Ning Fa's expression shifted. He remembered that the Pill Emperor Sect was also one of the former Seven Saints Sects.
It seemed likely that Dan Hongzi, like Ning Daozhen and Xiao Han, was a reincarnated individual.
He wondered what methods these old monsters from the Seven Saints Sect had used to either reincarnate or survive until the present.
This was truly difficult for Ning Fa to comprehend; there had to be some secret involved.
Ning Fa also nodded in acknowledgment to Dan Hongzi.
Behind him, Bai Yueqiu, Xiao Pengyuan, and the others looked at Ning Daozhen with unfriendly expressions.
Some of them had even fought Ning Daozhen before, so it was naturally hard for them to look upon him favorably.
However, with a common goal now, they could only suppress their animosity for the time being.
Ning Daozhen merely glanced at them dismissively before saying to Ning Fa, "Since you're ready, let's begin. Follow me."
With that, Ning Daozhen took the lead and flew forward. Ning Fa and the others exchanged glances and immediately followed.
The group moved like lightning through the dense forest, and before long, they arrived at the deepest part of the woods.
Ning Daozhen stopped, and before him appeared a deep pool no larger than a few dozen feet across.
Ning Daozhen signaled for the others to step back, and he raised his hands, forming seals.
A bright blood-red light emanated from him, and streaks of blood-colored runes began to float from his hands. After circling, they descended towards the deep pool ahead.
Immediately, the deep pool began to boil and spin rapidly, its water quickly turning blood-red.
At the center of the vortex, a spatial force began to emerge, growing stronger and stronger.
Ning Fa watched him with surprise; such a technique was truly profound.
After a short while, the vortex in the deep pool spun to its extreme, then suddenly stopped. A dense blood-red light emanated from the depths of the vortex's center.
"Alright, let's go!"
Ning Daozhen uttered the words and was the first to leap into the vortex, his figure quickly disappearing.
Xiao Han and Dan Hongzi followed closely behind.
Ning Fa glanced at the others and said in a deep voice, "Let's go too."
With that, they also jumped in one after another.
Before long, the vortex in the deep pool ceased, and the blood-red color in the water gradually receded, returning to its calm state.
Not long after, in a certain dense forest on the outskirts of the Ten Thousand Peaks Mountain Range, there was also a deep pool.
A blood-red vortex was spinning within it, and figures began to fly out one by one, precisely Ning Fa, Ning Daozhen, and the others.
Ning Fa cast a peculiar glance at Ning Daozhen. This person indeed had some skill, managing to transport them here in such a manner.
At the same time, Ning Fa spread his Spiritual Sense, observing the surrounding environment.
The dense branches overhead almost completely obscured the sky, casting the surroundings in dim light. All the vegetation and trees were a grayish-black, emitting a faint black mist, which created a sense of oppression in their hearts.
Just then, with a whoosh, a black shadow suddenly flew out from behind a tree, moving incredibly fast towards Xiao Pengyuan's neck at the edge of the group.
Before it could get close, the Bagua Diagram pattern on Xiao Pengyuan's back robe suddenly flashed, and a beam of blue light shot out, instantly striking the black shadow.
With a miserable hiss, a black monstrous snake with a pair of fleshy wings began to struggle wildly within the blue light. The bloodthirsty and ferocious look in its eyes made several of them frown.
Soon, the black monstrous snake died in the blue light.
Xiao Pengyuan frowned and said, "This must be one of those Demonized Savage Beasts. They're truly quite sinister."
At this moment, Ning Daozhen looked at them solemnly and said, "From now on, if we encounter any Savage Beasts, I will handle them. Do not intervene, lest you trigger a reaction from the barrier. If that happens, we'll be trapped like fish in a barrel."
Ning Fa and the others nodded in agreement.
Following that, Ning Daozhen led the way, carefully avoiding areas with large concentrations of Savage Beasts.
If they encountered any Savage Beasts that were difficult to shake off, he would use a special treasure resembling a silver square mirror to kill them. What was special about this treasure was that the magical power fluctuations it emitted were minimal.
Thus, the group traveled for three days. At this point, a black swamp appeared ahead, bubbling with black gas and emitting a foul stench.
They could even see a Savage Beast the size of a millstone, resembling a black toad, moving within the swamp.
Their bellies inflated and deflated rhythmically, accompanied by strange croaks like muffled thunder, which even caused the Nascent Soul Cultivators present to feel a sense of annoyance.
Ning Daozhen, who was leading the way, raised his hand to signal everyone to stop, his expression slightly solemn as he spoke in a low voice:
"This swamp ahead is filled with Black Light Toads. These Savage Beasts are very troublesome. If we're not careful, we might cause a significant disturbance, which could trigger a reaction from the outer barrier."
Bai Yueqiu glanced at the Black Light Toads with disgust and frowned. "If that's the case, why don't we just go around this swamp?"
Ning Daozhen, however, shook his head.
"There are more difficult Savage Beasts in other areas, and these Black Light Toads are weakest in their perception around noon.
At that time, we can use one of my special treasures to allow us to pass safely.
There's still more than half a day until noon, so let's wait patiently."
After speaking, Ning Daozhen found a clear spot and sat down cross-legged.
"Then we'll wait for now," Ning Fa and the others nodded.
