Two hours later, everyone stopped to adjust their breaths.
With the help of spirit stones and medicinal pills, they had recovered their spiritual aura, but judging from the pile of spirit stone powder around them, it was obvious how many spirit stones they used.
The amount of spiritual aura a Core Formation cultivator's meridians and dantian could hold was unimaginable for low-level cultivators. Several low-grade spirit stones could keep an Aura Refining cultivator full of spiritual aura, but for Core Formation cultivators like them, the spiritual aura from low-grade spirit stones was basically dispensable. Only mid-grade spirit stones or higher could have an immediate effect.
But mid-grade spirit stones were rare, and they were usually used to set up formations or in emergencies. Who would use them to replenish their spiritual aura?
Therefore, they could only use low-grade spirit stones to replenish their spiritual aura.
But even so, none of them had full spiritual aura.
Since they couldn't absorb spiritual aura from the outside world, the speed of spiritual aura recovery was too slow, and they couldn't afford to waste it for a long time.
Mo Tiange was the same.
But her situation wasn't bad because she had a lot of Restorative Panaceas, and her body could still produce spiritual aura. Although it wasn't full, it wouldn't affect her strength.
"The formation is broken!" Qiu Chengruo said happily after adjusting his breath.
The power of the snowstorm gradually dissipated, and the ice field also gradually disappeared, revealing a cave.
Mo Tiange smiled.
Sure enough, the purpose of formations in the trial ground was just to test them; they didn't need to break the formation.
But when she looked around, she became cautious again.
They were currently in a cave. It wasn't accurate to say that it was a cave. To be more precise, it was a cave. It was a cave that extended in all directions and had many forks. Just where they were at, there were three to five forks. These forks were deep and serene, leading to unknown places.
"Fellow Daoist Qin?" Nie Wushang asked in a low voice.
"En?"
"Is there a problem?"
Mo Tiange shook her head and said, "No, but do you think it's real or fake?"
Nie Wushang looked for a while then shook her head. "I know nothing about formations, so I can't see through it."
"Fellow Daoist Qin," Yong Ruyu interrupted, "I think it's real."
"Oh?" Mo Tiange was quite interested. "What do you think, Fellow Daoist Yong?"
Yong Ruyu smiled and said humbly, "I'm the same as Cultivator Tiancan, I know nothing about formations. Therefore, this is only my speculation."
He paused and said, "First, the terrain. I remember that when we entered the teleportation array, we were in the Jia Ling Mountain. This cave seems to fit the description.
Secondly, the spiritual energy in the surroundings is very stable. It doesn't seem like there's an illusory formation here. "
Mo Tiange nodded then said, "What Fellow Daoist Yong said is correct. I also feel the same way."
"Since Fellow Daoist Qin also thinks that it's not an illusory formation, then this scene is indeed real?" Qiu Chengruo said.
Mo Tiange shook her head. "Fellow Daoist Qiu thinks too highly of me. Although I know a little about formations, I don't know much about ancient divine abilities. How could I possibly miss nothing?"
When Qiu Chengruo heard this, he felt that it was true. How could the cultivators of today compare to the ancient divine abilities?
Even a true Array Master might not be able to see through an Ancient Illusion Array.
"In any case, since Fellow Daoist Qin can't see through it, it means it's relatively safer." Qiu Chengruo looked at the fork in the road ahead and asked, "What should we do next?"
"What else can we do?
Of course we keep going, "Yong Ruyu said.
She then turned to look at Mo Tiange and Nie Wushang. "Fellow Daoist Qin, Fellow Daoist Tiancan, don't you think so?"
Mo Tiange and Nie Wushang both nodded.
Looking at the situation in front of them, they indeed had no other choice but to walk down this cave and see if they could find any clues.
However, Mo Tiange also felt a bit strange.
That City Lord Mei said this was a trial ground and that if they passed, they'd get a lot of rewards. How did he know all this?
He said he didn't pass the trial when he entered, but after they came in, they passed the trial, right?
She hadn't seen any notification about the trial!
Mo Tiange's intuition told her that something was wrong. She must've missed something.
"Fellow Daoists, let's go, shall we?" Yong Ruyu called out again when she saw that Mo Tiange didn't move.
Mo Tiange nodded then followed behind them, slowly walking into one of the forks.
The path they took was the one in the middle on the left. This path was chosen by Nie Wushang. When Qiu Chengruo asked her, she casually punched the ground, creating several cracks. The biggest one pointed to the middle, so she chose the middle path.
The current situation wasn't clear, so it didn't matter which path she chose, so the other three didn't have any objections.
As they walked, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Although Yong Ruyu's cultivation level wasn't obvious, he was extremely meticulous. After Mo Tiange glanced at him, she felt reassured and let him lead the way while she continued to ponder.
Since she felt she missed something, she had to start from the beginning.
First, when she and Nie Wushang went to Starfall City to check in, Elder Liang of Starfall City came to invite them under City Lord Mei's order.
Later, City Lord Mei told them about the discovery of the ancient secret place and asked them to enter the secret place to obtain the Heavenly God Fruit for him.
Finally, he led the Core Formation elders under him to open the secret place and let the fifteen Core Formation cultivators enter.
After thinking about it carefully, Mo Tiange realized there wasn't any problem with the general course of events, so the problem should be with the details.
Details, which step of the details had gone wrong …
"Fellow Daoist Mo, what are you thinking about?" Nie Wushang's low voice rang in Mo Tiange's ears.
