Mo Tiange was filled with confidence that she could advance to Nascent Soul within one hundred years. This was not an empty boast. With her aptitude, the Void Heaven Realm, and now Qin Xi by her side, as long as no accidents occurred, achieving Nascent Soul Formation within a century was a highly assured matter.
Of course, she understood that Nascent Soul Formation was not solely determined by innate talent. Therefore, she needed to cultivate diligently throughout these hundred years.
After exiting seclusion and settling miscellaneous affairs, Qin Xi remembered to ask Mo Tiange, "Since I have successfully formed my Nascent Soul, why was there no Heavenly Phenomenon when I emerged?"
When Qin Xi formed his Nascent Soul, nearly all the Spiritual Qi within the Void Heaven Realm had condensed into Spirit Pearls. Yet, apart from that, there were no stirring winds, thunder, or clouds, nor any spiritual creatures formed from coalesced qi. It truly did not resemble the grand completion of a Nascent Soul.
Mo Tiange had already encountered this issue during her own Core Formation. She explained, "The Void Heaven Realm is a closed space. How could there be a Heavenly Phenomenon here? When I formed my Core, there was none either. The phenomenon only appeared the instant I exited the Void Heaven Realm."
"So that's how it is," Qin Xi nodded. He then asked, "What's the situation outside? Can we leave now?"
Instead of answering directly, Mo Tiange cast a spell to open a view to the sky outside the Void Heaven Realm.
A red sky, black earth. Compared to before they entered the Void Heaven Realm, Tianmo Mountain seemed like a different world. Fortunately, the flashes of lightning, peals of thunder, shifting mountains, and tumbling rocks had all ceased.
"It only stabilized a year ago," Mo Tiange said. "However, there are still many stray restrictions floating about. Over this past year, no more restrictions have collapsed."
"That's good," Qin Xi said, gazing at the outside world. "In that case, we can prepare to leave."
"Huh?" Mo Tiange was momentarily confused. "We're leaving now? There are still many restrictions outside."
Qin Xi smiled and glanced at her. "Have you forgotten? I've now advanced to Nascent Soul. These minor restrictions no longer pose a threat."
Mo Tiange thought for a moment and laughed. "I haven't adapted to the change yet." Although Tianmo Mountain was dangerous, for a Nascent Soul cultivator, as long as they didn't venture into perilous places like the depths of the Ruins of All Immortals, there was little real danger. Originally, the two of them being trapped here presented many problems to solve before they could leave. Now, with Qin Xi's Nascent Soul Formation, those issues were no longer problems—be it these restrictions or the method of escape.
Back when Qin Xi and Ye Zhenji were trapped in Tianmo Mountain, it was only by Ye Zhenji exhausting all his Spiritual Qi to assist Qin Xi that he managed to escape. Now that Qin Xi had advanced to Nascent Soul, he could rely on his own cultivation base to break through the restrictions and leave Tianmo Mountain.
Yet, recalling their peaceful days here, both found it hard to let go.
Several days later, having prepared all their belongings, the two emerged from the Void Heaven Realm.
The moment they stepped out, they were met with fierce, slicing winds.
Qin Xi frowned, flicked his sleeve, and stirred up a wave of Spiritual Qi, blocking the winds outside their protective aura. He then summoned his Feiyun and, holding her hand, flew towards the Ruins of All Immortals.
Along the way, they saw many skeletal remains, some with scattered Qiankun Bags and magical treasures nearby. Mo Tiange unceremoniously collected them all.
This expedition to Tianmo Mountain hadn't yielded any particularly rare treasures for her personally, but the gains were still substantial. Before they retreated into the Void Heaven Realm a decade ago, the two had already picked up quite a few bargains. Now, with many cultivators having been caught in the collapsing restrictions and perished here, and the restrictions having stabilized, these individuals' belongings had conveniently fallen into their hands.
Watching Mo Tiange gleefully gathering the scattered Qiankun Bags, Qin Xi couldn't help but chuckle. "You possess an extraordinary treasure like the Void Heaven Realm and receive regular stipends from the sect. You shouldn't lack Spirit Stones, right? Why are you still so fond of picking things up?"
