Chapter 108 One-Way Teleportation Array and the Bell of Vengeance

"How could there be an array here?" Song Yin couldn't understand. Linfeng Mountain was a mountain shrouded in poisonous fog. Could there be a secret hidden in setting up an array here?

Shi Heming: "I can break this formation. Do you want to open it and take a look?"

Just as Song Yin was about to nod in agreement, a scream came from not far away.

"Who goes there! How dare you attack me, your grandmother!"

It was Xuan Ling's voice.

Song Yin quickly looked around and locked onto a large, leafy tree next to the array: "Quickly stick up a few more concealment talismans, we'll hide in the tree."

Following instructions, Shi Heming not only drew concealment talismans for the two of them, but also took out two fourth-tier invisibility talismans from his spatial storage and affixed them to his body.

Song Yin hid in the tree, furtively peeking through the leaves towards the direction of the fight.

Unfortunately, the poisonous fog blocked the view, and all that could be vaguely seen were the lights emitted by various moves.

The air surged, dispersing some of the poisonous mist, and the clash of weapons produced a clanging sound. Judging by the commotion, the high-level Thunder Sun Birds should have been attracted long ago, but after fighting for a long time, the high-level Thunder Sun Birds were nowhere to be seen, while the low-level Thunder Sun Birds were scattering in all directions.

After fighting for more than ten minutes, the high-level Thunder Sun Bird still hadn't appeared, and Song Yin was starting to doubt whether Lin Fengshan actually had a high-level Thunder Sun Bird.

Soon, the sounds of battle gradually subsided.

Is it over? I don't even know who won or lost.

A figure slowly appeared in the poisonous fog, becoming clearer and clearer.

Song Yin, hiding in a tree, saw a man dressed in all black dragging one person with each hand as they walked away. There were drag marks all over the ground. Xuan Ling and Feng Liang were already unconscious.

Feng Liang is a sword cultivator at the early stage of the Golden Core realm, how could he have lost?

What level of cultivation did the person who won possess?

As the person drew closer, the person dressed entirely in black finally revealed their full face.

Song Yin felt that the face looked familiar, but who could it be...?

The familiar-looking man walked to the array, looked around to make sure no one was there, then raised his hand to open a gap in the array, and dragged the unconscious Xuan Ling and Feng Liang inside.

When the formation opened a gap, it was enough for the two people hiding in the tree to see what was inside.

A familiar man in black entered the cave, where there was a formation. He dragged Xuan Ling and Feng Liang onto it and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

The formation concealing the cave outside slowly closed its opening automatically.

Song Yin took a deep breath. There was another formation behind the first one, and it was a teleportation formation!

Teleportation arrays are not cheap to build, and setting them up deep in the mountains and forests looks increasingly eerie.

"Let's go in and take a look." Song Yin jumped down from the tree.

Shi Heming broke open a gap in the formation, and the two of them went inside.

The cave was damp and empty except for a lone teleportation array.

Song Yin walked around the cave and then saw a knotted rope next to the teleportation array, which was pinned down by a rock. She walked over, squatted down, pinched the knot, and pulled it out, revealing a complete identity token.

The top is engraved with "Bi Jiangxue", and the back is engraved with the three characters "Shuiyue Zong".

“Bi Jiangxue…” Song Yin murmured, then exclaimed in surprise, “Bi Jiangxue?!”

Shi Heming squatted down and looked at the words on the identity tag, "Bi Jiangxue, do you know this person?"

Song Yin: "I know her. Before her master, Master Fan, passed away, he gave me a great gift. Moreover, Master Fan was a friend of my grandmaster and once asked my grandmaster to help take care of his disciple."

She had never told Shi Heming and the others about Master Fan's matter, so Shi Heming and Xia Xining still did not know why their master had suddenly called them away after the Wanfa Exchange Conference.

Shi Heming: "The identity tag of this person named Bi Jiangxue was dropped here. I guess she is either in cahoots with the men in black from earlier, or she has also met with misfortune. Judging from the appearance of the identity tag, it should have been dropped recently."

Song Yin turned her identity card over and over in her hand, caught in a dilemma.

To be honest, given my personality, I should have just packed up and left. But the identity token happened to be Bi Jiangxue's. She was personally taken to the Shuiyue Sect by another friend of my grandmaster back then, so the three characters "Shuiyue Sect" on the back of the identity token also match.

[Your talent in alchemy is unparalleled in the secular world. Giving you these alchemical formulas is a fitting end.]

Those words from back then came to mind, and Song Yin looked at the identity token in her hand and sighed deeply.

"well……"

She stood up and put her identity token into her storage bag. "I don't know where the other end of the teleportation array is. It doesn't matter whether I save Xuan Ling and Feng Liang, who were just taken away, or not, since they are strangers anyway."

“But Bi Jiangxue is different. Her master is a powerful cultivator in the Tribulation Transcending stage, and he passed on all the pill formulas he had collected and organized throughout his life to me. Back then, Elder Fan said that I had good talent in the Dao of Alchemy, so he passed on the pill formulas to me. But I know very well that Elder Fan passed on the pill formulas to me because of my grandmaster. He needed my grandmaster to help take care of his two disciples.”

