In the blink of an eye, Zhang Ling had flown over half a kilometer, about to approach the source of the demonic energy and reach the location of the Demon Spring.
Suddenly, his gaze shifted, and he glanced to the left. Then he lowered his speed, his figure flickering, and concealed himself. A layer of black light also appeared on the Xuan Turtle, hiding its form along with him.
Although he was in the midst of demonic energy, and both his vision and spiritual sense were affected, he was, after all, a Nascent Soul cultivator, and his spiritual sense could still probe the surrounding six to nine hundred meters.
Not far away, there were four cultivators moving, their destination also seemingly the Demon Spring.
He encountered more cultivators. Zhang Ling smiled silently, concealed his form, and followed them, planning to see if there was anyone suitable to control among them.
He focused his spiritual sense, enveloping the four. This action also picked up their voice transmissions. The four were dressed in different attire—three men and one woman. But they were traveling together, like cultivators from the same force.
One of them was an old man, the most powerful among them, having reached the peak of the Golden Core stage. The other three were also in the late Golden Core stage. Their cultivation levels were not weak.
Judging from the information obtained from soul-searching, those who could enter Wind Demon Island were all core disciples. As he eavesdropped on their conversation, Zhang Ling's heart tightened. These people were actually discussing killing other cultivators.
The most powerful elder said, "This old man's lifespan is not long. Even if I make it to this Demon Spring cleansing, I'm afraid I won't have much of a chance to form a Nascent Soul."
"Why be discouraged, Brother Hu? Your cultivation has reached the perfection of the Golden Core. After this Demon Spring cleansing, your cultivation will surely advance further. With the support of elders in the clan, you're only half a step away from the Nascent Soul stage," another burly man in blue robes said with a smile.
"Senior Brother's cultivation is so strong, he is the number one person below the Nascent Soul stage in our tribe. A hundred years ago, he even competed in the Demon Soul Hall selection. Unlike us, we are far behind and probably won't have a chance in this lifetime," the remaining two also complimented.
"Hehe, it's not that simple. Although I consider myself strong, I'm still far from the Nascent Soul realm. But if I really have a chance to enter the Nascent Soul stage, I won't forget the three of you," the old man shook his head and smiled. Then his expression suddenly turned serious. "However, the clan's high priest gave me a secret mission that's difficult to accomplish. If the three junior brothers can assist, that would be great…"
The other three looked surprised upon hearing the old man's words, feeling a little strange. How did the topic suddenly shift to a secret mission?
The biggest goal for them entering this place was to use the Demon Spring to cleanse their own demonic energy. Besides that, it was to collect Demon Stones and some demonic spiritual objects nurtured in Wind Demon Island.
This was an opportunity for them. And compared to other secret realms, the risk here was very small. Aside from the possibility of encountering cultivators from hostile forces and engaging in battles, there was basically no danger.
The burly man and the other two exchanged glances, then gave a dry laugh and asked, "Oh, the high priest's mission? Is it something even Senior Brother can't handle?"
"The high priest wants me to kill someone if I have the chance—to kill the Shadow Fiend Tribe's Shadow Shatterer," the old man said with a strange smile, revealing his secret mission.
"Shadow Shatterer? Is that the newly promoted young master of the Shadow Fiend Tribe, Shadow Shatterer Supreme? I heard that his strength is comparable to yours, Senior Brother. I'm afraid he's not easy to deal with," another middle-aged man frowned, a little worried.
"That's right, it's him. The Shadow Fiend Tribe and our Black Spirit Tribe are neighbors, and friction often occurs. In the past few hundred years, they have relied on having a Nascent Soul stage priest in their tribe to suppress our Black Spirit Tribe and encroach on a lot of our territory.
What's even more hateful is that they severely injured our Black Spirit Young Master more than a decade ago. How can we forget such a great feud? This Shadow Shatterer Young Master, this old man has also dealt with him twice. In a one-on-one fight, I am also slightly weaker.
This person has excellent cultivation talent. A hundred years ago, he also participated in the Holy Son selection of our Other-Race Demon Hall. Although he failed, I heard that he made it into the top ten. His Shadow Fiend Demon Art is powerful, and he has also reached the False Nascent Soul stage. If this person also advances to become a Nascent Soul expert, our Black Spirit Tribe will always be at a disadvantage, and may even be encroached upon by them.
For the prosperity of the tribe, we must not let Shadow Shatterer leave Wind Demon Island. This old man also has a treasure bestowed by the high priest, which is most suitable for dealing with the Shadow Fiend's Shadow Demon Art."
