This meant that Cultivators likely had a well-established path to travel back and forth between the two worlds.
The Li Yang Continent was vast, with many places to hide secrets. However, a path for Cultivators to travel between worlds would certainly not be located in any ordinary territory. Thus, for years, Leng Yanran had been searching in rather unconventional places.
For example, mass graves littered with white bones, the Demon Cave shrouded in ghostly apparitions, the endless Tianya Cape...
Li Chang’an reckoned that only in such desolate and mystifying places could a place capable of accommodating Cultivators exist.
Now, the news Leng Yanran reported was that she had discovered what were very likely traces of a passage between the two worlds in a place called Soul-Breaking Mountain.
Soul-Breaking Mountain was not unknown on the Li Yang Continent.
Even Li Chang’an had heard the legends about the place.
After the pale-faced Leng Yanran finished her report, Li Chang’an didn’t hesitate. He decisively had her lead the way to Soul-Breaking Mountain.
Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.
According to the information previously revealed by the World-Devouring Whale, because Li Yang had been "harvested" like a crop of chives many times, almost all of its valuable resources had long since been plundered by Cultivators.
The Cultivation Realm probably didn’t place much importance on this side.
Therefore, the Cultivators sent this time would, in all likelihood, be low-level Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage.
If Li Chang’an could also learn the Cultivator’s point of arrival in advance and set up an ambush along their path, a conservative estimate would put his chances of victory up by at least thirty percent.
For Li Chang’an, this was something he absolutely had to investigate.
...
The two arrived outside Soul-Breaking Mountain. According to legend, the so-called Soul-Breaking Mountain consisted of three ridges. The first ridge was a chain of hazy hills shrouded in thick fog, and from a distance, it seemed as though villagers still lived there.
The second ridge was completely enveloped in dense fog, with only a blurry outline visible.
As for the third ridge, it existed only in oral legends, winding deep into the range, its path completely untraceable.
When Leng Yanran first found Soul-Breaking Mountain, she had estimated that with her current strength, crossing the mountain range would be no problem at all.
But after she actually entered, Leng Yanran was besieged by a large group of Evil Spirits before she could even finish crossing the second ridge.
Leng Yanran fought desperately for a long time and expended a great deal of effort just to escape.
Of course, that wasn’t the sole reason she was certain of the Cultivators’ presence. The biggest reason was that as she was leaving Soul-Breaking Mountain, she had seen a set of footprints deep within the second ridge.
Soul-Breaking Mountain was normally a Restricted Area for humans and other living creatures.
Ordinary Martial Artists couldn’t even make it past the first ridge, let alone the second.
Yet Leng Yanran had seen human footprints there. And although the area around the footprints was clearly overgrown with weeds, the prints themselves looked as fresh as if they had just been made.
Realizing something was wrong, Leng Yanran immediately turned back and reported this information to Li Chang’an.
They stood outside the mountain, gazing into the distance for a moment. Li Chang’an spoke up, "You lead the way. Let’s go."
Leng Yanran looked very nervous. "These Evil Spirits are strange, and there’s something sinister about this mountain. You must be careful."
The first time she had entered the Soul-Breaking Mountain area, the people living outside the mountain had already warned her.
Soul-Breaking Mountain wasn’t inhabited by humans, but by a group of Evil Spirits that lingered there, unwilling to leave.
If one were to accidentally wander into the mountains, at best they would be scared witless, returning as a muddle-headed shell of their former self. At worst, their body and bones would vanish, and they would never come out again.
At the time, Leng Yanran hadn’t taken the villagers’ warnings seriously at all. Relying on her high Cultivation, she had forged straight ahead, only to be ambushed by a swarm of Evil Spirits. She searched for a long time but couldn’t find her way out, suffering a great loss. Now, the fog-shrouded mountain range had nearly become a source of psychological trauma for her.
If Li Chang’an weren’t right behind her, she was afraid she wouldn’t have the courage to continue this Exploration.
Li Chang’an nodded.
The two of them started walking into the mountain range.
Before long, Li Chang’an felt a presence in the dense fog watching him.
Li Chang’an paid it no mind and continued walking deeper.
But Leng Yanran, beside him, grew even more tense. She stopped, listened intently for a moment, and said urgently, "Something big is watching us from the side. Let’s stop!"
She had clearly suffered a setback from this before. Now, with experience, she wanted to warn Li Chang’an to avoid the same fate.
But Li Chang’an’s response was quite simple.
With a casual wave of his hand, he reached into the dense fog and pulled out a terrifying monster covered in red fur. He gave a light squeeze with his five fingers, crushing it into a pile of mangled flesh and a large, bizarre cloud of black mist.
Li Chang’an tossed the monster’s corpse to the ground, dusted off his hands, and looked down at it for a moment. "This monster’s body is made from the flesh and blood of other creatures. That black mist just now was probably the ’soul’ within the flesh. You were right. We’ve most likely come to the right place!"
Leng Yanran glanced at the monster that had been crushed to pieces with a single grasp, then at Li Chang’an, who looked as relaxed as if he were on a picnic. After a long silence, she finally asked, "Just what Realm have you reached now?"
She had encountered this monster before when she came alone.
Back then, she had fought it for a long time without being able to kill it.