Mo Tiange suddenly looked up toward the base of the mountain.
"What is it?" Qin Xi asked.
"Look," she said, pointing toward the entrance of the spatial rift. "Did someone just leave?"
Qin Xi focused his gaze. They were quite far away now, and their divine sense couldn't possibly reach that far, but judging by what they could see with their eyes, it seemed like flashes of light occasionally appeared at the entrance. Apart from the half-hour when it first opened, the entrance had only allowed exit, not entry. It looked like someone had indeed left.
"Indeed..."
"It's only been three days," Mo Tiange said with a frown, speaking slowly. "This Spirit Mountain is so vast. Logically, three days shouldn't be nearly enough time for them to search for treasures."
How many spiritual treasures were hidden within this spatial rift? How could a Nascent Soul Cultivator bear to leave after just three days?
"Perhaps... they had their own reasons?" Qin Xi speculated.
Mo Tiange thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't know." Her expression then brightened into a smile. "Anyway, whatever their plans are, we have our own objective."
"Mm," Qin Xi responded softly, turning to look ahead. "Let's go. If nothing unexpected happens, we still need about a day."
After passing through the canyon burning with Earth-Pole True Fire, they had reached the mountainside. In just one day, they had already covered more than half the distance. Moreover, they hadn't encountered anything too dangerous along the way; instead, they had casually picked up some spiritual treasures. Their journey had been exceedingly smooth.
After exiting the canyon, the two took a slightly longer detour to avoid a mass of Origin Demonic Qi, then entered a forest.
It was called a forest, but it wasn't actually trees. Instead, it consisted of thick vines whose roots and stems were tangled together, resembling trees.
Seeing this scene before her, Mo Tiange unconsciously furrowed her brow in thought. This... she seemed to have seen it before.
"These are Blood-Eating Vines," Fuyaozi's divine sense communicated to her. "These vines feed on living creatures, devouring flesh and blood, which makes them rich in spiritual qi. However, spirit beasts also like to eat them to increase their cultivation. If you have a spirit beast, this thing is a great tonic. If it eats enough, its advancement can even speed up."
Looking at these things, Mo Tiange suddenly remembered that when she went to the East Sea, she had seen these Blood-Eating Vines on a small island. Back then, Little Fire had eaten a great many of them. Later, she had cut some to take back and tossed them into the Void Heaven Realm without paying them much mind. Little Fire had treasured those vines, storing them carefully in its nest, eating a little bit at a time over a long period before finishing them all.
Thinking of this, she summoned her flying sword and said to Qin Xi, "Let's cut some to take back."
"Hmm?" Qin Xi couldn't hear her conversation with Fuyaozi and was puzzled. "What for? Does this thing have some special use?"
Mo Tiange relayed Fuyaozi's words to him. Qin Xi also became interested. When they had left last time, Mo Tiange had left many pills at the Xuanqing Sect, which had allowed his Vermilion Bird to advance to the seventh rank. If these Blood-Eating Vines truly had such an effect, perhaps they could help the Vermilion Bird ascend to the eighth rank. At that point, its strength would increase dramatically!
An eighth-rank spirit beast was absolutely not easy to raise. Once it reached the eighth rank, it would gain intelligence, and even a spirit beast contract would find it difficult to restrain it, unless it had been bound from the egg. But spirit beasts had long lifespans and slow advancement rates. Even if a cultivator smoothly cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage, by the time they passed away, their spirit beast might only be at the fifth or sixth rank.
Therefore, a Nascent Soul Cultivator with an eighth-rank spirit beast by their side was essentially equivalent to having an extra Nascent Soul-level helper. Their strength was evident. That late-stage Nascent Soul rogue cultivator, Old Donkey Ma, was a prime example.
Mo Tiange's flying sword shot out, striking the thick vine. She felt the spiritual qi vibrate, and a vine suddenly whipped toward her with a whoosh.
She sidestepped to avoid it, then controlled her flying sword to strike the same spot again. After several such strikes, she finally managed to cut the vine down.
This vine was even tougher than the ones she had encountered on the East Sea island back then. However, her cultivation had improved greatly over the years, so dealing with it wasn't as difficult as it had been back then.
Seeing this, Qin Xi pointed with his spiritual energy. A streak of light separated from his sword formation and shot toward a vine with a whistling sound. Where the fiery light passed, the vine snapped cleanly.
Mo Tiange felt a bit deflated seeing this. "I struggled so hard to cut one, and you just do it in one go!"
Qin Xi smiled. "Metal and fire are the natural counters to the wood attribute." Besides, his cultivation level wasn't just for show—of course it was different.
He continued, "You, haven't you gotten used to it yet? For things like this, just let me handle it. It's not dependence; it's about each having their own specialization."
Mo Tiange was taken aback. She glanced at him and fell silent. He was right. She needed to get used to this. When two people were together, some things didn't necessarily need to be done personally. If he could do it more easily, then let him do it. After all, the fact was that he was currently stronger. And she, too, had her own strengths.
"That's about enough," Qin Xi said after they had cut down nearly half of the Blood-Eating Vines. He finally stopped and stored all the vines into a Qiankun Bag.
"There's a demon beast!" Just as he finished storing the vines, Mo Tiange seemed to sense something. She turned her head and was startled.
Qin Xi looked up, his expression changing instantly. He immediately retracted his sword energy, letting it swirl around the two of them.
Not far away, a demon beast with spread wings flew over, circled once above the Blood-Eating Vine forest, and then looked toward them.
***
At a certain cliff on the Spirit Mountain, Scholar Yu was frowning deeply, carefully studying the characters carved on the cliff face.
