Just when Gu Sheng's thoughts were changing rapidly, the heavy stone door of the main hall finally opened completely.
A denser air flow, mixed with ancient dust, bloody smell, and some kind of strange energy fluctuations, hit his face.
"Master, the door is open!"
Gu Yuanyuan's voice was filled with excitement and tension.
Gu Sheng gathered his thoughts and temporarily suppressed his speculations about Nether River Venerable's conspiracy.
The top priority is to explore Hall of a Thousand Souls, find the trapped disciples of the Holy Academy, and at the same time prevent Boundless Sect's possible sacrifice plan!
"Let's go."
Gu Sheng took the first step and stepped into the door of the main hall, which was as deep as a huge mouth.
Gu Yuanyuan follows closely behind.
The interior space of the main hall is extremely vast, more than a hundred feet high, and is supported by countless huge black stone pillars.
The stone pillars are carved with reliefs of ghosts and gods of various shapes and ferocious faces, which are lifelike and exude a heart-stopping pressure.
The ground was paved with thick black stone slabs, covered with dried and blackened blood and deep marks left by the battle.
The air was filled with an overwhelming smell of decay and death, and some faint sounds of wind could be heard echoing in the empty hall.
"Master, disciple, please remember that there is a treasure house on the second floor of this hall!"
Gu Yuanyuan said to Gu Sheng in a low voice while observing the surroundings vigilantly.
"Back then, the disciple was sucked into this place and before he was seriously injured and fell into coma, it seemed that he was brought to the vicinity of the treasure house by the nine-color monster. Later, he woke up by luck and found some scattered spiritual stones outside the treasure house, and was able to replenish his spiritual power and escape with support.
However, there were strong restrictions deep in the treasure house, and the disciples could not get close at that time. "
"Treasure house?"
Gu Sheng's eyes moved slightly.
"Lead the way."
"Yes!"
Relying on vague memories, Gu Yuanyuan led Gu Sheng through the empty main hall and along a side corridor covered with dust and cobwebs to the depths of the hall.
There is a huge stone staircase spiraling up here, leading to the second floor.
The two stepped onto the stone steps, and the sound of their footsteps was particularly clear in the silence.
At the end of the stone steps is a relatively small, closed stone door.
The stone gate is also covered with forbidden formations, but it is obviously much weaker than the main entrance of the hall.
Gu Yuanyuan stepped forward and tried to push, but the stone door did not move at all.
She looked at Gu Sheng with some embarrassment.
"Master, this restriction... disciple cannot open it."
Gu Sheng took a step forward and pressed his palm on the stone door. True Essence vomited slightly in his palm, and a pure power penetrated into the formation pattern on the stone door.
Those seemingly complicated formation patterns quickly disintegrated and disintegrated under the power of Gu Sheng.
"That's it."
Gu Sheng took his hand back.
Gu Yuanyuan quickly pushed hard, and the stone door slowly opened inward with a heavy grinding sound.
A strong smell mixed with dust and a touch of aura hit his face. Behind the door is a huge stone chamber.
In the center of the stone chamber, spiritual stones are piled up! In the dim light, these spiritual stones emit colorful and faint light, which is dazzling!
The number is so large, probably no less than hundreds of thousands!
Most of them are low-grade Spirit Stone, but there are also many mid-grade Spirit Stone mixed in, and you can even see a few High-grade Spirit Stone exuding pure aura!
"This is it!"
Gu Yuanyuan's eyes lit up and he pointed at the pile of spiritual stones.
"Master, look! This is where my disciple picked up some scattered spiritual stones!"
Gu Sheng glanced at the pile of spiritual stones, but his brows furrowed slightly.
He walked forward and picked up a medium-grade water-attribute spirit stone that exuded light blue light.
The spiritual stone is warm and moist, full of spiritual energy.
But Gu Sheng was keenly aware that this pure water-attribute spiritual energy was actually mixed with extremely weak, yet extremely cold, black impurities with a dead breath!
This impurity is like tarsal maggots, hidden inside the spirit stone. If it weren't for his powerful soul and subtle perception, it would be almost undetectable!
He picked up another fire-attribute spiritual stone, and found similar cold Death Qi impurities in the pure fire spiritual power!
"Master, what's wrong?"
Gu Yuanyuan asked suspiciously when he saw that Gu Sheng looked wrong.
Gu Sheng handed her the spirit stone in his hand.
"Sense carefully. Is there anything strange in the aura?"
Gu Yuanyuan took the spirit stone, closed his eyes, and concentrated on sensing it carefully. After a moment, she opened her eyes suddenly, with a look of surprise on her face.
"This... this spiritual energy... seems... not very pure? It seems... mixed with something very light and cold... Death Qi?"
"Not bad."
Gu Sheng's voice was deep.
