The morning mist, like freshly boiled steam, rushes along the gully.
Chu Xuan stepped on the wet mud, the soles of his shoes gurgling, and cursed: "Has the dew of the mortal world become a spirit? It is a kind of water that is poured into human shoes."
Sumei 'er was behind him, her skirt hem touching her knees, revealing two snow-white calves, equally muddy. "If you keep complaining, I'll throw you to use as flower fertilizer and make sure you're well hydrated."
Ali, holding a small basket, chuckled, and the tension along the way was somewhat diluted by their bickering. She was now Chu Xuan's little tail, a little girl from the mortal world, but with an exceptionally pure spiritual root, Chu Xuan took her along as a half-apprentice.
"Ahead is the 'Green Snail Gorge'." Ali pointed to the end of the gully, where the mist was pale blue, as if someone had secretly sprinkled some paint. "Uncle Li said that when he was young, he saw a glowing grass at the bottom of the gully."
Chu Xuan narrowed his eyes, his primordial spirit body warming slightly - that was a sign of spiritual resonance. He turned his head. "Ling Qingxue, you feel it?"
A circle of ice-blue ripples rose in the air, and Ling Qingxue's illusory figure stepped through the mist, his voice cold. "The ice-like spiritual energy is exceptionally rich, and there is indeed a thousand years of fire beneath." She raised her hand, and an ice crystal condensed from the tip of her finger and gently threw it to Chu Xuan. "Put it under your tongue, it can break the illusory fog."
Chu Xuan caught the ice crystal in his mouth. A cool wave shot up to the celestial spirit, and the green mist before his eyes immediately dispersed, revealing a hidden stone path that wound down like a crack drawn by a mountain god.
Su Meier raised her eyebrows. "Little Xue, are you partial?" My fire type is not afraid of fog."
Ling Qingxue gave her a faint glance, "Your fire has scorched the grass. Who's responsible?"
"Hey, I do the roasting, you do the ice, clear division of labor." Su Mei 'er laughed with sharp teeth and a sharp mouth, but a little purple fire shot out from her fingertips and landed on a dead branch beside the stone path. The fire reflected on the path, and it was a bit of effort.
...
When she went down to the bottom of the ravine, the mist thinned, and the moss on the walls shone like scattered stars. In the middle, there is a natural stone platform on which grows a blade of grass, no more than a foot tall, with seven lobes, veins on the lobes like ice threads, and the whole body gives off a moon-white glow - the thousand-year-old ice net grass.
"That's it." Ling Qingxue's illusory eyes lit up. "Stabilizing the Dao womb and breaking the mental barrier is exactly what you need at this moment."
Just as Chu Xuan was about to take a step, dark red lines suddenly appeared on the ground beneath his feet, like a spider web, instantly covering the stone platform. The halo of the grass leaves suddenly dimmed, as if blood was flowing back along the lines.
"Blood Sacrifice Lock Spirit Array?" Su Mei 'er narrowed her eyes. "The work of a demon cultivator, specifically seizing the spiritual roots of heaven and earth."
Before the words were finished, the stone walls around cracked with a "crack", and more than ten figures in black robes filed out one after another, their sleeves rolled with golden edges, all embroidered with "earth" numbers, clearly outside the Heavenly Dao Pavilion.
The leader, with a face as white as paper, held a blood bowl in his hand, black gas surging in the bowl, licked his lips, "Primordial spirit? "Just in time, so we won't have to look for the blood guide again."
Chu Xuan sighed, "Ling Qingxue, you come on me, let's finish the battle quickly, don't let the grass leaf wilt."
"All right." Ling Qingxue's shadow merged into his back in an instant, Chu Xuan's pupils tinged with a layer of ice blue, and a chill spread all over his body. "Crack" frost formed on the ground beneath his feet, spreading ten feet.
The opposite cultivator was stunned for a moment, then sneered, "Borrowing the law of women? A show!"
Chu Xuan raised his hand, the Cold Moon Sword drew itself from its scabbard, and the blade was covered with a layer of ice-blue dragon pattern. He said softly, "Ice Realm Frost Descent."
Click click --
With him at the center, the ice waves piled up like thousands of ice flowers blooming at the same time, instantly swallowing the three demons in the front row. Before the three could even scream, they were frozen into ice sculptures, with a sinister grin still on their faces, funny and creepy.
