Investigation, Gorge, Finding the Soul-Absorbing Rod!

At Su Han's words, he looked in the direction Tian Ling'er was pointing.

He saw a towering mountain rising majestically ahead, a waterfall like a silver ribbon pouring down from its slopes, glittering with flecks of silver beneath the sunlight.

"Soul-Absorbing Rod..."

Filled with anticipation, Su Han unconsciously quickened his pace and headed toward the waterfall.

Tian Ling'er watched Su Han hurry off without any suspicion, assuming he had been drawn in by the waterfall's beauty.

Sure enough, I have excellent taste!

Thinking this, Tian Ling'er also picked up her pace.

Soon, as they drew closer and closer to the waterfall, its thunderous roar became increasingly distinct.

When they arrived before it, the splashing spray brought waves of coolness that refreshed their spirits.

Tian Ling'er excitedly kicked off her shoes and ran barefoot through the small pool before the waterfall, the hem of her pale green dress dancing in the wind.

"Su Han, look how beautiful this place is!"

Tian Ling'er said with a smile, her face glowing with innocent delight.

Su Han quietly admired the magnificent scenery, then nodded and replied with a smile.

"It truly is beautiful, like a fairyland on earth."

"Right? Hehe~"

As she spoke, Tian Ling'er kicked up a spray of water with her little feet, splashing it toward Su Han.

Su Han quickly turned aside to avoid it, and the water splattered onto the ground beside him.

Seeing Tian Ling'er's lively, mischievous appearance, Su Han smiled helplessly.

"Ling'er, stop fooling around," Su Han said softly.

Tian Ling'er did not care. "No way."

"You tricked me into smacking my own head earlier. I'm holding a grudge, hmph hmph~"

With that, Tian Ling'er continued kicking up water, her silver-bell laughter echoing before the waterfall.

Su Han looked at Tian Ling'er's playful liveliness, feeling both helpless and amused.

He shook his head slightly, deciding he needed to make this little girl settle down.

Su Han flashed forward, closing in on Tian Ling'er in an instant like a ghost.

The next moment, Tian Ling'er felt her wrist tighten as Su Han firmly seized it.

She struggled a few times, only to discover that Su Han was incredibly strong. Unless she used spiritual power, she could not break free at all.

Tian Ling'er was just about to use her spiritual power when Su Han spoke.

"Ling'er, stop fooling around."

Tian Ling'er pouted, looking thoroughly unconvinced. "Let me go, and I'll stop."

But Su Han remained unmoved. He gave a light tug, pulling Tian Ling'er in front of him. Then he crouched down, looked at her little face, and tapped her forehead with a finger.

"You really can't stay quiet for even a moment, can you?"

Tian Ling'er was stunned by Su Han's sudden action. Then, for some inexplicable reason, she lowered her head and actually stopped making trouble.

Still, she muttered indignantly under her breath, "All you know is how to bully me."

Seeing Tian Ling'er quiet down, the corners of Su Han's lips lifted slightly as he released her hand.

Then Su Han got down to business.

He gently reached a hand into the pool, closed his eyes slightly, and carefully sensed the water.

If the pool containing the Soul-Absorbing Rod lay upstream of this small waterfall—

Then the water in the pool below the waterfall would inevitably be tainted, more or less, by a trace of Demonic Nature.

For ordinary people, it might not be obvious, or they might not sense it at all.

But for Su Han, who possessed the Demonic Buddha Body, Demonic Heart, not even the slightest trace of Demonic Nature could escape his perception.

"Su Han, what are you doing?"

Tian Ling'er had been lightly biting her lip and looking bashfully at Su Han.

But when she saw his strange actions, she could not help feeling puzzled.

She hurried over, crouched beside Su Han, and copied his movements, dipping her small hand into the pool as well.

Other than the icy coldness, she felt nothing else, which left her even more confused.

Hearing Tian Ling'er's question, Su Han opened his eyes and smiled as he shook his head. "Nothing."

"Ling'er, let's follow this stream downstream and see what's there."

Su Han had not sensed the slightest trace of Demonic Nature in the water just now.

Therefore, he concluded that this was not downstream from the pool containing the Soul-Absorbing Rod. More likely, water flowing down from here would pass through that pool.

Hearing Su Han's words, Tian Ling'er eagerly clapped her little hands.

"Okay, okay! I haven't gone downstream to look around either."

Tian Ling'er walked barefoot among the loose stones along the bank, feeling the coolness of the stream.

Su Han walked on the shore, letting Tian Ling'er hold onto him.

Together, they headed downstream.

They chatted and laughed, and the world could not have been better.

Just like that, an unknown amount of time passed.

A violent rumbling suddenly came from ahead.

If the roar of the earlier waterfall had merely sounded somewhat chaotic, then this sound was deafening even from a great distance away.

"Huh?"

"Is there another huge waterfall ahead?"

Tian Ling'er seemed rather surprised upon hearing the sound.

She had not expected an even larger waterfall to lie downstream from the small one.

From the sound of it, it seemed as though water was plunging off a cliff into the depths below.

But Su Han's eyes instantly lit up.

He remembered clearly.

In the original story, the pool where the Soul-Absorbing Rod lay was beneath a cliff.

Because of that, Zhang Xiaofan, who could not yet fly with a magic artifact, had only been able to climb down along a vine. His palm had happened to be cut open by its sharp surface.

Then, when he grasped the Soul-Absorbing Rod, he had coincidentally carried out a blood refinement without understanding anything at all.

If I'm not mistaken...

The Soul-Absorbing Rod should be beneath this cliff.

At the thought, Su Han was filled with delight and unconsciously touched the Blood Devouring Pearl in his robes.

Perhaps it was only an illusion, but the Blood Devouring Pearl seemed to be lightly pulsing in Su Han's chest as though it had a heartbeat.

Su Han quickened his pace.

Before long, the two arrived at the top of the gorge from which the deafening roar emerged.

The gorge here was bottomless. Torrential water rushed over the cliff, forming a massive waterfall.

The rushing water battered the rocks at the bottom of the cliff, producing a thunderous roar.

Standing there, Su Han could clearly sense, without even closing his eyes, a vast Demonic Nature deep within the gorge below that was influencing the spiritual energy around it.

It made the spiritual energy there especially gloomy and violent.

An ordinary person who reached that place would find it impossible to take another step, perhaps even go limp all over and fall unconscious.

"As expected, the Soul-Absorbing Rod is beneath this gorge!"

A flash of delight crossed Su Han's eyes. He immediately said to Tian Ling'er, "Ling'er, take me down to the bottom of the cliff to have a look."

Su Han could not yet fly with a magic artifact, but Tian Ling'er had long since reached the fourth layer of the Yuqing Realm and could naturally fly with one.

Therefore, there was no need for him to slowly climb down vines like Zhang Xiaofan had in the original story.

Tian Ling'er did not ask for a reason after hearing Su Han's request.

She merely formed a hand seal, and a length of Hong Ling appeared beneath her feet.

Su Han jumped onto Hong Ling.

"Hold on tight."

With that, Tian Ling'er directly carried Su Han down beneath the cliff.