Chapter 898: Terrifying Arrival

"At the southwest corner, Ye Banxia, Wang Chongling, and Li Shangqiu are engaged in a fierce battle, vying for the right to explore the spatial rift."

"Come quickly."

Jiang Fan's eyes lit up. Gu Xin'er was truly dedicated. She found information so quickly! Moreover, the Moon Realm was incredibly effective; it could notify everyone instantly.

Just as he was about to act, the little Qilin jumped onto his shoulder, a piece of paper clutched in its mouth. Jiang Fan took it and looked. He saw four diagrams, one for each cardinal direction: East, South, West, and North. He didn't understand the other diagrams, but upon seeing the bottom one, he immediately understood: "This bottom drawing is Huaxin."

"So, are there three other beings as powerful as Huaxin in the other three directions?"

Huaxin, who was busy arranging the room, heard this and her eyes instantly widened. "No, you can recognize me from *that*? You two, master and servant, honestly ask yourselves, am I really that ugly?"

"Huh?"

"Answer me!"

Jiang Fan rubbed his ears, which had gone numb from the shouting. He swiped his finger across the Ghost Crystal, temporarily blocking her screams. Then, with a joyful expression, he looked at the drawing. "So, there are three other large hidden spaces."

"Little Qilin, you've helped me immensely!"

The little Qilin giggled and burrowed into Jiang Fan's arms. It wiggled its bottom, settling into a comfortable position.

Beep-beep—

"Death Diary: Oh no, Ye Banxia won. She's entered the hidden space."

Jiang Fan was surprised. This woman was formidable. She could single-handedly suppress Li Shangqiu and Wang Chongling. The latter two were both at the ninth level of Core Formation Completion, and each had their own team. Yet she alone managed to overpower two teams? Her strength was truly a bit frightening.

Jiang Fan immediately sent a message.

"Take a Good Name: Don't mind them. Everyone head directly north; there's a hidden space there."

"Death Diary: ?"

"Empress: Received."

"Flower Patch: On my way."

"Never Spoil the Mood: En route."

Soon after, guided by the little Qilin, Jiang Fan arrived before a vast area enveloped in swirling blood mist. Gu Xin'er and others arrived one after another.

"How did you know there would be a hidden space here?"

"Are you sure?" Gu Xin'er looked puzzled.

Liang Feiyan excitedly said, "When Junior Brother Jiang speaks seriously, you can trust him a hundred percent. If he says it's there, it absolutely is."

"Really?"

Gu Xin'er closed her eyes and used her Nascent Soul stage spiritual perception. She indeed found something amiss within the blood mist. Her spiritual power was blocked by something, indicating a genuine anomaly in the area! Jiang Fan also noticed it. After reciting from the Jade Paper Heavenly Book, his spiritual power had successfully broken through its bottleneck and completely reached the Nascent Soul level. Yet, such powerful spiritual energy was blocked from entering. It was clear something was truly inside the blood mist.

After a moment's thought, he pressed his palms together, and when he separated them again, a blood-red lotus appeared between them.

"Go!"

The lotus petals immediately scattered, transforming into a sky full of sparks that fell into the blood mist. Upon encountering the sparks, the blood mist vanished visibly, like snow melting in fire.

"You seek death!"

Suddenly, a ferocious aura surged within the blood mist. A sinister entity, entirely condensed from blood mist, rushed out. However, before it could unleash its power, a heaven-obscuring shadow of a lightning sword struck down.

*Pffft*—

The blood mist offered no proper resistance, bursting into wisps of mist and dissipating.

Inside the Ghost Crystal, Huaxin's face paled as she witnessed this scene. "That scoundrel, his strength is significantly higher than last time! It's a good thing I pleased the little Qilin; it pleaded for me, otherwise, I would have died a worse death than the Blood-Bone Ghost King."

