An unprecedented sense of regret filled his heart, but it was already too late.
When the Purple East Heavenly Demon Lord saw even the mighty Scarlet Radiance Demon Sage cleaved in two by a single stroke of Li Dalong's sword, he was frightened nearly out of his soul. Knowing he was no more than an ant before Li Dalong, he summoned a demonic cloud without hesitation and tried to flee.
"You can go down and join your grandfather too!" With that, Li Dalong struck with his palm. Before Yan Zhan could react, the slap reduced him to a mist of blood.
"Hmph! You think you can run from me?" Seeing the Purple East Heavenly Demon Lord trying to escape, Li Dalong snorted coldly and flicked a strand of Sword Qi toward him, though he had already fled several li away.
At those words, the Purple East Heavenly Demon Lord's heart jolted, and he dared not be careless. He knew Li Dalong's strength was extraordinary; if Li Dalong caught up with him, the consequences would be unthinkable. He immediately marshaled all his spiritual power and fled even faster.
Yet the Sword Qi Li Dalong had flicked out pursued the Purple East Heavenly Demon Lord like a phantom, moving at an unimaginable speed. The gust from his finger shot through the mountain forest like a sharp arrow, slicing through the air with a piercing whistle.
Sensing a fierce aura behind him, the Purple East Heavenly Demon Lord immediately turned, formed seals with both hands, and cast a defensive spell. A brilliant curtain of light appeared before him, blocking the pursuing gust. He breathed a sigh of relief, inwardly congratulating himself on his good fortune.
Yet Li Dalong did not strike again. He merely watched coldly.
The Purple East Heavenly Demon Lord's expression changed. Sensing trouble, he hurriedly circulated his spiritual power and transformed into a streak of purple light, dodging the Sword Qi's attack. He darted nimbly between the trees, trying to find an opportunity to escape its pursuit.
Yet his cultivation was nowhere near enough to escape Li Dalong's Sword Qi.
Grief and fury mingled within the Purple East Heavenly Demon Lord. He knew he had reached a dead end. Gritting his teeth, he held on and summoned all his spiritual power one last time, turning into a bolt of purple lightning in an attempt to break free of the pursuing Sword Qi.
Sadly, it was all futile in the end. The sword light flashed like lightning and shattered his purple bolt. His body instantly dissolved into a cloud of purple light and dispersed in the air.
Li Dalong swept his cold gaze over the surroundings, circulating his spiritual power to draw in the surrounding spiritual energy and gather it in the sky. An enormous palm formed overhead in an instant. Once it had fully condensed, he brought it down on the Crimson Flame Tiger Tribe's camp, and a vast, deep pit abruptly appeared in the depths of the Demon Beast Forest.
Everything beneath that palm-rocks, trees, houses, and members of the Crimson Flame Tiger Tribe alike-was ground to dust and vanished from the world.
He snorted coldly and turned to leave, leaving behind only an enormous pit. Like a gaping maw, it proclaimed to the Cultivation World the legend of the Righteous Qi Sect, which none could violate.
Through the destruction of the Crimson Flame Tiger Tribe, Li Dalong displayed his formidable cultivation, unparalleled swordsmanship, and ruthless fighting style to the Cultivation World, becoming an inviolable taboo in everyone's hearts.
When Li Dalong appeared again, he was already standing at the spot where Zhou Xue had jumped into Misty Canyon.
Looking at the dense mist churning within the canyon, Li Dalong first surveyed his surroundings, but found nothing unusual.
The canyon was simply filled with such thick mist that he could not see anything inside.
Strangely, the dense mist churned only within the canyon. On this side of the rocks, in the Demon Beast Forest, there was not a trace of it. A mysterious boundary divided Misty Canyon and the Demon Beast Forest into two different worlds.
Unable to discern anything amiss, Li Dalong extended his divine sense into the canyon. It could penetrate the dense mist with ease, but it weakened inexplicably. Even Li Dalong could not work out how it was being diminished-it simply vanished without explanation.
It was as though he sent out ten strands of divine sense, only for them to become eight after advancing a hundred meters, then five after a hundred and fifty meters. He could not even tell how the missing strands had disappeared.
No wonder that, ever since Misty Canyon had been discovered, neither humans nor demon beasts who entered had ever emerged.
Judging by this, Zhou Xue's chances might well be more grim than hopeful.
Still, since he had promised his sister-in-law, he had to do everything he could to find her. Besides, he had watched Xue'er grow up. She had cultivated under his guidance for so many years and was such an obedient, considerate girl. If he failed to bring her back, his Dao heart might become unstable, giving rise to inner demons when he tried to break through in the future.
With that thought, Li Dalong extended his divine sense down along the cliff face to investigate the canyon.
His divine sense diminished much less here, but all it revealed was a slightly sloping cliff stretching downward. There was nothing but rock and white mist.
He probed downward for dozens of li, but the scene remained unchanged. Apart from dense mist and rock, there was nothing at all.
Just as Li Dalong was at his wits' end, he suddenly thought of a solution: he could investigate using a relay method. That way, even after descending a certain distance, he could still ensure a safe return.
Otherwise, he might end up like those who had gone before him, never to return. Even with his current cultivation in the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, he dared not guarantee his safety.
This world had far too many dangerous and mysterious places. This seemingly harmless mist alone could inexplicably diminish divine sense, proof enough that Misty Canyon's reputation was not undeserved.
His plan was to drive a magical treasure bearing his divine sense and aura into the rock whenever he descended a certain distance.
He would also refine an exceptionally long rope treasure, secure one end to the rock, then descend along the sheer cliff. First, he would investigate Misty Canyon's depth, ideally reaching the bottom.
Then he would secure another rope treasure at the bottom and explore within the radius of its length. That way, leaving aside other dangers, he could safeguard his route of retreat as much as possible.
Having settled on this, Li Dalong searched System Space for materials suitable for refining rope treasures. To ensure he could make several, he even destroyed a few high-grade spiritual swords to extract their materials.
These rope treasures did not need power. Their main purpose was durability, and while retaining sufficient strength, they had to be as long as possible-long enough.
With that, he began refining the rope treasures, taking his cue from the method of cold-drawing steel wire on the Blue Planet. After removing the impurities and refining the materials, he first drew them into ropes dozens of kilometers long.
Then he used his divine sense to inscribe formations within them, increasing their toughness and defensive strength. Without those formations, he could not guarantee their strength.
When the first rope treasure was successfully refined, it reached the high-grade spiritual artifact tier. With his current cultivation and mastery of formations, even though this was his first time refining such a treasure and it took considerable mental effort, the finished product still achieved quite a high grade.
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