But just as Ning Fa was about to close his eyes and regulate his breathing, he noticed Dan Hongzi staring at him from not too far away.
Ning Fa couldn't help but look at him. Dan Hongzi gave him a friendly smile, then naturally took out an ancient scroll and began to flip through it with great interest.
Ning Fa's brow twitched. Ever since they first met, he had felt that Dan Hongzi seemed to have an unusual interest in him.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, glanced at Dan Hongzi, and then closed his eyes to regulate his breathing again.
About half an hour later, Dan Hongzi put away the scroll in his hand and walked casually over to Ning Daozhen's vicinity.
He flicked the thumb ring on his right hand, and a faint white light enveloped the two of them.
Ning Daozhen opened his eyes and looked at him, a hint of confusion in his gaze.
Dan Hongzi said with a solemn expression:
"Daoist Ning, you should not have forgotten that when we were still at the Black Spirit Church, this old man removed that Soul Seed for you, and I sensed that another Soul Seed was also removed.
You told me back then that when you obtained the Primordial Soul Split Spirit Art, Daoist Ning Fa, who is from the same clan as you, shared this Cultivation Method.
Clearly, at that time, this Daoist Ning had also cultivated this technique and had removed the Soul Seed that had grown on him through some unknown method."
Ning Daozhen immediately narrowed his eyes and said slowly, "You suddenly brought this up, could it be?"
Dan Hongzi nodded.
"With the revival of that existence, even though those of us who cultivated the Primordial Soul Split Spirit Art have removed our Soul Seeds, we can still be sensed and marked by it.
And we will be silently influenced by it, and even regenerate Soul Seeds.
Although we now know about this and can take precautions, as time goes on, if that existence's power grows stronger, this matter will eventually be unavoidable.
And I see that Daoist Ning Fa, who is of your clan, has an extremely profound Divine Soul, and I haven't sensed any aura of a Soul Seed regenerating on him.
So he must have cultivated another powerful Divine Soul Cultivation Method to suppress the influence of that existence.
Therefore, I think we can change our previous plan and let this Daoist Ning join us. This way, our chances of success will naturally increase significantly."
Upon hearing this, Ning Daozhen couldn't help but ponder, showing a hesitant expression.
Dan Hongzi persuaded again, "Our previous plan had at most a forty to fifty percent chance of success, but if it failed, the consequences would be irreversible.
While the Primordial Soul True Spirit is tempting, we must be alive to use it.
If we can increase our chances by another ten to twenty percent, what's wrong with giving up some Primordial Soul True Spirit?"
Ning Daozhen frowned and pondered for a long time before slowly saying:
"Didn't you say that although that existence shows signs of revival, we are still safe for at least a hundred years?
As long as within these hundred years, I can successfully refine that treasure, even if it's just us few, our chances of success will be at least sixty to seventy percent.
You should know that although we have all survived through that item, the price is also extremely high.
Now our souls are incomplete, so not only can we not advance to Spirit Transformation, but after falling, we won't even have the chance to enter the cycle of reincarnation.
So the Primordial Soul True Spirit is extremely important to us. Even a small amount missing might make it difficult for our Divine Souls to be fully replenished.
So unless it's absolutely necessary, I don't want anyone else to join."
Upon hearing this, Dan Hongzi couldn't help but stroke his beard and remain silent, then he sighed:
"Alright, what you say makes sense. Anyway, there's still plenty of time within a hundred years. We'll decide based on the situation then. I can only hope that your treasure refinement goes smoothly."
Ning Daozhen's eyes also flickered, "So this time, no matter what, we must obtain enough Innate Five Elements Qi."
Several hours later, noon arrived.
The muffled thunderous sounds from the Black Light Toads gradually subsided, and they all truly seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep.
Then, Ning Daozhen took out a treasure that looked like a black veil, enveloped everyone within it, and they crossed the swamp without any danger.
After about another day, everyone stopped, their expressions filled with shock as they looked at the mountain range ahead.
A five-colored light curtain, seemingly endless, appeared before them, as if it divided heaven and earth.
Even from a great distance, everyone could feel an extremely powerful barrier force emanating from it.
Everyone's expressions trembled, knowing they had finally reached the inner barrier of the Ten Thousand Peaks Mountain Range.
Ning Fa narrowed his eyes and looked to the left. On the five-colored light curtain there, there was a special light circle tens of feet in size, rippling with five-colored spiritual light like a spring eye, spreading towards the surrounding light curtain. The barrier force emitted by this light circle was also particularly strong.
In Ning Fa's Spiritual Sense, on the five-colored light curtain within a hundred miles radius, there were several smaller light circles like this.
The five-colored halos they emitted were connected, forming special Array Formation Patterns, appearing and disappearing on the light curtain like veins.
Ning Fa's heart stirred.
According to the information given to him by Hermit Xuyuan, this ancient great array, the Five Elements Chaos Sealing Spirit Great Array, had a total of eighty-one array eyes.
There were nine main array eyes and seventy-two secondary array eyes, with each main array eye being guarded by eight secondary array eyes.
In Hermit Xuyuan's prediction, as long as two main array eyes and their corresponding secondary array eyes could be broken, even if the great array could still function, its power would be greatly reduced, and it would not be able to withstand the impact of the Savage Beasts in the mountain range.
Therefore, their objective this time was to destroy two main array eyes.