Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 373 How Much Trouble Can a Cultivator Get In?

At midnight, the moon was dark and the wind was strong.

After Ye Shuyun spoke those words with Lin Fengxian during the day, although she guessed that the other party might soon reveal her true colors, she did not expect it to be so fast. In just half a day, that very evening, she received news that Lin Fengxian had quietly left home at midnight.

The creature being watched was a paper sparrow puppet that landed outside the guest courtyard. It was inconspicuous and thus caught the usually cautious Lin Fengxian off guard.

In fact, Lin Fengxian had already scouted the location during the day.

Originally, she planned to travel around the entire White Stone Immortal Sect as much as possible. If she still found nothing, she would take her leave first, which would make it easier for her to act in the future.

Unexpectedly, she used the excuse of going down the mountain for a stroll, borrowed the teleportation array to go down the mountain, and then slipped into the newly appeared ice lake—near the White Stone Ice Sea—where she was surprised to find her target!
"There's no mistake! Absolutely no mistake! It's this aura! There must be a dimensional passage here! There definitely is!"

The old man's voice was extremely excited, even somewhat manic, and the face of the infant he was inhabiting also turned bright red: "I knew it! I knew that this Zhang fellow could stir up such a storm, he must have come from outside, and he must have a way out! Moreover, the concentration of spiritual energy on White Stone Mountain is rising so quickly, it must be because the passage is here!"

"Good disciple, search carefully. If you can find that passage, whatever you want, I will give you!"

Lin Fengxian was equally excited, but she was very cautious. During the day, she only wandered around the area briefly before returning to the two White Stone Immortal Sect disciples who had led her down the mountain.

Afterwards, she actually went with them to buy some things, as if it was indeed to go down the mountain for some fresh air and buy something along the way.

At midnight, she released her seal, and after sensing the spiritual energy, she hurriedly returned to the White Stone Ice Sea.

Fortunately, although the teleportation array was unusable, there was still an iron chain bridge connecting White Stone Mountain and the foot of the mountain. In the dead of night, she disguised herself as an ordinary outer disciple of the White Stone Immortal Sect and quietly left without anyone noticing.

It wasn't until she stood at the edge of the White Stone Ice Sea, the biting cold piercing through her thin clothes like needles, that she felt a little dazed.

The White Stone Ice Sea is an extremely cold lake. Even though Lin Fengxian is considered a cultivator with the cultivation level of the second stage of Qi Refining, and would not freeze to death, her limbs were already numb from the cold due to her low cultivation level.

Before me stretched an endless expanse of deep blue. After several days of calm, the ice on the lake had melted, but the icy mist that clung to the surface proclaimed the lake's extraordinary nature.

Thick, cold fog rolled across the ice, blurring the distant view. Faint glimmers of light flowed across the lake. The White Stone Ice Sea at night was even more beautiful than during the day.

Unfortunately, Lin Fengxian had no interest in appreciating such a beautiful view.

She made hand seals and, following the method taught by her master, searched the lake surface little by little for anything suspicious.

After circling the lake completely, she said, shivering, "Master, I really can't feel it. It feels like it's everywhere, but it also feels like it's never really close."

"Then it seems to be on the island in the middle of the lake."

The baby being carried on Lin Fengxian's back said.

Lin Fengxian also saw the island in the middle of the lake hidden in the thick fog. The Tongtian Seeking Tree also grew from the island in the middle of the lake. Such an important place may indeed contain a sealed boundary passage.

She didn't speak, but instead took out the black jade pendant, kissed it, whispered something, and then infused it with some spiritual energy.

Then, the black jade pendant emitted an extremely strong yin energy. This yin energy gathered more and more, and became stronger and stronger. Soon, it swept Lin Fengxian up and flew to the island in the middle of the lake.

No sooner had she landed than a figure stood beneath the tree, and an unfamiliar voice rang out: "Miss Lin, what brings you to my sect's forbidden area in the dead of night?"

Lin Fengxian was startled and quickly took a few steps back, clutching the jade pendant tightly in her hand, confronting the figure in front of her who was somewhat blurry due to the darkness.