"Let's go!" The leader of the white face shouted angrily, the blood bowl was poured out, and the black gas turned into a huge python, with its mouth wide open, it lunged at Chu Xuan.
Su Meier chuckled softly, and the purple fire lotus on her fingertips spun and flew out. "As if I don't exist?"
The fire lotus soared against the wind, its heart spewing out a hundred tongues of fire, like a reverse meteor shower, crashing into the black gas python with a thunderous crash. The interweaving of ice and fire, the rising mist, the entire Green Snail Gorge instantly turned into a large pot, bubbling with white bubbles.
Ali, holding the basket, hid in the crevices of the stone wall, his eyes shining terriedly, "It turns out that cultivators fighting is so beautiful..."
The white-faced leader took advantage of the chaos to dodge to the stone platform and thrust his blood-blade straight into the root of the ice clover. "I won't give it to you even if I destroy it!"
Chu Xuan's eyes turned cold, "Try it."
With the tip of his foot, he vanished from the spot. When he reappeared, he was on the side of the leader. With a backhand flick of the Cold Moon sword, the back of the sword "clang" opened the blood blade. With his left hand pointing together like a sword, a wisp of chaotic gas pierced through the tip of his finger, directly piercing the leader's wrist.
"Ah --" The leader's blood bowl slipped out of his hand and staggered back.
Chu Xuan, taking advantage of the situation, pressed his sword against his neck and said in a low, cold voice, "Who sent you here?"
The leader gritted his teeth, rolled his eyes, and suddenly grinned, "Guess?"
Bang --
A dull thud came from within him, reversing his psychic power and about to explode!
Chu Xuan was already on guard. With a flip of the Cold Moon sword, the back of the sword struck the leader's dantian, and the ice-based law instantly froze the sea of qi, and the self-explosion was strangled. The leader, like a dead fish, collapsed to the ground.
"Take it back and let the dust pry open the mouth." Chu Xuan drew his sword and looked up at the stone platform - the thousand-year-old ice clover swayed gently in the afterglow of ice and fire, its leaves still crystal clear and undamaged.
Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, a dark blue line suddenly lit up at the bottom of the stone platform, like an ancient rune, resonating with the mark of the covenant and making a faint "buzzing" tremor.
Ling Qingxue's voice rang out in his heart: "That is... The talisman of the secret realm of Kunlun?
Chu Xuan's eyes narrowed, his fingertips touched the runes, and a vast, ancient and simple air came towards him, like a call across time and space:
"Key..." Put it back in place."
The dark blue lines, like a awakened snake, spread along the stone platform and, in the blink of an eye, covered the entire back of Chu Xuan's hand.
The chill was bone-chilling, but not stinging, but rather an inexplicable call - as if someone were whispering in his ear, urging: Come, come quickly.
"Clack clack -"
The stone platform cracked in the middle, revealing a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through, with a faint light floating inside, like a compressed deep sea.
Su Mei 'er raised her eyebrows, "Jump or not jump?"
Chu Xuan picked up the ice clover with its roots, sealed it in the jade box and threw it to Ali. "Take it, don't drop it."
The little girl was in a flustered grip, but her eyes were fixed on the crack, "Down there... It seems there's wind."
Ling Qingxue's voice rang out in the sea of consciousness: "The wind has the smell of Kunlun, I know it."
Her tone was unusually agitated. "Go down and perhaps find the remnants of the first generation of the Dao Qi."
Chu Xuan did not hesitate any more. He pointed his toes and, like a swallow, darted into the crevice. Su Meier rolled a purple fire in her sleeve and followed closely behind, carrying A Li.
...
Under the crevice, there was a long, narrow stone corridor, its walls covered with glowing moss, green and blue, as if walking in a dragon palace at the bottom of the sea.
The stone steps underfoot are old, with their edges polished smooth by the water flow, clearly having been soaked in water.
About a hundred steps ahead, the end of the stone corridor opens up --
A round stone chamber with a broken altar in the center, the top of which was sunken like a bowl, filled with a pool of clear water, but no human figure was reflected on the surface, only runes flashing by: ◇, ◎, ◆... It was exactly the same as the mark of the covenant.
"The first mark of the Dao." Ling Qingxue's illusory figure emerged from behind Chu Xuan. With a light touch of her fingertip, a wisp of silver-blue light rose on the water surface, entwined along her fingertip like a wanderer returning home.
