I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

Chapter 299 Fallen Demon Valley! The Back Garden of the Ascension Sect! The Sect's Four Pillar Stones Appear Simultaneously!

A year has passed quietly amidst dedicated study and meticulous preparation.

Zhou Yuan opened his eyes in the quiet room.

A mysterious silver rune seemed to flash in his eyes and then disappear.

He breathed a sigh of relief. He had thoroughly studied the broken "Thousand-Mile Guiding Talisman" in his palm, and he had grasped most of the true meaning of the spatial runes it contained.

They even had a rough idea of ​​a complete repair or even re-refining plan in mind.

"Unfortunately, the core auxiliary materials required to refine this talisman are all rare items, and it is difficult to gather them from the sect's treasury and the Tiannan Market."

Zhou Yuan shook his head slightly and put away the broken talisman. "It seems that I can only try my luck at some ancient ruins after the trip to the Fallen Demon Valley is over. If I can refine this talisman, it will be a great help, whether for survival or for fighting enemies."

He got up, straightened his robes slightly, and left the meditation room, heading to the main hall of the Ascension Sect.

The hall was empty except for the disciples on duty.

Zhou Yuan sent out three communication talismans, which transformed into streams of light and disappeared into the sky outside the palace.

Looking at the churning gray mist, Marquis Nanlong frowned slightly and asked in surprise, "Cang Kun's last words only mentioned that there was an illusionary restriction at the entrance of this passage, and that one should be careful of the remaining restrictions inside, but he didn't mention the existence of this gray mist?"

Zhou Yuan glanced at the three of them, a faint smile on his face. "Let's set off immediately."

A strong wind swept through, blowing the thick gray fog that filled the cave entrance backward, revealing part of the scene inside the passage.

That place is the true core of Fallen Demon Valley—the "Inner Valley"!

Zhou Yuan stepped forward, made hand seals, and recited an obscure and difficult ancient incantation recorded in the Cangkun Jade Slip. At the same time, he channeled pure magical power into several seemingly naturally formed stone tumors on the stone wall in a specific order.

If you're lucky, you might even find some broken fragments of ancient treasures left behind by ancient cultivators during their battles.

"What?!"

However, at this moment, this passage is more deadly than any of the restrictions!

Sure enough, deep in the passage where the gray fog had thinned, a colossal creature could be vaguely seen coiled up there, its body piled up like a small mountain, its skin dark green and covered with hard scales the size of bowls—it was the venomous python!

This time, only the four of them entered the Fallen Demon Valley. There were no other cultivators to interfere, and they didn't need to compete with anyone, so they had much more time.

Locals call it the "Wanling Mountains".

As far as the eye can see, the entire surrounding sky of the Fallen Demon Valley, and even the mountain walls on both sides, are shrouded in layers of ancient restrictions, some visible and some invisible, radiating various colors of spiritual light!

Some cracks are only a foot long, as thin as a hair, and are dark in color, appearing and disappearing like invisible sharp blades hanging in the air. If you accidentally bump into one, you will be decapitated.

Deep within the Wanling Mountains, in a place rarely visited by humans and fraught with danger, lies the Fallen Demon Valley, known as the "most dangerous place in the south"!

After determining their direction, the four of them followed the map on the jade slip and flew slowly towards the inner valley.

As soon as the cave entrance appeared, a large amount of thick gray mist surged out and quickly spread, covering an area of ​​several dozen feet in front of the cave entrance, making it difficult for people to see the situation in the mist with the naked eye.

The sky is an unchanging yellowish color, as if covered by a thick layer of sand and dust.

Within the canyon, the scenery was blurred, filled with a faint, constantly distorting yellowish glow, and there were faint, unsettling spatial fluctuations emanating from it.

Before he finished speaking, he had already made his move, raising his hand to summon a golden flying sword with astonishing spiritual pressure. It transformed into a golden rainbow, carrying a sharp sound of tearing through the air, and shot straight towards the center of the giant python's coiled body.

Upon seeing this, a fierce glint flashed in the eyes of the Marquis of Nanlong.

There is more than one passage into the inner valley.

"clang--!"

Three powerful figures appeared one after another at the entrance of the main hall; they were none other than Old Monster Tianhen, Marquis Nanlong, and Ancestor Linghu.

