Chapter 1276
Thundercloud
Chapter 1276 Thundercloud
There is no day or night here.
The spirit sealed above their heads by the river continued to swim, emitting a dark red glow.
The drone was once again used as a pathfinder, quickly disappearing from everyone's sight.
Du Xingyu carefully scratched his face with his fingertips and called to Shen Xiuyuan, "Senior brother, my face feels a little itchy, can you help me see what's wrong?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Xiuyuan quickly went over and examined his face. The already swollen wound had become even redder.
"Were you splashed with thorn vine sap just now?" Shen Xiuyuan pinched Du Xingyu's wrist to check his pulse.
"No," Du Xingyu shook his head. "I was far away, I just helped out, and I didn't touch anything. Could that thing poison people from a distance?"
Shen Xiuyuan lowered his hand and carefully examined Du Xingyu's face again: "I didn't detect any signs of poisoning. Wounds will itch as they heal; you probably aggravated the symptoms by using your spiritual energy and blood to surge earlier. I'll heal your face anyway..."
"No need, no need..." Upon hearing that everything was alright, Du Xingyu immediately jumped a few steps away, waving his hand without turning his head. "It's just a little itchy, it's no problem. Senior brother, go check on Jingjing. She was just wrapped in those vines, I wonder if she got any unclean things on her."
"I'm fine!" Mu Jingjing shouted from afar after hearing Du Xingyu's words. "I didn't even get a scratch. I was just wrapped in clothes for a while. What could have gotten on me? I'm perfectly fine!"
Shen Xiuyuan was truly worried sick about his troublesome junior brothers and sisters. He even insisted on pulling Mu Jingjing aside to examine her. He also took Lin Fan's pulse while he was at it.
“We’re new here and don’t know what’s going on down there, so it’s always good to be cautious,” Shen Xiuyuan said, and then checked Yu Sinian and Jin Tong as well before he felt at ease.
He had been hoping to find some unique spiritual plants in the secret realm, but after being stabbed by a mutated vine, he began to hope that he would not encounter any living creatures at all.
Footage from the drone exploration continued to arrive.
This place is somewhat similar to the sand city beneath the cold pool of Mingmin Mountain; both are vast and seemingly endless, but without the endless yellow sand. Only large areas of ruins amidst the desolation offer glimpses of its former prosperity.
“So, if this really is ancient times,” Mu Jingjing walked carefully on both sides of the group, cautiously looking around, “that means the ancient world has been buried underground all this time, undiscovered?”
"Where hasn't it been discovered?" Du Xingyu scratched his chin. "Lingzhen Pavilion has been hiding it for over a thousand years without saying anything, hasn't it?"
“That’s what’s strange,” Lin Fan said. “We were able to find our way in and get here. For all these years, has no one really investigated the origins of the treasures in the Spirit Treasure Pavilion?”
Don't say that cultivators are of noble character; wealth can easily tempt people.
Even though Lingzhen Pavilion has extraordinary abilities, it has always done a very good job of keeping secrets.
However, considering the mysterious swamp forest, their descent was not particularly difficult overall.
While luck played a part, their strength was only so-so. Lin Fan didn't believe that someone of their level could get in, and that those Nascent Soul and even Spirit Division experts had been ignored for so many years?
Clearly, Cheng Kong's attitude also indicated that they wanted to know where the ancient secret realm was.
There must be some inside story she doesn't know yet...
"Look! What's that?!" Ling Yichen pointed his sword forward.
The outline of a complex of buildings began to appear in the distance.
Lin Fan was taken aback: "I didn't see this when I used my clairvoyance..."
"Could it be a mirage?" Shen Xiuyuan asked.
“It shouldn’t be,” Lin Fan shook his head. “The basic principle of a mirage is that light is reflected from the sky, projecting a scene from one place onto another to create an illusion. This is a closed space, and the conditions for it to form are not present.”
Simply put, it treats the atmosphere as a mirror. You can't even see the sky here, let alone sunlight or the atmosphere.
