Zhang Ling quickly withdrew his divine sense from the ancient painting and immediately sat cross-legged on the ground, sensing the Nine Yuan Refining Spirit Technique.
The information that entered his mind was not much, only a few thousand words, and it did not record the origin of this refining spirit technique. After reviewing it, Zhang Ling discovered that this was also a fragment, only the first level.
He couldn't help but feel disappointed, but after reading it carefully, he found that this refining spirit technique was much more refined than the nameless refining spirit technique he had obtained. The cultivation of the first level alone required at least the divine sense power of the late Foundation Establishment stage to complete.
Soon after, Zhang Ling stood up and looked at the ancient painting hanging on the wall again. At this moment, the ancient painting had changed into a different picture.
The picture showed a night scene, with two dark hills facing each other. Two silver dragon-like waterfalls hung down from the mountains, converging to form a pool of water. The clear pool of water reflected a bright moon.
This pool of water occupied most of the picture.
Zhang Ling chuckled and released his divine sense again into the ancient painting. Immediately, his consciousness appeared in the painting again.
As he guessed, his consciousness was now in the scene depicted in the painting. He was standing by the water, hearing the huge sound of falling water. Two waterfalls cascaded down, and the pool water flowed with a gurgling sound. He could see some shimmering silver fish swimming inside.
Zhang Ling walked around for a while and found that he could only move near the pool. The area outside was a mountain forest. Although it looked very real, he couldn't reach it. No matter how he moved, he could only see the pool formed by the two waterfalls.
And this pool was not small, measuring over a hundred zhang in size. Since he couldn't explore other directions, he could only explore the pool water.
Zhang Ling smiled and walked towards the pool. His consciousness-formed body walked directly on the water, and soon he reached the center of the pool.
Gurgling sounds suddenly entered his ears, and the pool water quickly boiled, spinning into a huge whirlpool. Then, the water splashed and set off a layer of huge waves, and a huge black shadow emerged.
Zhang Ling had already retreated a distance, feeling delighted. It seemed that, like the scene in the first painting, he might be able to obtain the subsequent techniques if he defeated this black shadow.
The black shadow that emerged from the water was a giant snake covered in black scales.
The black snake roared to the sky, and its cold snake eyes locked onto him. With a flick of its tail, it instantly stirred the water, forming a ten-zhang-high wave, which crashed over with a rumbling sound.
Zhang Ling remained unmoved. Without any action from him, the wave crashed in front of him, as if there was an invisible light curtain that blocked it.
This was naturally a barrier formed by his divine sense power, which invisibly blocked this attack.
The black snake twisted its huge body and instantly leaped out of the water. A faint blue light shone brightly on its body, and a cold mist spewed out from its large mouth.
The cold mist swept over, and wherever it passed, the pool water turned into sharp ice cones, attacking him.
He couldn't fly here either. In an instant, Zhang Ling was surrounded, and a bone-piercing cold feeling invaded his consciousness.
Zhang Ling's body outside couldn't help but shiver. This black snake was at least twice as strong as the crane from before.
He snorted coldly and released most of his divine sense power into the painting.
With the supplement of divine sense, the consciousness in the painting directly transformed from its original human form into a giant sword ten zhang long. The sword light flashed, and with another strike, the black snake was cut into two pieces.
This seemingly understated scene was not easy. It was a sword light he had created using his divine sense power to imitate five flying swords. If it were outside, this strike could kill a fifth-order demon beast.
The black snake's corpse was naturally not real either. It instantly became transparent and directly turned into water, re-integrating into the pool. At the same time, a black light flashed in the water, and another spiritual light entered his consciousness.
Zhang Ling was overjoyed, sensing the information coming from within. It was indeed the second level of the Nine Yuan Refining Spirit Technique. He quickly sat cross-legged on the ground again and began to study this second level technique.
More than half an hour passed before he opened his eyes.
This second level technique required the divine sense power of a Golden Core cultivator to cultivate. If he didn't meet the requirements and forced cultivation, it would not only scatter his spirit but also cause great damage to his own soul.
He was overjoyed and stood up from the ground with a sway, but suddenly a stinging pain came from his brain, his eyes went dark, and he almost fell.
Zhang Ling quickly steadied himself, rubbed his head, and felt much better. He took a few deep breaths to calm down.
The situation just now was obviously caused by too much consumption of divine sense. At this moment, his spirit was a little萎靡, and his divine sense power had weakened by a small half.
Zhang Ling was secretly shocked. He didn't expect that just entering the ancient painting twice would consume so much of his spirit.
