little qi I recovered to protect myself!"
Talking to herself in a frustrated tone, Zhu Lian could not help cursing the yin qi that surrounded her, freezing up her body as she slowly tried to escape from the yin qi that was becoming stronger and stronger behind her.
Just a few minutes ago, she had been trying her best to recover her strength by slowly refining the yin qi in the air around her. However, luck was not on her side, as the purity and strength of the yin qi in the air around her had suddenly begun increasing rapidly.
In the end, she had been forced to stop refining the yin qi, as it got way too dangerous for her. Even forcing her to use what little qi she had managed to recover to block out the now increasingly strong yin qi around her.
"Hm? A flower?" Noticing a small blue flower in front of her, Zhu Lian stopped for a short moment before she began cautiously inspecting the small blue flower that had blocked her path forward.
After what she had gone through over the past few days, Zhu Lian did not dare be the slightest bit careless. Even a flower might be some kind of hidden trap out to kill her!
Thinking along this line, Zhu Lian decided to go around the blue flower that had suddenly appeared in front of her and not interact with it. Even if it might have been some sort of rare spiritual herb, Zhu Lian was not willing to take the risk…
In the end, she successfully managed to make her way past the blue flower without any trouble and soon managed to reach a new place where the yin qi in the air was way more manageable than before. The only problem-
"W-why… Why are there so many of those weird blue flower!?"
Was that a large flower field filled with flowers similar to the blue flower from earlier spread out before her.
At this point in time, there was no way for her to continue moving forward without having to come into close contact with the weird blue flowers.
"Looks like I will have to take the risk…" Feeling as the yin qi in the air around her was still growing stronger with each passing second, Zhu Lian reluctantly entered the flower field in front of her.
"I'm safe! Hah… It looks like I worried over nothi-"
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Feeling happy that nothing happened even when she entered the flower field filled with the weird blue flowers, it did not take long for things to go wrong, as a large, blue-coloured demon beast appeared behind her.
Looking closer, Zhu Lian discovered that the blue-coloured demon beast was eating a few of the weird blue flowers and was making its way towards the flower field she was currently inside of…