Stone Array Blocks the Path

On the other side.

"Little Yao, are you not satisfied with the He family boy?"

Inside the tent, Ning Yuanshan deliberately lowered his voice and frowned. "He is the one the family selected for you. We have verified it through many channels and confirmed that his talent is quite good. Like you, he has the potential to go to the Galaxy Alliance to cultivate, and our Ning family and the He family are old friends..."

"He was chosen by the family, not by me," Ning Yao interrupted Ning Yuanshan's remaining words impatiently.

Ning Yuanshan shook his head and sighed, "As a woman of the Ning family, how could you have so many choices of your own?"

"Once I go to the Third Realm and prove myself in the Galaxy Alliance, I will have choices," Ning Yao said coldly.

"It is not that easy."

As someone who had been through it, Ning Yuanshan smiled bitterly and explained patiently, "In this realm, your cultivation talent and that of the He family boy might be considered outstanding."

"But in the Third Realm, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is much denser, and it is almost free of impurities. Among the little ones of your age there, there are countless who have better talent than the two of you."

The implication was that even if she and He Ziren were recommended to the Galaxy Alliance, they would not be among the elite of the alliance.

"Talent is not the only standard of measurement; human effort can achieve anything," Ning Yao's bright eyes shone.

"That is true. I am very gratified that you have this mindset and self-confidence."

Looking at the light in her eyes, Ning Yuanshan thought of the vigor of his own youth, so he said, "The He boy traveled thousands of miles just to see you; he is extremely satisfied with you. He is very favored in the He family, and the elders of both families have already agreed. If he insists..."

"You also know that there are two others in the family competing with you for the quota to enter the Galaxy Alliance."

Ning Yao was silent for a moment, a coldness gradually curling at the corners of her mouth, and she suddenly said, "He should not have come to the Cenji Mountains."

Ning Yuanshan was stunned. He looked at her deeply for a few moments and said worriedly, "Do not do anything reckless."

"People from the Galaxy Alliance, the Blood Moon, and the Yin Spirit Temple have all died in the Cenji Mountains, so why should He Ziren be any different?" Ning Yao seemed to have made up her mind long ago and said coldly, "Liu Qigang is also dead. I, or even you, Uncle Yuanshan, may not necessarily leave here alive. What would be so strange about him dying in the Cenji Mountains?"

Ning Yuanshan rubbed his temples and sighed, "It seems that while I wasn't paying attention, you have already grown into an adult."

"Alright, Uncle Yuanshan, you should go outside and keep watch. I always feel that the pile of rubble is not right," Ning Yao urged him to go out.

At that very moment, the two heard a piercing whistle of wind from outside. Without a moment's hesitation, they rushed out of the tent.

In the deep, dark night, the first thing they saw were several hazy, thin gray beast shadows, accompanied by the piercing wind from the rubble pile, rushing toward Pang Jian, who was sitting quietly in the corner.

The beast shadows were very blurry, lacking real flesh and blood, as if formed from gray mist, and were filled with a manic and violent aura.

Pang Jian, who was sitting in meditation, seemed to have sensed the anomaly and was already guarding himself with a cautious expression.

"The lowest grade of Beast Sha, condensed from the souls of wild beasts in the mountains!" Ning Yuanshan shouted.

At this time, He Ziren, Zhang Heng, and several others who were cultivating in their tents also rushed out one after another.

"Beast Sha!"

He Ziren whispered.

He was also at the Pulse-Opening Realm and, like Ning Yao and Ning Yuanshan, could see those blurry gray beast shadows.

The tent he was in was actually the closest to Pang Jian, but seeing the "Beast Sha" formed by the souls of wild beasts drifting toward Pang Jian, he had no intention of lending a hand.

Moreover, he wore a mocking sneer, clearly intending to watch Pang Jian suffer.

"Uncle Yuanshan, we need Pang Jian alive," Ning Yao said softly.

Ning Yuanshan suddenly flew out.

After a few flashes, he arrived in front of Pang Jian and planted a silver-white stone pillar carved with a Flame Dragon pattern into the ground.

"Flame of the Blazing Sun!"

A scorching flame suddenly erupted from the top of the pillar.

Under the intense heat, the Flame Dragon pattern circling the pillar seemed to suddenly come alive, assuming a ferocious posture with bared fangs and brandished claws.

The flames, which surged several meters high, received the divine power of the "Flame Dragon" and transformed into a surging sea of fire above his and Pang Jian's heads.

The lowest-grade "Beast Sha," which had only just formed, dissipated like water vapor the moment they approached the sea of fire, unable to truly touch Pang Jian's body.

"What is going on?"

After finishing this, Ning Yuanshan, holding the Flame Dragon pillar, looked down to examine the sitting Pang Jian.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and he said coldly, "When we first met, there was clearly no ripple of spiritual energy in your body; I just took you for an ordinary hunter. Now that we have entered these mountains, your dantian actually has a faint trace of spiritual energy. Can you tell me what is going on?"

