Chapter 550: Seals Inside the Abyss
Along with the yin qi inside the crack gathering together inside the abyss just behind them, Xuan Hao slowly felt the restrictions on his divine sense lessen with each passing second.
If the yin qi in the air continued decreasing, he would soon be able to fully utilize his divine sense and strength inside the crack without any restrictions.
Crack~
Observing as the yin qi inside the abyss liquified at the bottom of the abyss, Xuan Hao could not stop a shiver from running down his spine as he witnessed bottom of the abyss crack apart under the pressure of the liquified yin qi slowly increasing on top of it.
For it to start breaking the ground beneath it that had supported the massive hundred-meter-long centipede and several dozens of massive centipedes, it was easy to imagine just how heavy the liquified yin qi was!
BANG!
As the liquefied yin qi on the bottom of the abyss reached a height of a single centimetre, the ground beneath it cracked apart before revealing that the abyss was even deeper!
During the split moment before the ground beneath the liquefied yin qi cracked apart, Xuan Hao barely managed to spot a large symbol briefly shinning as it tried to prevent the yin qi from breaking apart the ground to no avail.
At the back of his mind, Xuan Hao had a feeling that he had seen a similar symbol somewhere before. However, he could not seem to remember where...
"We should get out of here…" Muttering this to himself as he turned his attention towards Zhu Lian who had just opened her eyes after absorbing one of the spirit stones he had handed over to her, Xuan Hao had a feeling that the reason why the quest had not been completed yet had something to do with the yin qi inside the crack being gathered together inside the abyss by the massive formation they were currently inside of.
For some reason, Xuan Hao had a feeling that the abyss was a seal of some sort after briefly witnessing the symbol that briefly tried stopping the liquified yin qi above it!
If that was really the case, it was likely that whatever was sealed inside the abyss would be the cause of Zhu Lian's death!
With this in mind, it should at the very least still take over an hour for the seal to break apart.
Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao could not help looking at the timer slowly ticking down below the sect quest for saving Zhu Lian.
"Hm?"
[Time Limit: 1.2 hours]
Frowning as he saw that the time limit had suddenly decreased by a large margin after what was most likely a seal had been broken through by the liquified yin qi, Xuan Hao had a feeling that the timer of the quest did not consider for the liquefied yin qi helping quicken the speed of the seals in the abyss breaking.
Did this perhaps mean that the yin qi gathering together inside the abyss and increasing the speed at which the seal broke apart had something to do with him?
Shaking his head at this thought, Xuan Hao only managed to understand that he should probably leave the mysterious crack with Zhu Lian as quickly as possible!
After all, while he was curious about what had been sealed inside the abyss, he was not dumb enough to risk both his and Zhu Lian's life!
"Wha-!?"
Hearing the surprised voice of Zhu Lian from behind him as she let out a small yelp in surprise after witnessing the terrifying amount of yin qi flowing towards the abyss from all directions the moment, she opened her eyes. Followed by her quickly moving away from the edge of the abyss, Xuan Hao could not help smiling a bit wryly upon realizing the fact that he had placed her right next to the edge of the abyss…
"Elder Xuan… W-what is happening?" Barely saying this as she kept her attention fully focused on the abyss, Zhu Lian could not look away from the seemingly endless streams of yin qi flowing into the abyss.
"This… I think that-"
Rumble~
BANG!
Just about to answer Zhu Lian's question, Xuan Hao was taken aback as an even louder sound could be heard from the abyss. Followed by the yin qi flowing towards the abyss gathering at an even faster speed than before.
Did another seal get broken through by the liquified yin qi…?
Not paying too much attention answering Zhu Lian's question after realizing what had just happened, Xuan Hao quickly turned his attention towards the timer for Zhu Lian's death.
[Time Limit: 48 minutes]
Indeed, it had decreased once again, this time around, there was less than one hour left before the seal would break under normal circumstances. However, given the current speed at which the seals inside the abyss were breaking apart, Xuan Hao doubted that they would be able to last for more than five minutes!
