In the morning, the desert was extremely cold. The sun that had just risen from the horizon didn't add any warmth to the air.
In the cold wind, Mo Tiange's group of four stood above Sandstorm City and looked down.
"Fellow Daoist Huo, are we going in now?" Qin Xi asked.
Huo Ziqi and the others arrived earlier than them, so they knew more than them.
Huo Ziqi said, "Let's wait for a while." Then he untied the spiritual beast bag on his waist and released a fifth rank spiritual monkey.
The monkey's fur was shiny, its eyes were red, and its wild nature was hard to tame. As soon as it came out of the bag, it bared its teeth at Mo Tiange who was closest to it.
"This red-eyed monkey is very clever and suitable for exploring the way." Huo Ziqi patted the monkey's head and shouted, "Go!"
Under the Beast-Taming Art of Spirit Beast Sect, the monkey immediately became docile and obedient. It jumped down from the sky and hopped away, disappearing among the sand buildings and mounds.
Mo Tiange couldn't help but glance at the row of spiritual beast bags hanging on Huo Ziqi's waist.
With the help of spiritual beasts, a cultivator's strength would be greatly improved. Unfortunately, although spiritual beasts weren't difficult to catch, it wasn't easy to recognize a master.
Before hatching, spiritual beasts could recognize a master by blood, but after hatching, they could only establish a subordinate contract.
Compared to a spiritual beast contract that recognized a master, a subordinate contract required one's divine sense to be much stronger than that of the spiritual beast. Because of that, even though Kunwu was close to the demonic beast forest, there weren't many cultivators who owned spiritual beasts. Even if they did, their cultivation level was one realm lower than theirs.
However, the cultivators of Spirit Beast Sect were an exception.
Every cultivator of Spirit Beast Sect had a spiritual beast that they had established a blood contract with.
The so-called blood contract was much more complicated than simply recognizing a master by blood. It was similar to a natal magic weapon.
The natal magic weapon contained the cultivator's blood essence, so the injury of the magic weapon was the injury of the master.
The same was true for a blood contract. The spiritual beast and its master depended on each other for survival.
After establishing a blood contract, the spiritual beast's strength would be greatly improved. It could also communicate with its master and could use secret techniques to cultivate together.
Therefore, the natal spiritual beasts of Spirit Beast Sect cultivators were in the same realm as themselves.
Huo Ziqi was a Nascent Soul cultivator, so his natal spiritual beast should be in the eighth rank.
Aside from Yun Zhongyuan and Old Donkey Ma, Mo Tiange hadn't seen any eighth rank spiritual beasts, so she didn't know whether they were more powerful than demonic beasts.
Seeing that his Spirit-Seeking Butterfly and Scarlet-Eyed Monkey were both very amazing, it was likely that his natal spirit beasts wouldn't be weak either.
Speaking of which, the Spirit Beast Sect's most famous Spirit Beast was the sect's founder's mount, the Qilin.
However, many people believed that the so-called Qilin was a spiritual beast that possessed the blood of the Qilin. One should know that the Qilin was one of the five ancient spirits that had disappeared from the world a long time ago. Even if it still existed, it was not something that could be tamed by the cultivators of today.
When she thought of Qilin, she couldn't help but think of the Five-Spirits Sacrificial Temple. She had already seen the Azure Dragon and the Vermilion Bird Sacrificial Temples and knew that the Black Tortoise Sacrificial Temple was located in Yunzhong, but she didn't know where the White Tiger and Qilin Sacrificial Temples were. Since the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, and the Black Tortoise existed, White Tiger and Qilin should also exist, right?
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After a while, the red-eyed monkey still did not turn around.
Qin Xi asked, "Fellow Daoist Huo, why hasn't your spiritual beast returned yet?"
When Huo Ziqi heard this, he made a hand seal, but his face darkened and he didn't move for a long time.
Seeing that his expression was strange, Qin Xi asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen to it?"