This passage was the safe route that Cangkun took when he ventured deep into the inner valley and ultimately left his last words.

However, this "garden" is too dangerous, and ordinary gardeners dare not enter it.

Without warning, a flash of inspiration appeared on the seemingly defenseless, enormous body of the giant python!

Not long after.

With their cultivation level and speed, the four of them arrived at Changzhou in the northern part of Dongyu Kingdom a day later.

The entire stone wall seemed to come alive, slowly caved inward, revealing a dark opening that could only allow two people to pass side by side.

It was the Purple Sky Beast "Little Purple".

The python's head was buried within its coiled body, seemingly asleep and unaware of the uninvited guest's arrival.

A thick, jade-like green light shield instantly appeared on its body, completely protecting its entire form.

The air was filled with all sorts of strange odors, some spicy, some sweet, and some fishy, ​​all of which were mixtures of highly toxic miasma.

The three of them perked up when they saw Zhou Yuan.

This should have been the only path into the Valley of Fallen Demons.

It is an extremely dangerous place that has been isolated from the Fallen Demon Valley by an even more powerful and terrifying ancient restriction.

Or a test by hostile forces.

Instead, a powerful counterforce from the light shield sent him flying, tumbling several times in the air, his spiritual light flashing wildly, before Nanlonghou managed to stabilize him.

It is conceivable that if someone were to attempt to forcibly break through the restrictions, it would trigger a chain reaction of attacks from all the restrictions, resulting in their instant annihilation.

Although, given the current power of the Ascension Sect, no one dares to provoke them easily.

The scene before me changed again.

He understood that in the original story, this gray mist was formed by the poisonous miasma exhaled by an ancient, exotic venomous python lurking in this passage, and was not part of the original restriction.

Although he didn't use his full strength in that attack.

This is the entrance to the Valley of Fallen Demons!

The air was filled with a faint smell of sulfur and decay, and the spiritual energy seemed to be raging.

Once you enter the mountains, the scenery changes instantly.

However, just as the golden flying sword was about to touch the giant python's scales, a sudden change occurred!

Once you go deep inside, even a Core Formation cultivator can easily lose their way and get trapped and die.

Therefore, even though the Wanling Mountains have abundant and ancient medicinal herbs, very few cultivators dare to venture deep into them to harvest them; at most, they stay in the outer areas where the miasma is thin.

They had been waiting for this day for a long time.

Even mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators like Marquis Nanlong, Old Monster Tianhen, and Ancestor Linghu, upon scanning the passage with their divine senses and sensing the omnipresent, sharp spatial power that cuts through divine senses, as well as the deadly threats hidden in the shadows, had their expressions change slightly, and their eyes revealed a deep sense of apprehension.

Although they have the safe route to Cangkun, the terrain, restrictions, and especially the shifting spatial rifts within the valley may have changed over the past few thousand years.

Ahead, a colossal canyon entrance appeared, as if cleaved open by a giant axe of a god.

The only thing without any obvious restrictions or barriers is this narrow passage, about a hundred feet wide, that extends dozens of miles into the valley.

These gray mists were quite peculiar, seemingly constrained by some force, and only permeated a fan-shaped area a hundred feet wide in front of the cave entrance.

In some areas, the miasma was so thick it was almost tangible, making it impossible to see one's own hand in front of one's face, and it seemed to have a hallucinatory effect.

Zhou Yuan's calm voice broke the heavy atmosphere.

Ignoring the treasure-hunting cultivators on the periphery, they flew straight towards the deepest part of the mountain range, to the core area shrouded in an even denser and more eerie gray-black mist.

The sky seemed to be shrouded in a thick, multicolored, swirling miasma, making it difficult for sunlight to penetrate and resulting in dim lighting.

Zhou Yuan's shoulder slumped slightly as a small, palm-sized spirit beast, covered in fine, pale purple scales, resembling a small sable with silvery-white eyes, and exceptionally agile, silently appeared on his shoulder.

Zhou Yuan and his companions did not linger and flew directly into the Wanling Mountains.

Zhou Yuan planned to proceed cautiously, first securing the opportunities along the Cangkun route before pursuing other plans.

