Chapter 1924: Haitang Strays into Another World, Huang Fugui Trapped

"Didn't you say there might be another exit to the Gale Secret Realm here? You brought me here; you're not trying to trick me, are you? Or do you want to use me as a sacrifice to activate the altar?"

Ye Haitang's tone was indifferent. She was currently at the late Nascent Soul stage, and so was Fang Mu.

Before Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan left, they had instructed them to find Wang Qingshan. Ye Haitang began by studying formations, searching through numerous ancient texts to deduce Wang Qingshan's whereabouts.

It's worth noting that Wang Mingren was also trapped in a dangerous location back then, and it took Wang Qingjing and others a long time to help him escape.

"If I wanted a sacrifice, I'd just catch one myself. There's no need to spend a lot of time luring you here."

Fang Mu's tone was indifferent. He then changed his tone and continued, "Of course, I did use you to help me break the formation. You control ghosts, and I control refined corpses; the Ghost Realm is our best option. The Heavenly Ripple Sect has severed the realm passage between the Eastfence Realm and the Thousand Gourd Realm. To return to the Eastfence Realm, we'd need at least a Deity Transformation cultivation. If we can use this altar to contact high-level cultivators from the Ghost Realm, we might find a way to reach the Deity Transformation stage, or even travel to the Ghost Realm itself."

"I agreed to come here because you said this place might lead to the Gale Secret Realm. You'd better give me a reasonable explanation, or don't blame me for being impolite."

Ye Haitang said coldly, her stance suggesting she was ready to fight at the slightest disagreement.

Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan had repeatedly stressed the importance of finding Wang Qingshan, and Ye Haitang had fully agreed.

Fang Mu took out an exquisite black brocade box and handed it to Ye Haitang.

Ye Haitang opened the black brocade box and saw two sections of dark spiritual bones inside. The surface of the bones had some faint red veins, which upon closer inspection looked like blood vessels. The two bones kept swaying as if alive.

"Spirit-Communing Yin Bones! What do you mean by this?"

Ye Haitang frowned, her face full of confusion.

"These are two Spirit-Communing Yin Bones I obtained from the Myriad Ghosts Sea in the Eastfence Realm. They are excellent materials for refining avatars. As for where the Gale Secret Realm leads, I genuinely don't know, but we can activate this altar. Perhaps high-level cultivators in the Ghost Realm will have a solution."

Fang Mu explained, admitting he had fabricated a lie because he valued Ye Haitang's formation-breaking abilities.

After a brief consideration, Ye Haitang accepted the two Spirit-Communing Yin Bones. These two bones were indeed excellent materials for refining avatars.

They looked towards the altar, their expressions solemn.

The two cautiously stepped forward and observed carefully.

On the altar was a large formation, over a hundred zhang in size, with hundreds of grooves of various sizes. Each groove contained a depleted spirit stone.

They had read records of ancient altars in texts; some required living sacrifices to be activated.

Fang Mu flicked his sleeve, and a gust of wind swept the depleted spirit stones away. Ye Haitang then waved her sleeve, sending hundreds of medium-grade spirit stones flying into the grooves, and cast a spell.

A dull humming sound emanated, and the formation vibrated violently, but it quickly returned to normal.

"Do we need high-grade spirit stones to activate it?"

Fang Mu frowned and said, taking out five high-grade spirit stones to replace them. Ye Haitang also took out several high-grade spirit stones, replacing five medium-grade ones, and they cast another spell.

A blinding black light shot up from the formation, piercing directly through the stone cave, causing a large amount of rubble to fall.

After a moment, the black light vanished, and the formation returned to normal. Suddenly, the demonic face pattern behind the altar came to life, its features twisted and distorted, emitting a mournful wail and spewing out a hazy black radiance that enveloped Ye Haitang and Fang Mu.

The incident happened so suddenly that they had no idea this would occur.

The black radiance swept them into the mouth of the demonic ghost. They felt their vision blur and lost consciousness.

After a bout of dizziness, Ye Haitang opened her eyes, feeling disoriented and vigilant. Fang Mu was nearby.