Huo Ziqi said with a heavy tone, "The red-eyed monkey's life isn't in danger, but I don't know why it hasn't come back. Moreover, the connection between us has become very weak …"
At this point, Huo Ziqi frowned deeply.
In terms of divine power, Spirit Beast Sect's cultivators couldn't be considered outstanding in Kunwu. The reason why it was ranked among the seven great cultivation groups was because its beast-taming ability was outstanding. With the help of spiritual beasts, its cultivators were usually slightly stronger than ordinary cultivators.
It could be said that Spirit Beast Sect's beast-taming technique was the foundation of its foothold.
But now, as soon as the red-eyed monkey entered Sandstorm City, his beast-taming technique failed. If that was the case, wouldn't his strength be greatly reduced after entering Sandstorm City?
"Brother Huo," Zong Si, who rarely spoke, suddenly spoke. He looked at Sandstorm City under his feet and said, "This Sandstorm City is actually a great formation!"
Mo Tiange's eyes brightened.
This Zong Si's attainments in formations weren't low to be able to see that there was a formation in Sandstorm City!
"Oh?
What did Brother Zong see? "Huo Ziqi hurriedly asked.
Zong Si said, "On the surface, Sandstorm City doesn't seem to have anything to do with cultivators, but the disorderly placement of the sand piles actually has a pattern. I just did some calculations, and it coincides with the Qimen Divination Art."
"Oh?" Huo Ziqi was surprised. "Was this Sandstorm City left behind by ancient seniors?"
"It's hard to say."
Zong Si frowned slightly. "Although these sand piles are in line with the Dao of formations, they're very complicated. I can only understand thirty to forty percent of them.
Moreover, logically speaking, formations lose their effectiveness without spiritual aura, but this great formation is different. There's clearly no spiritual aura inside Sandstorm City, but it's still effective. "
"Is that so?!"
Huo Ziqi was shocked. He was a Nascent Soul cultivator. Although he didn't know much about formations, he had some general knowledge. He had never heard of a formation still being effective without spiritual aura in the cultivation world.
After thinking for a while, he became excited. "In that case, this Sandstorm City must be a relic left behind by a powerful ancient figure!"
He was right. A formation that was set up with great power just based on the location of the formation, and even a fifth-rank spirit beast got lost in it. This was definitely not something a mortal could do, not even the cultivators of today, unless it was left behind by an ancient or Immemorial Age cultivator.
However, Zong Si said, "Brother Huo, don't be too happy. We thought this task would be easy because there aren't any spirit veins in the westernmost area. Even if there are relics, there won't be powerful restrictions. But now it seems that we can't even find the entrance."
Hearing this, Huo Ziqi also calmed down. "You're right. A spirit beast like the Red-eyed Monkey is suitable to explore the way because it can see through ordinary illusions. But even it got lost in Sandstorm City, so the formation inside is not trivial."
"Don't worry too much," Zong Si said again. "At least, we can be sure that this great formation is not a killing formation."
Without spiritual aura, spells naturally couldn't be used. Therefore, this great formation that was set up with the help of strange techniques was definitely not a killing formation.
"Fellow Daoists," Mo Tiange suddenly said, "Without spiritual aura, although we can't set up a killing formation, we have to be on guard against the traps inside."
"Traps?" Huo Ziqi was stunned.
The art of mechanisms had been lost for a long time. Even Nascent Soul cultivators only knew of its name.
"Yes." Mo Tiange took out a compass and observed the five elements while saying, "In the Middle Ages, the art of mechanisms was not lost yet. If Sandstorm City is really a relic left behind by an ancient figure, there might be mechanisms here."
Upon seeing her taking out the compass, Zong Si's eyes brightened. "Fellow Daoist Qingwei seems to know a lot about the art of mechanisms."
Mo Tiange smiled and said, "I know a little about formations, so I also know a little about the related art of mechanisms."
