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Suning has always understood one principle: everyone has their own opportunities.

Therefore, as their cultivation levels improve in the future, Su Ning, Han Li, Li Feiyu, Zhang Tie, and the others will naturally go their separate ways.

Han Li and Li Feiyu will both encounter their own stories in the Blood Forbidden Land, so Su Ning does not intend to get involved.

Instead, they were more interested in this mysterious blood-red forbidden land, since it must be extraordinary that it could attract the attention of terrestrial immortals (Nascent Soul cultivators) multiple times.

In addition, Nangong Wan obtained her future inheritance in the Blood Forbidden Land.

So Su Ning secretly followed and chased after Xiang Zhili and the others, believing that Xiang Zhili would definitely lead him to understand the true Crimson Forbidden Land.

Within the Crimson Forbidden Land, crimson mist flowed slowly like a living thing, filtering the sunlight into an unsettling dark red.

The air was thick with the stench of rusty blood, mixed with some ancient, decaying smell that was nauseating.

Suning was pressed against a withered tree that would take three people to encircle, his breathing almost stopped.

He activated the "Turtle Breathing Technique," completely concealing his aura, even his body temperature blending into the surrounding environment.

This was a skill he had mastered in other dungeons, and when combined with cultivation techniques, its effects were even greater than before.

Thirty feet away, Xiang Zhili was chatting and laughing with five disciples from various sects.

Those individuals were mentioned in the intelligence reports from Suning...

Zhao Wuyan from Spirit Beast Mountain, Li Qingluo from Qingxu Sect, Zhou Ziling from Tianque Fortress, and two female cultivators from the Hidden Moon Sect.

Strangely, these proud and arrogant individuals were now completely obedient to Xiang Zhili, even showing a hint of flattery on their faces.

"Senior Brother Xiang, do you really think there are ancient treasures in the center of this Crimson Forbidden Land?" Zhao Wuyan rubbed his hands together, his eyes gleaming with greed.

Xiang Zhili smiled slightly, a composure that seemed out of place with his cultivation level appearing on his ordinary face: "Junior Brother Zhao, rest assured, I, Xiang, never lie. As long as you follow the route I tell you, you will not only avoid all dangers, but also gain unexpected benefits."

Suning narrowed his eyes.

As Xiang Zhili spoke, his fingers unconsciously rubbed against an inconspicuous jade pendant at his waist.

The jade pendant was of an ancient design, with several blurry runes engraved on it, which gleamed faintly with a bluish light under the blood-red glow.

"Interesting..." Su Ning thought to himself.

He recognized the runes on the jade pendant; they were ancient "evil-avoiding talismans," specifically used to ward off evil spirits.

This kind of rune has long been lost, and there are only scattered records of it in the classics of the seven major sects. It is definitely not something that a Qi Refining stage disciple could possess.

The group continued on their way, with Xiang Zhili leading the way, stopping from time to time to seemingly adjust their direction casually.

But Suning noticed that they had perfectly avoided all the danger zones marked on the map...

Poisonous swamps, monster lairs, spatial rifts...

It was as if Xiang Zhili had a more detailed map in his mind than the one provided by the seven major sects.

“This is the third time…” Su Ning silently calculated.

This is the third time that Xiang Zhili has suddenly changed his route without any warning, and each time, a hidden danger appears soon after the change.

Most astonishingly, on one occasion, Xiang Zhili even detoured around a seemingly peaceful meadow half an hour in advance. As soon as they left, the meadow suddenly collapsed, revealing a dense mass of man-eating vines underneath.

Suning's back was covered in a fine layer of cold sweat.

This kind of predictive ability is something that no Qi Refining cultivator could possess, and he became even more certain in his heart that he was indeed a terrestrial immortal of this world.

A Nascent Soul cultivator disguised as a Qi Refining cultivator is definitely up to no good.

Suddenly, Xiang Zhili stopped without warning.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze sharp as lightning, piercing the direction where Su Ning was hiding.

"Someone is following us." Xiang Zhili's voice was soft, but it instantly put everyone on edge.

Suning's heart skipped a beat, but he quickly regained his composure.

Instead of moving frantically, he slowly closed his eyes and judged the situation solely by his hearing.

Just to be on the safe side, Suning hid in his own private space, which would definitely make Xiang Zhili return empty-handed.

"You're joking, Senior Brother. This Crimson Forbidden Land is fraught with danger. Who would risk following us?" Li Qingluo said with a charming smile, but there was a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Xiang Zhili did not answer; his gaze, sharp as a hawk's, swept over the area where Su Ning was located inch by inch.

