Xuantian Immortal Cultivation Record

Seven days later, the Xuan Yin Mountain's Yin-Infernal Qi weakened to a level that Foundation Establishment cultivators could withstand.

Hou Zhihuan, along with five Core Formation cultivators from the five factions and ten steward disciples from the Star-Moon Sect, led fifty-one people straight towards the Xuan Yin Cave on the east side of the Star-Moon Hall.

Although the Xuan Yin Cave had a great reputation outside, it now appeared to be just an extremely ordinary cave. The entrance was only about ten feet square, with wisps of light blue, chilling mist emerging from it, making one feel a bone-chilling cold even from a distance.

Within ten feet of the cave entrance, no grass grew, and a thick layer of blue frost had formed.

Beyond ten feet, nine black, towering pillars stood, each ten feet tall and as thick as five people could embrace. The power of the formation spread across the sky, guiding the chilling mist that poured out of the cave upwards.

When Zhang Yuanjing and the others arrived at the cave entrance, twenty-two cultivators were already waiting there. Apart from two Core Formation cultivators, the remaining twenty were all at the late stage or peak of Foundation Establishment, the direct line of Star-Moon Sect disciples entering the cave this time.

Zhang Yuanjing took a rough look and discovered that Wang Xuanyi, the one with astonishing talent, was also among them, causing him to secretly click his tongue in amazement.

According to the agreement between the Star-Moon Sect and the five factions, the Star-Moon Sect had to send ten people into the cave to collect herbs every year. This was originally seen as a burden and obligation. This time, because it involved a major dispute of interests, an upper limit was agreed upon.

However, where would the Star-Moon Sect find twenty at the peak of Foundation Establishment? They didn't even have twenty late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. Counting the few who had just broken through, they barely managed to scrape together twenty people.

Zhang Yuanjing counted and counted, and there were only five at the peak of Foundation Establishment, and only two of them were near the end of their lifespan. The remaining three were not very old, and the youngest was probably no more than one hundred and fifty years old.

Not to mention those late-stage cultivators, many of whom were young and promising.

Such outstanding talents, the accumulation of several generations, the foundation of the sect, were all going to be consumed in this Xuan Yin Cave, which was a great pity. Regardless of whether they could achieve their wishes, the Star-Moon Sect would definitely suffer a great loss of vitality. For the next one or two hundred years, it would most likely face a period of decline with no successors.

What mysteries did this Xuan Yin Cave hold?

Zhang Yuanjing stared blankly at the dark cave entrance and the surrounding blue frost, his mind filled with thousands of thoughts.

After a long while, he lowered his head and gave a self-deprecating smile. No matter how great the secrets in this Xuan Yin Cave were, they had nothing to do with him, Zhang Yuanjing. He had made up his mind to only collect Xuan Yin Grass and never get involved in the conflict between the six factions.

At this moment, the old and vigorous Hou Zhihuan took a step forward, walked to a black pillar, raised his hand, pointed at the Nether-Yin Qi floating in the air, and said loudly:

"Everyone, this is the Yin-Infernal Qi. This Qi will suppress your divine sense to some extent, but it will not cause any substantial harm. If you go deep into the cave, the Yin-Infernal Qi will be mixed with the Yin-Poison released by the Xuan Yin Grass, and this Qi can damage your spirits."

"This sect has prepared twenty Guard-Yang Pills for each fellow Daoist. Each pill can protect the spirit for eighteen days, which means that if you cannot return from the cave within three hundred and sixty days, you will surely die!"

Then, the old man with fiery eyes turned back and pointed to the ten-foot-square cave entrance, continuing, "Although the entrance to the Xuan Yin Cave is on the mountainside, that is only due to the terrain. The main body of the Xuan Yin Cave is entirely in the underground abyss beneath the mountain. Its paths are interconnected, with countless secret passages, crisscrossing and winding, with unfathomable depths and unpredictable mysteries. Once inside, it is filled with solid rocks and huge boulders. If you want to break through the earth and rocks and drill out from another place, with your cultivation levels, it is impossible!"

"However, you don't have to worry. Our sect has prepared a kind of Trace-Leaving Stone. After inputting mana, its mark can last for a year. You can use this stone to mark your tracks and return along the original path in the future. There are three hundred of these stones for each person. There are many forks in the road in the cave, and each fork has several or even dozens of branches. The probability of your routes overlapping is extremely small. Therefore, even if a few Trace-Leaving Stones are damaged, it will not be a major problem."

After saying that, he waved his right hand, and the ten steward disciples behind him immediately stepped forward to distribute Guard-Yang Pills and Trace-Leaving Stones to the Foundation Establishment cultivators, except for the direct line of Star-Moon Sect disciples.

After a while, Hou Zhihuan looked around at everyone and asked in a loud voice, "Everyone, before entering the cave, Hou will ask one last question: Do you have any questions?"

Everyone, no matter what they were thinking or doing, trembled upon hearing this, as if awakened from a nightmare, suddenly feeling a great fear.

The ten-foot-wide cave entrance in front of them was the gate of life and death: entering it and not coming out meant death; entering it, coming out but not obtaining medicinal herbs also meant death; entering it, coming out, obtaining medicinal herbs, exchanging them for pills, swallowing them but not succeeding still meant death; only those with exceptional luck could survive, but that was too rare to hear of.

Everyone remained silent.

