Chapter 339 : The Culprit
Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue hadn't been in the underground world for long, but in their search for an exit, they had covered considerable ground. Though darkness surrounded them everywhere, the ground beneath their feet had always been flat and strewn with stones—they hadn't even encountered a small mound. The sudden appearance of a cliff was extraordinarily unusual, especially since the demonic energy below the cliff was clearly different from elsewhere, unnaturally thick and concentrated.
The reason Yun Qingyue had found herself in danger again was simple—she had been flying a few steps ahead of Jiang Mo. If she had been caught by the demonic energy just one or two breaths later, it wouldn't have been just her being pulled down.
Jiang Mo let her imagination run wild, saying, "Senior Sister, do you think if we had fallen just now, we would have dropped straight into the demonic realm?"
However, this possibility wasn't very likely. Yun Qingyue shook her head: "No, the passage between the two realms has been sealed. Even if the seal here has weakened without suppression, it wouldn't be so easy to cross between realms."
This was true, but not being able to fall into the demonic realm wasn't necessarily a good thing. If Jiang Mo hadn't grabbed her Senior Sister in time earlier, the two might have been pulled into a gap within the gap. At that point, not only would returning to the cultivation world be impossible, but escaping at all would be problematic. In the worst case, they would only be able to stay in the innate space, and their future would be unimaginable.
After resting for a while, they still decided to go out. Although the entrance and exit of the innate space were in the same place, Jiang Mo had been a few steps behind earlier and hadn't reached the edge of the cliff. As long as they were careful when exiting, there shouldn't be any problems.
When Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue appeared, they were indeed at the edge of a cliff. Within the limited illumination of the Ice Flame, they could see rolling demonic energy ahead, forming bizarre shapes that stretched out their claws, seemingly ready to drag people into hell at any moment. Looking further down, they could see a deep abyss below, where even the light of the Ice Flame couldn't penetrate the darkness in such a short distance.
After just a brief glance at the abyss, Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue felt an inexplicable palpitation in their hearts and hastily averted their gaze.
Jiang Mo's instincts screamed danger, so she quickly pulled Yun Qingyue back several zhang, saying, "This place is strange. Let's not provoke it casually. Let's find a way to leave here as soon as possible."
This time, Yun Qingyue didn't object. Although she felt that the cliff before them was a key to the underground world, she still had self-awareness—such a dangerous place was not something she and Jiang Mo could easily handle. Rather than lingering here and needlessly losing their lives, it was better to leave early and let Tan Xin seal this array point. No matter how dangerous it might be then, it would no longer concern the cultivation world.
Having reached a consensus, they were about to leave and find another way out when Jiang Mo, still holding Yun Qingyue's hand as they walked and talked, suddenly tripped over something. She stumbled and nearly fell, but when she looked back, she discovered a thick nail embedded in the ground that had caught her foot.
After years of cultivation, encountering such a thing was somewhat embarrassing. Jiang Mo, partly out of embarrassment and anger, kicked the nail.
However, given her tremendous strength, it was surprising that her kick didn't move the thick nail at all. Instead, it sent a numbing sensation through her foot. Jiang Mo grew even more annoyed, her face reddening in the darkness, but she still tried to save face: "Where did this nail come from? Why is it here?!"
Yun Qingyue hadn't noticed Jiang Mo's embarrassment; in fact, her attention had been entirely on the thick nail from the beginning. She bent down slightly, moving the Ice Flame in her hand forward. The blue-violet light clearly illuminated the nail—as thick as a child's wrist, completely black and almost blending with the environment, with dense patterns of symbols engraved all over it.
"What is this?" Jiang Mo also leaned in, nestling against Yun Qingyue's shoulder to look.
Yun Qingyue felt a breath brush past her ear, causing a tingling sensation that immediately scattered her thoughts. If Jiang Mo had turned her head at that moment, she would have noticed her Senior Sister's ears turning red, but unfortunately, she didn't look back.
Discreetly moving away slightly, Yun Qingyue barely composed herself before speaking: "These are formation patterns. This nail should be part of a formation array, but based on just these few patterns, I can't determine what kind of formation it is."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Mo was greatly surprised: "How could someone set up a formation here?!"
Indeed, this was beneath the dry well, in the gap between the cultivation world and the demonic realm, with the Nameless Temple suppressing it from above. Who could easily enter this place and set up a formation near this deep cliff?
Simultaneously, both thought of the same person—could it be the troublesome Third Elder?!
With this in mind, the two exchanged a glance, both seeing the same thought in each other's eyes—the Nine Abyss Sect definitely had ill intentions, and Third Elder's formation here surely had an ulterior motive. They couldn't let her succeed!
