The team trekked through the Black Wind Mountain Range for two entire days.
Those two days were like traversing a purgatory.
Mutated demon beasts appeared like ghosts, launching attacks from rotting mud, from twisted tree canopies, even from seemingly calm rock crevices.
They were fearless of death, and their forms grew more and more bizarre.
Some even fused characteristics of multiple demon beasts, clearly the result of long-term demonic energy corrosion and mutation.
Wandering yin souls were even more ubiquitous.
They had no physical form, traveling through thick fog and miasma, letting out disturbing moans that disturbed the heart.
Their cold resentment was omnipresent, attempting to freeze the flesh and souls of living beings.
If it were not for Liu Yun is icy sword energy and Xiaoqi is purification power being extremely effective against these yin souls, the team is progress would have been even more difficult.
And those plants corrupted by demonic energy were even more unavoidable.
Demon flowers that could spray paralyzing pollen, ghost vines that could instantly wrap around and strangle prey, even some that disguised themselves as ordinary stones, which would explode once approached Every step required the utmost care, with spirit in a state of constant high tension.
The harsh environment also exceeded imagination.
The miasma was so thick it almost materialized, not only obstructing vision but also carrying slight toxicity and corrosiveness.
They needed to continuously operate spiritual energy to resist.
The ground beneath their feet was sometimes muddy and sinking, sometimes hard as iron, full of hidden cracks and poisonous insect nests.
The deathly stillness and despair in the air constantly eroded everyone is will.
Even Liu Yun and Mu Qingfeng, the highest cultivators, had fatigue showing on their faces.
Zhao Tiezhu had acquired several wounds from corrosive mucus scalding.
Second Senior Brother is early warning formation discs had consumed greatly, forcing him to be even more frugal with their use.
Xiaoqi is face was pale.
Frequently using purification power to dispel yin souls and demonic energy made his spiritual energy consumption extremely rapid.
However, amid these numerous hardships and dangers, the flame of hope was not extinguished.
The rabbit spirit played a huge role.
It seemed to have an innate keen perception of energy fluctuations, especially toward those abnormal, chaotic energies.
It no longer focused on finding treasures but often pricked up its ears, twitched its nose, warily scanning the surroundings.
Once it sensed some unusual, artificially arranged energy nodes, it would point in that direction with its paw and emit a light chirp to warn.
And the jade pendant at Xiaoqi is chest was like the most accurate compass.
Not only did it continuously point toward that most concentrated, purest demonic energy source deep in the mountains, it could also keenly capture those relatively faint yet structurally stable demonic energy fluctuations along the way that clearly bore artificial traces.
At noon on the third day, when the team was difficultly passing through a grove of ghostlike plants, the rabbit spirit suddenly became extremely agitated.
It stared fixedly at a rock wall ahead that seemed no different from others except for slightly darker coloring, its paws constantly waving.
Xiaoqi also simultaneously felt the jade pendant at his chest sending out a clear, rhythmic coolness fluctuation.
The source was precisely that rock wall.
Something is there!
Xiaoqi low, signaling everyone to stop.
Liu Yun and Mu Qingfeng immediately became wary.
Their spiritual sense carefully scanned that rock wall.
At first, they found nothing unusual.
Although the rocks there were somewhat darker, they seemed no different from other rocks here.
There!
Relying on the jade pendant is guidance, Xiaoqi walked to the rock wall, peeling away a thick layer of black moss with a fishy smell.
Beneath the moss, several extremely concealed symbols, only the size of a fingernail, composed of twisted demonic runes, were clearly carved on the rocks.
These symbols were deeply embedded within the rocks.
Without deliberately searching, they would be impossible to discover.
They were emitting faint energy fluctuations, of the same source as the surrounding demonic energy but more refined and stable, like miniature energy receivers or relay stations.
Formation nodes!
Mu Qingfeng knelt down and carefully examined those demonic runes, his expression grave.
Looking at the pattern is direction and energy connection method they are similar to part of the peripheral structure of the Myriad Souls Devouring Spirit Formation recorded in the jade slip.
Although they are merely embryonic forms or sub-array nodes, they are unmistakably the same.
Liu Yun is eyes flashed with cold light: Indeed they are here.
They have already started setting up.
In the following half day, relying on the rabbit spirit is keen perception of small-range energy abnormalities and Xiaoqi is precise positioning of demonic energy, they discovered three more similar, cleverly disguised formation nodes within several li radius.
These nodes seemed randomly distributed, but if traced with spiritual sense, they faintly formed a formation pattern that continuously extended toward the depths of the mountain range, with an extremely wide covering range.
The discovery of these nodes, like a lighthouse in the darkness, completely confirmed the accuracy of the jade slip intelligence.
The Shadow Snake Pavilion was indeed deeply within the Black Wind Mountain Range, meticulously arranging that supreme demonic formation capable of devouring all souls.
We must find the main formation eye, or their core stronghold.
Liu Yun looked at the rough distribution map of nodes she had sketched, her tone decisive.
Before these nodes are fully activated and the great formation takes shape, destroy it.
The target became clearer, but it also meant they were actively approaching the core area of the Shadow Snake Pavilion is power in the Black Wind Mountain Range.
The danger there would be ten times, a hundred times greater than the periphery.