Although Old Daoist could use special methods to see what was happening within the black mist.
He could not probe into Zhang Lin's Astral Qi.
Everything within the Blood Astral Qi was hazy; he had no idea what was happening inside.
This made him somewhat irritated.
Suddenly, the Astral Qi vanished, and Zhang Lin slowly walked over.
"Are you all right?"
Old Daoist was somewhat surprised.
He could sense that Zhang Lin's aura was rather chaotic.
Could he have been injured?
"It's not a big problem. I'll be fine after resting for a while!"
Zhang Lin frowned and gave Old Daoist a baffled look.
Then he shook his head. "Right, when we came to the foot of the mountain, we were restricted. If not for Black Flame, neither of us could have gotten through. Why were those three evil entities able to come over?"
Old Daoist thought for a moment before saying, "Black Flame is probably the key. As long as someone passes through first, the restriction disappears!"
After resting briefly, Zhang Lin and Old Daoist continued climbing the stone steps!
When they reached the ninety-ninth step, the pressure suddenly soared. Zhang Lin felt that even a first-level Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator could be crushed flat by it!
Yet he still maintained the state of tempering his body and soul.
"Ah!"
Old Daoist cried out miserably and collapsed onto the ground.
He was only at the half-step Foundation Establishment Realm, so naturally he could not withstand such pressure.
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Lin shrouded Old Daoist in a stream of Blood Qi, easing the pressure on him.
"Thank you!"
Old Daoist rose to his feet, gasping for breath.
"Do you have any defensive methods left? I'm afraid that on the next step, or perhaps the steps after that, I won't be able to look after you. When that time comes, your chances of survival will be slim!"
Zhang Lin gave him a reminder.
The stone steps ahead still stretched beyond sight. No one knew how many remained. Perhaps even Zhang Lin himself would be unable to endure them by then—how could he spare any attention for Old Daoist?
"Don't worry! I was merely careless and fell into the trap!"
As he spoke, Old Daoist took out a Daoist robe from his backpack.
Zhang Lin clicked his tongue in amazement.
He had been eyeing Old Daoist's backpack for a long time. It seemed like Doraemon's pocket—everything was inside.
Yet from its outward appearance, there was truly nothing remarkable about it!
This was probably the spatial artifact Old Daoist had mentioned.
Old Daoist ignored Zhang Lin's gaze and directly draped the Daoist robe over himself.
"You don't need to worry about me anymore!"
After Zhang Lin withdrew his defense, the Daoist robe suddenly emitted a faint glow and actually resisted the suppressive force.
"Fuck! Do you have any extras?"
Zhang Lin's eyes burned with envy. It was fucking miraculous.
This was probably another artifact.
He could not help marveling at how fucking incredible the methods of the immortal path were!
"Cough, cough... Only one! There's only one!"
Old Daoist was startled by Zhang Lin's gaze.
"Boring! Let's keep moving!"
Zhang Lin was helpless.
Very soon, they encountered a problem!
This hundredth step was not so easy to climb.
Though it looked barely over a meter high, whenever one tried to leap up, no matter how much strength one used, one simply could not jump onto it.
Zhang Lin tried many times, all ending in failure.
Old Daoist tried all sorts of methods as well, but gained nothing.
"I've heard that space has specific nodes. Perhaps we need to find that node before we can get up there."
After pondering for a long while, Old Daoist reached a conclusion.
"Then how do we find this node?"
Zhang Lin knew nothing about such matters and could only rely on Old Daoist's methods.
"This... I don't know either!"
"Well, then I know even less!"
Still unwilling to accept it, Zhang Lin tried a few more times, but he still could not get up.
In the end, he could only give up and stop wasting his efforts.
Meanwhile, Old Daoist sat to one side and rummaged through his backpack.
Then Zhang You pressed one hand against the stone wall, slowly spreading his Blood Qi outward and up along the stone steps, but it ultimately could not go up either.
"Damn!"
Irritated, he slammed his fist into the stone wall with all his strength.
"Hm?"
He sensed that a thread of Blood Qi had actually gone up!
"Again!"
After several more punches, that previous sensation did not appear again.
"That's not right!"
After throwing a few more punches, he finally noticed that the fluctuations were converging toward one spot.
He quickly focused his gaze in that direction.
Before long, a trace of golden-red light flashed through his eyes!
Then he stood there blankly.
"What is he looking at? Did he find something?"
Old Daoist followed Zhang You's gaze upward, but found nothing.
At that moment, the scene in Zhang You's eyes changed.
The entire world he saw was now black and white. Everything around him was a white web of lines, while above was a funnel-shaped web. He guessed that was probably the spatial node.
Afraid that this sensation would soon disappear, he hurriedly flashed over, grabbed Old Daoist, and charged toward that funnel-shaped web.
"You... Huh! We got up!"
Old Daoist was still bewildered. By the time he reacted, the two of them had already reached the hundredth step.
Soon, Zhang You's head throbbed, and he released Old Daoist.
Old Daoist also felt pressure even greater than that of the ninety-ninth step, but the Daoist robe blocked it all!
"Are you all right?"
Old Daoist tentatively asked, then looked around.
There was nothing around them. Only a one-meter-tall jet-black flame stood at the center ahead.
Soon, color returned to Zhang You's vision, and the world was no longer that web-like structure.
He did not know what had happened just now!
Suddenly, a sharp attack stabbed toward the back of his head.
He seemed to sense it and hurriedly dodged to the side, but he was still one step too late.
He only felt a pain in his left shoulder as a deep gash was cut open. Blood quickly dyed his entire arm red.
"What do you mean by this?"
Zhang You mobilized his Blood Qi and sealed the wound.
He calmly looked at Old Daoist, who stood not far away holding half a spirit sword.
Even Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators at the second level could not break through his flesh now, yet he had been wounded by a broken sword!
"Just as you can see. Why did you dodge? If you had obediently and quietly gone off to die, wouldn't that have been wonderful? But now look what happened!"
Old Daoist let out a meaningful sigh. A cruel smile appeared on his face, and as he spoke, he licked the blood from the broken sword.
"Sigh! You finally made your move. I thought you would be a very rational person!"
Zhang You suddenly revealed a faint smile.
In truth, he had sensed Old Daoist's killing intent more than once before.
Though it had vanished in a flash every time, he had still caught it!
This Old Daoist was far from honest!
He was nowhere near as simple as he appeared!
Earlier, Zhang You had considered whether he should kill this old bastard first!
But after thinking it over, he decided against it. Who knew what methods the other party had hidden away?
This broken sword was excellent proof!
Zhang You was now certain that Old Daoist might have been pretending when Zhang You knocked him unconscious near the market!
Afterward, they had inexplicably arrived in this ghost domain...
"But if that's the case, this old bastard was far too good at acting! In his old world, he could probably win Oscars until his hands cramped!"
Zhang You could only marvel at how deeply the other party had hidden himself.
Afterward, he reread the Star Absorbing Great Law several times, but found no problems.
That finally put him at ease!
"You don't seem surprised at all."
Old Daoist asked carelessly.
If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you won't have trouble finding it next time!
Before you continue