"These spiritual stones have been placed in this Hall of a Thousand Souls full of dead resentment for many years, especially deep in this treasure house, and close to the core area of Thousand Souls Sacrifice Array! They have long been infected by the evil Death Qi that permeates this place!
The spiritual energy inside it seems to be full, but in fact it has been mixed with extremely vicious impurities of death! "
He looked sharply at Gu Yuanyuan.
"Did you absorb these contaminated spiritual stones back then?"
Gu Yuanyuan turned pale and nodded.
"Yes... the disciple was seriously injured and dying at the time. He only relied on these spiritual stones to replenish his spiritual power..."
"Immediately throw away all the spiritual stones you have taken from this treasure house!"
Gu Sheng's tone was decisive and unquestionable.
"Master?"
Gu Yuanyuan is a little puzzled and a little distressed.
Those spiritual stones were life-saving things for her, and they were also important resources for her previous cultivation.
"Stupid!"
Gu Sheng's voice was stern.
"Do you think it is a good thing that these spiritual stones help you heal and cultivate? The Yin evil Death Qi impurities have long been inhaled into your body along with the spiritual energy, and integrated into your blood, True Essence, and even your soul! It is like a chronic poison, hiding and dormant!
You may not notice any difference in a short period of time, and even because of its cold nature, it can temporarily suppress the Death Qi backlash when you practice that incomplete technique, creating a false 'fit'! "
He stared into Gu Yuanyuan's eyes and spoke word by word.
"But if things go on like this, these impurities will continue to erode your foundation, pollute your True Essence, and paralyze your soul! It will make your cultivation path narrower and narrower, and the bottleneck will become more and more difficult to break through!
What's even more frightening is that once you try to reach a higher realm, or encounter a strong enemy or are seriously injured, these hidden evils Death Qi will explode! It can range from True Essence to going berserk and having his meridians cut off! Or worse, his soul will be corrupted and he will become a madman who only knows how to kill!
The incomplete technique you practiced before had an unstable foundation and many hidden dangers. Absorbing these contaminated spiritual stones will only make matters worse! If it weren't for your special bloodline, I'm afraid you would have gone crazy and died! "
Gu Yuanyuan After listening to this, his face instantly became as pale as a sheet of paper, and cold sweat dripped down his face!
She finally understood why she always felt inadequate every time she reached a critical moment in her practice, and why the Death Qi backlash caused by that technique became increasingly difficult to suppress!
It turns out that the root cause lies in these spiritual stones that he regards as life-saving straw!
Without hesitation, she immediately took out all the remaining spiritual stones that she had taken away from the treasure house from her arms and storage bags, and threw them away from a distance!
"Thank you, Master, for waking me up! Disciple... Disciple almost destroyed his career!"
Gu Yuanyuan was still frightened, and his voice was trembling with fear.
Gu Sheng nodded slightly and softened his tone.
"On the road to martial arts, the foundation is the most important. Coveting for temporary gains and absorbing miscellaneous energy may seem like a shortcut, but in fact it will ruin your future. These contaminated spiritual stones are like poison wrapped in honey, which is harmful to people.
In the future practice, remember to practice steadily and absorb pure spiritual energy, so as not to make such mistakes again. "
"Disciples, please remember Master's teachings! Never forget them!"
Gu Yuanyuan bowed deeply.
Gu Sheng said no more, and looked at the mountains of spiritual stones again, with a cold look in his eyes.
Although these spiritual stones are huge in number, they have become a source of poison and are useless if left alone.
He was preparing to destroy it completely to avoid harming others.
At this moment, Gu Yuanyuan dropped the spirit stone and accidentally touched an inconspicuous, dusty stone lamp holder in the corner of the stone room.
Click!
An extremely slight mechanical sound sounded!
Gu Sheng watched Gu Yuanyuan discard the contaminated spirit stones and nodded slightly.
He raised his hand, palm upward, and a wisp of extremely pure spiritual energy slowly emerged.
This spiritual energy exudes a warm luster, is pure and flawless, does not contain any impurities, and contains full of vitality.
"See clearly."
Gu Sheng said to Gu Yuanyuan.
"This is the pure spiritual energy of heaven and earth."
Immediately, with a slight movement of his mind, the extremely fine, almost imperceptible black impurities were forcibly stripped out of the pure spiritual energy in his palm!
This impurity is twisted and exudes a cold, dead atmosphere, which is incompatible with the pure spiritual energy around it.
"This is the Yin evil Death Qi impurity hidden in your body and absorbed by you."
Gu Sheng's voice is calm but carries unquestionable power.
"It's like a tarsal maggot, hiding deep in your Qi, blood, True Essence, and meridians.
