Chapter 139: The Immortal Cultivator in the Desolate Village

Half a day later, Wei Cheng and his group arrived at the map of the Mist Demon.

This location was right across the magma river of the Fire Demon. Previously, it had been shrouded in billowing black monsters' fog, but now, with the Mist Demon slain, the dark mist was gradually dissipating, revealing bald, towering ridges.

However, some valley bottoms and depressions were still covered by dense fog, where minor mist demons could be vaguely seen baring their fangs. These were left behind as training grounds for new challengers.

Along the way, some veteran challengers could be seen mining jasper ores and slaying minor mist demons. Since they hadn't participated in the Boss battle, they would be farming here for a long time.

Liu Wenli, Zhao Xiong, Zhou Wu, and the others were nowhere to be seen. But it went without saying that the process of conquering the Mist Demon had been extremely arduous, and their rewards were substantial, so they had naturally returned to Cangwu City long ago.

"Old Wei, look over there."

At this moment, Liu Sui pointed to the southeast. Behind a sheer cliff, black mist rolled, blotting out the sky—this was precisely the covered area of the Demonic Shadow Curse.

"This black mist has grown stronger."

Bai Han's expression changed. Having condensed his spiritual seed earlier, his slightly probed spiritual power allowed him to perceive the difference.

"Yes, it's about twice as strong as before, which should be related to the eruption of the fifth wave of Demonic Shadow Curses. Xu Shan, get ready for poison dispelling."

Wei Cheng nodded. Maintaining a calm expression, he was the first to walk to the edge of the sheer cliff. At this moment, he was inches away from the black mist, yet he could see a wisp of golden sword scar holding the dark fog back.

When he slightly projected his spiritual power, he felt as though he had plunged into a damp, dark, and foul-smelling endless quagmire, while the sound of hair-raising chewing echoed in his ears.

"Guard!"

Wei Cheng suddenly roared fiercely, his soundwaves surging wildly!

In an instant, the illusion of the Mountain-Moving Visualization Chart rose from the ground, transforming into towering mountains stretching for thousands of miles. A majestic momentum rushed toward them, accompanied by the intertwining sounds of roaring dragons and howling tigers.

Unlike before, however, Wei Cheng's angry roar seemed to trigger the echo of the mountains. Countless soundwaves whipped up in the blink of an eye, transforming into an invisible frenzy that crushed forward toward the black mist area ahead.

The echo lasted for a full twenty seconds or more!

With this, a massive fan-shaped area spanning tens of thousands of meters ahead had all its black mist blown apart, truly possessing the miraculous effect of parting the clouds to see the sun.

Even so, the opposite side and the bottom of this sheer cliff remained invisible.

Seeing the surrounding black mist rapidly sweeping back once again,

Wei Cheng gestured and was the first to climb down the sheer cliff. Even Chen Ce followed suit. They could neither jump nor glide; without being able to determine how deep the cliff actually was, doing so would be courting death.

In the blink of an eye, they had climbed down five or six hundred meters. Looking up, the sky was no longer visible, nor was the cliff edge. Black mist from all directions squeezed inward, and the eerie chewing sounds continued to play, invariably giving one a sense of losing control.

It made them unsure whether they were climbing down or climbing up.

Or perhaps, were they just crawling on flat ground?

"Hee hee!"

Qin Yang suddenly chuckled, followed by the Qi family, then Mei Renli, and finally Yu Liang. Their laughter sounded extremely eerie.

Yet in the next second, several cyan long needles swiftly plunged into the glabellae between the eyebrows of all four individuals.

The long needles instantly turned into Cyan Wood internal energy, completing a full circulation. The next second, the four of them shuddered, still completely unaware of what had happened.

"Everyone, stay alert. Bai Han, Liu Sui, the two of you are specifically responsible for protecting Xu Shan. There must be no mishaps."

Wei Cheng said in a deep voice. Qin Yang and the Qi family were dead weights whose strength was simply too low, which was somewhat excusable.

