Xie Zhaolin held her breath, pushing the Nether Breathing Art to its limits until her presence melted into the mountain stream itself.
The shadows moving beneath the water didn't sense her at all. Thanks to her carefully concealed aura, those lurking creatures only drifted aimlessly, sometimes brushing past her legs, but never striking. That discovery eased her nerves a little.
The rest of the journey passed without real danger.
Whenever she ran into aquatic beasts, she either avoided or drove them off with different tricks. The deeper she went, the stronger the water's restorative effect became, and nearly half of her damaged meridians had already healed.
She tried to trace the source of those miraculous silver motes, but the waterway wound endlessly, leaving no way to track it back.
When the third day's morning light spilled down through cracks above the gorge, Xie Zhaolin finally saw the exit. She raised her head at the towering cliff. Cracks and ledges littered the steep wall, nothing a cultivator couldn't climb. The climb went smoother than expected. Half an hour later, she was already close to the top. But just as she reached for the last outcropping, her senses prickled with an unusual ripple of spiritual energy.
She froze, releasing her divine sense.
What she saw made her heart sink—an eerie, translucent blue barrier cloaked the cave entrance, runes swirling across it. She was certain she'd never set that formation herself.
"What's going on…" Her fingers trembled as she probed it again.
The restriction wasn't man-made at all. It had formed naturally from the cave itself, like a self-grown defense. That fact only deepened her unease.
What in the cave had caused this? Why would such a powerful barrier emerge on its own?
Enter, or retreat?
The site she'd chosen for her breakthrough had suddenly become her biggest unknown. Maybe a deadly trap waited inside. Or maybe it held a fortune beyond imagination. The silver motes, this bizarre formation—it all hinted at a mystery she couldn't ignore.
"Danger brings opportunity…" she muttered, her eyes hardening.
Cultivation was defying the heavens. If she backed down out of fear, she might as well have died beneath Hehuan Sect's tribulation long ago.
Carefully skirting the barrier, she slipped onto the cliff's summit. For now, she decided to observe.
Time crept by.
When Zi hour (midnight) came, the barrier flared with blinding light, runes whirling wildly until the screen turned solid. By Wu hour (noon), it dimmed again, its glow weakening.
"Yin and yang shifting…" she murmured thoughtfully.
The formation waxed and waned with the tides of heaven and earth's aura. That meant the weakest moment, the best chance to break it, would come at noon tomorrow.
She pulled out three Breaking Talismans, premium grade treasures she'd once acquired in Hehuan Sect. They could shatter most formations below the Golden Core stage. For backup, she condensed a swirl of blue-violet mist in her palm, ready to unleash it at any moment.
When the next noon came and the barrier thinned to its weakest point, Xie Zhaolin struck without hesitation!
All three talismans flared, turning into golden streaks that smashed against the weakest node.
Crack!
A sharp sound split the air as a thin fissure appeared on the glowing veil. She seized the instant, her body flashing forward like lightning, slipping through the crack into the cave.
But what she saw made her freeze in place. This was no longer the cave she remembered. What had once been a plain stone chamber was now twisted and eerie. Fluorescent vines crept across every wall, casting ghostly light. A thin sheet of frost covered the floor. Wisps of green mist curled in the air.
Worst of all, semi-transparent figures drifted inside the fog—wandering souls, the remnants of Primordial Souls that hadn't dissipated after death.
Her hair stood on end.
The yin souls sensed life and started drifting toward her. She instantly activated the Nether Breathing Art and cloaked herself with the blue-violet mist.
The souls circled her for a while, confused, before eventually floating away.
Xie Zhaolin exhaled in relief and finally had the chance to look around. The sight chilled her to the bone.
The original cave, only about thirty feet wide, had expanded into a vast underground labyrinth. Passages stretched into the darkness in every direction, every wall covered with glowing vines. She stepped carefully forward, her boots crunching softly against the frosted ground. Her divine sense extended outward, sweeping her surroundings.
The wandering souls showed no aggression, only drifting aimlessly. But their numbers were staggering—not just cultivators' souls, but beasts' spirits too, all crammed together in the halls.
"No wonder there are so few wandering souls around Blackwater Abyss…" she thought grimly. "They've all been lured here."
Relying on memory, she chose a downward passage.
The deeper she went, the denser the souls became. At one bend, she had to stop. The corridor ahead was packed with yin souls, forming a translucent wall.
Drawing a deep breath, she pulled a blood-red pill from her storage ring. It was a Concealing Soul Pill, refined from Soul Eating Grass, able to mask a living aura for a time. The moment she swallowed it, a frigid wave swept through her body, cloaking her essence until it blended perfectly with the surrounding souls.
Taking advantage of the disguise, she eased through the horde. They didn't react, still drifting blankly. But her divine sense noticed something alarming—the deeper she went, the sharper the souls' awareness became. Some even looked at her suspiciously, as if their instincts almost pierced the disguise.
Keeping her distance, she pressed on. Soon, a massive underground cavern opened before her eyes.
Her pupils shrank.
The souls here were entirely different. No longer dull, each radiated savage killing intent.
Xie Zhaolin pressed herself against the cold wall, holding her breath.
Right before her, two yin souls collided lightly. That tiny contact was enough to set them off.
One, the soul of a cultivator, lunged with clawed fingers that pierced deep into a beast soul's throat. The beast soul snarled back, its massive jaws snapping down on the other's arm. The two ripped at each other wildly, fragments of soul matter scattering in every direction.
And like a spark in dry tinder, the clash set off the entire cavern.
The once-calm gathering of souls erupted into chaos, every spirit lashing out in frenzied battle.
Xie Zhaolin's nails dug into her palm. Their volatility was beyond anything she'd imagined. Just a brush, and they'd gone insane with violence. She couldn't afford even the slightest mistake. If she got caught in that storm, she was finished.