Gateway of Immortality

The moment Qin Sang entered the yin wind barrier, the Heavenly Star Tear shield enveloped him completely. He immediately felt his body lighten as a powerful gust of wind forcefully pushed him away. Almost instantly, several more gusts converged from all directions, leaving him with no escape.

Qin Sang felt as if he had become meat on a chopping block, his entire body being pounded relentlessly by heavy hammers. The Heavenly Star Tear's protective shield was violently distorted, barely maintaining its form.

Bang!

Qin Sang slammed hard against a cliff face. Before he even had time to feel the pain, an immense force yanked him up again, hurling him towards another cliff. He was tossed and battered, helpless against the wild winds that toyed with him mercilessly.

At the same time, an ear-piercing demonic sound continuously invaded his mind. Its strange, unsettling waves assaulted his primordial spirit. Under the Jade Buddha’s protection, Qin Sang was able to fully resist the demonic sound, but others without strong willpower or effective means of defense would have their primordial spirit gravely injured by this sound alone.

Moreover, the gusts of wind carried a bone-piercing cold, as if countless icy blades were slicing through the invaders. This was another grave danger—if one were distracted or deceived by the demonic sound and lost focus on activating their artifact for protection, death by these ferocious winds would be inevitable.

His vision spun wildly as he was thrown about. Qingting and the others had completely vanished from sight. As expected, the moment they entered the yin wind barrier, they were blown apart. He had no idea whether the Liu Brothers could withstand this ordeal.

Qin Sang exerted all his strength to activate the Heavenly Star Tear. The shield became more solid, clinging tightly to his body, allowing him to barely stabilize himself within the raging winds. He then began to cautiously descend.

This layer of the yin wind barrier was incredibly thick. Besides the violent winds and the brain-piercing demonic sound, there were no other immediate dangers within the barrier. However, due to the unpredictable and chaotic wind patterns, Qin Sang had no choice but to go with the flow. After a period of time, he finally discerned a pattern, allowing him to seize the right moments to swiftly fly downward.

After alternating between rising and descending multiple times, he had no idea how far he had ventured downward before finally breaking through the range of the yin wind barrier.

“Junior Brother Qin has made it down as well.”

As soon as Qin Sang emerged from the violent winds, he heard Yu Dayue’s delighted voice. He focused his gaze and saw that three people had already arrived safely. Qingting and Yu Dayue, having already experienced this once, were unsurprisingly here, but what caught Qin Sang off guard was the third person—Hermit Baiyun.

Hermit Baiyun nodded at him calmly, looking as though he had been waiting for some time.

It seemed that the seemingly unremarkable cloth bag artifact he carried was actually far more extraordinary than it appeared.

Qin Sang’s thoughts swirled as he greeted the three without showing any emotion. He swiftly joined them, stepping onto the solid stone ground, and began surveying their surroundings.

He had initially thought that the area below the yin wind barrier would be an endless abyss, but to his surprise, they had already reached the bottom. Or rather, this seemed to be a second layer of the gorge.

This place was even more desolate than the outside. The yin wind barrier above blocked out the sky entirely. Though there should have been cliff walls on both sides, they were nowhere to be seen. Not only were the left and right sides obscured, but even the front and rear ends of the gorge were covered by the thick yin wind barrier.

The barrier was like an inverted bowl, leaving only a circular area for them to stand on.

From the outside, it was evident that the deeper one ventured into the gorge, the more expansive it became.

The space here was quite large; it seemed as if the entire gorge, including the mountain walls on both sides, had been hollowed out. Whether this was naturally formed or the result of human intervention remained a mystery.

There was no sign of life in sight. The ground was not the usual blue-gray rock but entirely black. When Qin Sang reached out to touch a protruding black stone, he found it chilling to the bone. Even as a cultivator, he could barely withstand the cold. He quickly withdrew his hand, secretly astonished.

