Inviting the Enemy into the Trap, a Spatial Ancient Treasure; Divine Abilities and Treasure Artifacts, a Head-on Kill (Advance Bonus Chapter for 1,200 Votes)

More than twenty days passed in the blink of an eye.

Only two days remained before the Nascent Soul Cave-Dwelling Ruins officially opened for entry. The atmosphere throughout Blackwind Ridge was stretched taut, yet the various factions became increasingly "well-behaved" and quiet, making almost no unnecessary moves.

Southwest of Blackwind Ridge lay a deep valley beneath precipitous cliffs, far from the main road and rarely visited. Miasma hung somewhat heavily here, and jagged rocks littered the ground. Ordinary cultivators seldom set foot in the place.

Suddenly!

A streak of escape light tore through the air at tremendous speed. Its glow was somewhat dim, but it carried a chilling coldness and urgency that made the heart quail. Its imposing might made no attempt to conceal the cultivation fluctuations of the peak false core realm!

The escape light stopped directly above the valley, then faded to reveal the figure within.

He wore gray scholar's robes and had a tall, thin frame, a lean face, and three long wisps of beard, giving him a rather refined air. Yet his slightly narrowed, triangular eyes gleamed with the cold sharpness of a venomous snake, and ghostly green flames seemed to flicker deep within his pupils.

His aura remained concentrated and restrained, yet it faintly exuded the gloomy deathly air of someone who had long kept company with dead things and poisons. His fingers habitually stroked a string of prayer beads fashioned from tiny beast bones.

He was none other than Xue Wuming, the Poison-Handed Scholar, a false core cultivator of the Hehuan Sect!

Hovering in midair, he sent his powerful divine sense sweeping down into the valley like an invisible tide.

At the bottom of the valley, amid scattered rocks and weeds, there was indeed a natural cave half concealed by vines. A faint formation