It was a square stone hall, rough in design and sparsely furnished, some fifty to sixty zhang across and seven to eight zhang high.
Each of its four walls had an enormous green stone door several zhang tall. All four doors were tightly shut, with no telling where they led.
At the center of the hall stood a teleportation formation one zhang across. A large assortment of stone tables and stools stood around it a short distance away; a quick count revealed several dozen.
At that moment, a dozen or so cultivators with varying expressions sat scattered across the stone stools.
Wan Tianming, Tian Wuzi, and the Withered Wood Elder-the three righteous-path Nascent Soul cultivators-were all present, as were the two demonic-path Nascent Soul cultivators, Man Huzi and the Hermit Qingyi.
The others were all at late Core Formation as well. Profound Bone, disguised as a delicate-featured youth, also sat on one of the chairs.
Regardless of their cultivation, all of them wore grim expressions and stared at the teleportation formation with hostile eyes. Not one spoke, leaving the entire stone hall steeped in an oppressive atmosphere.
These were the cultivators who had emerged from the Ice-Fire Path. Something had changed within the canyon, bringing forth the Black Sand Desert and Blood Ice Forest, neither of which should have appeared.
Both unexpected obstacles required formidable strength to overcome. Thus, apart from the Nascent Soul cultivators, only five or six late Core Formation cultivators had reached the stone hall. The remaining dozens had likely met with disaster.
Wan Tianming and the other two righteous-path cultivators were exchanging voice transmissions. Naturally, they knew that the changes in the Ice-Fire Path must have something to do with the Star Palace Three Elders, who had yet to appear.
"Brother Wan, just what is the