"I just sensed the existence of Qi and incorporated a bit of spiritual energy into my body," Pang Jian said with a calm expression.

Looking at the sea of fire still burning overhead, Ning Yuanshan, who was leaning on the Flame Dragon pillar with one hand, felt the intense, masculine heat radiating around him and added, "Believe it or not."

"Such a coincidence? You really just started?" Ning Yuanshan sneered.

Pang Jian offered no further explanation.

"How long have you been cultivating?"

Ning Yao, with her exquisite figure, swayed gently as she walked over, calling out from a distance.

Looking at her graceful posture and heroic demeanor, Pang Jian replied, "Three years."

"Three years, and you only just sensed the existence of Qi and incorporated a bit of spiritual energy into your dantian?" Ning Yao's thick eyebrows furrowed, and her uniquely charming face revealed a strange expression.

After arriving in front of Pang Jian, she took a smooth white jade bead the size of a finger from her waist, shone it toward Pang Jian's dantian, and said to Ning Yuanshan, "It seems it really is just a tiny bit of spiritual energy."

At her words, Ning Yuanshan let out a cold snort before lowering his guard, drawing the sea of fire above his head back into the stone pillar.

The scorching heat that had enveloped Pang Jian vanished without a trace.

"Don't blame me for being suspicious. Of all the hunters in Linshan Town, only your household lives in isolation, and you are the closest to the Cenji Mountains," Ning Yuanshan said with a stern face. "Strange occurrences have been frequent in the mountains lately. Aside from those of us from the seven great families, there may be others with ulterior motives mixed in. We have to be on our guard."

Pang Jian gave a simple "Oh."

"In my opinion, we should just bind him with ropes and keep him under guard," He Ziren suggested with malicious intent. "That way, if he makes any abnormal moves, we can execute him on the spot."

Pang Jian's heart sank. His gaze fell upon the eerie, gloomy pile of stones, thinking that if the Ning Family truly treated him that way, he would risk charging into the ruins to maneuver his way out.

"There is no need for that. His strength and cultivation are both too low; he poses no threat to us," Ning Yao rejected the idea.

"As you wish," He Ziren replied, indifferent.

Since Pang Jian's cultivation level was so low, if he really did show any signs of trouble, he could be killed in an instant.

Pang Jian let out a silent sigh of relief. Looking at the pile of rubble, he noticed that the light from the white paper fan, the copper hammer, and the bell had faded, leaving only a shrill, whistling sound behind.

Recalling the earlier scene, he realized that some kind of invisible, strange entity had been rushing toward him.

Those invisible entities were likely what Ning Yuanshan and the others called "Beast Sha," the lowest tier of such things. Ning Yuanshan had come to save him at Ning Yao's instruction, which also meant destroying those "Beast Sha."

However, in his perception, those so-called "Beast Sha"... did not seem to be trying to harm him.

Instead, they had been involuntarily drawn to the "Spirit Pot" he had visualized, pulled toward his own dantian spirit sea.

Though that was his impression, since the "Beast Sha" had already been cleared away by Ning Yuanshan, Pang Jian had no way to verify it.

While he was lost in thought, Ning Yao, who had decided to continue granting him freedom, was observing the anomalies in the stone pile and discussing the origins of the "Beast Sha" with Ning Yuanshan and the others.

Pang Jian secretly probed his dantian spirit sea once more.

The dantian spirit sea was like a small, hidden world within the human body. According to the "Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art," one could not see the true state of the spirit sea without advancing to the Dongxuan Realm and refining one's divine sense; one could only perceive it vaguely.

He sensed around and realized that his dantian spirit sea was filled with cotton-like debris.

These cotton-like foreign objects made his perception sluggish, making it difficult to grasp the full picture of his spirit sea through intuition.

He was like a blind man moving through a room, constantly blocked by cotton-like obstructions, unable to touch the general outline of the "room."

Yet, he gradually felt that the tiny bit of spiritual energy he had absorbed earlier would vanish the moment it touched those cotton-like obstructions.

As the spiritual energy made contact, it was as if a spark of ghostly fire melted a tiny piece of the "cotton," causing the "cotton" to diminish slightly.

Before long, the small amount of spiritual energy he had accumulated was exhausted within his body.

"Your spirit sea is filthy and filled with too many impurities and dregs. If you wish to cultivate, you must first gather spiritual energy to clear the impurities from your body. This step is like cleaning a room that has been sealed for a long time, clearing away the dust and debris."

"Only when the spirit sea is clean can you retain spiritual energy and truly become a Qi Refiner."

As Pang Jian stood there, confused, Ning Yao, holding a faintly glowing white jade bead, explained with a cold expression.