"Let's get out of here for now!" Not waiting for Zhu Lian to answer, Xuan Hao grabbed hold of the old woman before using his movement technique to rapidly move out of the crack.
"Wah-!?"
Not knowing what was happing as she suddenly found herself flying through the air, Zhu Lian had no idea what to do as she could only allow Xuan Hao to carry her while making sure to observe her surroundings.
Along the way, they even managed to find the three demonic cultivators all panicking as they were trying their best to climb out of the crack with several blue flowers stuffed into every part of their clothes.
From the looks of it, the three demonic cultivators did not have a single interspatial ring… Not too surprising given the fact that demonic cultivators would not be as proficient at spatial manipulation as normal cultivators.
Normally, a demonic cultivator who had reached the realm equivalent to a Domain Lord was even worse than a normal Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivator when it came to spatial manipulation.
Getting their hands on an interspatial ring was slightly harder for demonic cultivators, but they could always rob them from some normal cultivators. To be honest, Xuan Hao was a bit surprised that none of the three demonic cultivators had an interspatial ring. After all, two of them were from the Frost Devil Sect that was likely to have several demonic cultivators who reached a realm equivalent to the Domain Lord Realm…
Whoosh~
Seeing that they were just about to leave the crack and would be able to make it out in time before the seal broke, Xuan Hao did not bother to help them as he continued out of the crack while carrying Zhu Lian.
At this point in time, the yin qi in the air had almost completely disappeared. Making flying way easier and less energy consuming compared to do doing so in an environment filled to the brim with yin qi that tried its best to invade and freeze up the body and soul.
…
Thump!
Not stopping before getting at least a few miles away from the mysterious crack, Xuan Hao landed on top of a small icy hill together with Zhu Lian who had been fully immersed in the feeling of flying through the air.
"Cultivate here for now and recover your strength as much as you can, I will help repairing your body after returning to the sect." Saying this before Zhu Lian even had the chance to say anything, Xuan Hao handed over a few more spirit stones before turning his attention towards the sect quest involving Zhu Lian.
[Sect Quest: Save Zhu Lian (complete)]
[Description: Save the Eighth Nascent Soul Realm Expert of the Flying Sword Sect before she dies.]
[Reward: Zhu Lian lives, location of undiscovered spirit stone mine inside the territory of the Flying Sword Sect.]
After he left the mysterious crack in the ground, the sect quest had immediately been considered to have finished and she was no longer in any danger. For this reason, Xuan Hao did not worry about leaving Zhu Lian alone as he moved closer to the mysterious crack after making sure she was properly recovering her strength.
For now, he wanted to check out what was going to happen when the seal was broken. After all, according to the system, he should not be in any danger as long as he did not enter the crack itself.
Rumble~
Not long after he had arrived a short distance away from the crack, a loud rumbling sound could be heard across the entire frozen tundra as the massive crack in the ground suddenly began closing.
"…"
Before he even had any time to comprehend how such a massive crack could close, it had already finished closing up. Leaving behind no traces of it ever existing in the first place.
Whoosh!
Scanning the area where the crack had been just a few seconds ago, Xuan Hao could not help frowning upon realising that even after his divine sense spread far underground there was no traces of what he had seen inside the crack.
"Hm… At least those three managed to escape…" Shaking his head in disappointment after not finding anything, Xuan Hao turned his attention towards the three exhausted demonic cultivators exhaustedly gasping for air in the middle of the empty frozen tundra.
Now that he had managed to save Zhu Lian, the demonic cultivators only had one use left… Showing him the way to the Frost Devil Sect!
However, it would have to wait, as he first had to make sure Zhu Lian got back safely.
Whoosh~
With this in mind, Xuan Hao made his way back to icy hill where he had left Zhu Lian to recover her strength. In the first place, it would take quite some time for those three to recover and begin moving again. Not to mention they would likely also think that he had disappeared along with the crack, thus giving him some more time to make sure he could at least send Zhu Lian back out of the Frozen Wasteland.