Deep in the Heavenly Abyss Valley, located in the deep backyard of the Fifteenth Immortal Prefecture at the northernmost edge, lay a desolate and mysterious place.
The valley floor was deep and shrouded in mist, as if entirely isolated from the outside world.
In the center of the valley floor lay a crystal-clear lake, its surface smooth as a mirror, reflecting the surrounding mountains and the sky.
The source of the lake water came from a clear spring deep within the Tenth Immortal Prefecture. The spring gushed forth, forming a small stream that flowed gently before finally emptying into the lake. The shores of the lake were overgrown with exotic flowers and rare grasses, emitting a faint fragrance.
These plants seemed to have received special care; not only were they lush and thriving, but their colors were vibrant and their shapes varied.
Such a magnificent spectacle was considered a miracle throughout the Puyuan World, yet no one lived here.
"Senior Brother, are you going in now?" Wang Xuan stopped at the mouth of the valley, a look of timidity creeping over his face.
"Mhm. Since we've come, of course we're going in to take a look." Qin Yi walked in front, suddenly halting his steps. "What? Are you not coming with me?"
"I..." Wang Xuan paused mid-sentence, scratched his head, and said, "The open day for our immortal prefecture hasn't arrived yet, I'm afraid..."
Qin Yi turned back, looked at Wang Xuan's hesitant expression, and smiled faintly, "No matter, then I shall just go in and take a look by myself. Besides, although this valley floor is mysterious, I've never heard of any fierce beasts roaming about. If I'm a bit careful on my own, there shouldn't be any problems."
Wang Xuan gritted his teeth and hardened his heart. "How about I go ask Master and enter together with you, Senior Brother!"
To disturb Master over such a trivial matter was completely unnecessary.
Qin Yi shook his head. "It's fine, you head back first, I'll go in alone."
Hearing this, Wang Xuan's tone grew heavier. "Then, Senior Brother Qin Yi, you must be careful!"
Qin Yi nodded with a smile in response. "I will. You head back first."
With that, he turned and walked along the path by the lake toward the depths of the valley.
The open day was aimed at the majority of the inner disciples within the immortal prefectures, its purpose being to give them an opportunity to enter the valley floor to seek fortuitous encounters, serving also as a form of trial.
However, this did not impose too many requirements on senior inner disciples like Qin Yi. Wang Xuan knew this as well, but his own cultivation had plummeted drastically recently. Should any danger be encountered in the valley, he would find it hard to absolve himself of blame and even harder to escape punishment from his own prefectural lord. This was what worried Wang Xuan the most.
Although Qin Yi rarely came to the Heavenly Abyss Valley floor, he had already gained a general understanding of the situation inside the valley from his master. Now, with the Soul Origin Technique protecting his body, even if he encountered danger, he would be able to extricate himself quickly.
...
The scenery inside the valley gradually grew desolate. Those flowers and grasses swaying by the lake had long since vanished, replaced by stretches of exposed rock and dried riverbeds.
Gradually, a low, rumbling sound echoed from the depths of the valley floor, striking awe into the heart.
Qin Yi's footsteps involuntarily slowed. His brow was tightly furrowed, his gaze revealing unease and vigilance.
Whoosh—whoosh—
The rumbling grew closer and closer, sounding like the low growl of a giant beast that shook Qin Yi's heartstrings. He could sense a powerful force approaching.
"The valley howls and leaves its echo, a gathering source of all evils."
Qin Yi stopped in his tracks, recalling what his master had once told him: these rumbling sounds were the lingering consciousness of various demons annihilated during the great calamity.
After thousands of years of sealing, they had long since lost their evil nature, but unable to be completely destroyed, they could only remain forever on the valley floor like this, emitting bouts of mournful cries.
Though they lacked aggressiveness, they could bewitch human minds and aid one in falling into the path of demons.
