The Great Ruler wanted to lie down but was thrown into the Spirit Road.

"Buzz!"

The sword's edge collided with the baleful aura, and in that instant, it was as if a black hole in spacetime had appeared, swallowing everything.

Wen Qingxuan and Wu Ling clearly saw that the evil energy was decaying, the spikes were disappearing, and even the claws of the Netherworld Beast were withering.

Even the most superficial understanding of the conception of time and space allows Yun Mo to stand out above the entire Spiritual Path.

The two, chosen ones of heaven, exchanged a glance, decisively gathered their last bit of life force, and left their final mark on the already severely injured Netherworld Beast.

They were the last straw that broke the camel's back.

After the battle ended, the entire battle zone seemed to have undergone a complete upheaval.

The ancient trees that were emitting fluorescent light nearby were snapped in half, and the small flowers and plants turned into a decaying, withered yellow. The entire piece of land was lifted up, revealing the rocks underneath.

The most terrifying thing was that sword mark, which left a deep scar on the basin, and the mystery of time and space lingered for a long time.

Wen Qingxuan reached out her delicate hand to support Yun Mo, who almost fell to the ground, and looked at him deeply.

Wu Ling, with Wu Yingying in tow, looked at Yun Mo with complicated expressions, feeling a deep sense of powerlessness.

……

As night fell, darkness enveloped the world.

"Hey, I said, shouldn't you give me back the rest of the Qi-restoring pills?" Yun Mo lay by the lake, completely exhausted. Even after recovering for a while, it still wasn't enough.

The claw attack from the Netherworld Beast had indeed seriously injured him; even after taking healing medicine, he would probably still need to lie down for a while.

"Huh? No way? No way? Captain Yun Mo, who is so powerful, actually fell down so easily? And he even asked us for Qi-restoring pills? He's so useless." Wu Yingying sat next to Yun Mo, her eyebrows curved, and gently poked his wound with her finger.

"Hiss, I was the one who gave you that Qi-restoring pill, okay? You still stabbed it! You're finished. The first thing I'll do when I get up is to deal with you." Yun Mo gritted his teeth and waved his arms. Wu Yingying's words made him really want to punch her.

"Hmph! I'm not afraid of you. Although Wu Ling is a good-for-nothing, I have Sister Qingxuan to protect me. Besides, you actually dare to threaten me now. Just wait and see what I do... Ah!"

Wu Yingying was about to use her fingers to poke near Yun Mo's wound again, but suddenly, Yun Mo braced himself with his left arm and reached out to grab her with his right hand, which frightened her so much that she quickly hid behind Wen Qingxuan.

Wen Qingxuan patted Wu Yingying's shoulder with her delicate hand, a smile on her face, "Don't be afraid, he doesn't have much strength right now. You can teach him a lesson before he gets up."

Yun Mo glared at the two women, then lay back down; it was more comfortable this way.

"Yunmo, what are your plans for the future?" Wu Ling sat by the campfire, roasting their dinner for the day.

"Hmm...did you pick all the medicinal herbs there?"

"A small portion was damaged by the aftershocks of your battle with that spirit beast, but most of them are still intact, and we've picked them all. It's just a pity that the Night Bees are gone." Wu Ling looked at the spirit herbs on the ground, a satisfied smile still on his face.

"How far can we go, roughly?"

"I estimate that it will be no problem for the three of us to reach the Spirit Wheel Realm physical strength. As for Yingying, she should also be able to reach the Spirit Movement Realm physical strength."

Wu Yingying pursed her lips after hearing Wu Ling's words, but didn't say anything. Three Spirit Wheel Realm experts would indeed allow their group to reach an unimaginable height on the Spirit Road.

Three Spirit Wheel Mirrors plus one Spirit Movement Realm expert mean three King-level figures at the end of the Spirit Road. This is enough to dominate the Spirit Road. Moreover, it should be noted that the Spirit Road is not even halfway through yet, and they still have room for improvement.

At least Wu Yingying has the opportunity to raise her physical strength to the Spirit Wheel Realm.

"Then let's use these medicinal herbs tomorrow. Afterwards, we can go and check out other places. I remember there should be two more such medicinal herb fields on the map," Wen Qingxuan said, taking the roasted meat from Wu Ling and handing it to Wu Yingying beside her.

"I think it might not be as easy in other places as it is here. This Nightblade Nether Beast only gave us an opportunity because it is not good at fighting. If we encounter other beasts raised by the Witch Clan, it might not be so easy."

Yun Mo was silent for a moment before speaking.

He didn't really want to go to the place Wen Qingxuan mentioned. They could actually focus on the tokens and reach the final destination as soon as possible so they could end this spiritual journey sooner.

"Actually, I'm more interested in this Netherworld Beast, or more accurately, I'm more interested in the traces of the Witch Clan appearing on the Spirit Road." A glint flashed in Wu Ling's eyes.

The continent of the ancestral land of the Witch Clan had vanished without a trace since its destruction in a fierce battle with the extraterrestrial evil race. Now that their figures have suddenly reappeared, how could one not fantasize about it?

It's important to know that the Spirit Road itself evolved from a small, broken continent.

Wen Qingxuan pursed her lips, a hint of desire in her beautiful eyes. "What you're trying to say is, the Spirit Road..."

