Arriving at the foot of Mount Qionghua, the surrounding environment was dilapidated. Underfoot was a huge bluestone-paved plaza, lushly covered with dark green moss, as well as many flowers, plants, and vines.
If he hadn't used his divine sense to observe, he wouldn't have even noticed the plaza beneath his feet. Zhang Ling didn't immediately fly towards Mount Qionghua. Instead, he circled the huge main peak, spending a quarter of an hour to survey the situation at the foot of the mountain.
But to his disappointment, there were no valleys or similar environments around, nor did he see any medicine gardens, medicine fields, or other areas.
The information Ye Zimei had obtained earlier stated that the Qingling Flower was in this area, but the scope of this area is not small. Even the area beneath this largest giant peak is vast, making it difficult to search.
Zhang Ling returned to the plaza, deciding to first search Mount Qionghua. In the plaza area at the foot of the mountain, he could still see a few scattered, dilapidated stone buildings.
The most intact were the several huge stone pillars standing on both sides. Upon closer inspection, these were not stone pillars, but stone swords carved from giant rocks, each thirty to forty zhang(丈: zhang, a unit of length) high, thrust directly into the ground, like giant swords descending from the sky, guarding this place.
Zhang Ling came to the stone sword closest to him and scanned it with his divine sense, discovering that it was engraved with many ancient immortal texts.
Due to the passage of time, many of the ancient immortal texts were blurred and weathered. However, the largest characters were still clearly visible, prominently reading 'Sword Refining Peak', 'Sword Testing Stone' and so on.
The text beneath the large characters was also partially legible, resembling densely packed names.
Zhang Ling raised his hand and gently swiped, creating a streak of azure sword light that struck the stone sword in front of him with a soft 'tzula' sound, leaving a deep white mark on it. The giant stone sword trembled strangely and emitted a clear sword cry sound.
At the same time, the other stone swords were also activated, emitting sword cry sounds in succession. A wave of sword cry sounds entered his ears, and the surrounding air seemed to tighten, immediately making one feel a sense of solemnity.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Ling didn't react much. He chuckled and walked directly towards a row of stone steps on the opposite side of the plaza, leading into the mountain.
The end of these stone steps was not visible, with most of them hidden in the purple-gray mist, stretching upwards as if extending directly to the summit.
As for the stone swords standing on both sides, after emitting a burst of sword cry sounds, they gradually returned to silence, without triggering any formation restrictions.
He had just tested them and roughly figured out that these stone swords were not formation devices, but merely symbolic buildings.
They were like the stone lions and stone towers erected in front of palaces and pavilions to demonstrate strength, things of symbolic significance.
However, seeing these stone swords proved that the information he had received earlier was accurate. Mount Qionghua was indeed the base of some ancient sword cultivator sect. He just didn't know if the giant peak in front of him was the main peak of that sword cultivator sect.
Zhang Ling pondered in his heart as he passed through the dilapidated plaza and arrived at the bottom of the row of sky-reaching stone steps. He scanned upwards with his divine sense, wanting to see if the stone steps led directly to the summit.
But his divine sense only extended a hundred zhang(丈: zhang, a unit of length) upwards before encountering great resistance, blocked by a large expanse of thick purple-gray clouds.
Furthermore, when he increased the intensity of his divine sense, the purple clouds rapidly churned, forming a large screen of light that directly bounced his divine sense back.
This situation indicated the presence of powerful formation restrictions above, making it difficult to proceed.
Zhang Ling pondered for a moment, then released more than a dozen earth spirit bees, manipulated a spell, and cast it upon the spirit insects, controlling them to explore the steps above.
To better explore the situation above, Zhang Ling also touched his brow, dividing more than a dozen strands of small divine thoughts and attaching them to these spirit insects.
Under his deliberate control, the dozen or so earth spirit bees flew upwards along the stone steps, passing through a hundred zhang(丈: zhang, a unit of length) in the blink of an eye without encountering the previous situation.
Zhang Ling breathed a sigh of relief and, with a thought, controlled the spirit insects to speed up and fly upwards. He attached his divine thoughts to these spirit insects, using them to sense the situation above. This was slightly different from directly using divine sense to view the surroundings.
Directly using divine sense to view the surroundings would be greatly restricted when encountering this type of restriction that interfered with divine sense.
However, attaching divine thoughts to living beings and using their perception to explore the situation could circumvent the restrictions to some extent.
As long as the released living beings returned safely, he could sense the specific situation they had explored through the attached divine thoughts.
This was a simple spirit division technique, also a usage of soul power. It was not difficult to master, and most high-level cultivators could master it. Of course, dividing too many divine thoughts would also have some impact on one's own soul.