"Bewitch the mind, is it?" Qin Yi's mouth suddenly curled upward, and then a faint golden glow blossomed on his forehead—this was the sign of his protective barrier when he stimulated the third stage of the Profound Guidance Technique.
He formed hand seals, and the Profound Guidance Technique activated accordingly. The soul origin within his body circulated, and that faint light radiated from his forehead, enveloping his entire body like a bright lamp.
The Profound Guidance Technique had thirty-seven stages in total, and Qin Yi had currently practiced it to the seventh stage, but he falsely claimed to the outside world that he had only practiced it to the third stage. Even Gu Lin, who had grown up with him as childhood sweethearts, did not know to what extent he had actually practiced it.
As he continued forward amidst the rumbling, Qin Yi could already see huge boulders in the depths of the valley floor being blasted into the air by the vibrations, as if something was awakening from within them.
Qin Yi's heart tightened; his reaction to the Soul Origin Technique grew increasingly intense, showing faint signs of wanting to break free.
Roar! Roar!
The roars grew closer and closer, deafening, as if they were a summons from the nethermost hells of the Nine Youths.
Qin Yi's steps stalled. He suddenly felt an inexplicable panic wash over his mind, making his soul tremble.
He clenched his fists tightly, staring fixedly at the huge stones before him, as an image surfaced in his mind.
He saw a tall, straight-backed man draped in a black cloak, holding a pitch-black longsword, leading a troop as they shuttled through the battlefield with decisive slaughter.
The man's back was aloof and proud, his entire body permeated with a biting, murderous aura, resembling an ancient Battle God descending upon the mortal world.
In an instant, that figure transformed from an illusion into a physical entity, appearing directly above Qin Yi.
Qin Yi stood vigilantly in place. He could clearly feel the oppressive might emanating from that man, filled with an aura of destruction.
Stunning, piercing cold light burst from his eyes, radiating an icy aura. He watched as a black token hung across the man's chest, carved with two ferocious skulls that looked lifelike and emanated a gloomy, terrifying aura.
"The Demon race?" Qin Yi raised an eyebrow slightly.
To encounter a demon spirit right upon entering the valley was rather bizarre. Logically speaking, the probability of encountering a demon spirit was extremely small, and one should only encounter them much deeper into the valley floor.
Moreover, judging by this one before him, its cultivation had reached at least Qi Perfection Realm Completion, possessing formidable strength!
Qin Yi tentatively retreated two steps, keeping his gaze locked on it, but unexpectedly, even after retreating some six or seven steps, the demon spirit showed not the slightest reaction.
This did not look like it intended to harm him.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss..." The demon spirit suddenly emitted a few sounds, then turned and drifted further into the depths of the valley floor, occasionally looking back along the way to signal Qin Yi to follow.
"..." Qin Yi found this somewhat unfathomable, but he followed anyway.
Along the way, whenever Qin Yi tried to approach, the spirit would deliberately accelerate its speed, always maintaining a certain distance.
Qin Yi furrowed his brow, doubt welling up in his heart.
Judging by its actions, it was clearly intentionally guiding him.
After traveling several miles, Qin Yi discovered quite a few scattered talisman papers hanging tattered and incomplete from tree branches. They should have been used to seal these evil entities, but by now they had completely lost their spiritual energy.
Yet strangely, these talismans, which had already shown signs of damage, were now regaining vibrant vitality due to his arrival.
At that moment, the demon spirit's movements suddenly halted. It slowly turned to face Qin Yi, paused for about three seconds, and then burst apart on the spot, transforming into specks of black light that vanished into the air.
Qin Yi was dumbfounded, but at the same time, the rumbling sound in the depths of the valley floor also dissipated.
It seemed as though it had vanished long before, only he hadn't noticed it until now.
He looked around and found that the scenery here was completely different from what he had seen at the mouth of the valley.
The spiritual energy on this valley floor was abundant, surpassing even the Fifteenth Immortal Prefecture by several times, making one feel refreshed and happy.
