Chapter 1234: Encounter

Qin Sang and Fatty Chicken were both startled. They had been avoiding Mount Fenglei, doing nothing, yet the Blood Lightning was still alarmed. Qin Sang reacted swiftly, enveloping Fatty Chicken with his true essence and instantly teleporting a great distance away. Unexpectedly, the Blood Lightning pursued them relentlessly, like a persistent sickness, and Qin Sang was unable to shake it off despite repeatedly changing direction. Seeing this, Qin Sang realized something. He quickly retracted his divine sense and simultaneously moved his body swiftly.

Whoosh, whoosh...

The Blood Lightning finally gave up the chase and retreated. Residual lightning energy lingered in the void like tiny blood-colored blossoms, quickly vanishing.

Fatty Chicken was still shaken. While being pursued by the Blood Lightning, it felt as if its entire body's demonic blood was about to freeze. Its body stiffened, locked by the Blood Lightning's power. If struck, it would likely be injured. If the Blood Lightning possessed any other strange abilities, the consequences would be far worse than mere injury.

It turned to look at Qin Sang, unsure if it was its own actions or something Qin Sang did that had alerted the Blood Lightning.

Qin Sang pondered for a moment, then transmitted a message: "Stay behind me and focus solely on activating the Thunder-Sense Pearl to detect your mother's location. Do nothing else."

"Understood!"

Fatty Chicken knew that rescuing its mother here depended entirely on Qin Sang, so it obeyed his every command.

Qin Sang glanced at Mount Fenglei and set off again, but this time, he kept an even greater distance from it. He activated his divine sense to probe, and this time, the Blood Lightning showed no reaction. "This Blood Lightning is indeed strange," Qin Sang mused. "It can detect divine sense. Even if the divine sense doesn't directly touch it, merely approaching will trigger a chase. However, its sensory range is limited. I just need to be careful to retract my divine sense and stay far enough away. The ancestors' warnings were certainly not groundless..."

Qin Sang continued to test the rules within the Blood Lake as he moved. Gradually, he gained some insights and began to pick up his pace.

Half an hour later, Fatty Chicken said, "Master, that mountain ahead seems to be one marked on the incomplete map."

Qin Sang and Fatty Chicken spotted a stone mountain. It rose straight up like a colossal stone pillar, making it very conspicuous and suitable as a landmark. A mountain just like it was depicted on the incomplete map. The landscape on this mountain was distinctly different from Mount Fenglei, which they had seen earlier. There was no Blood Lightning or ominous winds here, but the mountain was covered in strange, blood-red trees. These blood trees rooted in the rock crevices and grew horizontally, resembling countless thorns protruding from the mountain, making the entire peak look like a spiked club. The trunks of the blood trees were as tough as metal, and their leaves were like jagged iron plates. A blood-red mist permeated the area. Anyone caught and impaled here would suffer the agony of flesh being torn open and souls corroded.

Qin Sang took out the incomplete map, located the mountain's position on it, and observed the surrounding terrain, confirming it was indeed the correct mountain. "According to the map's markings," he murmured, "the interior of the Blood Lake is considered north. We landed on the southwest side. From here, if we go straight east and cover the area back and forth twice, we should have explored the outer perimeter of the Blood Lake."

Qin Sang proceeded according to his plan. Fatty Chicken stayed close behind Qin Sang, diligently activating the Thunder-Sense Pearl, but unfortunately, it received no reaction.

Qin Sang silently noted everything he saw and heard. Exploring the outer perimeter was relatively easy because these areas, similar to Mount Fenglei, were spaced out, with safe zones in between. However, this was only true for the outer perimeter.

They arrived at a place filled with scattered rocks. Amidst them lay a massive sinkhole, several hundred zhang in diameter, bottomless and unusually mysterious. At that moment, a Golden Core stage cultivator, with a precious mirror floating above his head, was slowly descending into the depths of the sinkhole.

Thump! Thump!

From the sinkhole, blood-coagulated tentacles periodically emerged, striking the cultivator with immense force. His expression remained calm. The precious mirror above his head shifted into seven-colored light, forming a soft barrier that countered force with yielding softness, deflecting the tentacles' powerful blows. It remained unbreached.

