After seeing Wang Qianyi and Shen Bing, Mo Tiange's mood was somewhat heavy.
For the first time, she witnessed the tragic fate of female cultivators. One lost her father and had to marry her enemy. The other lost her freedom and became a puppet.
They were cultivators, but they were also women. Without enough power, they couldn't even protect their bodies.
This world was just so cruel.
Fortunately, they seemed to be doing well now. Although they didn't have enough pills and were still struggling on the path of cultivation, at least they had freedom.
After thinking for a while, Qin Xi suddenly asked, "Do you sympathize with them?"
Mo Tiange was stunned for a moment before she answered, "Of course. They … they were very miserable …"
"How is it terrible?"
"For a woman, if she can't even protect herself, of course it's miserable."
Qin Xi didn't say anything. No one knew what he was thinking.
The two of them concealed their auras and avoided the other cultivators. Their journey was daunting but not dangerous, and they arrived at the foot of a mountain.
Mo Tiange looked up. "It's so high … Even if we fly, it'll be very difficult to fly up, right?"
Demonic Mountain was the highest mountain in the Celestial Pole, worthy of its name. This mountain peak pierced straight into the clouds, and its peak couldn't be seen at all.
Qin Xi said, "There's a place we can land on, so flying up won't be a problem. It's just that …" He stared at the lightning formed by the intertwining spiritual aura and devil aura in midair. "There are a lot of restrictions on this place. If we're not careful, we might turn into ashes."
Mo Tiange was shocked. Ashes scattered and vanished in a puff of smoke … In other words, they couldn't even be saved.
"Don't overthink it."
Qin Xi said calmly, "It might take us two days to reach the summit. There are still many restrictions up there that need to be broken, so it's very troublesome. Let's go up there as soon as possible."
"… En."
The two of them used their own methods to protect themselves.
Mo Tiange used the Art of Primordial Singular Energy and took out the White Silk Handkerchief, transforming it into a mist-like barrier.
Qin Xi, on the other hand, also used his Body-Protecting Art. He also made the Three Yang Real Fire Sword transform into a Body-Protecting Sword Formation that surrounded the two of them.
Mo Tiange hesitated for a moment before saying, "Senior Martial Brother Qin, you … come a bit closer to me. I don't have enough spiritual aura, so I can't reach this protective magic weapon."
Qin Xi was stunned. He didn't know whether it was because of the way she addressed him or because of what she said.
In the end, he only responded softly.
This peak was called Ten Thousand Feet Peak. Although it might not be ten thousand feet high, it was not far from it.
The Spiritual Qi and Devil Qi in this area were turbulent and intertwined with each other. The two of them did not dare to fly too fast and could only advance bit by bit.
To maintain the same distance, Mo Tiange didn't use her own flying magic weapon. Instead, she boarded Qin Xi's flying cloud.
Half a day later, the two of them rested on the mountain wall for a while before continuing forward.
At this moment, they were already close to the place where spiritual aura and devil aura intertwined in the sky. They were surrounded by protective spiritual aura, followed by defensive talismans, then a layer of spiritual aura formed by Mo Tiange's White Silk Handkerchief, and finally, Qin Xi's sword formation.
Even with four layers of defense, he did not dare to let his guard down.
When she passed through the spiritual aura and devil aura, Mo Tiange heard the sword formation outside making "buzzing" sounds. Fortunately, the Three Yang Real Fire Sword wasn't an ordinary magic weapon. Whether it was spiritual aura or devil aura, it was able to block it.
However, every time he blocked it, the sword formation would emit a red light, and Qin Xi would have to stop for a while to resist it.
The two of them went up bit by bit, but the higher they went, the more difficult it became.
In the end, it was no longer Qin Xi's problem alone. Although his sword formation could block most of the attacks, it couldn't completely resolve them, so Mo Tiange used the White Silk Handkerchief to help.
Qin Xi had already said that they couldn't be the slightest bit careless in this place. As long as the spiritual aura and devil aura broke through their defense layer, there would be no way to save them and they would instantly turn into ashes.
"Here."
When their spiritual aura was about to be exhausted again, Qin Xi pointed at a tiny crack in the mountain wall. Inside it was an extremely small cave.
In order to resist the restrictions, gales, and lightning formed by the intertwining spiritual aura and devil aura, they had to maintain enough spiritual aura. Now that their spiritual aura was almost exhausted, they had to find a place to adjust their breathing and recover.
The two of them squeezed into this small cave with difficulty and heaved sighs of relief.
The crack in this cave was very small, so they could only pass through it sideways. With the mountain wall blocking them, there were no gales or big restrictions. There was only weak spiritual aura and devil aura.
But … it was really too small. It was only big enough for the two of them to sit side by side. They were so close together that they almost couldn't move.
Mo Tiange felt very uncomfortable. She wasn't used to being so close to other people.
Just as she was about to lean to the side, she heard Qin Xi say, "Don't move. Quickly meditate and recover your spiritual aura."
"…" Mo Tiange knew what he said was right, so she could only endure it. She sat cross-legged, slowly adjusted her breathing and entered a meditative state.
After a while, her spiritual aura finally recovered, and she opened her eyes.
A large mass of devil aura floated over from outside and blocked the entrance of the crack.
Qin Xi had already finished adjusting his breathing and was waiting for her. He was startled and said, "Wait a moment. There's too much devil aura."