"Where is this place? An independent space? Or a land of the undead?"

Fang Mu frowned, saying he felt very uncomfortable for some reason, and there was not a trace of spiritual energy here.

"Demonic energy! This place is saturated with demonic energy."

Ye Haitang frowned deeply. She had experienced demonic energy when she accompanied Wang Changsheng on the expedition to the Thousand Gourd Realm.

"Demonic energy? Could this be the Demon Realm?"

Fang Mu was stunned, his face filled with disbelief.

"It shouldn't be. The legendary Demon Realm is a parallel realm to the Spirit Realm, and the Eastfence Realm is a lower realm. It's clearly unrealistic for a single formation to bring us to the Demon Realm. It might be an independent space filled with demonic energy, or perhaps a subordinate realm of the Demon Realm."

Ye Haitang said with some uncertainty. She had originally intended to find a way to rescue Wang Qingshan but had somehow ended up here.

"Since we're here, we might as well make the best of it. Oh, a cultivator is coming."

Fang Mu let out a soft exclamation and looked towards the distant sky.

A green streak of light flew from the distant horizon, not moving quickly.

Not long after, the green streak of light stopped, revealing a tall, thin young man in a green robe. Judging by his spiritual energy fluctuations, he was only at the Core Formation stage.

The young man in the green robe kept chattering, but neither Ye Haitang nor Fang Mu could understand him.

A dark light gleamed in Ye Haitang's eyes. The young man in the green robe met her gaze, and his eyes became dull and vacant as he floated towards Ye Haitang.

Ye Haitang placed her right hand on his head and performed a soul-searching technique.

After a moment, Ye Haitang released her hand. The young man in the green robe passed out but was otherwise unharmed.

"The Black Luo Realm, a direct subordinate realm of the Demon Realm. It's filled with demonic energy, with no spiritual energy."

Ye Haitang's expression was grim. This meant they would need to change their cultivation techniques; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to continue cultivating.

"What? A direct subordinate realm of the Demon Realm?"

Fang Mu exclaimed in surprise, dumbfounded.

"There's a large market city ten thousand li from here. Let's go check it out first. We need to learn the local script and language, and then we can settle down."

Ye Haitang cast a spell on the young man in the green robe, then departed with Fang Mu, breaking through the air. No sooner had they left than the young man slowly regained consciousness.

He scratched his head, utterly bewildered, and continued on his way.

***

Heavenly Sea Realm, Fallen Immortal Island.

In the northwest corner of the island, a towering black peak piercing the clouds occasionally emitted loud explosions.

At the summit sat a dilapidated manor with most of its walls collapsed. A black stone staircase stretched from the foot of the mountain to the top.

In the center of the manor was a hundred-mu black lake, and in the middle of the lake was a hexagonal stone pavilion over a thousand zhang in size. The pavilion was enveloped by a dense black water curtain.

Huang Fugui sat inside the stone pavilion, looking panicked.

"Damn it, not even a spirit treasure can break this! Am I going to be trapped here until I die?"

Huang Fugui muttered to himself, his voice tinged with a whimper.

He had come here with cultivators from the Taiyang Sect and Xuanyu Palace to search for treasure. They finally reached their destination, but as soon as they saw the treasures, the two factions started fighting. Huang Fugui snatched two treasures and fled. While passing by this spot, he got trapped in the stone pavilion trying to collect a ten-thousand-year spiritual herb.

He gazed at the surrounding black lake, despair evident on his face.

"Could it be that Immortal Cailian was right? Is this truly where I'm destined to die?"

"Impossible! This isn't the first time this old man has been trapped by a restriction. I refuse to believe I can't leave this place."

Huang Fugui tried to cheer himself up, then urged his spirit treasure to attack the black water curtain.

Unfortunately, no attack managed to break through the black water curtain.

If he wasn't mistaken, this should be a continuous restriction, possibly triggered when the Xuanyu Palace cultivators and Taiyang Sect cultivators fought.

He could only hope that cultivators from either the Xuanyu Palace or the Taiyang Sect would find this place. He would surrender the treasures in exchange for a chance to live.