Qinghe Immortal Clan.

Chapter 1243 Entering the Stone Tower, Desert Restriction

In a vast white space, several figures stood in front of a white light barrier.

"There's only this one road; this place must lead upwards!"

"Let's go!"

At the leader's command, the others behind him nodded slightly, and no one raised any objections.

The group entered the white light barrier one after another.

With a flash of inspiration, when the group looked ahead again, the surrounding scenery had changed completely.

The group had arrived at a magnificent, golden palace.

Above the main hall, golden spiritual light flickered continuously.

Before anyone could react, they felt an immense, invisible pressure that froze them in place, making it impossible for them to move an inch.

Golden spiritual light suddenly rained down on them from all around, like raindrops.

Seeing this, an elderly man with white hair in the crowd immediately called out:
"Watch out, it's another restrictive formation!"

".

Located at the top of the mountain, outside the "Blue Stone Pagoda".

As the two "puppet beasts" arrived at the foot of the tower one after the other, and several figures jumped down from above, Song Qingming put the puppets back into his storage bag.

At this moment, two middle-aged men dressed in Taoist robes approached Song Qingming with smiles and bowed to him.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Song, for escorting us on our way!"

"Fellow Daoists, you are too kind. We are all human cultivators, and we should help each other here. There is no need for such formalities."

On the way to the mountaintop, Song Qingming was still a little worried that he might run into demon enemies and encounter some trouble.

Unexpectedly, the journey was very peaceful, and the group did not discover any trace of monsters.

Moreover, the closer you get to the mountaintop, the more the surroundings are shrouded in white mist, making it impossible to see the surrounding scenery.

The restrictions on this mountain not only prohibit cultivators from flying, but also suppress the divine sense of Nascent Soul cultivators to within a few dozen feet.

Just as the "puppet beast" was about to reach the vicinity of the mountaintop, the group happened to encounter two figures ahead.

One was Yang Boyuan, a Nascent Soul Elder from Danyuan Valley, and the other was Guangyuan Daoist, a rogue cultivator from the cultivation world of Donghuang Kingdom.

Yang Boyuan originally entered the secret realm with the Grand Elder of Danyuan Valley, "Gu Yu Dao Ren," and several fellow disciples.

For some unknown reason, after passing through the entrance, he suddenly became separated from his companions, leaving him all alone.

On his way to find an exit, Yang Boyuan bumped into "Guangyuan Taoist," who had also unfortunately become separated from his friends.

Knowing that the secret realm was extremely dangerous and full of demon cultivators, the two agreed to travel together. They then happened to run into Song Qingming and his group, who arrived a little later.

Although he wasn't very familiar with them, Song Qingming had seen them when he participated in the "Eastern Phoenix Sword Tournament" and knew the identities of Yang Boyuan and the other person.

Seeing that the low-level "puppet beast" controlled by the other party was too slow, he invited the two to travel together and took them to the top of the mountain.

When Yang Boyuan and the other person thanked him, Song Qingming, who had only done so casually, immediately waved his hand and then turned his gaze to the "blue stone tower" not far ahead.

"Fellow Daoists, now that we've arrived here, are you going to find the others, or would you like to come in with us?"

"We have come here in search of an opportunity, and now that we are here, we naturally want to go inside and take a look."

Moreover, given the abilities of the Grand Elder and the others, they have likely already entered the tower before us.

"What Fellow Daoist Yang said is correct. Since we have met several fellow Daoists, it is fate that we have met. Why don't we travel together first?"

That way, we can look out for each other.

They separated from their companions as soon as they entered, and if they wanted to go any further, they might encounter those demon enemies at any time.

With only the two of them, if they were to encounter a powerful demon, they would be outnumbered and in great danger.

What if, like Song Qingming and the others, they encounter a demon cultivator at the half-step Nascent Soul stage?

Forget about finding treasure; their lives are in grave danger, and whether they can even leave this place safely is questionable.

