"Bzz!"
The sword light collided with the baleful aura, and in that instant, a black hole seemed to open in spacetime, devouring all things.
Wen Qingxuan and Wu Ling clearly saw the baleful aura decaying and the spikes perishing. Even the Netherworld Beast's sharp claws were withering.
Even a superficial grasp of the concept of spacetime was enough for Yun Mo to stand above the entire Spirit Road.
The two prodigies exchanged a glance, decisively gathered the last of their blood energy, and left their final marks on the already gravely wounded Netherworld Beast.
They were the last straw that broke the camel's back.
When the battle ended, the entire battlefield looked as though it had undergone an earth-shattering upheaval.
The ancient trees nearby, which had been glowing with fluorescent light, had snapped at the waist. The smaller plants and flowers had withered to a rotten yellow, and the entire layer of soil had been overturned, exposing the rocks beneath.
Most horrifying of all was the sword scar. It had gouged a deep mark into the basin, and the mysteries of spacetime lingered long afterward.
Wen Qingxuan reached out a delicate hand to steady Yun Mo, who had nearly fallen to the ground, and gave him a long, searching look.
Standing with Wu Yingying, Wu Ling looked at Yun Mo with a complicated expression, keenly feeling his own helplessness.
Night fell, and darkness enveloped heaven and earth.
"Hey, shouldn't you give me back the remaining Qi Recovery Pills?" Yun Mo lay beside the Lake. He truly was exhausted now, and even after resting for a while, he still hadn't recovered enough.
The Netherworld Beast's earlier claw strike had also injured him badly. Even after taking healing medicine, he would probably have to lie down for a while longer.
"Huh? Surely not! Surely not! Our mighty Captain Yun Mo went down that easily? And now he's asking us for Qi Recovery Pills? How useless." Wu Yingying sat beside Yun Mo, her slender brows curved as she gently poked his wound.
"Hiss! I gave you those Qi Recovery Pills in the first place, all right? And you're still poking me! You're done for. Once I get up, you'll be the first one I deal with." Yun Mo gritted his teeth and waved his arm. Wu Yingying's words made him desperately want to give her a beating.
"Hmph! I'm not afraid of you. Wu Ling might be useless, but I have Qingxuan to protect me. Besides, you still dare threaten me in your condition? Take my... Ah!"
Wu Yingying had intended to poke near Yun Mo's wound again, but suddenly, Yun Mo propped himself up on his left arm and reached for her with his right hand. Her pretty face paled in fright, and she hurriedly hid behind Wen Qingxuan.
Wen Qingxuan patted Wu Yingying's shoulder with a delicate hand, a hint of a smile on her face. "Don't be scared. He barely has any strength right now. You can teach him a good lesson before he gets up."
Yun Mo glared at the two girls, then lay back down. This was more comfortable, anyway.
"Yun Mo, what are your plans next?" Wu Ling sat beside the campfire, roasting their dinner.
"Hmm... did you pick all the spirit medicines over there?"
"A small portion was destroyed by the shock waves from your fight with that spirit beast, but most of them were unharmed. We picked them all. It's just a shame those Nocturnal Bees are gone." Wu Ling looked at the spirit medicines on the ground, a satisfied smile still showing on his face.
"How far can they take us?"
"I reckon they'll have no trouble bringing the three of us to Spirit Wheel Realm physical strength. As for Yingying, she should be able to reach Spirit Movement Realm physical strength too."
Wu Yingying pursed her lips at Wu Ling's words, but said nothing. Three people with Spirit Wheel Realm bodies would indeed bring their group to an unimaginable height on the Spirit Road.
Three at the Spirit Wheel Realm and one at the Spirit Movement Realm meant three King Rank figures at the Spirit Road End. That was already enough to dominate the Spirit Road. Moreover, their journey along the Spirit Road wasn't even halfway over yet. They still had room to improve.
At the very least, Wu Yingying also had a chance of raising her physical strength to the Spirit Wheel Realm.
"Then let's use these spirit medicines tomorrow. Afterward, we can check out some other places. I remember there should be two more medicinal grounds like this on the map," Wen Qingxuan said, taking the roasted meat Wu Ling handed her and passing it to Wu Yingying beside her.
"I don't think the other places will be as easy as this one. We only had an opening because this Nightglow Netherworld Beast wasn't good at fighting. If we encounter other beasts raised by the Wu Clan, things might not be so easy."
Yun Mo spoke after a moment's silence.
He wasn't particularly interested in going to the places Wen Qingxuan had mentioned. They could already turn their attention to the Tokens, reach the destination sooner, and finish their Spirit Road trial earlier.
"Actually, I'm more interested in this Netherworld Beast-or, to be precise, in the traces of the Wu Clan appearing on the Spirit Road." A sharp gleam flashed through Wu Ling's eyes.
The continent that had been the Wu Clan Ancestral Land had vanished without a trace after being shattered in their desperate battle against the Extraterritorial Evil Clan. Now that signs of them had abruptly appeared, how could anyone keep their imagination from running wild?
After all, the Spirit Road itself had evolved from a small fragment of a broken continent.
Wen Qingxuan pursed her lips, desire shining in her beautiful eyes as well. "You mean the Spirit Road..."
"Exactly! The Spirit Road might be part of the continent that held the Wu Clan Ancestral Land." Wu Ling voiced his conjecture, then continued, "The Spirit Road's divine contest laws are terrifying. Anyone below the Earthly Sovereign level will be suppressed upon entering, but their physical strength won't be.