Mo Tiange justified herself righteously, "You've never lacked Spirit Stones, so of course you don't know the pain of being short on them. When things are right in front of your eyes, it's a waste not to take them." Recalling the days when she and her second uncle wandered about, wishing they could split a single Spirit Stone into two, she had always kept the agony of poverty close to her heart. Therefore, asking her to ignore these Qiankun Bags was simply impossible.
They traveled slowly towards the Ruins of All Immortals, picking up items along the way.
After the previous upheaval of earth shifting and mountains shaking, Tianmo Mountain's landscape had completely changed. It took them a long time to find the correct path.
Fortunately, Wanren Peak had been split in two during the restriction collapse. The remaining height was something they could fly over directly, unlike their cautious, arduous climb on the way in.
Upon reaching Wanren Peak and returning to the Ruins of All Immortals, Mo Tiange asked, "Senior Brother, is there any danger in breaking the restriction here?"
They had been trapped inside the Void Heaven Realm, and the entrance to Tianmo Mountain had long since closed. To get out, they could only use the spot Qin Xi had discovered years ago. Back then, in order to break the restriction, Qin Xi had employed a secret technique of the Three Origin Cycle Art to temporarily elevate his cultivation to the Nascent Soul stage. After escaping, he suffered severe damage to his vitality, his cultivation plummeting directly back to the Qi Refining stage, and it took him over a decade to recover.
Knowing what she was worried about, Qin Xi smiled slightly. "Don't worry about that. The process of breaking the restriction isn't dangerous. My Nascent Soul cultivation is genuine now; I won't be injured."
"Oh." Mo Tiange felt slightly relieved. He had just advanced to Nascent Soul and hadn't yet stabilized his realm. If he were injured again now, the consequences would be far more severe than before he formed his Nascent Soul.
"Come, this way." After some searching, they finally located the correct position. Qin Xi took her hand and flew towards that restriction.
Ten years had passed since the last opening of Tianmo Mountain, yet the disturbances it caused remained unsettled.
Since ancient times, Tianmo Mountain had existed in the Tianji Region for a million years. Recorded explorations spanned over a hundred thousand years, with countless individuals perishing within. Yet never before had so many died in a single instance.
Over ninety years ago, during the opening before the last one, a major restriction collapsed, and many cultivators perished within. The entire Tianji Region was thrown into an uproar, calling it a disaster unseen in millennia.
But no one could have imagined that the next time Tianmo Mountain opened, even more would die. Unless they left early, all Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators died within Tianmo Mountain, with not a single one escaping. Core Formation cultivators fared slightly better, but only two or three out of ten managed to escape. Even among Nascent Soul cultivators, nearly half perished!
Of course, the restriction collapse wasn't actually the main cause of the Nascent Soul cultivators' deaths. The reason so many Nascent Soul cultivators perished was due to the fierce clashes within Yushen Palace. However, this reason was unknown to ordinary cultivators, even regular disciples of the great sects.
Ordinary cultivators only knew that during the last Tianmo Mountain opening, over thirty Nascent Soul cultivators had entered one after another, yet fewer than twenty emerged alive. The number of Nascent Soul cultivators who perished reached over a dozen, with five or six hailing from the Seven Great Sects!
This figure sent shockwaves through the Tianji Region.
One must understand that even the Tianji Region's number one sect, the Tiandao Sect, only had seven Nascent Soul cultivators. Calculated this way, each of the Seven Great Sects had essentially lost one Nascent Soul cultivator!
Within the Seven Great Sects, each sect only produced a Nascent Soul cultivator every few centuries. Such a loss was more severe than any beast tide.
Over the past decade, nearly all cultivators in the Tianji Region lamented that seventy years ago, they had experienced a beast tide of unprecedented scale, only to be followed by two consecutive Tianmo Mountain disasters. The overall level of cultivation in the Tianji Region would likely require several centuries to recover.