"Really?
Fellow Daoist Qingwei is also a formation master? "
"I only know a little," Mo Tiange said modestly. She then asked, "Fellow Daoist Zong, are you proficient in formations?"
"I wouldn't dare. I only know a little." Knowing that Mo Tiange knew about formations, Zong Si became friendly.
Looking at the compass in Mo Tiange's hand, he said, "The Yin and Yang and the five elements here are very stable. It doesn't look like a Bewildering Formation or an Illusory Formation."
Both Bewildering Formations and Illusory Formations used Yin and Yang and the five elements to create an illusion, so Yin and Yang intertwined and the five elements were in disorder.
Mo Tiange looked down at the compass. Sure enough, it was very stable after she injected spiritual aura and didn't change at all.
She frowned slightly. "This great formation is far beyond the level of today's formations."
"Yes!"
Zong Si sighed. "Since there's no spiritual aura and Yin and Yang and the five elements are stable, who would know there's a formation here?
With my level of formations, I can only see that it's in harmony with the divination arts, but I can't tell what kind of formation this is.
I wonder if Fellow Daoist Qingwei can see anything? "
Mo Tiange shook her head. "Me neither."
In fact, she knew a little more than Zong Si and could understand about 50 to 60 percent of it, but that was all. As for what kind of formation this was and what it was, she had no idea.
The four of them were silent.
After a while, Qin Xi asked, "Fellow Daoists, you came here first. Didn't you explore the way?"
Huo Ziqi was a bit embarrassed. "Fellow Daoist Zong and I went to other places before. When we arrived in Sandstorm City, we were busy recovering our spiritual aura, so we just summoned the Spirit-Seeking Butterfly and explored this place."
Such carelessness really didn't seem like the behavior of a Nascent Soul cultivator, but on second thought, it was also human nature.
The westernmost area not only had harsh conditions, but it also didn't have any spirit veins, so it had always been far from cultivators' sight. Even though it was one of the three most dangerous places in the westernmost area, who would've thought Sandstorm City, a place without any spirit veins, would actually have such a powerful formation?
Apart from that, Mo Tiange also heard the hidden message in Huo Ziqi's words.
He and Zong Si were both Nascent Soul cultivators, but when they arrived in Sandstorm City, their spiritual aura actually wasn't enough. It seemed the place they went before must be a dangerous place.
Moreover, the two of them must've encountered danger. Otherwise, they wouldn't have rushed to Sandstorm City without recovering their spiritual aura. Maybe it was in this dangerous place that they learned the secret storehouse was in Sandstorm City.
With that thought in mind, Mo Tiange turned to look at Qin Xi. The two of them exchanged a tacit look.
"What about now?" Qin Xi asked, "Fellow Daoists, are you going to enter the city like this?"
Huo Ziqi hesitated for a moment but soon made up his mind. "If you didn't encounter us, presumably Fellow Daoist Shoujing would've also entered the city, right?"
"So Fellow Daoist Huo has decided to enter?"
"Yes." Seeing that Zong Si didn't object, Huo Ziqi continued, "Since this great formation in Sandstorm City doesn't exist in the current cultivation world, there's a high chance there's a treasure inside. How can we let it go?"
"Correct," Zong Si said, "We found this place with great difficulty, so we naturally can't give it up." Even if they didn't have the mission from the Immortal Alliance, they still had to enter and explore the great formation in Sandstorm City.
"What about Fellow Daoists Shoujing and Qingwei?"
Qin Xi smiled and said, "What Fellow Daoist Huo said makes sense. My wife and I also think so."
The four of them reached an agreement. After discussing for a while, they soon came up with an idea and landed somewhere in Sandstorm City.
At that moment, a man and a woman appeared on the outskirts of Sandstorm City.
"Young Master, they've already entered."
The tall, blue-skinned man stared at the place where the four people disappeared. After a long time, he finally said, "It's good to let them explore the way first."