Yang Boyuan and "Guangyuan Daoist" are both Nascent Soul cultivators who have cultivated for nearly a thousand years, so they are well aware of the current situation.

Not wanting to give up this opportunity, they quickly made their choice to travel with Song Qingming and the others.

After all, with so many people acting together, even if they encounter powerful demon experts, they have nothing to fear when they join forces.

"Since you two fellow Daoists are willing to travel together, then I shall state my position in advance."

Once we go inside, whatever treasures we obtain, we must distribute them equally according to our contributions, and we must not keep anything for ourselves.

This was something we agreed upon beforehand, so I hope you two have no objections!

"Hehe! Since we're in the same industry, that's how it should be."

Fellow Daoists, rest assured, once inside, you will follow Fellow Daoist Song's instructions in everything you do; we will have no objections.

".

Seeing that Yang Boyuan had agreed with such certainty, Xia Mo, Bai Yuxian, and the others did not say anything more and simply nodded slightly to Song Qingming.

After confirming that an agreement had been reached with the other party, Song Qingming led everyone to walk quickly toward the location of the "blue stone tower".

Before long, the group arrived at the foot of the stone tower.

The "blue stone tower" in front of us is square and more than ten feet long and wide. There is a white magic circle in each direction, which seems to be the entrance to the tower.

The top of the stone tower was shrouded in mist, appearing and disappearing in the distance, and it seemed to have about six or seven stories.

After circling the stone tower several times, the group couldn't discern any difference.

Once everyone had gathered, the oldest person present, "Daoist Guangyuan," stroked his beard and immediately asked Song Qingming:
"Fellow Daoist Song, it seems that these entrance restrictions are separate. Which one do you think is the best place for us to go?"

"Hey! Someone's coming."

".

Just as Song Qingming was about to answer after a moment of thought, he suddenly heard a faint sound of footsteps coming from not far away.

Before long, a group of seven figures appeared in the clouds and mist and walked towards the stone tower.

"They are demon cultivators!"

"Song Qingming, it's you guys!"

The group had barely exchanged glances when Song Qingming and the others recognized the most familiar face in front of them—it was their old rival, the "Heavenly Tail Demon Emperor," and their expressions showed surprise.

Besides the "Heavenly Tail Demon Emperor," another "Azure Eye Demon Emperor" was also among them. However, the "Wooden Crane Demon Emperor" who came with them was nowhere to be found. It was unknown whether he had been separated from them when they entered.

Apart from the two of them, Song Qingming was meeting the other five people for the first time and was not familiar with them.

Two of them were at the late Nascent Soul stage, while the other three were at the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

When "Heavenly Tail Demon Emperor" and the others saw Song Qingming and his group standing in front of the stone tower, they were equally surprised and their eyes flashed with cold light as they looked over at them.

"If you can come here, why can't we? Does Fellow Daoist Tianwei perhaps want to fight here?"

"Hmph! I have no desire to fight you here."

“Song Qingming, everyone else has already gone inside. It would be unwise for us to continue wasting time here.”

"Since you don't want to fight, then you can go inside first!"

Although enemies are bound to be furious when they meet, they are currently in a secret realm, and finding treasure is the most important thing. No one wants to waste time fighting to the death over such a grudge.

Seeing that the "Heavenly Tail Demon Emperor" didn't want to get entangled with him, Song Qingming didn't try to stop him and waved his hand at him.

Seeing this, the "Heavenly Tail Demon Emperor" and his companions glanced warily at Song Qingming and his group, then quickly chose an entrance in the opposite direction and entered the white light barrier directly.

Once the figures of "Heavenly Tail Demon Emperor" and many other demon cultivators had disappeared, Song Qingming nodded slightly to the others.

"Let's go!"

As Song Qingming stepped into the white light barrier, the scene before him changed.

Once he regained his balance and could see clearly what was in front of him, he realized that he was in a red desert, surrounded by a reddish-yellow landscape, and the air around him was extremely hot.