Looking again at the ancient painting hanging on the wall, the picture had changed again.
The scene in the painting was a vast and boundless desert, with a huge tornado connecting the sky and the earth, rapidly sweeping across, making the picture appear somewhat dim.
Zhang Ling smiled wryly, rubbed his head, and with a wave of his hand, rolled up the ancient painting and put it into his storage bag.
His current condition was no longer suitable for exploring this treasure. He would put it away first and study it later after he went out.
Then he directly sat cross-legged on the ground, intending to restore his consumed divine sense first.
……
In a blink of an eye, two hours passed.
Zhang Ling's spirit had recovered for the most part, and he walked out of the stone house, returning to the ice coffin in front. Looking at the corpse inside, he thought for a moment and decided to open it and take a look.
The ice coffin in front of him was wrapped with several chains. It looked unusual at first glance.
Zhang Ling thought for a while, and to prevent any accidents, he released the Corpse Bear and the Twin-Tailed Cat. With the help of his clone and spiritual beasts, he had nothing to worry about.
He pinched a magic formula in his hand and summoned two flying swords, which turned into dense sword lights and slashed at the chains on the ice coffin.
After a few crisp clangs, the chains remained motionless. The sword light slashed on them and was bounced away all at once, leaving not a trace.
Zhang Ling's heart sank, and he thought that these chains were so strong. But naturally, he would not stop. Between the ejection of his hands, more than a dozen sword formulas were hit on the two flying swords.
The flying swords shone brightly with green light, transforming into two giant swords measuring ten zhang in size, slashing at a chain with a sharp momentum. After a loud bang, the chain shook a few times and cracked a few fine lines.
Zhang Ling was overjoyed and was about to strike and cut off this chain in one go, but his eyes caught a glimpse inside the ice coffin. He didn't know when it had become chaotic, and a layer of black mist had risen from it.
The chains binding the ice coffin also rattled, and the spiritual patterns engraved on them lit up one after another, turning into a strange pitch-black color.
His heart was startled, and he quickly stopped.
“So it’s a little brother who has arrived here. Has the Heavenly Abyss opened? Your strength is not bad. I didn’t expect you to discover this place, but you can’t open the Profound Crystal Coffin.” A clear and cold female voice suddenly sounded in his ear.
Zhang Ling was shocked and sensed a powerful aura. The yellow light on his body flashed, and he was about to use the earth escape technique to escape, but suddenly found that the surrounding air tightened, and black smoke appeared on the walls on all sides.
The earth escape technique had failed.
At the same time, he realized that the source of the voice was actually the woman in the ice coffin speaking.
He had not felt any vitality in the ice coffin before. The woman inside should be a corpse. How could she suddenly speak?
But at this moment, the ice coffin was floating in mid-air, standing upright, and the female corpse lying inside also opened her eyes.
This woman was wearing a mask, making it impossible to see her face clearly, but her eyes were flashing with a strange golden light. Just one look gave him a heart-stopping feeling.
Under the induction of his divine sense, he found that the aura on this woman's body was amazing. She seemed to be a Nascent Soul-level cultivator. A layer of cold sweat immediately broke out on Zhang Ling's back.
“Little brother, don’t be afraid. If you can break the Profound Crystal Gate, this sister will have to thank you.”
The woman in the ice coffin giggled, and the golden light in her eyes also converged, turning into an ordinary person's appearance. But her beautiful eyes blinked, making it impossible for people to take their eyes off them.
Zhang Ling was shocked and quickly lowered his head slightly, not daring to look at the woman's eyes again. To prevent being tricked.
This Nascent Soul-level female cultivator, if she had cultivated profound charm techniques, could easily bewitch other cultivators.
“So it turns out that senior is cultivating in seclusion here. Junior did not intend to disturb you. If I have offended you, junior will take his leave.” Zhang Ling quickly gave a salute to the woman in the ice coffin.
But in his heart, he cursed himself over and over again. From seeing the chains on the ice coffin, he knew that this ice coffin was not simple. Such things often contained treasures and dangers.
But greed prevailed, and he still wanted to open it. He didn't expect to alarm the woman inside, and she was still an old monster at the Nascent Soul level.
For a time, his heart was bitter.
The woman in the ice coffin giggled again. “Little brother, your methods are not small. You have a high-level refining corpse and a spiritual beast with considerable strength. Are you from the Ten Great Sects?”
Zhang Ling heard this and gave a dry laugh.