Normally dormant, once you hit a bottleneck, are seriously injured, or practice to a critical point, there will be a backlash, ranging from serious injuries to serious foundation destruction, becoming a useless person, or even... your soul is tainted, turning into a crazy demon who only knows killing! "
Gu Yuanyuan looked at the black impurities struggling and twisting in the pure spiritual energy, his face turned pale, and his back was instantly soaked in cold sweat!
She finally fully understood the fatal danger hidden in her body!
If it hadn't been for Master's awakening, she would probably die without knowing how she died!
"Master! Disciple... Disciple realizes his mistake!"
Gu Yuanyuan's voice was trembling with fear.
"Disciples must remember Master's teachings in the future, never take shortcuts, and work steadily!"
"After returning to Great Desolation City, my master will change the method for you and rebuild it."
Gu Sheng took back his spiritual energy, his tone unquestionable.
"Thoroughly cleanse the foundation and remove hidden dangers. Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to achieve anything in this life."
"Yes! Disciple, I obey! Thank you Master for your kindness!"
Gu Yuanyuan felt grateful and frightened at the same time, and quickly bowed and saluted.
"Let's go and take a look deep into the treasure house."
Gu Sheng said no more and walked towards the depths of the stone chamber.
Gu Yuanyuan quickly followed.
The interior space of the stone chamber is very large. In addition to the mountains of contaminated spiritual stones, there are several closed stone doors in the depths. The doors are also covered with mysterious forbidden formations, and their aura is several times more powerful than the outer door.
Gu Yuanyuan pointed at one of the doorways.
"Master, the disciple picked up the spirit stone near this door. But the restriction inside is too strong, and the disciple cannot get close at all."
Gu Sheng stepped forward and pressed his palm on the stone door. True Essence circulated, trying to explore the restricted structure.
The restrictions are extremely complex, layered upon layers, and contain powerful space blockade and energy rebound power, which are far from comparable to the outer gate.
At this moment, the shadow of Yue Shen Gong appeared again in the sea of consciousness. He looked at the restriction on the stone door and let out a sigh.
"It's useless. The inner ban of this treasure house was placed by Zhuo Jing using Space Law combined with the bloodline secret technique. Unless someone holds the corresponding token, even in my heyday, it would be difficult to forcibly open it without alarming the entire cardinal."
He paused and looked at Gu Yuanyuan with complicated eyes.
"This girl was able to enter the first treasure house back then. It must have been because the restriction had dissipated part of its power due to the passage of time or damage to the cardinal core. In addition, she had the fragment containing the mark of the Clumsy Thorn bloodline, and she was lucky enough to enter the outer periphery.
However, if there is no complete secret key token in the inner core treasure house, it is absolutely impossible to open it. "
Gu Sheng frowned slightly when he heard this. It seems that the depths of this treasure house are temporarily inaccessible.
At this moment, Gu Sheng's powerful spiritual consciousness keenly captured that there were two auras approaching quickly in the direction of Hall of a Thousand Souls outside the main hall!
One of the auras was fierce and domineering, with unabashed pressure from the peak of the sect realm!
The other aura was extremely weak, as if it was forcibly suppressed and sealed by some force, like a candle in the wind that could be extinguished at any time!
What made Gu Sheng even more alert was that the powerful aura seemed to have noticed the existence of the two of them!
"Someone is coming!"
Gu Sheng stared at him and said to Gu Yuanyuan.
"Concentrate your breath and follow me!"
He stopped staying and quickly exited the stone room with Gu Yuanyuan, returning to the empty and dead main hall of Hall of a Thousand Souls.
The two of them restrained their aura, as if blending into the shadows, and quietly sneaked towards the entrance of the hall.
Hall of a Thousand Souls Outside, on top of the sticky black mire.
A young man wearing a blue brocade robe with a stern face and sharp eyes like an eagle was escorting a girl towards Hall of a Thousand Souls's gate that looked like the mouth of a giant beast.
The girl was wearing a white dress that was already torn and stained with mud and dark brown blood.
Her hands were tightly cuffed by a pair of heavy black metal shackles. The shackles were engraved with sealing runes, with a dark light that suppressed the weak True Essence fluctuations in her body.
She staggered, her face was as pale as paper, her lips were chapped, her eyes were hollow and numb, as if she had lost all life, and she was pushed forward by the man in the blue shirt.
When she raised her head and saw the Hall of a Thousand Souls in front of her that exuded endless pressure and aura of death, a faint but extremely tenacious light suddenly appeared in the depths of her empty eyes!
In that light, there is fear and despair, but deeper, there is a desire to survive!
But soon, this light was covered by deeper numbness and despair, and returned to deathly silence.
The man in blue shirt didn't seem to notice the subtle change in the girl's eyes, and just pushed her roughly, his voice cold.
"Go faster! Don't dawdle! When you get there, your mission is complete!"
The girl staggered a few steps and almost fell. She was pulled by the shackles before she managed to stand still.