For a fleeting moment, Su Ning felt as if that gaze had pierced through the ancient tree and landed directly on him.

"Perhaps I'm overthinking it." Xiang Zhili finally looked away, but Su Ning noticed that his right index finger was still in a wary gesture.

Suning did not act rashly.

He waited patiently for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, until Xiang Zhili and his group had walked more than a hundred feet away, before quietly following them.

This time he was more cautious, taking each step on solid rocks or dead wood to avoid leaving any trace.

“Something’s not right…” Su Ning frowned slightly.

The path Xiang Zhili led them on became increasingly eccentric, completely deviating from the areas explored by the seven major factions.

What's even stranger is that the monsters they encountered on the road ignored them, as if the group didn't exist at all.

Su Ning suddenly remembered something, and her pupils contracted slightly.

He quietly took out a "revealing talisman" from his pocket and gently crushed it.

The wisps of smoke from the burning talisman twisted in the air, eventually pointing towards the jade pendant at Xiang Zhili's waist...

The jade pendant was emitting a spiritual light that was barely visible to the naked eye, forming a thin curtain of light that enveloped the group.

"A concealment barrier!" Su Ning was shocked.

This is a high-level spell that can only be cast by cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage or above. It can completely conceal one's aura and even deceive the senses of low-level demonic beasts.

How could Xiang Zhili, a Qi Refining cultivator, possibly control such a magical artifact? He probably really thinks everyone else is a fool.

Just as Suning was pondering this, the scene ahead suddenly changed.

Xiang Zhili led everyone to a barren stone forest, in the center of which stood an ancient altar.

The altar is hexagonal and its surface is covered with intricate runes, some of which have been blurred by the passage of time.

"This is it." Xiang Zhili's voice suddenly became deep and authoritative, completely unlike the timid and submissive Huangfeng Valley disciple he usually was.

He took out a bronze token from his pocket, on which was carved a lifelike ghost head with two scarlet gems inlaid in the eyes.

Suning gasped in shock...

That is the "Blood Fiend Token" of the ancient demonic sect, which is said to be able to be forged only by demonic cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage or above!

Xiang Zhili pressed the token into the groove in the center of the altar, chanting an obscure and difficult-to-understand incantation.

As he chanted, the runes on the altar lit up one by one, first dim like fireflies, then bright like stars.

Finally, a dark blue light curtain rose from the altar, emitting strong spatial fluctuations.

"Teleportation array!" Su Ning exclaimed in surprise.

He had seen related records in the ancient books of Huangfeng Valley, but the real teleportation array had disappeared from the human world thousands of years ago.

"Everyone, once you pass through this formation, you will reach the true core of the forbidden area." Xiang Zhili turned to face the crowd with a mysterious smile on his face. "However, I must warn you that it is extremely dangerous inside. Once you enter, your life or death will be left to fate."

Zhao Wuyan and the others looked at each other, and finally greed overcame fear, so they all nodded and said they were willing to go.

Xiang Zhili seemed to have anticipated this, chuckled, and stepped into the light curtain first.

His figure distorted like ripples on water before disappearing.

The others followed closely behind. Before the last female cultivator from the Hidden Moon Sect entered, she nervously looked back, but obviously found nothing.

Suning held his breath, his mind in turmoil.

Reason told him he should turn back immediately, but his past life as a secret agent gave him an almost obsessive desire for secrets.

Moreover, if one is still hesitant and timid even after being reborn, it would be better to give up the path of cultivation altogether!

"I'll risk it all!" A glint flashed in Su Ning's eyes, and at the last moment before the light screen was about to dissipate, he shot into it like lightning.

In an instant, the world was spinning.

Su Ning felt as if his body was being torn into countless pieces, only to be reassembled in the next moment.

When he regained his senses, he was standing in an unfamiliar world.

Here, instead of the crimson mist that is the hallmark of the Crimson Forbidden Land, there is a vast and desolate ancient battlefield.

Under the gloomy sky, broken magical artifacts and decaying skeletons were everywhere, and the air was filled with a strong ancient atmosphere and a faint smell of blood.

Most breathtakingly, a majestic black palace floated in mid-air in the distance, surrounded by countless golden runes, radiating a suffocating pressure.

"This is the real blood-red forbidden zone..." Su Ning muttered to himself, while quickly looking for cover.

He hid behind a huge bronze shield, carefully observing his surroundings.

Xiang Zhili and his group were just a hundred paces away, gazing up at the floating palace.

Xiang Zhili stood with his back to the crowd, his hands behind his back, his robes fluttering without wind, exuding an aura completely inconsistent with his Qi Refining stage cultivation.

