Chapter 1435: Alien Race Appears

A dark mountain range stretched out, utterly black as far as the eye could see.

Within the mountain range stood ancient, towering trees over a hundred zhang tall. Their luxuriant branches and leaves formed vast canopies, blocking out most of the sunlight, allowing only a small amount to filter through. The fallen leaves on the ground were about a foot thick, and the air was heavy with the smell of decay. The dense forest was eerily silent.

A golden spirit horse galloped from a distance and halted at the outskirts of the mountain range. Ye Haitang and Zhao Hou dismounted. Not far ahead of them was a narrow, black valley, with numerous black stones scattered across the ground.

Zhao Hou took out a light blue beast hide map, compared it to the valley, and said with some excitement, "This is the place, yes! It seems no one has been here yet."

Ye Haitang shook her head and said, "Not necessarily. Someone has already arrived before us and set up a formation."

"A formation?" Zhao Hou was slightly taken aback. He expanded his divine sense but detected no anomalies.

Ye Haitang flicked her sleeve, and a golden light shot out, striking a certain open area.

"Boom!" Following a loud explosion, a huge pit several zhang wide blasted into the ground. A light blue formation flag was faintly visible, already broken. The golden light was revealed to be a crescent-shaped short blade, entirely golden.

Zhao Hou was a little surprised and chuckled, "Fairy Ye, I didn't expect you to know how to break formations."

"I only have a rudimentary understanding," she replied. "It's also because their formation skills aren't high, otherwise I wouldn't have found it." Ye Haitang's tone was indifferent. She cast a spell, and the golden short blade transformed into a golden beam of light, striking the ground around them.

Rumbles of explosions sounded, and nine more huge pits, each several zhang wide, appeared on the ground. Each of the nine pits contained a light blue formation flag.

"Let's go!" she urged. "We need to be faster; someone is already ahead of us."

Zhao Hou nodded and stepped into the valley, with Ye Haitang following closely behind.

After passing through the valley, an endless black dense forest appeared before them. There were several large pits on the ground, clearly indicating that a battle had taken place here, which confirmed Ye Haitang's assessment.

Zhao Hou subtly flicked his wrist, and a golden light flew out, landing on the ground. It was a spirit beast with the upper body of a mantis and the lower body of a spider. Eight spear-like golden claws extended from its abdomen, and a pair of light blue scythe-like arms grew from its chest, gleaming with a chilling light.

The moment this spirit beast appeared, a muffled rustling echoed through the dense forest. Numerous venomous insects scurried out from beneath the fallen leaves, fleeing into the distance.

"With this Mantis-Spider Beast clearing the way," Zhao Hou said with a smile, "low-tier venomous insects will automatically retreat, which can save us a lot of trouble." The Mantis-Spider Beast quickly moved forward, and they followed closely.

Not long after, a deafening roar of explosions came from ahead, and a huge reddish mushroom cloud suddenly rose, very conspicuous.

"Someone is fighting!" Zhao Hou exclaimed. "It seems they've encountered something. I hope it's not a Fourth-tier demonic beast." Zhao Hou's expression became serious. He restrained his aura and stepped forward. Ye Haitang also restrained her aura and followed him.

Half an hour later, they stopped. Not far away was a lake about an mu in size. Near the lake were some brown bloodstains and several large, charred black pits, still steaming. Clearly, someone had fought here.

Zhao Hou's divine sense quickly swept across the area, and his brows furrowed. "Who's hiding there? Get out now!"

The only answer he received was an eerie silence.

Ye Haitang flicked her right hand, and a light golden short blade shot out, striking a certain void. With a muffled thud, a flash of fire lit up the void. The golden short blade flew back, stopping in front of Ye Haitang.

A blue light brightened the void, revealing two women with similar features. One was a clear-eyed, graceful young woman in a green dress, with a palm-sized blue gourd tied at her waist. The other was a tall, round-faced young woman in a blue dress, with a palm-sized blue gourd tied at her waist.

"Are you two fellow daoists hiding here to ambush us?" Zhao Hou said coldly, a hint of killing intent flashing in his eyes.

"What do you intend by following us?" the young woman in the green dress retorted, a look of sarcasm on her face.

"What a joke!" Zhao Hou scoffed, a look of disdain on his face. "This isn't your territory; why can't we come here?"

"Let's all have an unstated understanding and go our separate ways," the young woman in the blue dress said indifferently. "We hope you won't stealthily follow us again, to avoid any misunderstanding." She then walked away into the distance, and the young woman in the green dress quickly followed.

Ye Haitang watched their retreating figures, saying nothing. Since there were ten-thousand-year spirit medicines here, many people would certainly come, and conflicts with other cultivators were normal.

