After retrieving the Spirit-Tempering Water from the Void Heaven Realm and spending considerable time, they finally separated many small pieces of white jade from the stone wall.
These white jade pieces were milky white in color and clear in texture, but strangely, they contained not a trace of spiritual energy.
Mo Tiange turned them over in her hands, skeptical. "Is it really this stuff? How can a treasure capable of absorbing Five Elements spells have no spiritual energy at all?"
Qin Xi lifted a piece of jade in his palm and released the Flames of the Vermilion Bird. When the flames touched the jade, they vanished.
He said, "It should be. This is simply a container. The lack of spiritual energy indicates it's extremely pure."
Thinking it over, Mo Tiange found this reasonable. An emptied container naturally held nothing.
Unfortunately, the Spirit-Tempering Jade hadn't been buried in the Void Heaven Realm for long, so the Spirit-Tempering Water produced was limited. Using it all only dissolved out a small bag's worth of jade.
Storing the jade away, the two continued forward.
The cave was extremely long. Fortunately, there were no dangerous creatures. As they walked, the color of the stone grew darker and the surroundings grew hotter. After half a day, they finally reached the cave's end, where a dazzling red light shone.
Before them was a massive volcanic crater. At the volcano's base, magma churned, the temperature extremely high.
Only then did they realize the place they were in was a small cave on the wall of this volcano.
Looking down at the volcano, Mo Tiange said, "It doesn't seem particularly special." This volcano wasn't located on a spiritual vein. Although it had earth fire, its grade wasn't very high—at least not reaching the level of Supreme Yang True Fire.
"Mn." With the Flames of the Vermilion Bird within him, Qin Xi had no interest in such mundane fire. He looked up and said, "Let's go up."
Flying out of the volcanic crater, the scene before them remained barren—not a blade of grass grew, and there were no living creatures. Near the crater, the rocks were stained black by smoke, then red further out, and beyond that, like the area above, were dry yellow stones.
After surveying the area, the two were somewhat surprised. This place was called the Abyss of Fallen Gods, known as one of the Three Great Danger Zones of the Extreme West. They had thought the abyss's depths would be incredibly perilous. Why was there nothing here besides the high-altitude Gang Wind and vortex?
"Let's go, look around," Mo Tiange said.
"Mn."
Since there was no danger, they each employed their movement techniques, speeding forward.
From above, the Abyss of Fallen Gods' fissure stretched for a thousand li, but the bottom wasn't that long—at most a few hundred li. With their movement speeds, they covered the entire area and back in less than half a day.
After searching the entire bottom of the Abyss of Fallen Gods, they finally confirmed there was truly nothing here—no dangerous creatures, no treasures, and no traces of people.
The only thing that could be considered peculiar was the Gang Wind vortex located in a mountain hollow at the bottom. Anyone approaching within one li of the vortex would be affected.
Qin Xi pondered for a long while before saying, "It seems this shouldn't be the place."
"Mn." After agreeing, Mo Tiange still felt puzzled. "Since it's one of the Three Great Danger Zones, why is the Abyss of Fallen Gods so calm inside?"
Qin Xi smiled slightly. "The bottom is indeed calm, but think about it—how would other cultivators get down here? The high-altitude Gang Wind can't be withstood by Core Formation cultivators. How many Nascent Soul cultivators would be so idle as to come to this desolate Extreme West? Besides, even if one passes the Gang Wind, there's still the vortex! If we hadn't had the fortune to temper our bodies and were swept into the vortex, we might not have been able to preserve our lives."
"That makes sense too." Mo Tiange paused, then asked, "Shall we go back then?"
"Let's go back." As he spoke, Qin Xi had already stepped onto the Flying Cloud.
Mo Tiange followed him aboard, then turned to look at the Abyss of Fallen Gods before them. "I always feel this Abyss of Fallen Gods isn't that simple."
Qin Xi shook his head. "Even if it truly isn't simple, there's no need to investigate it now. We have another purpose for this trip. We can deal with that after finishing our business."
"...True."
After expending some effort, the two emerged from the Abyss of Fallen Gods. From entry to exit, they spent only two days, their harvest a small bag of unknown jade, having found no clues.
After emerging, the two discussed and decided their next step would be Wind-Sand City.
From the Abyss of Fallen Gods to Wind-Sand City was closer than to Langtu Mountain. With the map provided by Tang Zimu, they didn't get lost this time. They rested at an oasis midway and arrived at Wind-Sand City three days later.
Wind-Sand City was located in the west, at the edge of the Extreme West Desert, backed by the Xiling Mountain Range.
Compared to the mysterious Abyss of Fallen Gods, Wind-Sand City had many more legends.
The various tribes living near Wind-Sand City almost all had legends about it. In Xirong legends, Wind-Sand City was also called the Devil City. It was said that tens of thousands of years ago, this was once the most prosperous city in the Extreme West. Later, because they offended devils, a sandstorm annihilated the city overnight. People living nearby could often hear the roars of devils coming from Wind-Sand City.
The truth of this legend didn't need consideration, but Wind-Sand City was indeed bizarre and inexplicable. Tang Zimu said the city's terrain was peculiar. Cultivators who entered almost never came out. Even those who managed to escape were severely injured and didn't have long to live. Among them were also high-level cultivators from Kunwu, but Tang Zimu couldn't answer how high their cultivation was—after all, he was just an ordinary priest in the Extreme West, a low-level cultivator who couldn't even make a living in the Central Plains.