"Since you've come all this way, why not show yourself?" Xiang Zhili suddenly spoke, his voice not loud, but clearly audible in the empty ancient battlefield.

Su Ning felt a pang of anxiety, but quickly regained her composure.

Instead of moving, he further concealed his aura and calmly remained in his own spatial world.

"Senior Brother Xiang, who are you talking to?" Li Qingluo asked suspiciously, glancing around warily. Xiang Zhili did not answer. His gaze slowly swept over the area where Su Ning was hiding, and a meaningful smile appeared on his lips: "Nothing, maybe I'm just too nervous."

Su Ning held her breath until Xiang Zhili turned around and continued walking before she relaxed slightly.

But he noticed that Xiang Zhili always made a strange hand gesture with his left hand as he walked, as if he was preparing some kind of spell.

"That was close..." Su Ning thought to himself.

If he hadn't gone through countless life-or-death trials, he probably would have been tricked out of it just now.

Xiang Zhili's cunning and shrewdness are beyond imagination.

However, if Han Li's bug is the Palm Heaven Bottle that can accelerate the ripening of spiritual herbs, then the spatial world is his own time travel bug.

Therefore, Suning is very confident in its own spatial world, and no matter how powerful Xiang Zhili is, it is of no use.

As the group walked further and further away, Su Ning was about to follow when he suddenly felt a sharp pain under his foot.

Looking down, he saw a bony finger that had somehow pierced the sole of his boot and was trying to burrow into his flesh!
Su Ning acted decisively, pointing his fingers like a knife, and used a burst of spiritual energy to sever the finger bone.

Strangely, no blood flowed from the cut; instead, a black mist surged out, emitting a piercing shriek.

"Not good!" Alarm bells rang in Su Ning's mind, and he immediately fled into the spatial world.

The instant he disappeared, a divine sense swept across the spot where he had just stood.

Xiang Zhili stood at a distance, his brows furrowed slightly: "Strange, I clearly sensed movement over there..."

"Senior Brother Xiang, what's wrong?" Zhou Ziling asked.

Xiang Zhili shook his head: "It's nothing, let's keep going. Remember, follow my footsteps closely, every blade of grass and every tree here could be deadly."

Inside the spatial world, Su Ning let out a long sigh of relief.

He looked down to examine the wound and found that the severed finger had turned to ashes, but a trace of black energy remained at the wound, trying to spread into his body.

“Yin energy…” Su Ning immediately activated his cultivation technique to force out the black energy.

He looked outside with lingering fear...

This ancient battlefield is far more dangerous than it appears on the surface; those seemingly harmless skeletons are probably some kind of sinister entity.

After the wound was treated, Suning observed the outside world again.

Xiang Zhili and his group had already gone far away and were heading towards the floating palace.

He noticed that Xiang Zhili's walking route was very special, with each step precisely placed in certain specific locations, avoiding the almost invisible runes on the ground.

“As expected…” Su Ning narrowed his eyes.

Munori's familiarity with this place goes far beyond what one would expect from a first visit.

Considering the jade pendant that could activate the concealment barrier and the Blood Fiend Token, this person's true identity is obvious.

“A Nascent Soul cultivator…” Su Ning murmured to himself, “At least at the Nascent Soul stage, or perhaps even higher.”

This conclusion both excited and alarmed him.

The exciting thing is that a place that a Nascent Soul cultivator would value so highly must hold a shocking secret; the caution is that dealing with such an existence could lead to utter destruction if one is not careful.

Suning took a deep breath, adjusted his state, and returned to the ancient battlefield.

This time he was even more careful, and he was absolutely certain that everything would go perfectly.

Although he had the cultivation level of the former emperor in his previous life, he had now dispersed his cultivation and started over, so he was no match for a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.

He followed at a distance behind Xiang Zhili and his group, proceeding along the route they had taken.

Every step was a precise replica of Xiang Zhili's steps, without daring to deviate in the slightest.

As they ventured deeper, the surrounding scenery became increasingly bizarre.

Huge ravines began to appear on the ground, as if they had been cleaved by some kind of sharp weapon. Even after a long period of time, the edges of the ravines still retained the sharp aura of swords.

Scattered in some places were glistening fragments, shimmering faintly in the dim light...

That was a fragment of a magical artifact, which had survived for thousands of years, demonstrating the high level of cultivation of its original owner.

What is most chilling is that some areas are piled with mountains of bones, the bones exhibiting an eerie jade-like luster, clearly indicating that they were all high-level cultivators in life.

