Mountain and sea lantern

Chapter 545 Black Hole
Smoke immediately came into view.

The contrast between what the left and right eyes see shows smoke that is not visible to normal vision.

The dispersing smoke, yellowish and hazy, stretched and spread in all directions, seemingly closing in on him. Shi Chun subconsciously waved his hand to fan away the smoke.

Surprisingly, the yellowish smoke was completely unaffected by the wind, continuing to spread out in its own relaxed manner.

He was still somewhat wary of Grandma Qi. Could it really be an act of gratitude that had lasted for countless years and was done without expecting anything in return?

With constant unease in my mind, I naturally couldn't completely relax in my actions.

In the immediate future, what if it's not the "Dead Incense" that's being discussed, what if it's hiding some kind of trick...?

In short, he subconsciously used the Demon Bathing Technique to protect himself, and his body was immediately enveloped by a green aura.

The yellowish smoke that wafted in and then collided with the protective aura made Shi Chun breathe a sigh of relief. The strange fragrance in front of his nose gradually faded away. He was startled and looked at Wu Jinliang, only to find that the smoke had already invaded Wu Jinliang's body.

Looking around, Wu Jinliang noticed that the leader was staring intently at him, which made his hair stand on end. He quickly looked himself over and then looked behind him, but found nothing unusual. He also didn't feel anything unusual in his body, but he still couldn't help but ask, "Spring, why are you looking at me like that?"

Shi Chun asked, "Do you feel any discomfort?"

Wu Jinliang quickly used his magic to check and confirmed, "No, what's wrong?"

Shi Chun: "It's good that there's nothing wrong. I was worried that there might be something wrong with the incense. If there's anything amiss, speak up immediately."

"Oh." Wu Jinliang breathed a sigh of relief, thinking something had happened and he had been startled.

Seeing that the dissipating smoke had already drifted towards the coyote on the ground, Shi Chun immediately shifted his attention and stared intently. Whether it was truly a case of "deadly incense" or not, the key was the changes in the coyote.

Upon closer inspection, his eyes suddenly narrowed.

In his right eye's vision, the hyena's gradually fading figure trembled slightly the instant the yellow mist invaded.

Not to mention him, even Wu Jinliang's gaze suddenly turned downwards because of this commotion, his eyes widening with questions, as if asking, "Is the effect so fast?"
However, Shi Chun saw a different scene in his right eye that Wu Jinliang could not see. The coyote's already faded figure gradually turned grayish-white again, and the fluid in its body that had stopped circulating seemed to be activated again.

But the hyena did not come back to life.

On its gradually deepening gray-white body, shimmering golden filaments suddenly sprouted, like bean sprouts twisting their bodies to accelerate their growth—one filament, two filaments, three or four filaments.

Having previously explored the reasons behind the binding force of the immobilization talisman, he vaguely realized that the number of golden threads growing was related to the amount of hazy yellow mist invading the coyote's body.

Suddenly, the golden threads that had grown to a height of one and a half people blossomed like flowers, as if they had grown to the point where they could flower and bear fruit.

It wasn't actually a flower, but rather a ripple of light created by the impact of the gold thread tip.

After the ripples disappeared, it was discovered that the golden thread did not seem to have stopped growing. The momentum of its continued twisting growth seemed to have disappeared into the void. It was clear that there were black void holes around the twisting ends, black holes the size of sesame seeds, into which the golden thread had entered.

All the threads are like this.

A sinister aura seeped out from the small black hole.

Wu Jinliang also noticed that the yin energy seemed to be coming from the spot where Shi Chun was staring, so he asked, "Tian Chun, what are you looking at?"

He noticed that Shi Chun was acting strangely, staring blankly at some point in the void.

Shi Chun waved his hand, signaling him to be quiet.

Driven by curiosity, he drew his dagger and touched the golden thread, but he felt no resistance and it had no effect on the golden thread.

He immediately used the magic to bathe the demon, spreading the green energy over the dagger and then touching the golden threads, which indeed moved.

So he sheathed his dagger and released the green energy from a distance, compressing and binding the few strands of golden thread together. He immediately saw the result he wanted to confirm: the black holes that were the size of sesame seeds had become the size of small soybeans.

The eerie atmosphere emanating from the black hole seemed even stronger.

After observing and waiting for a while, he suddenly saw the golden threads glow brightly, and Shi Chun could feel them twitching rapidly, as if they were contracting.

Soon, the few strands of golden silk that had rapidly contracted were seen to return, their tips wrapped with specks of white light, like flower buds.

Shi Chun wanted to see what it was, so he quickly used his magic to gather and pinch the green energy. He failed to pinch the shrinking threads, but he pinched the swollen flower bud instead.

The golden threads struggled, refusing to give up their hold on the white light spot, caught in a contest with Shi Chun. Their strength was considerable, but they were no match for Shi Chun's control.

In Wu Jinliang's eyes, Shi Chun was making a grasping motion in the air, seemingly observing something in front of him.

Actually, it's about observing the entangled points of light.

After looking at it for a long time without figuring out anything, and even using magic to investigate, he couldn't find anything. In order to confirm whether it had the miraculous effect of the incense that could kill, Shi Chun let go of the flower bud he was holding.

The golden threads, carrying white specks of light, disappeared into the coyote's corpse in an instant, vanishing without a trace.

Above, the small black hole that had been seeping into the yin energy also disappeared.