The figure took a few steps forward, and in the faint light, Lin Fengxian could see his appearance clearly.

He was an ordinary man, someone I didn't recognize, but judging from his tone, he seemed to know me.

"My surname is Sun, my name is Sun Ping, and I am an outer disciple of the White Stone Immortal Sect."

Sun Ping smiled and said, "There are many outer disciples of the White Stone Immortal Sect, and I rarely go out. It's normal that Miss Lin doesn't recognize me."

"However, I am quite curious as to why Miss Lin would come here so late at night, and how she got here."

Sun Ping was very polite, but he had already sent a messenger when he discovered Lin Fengxian.

He was unaware of Lin Fengxian's strength, and a rash attack might result in losses. Therefore, he planned to stall her until his third senior brother or the sect leader arrived; what they did then would be none of his concern. However…

"Disciple, don't get entangled with him, he's stalling for time!"

The aged voice urged her on, and Lin Fengxian finally understood.

She quickly tossed the black jade pendant into the air, and the thick, inky fog immediately dispersed from it. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lin Fengxian bypassed Sun Ping and ran towards the center of the island in the lake.

Sun Ping had already established his foundation, and although his cultivation was still somewhat unstable, his five senses were much better than those of a Qi Refining cultivator.

Furthermore, this dense fog, brimming with yin energy, might be unbearable for other cultivators, but it was truly unfortunate that it struck Sun Ping, who spent years venturing into the underworld to earn spirit stones.

"Hmph! Pretending to be a ghost!"

He drew his Xuan Song Han Feng sword, cleaved through the thick fog with a single strike, and chased after Lin Feng Xian.

"No! That's wrong! It's not inside! It's outside!"

Before Lin Fengxian could run more than a few steps, she heard the baby behind her shout, "At the bottom of the lake! Jump in! I can feel it! At the bottom of the lake!"

"The bottom of the lake!?"

Lin Fengxian's pupils contracted slightly.

"Jump! Jump down now! This kid must have called for backup! Jump down!"

Without time to think, Lin Fengxian decisively rolled to the side, recalled the black jade pendant, and then jumped into the lake.

The icy lake water nearly suffocated Lin Fengxian, but she was soon enveloped by a cool, black mist.

The black fog reduced the lake's chill considerably, allowing Lin Fengxian to regain some strength before diving down to the spot the baby had indicated.

Sun Ping watched in shock as Lin Fengxian jumped into the lake. Then, recalling the words of the inexplicably appearing old voice, he hesitated for a moment before jumping into the lake after her.

The corrosive effect of this low-level, extremely cold spiritual energy was not too great on Foundation Establishment cultivators, and Sun Ping quickly caught up with Lin Fengxian.

"Those are the ones! Those are the ones! That's the interdimensional passage!"

The old voice was extremely frantic, and a pitch-black shadow emerged from the baby behind Lin Fengxian, impatiently crashing into the largest black hole not far away.

Although Sun Ping was unclear about the current situation, he instinctively felt he couldn't ignore it, so he quickly swung his sword at the black figure—

The cold sword light rushed forward, and the dark figure had no time to dodge. But just before he crashed into the black hole, he was suddenly stopped by a milky white barrier that appeared abruptly.

The barrier seemed to sense that someone was trying to break in, and it released a huge burst of spiritual energy, which repelled the dark figure and just avoided Sun Ping's sword strike.

Sun Ping's sword strike, however, landed squarely on the barrier.

Sun Ping didn't know just how powerful the Heavenly Rank Spirit Sword was.

But to his horror, he discovered that the milky-white, eggshell-like barrier shattered the moment his sword touched it.

"Hahahaha! It's like finding a needle in a haystack! You reckless lad, you're quite capable! I really have to thank you! Hahahaha!"

The dark figure laughed wildly and this time pounced directly into the barrier, rushing straight into the black hole.

Lin Fengxian followed closely behind, the mist emanating from the black jade pendant gently lifting her up and propelling her into the black hole.

Sun Ping stared at the scene before him, his face deathly pale. Only two words remained in his mind: It's over!

(End of this chapter)