"En."
The devil aura on Demonic Mountain was very violent. Once it sensed cultivators' breaths, it would rush forward and swallow them.
Most of this devil aura was left behind from the Distant Past era. How could cultivators resist it?
A small mass of devil aura could be eliminated, but such a large mass of devil aura couldn't be avoided.
This mass of devil aura blocked the light that leaked through the crack and also blocked the sounds outside.
Darkness and silence embraced each other.
Cultivators' eyesight was better than mortals'. Even if there was no light, they could roughly distinguish the things in front of them.
But there was no light, and everything in front of her was hazy. This kind of haze made Mo Tiange restless.
She heard light breathing. After listening for a while, she seemed to hear a heartbeat again. At first, it was calm, but it gradually became rapid.
She pressed her chest and found it was hers.
Strange.
She tilted her head and thought to herself, I just finished meditating, so my heart shouldn't be beating so fast!
This kind of depression also seemed to affect Qin Xi.
He moved, and his arm rubbed against her sleeve.
The faintly discernible contact made Mo Tiange even more afraid to move.
It seemed … too close. Even their breaths were intertwined.
This kind of awkward silence didn't last long. Suddenly, she heard Qin Xi say, "That year … your father and I also flew up from here."
Mo Tiange was stunned and turned her head.
In the darkness, Qin Xi's eyes shone brightly. He said softly, "At that time, a big restriction collapsed. More than half of the people who stayed on Demonic Mountain died or were injured. Your father and I happened to be here, so we avoided the disaster."
"This place …" Mo Tiange murmured. She reached out and touched the mountain wall next to her.
Father … has he also sat here and touched these stones?
"We hid for seven days before the restriction finally stabilized, but … when we went out the way we came, we found we couldn't get out."
Mo Tiange suddenly remembered that the restriction on Demonic Mountain only existed for about a month. If the restriction reappeared, they wouldn't be able to get out.
And if they stayed here, they didn't know when the restriction would disappear again. The situation inside was unpredictable, and ordinary people couldn't wait until Demonic Mountain opened again.
"Then … how did you get out?"
"The secret is up there," Qin Xi said.
"There's a place they call Immortal's Ruins. According to legend, it's the place where immortals fell and were buried in the Distant Past era.
The road to Immortal's Ruins is full of difficulties and dangers. Countless people died on that road in the past.
However, they didn't know that there was actually a shortcut. If you go up this Tens of Thousands of Feet Peak, you'll reach the back of Immortal's Ruins. "
Mo Tiange was stunned. "There's a road in Immortal's Ruins that leads to the outside world?"
Qin Xi shook his head. "That's not accurate. The terrain there is very complicated. No one knows which place Immortal's Ruins is referring to.
After we were trapped on Demonic Mountain, we searched many places and finally found a place with a restriction that could be broken. "
Hearing this, Mo Tiange thought for a while and became even more confused. "If we can get out, can't we also go in?
Doesn't that mean we don't have to wait for the restriction outside to disappear? "
Qin Xi smiled and said, "Your thinking is too simple. At that time, we encountered a lot of dangers. When we found that place, we were all injured. Your father's injury was especially serious; he almost couldn't survive. When we gradually finished taking medicinal pills, his injury still didn't improve …" After a pause, he continued, "My injury was relatively light, so it wasn't a big problem. But even if we found that the restriction in that place was relatively weak and could be broken, we didn't have enough cultivation. According to my calculations, we needed to have at least the cultivation level of the Nascent Soul realm.
Moreover, the restriction on Demonic Mountain is very special. If it wasn't because our inner force was weak, even if it was broken, the restriction would repair itself. I also thought so, but after I went out, I found that the restriction inside looked weak, but the one outside was much stronger than the one outside. "
"Then … what happened next?"
"The cultivation technique I practice is called the Art of Three Primordial Cycles. The three primordial auras are the three primordial auras of Extreme Yang, Extreme Yin, and Neutral.
The word 'cycle' means a kind of secret technique, "Qin Xi said slowly.
"If I can absorb enough spiritual aura, I can temporarily break through my realm and reach the Nascent Soul realm.
But this kind of Nascent Soul realm is only an illusion; it can only last for a very short period of time. The consequences are even more serious — it will make me fall back to the Aura Refining realm in an instant. "
"…" So that's how it is. Mo Tiange suddenly saw the light.
No wonder father could help him leave Demonic Mountain. No wonder he lost a lot of his cultivation and became an Aura Refining disciple.
When he was in Yunwu Sect, his cultivation probably really fell back to the Aura Refining realm, right?
Qin Xi continued, "When your father found out about this, he thought about it for two days and told me that his injury wouldn't heal anyway. That being the case, he was willing to use his cultivation to help me get out of trouble, but I had to promise to take care of his descendants on his behalf.
I promised and even swore on my Heart Demon. "
In the darkness, his gaze swept over her and he said softly, "At that time, I didn't care at all. It was only a trivial matter.
But … I didn't expect it would be you … "
That was all he said, but it was enough to make people's imaginations roam.
It would be her … What?
What did he mean by that?
The darkness and silence almost made her blurt out the question. But in the next moment, the devil aura gradually dispersed and light shone in again.
He turned his head and his voice became cold again. "Alright, let's continue."