As the old man spoke, a flash of spiritual light appeared in his hand, revealing a black, glittering round bead. It looked extremely ordinary, but upon closer inspection, it seemed that something was sealed inside the bead, occasionally flashing a white light.
"Oh, this is high-grade White Obsidian. So Senior Brother has a treasure made of White Obsidian. This treasure is the most effective against the Shadow Fiend Tribe's techniques."
"You assist me in killing Shadow Shatterer. As long as we kill this person, all the treasures on his body, I won't take a single one and will give them all to you. Moreover, if we kill this thief, the high priest will definitely not treat us poorly, and may even reward us with auxiliary spiritual objects for forming a Nascent Soul. Coupled with the Demon Spring cleansing our own demonic energy, we all have the possibility of forming a Nascent Soul. What do you three junior brothers think?" The old man stroked his beard, his eyes flashing with cold light.
"This… Since it is for the prosperity of our clan, and it is also the high priest's order, and Senior Brother has treasures to help, we will naturally listen to Senior Brother's instructions." The burly man and the other two frowned for a while, exchanged a few voice transmissions, and nodded in agreement to help the old man.
"Haha, good, this brother will not treat you badly."
The old man naturally showed joy and promised his companions a few more words before starting to discuss the specific plan.
……
Zhang Ling, hidden nearby, listened to their plans, watching them leave expressionlessly. These four were suitable targets. Controlling one of them would allow him to leave with the Two Forms Gourd.
However, he learned some information from their words that made him give up the idea of targeting them.
The information revealed in their conversation showed that they were all cultivators from the Black Spirit Tribe. This Black Spirit Tribe was a medium-sized tribe with five or six Nascent Soul experts in the clan, possessing some power.
Unfortunately, among the six Nascent Soul old monsters leading the team this time, there was a Nascent Soul cultivator named Black Spirit True Human, who was their elder.
If he killed these four, it would definitely attract the attention of this Black Spirit True Human when he went out, risking exposure.
Why choose these disciples who might cause trouble?
There were more than a hundred cultivators who entered this place, belonging to the Other-Race Demon Tribes, encompassing twenty or thirty small and medium-sized forces.
Each force was not qualified to send many cultivators, at most no more than five people, and at least one spot.
He had many choices. It was best to find cultivators who had no relationship with those Nascent Soul old monsters outside as targets, in order to minimize the risk.
Thinking in his heart, Zhang Ling also flew towards the Demon Spring, planning to decide after entering. After a while, he saw the so-called Demon Spring.
The Demon Spring was built on a piece of blue jade, a huge black hole with a diameter of a hundred feet. It was like a huge well opening on the ground, and he could hear gurgling bubbling sounds coming from it.
But he didn't see any water flow. He could only see strands of black and bright demonic energy drifting out of it. The Demon Spring was also surrounded by more than a dozen spiritual lights, in which sat stone statues, all of which were Buddha images.
He had seen this kind of Buddha statue not long ago. He didn't expect there to be one here at the Demon Spring.
Zhang Ling glanced at it and noticed that there were a total of eighteen spiritual lights, in which the Buddha statues were carved lifelike, with different appearances like real people.
Some were sitting cross-legged on lotus platforms chanting Buddha's name, some were holding up the sky with both hands, and some were kind and benevolent. There were also two tall Buddha statues with extraordinary power.
One Buddha statue was stepping on a giant tiger and holding a treasure. One Buddha statue had a golden dragon coiled around its body, with red eyes glaring.
Each Buddha statue was more than ten feet tall, with densely packed scriptures engraved on its body, constantly flashing and turning into spiritual light.
Seeing these Buddha statues, Zhang Ling thought of the Vajra Arhats in Buddhism.
Although there were no Buddhist cultivators in the Northern Plains cultivation world, many legends had been left behind, and many mortals in the secular world worshiped the Buddhas and Arhats of Buddhism.
He originally thought that approaching the Demon Spring would make him sense even denser demonic energy.
Now, seeing the Buddha images standing around the Demon Spring, the demonic energy seemed to be suppressed, and the vicinity appeared bright, shrouded in this Buddha light.
These Buddha statues standing here were clearly some of the formation eyes of the great formation, playing a role in suppressing the demonic energy.
Looking around, he also noticed that although there were eighteen spiritual lights, there were no Buddha statues in two of the spiritual lights, only a vague shadow of a Buddha statue.
Under the spiritual light, he could also see a pile of rubble, obviously destroyed.
Several other Buddha statues were covered with cracks, and the spiritual light they emitted was somewhat weak. It was obvious that the sealing formation here was damaged.