Hou Zhihuan stood solemnly, waited for ten breaths, and seeing that no one spoke, he shouted, "Open the formation!"

The ten steward disciples each took out a white jade token, pointed it at the Xuan Yin Cave, and ten faint streams of clear Qi, like floating silk, slowly swam towards the cave entrance.

After a moment, there was a "crack" sound, as if a stone slab had broken, and it seemed that a layer of covering had been removed from around the cave entrance, making it clearer in everyone's eyes. The Yin-Infernal Qi, which had originally looked like a faint smudge, now looked like a thick fog surging outwards.

Even though they were dozens of feet away, all the cultivators felt as if their divine sense was covered with a layer of dust, adding a few layers of separation, and their ability to identify the surrounding situation suddenly dropped sharply.

Hou Zhihuan swept his eyes over everyone's expressions, and seeing that everyone had realized the power of the Yin-Infernal Qi, he said, "Once you enter the Xuan Yin Cave, the Yin-Infernal Qi will greatly suppress your divine sense, up to 90% at most, and at least 60%. Everyone, good luck on your journey. Go in!"

According to the prior agreement between the Star-Moon Sect and the five factions, the direct line of disciples from the five factions would enter first, followed by the direct line of Star-Moon Sect disciples, and finally the remaining cultivators.

Due to the terrain in the cave, it was difficult for those who entered first to ambush those who entered later without being discovered. This order of entry was only to reassure the five factions.

There were only a mere twelve direct line disciples from the five factions, all of whom were at the peak of Foundation Establishment and had been cultivating in seclusion for many years. They looked calm and walked in single file, one after another, into the cave.

Following them were the Star-Moon Sect cultivators. They had been standing aside, extremely calm, seemingly without any waves. Now that they were entering the cave, they revealed a bit of difference. It seemed as if a fire had been ignited in their eyes, very similar to that of Hou Zhihuan, and their aura suddenly became strong.

Finally, there were the thirty-nine non-six-faction cultivators. Apart from Zhang Yuanjing, the rest of these people superficially belonged to two camps, but very few were truly loyal to the Star-Moon Sect and the five factions.

Compared to the calmness and orderliness of the first two groups of cultivators, the process of these people entering the cave was more chaotic. There were even several farces of scrambling for position, but they were quickly suppressed by Hou Zhihuan.

Zhang Yuanjing roused his mana and followed quietly. Upon entering the Xuan Yin Cave, there was first a tunnel that was two or three miles long, extending diagonally into the ground.

This tunnel was clearly man-made, but due to the abundance of boulders in the mountain belly, the road was rugged and varied, making it inconvenient to walk.

After passing through this tunnel, they entered a large cave with a radius of ten feet. On one side of the cave was a deep ditch, whose bottom could not be seen. Only by jumping down from this ditch could they reach the true Xuan Yin Cave.

However, there was a hidden mechanism in the deep ditch. It looked only five or six feet long and one foot wide on the surface, but it was extremely wide below. At the bottom of the ditch, there were hundreds of cave entrances, each leading to a different place. Therefore, even those who jumped down at the same time had almost no chance of landing in the same place.

The cultivators also had a way to deal with this, which was to create a kind of sensing magic tool. Anyone who carried it could sense each other's location.

Initially, the distance between each person in the cave was not very far, and they had not yet gone deep into the cave. The caves were also connected by passages, so they could gather through the magic tool and then go deeper underground together.

Of course, in this large cave, cultivators who were familiar with each other or in teams would still gather together and then jump down together, trying to keep the distance between them as close as possible.

Zhang Yuanjing and his three companions did the same. After gathering, they jumped into the ditch together.

The Yin-Infernal Qi in the ditch was far more concentrated than above. Upon entering it, the divine sense, which had only been slightly weakened, immediately lost most of its power, leaving only about 30 to 40%.

For Foundation Establishment cultivators who were accustomed to perceiving ten miles with a single thought, this suppression was terrifying, especially in the dangerous cave, it was almost equivalent to losing most of their lives.

After about ten breaths, Zhang Yuanjing's feet landed on a patch of soft soil.

He remained motionless, only using his divine sense to explore his surroundings. He found that there were passages on both the front and rear sides, and huge rocks on the left and right sides. These huge rocks had been infiltrated by Yin-Infernal Qi for a long time, and divine sense could not penetrate them at all.

The cave was pitch black. Although cultivators could rely on their divine sense to move without hindrance, he still waited for a moment to allow his eyes to adapt to the darkness. After he could roughly see the situation a few feet away, he turned around and walked towards the back according to the magic tool's indication.

The agreed gathering place for the four of them was the place where Wu Jixiong was.

After Wu Jixiong entered the ditch, he would avoid other cultivators and choose a safe place to wait for the other three to meet up.

Zhang Yuanjing entered a cave passage behind him. The space in the cave was sometimes large and sometimes small. At times, it was three feet high, and at other times, he had to crawl through.

The walls of the cave were mostly rock, with occasional soil, all covered with thick Yin-Infernal Qi. Touching it felt bone-chillingly cold.

After walking a hundred feet, the Yin-Infernal Qi became even stronger, and the divine sense was suppressed by more than 80%.

Originally, he relied on his powerful divine sense, and even if it was suppressed, he would still have a considerable advantage over other cultivators. However, after being suppressed by 80%, this advantage became negligible.

Zhang Yuanjing smiled wryly, sighed helplessly, removed all his wishful thinking, and continued forward.