This was the first time Shi Heming had heard of these things.

Song Yin continued, "Actually, if Elder Fan had had a Rejuvenation Pill back then, he wouldn't have died. Although it requires a Nine-Turn Rejuvenation Pill, my grandmaster was a Mahayana stage alchemist, and she could already refine a ninth-grade pill. But the most important ingredient in the Rejuvenation Pill is called Brahma's Essence..."

She recounted the whole story and explained why she had asked him to keep Senior Jingyue's secret back then.

"I've always thought that if I had nurtured that section of Brahmathorn earlier, the outcome might have been different."

Shi Heming: "But it took you decades to get the Brahma Thorn to bloom, while Elder Fan didn't have much time left back then. Even if you cultivated it immediately after leaving the Floating Dream Secret Realm, it wouldn't have been enough time."

Song Yin: "I've thought about this for decades, but the main reason that accelerated Master Fan's demise was that he passed on his cultivation techniques to his disciples and his elixir formulas to me. If I had taken out the Brahma Thorn earlier, perhaps he would have had a chance to live and wouldn't have had the conviction of certain death to pass on his teachings prematurely."

"Moreover, the highest grade Resurrection Pill has the effect of nine-turn resurrection, bringing the dead back to life. Even if someone dies, their body can be preserved, their soul remains intact, and their physical body is preserved. Once our master refines the Resurrection Pill, there is still hope for the person."

This is why she was determined to refine the Resurrection Pill after obtaining its recipe.

The Resurrection Pill can be used, but it is essential.

If something untoward happens to yourself or someone close to you in the future, the Resurrection Pill will be your trump card.

Shi Heming: "In any case, this is not your fault. You don't need to blame yourself for the deaths of others."

"Actually, I know this isn't my fault. I should have refused all the pill formulas he offered back then." Song Yin rubbed her face and said regretfully, "He who eats another's food is bound to do the same; that's exactly what I did."

Shi Heming stepped onto the teleportation array.

Song Yin was startled: "How did you end up standing there?"

Shi Heming: "If you want to save people, I will naturally go with you. However, I only realized after I stood on it that this teleportation array is a one-way teleportation array. It can only teleport people away, not back."

Since things had come to this point, Song Yin stopped dwelling on it and stepped onto the teleportation array.

Shi Heming took out spirit stones and activated the teleportation array.

Just then, Song Yin, who had been talking about the past, suddenly said, "I remember why the man in black looks familiar. He is Yu Lao Er, the evil cultivator who possessed my body back then. I saw fragments of his memories in his soul, which is why he looks familiar."

"The memory of cultivators is still too good. I admire myself for remembering things from decades ago." Song Yin complained.

The teleportation array is activated, and the familiar teleportation sensation is felt.

The scenery changed, moving from the cave to another forest. However, this forest was not as dense and dark as the forest that was sealed off. The trees were spaced far apart, and you could see the starlight when you looked up and feel the soft touch of the grass under your feet.

The fresh scent of grass eased Song Yin's tense nerves a little. "Luckily, there are no evil cultivators guarding this place. I was afraid we would be captured by them as soon as we were teleported here." She surveyed the surroundings. "I don't even know where this is."

Shi Heming released a second-tier tracking talisman, and traces of life activity quickly appeared on the ground. Following the three dark blue lights, the direction that Yu Lao Er went could be determined.

"Let's find someone first. Put on the Concealing Breath Talisman and Invisibility Talisman, and we'll follow the three beams of light."

Song Yin: "Okay."

Following the trails revealed by the tracking talisman, the two traversed the unfamiliar mountains and fields in the night, sometimes walking straight and sometimes turning, and sometimes flying down cliffs.

After walking for a long time, they finally found the evil cultivators' lair.

In a secluded valley, Zhao Laoda, whom Song Yin had seen in fragments of her memory, was sitting cross-legged at the cave entrance.

It's either underground caves or mountain caves. People in the cultivation world really can't stand caves. Song Yin silently complained again.

The cave behind Zhao Laoda was clearly not naturally formed, but rather artificially created.

Just as Song Yin was pondering how to investigate the cave behind Boss Zhao, Boss Zhao moved. His hands moved constantly, using the moonlight to cultivate.

It was because he moved that Song Yin and Shi Heming were able to perceive Zhao Laoda's cultivation level.

Song Yin pulled Shi Heming's hand and wrote in his palm: He is Boss Zhao. Judging from the spiritual energy around him when he was cultivating, he is in the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

She dared not use telepathy in front of someone at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm; if she were detected, she would be doomed.

As his fingertips slid across her palm, Shi Heming's breath caught in his throat for a moment. After reading what Song Yin had written, he naturally took her hand and wrote in her palm.

Yu Lao Er, who brought the men, was nowhere to be found, and there was also a formation in the cave behind Zhao Lao Da.

Song Yin sighed softly, "Another formation."

