Moments later, tens of thousands of Yin Soldiers had already passed in front of Ye Yunfei and the others. The figures of the Yin Soldiers walking at the very front began to grow increasingly faint, gradually disappearing.
In the location where those Yin Soldiers vanished, a towering mist arose, making it impossible to see where they were heading.
These Yin Soldiers possessed illusory bodies. Regardless of what they encountered—be it trees, thickets, rocks, and so on—they passed directly through, meeting no hindrance whatsoever.
"Where did these Yin Soldiers come from? Where are they going? What task are they carrying out?
What if we were to follow behind them? Would we arrive at their marching destination?"
Ye Yunfei watched the gradually receding Yin Soldiers and couldn't help but muse to himself.
"Master, you absolutely must not follow them!
This is a genuine case of Nether Troops Borrowing the Path. It is different from the ghostly armies of the Netherworld, and is extremely bizarre.
Even the Netherworld Lord didn't dare to investigate it thoroughly! You must know, the Netherworld Lord's strength is said to be on par with a Heavenly Emperor!"
Upon hearing Ye Yunfei's musings, the Holy Son of the Flying Sky Yin Monkeys was startled and hurriedly spoke.
"Don't worry. With my current strength, I won't go tracking and investigating them," Ye Yunfei said with a laugh.
"Right. Does Nether Troops Borrowing the Path only occur in certain special terrains?"
Watching the gradually vanishing Yin Soldiers, Ye Yunfei suddenly thought of this question.
"Yes.
I once heard our tribe's Great Elder mention that these borrowing-the-path Yin Soldiers will only travel through special environments with particularly heavy Yin Qi. There's another saying as well: those special landforms with exceptionally dense Yin Qi are actually the teleportation passages for these Yin Soldiers. By walking through these special terrains, the Yin Soldiers can rapidly teleport from one space to another.
In other words, these special terrains are essentially their road," the Holy Son explained.
"Hmm, that is possible," Ye Yunfei nodded.
At that moment, the tens of thousands of Yin Soldiers had finally all disappeared, leaving only surging waves of sinister Yin energy roiling forth, chilling people to the bone.
It was only now that Elder Ruan and the rest of the Longevity Palace members secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
When those Yin Soldiers were passing by earlier, the terrifying aura they emanated had nearly frozen them stiff. Not only their physical bodies, but even their Soul Bodies had been covered in a layer of frost.
"Alright, let's go ahead and take a look."
Ye Yunfei waved his sleeve, releasing a stream of pure Yang-attributed spiritual energy that dispersed a large portion of the dense Yin Qi ahead. Then he strode forward, taking the lead.
Elder Ruan and the Longevity Palace members instantly felt much warmer.
"Now I know why that fellow Du Fan barged into this mountain range area. It's because the earth energy here is abnormally abundant, like a large perilous land. He must have intended to come in and study the terrain and topography here, but ended up getting trapped within.
Let's hope he's alright."
Walking amidst the eerie mountains, sensing the dense earth energy beneath the ground, Ye Yunfei couldn't help but reveal a bitter smile.
Thinking about it, Ye Yunfei's earliest contact with the Geomancy Technique was introduced by Du Fan.
Du Fan was the Holy Son of the Thick Earth Sect, having cultivated geomancy techniques since childhood. Encountering such special terrain with abundant earth energy, he would very likely be eager to study it and charge right in.
Moments later.
A gigantic abyss suddenly appeared ahead, spanning across the mountains and blocking their path.
This abyss was shrouded in a pitch-black mist, preventing them from seeing the opposite shore. It was impossible to know just how wide it was. Endless, bizarre black mist surged up from the depths of the abyss like a bottomless pit, seeming capable of swallowing one's mind and spirit, causing them to sink and fall into it.
"Why is there still no trace of Du Fan?"
Looking at this terrifying abyss before him, Ye Yunfei couldn't help but frown, a sense of foreboding arising in his heart.
Since entering this strange mountain range, Ye Yunfei had continued deep inward. Along the way, he had not only encountered many powerful evil spirits and the mysterious Nether Troops Borrowing the Path, but now faced this seemingly dreadful abyss. With Du Fan's strength, it seemed impossible for him to have come this far.
