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As far as the eye could see, there was only a hazy sky and jagged rocks.

There were no rare or exotic flowers or herbs, no waterfalls or flowing springs, and even the basic vegetation was pitifully sparse.

Occasionally, a few dead trees are stuck obliquely in the cracks of the rocks, their branches withered and lifeless.

It was far from the secret realm he had envisioned.

Most importantly, the spiritual energy here is pitifully scarce.

Li Shen frowned and assessed the situation, finding it incomparable to what he had experienced outside the Yunhe Mountain market.

"The spiritual energy is scarce, which means that the only way to replenish spiritual power is through pills or spirit stones. Fortunately, I have some of these in stock. But I still need to be careful, as I never know what might happen."

Li Shen looked around and quietly spread his divine sense.

They didn't sense the presence of Yun Yan and the other two, clearly because they had been dispersed by the suction force.

"That's good too; it's more convenient for one person to do things alone."

Li Shen smiled slightly, chose a high rock, and climbed up with a few leaps, gazing into the distance.

First, we need to figure out the location, and then see where the suspended mountain is.

After observing for a while, Li Shen realized that the situation was more complicated than he had imagined.

Even from a high vantage point, one can still see clearly up close, but beyond twenty or thirty feet away, a thick layer of gray fog obscures the view, making it impossible to see anything.

At the edge of this thick fog, a mountain silhouette, its outline blurred, rises above the mist.

That should be where the Suspended Mountain is located.

How can we successfully get through the thick fog and reach that place?

Li Shen's thoughts raced, and after a moment, he remembered the ancient silk scroll.

With the idea of ​​giving it a try, Li Shen took it out of his storage bag.

The moment it unfolded before my eyes, the lines on the silk scroll seemed to come alive, moving and changing on their own.

Soon, a map of the interior of the secret realm appeared before our eyes.

"This silk manuscript is truly amazing."

Upon seeing this, Li Shen couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

Overjoyed, he examined it closely.

The entire secret realm resembles a lotus flower.

The suspended mountain is located in the center, while six landmasses of roughly the same size float around it. According to the silk manuscript, there are gaps between the landmasses, indicating that they are not connected.

And my position is at the outermost edge of one of the petals.

In addition to the terrain, tiny runes are scattered across every piece of land.

It should be a place name, but unfortunately he couldn't recognize the meaning of these runes.

"hateful."

Li Shen racked his brains but still couldn't come up with a solution, so he simply gave up.

In his mind, he connected his location with the suspended mountain through four nodes to form the shortest line, and this line was the road leading to the suspended mountain.

Li Shen had made up his mind, so he rolled up the silk map and held it in his hand. Then he jumped off the rocks, unfolded it again, and walked towards the first node.

Because of the dense fog, which limited his spiritual sense, Li Shen did not walk very fast for safety reasons.

After walking and stopping for an unknown amount of time, Li Shen stopped abruptly, his face tightening, and immediately hid behind a rock.

He then swallowed a Bigu Pill to replenish his energy, and then patted a high-grade Concealing Breath Talisman on himself.

Just now, from three zhang away, he sensed something approaching him.

Li Shen frowned slightly and observed quietly.

Soon, a silhouette emerged from the thick fog and appeared before us.

It is about five feet tall, with four feet on the ground, its body is mottled brown, its head is flat, it has no eyes, and it has only one ear.

It moved slowly, and occasionally made a creaking sound.

"This is... a puppet?"

After a moment's thought, Li Shen guessed.

After it had gone far away, Li Shen used his divine sense to carefully sense the surroundings and confirm that it was safe before stepping out from behind the rocks.

Gazing in the direction the puppet had gone, Li Shen thought to himself:

"This thing is clearly man-made. Could there be someone here?"

With this thought in mind, and not knowing whether they were friend or foe, Li Shenqian became even more cautious.

Along the way, they avoided three similar puppets.

These puppets seemed to be wandering aimlessly.

After walking for about half an hour, the gray fog ahead suddenly thinned out a bit.

Li Shen stared intently and could vaguely make out some regular outlines, which did not seem to be naturally formed rocks.

He quickened his pace, and when he got closer, the scene before him made him pause slightly.

It was a dilapidated village.

A dozen or so stone houses are scattered around, but most of them have collapsed.

At the village entrance, there are two half-broken stone pillars standing there, and in front of them lies a stone tablet with most of the inscriptions worn away, making it impossible to read what they mean.

Li Shen did not rush in, but first used his divine sense to explore the area.

This investigation sent a chill down his spine.

There were about ten cultivators inside, the highest being the early Foundation Establishment stage and the lowest being the late Qi Refining stage.

But this aura was very strange, as faint as a candle flame about to go out.

After pondering for a moment, Li Shen unfolded the silk scroll and decided to take a detour.

Although he didn't know why, reason told him that he couldn't go into this village.

Li Shengang had just put away the silk book and was about to turn around when he suddenly heard a slight creaking sound behind him.

He felt a chill run down his spine and glanced to the side. The one-eared puppet he had encountered earlier had somehow circled around to his back.

It was slowly turning its flat head, staring at him.

Li Shen held his breath, his fingers already pressed on the storage bag.

A short while later, a slit at the front of its head slowly opened and closed, emitting a sound that made Li Shen's pupils shrink:

"Hello, brother."

It wasn't because the sound was terrifying, but because it was so out of place.

It's absurd that a five-foot-tall, mottled, ugly puppet would use such an affectionate nickname in a childish voice.

Li Shen frowned, his hand already secretly holding a high-grade fireball talisman, its spiritual power accumulating, ready to be activated at any moment.

Facing the puppet, he slowly moved his feet backward.

It simply tilted its flat head, as if waiting for a response.

The gap opened and closed again, but the sound still stuttered.

"Hello, brother. Hello, brother."

It was repeated twice.

Li Shen did not answer.

Suddenly, the puppet's speech became faster and faster, repeatedly uttering those three words, and its voice gradually changed from a childish tone to a sharp and piercing one.

Li Shen's heart sank, realizing something was wrong.

He no longer hesitated, turned around and left, spiritual energy surging beneath his feet, and his figure swiftly darted away.

However, he had only taken a few steps when the auras of a dozen or so cultivators from the dilapidated village rapidly approached Li Shen.

The ugly puppet behind him crawled up on all fours.

The flat head remained facing Li Shen, the slit at the front of the skull constantly opening and closing, repeating those three words.

Li Shen felt a headache coming on. With a flick of his finger, he threw three fireball talismans directly over.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Smoke and dust rose, gravel flew everywhere, and the sound abruptly stopped.

Li Shen felt a little relieved, but as soon as he turned his head, he saw a sword aura slashing towards him!