However, Yu Liang and Mei Renli both possessed spiritual power exceeding Level 5, and they had consistently remained within the range of his roar without coming into contact with the black mist; yet, they had fallen under the spell unawares.

The difficulty level of this place was somewhat high.

Fortunately, Xu Shan specialized in the Cyan Wood path; otherwise, this pioneering expedition would truly have come to an abrupt halt right here.

At this time, Wei Cheng also glanced over at Liu Sui, Chen Ce, and Tang Yuanshan. The three of them were fine for the moment, as their spiritual powers had all reached around Level 6.

It seemed that Level 6 spiritual power was the watershed for this place.

Wei Cheng continued to lead the way, climbing downward while occasionally using his roars to disperse the black mist. Meanwhile, Qin Yang, the Qi family, Yu Liang, and Mei Renli fell under the spell roughly every half minute.

Furthermore, their states of mind control varied each time.

Some laughed bizarrely, some crooned and chanted softly, some wept bitterly, and others smiled with an eerie chill—none of their reactions were ever identical.

Regardless of the case, they were instantly and effortlessly dispelled by Xu Shan using her cyan long needles.

The Cyan Wood profession turned out to be useful to such an astonishing degree.

Even so, the bottom of the sheer cliff was still nowhere in sight.

"Brother Wei, we've been climbing downward for a very long time, haven't we?" After a long while, Bai Han couldn't help asking; he had completely lost his sense of direction.

"About 1,432 meters, taking nineteen minutes and twelve seconds."

Wei Cheng provided the answer. From beginning to end, he felt no sense of loss of control, let alone any change in direction. This place could not trap him.

Therefore, it wasn't that they had encountered a ghost wall, but that this sheer cliff was genuinely very deep.

"How can it be this deep?" Xu Shan exclaimed in shock.

"It is very likely just this deep. I suspect we may have reached the map where the P-prefix Legion was in the previous stage. They were brought to the underground space of Floating Cloud City by the immortal-cultivator reinforcements, and later on, earth fire erupted and heaven and earth shattered..."

Wei Cheng speculated.

"The map of the previous stage?"

This time, everyone was completely stunned. However, Bai Han and Chen Ce had personally interacted with the P5 Legion, and at this moment, they also hurriedly chimed in: "That's right, they did mention entering the underground space of Floating Cloud City. Brother Wei, Boss Wei, do you think we can pull this off?"

Even Bai Han was feeling apprehensive now. In the previous stage, the P5 Legion had been led by ten immortal cultivators. He couldn't help feeling that Wei Cheng was leading them to their deaths!

"It should still be more than three hundred miles away from Floating Cloud City here. Even if this is the underground space, it should be the peripheral zone. Also, don't forget that the stage we are currently in is of Grade B difficulty, which is not the same thing as Grade A difficulty."

At this point, Wei Cheng paused. "If it truly doesn't work out, we'll retreat."

Roars like thunder surged, and the black mist churned. Every so often, Wei Cheng cleared the path with his roars, revealing a large space. He kept this black mist thoroughly suppressed.

Finally, after thirty-five minutes, Wei Cheng and his group successfully reached the bottom of the cliff.

"1,973 meters. Not bad at all."

Wei Cheng casually remarked, though golden talismanic runes continuously circulated within his eyes. He remained in a state of high alert.

Yet beneath this cliff, nothing could be seen for the time being, save for a greater abundance of insect eggs within the black mist.

"Hehehe!"

"Hehe!"

Qin Yang, the Qi family, Yu Liang, and Mei Renli began their eerie laughter once again. Xu Shan didn't even bother to look, flicking her wrist to send four cyan long needles flying. The needles arrived, and the ailment was cured instantly.

While this looked effortless, it was actually terrifying.