Therefore, Ye Yunfei was somewhat worried that something might have already happened to Du Fan.
At that very moment, Ye Yunfei's expression suddenly changed, revealing a look of pleasant surprise.
Du Fan's aura!
Because he had sensed an aura Du Fan had left behind!
This indicated that Du Fan had been at this location before.
"It seems Du Fan's luck is quite good. In this strange mountain range, he actually managed to come all the way here.
I estimate his progress in geomancy has been significant these past years. It must be through utilizing geomancy techniques, coupled with good fortune, that he could have come all the way here," Ye Yunfei thought to himself.
"Du Fan's aura seems to go down along this abyss!
Could it be that he actually entered this abyss?"
Following this, Ye Yunfei discovered that Du Fan's aura actually continued downward along the abyss, and he couldn't help but inwardly feel shocked.
"There's no choice now. Since he went down, no matter what, I must go down and take a look."
Ye Yunfei said with a bitter smile.
"Wait here. I'll go down to investigate," Ye Yunfei turned and said to Elder Ruan.
As he spoke, Ye Yunfei stamped his foot.
Rumble…
Over a thousand earth dragons charged out from the Phantom Tower and swiftly set up an Earth Formation at this location, protecting Elder Ruan and the Longevity Palace members.
"As long as you don't step outside the range of this Earth Formation, even if evil spirits come here, it will be difficult for them to detect you," Ye Yunfei said to Elder Ruan.
"Young Master Ye, don't worry. We will not leave this Earth Formation," Elder Ruan promptly replied.
This was no joking matter. This mountain range was strange and terrifying. Without Ye Yunfei present, these Longevity Palace members wouldn't dare to wander about recklessly.
Ye Yunfei's figure shifted, descending downward into the abyss.
In the endless darkness below, dense black mist continuously surged. Ye Yunfei was surprised to discover his Soul Power perception was restricted. The distance he could perceive was significantly shorter than usual. Fortunately, Ye Yunfei's level of Soul Power was exceptionally powerful, so even in this mysterious abyss he could still perceive a certain distance, avoiding being completely blind.
If other experts who had reached the Early Stage Star-Gazing Realm came here, they would likely be like blind men—unable to see or perceive anything.
What Ye Yunfei couldn't understand was that Du Fan's strength was clearly quite weak. How dare he venture deep into this abyss?
Wasn't that asking for death?
Not long after, Ye Yunfei found he had descended to the bottom. Dense, impenetrable black mist filled the area everywhere.
Ye Yunfei released his Soul Power to perceive his surroundings. After a while, he finally managed to capture an extremely faint trace of Du Fan's aura.
Ye Yunfei walked in that direction. Moments later, he discovered he had entered a passage with stone walls on both sides. Proceeding deeper into the passage was like entering a maze, with forks everywhere. Fortunately, Ye Yunfei could faintly sense Du Fan's aura, allowing him to accurately track his path through the numerous branching passages.
During this process, Ye Yunfei discovered some mysterious deep holes and large pits exuding a menacing aura. Once approached, terrifying auras would surge forth like invisible sharp arrows shooting over, causing piercing pain to both his flesh and Soul Body.
Hee hee…
Suddenly, several chilling snickers rang out, sounding like knives scraping on bamboo, making one shudder and hairs stand on end. Ye Yunfei vaguely sensed that in the dark corridors, pairs of gloomy eyes were glaring at him coldly.
Even some ominous presences silently crept near Ye Yunfei, intending to take action against him.
Ye Yunfei retrieved his Half-Emperor Longsword, unleashing sharp sword qi that shredded through the air in all directions, successfully forcing back those ominous presences.
"Thankfully, there's this Half-Emperor Longsword. Otherwise, once I came here, it would have been difficult to advance further.
But why was Du Fan able to keep coming all the way here?"
Ye Yunfei felt relieved but also puzzled.
Logically, with Du Fan's weak strength, coming here would mean certain death. Yet the fact was that Du Fan's aura continued forward ahead, seemingly indicating he was still alive.
"Du Fan!"
Finally, Ye Yunfei spotted Du Fan's figure within an ancient, worn-out pit.