The two early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators from the Yueshan Academy who had entered this space with him, along with Han Shizhi and two others, were also carefully searching the cliff face or making records.
Han Shizhi held the Nameless Record in his hand, comparing it one by one, while his golden brush treasure slowly wrote something on it.
After a long while, he let out a sigh of relief and said respectfully, "Teacher, this student has finished recording."
"Mm," Scholar Yu responded, his gaze still not shifting away. He looked for a while longer, then beckoned. "Shizhi, come here."
"Yes." Han Shizhi flew to Scholar Yu's side.
Scholar Yu pointed to a line of characters on the cliff and asked, "Do you recognize this script?"
Han Shizhi's gaze fell on the spot indicated by Scholar Yu's folding fan. A look of hesitation appeared on his face. He thought for a long time before saying, "This script looks somewhat familiar to this student. It resembles the ancient Golden Script, but it's not entirely the same."
Scholar Yu revealed a satisfied smile. "As expected, you are widely read. This script likely evolved from the Golden Script. Although we cannot decipher its meaning yet, given time, we will surely understand it." He paused for a moment, then said, "This cliff face seems to have been enchanted with some profound technique by a master. This passage of text can only be read on-site; it cannot be copied. All of you, memorize it. I hope that after we leave, we can reconstruct it from memory."
"Yes," the two Nascent Soul Cultivators and Han Shizhi responded in unison.
While the other three silently memorized the cliff text, Scholar Yu's gaze fell upon the Immortal Palace.
The Nameless Record was one of the Five Sacred Objects passed down by Master Zhou. Others thought it was a top-tier spiritual treasure like the other four sacred objects, but that wasn't the case. It was merely an ordinary book, except that it recorded an extraordinary cultivation method.
This cultivation method was incomplete and nameless. It was recorded by Master Zhou from memory after he returned from the Guixu Sea spatial rift. Master Zhou wrote about his past experiences at the end of the Nameless Record. This cultivation method was obtained from a cliff on the Spirit Mountain within the spatial rift. However, the technique on that cliff had been enchanted with a mysterious spell by a master. While reading it, every character seemed clear, but upon looking away, one would find their mind empty, unable to record it in a book. Only through relentless rote memorization could some of it be retained in the mind.
Even though it was only an incomplete cultivation method, and even its script couldn't be fully deciphered, these fragmented contents were enough to drive these Confucian cultivators mad! The most important goal of this spatial rift opening was to find the complete method!
As for the Immortal Palace, that was naturally one of their goals as well. But Scholar Yu knew that with that fox Yuan Mu around, the Yueshan Academy couldn't possibly gain the greatest benefits. Rather than wasting effort in vain, it was better to focus on completing the Nameless Record. As for the opportunity to reach the Deity Transformation stage, of course he would strive for it. But he also needed to keep a backup plan.
After most of a day, Han Shizhi finally stopped memorizing and looked toward Scholar Yu. "Teacher, this student has memorized it."
"Oh?" Scholar Yu pulled his gaze back from the Immortal Palace and said approvingly, "Shizhi, you are indeed the most outstanding junior in the academy. No wonder Master Zhou chose you to be the one to bind with the Nameless Record."
"Teacher praises me too highly," Han Shizhi said humbly, not a trace of pride on his face.
Scholar Yu smiled slightly, opened his folding fan, and suddenly asked, "Shizhi, judging by your expression, do you have doubts about this journey?"
Han Shizhi paused, then spoke frankly. "Yes, this student indeed has some unresolved questions. I hope Teacher can enlighten me."
"Hehe," Scholar Yu chuckled softly. "I know what you want to ask. In fact, with your intelligence and talent, you can be considered the foremost among the juniors of the Yueshan Academy. But you..."
He paused before continuing. "Sometimes, being too clever can make you overlook other possibilities."
Han Shizhi was taken aback. He bowed and asked, "This student does not understand. Please enlighten me, Teacher."
Scholar Yu smiled and said, "Then let me ask you, our Confucian path establishes itself in the world with righteous aura. Why did you choose to take an unorthodox path?"
Han Shizhi frowned slightly, but his expression remained respectful. He answered, "This student believes that the so-called 'Dao' is one's original heart. So-called right and wrong are also matters of the original heart. If one's original heart deems something not wrong, then it is the right path. The righteous aura of our Confucian path accepts the right and wrong defined by predecessors, hence the distinction between orthodox and unorthodox. But this student takes the original heart as the standard for right and wrong. This is also righteous aura, yet it has no distinction between orthodox and unorthodox."
"..." Scholar Yu laughed. "In short, your sense of right and wrong is only related to yourself and has nothing to do with others."
Han Shizhi nodded without hesitation. "Exactly."
The previous statement almost amounted to a denial of the Confucian principles passed down since ancient times. Yet, Scholar Yu showed no intention of reprimanding him. He still spoke gently and elegantly. "Shizhi, the fact that you have comprehended this shows that you are an extremely self-centered person. This isn't necessarily bad. Extreme self-centeredness and absolute obsession aren't vastly different, and obsession is a necessary condition for success. But have you ever considered that your self-centeredness might make you excessively greedy?"
Han Shizhi was stunned. He stared at Scholar Yu for a long moment without speaking.
Scholar Yu then smiled. "Everyone who entered this space has their own schemes. Yuan Mu is like this, Wuming is like this, and that Guifang is also like this. I don't believe they would stake everything on the so-called Immortal Palace. Is the so-called Deity Transformation opportunity really worth risking our lives for? I'm afraid... not necessarily."