Boom --
All around the altar, four stone beasts opened their eyes simultaneously, their pupils glowing red, locking onto the intruder.
The beasts are neither dragons nor tigers, with a single horn on their heads, barbs on their backs, and a pungent smell when they open their mouths.
"Guardian beast?" Su Mei 'er licked her lips. "Or the dead and the alive together?"
In response to her was a paw strike from the left side of the stone beast! The force of the claw wind sent Ali back three steps and her back "bang" against the stone wall.
Chu Xuan's eyes darkened. "Ling Qingxue, borrow the spell!"
In an instant, the ice-blue light covered the entire body. With a clear roar of the Cold Moon Sword, dragon-shaped ice patterns appeared on the blade. Chu Xuan swept his sword, and the sword qi turned into an ice dragon, roaring and wrapping around the stone beast's neck, "click" frozen into a sculpture.
The other three beasts pounced at the same time. Su Mei 'er chuckled softly. Purple fire lotus flowers bloomed from the soles of her feet. The lotus petals, like knives, spun and flew out, "ding-dong, ding-dong" slicing at the joints of the stone beasts. Sparks flew everywhere, but only shallow marks were left.
"The skin is thick." She was astonished. With a flick of her fingertip, a wisp of golden-purple fire core burst out from the center of the fire lotus. The temperature rose sharply, and the stone beast's back spines were burned red, making a "sizzling" cracking sound.
Ali suddenly exclaimed, "Look at the water surface!"
The crowd looked in the direction of the sound --
In the bowl of clear water at the altar, the talisman culture, as a band of light, rose up and interwove in mid-air to form a light gate. The scene within the gate was hazy: the snow-capped mountains, the jade buildings, it was Kunlun!
"Entrance?" Chu Xuan's heart gave a jolt.
Just as the Light Gate was formed, three red-hot stone beasts roared up to the sky at the same time, their back spines fell off and turned into crimson spears, piercing through the air and shooting towards the Light Gate! Apparently, the entrance was to be destroyed.
"Good idea." Chu Xuan sneered coldly, pointed his toe, and moved his body to the light gate in an instant. The Cold Moon Sword was released, and the blade spun rapidly, turning into an ice mirror that froze all the red spears.
The ice mirror, bearing the heavy blow, cracked with a "crack", but gave the Light gate a few breaths.
Su Mei 'er seized the opportunity to rush over, clasped her hands together, the purple fire turned into a huge palm, seized the three stone beasts, and clenched them forcefully --
Boom!
The stone beast crumbled, the crushed stones melted into lava at high temperatures, and upon landing, they solidified into blackish-gold hard lumps.
The ice mirror broke at the same time, and Chu Xuan was shaken to fly three feet backward. When he landed, the stone slabs beneath his feet cracked, blood and qi surged in his chest, but he grinned: "It's done."
The light gate stabilized, and the wind and snow inside it whistled like the breath of another world.
Ling Qingxue said softly, "Take the payment before you go in."
She pointed to the bowl of clear water on the altar - the runes on the surface had dissipated, but a drop of crystal-clear liquid had risen, silvery blue in color, with snowflak-like patterns swirling slowly inside.
"Kunlun Spirit Essence, a single drop can increase ten years of arduous cultivation and further solidify the spiritual contract." "
Chu Xuan raised his hand, and the spirit marrow flew into the palm of his hand, cold and piercing, yet warm and vigorous.
Without hesitation, he split it in half and threw it to Su Meier, "Those who see it have a share."
Su Mei 'er raised her eyebrows and took it, smiling seductively, "Little Xuanzi, more and more kind to people."
Ali came closer, looking longingly, "Do I, I have a share too?"
Chu Xuan smiled and rubbed her head. "You hold the grass and go back to refine it into a foundation pill, which is more useful than spirit marrow."
The little girl laughed so hard that her teeth were not visible.
...
In front of the light gate, Chu Xuan took a deep breath and looked back at the way he had come - the long stone corridor was like a tunnel from which there was no return.
He turned his head, his eyes burning, "Let's go and see the surprise left by the first Daoqi."
The three of them walked side by side through the Light Gate.
Behind them, the altar collapsed with a crash, and the clear water turned into mist, vanishing without a trace.