Because she needed Pang Jian to guide the way, she felt her attitude was already quite generous, but the sense of superiority ingrained in her bones had never truly vanished.

The bag of silver shards she had tossed earlier, and this explanation now, felt like alms given to a beggar.

"Oh."

Pang Jian replied with indifference.

So, when the young woman was speaking with Ning Yuanshan and He Ziren, she had actually been observing him in secret. Clearly, she had not fully trusted him.

"Only when you reach that point will you be able to feel the size of your spirit sea. However..." A trace of mockery curled the corners of Ning Yao's mouth as she changed the subject. "Those with filthy spirit seas usually have poor cultivation talent. Even if the spirit sea becomes clear and clean, its initial scale will be quite small."

She paused, then added coldly, "In the future, the space you can open up will also be very limited."

Like Sun Bin, she had seen that Pang Jian's aptitude for cultivation was mediocre. She thought to herself that it was no wonder it had taken him three years just to perceive the existence of "Qi."

In her heart, Pang Jian was no longer a suspect. She cared nothing for such a person, and she couldn't even be bothered to ask how he had obtained his cultivation technique.

The night passed without incident.

The next morning, at the first light of dawn, the sky remained dim and gloomy.

"Thump! Thump!"

The sound of beasts galloping came from the entrance of the canyon, and soon a team of people appeared, riding on dark gray One-Horned Rhinos.

The hides of the sturdy One-Horned Rhinos looked like natural armor, emitting a cold, metallic luster.

"Zhou Qingchen!"

The many servants of the Ning Family let out exclamations of surprise at the sight of the One-Horned Rhinos, which exuded an aura of wild ferocity.

At the very front of the team, sitting upright on the largest and sturdiest One-Horned Rhino, was a tall man in green robes.

The man was handsome and spirited, standing a full head taller than everyone behind him, making him stand out like a crane in a flock of chickens.

As he rode the One-Horned Rhino over, his eyes flashed with a divine light as they opened and closed. When he spotted Ning Yao, his eyes brightened even further, and he laughed heartily, "So it is Miss Ning! Long time no see!"

Ning Yao's demeanor became refined; she pursed her lips in a subtle smile and nodded in greeting.

Pang Jian, observing from the side, could see that her attitude toward this newcomer was significantly more polite than it had been toward He Ziren.

When the green-robed man's gaze swept over He Ziren, it was as if he hadn't even noticed such a person existed. He then cupped his hands toward Ning Yuanshan and called out, "Uncle Yuanshan!"

Ning Yuanshan wore a beaming smile as he beckoned them over with a gentle voice, "I knew that you people from the Zhou Family would be arriving soon."

Once the newcomers brought their spirit beasts to a halt, he took the initiative to explain the anomalies of the rock pile, voicing their confusion and concerns.

"Old Han, go ahead and take a look."

Zhou Qingchen, whose name sounded elegant and refined but whose appearance and temperament were quite rugged, spoke to a bloated old man in yellow robes behind him.

"You got it!"

Han Duping, dressed in bright yellow robes with copper coin patterns embroidered on the lapels, slid off another One-Horned Rhino. He did not take out his specialized compass until he reached the front of the rock pile.

He did not rush inside, but instead circled the perimeter of the stones, carefully inspecting something.

Ning Yao and Ning Yuanshan were waiting for exactly this; seemingly aware of his abilities, neither of them spoke up to warn him of the dangers within, allowing him to mutter incantations while surveying the terrain.

Pang Jian also watched the man's actions with curiosity.

After a long while, Han Duping returned to the group, his chubby face filled with a grave expression.

"The scattered rocks form a lethal formation capable of locking in yin energy. This causes the souls of any living beings—human or beast—that die nearby to persist within a certain distance, eventually being drawn into the rock pile."

He looked up at the cliff walls on both sides and asked in confusion, "The rocks all slid down from the mountains on either side; they should have been chaotic and disorganized, yet they have somehow formed a formation that locks in yin energy."

"It is truly strange. I cannot tell if this formation was truly formed by nature or if it was created by human hands."

Han Duping explained his findings, his mind full of doubts.

At his words, the crowd immediately began to discuss, offering all sorts of guesses and wild theories.

Pang Jian's heart stirred slightly, and he could not help but recall his father's actions whenever he accompanied him on hunts through the Cenji Mountains as a child.

Whenever they passed this place, his father would always kick the scattered stones.

His father never seemed to move the larger, heavier rocks, but he would kick many of the smaller stones from further away toward this spot.

According to his father, those scattered rocks were blocking the path and hindering their progress.

A big thank you to the new alliance leader, "Tongjing Caimeng Ayame," for adding another alliance leader to Old Ni's new book. I also want to thank the brothers and sisters who have tipped over the past two days. It's been so long, yet you all still remember me~~ teary-eyed