These skeletons remain in fighting stances, some even holding broken magical artifacts, as if telling the story of the brutality of that ancient war.

Suddenly, a gasp came from ahead.

Su Ning looked up and saw that a disciple of Tianque Fortress had stepped on something and was suddenly enveloped by black energy rising from the ground, turning into a dried corpse in the blink of an eye!
"Junior Brother Zhou!" Zhao Wuyan exclaimed, trying to step forward but was pulled back by Xiang Zhili.

"Don't move!" Xiang Zhili shouted sharply, "That's an ancient demon; touching it means certain death!"

He quickly took out a golden talisman, chanted an incantation, and the talisman transformed into a beam of golden light that shot into the black mist.

The black mist let out a shrill scream before finally dissipating without a trace.

"Keep moving forward and don't touch anything," Xiang Zhili said coldly, his face devoid of any gentleness.

Suning took in the whole scene and felt a chill run down his spine.

He recognized the golden talisman; it was the legendary "Golden Light Talisman for Exorcising Evil," which required at least the Nascent Soul stage cultivation to craft.

Xiang Zhili, a mere "Qi Refining cultivator," could casually produce such a treasure, making his identity self-evident.

The group seemed to take it all in stride, suggesting that their true identities were not simple.

The group continued onward, and the atmosphere became heavy.

Soon, they arrived at a broken stone bridge.

Below the bridge is a bottomless abyss, and the faint sound of a mournful wind can be heard coming from the depths.

The other end of the stone bridge connects to the base of the floating palace, but there is a break of about ten feet in the middle.

"Senior Brother Xiang, how... how do we get across?" Li Qingluo's voice trembled.

Xiang Zhili did not answer, but instead took out three copper coins from his pocket and gently tossed them toward the broken bridge.

The copper coin spun in the air and suddenly stopped, forming an equilateral triangle.

The next moment, three golden lights appeared in the void, connecting to form a temporary bridge.

"Step over the golden light without bowing your head," Xiang Zhili commanded briefly, before stepping onto the golden path first.

Su Ning watched from afar, sighing inwardly.

These three copper coins may seem ordinary, but they are actually rare "space-fixed coins" that can temporarily solidify space.

Such treasures are almost extinct in the human realm, yet Xiang Zhili could produce them so easily, further confirming his suspicions.

After the group had all crossed the bridge, Su Ning quietly followed.

He dared not rashly use the golden bridge built by Xiang Zhili, but instead took out a silver rope from the spatial world...

This is a special piece of equipment he brought from his previous life, which has become a decent magical artifact after being tempered by spiritual energy.

The rope shot out like a serpent and wrapped itself around a protruding rock on the opposite bank.

With a light leap, Su Ning used the rope to swing across the abyss.

Just as he was about to reach the other side, a cold wind suddenly swept up from the abyss, and countless distorted human faces could be vaguely seen in the wind!

Suning felt a pang of anxiety, but remained calm in the face of danger.

He formed a hand seal with one hand, and a stream of spiritual energy entered the rope, instantly taut it like an iron rod.

At the same time, he used his waist and abdomen to exert force, and his body flipped like a hawk, narrowly avoiding the attack of the cold wind, and landed steadily on the other side.

"That was close..." Cold sweat beaded on Su Ning's forehead.

The chilling wind he just experienced felt even more dangerous than facing a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The core area of ​​this blood-red forbidden land was indeed fraught with danger.

Looking up, the floating palace was already within reach.

The entire palace was built of a black stone, with its surface covered with mysterious patterns.

The palace gates were tightly closed, and above them hung a tattered plaque with the words "King of Men" faintly visible.

Xiang Zhili stood in front of the door, a bronze lamp now in his hand.

The wick ignited spontaneously without a flame, emitting a faint green glow that illuminated the intricate patterns on the door.

"Everyone, no matter what you see next, do not make a sound or move." Xiang Zhili's voice suddenly became ethereal and uncertain. "Otherwise, no one can save you."

Everyone, including Suning, felt a chill run down their spines.

The aura emanating from Xiang Zhili at this moment had completely exceeded the scope of the Qi Refining stage, and was even more unfathomable than the Golden Core elders they had ever seen.

Under the dim light of the ancient bronze lamp, Xiang Zhili's face appeared particularly eerie.

He slowly raised his hand, his fingertips tracing a complex path in the air.

As he moved, the patterns on the palace gate lit up one by one, eventually forming a hideous ghost face pattern.

"Open," Xiang Zhili said softly.

The door slid open silently, revealing a bottomless darkness within.

...(End of chapter)