"Yes! The Spirit Road might be part of the continent of the ancestral land of the Witch Clan." Wu Ling expressed his guess and continued, "The Divine Competition Law of the Spirit Road is terrifying. Anyone who enters without reaching the Earthly Sovereign realm will be suppressed, but their physical strength will not be affected."

It's important to know that in ancient times, the laws of divine competition were created by the Wu tribe. In places devoid of spiritual energy, they were the strongest beings in the vast world.

His words silenced everyone present, including Yun Mo, who was not surprised and even had doubts in his eyes.

After a short while, Yun Mo spoke up, "Let's improve our strength first. Even if the Spirit Road is really related to the Witch Clan, with our small stature, we might not be able to find out anything."

The other three breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Yun Mo was right, and could only put aside their excitement for the time being.

The night passed just like that.

This morning, Yun Mo was woken up by Wu Yingying poking his nose with a small twig, which made him furious. He thought he would catch up with her and teach her a lesson, but Wen Qingxuan stopped him.

"How are your preparations going? The body-tempering elixirs have been distributed, and I've sealed off the path into this basin beforehand, so there's no need to worry about anyone interfering," Wu Ling said, looking at the group.

The three nodded, and Yun Mo said, "Then let's each find a place to absorb the essence and break through. We'll meet here at the lake then."

"OK."

Yun Mo took the body-strengthening elixir and went to the depths of the lake.

He looked at the spiritual medicine in front of him, rubbed his temples. To be honest, the reason why his physical strength was relatively weak was because he didn't like that kind of self-harming cultivation method.

Body forging is generally inseparable from self-harm, since it is a process of destruction and reforging.

"Forget it, I'll just keep hurting myself. I'll get used to it after a while, like spitting blood. If you don't spit blood when you fight with someone, they'll think there's something wrong with you."

Yun Mo put a spiritual herb into his mouth, and soon his whole body turned red, with blood beads gushing out.

The tearing sensation in the muscles was truly terrifying.

He gritted his teeth, his face pale, enduring the gradually increasing pain in his body, and then stuffed all the spiritual herbs on the ground into his mouth again.

"I knew it! Self-harm is just not for me!"

The secret power of the elixir bloomed within his body, transforming into streams of heat that destroyed every muscle in his body, including his internal organs and meridians, twisting and pulling them apart.

And so it goes, in a never-ending cycle.

Yun Mo was drenched in cold sweat, and painful roars came from his throat. This situation only eased slightly when he gradually lost sensation of pain.

However, the immense medicinal power remained undiminished, continuing its journey towards the bones after ravaging the flesh.

At this moment, every bone in his body seemed to be shattered by a giant hammer and then reshaped by the power of a elixir.

Without even needing to look inward, Yun Mo could clearly see the earth-shattering changes his physical body was undergoing under the influence of the spiritual medicine.

Time passed by, second by second.

His body began to tremble uncontrollably, as if he were releasing all the medicinal power of the elixir within him.

Finally, with a piercing roar, Yun Mo's body erupted with terrifying power like a lit firework.

As the power dissipated, Yun Mo, whose body had become covered in scabs, slowly opened his eyes. A beam of blood-red light flashed in his eyes, and he shook his body, causing the scabs to fall off.

"Although self-harm is a bit perverted, the effect is really good. I can do it again sometime... um?" Yun Mo said, then slapped herself. "What's wrong with me? I suddenly think that self-harm is actually pretty good!"

It must be an illusion.

Yun Mo shuddered, a chill running down his spine.

……

Returning to the lakeside, and seeing that he was all alone, Yun Mo sat down and waited patiently for the others to break through.

"They're really slow. Unlike me, I just stuff all the elixirs into my mouth and it's over in a second."

Yun Mo looked around, staring at the dark lake. After a moment's thought, she inexplicably jumped in to wash herself, as there were still some blood clots on her body.

But the lake water was extremely cold, and as soon as he jumped in, he sensed something was wrong.

"Why are the lakes here so dark? And so cold?" Yun Mo frowned, suddenly becoming interested in the lake, and slowly dived down.

He extended his senses to their limit until he touched a jade pillar standing at the bottom of the lake.

"What is this? The patterns on it... seem to be the patterns of an array?"

Yun Mo swam to the jade pillar and touched it.

The jade pillar was extremely cold, and its color was pitch black.

"It seems the strangeness of this lake is due to this jet-black jade pillar?" Yun Mo muttered to himself, somewhat puzzled.

He shook his head and swam towards the lake, vaguely sensing that this jade pillar was beyond his current reach.

When he leaped out of the lake, he saw the group of people who had already returned to the lakeside.

"See? I knew Captain Yun Mo was down there, and with ill intentions. If we had gone down just now, he probably would have taken advantage of us," Wu Yingying said to Wen Qingxuan beside her.

Yun Mo rolled her eyes and said irritably, "I feel like there's something wrong with this lake. Shall we go down and take a look?"

Wu Ling smiled. Wu Yingying seemed to have some issues with Yun Mo, but not dislike. "What did you find down there?"

"There is only a black jade pillar below, which is extremely cold and seems to have the patterns of a spirit array attached to it. The strangeness of the lake is caused by it."

"Array patterns? Is that pillar a material used to set up an array?" Wen Qingxuan's phoenix eyes showed some doubt.

As Wu Ling pondered this, a sudden glint of light flashed in his eyes, and his face lit up with immense excitement. "Quickly, bring out the map!"