Zhao Hou pondered for a moment, then pointed in another direction and said, "Let's go, Fairy Ye. I hope we don't run into them."

The ground was uneven with many small puddles, and the air was permeated with a strong smell of decay. With the Mantis-Spider Beast leading the way, numerous demonic insects retreated as they walked, not daring to attack them.

Two hours later, they stopped. The Mantis-Spider Beast let out a series of sharp hisses, as if it had encountered something terrifying. Ahead was a golden sea of flowers, taller than a person. Their flower buds were incredibly large, and their slender stems were covered with light silver sharp thorns. In the center of this flower sea stood a light blue fruit tree, over two people tall, with round leaves and three light blue fruits hanging from its branches.

"There should be some powerful Third-tier venomous insects ahead," Zhao Hou said seriously. "They are likely colony-dwelling, otherwise the Mantis-Spider Beast wouldn't be so agitated." Zhao Hou's expression was grim. This sea of flowers blocked their path; they either had to go around or eliminate these demonic insects.

"Are you sure they are Third-tier demonic insects?" Ye Haitang asked with a frown. "Could they be Fourth-tier demonic insects?"

"They are definitely Third-tier demonic insects," Zhao Hou explained. "The aura emitted by Third-tier and Fourth-tier demonic insects is different. If they were Fourth-tier, the Mantis-Spider Beast would have fled long ago."

"If that's the case, then let's deal with them. It shouldn't be much trouble," Ye Haitang said. She conjured hundreds of glowing red formation flags, changed her spell, and whispered, "Disperse." The red formation flags scattered in all directions, turning into hundreds of red lights that vanished into the ground near the flower sea.

Ye Haitang took out a red formation disc, cast a spell into it, and a large expanse of crimson flames surged from the disc. Countless red mists suddenly emerged from the ground. They blurred, then transformed into rolling flames, enveloping the flower sea.

One by one, the golden spirit flowers withered and fell into the sea of fire. The nearby temperature suddenly soared. A strange hissing sound erupted as a group of light golden centipedes flew out from the flower sea. But at this moment, Ye Haitang changed her spell, and the fire intensified greatly, with flames reaching for the sky. A flash of fire, and a light red light curtain appeared, covering the entire flower sea, as explosions echoed continuously.

Fifteen minutes later, Ye Haitang withdrew the formation. The flower sea had vanished, replaced by a huge pit over ten mu in size, from which steam rose. Not only were there no demonic insects, but even the spirit medicines were gone.

Zhao Hou was secretly astonished, not by Ye Haitang's mastery of formations, but by her decisiveness and disregard for personal gain or loss. Cooperating with such a person required caution.

"Let's go!" Zhao Hou said. "I hope we don't encounter any Fourth-tier demonic beasts."

In a remote mountain hollow, within a narrow valley, a ribbon-like blue waterfall cascaded down from a thousand zhang height, stirring up a tremendous roar and mist.

Three cultivators from the Myriad Sword Sect—two men and one woman—were frantically attacking a completely blue, three-headed giant python. Explosions echoed continuously. On the stone wall behind the blue giant python, a light golden flower grew. Its stem was golden, its bud blue, and it emitted a strange fragrance.

"Form the Three Talents Sword Array!" a stern-faced man in a green shirt shouted. Three glittering flying swords converged and rapidly spun, forming a tri-colored disc over ten zhang wide. It hovered above the three-headed giant python's head, with sword hums echoing continuously. The tri-colored disc rotated rapidly, unleashing streams of tri-colored sword energy that struck the blue giant python's body.

After a series of roars, the blue giant python was torn into a shower of blood by the dense tri-colored sword energy. Its blood stained the pond red as its corpse fell, splashing waves dozens of zhang high.

"It's finally resolved," the man in the green shirt chuckled, his gaze fixed eagerly on the spirit medicine on the stone wall. "There are many thousand-year spirit medicines here. It's a good thing we teleported to the same place."

"Senior Brother Zhao," a tall young woman in a blue dress said with a frown, "we've already collected quite a few spirit medicines. Shouldn't we head to that place now? Martial Uncle Li repeatedly urged us to only collect the ten-thousand-year spirit medicine."

"You killed my spirit beast, and you think you can just leave? It's not that easy," a somewhat hoarse male voice suddenly echoed. As soon as the voice fell, a burly, tiger-backed middle-aged man appeared behind them.

The middle-aged man was bare-chested, with a light blue beast hide tied around his lower body. There were light blue scales on his arms and forehead, and even his eyes were emerald green, giving him a very strange appearance. His chest was stained with brown blood, and in his hand, he held a bloody heart.