The spiritual energy and flora here blended together to form a paradise-like scene.
"If this Heavenly Abyss Valley floor weren't a forbidden zone guarded and watched by the various prefectural lords at all times, cultivating here with my innate blocked meridians constitution would certainly yield immense benefits..." A trace of yearning flashed through Qin Yi's eyes.
Down in the valley, streams of spiritual spring water flowed down from the rocks, converging into a small stream that poured into a crystal-clear pool.
The pool water rippled with light, and rare spiritual herbs grew around it. Among them, a lotus flower exhaled auspicious vapors and emitted a faint, refreshing fragrance. Qin Yi recognized it: this was a 'Phoenix Spirit Ice Lotus'.
In the Fifth Immortal Prefecture, a Phoenix Spirit Ice Lotus grew only a single leaf every ten years, yet here it was no different from an ordinary green lotus. Qin Yi counted carefully—this one must have had at least fifty leaves!
"Strange..." Qin Yi felt puzzled. "Such a conspicuous Phoenix Spirit Ice Lotus, yet no one has picked it? Could it be that it concealed its aura from the outside world?"
As he spoke, Qin Yi felt another surge of powerful spiritual energy fluctuating slightly. He moved his gaze toward the source of the spiritual spring not far away, where a purplish-gold light flickered faintly, though it was a bit too distant to see clearly.
Yet, judging purely by the aura, he knew it was definitely not an ordinary plant.
"That is..." Qin Yi's eyes widened abruptly. "The aura of an Earth-grade spiritual herb!"
Qin Yi quickly stowed away the lotus right before him, then moved to dive into the water, swimming toward the source of the spring.
His swimming speed began to slow down, as if someone were pulling him from beneath the water, making him gradually grow powerless, but just as his spiritual power was about to be exhausted, it quickly surged back up.
"What's going on?" Qin Yi suddenly stopped his movements, and just as he was about to cup the spring water in his hands to examine it, he saw that even his sleeves weren't wet, nor was the rest of his body.
He quickly scooped up a handful of spring water to look, filled with shock. "This is... spirit dew!"
Spirit dew—this was something he had once read about in the *Classic of Declaring Tendons and Grasses*. It was an extremely rare spiritual cultivation material in this world, appearing as water on the surface but existing as mist in substance; a single drop could transform into ten thousand seas and nurture countless daos...
"I thought it was all just a legend, I never expected to encounter it here!"
Qin Yi was overjoyed. He could feel the flow of soul origin within his body accelerating, and he could also clearly feel his cultivation continuously improving.
It felt as though he were fusing with heaven and earth, coexisting and breathing with all things.
Yet right now he could not afford to dwell on this, because there were even better, peerless treasures waiting for him ahead.
Qin Yi continued swimming forward, getting closer and closer to the source of the light. Just as he was about to approach, a tiny vortex suddenly appeared beneath the spring.
The vortex spun faster and faster, gathering the surrounding water toward the center and rushing inward rapidly. Qin Yi also felt a powerful suction force pulling and swallowing him toward the inside.
He tried to resist with his soul origin, but the suction force simply vanished upon contacting the soul origin, as if it did not exist at all.
Qin Yi was panic-stricken. He had come precisely to investigate, and if he were to be swallowed up by this vortex just like that, how deeply resentful would he be?
He could not retreat!
Qin Yi gritted his teeth and swam hard toward the outer edge of the vortex, trying to break free.
At that moment, the bottom of the spring suddenly cracked open, leading directly to some unknown destination, and that purplish-gold light was emanating precisely from within, intertwining with the gushing currents of the spiritual spring to form a dazzling sight.
Qin Yi felt as though his heart had been heavily struck, making even breathing difficult.
He tried to grab the water plants nearby to steady himself, but the purplish-gold light grew brighter and brighter. The entire pool began to boil, a powerful force began to pull at him, and the spiritual power within Qin Yi's body was rapidly draining away.