They each left a shard of their divine essence in their cave dwelling, so that in case of an emergency, they could temporarily control the formation and send out warnings for help.

Stay close to me, and don't make a wrong step.

But it could also cause losses to level eight demonic beasts. And now, it was easily repelled by the protective spiritual light on the body of this unformed giant python ancient beast.

He led the three of them along one side of the brown hill to a seemingly ordinary stone wall covered with withered yellow vines.

Simply standing outside the valley entrance, one can feel an aura of desolation, oppression, and danger originating from ancient times.

A crisp, loud sound, like the clash of metal, echoed through the passage!

However, the simultaneous departure of four pillars of the sect inevitably created a vacuum in the sect's structure.

He flipped his hand and took out the jade slip that recorded the route of Cangkun. With a slight movement of his divine sense, a clear three-dimensional route map appeared in the minds of the four people.

Seemingly awakened by the attack of the flying sword and the loud noise, the giant python's coiled body trembled violently, and its enormous head, buried within its massive form, slowly rose—

Beyond those mountains, in the distant sky, a dense, blood-red light could be faintly seen, dyeing the hazy yellow sky of that area a dark red, making it appear exceptionally eerie and strange.

At the same time, this is also the period when the spatial rifts in the outer area of ​​Fallen Demon Valley are relatively few and the most stable.

Once the news is leaked, it's hard to guarantee that it won't attract the covetous eyes of some unscrupulous individuals.

Now the entire Dongyu Kingdom is the territory of the Ascension Sect, and this Fallen Demon Valley, in a way, really is like the Ascension Sect's "back garden".

"Junior brothers, it's about time."

"Let's go."

The mountain is covered with strangely shaped rocks, with only a few scattered drought-resistant shrubs.

"We will obey our senior brother's orders!" the three replied in unison, their eyes filled with fighting spirit and anticipation.

After flying for most of the day, the view suddenly opened up before us, yet it also made our hearts clench.

As expected, they encountered some small spatial rifts and weak restrictions along the way that were not recorded in the jade slips, but they were easily avoided or bypassed thanks to Xiao Zi's advance warning and Zhou Yuan's powerful divine sense.

However, given their cultivation level and concealment skills, no one could detect their presence.

When Zhou Yuan and his companions arrived, the miasma was receding, and many low-level cultivators could already be seen moving around in groups on the outskirts of the mountains.

At this time of year, "treasure hunters" from all over the country, especially neighboring countries, flock to the mountains to seize this brief period of safety and search for medicinal herbs and minerals.

The three old monsters, Tianhen and his companions, dared not be negligent. They quickly concealed their auras and followed closely behind Zhou Yuan, step by step, for fear of making a mistake. Their minds were extremely tense, and they extended their divine senses to the fullest extent to help Zhou Yuan detect any new or moving spatial rifts that might appear in the surroundings and were not recorded in the jade slip.

Inside the passage, as far as the eye could see, the void was filled with countless spatial cracks of varying sizes and shapes!

Therefore, the departure of the four was extremely secretive. Apart from Yuan Yao, Yan Li and a few other core members, even most of the elders and disciples in the sect did not know about it.

The moment he stepped out of the passage and truly entered the area of ​​Fallen Demon Valley, even the Heavenly Hatred Old Monster secretly breathed a sigh of relief. That stretch of road had been far too oppressive.

However, every fifty years or so, the miasma in this mountain range enters a cycle of decline and dissipation, lasting for about a year.

The map shows a winding path that avoids most known large spatial rifts and leads directly into the valley.

Zhou Yuan remained calm and spoke without changing his expression.

As the final incantation was cast, ripples suddenly spread across the surface of the stone wall, and the illusions of withered vines began to distort, blur, and finally disappear as if wiped away by an invisible hand.

The oppressive aura emanating from the restriction made even a seasoned monster like Tianhen Old Monster, who had seen much in his life, look solemn.

With each step he took, he precisely landed on the safe points marked on the jade slip, his figure nimbly weaving through countless spatial rifts, some bright and some dark, as if dancing on the tip of a knife.

Cang Kun's records are their greatest reliance for this trip; any changes that do not conform to the records may mean unknown risks.