The blood-colored tentacles created quite a commotion, but the cultivator had previously set up a concealing formation at the cave entrance. Even if someone passed by, they wouldn't notice anything unusual here.

The cultivator was focused on battling the endless stream of tentacles emerging from the sinkhole, completely unaware that a man and a beast had arrived outside, observing everything. It was Qin Sang and Fatty Chicken, who had been searching their way through the area.

Although the formation set up by this cultivator was subtle, it could not withstand Qin Sang's Heavenly Eye divine ability. He was the second person Qin Sang had encountered. Qin Sang had encountered two cultivators so far, both at the Golden Core stage. Qing Jun and the others had likely already moved ahead.

"These individuals are indeed guided by powerful experts," Qin Sang thought to himself. "Their objectives are clear; they're not all here to die. It seems all parties have hidden information and are not completely ignorant about the Blood Lake." Qin Sang observed for a moment, nodding discreetly.

After a brief glance, Qin Sang withdrew his gaze and soared away. These Golden Core cultivators possessed limited knowledge, so capturing them would be useless. Qin Sang observed that the formation within this sinkhole was not weak. Even if he were to act personally, it would take some effort, and he couldn't afford to waste so much time here.

After searching for a long time, the Thunder-Sense Pearl still showed no reaction. Qin Sang estimated that if the Thunderhawk Demon King was still alive, it was unlikely to be trapped in the Blood Lake's outer perimeter. If it was trapped deep within the Blood Lake, there would be a risk of being caught in the crossfire of battles between cultivators from the two realms. Qin Sang didn't want to be the first one to rush in, but he also couldn't arrive too late.

As he continued forward, Qin Sang sometimes tried to interact with ancient restrictions to test their power. After traveling intently for a while, Qin Sang was about to pass between two mountain peaks when his expression suddenly changed. He urgently commanded Fatty Chicken, "Quickly return to the Coaxial Ring!"

Hearing this, Fatty Chicken was greatly alarmed, thinking they had encountered some danger. It quickly scanned its surroundings but found the area to be perfectly calm. Although the mountain peaks on both sides were shrouded in blood mist and frequently emitted Blood Lightning, they were still quite far away and shouldn't suddenly attack them.

Despite its thoughts, Fatty Chicken dared not show any slack. It knew that its Master's divine abilities far surpassed its own and that there had to be a reason, so it quickly put away the Thunder-Sense Pearl and hid inside the Primordial Coaxial Ring. The precious ring on his wrist flashed. Qin Sang flicked his sleeve, and then his figure vanished into thin air.

Having escaped into the shadows, Qin Sang cautiously activated his Heavenly Eye divine ability, gazing through the mountain peaks at a distant mountaintop. It was a bare mountain, desolate and covered in scattered rocks. There was nothing else there, nor any people.

However, in Qin Sang's vision, the mountain's appearance was subtly different. On one of the protruding stone platforms, there was a faint white glow, invisible to the naked eye, clearly indicating something unusual. Seeing the white glow, Qin Sang felt a spontaneous sense of familiarity. Inside the white glow was a chaotic expanse. Qin Sang assisted the Heavenly Eye Butterfly in enhancing its divine ability, finally discerning the magical artifact emitting the white light and spotting a human figure within the glow.

"It's really him!" Qin Sang's face showed surprise. Before he could clearly discern the person's true appearance within the white glow, he ordered the Heavenly Eye Butterfly to retract its divine ability to avoid being detected. He would never forget that magical artifact: Marquis Dongyang's natal treasure, the Adamant Ring!

Back in the Ziwei Palace, Marquis Dongyang had used the Adamant Ring to capture him and bring him into the bronze hall, where he directly threatened Chen Yan. If not for the Blood Impurity Divine Light, Qin Sang would likely not have escaped that great peril.

"He didn't meet up with Senior Sister and the others? What is he doing here?" Qin Sang believed his chances of success were slim and hadn't intended to act now, but he never expected to encounter Marquis Dongyang in the outer perimeter of the Blood Lake.