Just as Song Qingming looked up and scanned his surroundings, several more flashes of spiritual light appeared behind him.

Bai Yuxian, Song Qingyu, "Guangyuan Daoist" and other fellow cultivators appeared one after another and landed beside Song Qingming.

This time, everyone was gathered in one place without exception, and unlike before, there were no cases of people disappearing without reason, which made everyone breathe a slight sigh of relief.

They had only been there a short while when a hot wind suddenly blew up and rushed towards their location.

The air brought by the gale was scorching hot, instantly raising the surrounding temperature by more than double. This made everyone present feel uncomfortable, and they all cast spells to create a protective barrier to insulate themselves from the high temperature outside.

"It's so hot! What kind of place is this? It's incredibly hot!"

"This place seems unusual; there must be some kind of special restriction set up. Everyone should be careful."

Although they weren't forcibly separated, the scene before them was rather unsettling.

Seeing the temperature around him rising, Song Qingming raised his hand and took out a transparent sphere from his body, casting a spell to create a white light shield.

With the protection of the "Ice Scale Pearl," a top-grade level four magic treasure, the temperature around him instantly dropped several times, enveloping Song Qingyu, Bai Yuxian, and Li Xianyun.

Following behind Song Qingming, Yang Boyuan cast a spell to raise a blue umbrella magic weapon, which he placed above his head, emitting bursts of blue light that shielded him and "Guangyuan Daoist" from the light.

On Xia Mo's side, Shen Bingling also summoned a white ribbon, which she wrapped around the three of them to block the heat waves that kept coming from all around.

Once they had regained their footing, the group began to walk forward.

With each step they took, waves of heat shot in like arrows, trying to keep them in place.

Fortunately, everyone had good magical treasures protecting them. Although they were not walking fast, they were not hindered by the heat wave and quickly walked several hundred feet away.

Those who can enter this place are basically high-level Nascent Soul cultivators with accomplished cultivation, and they all possess powerful defensive magic treasures. It's not unusual for them to take out one or two to resist the heatwave.

However, compared to Song Qingming's "Ice Scale Pearl," the other people's magical treasures were of much lower quality, and they did not cope with the heat wave as easily as he did.

The way they looked at Song Qingming also carried a different expression.

"Senior Sister Xia, could the magic weapon in Fellow Daoist Song's hand also be a high-grade fourth-level magic weapon? This person is truly unfathomable, possessing so many powerful high-level magic weapons."

During his previous battle with the Nascent Soul Peak Demon Emperor of the "Suanni Clan," Song Qingming had already used several high-level magic treasures, including the "Golden Palace Cloud Light Sword," the "Seven-Colored Green Lotus," and the "Five Elements Divine Light Mirror."

Now, she casually took out an "Ice Scale Pearl," which was also of the fourth-grade superior quality. This made Yu Mengning, who was standing behind, show some curiosity and ask a question in a low voice.

Upon hearing this, Xia Mo calmly replied, "Fellow Daoist Song has only been cultivating for a little over six hundred years, yet he has already begun to attempt to break through to the Nascent Soul realm."

For a cultivator of his ordinary background to achieve such a cultivation speed, how could he not have had some special opportunities? Junior sister, there's no need to be so surprised.

Compared to this precious magic weapon, the flying sword he used before was already far more powerful than an ordinary level four magic weapon.

If I'm not mistaken, the flying sword in his hand is undoubtedly a replica of a magical artifact!

"He actually possesses a replica of a magical artifact. No wonder the Free and Unfettered Sect was able to reclaim the Floating Cloud Mountain Range decades ago. This Song Qingming is truly no ordinary person."

Fortunately, my senior sister was familiar with him; otherwise, having such an enemy would be detrimental to our sect's development.

"Hmm! This person's current cultivation level is probably far from his limit. We should befriend him."