"You have to understand, in ancient times, the divine contest laws were created by the Wu Clan. In places without spiritual energy, they were the strongest in the Great Thousand World."
His words silenced everyone present. Yun Mo was no exception; doubt even appeared in his eyes.
After a short while, Yun Mo said, "Let's improve our strength first. Even if the Spirit Road really is connected to the Wu Clan, with these puny bodies of ours, we might not be able to uncover anything."
The other three let out long breaths inwardly. They knew Yun Mo was right and could only set aside their excitement for now.
The night passed just like that.
That morning, Yun Mo was woken by Wu Yingying poking his nose with a short twig. His face filled with fury, and he intended to chase her down and make her pay, only to be stopped by Wen Qingxuan.
"Are you all ready? I've divided up the body-tempering spirit medicines and sealed the path into this basin beforehand. We don't need to worry about anyone interrupting us," Wu Ling said, looking at them.
The three nodded, and Yun Mo said, "Then let's each find a spot to take them and break through. We'll meet back here at the Lake afterward."
"All right."
Taking his body-tempering spirit medicines, Yun Mo went deep into the Lake.
He looked at the spirit medicines before him and rubbed the space between his brows. Truth be told, the reason
his physical strength was relatively weak was that he didn't much like that sort of self-mutilating cultivation method.
Body tempering, however, generally couldn't be separated from self-mutilation. After all, it was a process of destruction and reconstruction.
"Forget it. If I have to mutilate myself, so be it. Do it enough and it'll be fine. It's like coughing up blood-you get used to it after a while. If you fight someone without coughing up blood, they'll think there's something wrong with you."
Yun Mo put a spirit medicine into his mouth. Before long, his entire body turned red, and beads of blood seeped out.
The sensation of his muscles tearing was truly enough to make his heart quake.
He clenched his teeth, his face pale, and endured the intense pain gradually spreading through his body. Then he stuffed all the remaining spirit medicines on the ground into his mouth in one go.
"I told you, self-mutilation just isn't for me!"
The mysterious power of the spirit medicines blossomed within him, turning into streams of heat that destroyed every muscle in his body. Even his internal organs and meridians suffered the same fate, twisting and stretching.
The cycle repeated over and over.
Yun Mo was drenched in cold sweat, agonized howls rising from his throat. Only when he gradually grew numb to the pain did his suffering ease a little.
Yet the vast medicinal power did not diminish. After ravaging his flesh, it continued toward the bones of his body.
At that moment, every inch of his bones felt as though it were being smashed to pieces with a giant hammer, then reshaped by the medicinal power of the spirit medicines.
Without even looking inward, Yun Mo could clearly see his body undergoing earth-shattering changes under the effects of the spirit medicines.
Time passed, second by second.
His body began trembling uncontrollably, as though it were trying to release all the medicinal power within him.
Finally, with a piercing roar, Yun Mo's body erupted with terrifying might like a firework set alight.
As that might dissipated, Yun Mo, encased in a crust of blood, slowly opened his eyes. A blood-red gleam flashed through their depths. He shook his body, making the crust fall away.
"Self-mutilation might be a little twisted, but the effects really are excellent. If I get another chance, I could... hmm?" As he spoke, Yun Mo slapped himself. "What's going on? Why did I suddenly start thinking this sort of self-mutilation wasn't bad?"
It must be an illusion.
Yun Mo shook himself, shivering despite the lack of cold.
Returning to the Lake and finding himself alone, Yun Mo sat down and waited patiently for the others to finish their breakthroughs.
"They're so slow. Nothing like me-I just stuffed all the spirit medicines into my mouth and got it over with."
Yun Mo glanced around, looking at the pitch-black Lake. After a moment's thought, he inexplicably jumped straight in, intending to wash himself. Some of the dried blood still clung to his body, after all.
But the water in this Lake was freezing. The moment he jumped in, he sensed something was wrong.
"Why is the water here so black? And so cold?" Yun Mo frowned deeply. Suddenly interested in the Lake, he slowly dove deeper.
He extended his perception to its limit, until it touched a Jade Pillar standing on the lakebed.
"What's this? The patterns on it... seem to be array inscriptions?"
Yun Mo swam over to the Jade Pillar and laid his hand on it.
The Jade Pillar was intensely cold and pitch-black.
So this black Jade Pillar is responsible for the Lake's strange condition? Yun Mo wondered, puzzled.
Shaking his head, he swam toward the surface, vaguely sensing that this Jade Pillar was not something he could meddle with at his current level.
When he leaped out of the water, he saw that the others had already returned to the Lake.
"See? I knew Captain Yun Mo had to be down there, and up to no good too. If we'd gone in just now, he probably would've taken advantage of us," Wu Yingying told Wen Qingxuan beside her.
Yun Mo rolled his eyes and said irritably, "I thought something was strange about this lake, so I went down to look, all right?"
Wu Ling smiled. Wu Yingying seemed to have some grievances against Yun Mo, but it wasn't dislike. "Did you find anything down there?"
"There's only a black Jade Pillar down there. It's extremely cold, and there seem to be Spirit Array inscriptions on it. It's what caused the Lake's strange condition."
"Array inscriptions? Is that pillar a material used to set up an array?" Doubt appeared in Wen Qingxuan's phoenix eyes.
Wu Ling, however, pondered for a moment before a sharp gleam suddenly flashed through his eyes. His face filled with excitement. "Quick, take out the map!"
Before you continue