But the entire great formation could still operate completely, and the missing Buddha statues could be manifested with spiritual light, showing the extraordinary power of the entire great formation.
The spiritual light emitted by the Buddha statues visibly formed a seven-colored spiritual light, covering the entire Demon Spring.
And due to the lack of two Buddha statues, the sealing power was incomplete. This made this layer of spiritual light appear unstable. Occasionally, a trace of demonic energy could be seen squeezing out of it, constantly spreading outward.
At this moment, several black lights flashed at the edge of the Demon Spring, and figures directly submerged into the Demon Spring.
Zhang Ling just caught a glimpse of this scene. These people were none other than the four cultivators from the Black Spirit Tribe just now. It seemed that they were a little impatient and went directly into it.
According to the memory obtained from the previous soul-searching, the Demon Spring could not be entered at ordinary times. Only in this situation, when the sealing power on the entire island was weakened by more than half, could cultivators enter it.
As for the situation inside, it was also divided into inner and outer layers, separated by a layer of sealing restriction. Other-Race Demons had to reach the junction of the outer and bottom layers to cleanse their spiritual power with pure demonic energy.
And there was a certain risk. The deeper down, the denser the demonic energy, the greater the impact on the cultivator.
Golden Core cultivators could stay inside for up to a day. If the time was longer, they would not be able to withstand it. At worst, their bodies would undergo transformation, and if they were not careful, their physical bodies would collapse.
But as long as they grasped their own limits, there was no great danger.
Zhang Ling checked around the Demon Spring and didn't see too much. At the same time, several other people entered it one after another. He didn't hesitate any longer and entered the Demon Spring with the Xuan Turtle, concealing their forms.
After Zhang Ling entered the Demon Spring, many cultivators came one after another and entered it as well. What no one knew was that there were two cultivators who, like him, hid their identities and arrived here not long after.
If someone could see through the movements of these two, they would discover that they were none other than the two Nascent Soul old monsters outside who shouldn't have entered this place, the middle-aged man with blood-red hair and the black-robed youth, the elder of the Demon Soul Hall.
Their cultivation was also suppressed after entering, and because they were both Other-Race Demons, the restriction on the island was even stronger for them.
The two of them hid their identities for some unknown purpose, as if afraid of being discovered by other cultivators. They approached the Demon Spring but did not go down immediately, but instead talked.
"Hehe, Fellow Daoist Long, Xue didn't expect that the Demon Soul Hall would send you here to retrieve that thing. It seems that there will be big moves again recently. It's just that the demonic energy of that thing is deep, and it's not easy to control. Are you confident that you can successfully take it away?" The blood-haired man asked in a muffled voice, playing with a blood bead in his hand.
"Long is just acting under orders. Fellow Daoist Xue's assistance is needed to enter below. The Demon Sealing Disk in your hand can just suppress that thing. Are you afraid and dare not go down?" the young man surnamed Long said expressionlessly.
"Hehe, since it is the Demon Hall's order and it's just a matter of lifting a hand, Xue will naturally assist Brother Long in collecting that thing. It's just that the Blood Transformation Grass that Brother Long promised, shouldn't it be mine?" The blood-haired man smiled and asked inexplicably.
Listening to this, it seemed that he was asking for benefits. The young man surnamed Long frowned slightly, hesitated, and without saying much, threw out a dark wooden box.
The blood-haired man's eyes lit up when he saw the wooden box. A black light shot out, instantly wrapping the wooden box in front of him, slightly opening a gap. Inside lay a blood-red small grass, exuding a strong bloody smell.
This spiritual grass seemed to be very useful to him. The blood-haired man immediately took a deep breath, revealing a look of great joy. "Good, good, it seems to be two thousand years old. It's just right for me to cultivate my Blood Demon Great Art."
"Alright, we should go in too."
The young man surnamed Long urged, and went directly into the Demon Spring. The blood-haired man flipped his hand and carefully put away the blood-colored grass, and followed closely behind.
Let's talk about Zhang Ling, who has already descended into the Demon Spring for more than three thousand feet.
As soon as he entered the Demon Spring, his figure was involuntarily sucked downward by a suction force coming from below. At the same time, there was a heavy pressure around him, adding to his body. It had a certain impact on his actions, but the impact was not too great. Opening the spiritual power shield could offset most of it.
But the further down he went, the stronger the suction and pressure became. At this moment, he was three thousand feet into the Demon Spring. But what was strange was that the demonic energy in the Demon Spring was not as deep as he had imagined.