"Who are you?" the man in the green shirt asked in a deep voice, startled. Over four hundred Core Formation cultivators had entered the Flying Immortal Ruins, but none of them were dressed like this.

"More people have come in," the middle-aged man said, his expression turning cold. "You outsiders all deserve to die." His body glowed with a bright blue light. His hair grew wildly, becoming long and thick, their ends blurring and transforming into thousands of ferocious snake heads with blue faces and fangs. He shook his head, and countless dense blue snakes lunged forward, obscuring a portion of the sky.

The man in the green shirt and the two others were greatly startled. They each conjured their magic artifacts, attacking the surging blue snakes.

"Boom!" The three of them chopped off hundreds of blue snake heads. The heads fell to the ground, instantly turning into strands of hair. A gentle breeze blew, and these strands of hair vanished. A series of screams erupted as the three of them were torn to shreds by the countless blue snakes; even their protective spiritual light couldn't withstand the assault. The spiritual light of the thousands of blue giant pythons dimmed, and they turned back into hair.

The middle-aged man put the heart in his hand into his mouth, chewed a few times, and then swallowed it. "They've sent more people in," he muttered to himself with a chilling laugh. "Heh heh, more food to eat." He then took out a light blue magic disc with a pattern of a small blue snake on its surface. He cast a spell into it, and a silver-bell-like female voice suddenly rang out, "Fellow Daoist Qing, what made you think of contacting me?"

"The Eastern Fence Realm has sent more people in," the middle-aged man said with a fierce grin. "This is to deliver blood sustenance for us. Let's join forces and feast. Anyway, we can't leave this damned place for now."

"Hmph, I'm not interested in getting involved," the female voice retorted. "It's better to focus on cultivation! There's still a chance to leave this place. Those fellows have quite a few difficult characters; don't forget Old Ghost Miao—he just disappeared. Don't be careless and suffer a loss."

"Hmph, leave here?" the middle-aged man said, pursing his lips and sneering. "We were cast down to the lower realm; it's almost impossible to return to the Spirit Realm. Forcibly breaking through means dying under the restrictions. If it were that easy to leave, even the Golden Flood Dragon King wouldn't have died under the restrictions."

"You've accepted your fate, then there's nothing I can do," the female voice replied. "Do as you please; I'm not interested. Go find Old Ghost Yang; he's always fond of human cultivators' flesh and blood." After saying this, the blue magic disc's spiritual light dimmed.

The middle-aged man grunted. Just then, the magic disc suddenly glowed brightly. He cast a spell into it, and a somewhat excited male voice suddenly rang out, "Fellow Daoist Qing, do you want to leave this place? I've found a way."

"What way? Tell me quickly!"

"The human race has sent more people in," the voice explained. "Let's capture them, and with the formation I've set up, perhaps we can open a passage. No matter how long our demon race lives, if we can't return to the Spirit Realm, we will eventually die here."

The middle-aged man pondered for a moment, then said, "Alright, I'll take care of a few things and come find you immediately. I hope your method works."

In a dark mountain hollow, three streaks of light flew from a distance and landed at the outskirts of the mountain range. It was Wang Qingling, Wang Qiuming, and Qian Yue. They looked at the several large pits on the ground and exchanged glances.

"It seems someone got here before us," Qian Yue said with a frown. "They must have gone in search of the ten-thousand-year spirit medicine, but finding it isn't that easy."

Wang Qingling flipped her right hand, and a light blue orb appeared in her palm. The orb radiated dazzling blue light, hovering in mid-air, its spiritual light continuously flickering.

"The Sensing Pearl is reacting," Wang Qingling said with some excitement. The formation flags in the large pits on the ground indicated that someone had set up a formation here, but it had been broken by later arrivals.

"Let's rest for a bit before going in to search for treasures!" Qian Yue suggested. The Wang family cultivators gathering too early was not a good thing, especially concerning ten-thousand-year spirit medicine; who knew if the Wang family cultivators would turn hostile? What puzzled her was that, according to the plan, the cultivators from the Myriad Sword Sect should have rushed here. Why hadn't anyone arrived? Had they all met with misfortune?

Wang Qingling and Wang Qiuming exchanged glances and did not object.

Deep within the mountain range, Ye Haitang and Zhao Hou each held a light blue formation disc, casting spells into them. The ground not far away was enveloped in a blue mist, from which deafening explosions occasionally erupted. After a while, the explosions ceased, and the two withdrew their formations. Tens of thousands of black demonic bees lay dead on the ground, not a single one of them intact. The ground was pitted and uneven, and nearby towering ancient trees had fallen in swathes.