Mo Tiange regained her train of thought and said, "En … I think there's something wrong with this matter."
Upon hearing what he said, Nie Wushang cast him a glance, and her eyes brightened. "You also think so?"
"Also?" Mo Tiange frowned. "Could it be that you …"
"I felt there was something wrong after we set off, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Besides, City Lord Mei was outside, so I couldn't send you a voice transmission."
"Really?
What do you think the problem is? "
Nie Wushang thought for a while then said, "I'm not as meticulous as you, but you know my master cultivates devil cultivation techniques, so I know more about devil path cultivators than you do.
First of all, I think there's something wrong with the way they opened the Transporting Formation. Since this is an ancient secret place, even if they used their own method to cover it with restrictions, they shouldn't have covered it directly.
You should know that things left behind from ancient times usually have pure Spiritual Qi. Although demonic cultivators can absorb Spiritual Qi, they have to go through some special mental cultivation method. This way, they can directly cover the demonic path restriction on the pure Spiritual Qi, which can counteract the restriction. "
"Is that so?"
Mo Tiange indeed didn't know much about devil path cultivators, but after thinking about it, she felt something was wrong. "According to what you said, there should be something wrong with that Transporting Formation, but I saw it. It's indeed an ancient formation."
At this point, both of them felt puzzled and didn't know what to say.
"Fellow Daoist Qin, Fellow Daoist Tiancan?" Qiu Chengruo suddenly turned around and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
Both of them were preoccupied with their own thoughts, so they unconsciously fell behind them.
"Oh, nothing." Mo Tiange quickened her steps to catch up with them.
Seeing Yong Ruyu's inquiring gaze, she thought about it and finally said, "Fellow Daoists, you're native cultivators of Yunzhong, so you must have a good understanding of Yunzhong's situation. Is it really normal for you to invite irrelevant people to explore the ancient secret place like this?"
Both Yong Ruyu and Qiu Chengruo were stunned. They stopped and stared at her.
Mo Tiange continued to say, "Shouldn't they keep such a good place for themselves?
Starfall City isn't big, so if they have this secret place to support them and train their cultivators well, it'll be very beneficial for them. "
Hearing this, Yong Ruyu frowned and muttered, "What Fellow Daoist Qin said makes sense."
"So Fellow Daoist Yong also thinks something's wrong?"
Yong Ruyu thought for a while, then shook her head. "I'm not sure.
Fellow Daoist Qin, I don't know what kind of place your hometown is, but in Yunzhong, there have been cases of people who discovered secret places and enjoyed them for themselves, but in the end, they were discovered by big cultivation groups, leading to tragedies.
Therefore, after City Lord Mei discovered the secret place, she didn't want to monopolize it, but rather took advantage of the other forces before they could react. It's not incomprehensible. "
"Oh?
So that's what happened … "Mo Tiange stopped talking.
In other words, she was wrong about this reason, right?
But she believed in her intuition about this matter. It definitely wasn't because she was paranoid. She was sure there must be something wrong here.
"Fellow Daoist Qin," Nie Wushang suddenly said, "Let's put it this way. Do you think this secret place matches the scale of an ancient secret place?"
Mo Tiange stared at Nie Wushang in surprise.
Nie Wushang also stared at her and continued to speak in a hoarse voice, "You're also a cultivator from a big cultivation group, so your knowledge is extraordinary. Do you think this place can be considered an ancient secret place?"
Mo Tiange was suddenly enlightened after hearing his explanation.
She was right. Although there were traces of the Middle Ages everywhere, it was too simple to call it an ancient secret place.
For example, the first trial they passed, the snowstorm on the ice field, indeed contained the profoundness of an ancient divine ability, but its power was too weak. It merely exhausted their spiritual aura and couldn't cause any substantial harm to them.
Upon seeing Mo Tiange's expression, Nie Wushang showed a faint smile. "Although I'm not as meticulous as you, I'm a martial cultivator, so I'm naturally sensitive to power.
I dare say this isn't an ancient secret place at all. It's just a fake secret place created by applying the skin of some ancient divine ability! "
Once Nie Wushang said this, Yong Ruyu's and Qiu Chengruo's expressions changed greatly. Yong Ruyu stared at Nie Wushang for a long time before she finally asked, "Fellow Daoist Tiancan, what do you mean?"
"What else could I mean?"
Nie Wushang said faintly, "Fellow Daoists, you two also have extraordinary backgrounds, so presumably, your horizons aren't low either. Think about it carefully. How could an ancient trial be so easy to pass?
You should know that we're Core Formation cultivators, so we can use magic weapons. Magic weapons from the Middle Ages had great magical powers, so how could a Core Formation trial be so easy? "
Yong Ruyu and Qiu Chengruo were speechless for a long time.
After a while, Qiu Chengruo said in a low voice, "Our Danxia Sect also has a secret place, but senior martial brother and I are only in the early stage of the Core Formation realm. The sect advised us to enter only after our cultivation levels are higher, but …" Her gaze stopped on Nie Wushang's face for a while then she said, "What Fellow Daoist Tiancan said is reasonable. This trial is indeed too easy. Even if we're stronger than ordinary cultivators, it's impossible for us to be unscathed …"
"Moreover, it also exhausted our spiritual aura," Mo Tiange suddenly interrupted.
She stared at the three people in front of her and said in a heavy voice, "Fellow Daoists, I'm afraid we've already entered a trap."