But with his Nascent Soul stage soul power, the impact was not significant. Nascent Soul cultivators could divide a portion of their divine thoughts and turn them into divine thought avatars, using secret techniques to parasitize low-level cultivators and control other cultivators.
Even the Madam Cao he had encountered before was controlled by this type of divine thought avatar, displaying extraordinary strength. This method was commonly used to protect disciples with low strength.
Nascent Soul cultivators could divide thousands of small divine thoughts without any problem. The simplest understanding of divine thoughts was to split a portion of divine sense and issue a simple command to that portion of divine sense. It was a simple thought of the cultivator.
Attaching divine thoughts to living beings was concealed, unlike directly spreading divine sense, which could be easily sensed by other cultivators.
Many cultivators would use this method to track enemies or explore dangerous areas. Even if the attached living being was exposed, it could be mistaken for a wild monster or insect without careful sensing.
Zhang Ling closed his eyes slightly, sensing the situation of the earth spirit bees that were constantly flying upwards.
At this time, the earth spirit bees had reached a thousand zhang(丈: zhang, a unit of length) in height. Although the flying area was limited to the ascending steps, it could still be used to judge the basic situation above.
Suddenly, his face darkened slightly, and he muttered to himself. "Huh, the divine thought connection was severed. The last information transmitted by that divine thought seemed to be a vague monster that devoured more than a dozen earth spirit bees. This is a bit troublesome. It seems that this giant mountain has other dangers besides the restrictions."
Zhang Ling shook his head and smiled bitterly. He could only rub his hands together, and azure light flashed in his hands, with three azure flying swords appearing beside him. At the same time, wind rose beneath his feet, and he walked directly towards the stone steps above.
Originally, he wanted to use divine thoughts to attach to the spirit insects to explore the situation above first.
Unfortunately, although they avoided the restrictions that bounced back divine sense, the earth spirit bees were weak and not the type of spirit insects that were proficient in concealment. There was nothing they could do when encountering other dangers. Now, he could only go up and check it himself.
Walking on the stone steps, besides the fact that his divine sense was somewhat suppressed and could not explore a large area, he did not encounter other dangers.
All the way up, in the blink of an eye, Zhang Ling ascended to a thousand zhang(丈: zhang, a unit of length) high, stopping halfway up the mountain to carefully scan the surrounding situation. This was where the dozen or so earth spirit bees had disappeared earlier.
Then, as if he had discovered something, his figure moved and flew to the left.
Leaving the range of the steps, the left was a lush environment, filled with a large area of weeds and some low shrubs. After traveling a distance inside, he saw a patch of straight white-barked trees.
Zhang Ling recognized them at a glance as second-grade White Frost Wood, a material for refining magical artifacts.
This large patch of White Frost Wood grew straight and tall, each at least three zhang(丈: zhang, a unit of length) high. Compared to other ancient trees, they were not considered tall. However, White Frost Wood was a type of ironwood, with a hard texture and extremely slow growth. To grow to three zhang(丈: zhang, a unit of length) high, they had to be at least three hundred years old.
Looking around, there were hundreds of White Frost Wood trees in front of him, a considerable number.
But he came here not because he discovered White Frost Wood, but because he noticed several huge claw prints on the ground in the forest.
These claw prints were obviously left by some kind of monster. After slightly sensing it, he could still sense a faint fishy stench in the air, indicating that the monster had only just left.
Zhang Ling pondered for a moment and followed these footprints forward. He was not looking for the monster to avenge the swallowing of the earth spirit bees, but because following the monster might allow him to quickly find the spirit herbs in this mountain.
It would also save him from blindly searching in the mountain and wasting time.
This was a ten thousand zhang(丈: zhang, a unit of length) high mountain, with a considerable area, and with the restrictions, it would take several hours to check it all.
He had searched a large area at the foot of the mountain earlier and had not encountered a single monster. This showed that this area was also dangerous for monsters.
Either the gray-purple mist that permeated everywhere blocked the monsters, or there was a large creature with considerable strength, which could deter other monsters.
Discovering the traces of a monster on this mountain meant that the monster had most likely been on the mountain for quite some time. This area was the monster's territory.
Monsters were more sensitive to spiritual objects such as spirit herbs and spirit flowers. If there were areas such as spirit medicine gardens on this mountain, they might be occupied by the monster.
Finding the monster might lead to finding the Qingling Flower he was looking for.
Zhang Ling quickly searched along the monster's footprints. He also thought in his heart that the strength of this beast should not be too low, preferably a high-level monster, so that it would be possible to occupy the medicine garden area.