Liu Qingxian and Liang Feiyan were also startled by Jiang Fan's power. For Jiang Fan, killing a Core Formation Ninth Level Completion cultivator was now effortless. Waving his sleeve, Jiang Fan dispelled the lingering yin energy of the Blood-Bone Ghost King and looked towards the cave dwelling hidden within the blood mist.

He thought for a moment, then said to the others behind him, "How about this? The merit points for exploring the cave dwelling go to me, but everything inside belongs to you. I urgently need a large number of merit points to exchange for something."

How could anyone disagree? Jiang Fan discovered the cave, and he killed the powerful ghost inside; they were simply benefiting, so there was no reason to refuse.

Jiang Fan was the first to step into the cave dwelling. The dwelling was not large, similar in size to Huaxin's. It contained various spiritual treasures of heaven and earth, though they were no longer of much use to Jiang Fan at his current level.

"Alright, come in," he instructed, then casually began to examine the place.

Suddenly, he noticed a black crystal growing from the ground in a corner of the cave dwelling. It emitted an incredibly strong yin energy, and faintly contained a wisp of spatial power.

"What is this?" Jiang Fan was surprised. He unmuted Huaxin and asked, "How is this thing growing out of the ground?"

Huaxin could finally speak. Angrily, she said, "You rotten brat, try muting me again, I dare you? Otherwise, you won't even know how you died! Take this black crystal in front of you, for instance. If you dare touch it, you'll be torn apart instantly!"

Jiang Fan looked surprised. The black crystal was that dangerous?

"This is something that grew from the tenth layer! About a month ago, for some unknown reason, dense black crystals suddenly began to grow on the ninth layer. My guess is that some kind of anomaly occurred on the tenth layer. These black crystals pierced through the barrier between the two layers and appeared on the ninth layer. If it shatters, the spatial power within will erupt, tearing apart all living beings in the vicinity. It might even open a passage to the tenth layer! You should know how many dangerous things are in the tenth layer, right? If just one of them comes out, all of you will die."

Without a word, Jiang Fan immediately retreated. He also instructed everyone not to approach the black crystal. At the same time, a feeling of shock and doubt arose in his heart. "About a month ago" again. This coincided perfectly with the appearance of the Heaven-Connecting Black Pillar.

Liu Qingxian and the others immediately began searching the cave dwelling and indeed found many resources of astonishing value. Even Gu Xin'er couldn't help but show a happy expression. What in the world could be more satisfying than getting something for free?

"Alright, let's go to the next location." Jiang Fan followed the map and headed west.

Soon after they left, a group of people, panting, arrived at the blood mist location. They were none other than the Expeditionary team. They had arrived excitedly, but upon reaching the spot, their faces froze in unison. The blood mist had dissipated, and the hidden cave dwelling within had been completely ransacked. It had clearly been explored. Yu Tiandu, who had come eagerly, found this unacceptable.

"What happened?"

"Weren't we told there was a hidden cave dwelling here?"

Just then, a bamboo tube flew out of Mu Ying's embrace on its own. Mu Ying and the others' expressions changed in unison. They all knelt down, prostrating themselves on the ground. The bamboo tube's lid popped open. A grim claw emerged from within. This bamboo tube was, unexpectedly, a spatial magic treasure!

Immediately after, another claw emerged, followed by a face strikingly similar to a human's, with two sharp horns on its head. Finally, his majestic and robust figure appeared! He floated in mid-air, emitting an incomparably overbearing and powerful aura! The intensity of his aura was even stronger than that of Venerable Seven Sounds! He was clearly a being at the Three Aperture Nascent Soul stage!

If Jiang Fan had been there, he would have recognized him immediately. The tall, horned figure before them was identical to the alien corpse he had seen in the Spirit Tablet Cave! It was a being from Hell!

"Greetings, Master Kui Xing!" Mu Ying, Yu Tiandu, and the others trembled, their eyes filled with awe and fear.

Kui Xing clasped his hands across his chest, gazing at the Blood-Bone Cave dwelling, which was now in ruins. A slight smirk played on his lips.

"Interesting. Someone actually had the audacity to try and steal from me?"