Starting as a Grandmaster, all of my cultivation techniques are at max level.

Xia Jin was very fast.

On this desolate Gobi Desert, although the rules of the Mirage Realm were extremely restrictive, greatly limiting his performance, his foundation as a third-level Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator was still there.

The sky is gradually darkening.

Xia Jin could even see eerie lights flickering behind the shadows of some boulders, like eyes silently watching the stranger hurrying by.

During this period, the Gobi Desert was unusually quiet.

Xia Jin walked quickly while keeping an eye on her surroundings.

After a short while, Xia Jin finally saw the huge withered tree.

The tree was much bigger than he had imagined.

Even from several miles away, the outline of the withered tree was still clearly visible.

Xia Jin quickened his pace and arrived at the withered tree in a few breaths. He looked up at the towering tree and couldn't help but frown slightly.

Upon closer inspection, the withered tree gave him an indescribable sense of unease. The bare branches didn't look like they had died naturally; rather, they seemed to have had their life force drained by something, turning into this state overnight.

The tree trunk was covered with dense cracks, and within those cracks, traces of dried black liquid could be faintly seen.

"According to Huo Qing, the entrance to the underground palace should be nearby! The cliff, yes, it should be below the cliff nearby!"

Xia Jin didn't linger in front of the withered tree for long. His gaze quickly swept around, and soon he noticed a cliff not far from the withered tree.

"Found it! This should be it!"

A hint of joy flashed in his eyes as he strode to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

Although a cold, damp aura surged up from below, obscuring his vision, he could still vaguely see a huge hole in the cliff face about twenty feet below the precipice.

"I knew it! This is it."

Without the slightest hesitation, Xia Jin jumped down.

After a few breaths, his feet landed steadily on a rock at the edge of the cave entrance.

The opening was larger than he had imagined.

Standing here, the cold, damp atmosphere became even stronger, as if countless unseen hands were reaching out from the darkness, trying to pull him in.

Xia Jin concealed her aura and suppressed the fluctuations of spiritual energy on her body to the lowest level.

The Nine Revolutions Creation Scripture's ability to conceal one's aura was revealed at this moment. He seemed to blend into his surroundings, making him difficult to detect without careful observation.

He carefully stepped into the cave entrance.

The passageway inside the cave was surprisingly spacious.

The passage was very high, about five or six zhang (approximately 10-13 meters) high, with jagged rock walls on both sides, covered with pits and cracks of all sizes. The ground was scattered with various footprints and drag marks.

Xia Jin's gaze swept over the marks, a growing sense of unease creeping into her heart. It seemed quite a few people frequented this place!

As he walked forward cautiously, he also devoted part of his attention to keeping a close eye on the Eastern Emperor Bell in his sea of ​​consciousness.

Based on previous experience, if there really is something related to the Eastern Emperor Bell in this underground palace, the broken ancient bell should have reacted.

However, a quarter of an hour passed.

Half an hour passed.

The Eastern Emperor Bell remained silently suspended in Xia Jin's sea of ​​consciousness, completely still.

There were no unusual changes.

Xia Jin's face gradually darkened.

He stopped in his tracks, standing in the middle of the passage. "What's going on!? Could it be... that Donghuang Zhong's reaction when I was watching the image in that crystal wasn't because of this?"

I traveled all this way, crossing those mountains that stretch for hundreds of miles, only to find out it was all for nothing.

As soon as the thought crossed Xia Jin's mind, she felt a tightness in her chest.

He took a deep breath, suppressed his agitation, and forced himself to calm down.

wrong.

There must be something in this underground palace.

But... perhaps it's hidden even deeper, and we need to go further inside.

After hesitating for a moment, Xia Jin decided to continue exploring.

at this time,

A strange noise came from deep within the passage ahead.

The sound was very faint, coming from a great distance, intermittent, like something crawling in the darkness.

Xia Jin frowned and immediately probed in that direction with his divine sense. However, the suppressive power of the rules of the Mirage Realm was too strong, and his divine sense could only probe within a mile, unable to reach the source of the sound at all.

But the sound was getting closer and closer.

And it's getting noisier and noisier.

Xia Jin's expression changed.

He didn't need to use his divine sense to investigate; just by listening to the sound, he knew that there was definitely a lot coming.

Moreover, they move extremely fast!

"Oh no! I need to find somewhere to hide!"

Xia Jin cursed inwardly, her eyes quickly scanning the surroundings, and soon noticed a narrow crack in the rock wall on the right side of the passage.

The crack was only about one person wide, extending inward for less than ten feet before reaching its bottom, like a natural depression. Although it wasn't ideal, there wasn't a better option at the moment.

Xia Jin's figure flashed, like a slippery eel, and instantly burrowed into the crack.

His body pressed tightly against the rock wall, suppressing his breath to the extreme, making him seem like a lifeless stone.

The instant he hid,

Deep inside the passage, the cacophony suddenly amplified!

Like a flood bursting its banks, countless dark figures surged out from the darkness deep within the passage!

Vast and densely packed, covering the sky and the earth!

Xia Jin glanced through the crack and her expression turned grim; her eyelids twitched involuntarily.

Those things were entirely black, their bodies resembling bats magnified countless times, yet possessing human-like torsos and limbs. A pair of enormous, fleshy wings spread from their backs.

Their limbs have sharp claws at the tips, which scratch the ground and rock walls constantly as they move quickly, making a piercing sound.

"What the hell is that?! Could those monsters be what we saw in the footage before?!"

Xia Jin sensed the cultivation levels of these monsters. This sensing caused a great uproar in his heart.

These winged monsters were all at the Creation Realm!

Moreover, it's not just the early stage of the Creation Realm; it also includes a large number of people at the seventh, eighth, and even ninth levels of the Creation Realm!

Such a vast number, with such astonishing cultivation levels, if they were to discover us here...

Xia Jin felt a chill run down her spine just thinking about it.

Even though he has now reached the third level of the Immortal Ascension Realm, facing such an overwhelming tide of monsters, let alone gaining any advantage, whether he can even escape alive is still an unknown.

After all, even ants can kill an elephant if they are numerous. What's more, these are not ants, but a group of ferocious creatures with terrifying cultivation.

The monster tide lasted for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea.

The horde of monsters, like a black river, surged forth from the depths of the passage, passed through the crack where Xia Jin was hiding, and rushed toward the cave entrance.

They are extremely fast, and each flap of their fleshy wings brings up a foul-smelling gust of wind.

Xia Jin remained motionless, staring intently through the cracks at the monsters that swept past her.

Finally, the noisy sounds gradually faded away.

The last monster flapped its fleshy wings, swept past the crack, and disappeared before Xia Jin's eyes.

The passageway fell silent again.

"They're finally gone?" Xia Jin suddenly felt a sense of relief, but he didn't go out immediately.

After waiting for several dozen breaths to make sure there was no movement, it slowly crawled out of the crack.

Xia Jin frowned, preparing to continue walking forward.

However, just as he took two steps,

A sharp whooshing sound suddenly came from behind him!

The sound was urgent and fierce, as if something was shooting towards him at an extremely fast speed!

Xia Jin reacted almost instinctively, shifting her body half a foot to the left.

"Whoosh."

A dark shadow flew past his ear.

Xia Jin looked down and saw a jet-black trident stuck less than three inches from his feet.

"Have we been discovered?" Xia Jin frowned, turned around, and looked in the direction from which the trident had been shot.

Not far from him, at the top of the passage, a monster covered in scales was hanging upside down on the rock wall, staring intently at him with its yellow eyes.