Unexpectedly, when the two reached the small town beside Wind-Sand City, they actually discovered other Nascent Soul cultivators!
"Eh, aren't these Fellow Daoists Shoujing and Qingwei of the Xuanqing Sect?"
Mo Tiange turned to look. Two cultivators sat in the town's tea shed, both at the early Nascent Soul stage. One wore yellow, the other green. The yellow-clad one was relatively young, appearing around twenty-eight or twenty-nine, with many spirit beast bags hanging from his waist—clearly a cultivator from the Spirit Beast Sect. The green-clad one was slightly older, his face weathered, with a leaf embroidered on his sleeve, his sect affiliation unknown.
"You are... Fellow Daoist Huo?" Seeing this person, Qin Xi spoke somewhat uncertainly. Spirit Beast Sect cultivators were generally quite low-profile, and he hadn't met many.
The man laughed. "I am indeed Huo Ziqi. I didn't expect Fellow Daoist Shoujing to remember me."
After saying this, Huo Ziqi took two steps closer, casually setting up a soundproof barrier, and asked in a low voice, "Could it be you two Fellow Daoists are also here for the treasure?"
Treasure? Mo Tiange was puzzled and looked at Qin Xi.
Qin Xi paused, not answering but asking in return, "I wonder where Fellow Daoist Huo obtained this news?"
"Eh!" Huo Ziqi said dismissively, "Where else but the Immortal Alliance? Now that all major sects are under the Immortal Alliance's jurisdiction, and with the great war imminent, the Immortal Alliance sent Fellow Daoist Zong and me to investigate the situation."
Then, as if remembering something, he looked at them somewhat warily. "Fellow Daoists, Fellow Daoist Zong and I only left Kunzhong City half a month ago. The Immortal Alliance wouldn't have sent you two as well, would it?"
Seeing his expression, Qin Xi knew he had misunderstood. He smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist Huo, to be frank, we know nothing about any treasure. We came here to handle another matter. We didn't expect such a coincidence, meeting Fellow Daoist Huo here."
"Oh?" Huo Ziqi glanced at them twice, then smiled the next moment. "Is that so? I wonder if the matter you two are handling is confidential? If you can tell us, perhaps we can help each other. Ah, I forgot to introduce—this is Fellow Daoist Zong Si of the Changsheng Sect."
The Changsheng Sect was a medium-sized sect near Kunzhong City, neither large nor small, with somewhat unique Wood-attribute techniques. It seemed to have only one Nascent Soul cultivator, who should be this Fellow Daoist Zong.
Zong Si raised his hands in a salute to the two, his tone neither warm nor cold. "Greetings, Fellow Daoists."
Mo Tiange and Qin Xi each returned the courtesy.
"Fellow Daoists, let's sit and talk."
Qin Xi looked around, then nodded.
Mo Tiange spread her divine sense and found nothing unusual in the small town—only some ordinary Xirong people and a few low-level cultivators—so she let her guard down.
The four sat down in the tea shed. Huo Ziqi set up the soundproof barrier again and asked once more, "I wonder what brings you two Fellow Daoists here? The Extreme West is so desolate. For us to meet here is truly fate!"
This Huo Ziqi wore a smiling expression, but the wariness in his eyes hadn't faded.
Mo Tiange thought to herself, this person is quite cautious—no wonder the Immortal Alliance sent him on this mission.
Qin Xi smiled slightly and said, "My wife and I have come to the Extreme West on our master's orders. In the past, our master had an opportunity and promised a senior to search for the remains of his late wife. Not long ago, our Xuanqing Sect's Administration Hall found a clue. Coincidentally, our master must guard the sect and cannot leave, so he sent us in his stead."
This statement was half-truth, half-falsehood. The matter of Mo Tiange's restriction absolutely could not be revealed. But if they didn't explain clearly, this Fellow Daoist Huo would likely become suspicious of them. They didn't want complications. It was best to dispel Huo Ziqi's doubts to proceed with their business smoothly. Perhaps they really could help each other.
"Oh, so it's Daoist Jinghe's matter." The suspicion in Huo Ziqi's eyes lessened somewhat. "That really is a coincidence. The Extreme West is desolate—not even Core Formation cultivators are willing to come, let alone Nascent Soul cultivators. And you two actually came at this time as well."
"Indeed." Qin Xi's tone was mild. "Our clues are incomplete. We only know there are Three Great Danger Zones in the Extreme West. That senior disappeared in the Extreme West, most likely related to the Three Great Danger Zones, so we can only search them one by one. A few days ago, we just went to the Abyss of Fallen Gods, but unfortunately found nothing. That's why we came to Wind-Sand City."
These details originally didn't need to be explained so clearly to others. He said this deliberately for Huo Ziqi to hear.
Sure enough, after hearing this, Huo Ziqi didn't ask further.
"So, you two Fellow Daoists don't know about the treasure matter?" Zong Si, who was traveling with Huo Ziqi, spoke up.
Qin Xi looked at him and calmly shook his head. "We truly do not know."
Seeing his expression didn't seem feigned, Zong Si relaxed somewhat and glanced at Huo Ziqi.
Huo Ziqi paused, then smiled. "To speak of this matter, it's no secret in Kunzhong City. Presumably, if you two return to your sect now, you'll already have received the news."
"Is that so?" A hint of curiosity appeared on Qin Xi's face. "If you two Fellow Daoists don't mind, we'd like to hear about it."
Huo Ziqi laughed, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Listening is no problem. However, after you two Fellow Daoists hear it, you'll have to help out!"