They were standing near the edge of the circular space. At its center was a massive pool of water. The water in the pool was a clear, emerald green. Since there was no wind in this enclosed space, it was deathly still, and the pool appeared unnaturally calm, as though one could see its bottom at a glance.

But when Qin Sang approached the pool and peered down, he could only see endless dark water. There was no way to tell how deep it was, and there was certainly no sign of fish within.

"No wonder Junior Brother Qin was able to pass the Red Dust Gourd’s test; after crossing the barrier, you still managed to remain calm and move freely, without any damage to your primordial spirit. That’s not something achievable through sheer willpower alone. Your spiritual consciousness must also be quite strong," Qingting remarked, her eyes gleaming with admiration, especially since she had to take a spirit pill to free herself from the effects of the demonic sound.

Yu Dayue glanced deeply at Qin Sang and smiled as he said, "Senior Sister Qingting, you’ve forgotten—when Junior Brother Qin overcame the Gourd Illusion Realm, he was only at the eleventh level of the Qi Refining Realm. Now that he has broken through to the Foundation Building Realm, his spiritual consciousness has naturally grown stronger."

Upon hearing this, Hermit Baiyun gave Qin Sang a surprised look, the casual expression on his face vanishing.

Qin Sang noticed the subtle changes in their expressions and responded calmly, "Senior Sister Qingting, you're too kind. I was merely fortunate enough to have consumed a Blue Nether Fruit, which slightly enhanced my spiritual consciousness."

The reason he hadn’t pretended to be affected by the demonic sound was twofold. First, he had emerged from the barrier too suddenly to disguise his condition.

Second, while concealing one's strength was often beneficial, there were times when it was equally important to reveal a bit of one's abilities.

If their exploration of the ruins went smoothly, dividing the spoils might not follow the agreed-upon plan. Especially if a rare or valuable treasure appeared, people's hearts could easily waver. Qin Sang had little faith in the so-called camaraderie between fellow disciples.

Of everyone present, Qin Sang and the Liu Brothers were the weakest. Though others didn’t know that Qin Sang’s foundation had been damaged, Yu Dayue did, which made it easier for him to be targeted as a weak link.

By demonstrating that he wasn’t easy to deal with, Qin Sang hoped to avoid unnecessary trouble.

As long as he didn’t reveal the Jade Buddha, they would simply assume that his spiritual consciousness was a bit stronger, never imagining that he was immune to any attacks on his primordial spirit.

Moreover, during his cultivation of the Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment, he had constantly endured the tempering of sword qi and killing symbols. This had indeed strengthened his spiritual consciousness beyond that of most cultivators at his stage.

He had once considered searching for an art that specifically enhanced spiritual consciousness, but such arts were rare. The few stored at Treasure Tower Peak weren’t particularly effective. Moreover, with his poor aptitude, he didn’t dare to split his focus for fear of making his hopes of forming a Golden Core even slimmer.

Qingting suddenly understood, and with a hint of envy, she remarked, "The Blue Nether Fruit has miraculous effects for enhancing spiritual consciousness. It’s rarely seen in the world of immortal cultivation nowadays. You’re quite lucky, Junior Brother Qin."

Qin Sang nodded slightly, then shifted his gaze and pointed towards the pond ahead. "Senior Sister Qingting, is the array barrier inside the pond?"

Unexpectedly, Qingting shook her head. "It’s not inside the pond. The entire pond is the array barrier. You can try probing it with your spiritual consciousness."

Surprised, Qin Sang turned his attention to the pond. He released a strand of his spiritual consciousness into the water. The previously calm surface rippled gently, appearing harmless. However, his spiritual consciousness was firmly blocked by the rippling water, and no matter how hard he pushed, he couldn’t penetrate it in the slightest.

At that moment, the sharp sound of a sword echoed from above. Qin Sang looked up to see Li Zai flying in on his sword, his sharp sword qi cutting through the yin wind barrier.

A little while later, Wu Yuesheng and the Liu Brothers also descended one after another, allowing the group, who had been anxiously waiting, to finally breathe a sigh of relief.

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