"Hehe! I've known you for so many years, and this is the first time I've heard you praise an outsider like this."

The peak of the Nascent Soul stage is not his limit yet; could this person truly have the potential to become a Deity?

Hearing Yu Mengning's nonchalant reply, Xia Mo's expression turned thoughtful, her face devoid of any hint of jest.

".

I don't know how long we walked, but the red and yellow desert ahead still stretched endlessly into the distance.

As time went on, the rate at which everyone's magical power was being consumed increased rapidly.

In order to preserve their own magical power, Xia Mo, Yu Mengning, and "Guangyuan Daoist" could only help each other take turns activating their magical treasures to resist the heatwave.

Only Song Qingming, who had summoned the "Ice Scale Pearl," appeared relatively relaxed and did not suggest that Bai Yuxian and the others take his place.

"boom!"

"Everyone be careful, there seems to be something down there."

Just as everyone was walking quickly forward, a sound suddenly came from the sand dunes ahead, and then the ground where everyone was standing suddenly began to shake.

Faced with the sudden earthquake, Song Qingming immediately cast a spell to summon his natal magic weapon, the "Five Elements Divine Light Mirror," to protect himself. He then spoke to remind everyone.

Just as Song Qingming finished speaking, several tornadoes suddenly rose up in front of them, blocking their path.

The tornado was incredibly fast, and even under the high temperature, it whipped up bursts of flames that swirled around it, like three fiery snakes dancing wildly and lunging towards the group.

Faced with these suddenly attacking fire snakes, Song Qingming immediately activated his magic weapon and shot out several golden chains, which directly imprisoned the three tornadoes in mid-air.

Although the golden chains managed to stop the opponent, they were quickly engulfed by the surrounding flames, and the chains turned crimson red under the intense heat.

The next moment, the fire dragon roared and broke free of its restraints, lunging at the group once more.

Just as they reached mid-air, a powerful, icy aura instantly enveloped the entire battlefield, causing the surrounding temperature to drop immediately.

Under Song Qingming's urging, the "Ice Scale Pearl" transformed into a beam of white light and quickly passed through the fire dragon at the front, instantly freezing it into a transparent ice sculpture.

Only then did everyone realize that inside the ice sculpture was a strange, red worm with two pairs of wings and a slender body, which was five or six zhang tall.

The fiery tornado was caused by this strange red insect.

Just as Song Qingming froze one of the crimson monsters, two more remained on the first level of the battlefield. He immediately manipulated the "Tornado" to change direction and attack from the side, trying to avoid the "Ice Scale Pearl's" attack.

However, before the enemy could reach them, Bai Yuxian and Xia Mo each unleashed their magical treasures, blocking them in mid-air.

The next moment, the "Ice Scale Pearl" passed through the crimson tornado, and the remaining two strange insects quickly turned into an ice sculpture.

Song Qingming glanced at the three crimson insects frozen in mid-air and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

"A fierce mosquito! I can't believe there's such a thing here."

The "Fierce Wind Mosquito" that Song Qingming mentioned is an extremely powerful fire-attribute spirit insect in the cultivation world. When they live in swarms, the flames they release can even threaten Nascent Soul cultivators.

However, this kind of spirit insect was generally active in the ancient "Southern Lin Immortal Continent", and its numbers were extremely rare. Now it is almost extinct.

Unexpectedly, it appeared in this secret realm. It seems that this item may have been brought in by the ancient cultivators who created this place.

Although the individual "Gale Mosquitoes" appeared fierce, they posed little threat to them and were quickly killed by Song Qingming and the others.

There are certainly more than just two or three of these gregarious creatures; hopefully there aren't too many here.

Just as Song Qingming uttered a prayer, more than a dozen crimson "tornadoes" suddenly rose up in the desert ahead, heading straight for their location.

Seeing this, everyone looked somewhat helpless.

"This is really troublesome!"

".

Half a day later, in a red desert.