Just as Shi Chun was wondering what that black hole permeated with yin energy was, a "hoohoo" sound suddenly came from beneath his feet. Looking down, he saw that the coyote that had just died had suddenly sprang to its feet, swaying slightly as if it hadn't quite adjusted yet. "Hey, it's alive! Spring, it seems I was right, it really is the 'Death-Quelling Incense'!" Wu Jin chuckled and waved his hands, quickly extinguishing the flames burning in his hand. The 'Death-Quelling Incense' was scarce, and now that it was confirmed, it was best to conserve it as much as possible.

To everyone's surprise, the hyena, seeing him gesturing wildly, let out a howl and bit his calf.

How could they possibly harm a cultivator like Wu Jinliang?

Having already confirmed the effect, Wu Jinliang wasn't going to tolerate it. Bang! He kicked it away, sending it flying against the wall. It wasn't exactly shattered to pieces, but it was like a swatted mosquito, its flesh and blood sticking to the cave wall.

Shi Chun raised his hand without speaking. He wanted to stop it, but before he could, the experimental subject was already dead. What was the point of stopping it? There were some things he hadn't figured out yet.

Wu Jinliang noticed this and asked in confusion, "It's still useful?"

Too lazy to argue with him, Shi Chun took out the mother-child talisman and said, "Let Lao Changtai catch another one. Let's go upstairs."

Wu Jinliang chuckled and used his earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic or technique) again, carrying Shi Chun as they treaded through the surging mud and pushed upwards.

At first, they could still smell the fragrance of the deadly incense along the way, but the scent gradually disappeared after they rose nearly a hundred feet. Once the two of them emerged from the ground, even without asking Chu Jingtang and the others, they could be certain that the fragrance had not seeped out.

Nevertheless, the penetrating power of the fragrance was astonishing, managing to penetrate hundreds of feet into the thick soil.

Lao Changtai was quite efficient. Perhaps because of his previous experience in capturing them, he knew the location of the coyote pack and soon caught another one.

As usual, he was strangled to death by Shi Chun.

Instead of staying in one spot, Shi Chun pointed to a spot not far away, signaling Wu Jinliang to move to another location, and then carried the coyote carcass over as well.

After watching the two sink into the ground, Lao Changtai quickly returned to his post to remain on guard.

After descending to roughly the same depth underground and stopping, at Shi Chun's instruction, Wu Jinliang scraped off another clump of the dead incense and lit it again.

Soon, the aroma returned.

Upon reactivating his right eye's supernatural power, Shi Chun immediately used the Demon Bathing Technique, expanding a large expanse of green energy to confine all the smoke from the burning incense to a single area, preventing it from spreading and forcing it to be consumed only by the coyote corpses on the ground.

This can be considered his ability after reaching the advanced level of martial arts. Previously, he could not release the green energy of the Demon Bathing Technique outside his body, and indirectly applying it to the sword was already the limit.

This was also a way to verify one of his guesses.

As he expected, after the yellowish smoke from the burning incense flowed all over the coyote's corpse, many golden threads resembling bean sprouts emerged from the trembling coyote's body, growing taller like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

Once the quantity was sufficient, Shi Chun immediately removed the green mist from the smoke and shouted, "No need, turn off the fire."

Wu Jinliang was taken aback for a moment, but still obeyed and put away the burning flames, saving the incense he had on hand.

The azure energy that Shi Chun withdrew then enveloped all the emerging golden threads, forcing them to drill in one direction.

Soon, ripples appeared in the void, like dense raindrops striking a lake. After the ripples subsided, a black hole, resembling a large tabletop, appeared in the sky.

"..." Wu Jinliang looked up in disbelief.

He's not blind; how could he not see such a huge hole appear out of nowhere?

Immediately afterwards, he shivered again, the billowing yin energy seeping from the cave forcing him to use magic to resist it.

Then he quickly walked up to Shi Chun and together they looked up at the black hole in the sky.

Viewed from the side, it appears as a black hole. Standing beneath it, one can see a dazzling and distorted starry sky, with what appears to be a shimmering passageway within it.

Shi Chun was more concerned with how far away the golden thread was from here. After discovering that the opening at the other end didn't seem too far away, he became eager to try it out. He flipped his hand and shot a sandalwood flame into the opening to explore.

With a look of surprise and uncertainty, Wu Jinliang asked, "In spring, where does this cave lead?"

Shi Chun, who was staring intently into the black hole, countered, "I'd like to know too. Jinliang, where do you think the souls of all living beings go after they die?"

Wu Jinliang: "Is that even a question? Of course, it's the Netherworld, uh..."

His expression suddenly changed, and he said in disbelief, "Could this be a passage to the underworld?"

He quickly dismissed his own thoughts, "Wait a minute, the Underworld has been sealed for over eight hundred years, hasn't it? Even the most powerful figures of this era can't get in..."

However, thinking back to the eerie atmosphere from earlier, I started to doubt myself again.

Shi Chun said, "We'll find out if we go in and take a look."

Wu Jinliang was startled. "Spring, don't do anything reckless. This is no joke. Who knows what kind of place this is? If we go in and can't get out, we'll be in trouble."

"Don't worry, I've tested it before, I have a way to get out. You just guard this place, I'll go take a look." As soon as Shi Chun finished speaking, he moved, suddenly leaping into the air and rushing directly into the dark hole above filled with eerie yin energy.

"Spring..." Wu Jinliang, who stretched out his arm and exclaimed, failed to stop anyone. After staring blankly for a while, he sighed and couldn't understand why anyone would take such a risk. If you're going to leave, at least leave your valuables behind.

(End of this chapter)