"An illusion?" Du Xingyu turned to look at the silent Yu Sinian. "Or perhaps that is the real entrance to the secret realm?"
When faced with such an unknown situation, even if you know there will be danger, you will definitely have to go and check it out.
As they approached, the outline of the complex gradually became clear, revealing it to be a large stone palace complex.
Perhaps due to its age, most of the grand palace has collapsed, with only the main gate still standing tall, seemingly pointing the way for visitors.
"Could this be it?!" Mu Jingjing's heart was pounding. "The place where the Lingzhen Pavilion hides its treasures?"
“Very likely.” Ling Yichen couldn’t help but fly up on the Broken Sky Sword to take a look. “Judging from the distance, this place isn’t far from where we came in… Wait, what’s that?” Following his finger, everyone saw the red clouds swirling above the palace.
They had always thought the red light in the sky was the light of spirits from the river and hadn't paid much attention to what was above them.
"Clouds?" Lin Fan didn't understand. "How could there be clouds here?"
Clouds are essentially water vapor, which evaporates due to heat and floats in the troposphere.
The water is in the sky, there's no heat source, so how can there be clouds?
The crimson clouds surged and rolled, and seemed to have spotted them the moment they were discovered, rapidly spreading out in all directions.
Lin Fan sensed a change in the energy field in the air, but couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Until she saw the person in front of her, her hair slowly floated up, like a bristling sea urchin...
It's static electricity!
"Thunderclouds!" she shouted, tilting her head back and straining to see. She finally managed to spot a glimmer of lightning within the dark red clouds. "Quick, find cover!"
The dark red of the sky deepened, and the static electricity in the air made everyone's hair stand on end.
Upon hearing her words, the crowd, without any discernment, rushed towards the stone palace.
Ling Yichen's Broken Sky Sword instantly enlarged. When he tried to pull Lin Fan, he found that she had already darted to the front with Jin Tong on her back. He could only pull Mu Jingjing and Shen Xiuyuan next to her along.
Du Xingyu unleashed a hurricane that swept himself and Yu Sinian forward.
Halfway there, thunderclouds descended from the sky.
The blue-purple lightning finally revealed its true form from the dark red clouds.
Ling Yichen stood on the Broken Sky Sword, thinking he was already familiar with the power of lightning, but one look at it almost made his liver and gallbladder tremble.
That earth-shattering pressure was even more powerful than that of the Palace Master of Taixu Palace. He only wished he could use all his cultivation to escape for his life.
A sudden gust of wind arose, and Du Xingyu struggled to stand on the enlarged Xuanji Guiding Device, manipulating the wind direction and trying his best to prevent them from being carried by the wind to the dangerous center.
Lin Fan ran the fastest, but after all, he only had two legs and was carrying someone on his back.
As Ling Yichen overtook her from behind, he reached out to him, saying, "Lin Fan! Come on up!"
Lin Fan glanced at the flashing lightning, a thought struck him, and he tossed the golden boy over: "Take her and go first!"
"Lin Fan!" the people on the sword shouted.
Du Xingyu arrived at this moment. Hearing Lin Fan's words, he exchanged a glance with her, then swept the group away and flew towards the collapsed stone hall that was not far away. "Let's go!"
"Lin Fan!" Mu Jingjing, lying on the sword, turned around and called out.
In her wide-open pupils, purple lightning struck down from the sky, and after hitting the ground, it shot straight towards the only person standing on the ground.
The rubble on the ground was struck by electricity, and it shattered into the air, flashing with dazzling sparks.
Sensing the approaching lightning, Lin Fan turned around abruptly, his palm flashing with lightning as he prepared to receive a wave of lightning energy from the area.
But just before the lightning was about to hit her, something suddenly wrapped around her waist and pulled her backward.
Looking back, she saw Du Xingyu in front of the stone hall, throwing the Immortal Binding Rope at her...
Enough... Lin Fan withdrew the lightning from his palm.
Let's find another opportunity next time.
(End of this chapter)