One had to know that even though Yu Liang and Mei Renli were trash-tier existences within Wei Cheng's team, relying solely on their Level 5.5 spiritual power, ninety years of cultivation, two fast-tracked minor tunings, one quality minor tuning, the Great Completion of the Golden Bell Shield, 20% progress on their visualization charts, and their comprehension of the Dao of Non-Contention, their comprehensive strength was formidable.

Throw them into any ordinary team, and they could easily serve as core Mountain-Movers.

Yet along this journey, they had been eroded nearly dozens of times, relying entirely on Xu Shan's interventions.

"Sister Xu, why don't you give me a jab too? My heart feels a bit fluttery."

Chen Ce ingratiatingly said at this moment. He was indeed feeling rather rattled, especially after learning that this was very likely the map experienced by the P-prefix Legion in the previous stage. It was simply too unnerving.

"Piss off. I can tell at a glance whether you have a problem or not. Don't waste my Cyan Wood internal energy."

"Old Wei, can we really do this?" Liu Sui lost his confidence.

"We must succeed! Everyone, follow closely!"

Wei Cheng let out another mighty roar. The billowing black mist ahead instantly scattered, revealing a dry riverbed and a dim, hazy desolate village.

How could there be a desolate village underground?

Had the earth-shattering commotion from earlier not destroyed this place?

Furthermore, standing at the entrance of that desolate village—was that a person?

Wei Cheng felt his scalp tingle from shock. He found the situation deeply unreliable and almost wanted to turn around and run.

Taking a deep breath to ensure absolute caution, he turned his gaze back to the group.

"I see a person over there. Can you all see it?"

As soon as his voice fell, he immediately noticed that the expressions of everyone, including Bai Han, changed drastically. Xu Shan, who had just been acting bold and scolding Chen Ce, let out a sharp shriek and leapt onto Liu Sui's back, trembling uncontrollably and thoroughly terrified.

"Brother Wei, it really looks like a person!"

Soon, Bai Han braced himself and looked ahead, indeed spotting a hazy human figure.

"That's right, I see it too. Sister Xu, quickly get ready to jab us. If we fall into a group illusion, we'll have to rely entirely on you to save us."

Chen Ce said with a pale face. He wasn't afraid of face-to-face combat, but this kind of deliberate mystification and ghostly supernatural phenomenon made him deeply uncomfortable; it practically triggered childhood shadows.

"But, but—I see it too! What should we do?"

Xu Shan was on the verge of crying from fright.

It was simply because all kinds of eerie elements had converged together at this very moment.

A deep ravine filled with black mist, and a desolate village haunted by specters.

"If even you can see it, then there is only one possibility: that person is truly a real person."

Wei Cheng said in a deep voice. The special nature of the Cyan Wood profession was enough to ensure that it was difficult for Xu Shan to fall into illusions, let alone be influenced by various supernatural forces.

Therefore, this should be safe.

With that, he took large strides forward, heading straight for the entrance of the desolate village.

Yet for some reason, the rolling black mist simply hovered around the periphery of the desolate village and was completely unable to enter.

Conversely, Wei Cheng and his group stepped into the desolate village without encountering any obstruction.

At this moment, they could clearly sense that the entire desolate village was shrouded by a strange power, isolating them from the erosion of the black mist.

Around the perimeter of the desolate village stood four ancient-looking stone steles, though it remained unknown whether they were related to this phenomenon.

As for the human figure at the village entrance, it was indeed a person, and moreover, alive.

He was quite young, around twenty years of age, dressed in cyan attire, looking capable, spirited, and possessing an extraordinary bearing, save for his pale complexion and traces of blood visible at the corners of his mouth. At this moment, he was sitting cross-legged at the village entrance.

Around his body floated several jade stones of varying sizes and shapes, resembling a legendary array formation.

Wei Cheng's heart stirred, and a vague guess formed in his mind.

At that very moment, the cyan-robed person suddenly opened his eyes. Within his pupils, cyan Qi and golden radiance intertwined, while streaks of ancient script and cloud patterns rose and fell.

"Cough cough... Are you... reinforcements sent by Cangwu City?"