Black Stone Mountain

After a brief period of weightlessness, Song Wen found himself in a desert.

The scorching sun beat down overhead, and the ground beneath our feet was scalding hot gravel.

Looking up and around, all I could see were endless sand dunes.

Occasionally, withered, low-lying shrubs appear on the sand dunes.

Song Wen soared into the air, reaching mid-air, and gazed at the distant scenery.

To his west lay endless yellow sand, the very edge of the secret realm.

To the east, a faint green hue could be seen.

According to Purple Cloud, the Purple Salvia Root grows in a Black Stone Mountain in the core area of the secret realm.

Song Wen stared into the east, stroking a Jade Slip in his hand.

The Jade Slip was given to him by Purple Cloud, and Zhu Yin also had one.

Once activated, it can condense into a beam of azure light that shoots straight into the sky.

Once you see the blue beam of light, move towards it so that the three of you can reunite.

As agreed upon by the three, they were to cooperate on this trip to the secret realm and split the Purple Salvia Root they obtained equally.

After pondering for a moment, Song Wen put the Jade Slip away again.

He worried that instead of attracting Zhu Yin and Purple Cloud, he might attract other cultivators from the Two Forms Sect.

Song Wen flew close to the ground, heading east.

Meanwhile, he kept observing the sky, waiting for the blue beam of light to appear.

About fifteen minutes later, a beam of blue light shot straight into the sky to his right rear.

Song Wen stopped his escape light, pondered for a moment, then changed direction and flew towards the location of the pillar of light.

The beam of light wasn't very far, about two thousand miles.

When Song Wen was more than a hundred miles away from the pillar of light, he descended and ran on the ground.

Half an hour later, he met Purple Cloud, who was waiting for him, in a flat desert.

Purple Cloud was alone. When she saw Song Wen appear, she asked...

"Zhu Yin has not arrived yet. Let us wait here a little longer. Hopefully, Zhu Yin is not too far from us."

Song Wen nodded, standing a hundred feet away from Purple Cloud, remaining silent.

"Extreme Yin, I'm a little curious, what is your true level of cultivation?" Purple Cloud asked.

"As you can see, fellow Daoist, I am merely at the Golden Core Early Stage," Song Wen said.

Purple Cloud clearly did not believe Song Wen's words.

"Extreme Yin, we are now considered partners in the same boat, can't you tell me the truth?"

"Everything I have said is the truth, without the slightest falsehood," Song Wen said.

Purple Cloud said, "You are the most dishonest person I have ever met. The aura you displayed when you threatened me in the private room of the restaurant that day was not something a cultivator in the Golden Core Early Stage could possess. However, your technique for concealing your cultivation is truly superb. I once asked my master, and even he couldn't tell that you had hidden your cultivation."

"That's because I didn't hide my cultivation level at all," Song Wen said.

He concealed his cultivation level by controlling his physical body's aura, not by any secret technique.

So far, he has not met anyone who can see through the secrets of his physical body.

Upon hearing this, Purple Cloud's heart wavered somewhat. She couldn't tell whether Song Wen had concealed his cultivation level or not.

Suddenly, Purple Cloud looked up and gazed eastward.

"Zhu Yin has arrived."

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhu Yin's figure appeared on a sand dune ten miles away.

As Zhu Yin approached, Purple Cloud said.

"Everyone's here, let's go."

As she spoke, Purple Cloud summoned a small spaceship.

The three boarded the spaceship one after another.

The spaceship was equipped with an array that isolated it from Divine Sense perception.

Unless absolutely necessary, Purple Cloud did not want her fellow disciples to know about Song Wen and Zhu Yin's existence.

The spaceship had traveled less than a hundred miles.

A figure suddenly appeared in front of the spaceship.

"Which senior brother owns this spaceship? Could you give me a ride?"

Purple Cloud did not stop the spaceship, but walked to the bow and looked at Wen Lin below.

"Wen Lin, I have urgent business to attend to, so I won't be traveling with you."

Wen Lin looked at the spaceship speeding overhead, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

The Illusory Spirit Valley is home not only to Demon Beast, but also to zombies and ghosts.

Those who enter the Illusory Spirit Valley all come from the Two Forms Sect. As long as they have no enmity with each other, they will generally travel together if they happen to meet.

After all, one more person means one more level of safety.

"Why is Purple Cloud in such a hurry? What kind of spirit medicine is she searching for?"

Wen Lin felt both curious and somewhat dissatisfied.

She was drawn there by the cyan pillar of light, hoping to find a fellow disciple to travel with, but to her surprise, Purple Cloud refused her without any regard for sentimentality.

Wen Lin took out a Jade Slip Jade Slip a map of the Illusory Spirit Valley. After quickly determining the location, she vanished without a trace.

The core area of Illusory Spirit Valley is a Black Stone Mountain that stretches for thousands of miles.

The mountain rises and falls, with jagged rocks, sharp corners like knives, and crisscrossing cracks between the rocks, making it exceptionally precipitous.

The three of them disembarked from the spaceship and stood suspended in mid-air on the edge of the rocky mountain.

"Purple Salvia Root prefers shade and grows deep in the crevices between rocks. I must remind you that Purple Salvia Root cannot be touched by Law Treasure or Law Power; it can only be picked by hand. Otherwise, it will wither immediately!" Purple Cloud said.

As Purple Cloud spoke, Song Wen probed his Divine Sense into a crack not far ahead.

The cracks are not vertically downwards, but rather extend in an irregular, undulating manner.

It was initially several feet wide, but became increasingly narrow as it went deeper, until it was no longer passable.

Deep within the crack, a dense Yin Qi of yin and Sha Qi permeated the air, hindering Song Wen's Divine Sense exploration.

Perhaps noticing Song Wen's actions, Purple Cloud continued.

"Don't bother. The places where Purple Salvia Root grows are covered with Yin Qi and Sha Qi, which greatly suppresses Divine Sense. To find Purple Salvia Root, you must go deep into the crevices. Otherwise, every time the secret realm opens, our Two Forms Sect will obtain far more Purple Salvia Root than before."

Upon hearing this, both Song Wen and Zhu Yin frowned slightly.

Purple Cloud once said that a fourth-tier golden corpse is hidden in the rift, and only by entering the depths of the rift can one find the Purple Salvia Root, which greatly increases the danger of this journey.

"Is the only one in this Black Stone Mountain that you mentioned before, the golden corpse with a bull's head and a human body?" Zhu Yin asked.

Purple Cloud shook his head slightly and replied in a deep voice, "No one knows how many fourth-tier golden corpses are hidden in the crack, but so far, all the fellow disciples who have entered Black Stone Mountain have only seen the bull-headed golden corpse."

"What should we do next? Should we search each crack one by one, or split up?" Zhu Yin asked.

After a moment's thought, Purple Cloud said, "Let's split up. But remember, we must not venture too deep into the cracks. Let's first use our Divine Sense to conduct a rough search of the shallow areas of all the cracks."

Zhu Yin and Song Wen nodded, agreeing with Purple Cloud's idea.

"Extreme Yin, how far can your Divine Sense detect?" Purple Cloud asked.

She was testing Song Wen's true strength.

After all, both she and Zhu Yin possessed Peak Golden Core Stage Divine Sense power. If Song Wen Wenzhen were only Golden Core Early Stage cultivator, the range of his Divine Sense perception would be far lower than theirs.

"Don't worry, I have my own way to match your Divine Sense perception range," Song Wen said.

"That's good."

Upon hearing this, Purple Cloud smiled slightly, offering no objection.