“Uh, senior, you flatter me. Junior is just a rogue cultivator. I was lucky to cultivate to my current realm. I wonder what senior’s honorable name is.”
As for speaking, even pulling the tiger skin to pretend to be a member of the Ten Great Sects, Zhang Ling thought about it, but denied it. He didn't know much about the Ten Great Sects. If he asked in detail, he might anger this woman.
Even if he was a cultivator from the Ten Great Sects, he was afraid that he couldn't deter a Nascent Soul cultivator.
“Telling you my name is useless. Since you can come to this place and your cultivation is not weak, it seems that you came to find spiritual objects to condense the Nascent Soul.” The woman in the ice coffin sighed and said.
“Senior is wise. Junior came for this.” Although Zhang Ling was speaking, he was always thinking about how to escape from this place.
He didn't want to have anything to do with this kind of old monster.
Now it seems that this woman can't get out of the ice coffin, but it's hard to guarantee that she doesn't have any other means. If they really fight, he's afraid that he's not an opponent. Naturally, escaping from this place is the most important thing.
The surrounding black mist was constantly flowing, looking like some kind of formation restriction, sealing off this space.
If he attacked one point with all his strength, there was still a certain chance to escape. It's just that he might inevitably consume too much spiritual power or even damage his origin.
Having such a mysterious cultivator sealed in an ice coffin was also quite strange. He was afraid that she wouldn't give him a chance to escape.
“Little brother seems to want to leave this place. You can try.” As if seeing through Zhang Ling's thoughts, the woman in the ice coffin blinked her eyes a few times and smiled.
Hearing this, Zhang Ling also smiled and replied, “Since senior has said so, then junior will boldly try.”
He slowly retreated a distance, to the original location of the cave entrance, and began to attack. But he always kept most of his divine sense focused on the female cultivator in the ice coffin, preventing her from suddenly attacking.
At the same time, he controlled the Corpse Bear and the Twin-Tailed Cat to cooperate with the attack.
For a time, sword light and fire light all attacked the original location of the cave entrance, and loud rumbling sounds came.
After a few rounds of attacks, the surrounding black mist only surged quickly, with no signs of breaking open.
Zhang Ling's heart sank to the bottom, but he still didn't believe it. He clapped his hands and summoned the remaining five flying swords from the Two Instruments Gourd.
A total of seven flying swords, under the urging of the sword formula, all overlapped together and turned into a dazzling green light. The sword light directly slashed on the black mist, making a sizzling popping sound.
After this strike, the black mist in front of him thinned a little, but it quickly healed again. It seemed that at least this intensity of attack had to be maintained for a period of time to have a chance to break it open, and it might not be possible to break it open even after exhausting the spiritual power in his body.
Zhang Ling couldn't help but think of the situation in the ice and fire jade mine cave before. At that time, he used the Forbidden Breaking Bead to break the restriction there.
But now, he doesn't have a Forbidden Breaking Bead in his hand.
Zhang Ling's face was extremely ugly.
But now he also couldn't see whether this layer of black mist was a formation restriction or a means used by the woman in the ice coffin.
He was afraid that a single means of attack would be difficult to break through.
“Senior’s means are indeed profound. It’s not something that junior’s cultivation can break.” Zhang Ling turned his head and gave another salute to the ice coffin, complimenting.
“Hmph, this is not my means. It’s you who attacked the Profound Crystal Coffin and triggered the restriction. Except for using a few special methods to leave, unless you wait here for a year and a half, after I fall into a deep sleep again, the restrictions here will disappear.”
Hearing this, Zhang Ling frowned.
He didn't fully listen to the woman's words, but what was obvious was that this layer of restriction was probably a backup plan to prevent this woman from escaping, and it was triggered by him.
Let him wait for a year and a half, which was absolutely impossible. Not to mention being in the same place with such an old monster, and having to worry about his life at all times.
Now he was in the fourth level of the Heavenly Abyss. Once the turbid air broke out, he was afraid that he could only become a desolate beast.
Zhang Ling thought for a moment and asked in a deep voice, “I wonder what junior can do to help? Senior, please speak frankly.”
Since this woman was awake, and had not launched an attack on him until now. It was possible that she was sealed in the ice coffin and could not use her hands at all.
Or he was useful to this woman.
“You are quite clever, hehe, then I won’t play any tricks. As long as you take one thing out, I will naturally help you escape from this place. I also know a lot about this Heavenly Abyss, and I know a few places where spirit patterns for condensing the Nascent Soul might grow. How about this information as your reward?”