As a blue light passed through several "tornadoes," many more transparent ice sculptures appeared in mid-air, falling and shattering on the ground below, revealing corpses that had long since died inside.

Having lost count of how many "Gale Mosquitoes" he had killed, Song Qingming felt that most of his magical power had been lost.

After collecting the demon insect's corpse, he quickly took out a spiritual pill from his person and swallowed it to slightly alleviate his own magical power.

Just as Song Qingming was casting a spell to retrieve the "Ice Scale Pearl" and preparing to continue forward, he suddenly heard an excited voice coming from Song Qingyu, who was walking in front of the group.

"Hey! There seems to be something ahead."

Upon hearing this, Song Qingming instinctively looked ahead and saw that a tall mountain had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the distance, surrounded by sand dunes, and was emitting bursts of spiritual light, as if it were hiding something.

"This... could it be the exit of this place? After searching for so long, I've finally found it."

Apart from Song Qingming, Yang Boyuan and the others were not injured, but their magical power was also greatly depleted, and their complexions were not good.

Seeing the strange phenomenon ahead, the group was more eager to see if it was an exit than the precious spiritual objects that might appear.

Otherwise, if they continued walking in the desert like this, they would probably exhaust their magical power and perish here sooner or later.

"Whatever it is, let's get there first!"

Seeing this, Song Qingming immediately urged everyone to quicken their pace, and they headed straight for the high mountain ahead.

After a while, the group arrived at the top of the mountain.

Only then did they realize that the place emitting white light was indeed a teleportation restriction array, but they were unsure where it led.

"It seems that Fellow Daoist Yang was right, this place should be the entrance to the next level."

After a careful inspection, Song Qingming found that there was nothing wrong with the teleportation array, and immediately stepped into it first.

Seeing this, the others followed him into the teleportation array.

Not long after Song Qingming and the others disappeared, three more figures walked quickly toward the mountain from a distance.

Just as the three of them were getting closer and closer to this place, the black mountain that had been standing there suddenly flashed with spiritual light and disappeared into the air.

They suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving no trace.

Seeing this sudden turn of events, the three cultivators, who had been struggling for a long time, couldn't help but show surprise.

"That's strange. It was right in front of us just now, how could it suddenly disappear?"

"What on earth is going on? Is this a hallucination?"

".

Just as the three were puzzled, a tremor suddenly came from underground, followed by a loud rumbling sound.

"Oh no! Those things are here again!"

Upon seeing this, the three of them immediately changed their expressions and raised their hands to cast spells, summoning their magical treasures.

The next moment, crimson light flashed all around, and more than a dozen "tornadoes" quickly formed, carrying countless flames and rushing towards their location.

".

In a lush green forest, a flash of light appeared, and a figure suddenly appeared in the air.

Then, bursts of spiritual light shone around them again, and figures emerged one after another, landing under the towering tree in front of them.

"Such rich wood-elemental spiritual energy, this place looks quite nice."

After glancing ahead, the group, whose faces had looked rather grim in the desert, immediately brightened up upon seeing that they were surrounded by a place filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers.

Although they didn't know where they were, they were secretly relieved to have escaped the desert safely.

Anyway, we've finally left that extremely dangerous place and can finally get some rest.

"Qingyu, you and Junior Brother Li, please keep a close watch!"

"The rest of you, stay here and recover your mana, just in case there's any danger."

"Don't worry, Seventh Brother, I understand!"

Upon hearing what Song Qingming said, Song Qingyu nodded slightly and immediately cast a spell to summon her "natal flying sword" to begin guarding her surroundings.

The group, who had just exhausted a lot of their magical power in the desert, immediately sat down cross-legged and began to recover their strength.

(PS: I was so busy organizing things for the Chinese New Year yesterday that I completely forgot it was Valentine's Day until today.)

Although I'm late, I still want to congratulate all fellow cultivators on finding your perfect partner and achieving rapid advancements in your cultivation.
(End of this chapter)