Some of the cracks were tens of feet long and tens of feet wide, like ferocious giant mouths that looked like they were about to devour people. They stretched across the sky, their edges flashing with blinding white light, constantly swallowing and spitting out chaotic spatial air currents, making a "hissing" sound, which made people feel afraid.

As soon as the little guy appeared, he gently sniffed the air with his nose, his silvery-white eyes curiously surveying the unfamiliar environment, quite sensitive to the subtle spatial fluctuations around him.

Legend has it that the most precious treasures, the most dangerous forbidden areas, and the oldest secrets in the valley are mostly hidden within the inner valley.

He certainly didn't want to be blocked by a beast on his treasure hunt.

"This is it." Zhou Yuan stopped his escape light and landed on the top of the small hill. According to the jade slip, this was already the outer area of ​​the inner valley.

"How dare this mere worm block the passage? Destroy it!"

Zhou Yuan's goal was naturally not those unknown public passages.

The powerful golden flying sword of the Marquis of Nanlong struck the green light shield solidly, but failed to break through it even slightly.

The most terrifying are those completely transparent "invisible cracks" that are extremely difficult to detect with the naked eye and ordinary divine sense. They exist silently in the void and are true death traps.

"Huh? That's strange—"

Changzhou is mountainous, with a huge basin containing a vast, undulating mountain range that stretches as far as the eye can see.

Zhou Yuan gave the order and transformed into a pale golden streak of light, flying at a moderate speed, skimming the ground at a height of about a foot.

On either side of the entrance are towering, smooth, mirror-like, and barren black stone walls.

After flying for about half a day, an inconspicuous brown hill appeared ahead.

This mountain range stretches for millions of miles from east to west, making it one of the largest mountain ranges in southern China.

Once everything was ready, the four of them transformed into four faint streaks of light that almost blended into the night, and silently left Xingyi Mountain, heading towards the northern part of Dongyu Kingdom.

The two sides were firmly blocked by the blood-red inner valley's restrictive light, clearly separating them.

However, according to the records in the Cangkun Jade Slip, this was merely a clever illusion he had set up to conceal a hidden passage behind it.

The old monster Tianhen had sharp, eagle-like eyes; the Marquis of Nanlong wore a majestic purple robe; and the old ancestor Linghu could not hide a trace of excitement and anticipation.

Having Xiao Zi, this "space radar," detect and issue warnings in real time is undoubtedly a more reliable approach.

His expression was calm as he glanced over the chilling passage as if it were just an ordinary mountain path.

He stepped forward, flicked his sleeve, and a pure and powerful azure gale roared out—it was the wind-attribute spell "Whirlwind Technique".

Exploring along the "boundary" between the outer and inner valleys, you can find more than ten passages of varying sizes, but each one is fraught with danger, and the conditions inside the passages may be completely different.

"This is it." Zhou Yuan confirmed again. The stone wall in front of him blended seamlessly with the surrounding mountains, without any flaws.

"We're finally in."

Marquis Nanlong looked around and sighed. If it weren't for the guidance of the Azure Jade Slip, passing through that passage would have likely come at a great cost.

"The era of Cangkun dates back thousands of years. This Fallen Demon Valley is heavily restricted, the space is unstable, and various ancient beasts lurk within it. It is not surprising that some changes have occurred over these thousands of years."

It seems that this "safe passage" has already been occupied by other creatures.

The earth was a strange dark red, with sparse vegetation, mostly oddly shaped and brightly colored poison-resistant plants.

Tianhen the Old Monster and Linghu the Ancestor also showed expressions of doubt.

Standing atop the mountain, one can see a massive mountain range stretching out several miles ahead. This range is composed of more than ten smaller peaks, forming a miniature mountain range covering an area of ​​tens of miles, exuding a majestic aura.

It was clearly an attempt to kill him with a single blow!

It took the four of them several hours to finally cross this seemingly short passage without any major incident.

Spatial rifts are among the sharpest and most unpredictable forces in the world, which cannot be resisted by ordinary magical treasures and supernatural powers. If one is not careful, even a Nascent Soul cultivator will perish on the spot.

These ancient restrictive runes are interconnected, forming a giant net that covers the heavens and earth, firmly sealing off the Fallen Demon Valley.

Marquis Nanlong's expression changed, and disbelief appeared in his eyes.