Chapter 73: Dark Mark

World of Mortals

Before leaving, Qin Sang quietly circled the mountain. He hoped to ambush someone, believing it would be more effective than a hasty encounter, but unfortunately, he found nothing.

Finally, Qin Sang swept away in the direction he had previously chosen.

Meanwhile, the entire Bagua Forbidden Zone was already filled with slaughter and bloodshed.

The core area of the Bagua Forbidden Zone was not large; it was a circular lake. Its waters were emerald green, and not a ripple stirred.

In the middle of the lake was a small island, covered in lush greenery and vibrant flowers. In its very center stood a towering tree, like a pillar supporting the sky. Its roots coiled like dragons, and its fiery red leaves were stacked in layers, resembling a pagoda.

The Yuanzhao Sect cultivator who controlled the Moon-Crossing Raft was meditating on a reef at the edge of the small island. Suddenly, his expression subtly changed. He opened his eyes and looked up.

The sky changed dramatically, and fierce winds raged, yet they could not shake the giant tree in the slightest. He saw two figures, enveloped in the glow of their protective artifacts, flying through the fierce winds towards the island.

Seeing the appearance of the newcomers, the Yuanzhao Sect cultivator's tense expression relaxed. He asked with some surprise, "Junior Brother Yu, why are you here? Where is Senior Brother Du?"

The newcomer was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, about forty years old. Behind him followed a young-looking man in white, whose cultivation was only at the eighth level of the Qi Condensation stage.

The two landed on the island. The young man bowed in salute, "Zhao Yan pays his respects to Uncle-Master Luan."

The cultivator named Yu smiled and said, "Senior Brother Luan, you might not know this, but it seems something has happened in Senior Brother Du's family. Before dawn today, his descendants urgently came up the mountain to seek help. Senior Brother Du was too busy, so he had to entrust me with assigning chores to the newly admitted disciples."

"So that's how it is. No wonder Senior Brother Du hasn't arrived."

Luan Shan realized that most of those who entered through the Immortal Ascension Conference were rogue cultivators. They had cultivated an unruly temperament outside, which needed to be refined.

Therefore, many arduous chores that inner sect disciples were unwilling to do would be assigned to them, euphemistically called "tempering their character."

Such trivial matters of assigning chores and admitting new disciples easily incurred resentment. It was not a good job, and historically, Senior Brother Du had been responsible for it.

Since Senior Brother Du had entrusted the one named Yu with this task, Luan Shan was more than happy for it.

"Then I'll leave it to Junior Brother Yu."

The three spoke a few more words, then each found a reef and began to meditate. They dared not even step onto the small island.

In a valley of a desolate mountain, it was dark and damp. Moss covered the rocks, and occasionally, strangely shaped insects crawled through the rock crevices, emitting a faint stench of decay.

Qin Sang weighed the mustard seed bag in his hand. He flicked his finger, conjuring a flame to incinerate the corpse at his feet.

This was the second opponent he had encountered since entering the Bagua Forbidden Zone. Though not as troublesome as the sloppy Daoist, he still made Qin Sang break out in a cold sweat.

First, he hid in the shadows. He then unexpectedly used the Purple Soul Bell to ensnare the opponent's mind, followed by a Yin Thunder to severely wound him. Then he followed up with several ice thorns; the opponent didn't even have time to release his protective artifact.

Qin Sang was becoming increasingly proficient at this strategy.

Qin Sang had severely wounded the opponent merely to seize the jade token. But he discovered that while the person was begging for mercy, his hand was secretly reaching for his mustard seed bag, and a faint red glow flickered in his palm. Qin Sang was instantly alarmed and enraged. He had almost suffered the consequences of not completely eradicating a problem, so naturally, he dared not take any more risks. He only felt completely at ease after fully eliminating his opponent.

Qin Sang opened his mustard seed bag. After a thorough search, he found no jade token!

This fellow's jade token was either snatched by someone else or hidden by him.

There was no distinction between day and night in the Bagua Forbidden Zone. Qin Sang could only estimate that he had been in for roughly two hours, yet he had only obtained one jade token.

The difficulty of collecting ten jade tokens was much greater than he had imagined. He couldn't afford to be so cautious anymore!

However, this person's possessions were more abundant than those of the sloppy Daoist. After Qin Sang turned over his palm, he found he was clutching a stack of twelve spirit talismans. Upon taking them out, he saw they were all Fire Feather Talismans, and he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

The Fire Feather Art was a type of fire-element spell. Once cast, flames would transform into feathers all over the sky, each fiery feather shooting out, covering everything. Because the fire feathers were dispersed, their power was not as strong as the Guishui Yin Thunder Curse, but they were stronger than the ice thorns condensed by Ten Thousand Miles of Ice Seal.

If the opponent had cast one Fire Feather Talisman, Qin Sang naturally wouldn't have feared it. But if twelve Fire Feather Talismans had been unleashed simultaneously, Qin Sang felt his scalp tingle just imagining the scene. He was glad he hadn't given the opponent a chance to release the Fire Feather Talismans.

Aside from this stack of Fire Feather Talismans, the person's artifacts were nothing extraordinary. There was a defensive artifact like a green gauze canopy, which was not as useful as the Ice Silkworm Treasure Armor. There was also a blood-red long blade, which was decent among mid-grade artifacts and barely usable.

Qin Sang picked it up and swung it twice. It felt quite comfortable in his hand, so he kept it.

After the corpse was completely incinerated, Qin Sang looked around. He then concealed himself in the shadows. After leaving the valley, he crossed two more mountains and then found a cave to hide in.

After meditating and recovering, Qin Sang held the blood blade point-down and set off again.

The mountains seemed boundless, and the terrain was incredibly complex. Qin Sang sped up and traveled for a while, then saw an isolated peak standing ahead. Its summit almost reached into the clouds; it was the highest mountain nearby, and the view from there would surely be incredibly vast. Qin Sang decided to go up and take a look.

In such a place, one naturally had to be extremely careful. Qin Sang silently climbed to the summit, and his gaze suddenly sharpened.

On a rock at the summit, there was an inconspicuous mark. Only the seventeen of them could understand it; it was precisely the secret signal Uncle-Master Yue had agreed upon with them.

After entering the Bagua Forbidden Zone, Qin Sang had long since forgotten about the secret signals. He would never leave a mark for others to find him, and he thought others should have the same idea.

Yet, he didn't expect that a fellow disciple had actually left a secret mark.

Naiveté, or a conspiracy?

Qin Sang frowned deeply. Following the direction indicated by the mark, it was precisely the direction he intended to go. This indicated that the fellow disciple was likely not far ahead.

Having been here for so long, experienced two battles, and only obtained one jade token, Qin Sang realized that standing out in the Immortal Ascension Conference was truly not that simple.

Compared to the consequence of being unable to enter the Yuanzhao Sect, was dealing with a dangerous person perhaps more acceptable?

Qin Sang's expression was hesitant, and he pondered for a while. In the end, he decided to take a different path. He didn't know who was ahead; what if it was a fellow disciple at the seventh level of Qi Condensation? If they harbored ill intentions, he would be in serious trouble.

The allure of a top-grade artifact was not much weaker than that of a jade token.

If he changed direction, to the far left of his vision, he saw shimmering light. It looked like a great river. The riverbanks were open terrain, and not far across the river was the toxic swamp.

After descending the mountain, Qin Sang turned right and continued his trek through the deep mountains.