Jiang Mo pointed at the nail and asked her Senior Sister: "Should we destroy it?"
Without hesitation, Yun Qingyue gestured, and the Ice Flame she had been using for illumination coiled around the nail.
Despite the Ice Flame's cold temperature, it was essentially a natural spiritual fire, and a high-grade one at that. As a spiritual fire, it could be used for artifact refinement—ordinary materials would melt within two breaths under the Ice Flame, and even the most durable magical treasures would struggle to resist it for long.
The nail before them, however, was an exception. The blue-violet flames wrapped around and burned it, yet it showed no signs of melting.
Seeing this, Yun Qingyue immediately increased her spiritual energy output. The intensity of the Ice Flame instantly grew several times, turning even the nearby stones to dust. Yet the nail engulfed in flames still showed no change—not only was it not melting, but even the formation patterns on it remained unchanged, suggesting it was far from being destroyed.
Jiang Mo was not inherently impatient—evident from her eighty years of consistent cultivation and leveling up—but she certainly couldn't match Yun Qingyue's patience. While Yun Qingyue wasn't yet anxious, Jiang Mo worried that Third Elder might arrive at any moment, causing her to grow increasingly restless.
After waiting a little longer, Jiang Mo said to her Senior Sister: "Senior Sister, step aside and let me try."
Hearing this, Yun Qingyue didn't insist and immediately withdrew the Ice Flame, making way.
Jiang Mo waited a moment before reaching out, but upon touching the nail, she retracted her hand due to its freezing temperature. However, she quickly reached out again, her palm gleaming with golden light.
The White Tiger belonged to the metal element and had an innate control over worldly metals. Although the material of this thick nail was unknown, it obviously contained metal. So she channeled her spiritual energy into the nail, intending to directly control the metal and deform it—formations and talismans required precision, where the slightest deviation could lead to huge errors. If the formation patterns on the nail were altered even slightly, both the nail and the formation would be rendered useless.
Unsurprisingly, under the reinforcement of the formation, the nail that even the Ice Flame struggled to burn was difficult to alter. As soon as Jiang Mo input her spiritual energy, she felt tremendous resistance, causing her eyes to darken, but she gritted her teeth and refused to give up.
As spiritual energy gradually flowed in, the White Tiger's innate control over metal finally took effect, and one of the formation patterns on the thick nail began to change...
༻༺❀༻✧⋆｡°✩☽༓☾✩°｡⋆✧༺❀༻༺
"Pffft..."
In the darkness, the person controlling the formation suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood from the heart, instantly becoming much weaker. She then realized she had lost control of the formation, and anger flashed across her pale face: "Who dares to ruin my plans?!"
However, the darkness remained silent, with no one responding to her.
There was no need for a response, as the moment the words left her mouth, Third Elder already knew—in the underground world suppressed by the Nameless Temple, few living beings had visited in tens of thousands of years, and those who did mostly perished quickly. Besides herself, only a human and a tiger had recently and accidentally arrived here. Excluding Yun Qingyue with her insufficient strength, only the White Tiger remained.
Third Elder was extremely angry, though puzzled as to how the White Tiger could remain unharmed after being infected by the Soul-Devouring Insect and even manage to destroy her formation. But divine beasts had many extraordinary talents, and she unhesitatingly placed the blame on the White Tiger.
Being quite vindictive, she desperately wanted to skin the White Tiger alive, but first had to swallow some medicinal pills to stabilize the injuries from the formation's backlash.
Soon after, as her injuries slightly eased, Third Elder flew rapidly toward the damaged part of the formation.
She moved quickly, thinking that the White Tiger must have expended considerable spiritual energy to damage the formation and couldn't have gone far. However, when she arrived, there was no trace of the White Tiger, only a nail devoid of spiritual energy remaining.
"Damn it!" Third Elder cursed, picking up the nail with the intention to repair it, only to discover that besides the altered formation patterns, the nail's material had also undergone subtle changes. She felt nothing unusual while holding it in her palm, but when she input spiritual energy to reconsecrate the nail, its material couldn't withstand the strain—not only was it damaged, but it also exploded in her hand.
With her late Fusion stage cultivation, Third Elder's palm, though blackened by the explosion, wasn't injured. However, her robe was completely ruined, with even part of her sleeve blown off, leaving her uncharacteristically disheveled.
She was thoroughly enraged, but apart from impotent fury, she couldn't find anyone to vent her anger on for the time being.
Meanwhile, the culprit had naturally already fled—after disabling the formation nail, Jiang Mo had been exhausted, but who said she didn't have her Senior Sister? At this moment, she was contentedly leaning in her Senior Sister's embrace, being carried far away.