Edge of Guixu

"But where should we go?" Chen Feng asked bitterly.

"The path we came from is blocked by the swarm."

Lin Ye did not answer. He closed his eyes to sense the flow of the ley line energy.

"The ley line energy is relatively stable over there; there might be a hidden passage behind it."

"How do you know?"

"A feeling."

Lin Ye withdrew his gaze and walked straight toward the cave wall.

Although the group was filled with doubt, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and follow.

Arriving before the cave wall, Lin Ye raised his hand and pressed it against the rock. The stone instantly crumbled and peeled away, revealing a passage carved by human hands!

"Move."

Lin Ye walked in the lead, his pace neither hurried nor slow.

"This path is constantly heading upward," Su Muxue's voice came from behind.

"Be careful. There might be forks ahead, and we are almost at the Bone-Eroding Forest," he whispered.

"The Bone-Eroding Forest?" Chen Feng's expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

"Can we go around it?" Su Muxue asked.

"We'll see when we get there." Lin Ye did not give a definitive answer.

Lin Ye stopped at a fork in the road and closed his eyes.

The airflow in the upward passage was more rapid, and the air was fresher, yet that scent of decay grew increasingly intense, even giving him a sense of crisis as if he were being watched from the shadows.

"Take this way." Lin Ye pointed toward the horizontal passage with almost no hesitation.

"Why?" Su Muxue asked, puzzled.

"The exit above leads straight into the depths of the Bone-Eroding Forest, and we are already being watched," Lin Ye said concisely. "This horizontal path has another way out."

After walking for a while, the space ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a massive stone chamber.

At one end of the stone chamber stood a tightly shut metal door. The surface of the door was covered in intricate patterns, with a circular groove in the center.

"What is this?"

"It looks like an ancient mechanism, or perhaps part of a teleportation array." Su Muxue walked closer to observe.

Lin Ye's gaze fixed on the door; he stepped forward slowly and reached out to touch the surface.

Was this left behind by Daoist Xinghe? Lin Ye felt a stir in his heart.

He attempted to inject a wisp of true qi into the patterns on the door.

"Hum—!"

A faint humming sound resonated from within the metal door!

"Click... click..."

The sound of grinding gears echoed, and the entire stone chamber trembled slightly.

"Can this door be opened?" Chen Feng asked, pleasantly surprised.

Su Muxue looked at Lin Ye, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"Rumble..."

The heavy metal door began to open slowly inward, emitting a dull, thunderous sound.

Behind the door was not the expected passage or exit.

It was a floating, dark gray platform. The surface of the platform was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the dark void above.

In the center of the platform stood a black jade altar. Atop the altar was a teleportation array.

"Is this a teleportation array?"

"Daoist Xinghe's contingency plans were indeed not limited to just one location." Lin Ye walked to the array platform and looked at the strange crystal.

"This crystal is the energy core of the array."

"This teleportation array is far more advanced than the one in the ruins outside. Although it has fallen into disrepair over the years, with this crystal, it can still be activated."

"Can it be activated? Where does it lead?"

"The crystal doesn't have much energy left; it's only enough for one short-range teleportation or to reach a preset coordinate," Lin Ye mused.

As his fingertips brushed over the runes on the array platform, touching several key nodes, "...Calamity... approaching... inheritance... a glimmer of hope... Edge of Guixu... Ancient Battlefield..."

The information was fragmented and blurred, yet it made Lin Ye's heart sink heavily.

The destination of the teleportation array left by Daoist Xinghe actually pointed toward such legendary forbidden lands?

"How is it?" Su Muxue noticed Lin Ye's hesitation.

Lin Ye briefly explained the fragmented information and his speculations.

"The Edge of Guixu... the Ancient Battlefield..."

"It doesn't sound much safer than this secret realm."

"At least it's away from this secret realm, which has been infiltrated by the Blood Fiend Hall."

"Since it's a contingency left behind by Daoist Xinghe, it should be a relatively safe buffer zone."

"We have no other choice," Chen Feng said in a deep voice.

"What do you need to activate the teleportation array?" Su Muxue looked at Lin Ye.

"Enough energy to activate the crystals."

"You all guard the entrance. The energy fluctuations when the array activates will likely attract trouble."

Lin Ye sat cross-legged in the center of the altar, his hands hovering over both sides of the crystals as he slowly injected his true qi.

"Hum—!!!"

The altar shook violently! All the runes on the array platform suddenly lit up with a brilliant dark golden light! The light shot straight into the sky.

It condensed into a dark golden teleportation vortex!

"It's done!"

Lin Ye slowly withdrew his power. He clearly felt the spatial fluctuations pointing toward the Edge of Guixu, yet he felt no sense of relief in his heart.

"Go!"

He stood up and stepped into the teleportation vortex.

The others followed closely behind, their figures quickly swallowed by the vortex.

A sensation of spatial tearing arrived, and Lin Ye clearly saw two vast scenes on either side of the passage flashing backward at high speed.

The power of the stars and the power of the earth veins were like two millstones constantly crushing inward, and the passage was merely a thin line in the middle that could snap at any moment.

"No wonder the teleportation array left by Daoist Xinghe ends at the Edge of Guixu," Chen Feng's voice carried a hint of bitterness.

"Focus your minds and steady yourselves!" Lin Ye warned in a low voice.

At the end of the passage ahead, a void appeared that seemed to swallow all light.

"Get ready, we're coming out!" Lin Ye shouted, circulating the true qi within his body to protect himself.

The darkness at the end of the passage expanded rapidly, instantly swallowing the entire tunnel.

"Boom—!"

A sudden sense of weightlessness struck, and his body felt as if it were falling from a great height, tossed about recklessly by twisting forces.

What met his eyes was a scene of desolation.

The sky was a strange color, a mix of gray and deep purple, with a few blurred stars faintly visible.

The ground consisted of countless broken landmasses suspended in the void, covered everywhere with hideous battle scars.

Violent spiritual energy surged through the air, mixed with intense negative energy that ordinary cultivators could never absorb.

After the initial shock and discomfort, the seed within Lin Ye's body began to stir without warning.

Far from being eroded by the violent spiritual energy of this place, it seemed to have caught the scent of an ultimate tonic, emitting a faint, imperceptible tremor.

The seed spun crazily in his dantian, actively devouring the dual essence of the stars and the earth from the air, even forcibly tearing in the surrounding violent negative energy to refine it all together.

He clearly perceived that the shell of the seed was solidifying at a speed visible to the naked eye, its internal structure being constantly completed and optimized.

"Is everyone alright?" Lin Ye gathered his focus and turned to look behind him.

The others were just recovering from their dizziness, and when they sensed the spiritual energy in the air, their expressions turned even uglier.

"The spiritual energy here is impossible to absorb!"

"Not only that, the residual wills here pose a great threat to us."

"We must find a safe place as soon as possible. Our injuries are not light, and in this environment, we won't last long."