They dared not use the tracking talisman again, because if the traces were revealed to Boss Zhao and he noticed, they would be finished.

Progress has stalled; as long as Boss Zhao doesn't leave, they won't be able to uncover the secrets of the cave.

Just as the two were at their wits' end, a commotion came from the other side.

A woman dressed in a black cloak and wearing a hood walked over carrying two unconscious adults.

"Boss, you've caught two more people. I've caught the most this month, haven't I?"

Zhao the eldest opened his eyes and stopped cultivating. "The second brother also brought two people with him. You've caught the same number of people. He's gone off to catch new ones now. But why are you arguing with the second brother? Anyway, we'll share the stuff in the cave equally among the three of us in the end."

The woman scoffed and took off her hood. "Everything in the cave is shared equally, but not the Vengeful Spirit Bell. Whoever captures the most people gets to keep it. Anyway, I, Sister Mei, am determined to get the Vengeful Spirit Bell."

Zhao the eldest: "Alright, alright, you and the second brother can argue about it slowly. Take these two eyesores to the usual place too."

Mei Sanjie picked up the person again, saying, "Alright!"

Song Yin and Shi Heming quietly followed behind Mei Sanjie.

Mei Sanjie's cultivation level was only at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm. Like Shi Heming, she carried the two of them and walked through the valley with great speed.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, Sister Mei stopped under a dead tree trunk. She poured her spiritual energy into the trunk, and soon steps leading to the underground appeared next to it.

Mei Sanjie carried the person inside, and soon came out of the steps again. Then she placed her hand on the withered tree trunk and took away the spiritual energy that had been injected into it. The steps then disappeared automatically.

After finishing everything, Sister Mei stretched and walked back towards Boss Zhao's direction.

Song Yin took out a black hooded cloak from her spatial storage and put it on.

The same applies to Shi Heming.

Once they were sure the person was far away, the two tiptoed to the dead tree trunk.

Following the steps she had just taken, Song Yin infused spiritual energy into the tree trunk. The steps leading down reappeared, and she stepped down to check if Bi Jiangxue was still there.

Shi Heming left several paper figures on the ground to keep an eye on the outside world.

In emergencies, he can also control the paper effigies to absorb the spiritual energy from the withered tree trunks, restoring the place to normal.

The area below the steps was dimly lit, and an unidentified crystal-like object emitted a green light, illuminating the underground space and making everything appear green, as if it had been filtered through a green lens.

Further in, eight rooms came into view, each corresponding to one of the eight elements: metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, and ice. Each room was a cage, and the people imprisoned inside were all weak and lying on the ground.

Each cell held ten people, but the last cell held only nine. All the people captured by Yu Lao Er and Mei San Jie were locked in the last cell.

Looking at the last cell, there was even a child as young as ten years old locked up inside.

Some of those who awoke thought the evil cultivators had returned, their eyes filled with fear and rage. They trembled on the ground, filled with hatred, watching helplessly as their lives slipped away.

These people grew weaker and weaker, and their resentment grew stronger.

Song Yin started looking for Bi Jiangxue in the first room, but she didn't find her there. She kept searching until she finally saw Bi Jiangxue in the seventh cell.

Bi Jiangxue had completely lost consciousness, but the female cultivator in the same cell, seeing her looking over, shielded the unconscious person behind her.

"She's not dead yet," the hoarse but resilient voice said.

This female nun had a darker complexion than the others, a healthy wheatish skin tone. A deep scar ran from her brow bone to her earlobe, and her arms were covered with scars of varying sizes and ages. It wasn't hard to imagine that her body beneath her clothes was also covered in scars.

Shi Heming had finished inspecting the cages and transmitted his voice, "It's another array. Each cage contains a small array, and the eight small arrays together form a large array. The array is continuously absorbing their spiritual energy and life force."

Looking at the first few cages, some people already had white hair, loose skin, and were covered in wrinkles. Their lifespans must have been almost completely absorbed, hence their aged appearance.

Song Yin transmitted her voice: "Can it be broken?"

Shi Heming transmitted his voice: "It's very tricky and will take time. I need to figure out the formation first before I can come up with a solution."

When the elderly people saw Song Yin approaching, they trembled and looked at the wall on the left with fear in their eyes.

Song Yin followed their gaze and used her divine sense to investigate; there was another space behind the wall.

Song Yin transmitted her voice: "You study the formation first, I'll go check behind the wall, there's a new space inside."

Shi Heming transmitted his voice: "Be careful in everything."

Song Yin nodded, then walked towards the wall.

The elderly people were terrified when they saw her walk into the wall; they nearly jumped over it. No one begged for mercy, because they knew it was useless.

Song Yin placed her palm against the wall, thinking about how to infuse spiritual energy into the withered tree trunk, and then infused a little bit of spiritual energy into the wall.

The wall began to soften and become transparent, until the entire wall was completely transparent, revealing the space behind it. Song Yin reached her hand in, and the wall disappeared.

The smell inside was far worse than the caged space outside; the stench of decay assaulted her nostrils. Song Yin frowned and used her spiritual energy to create a small barrier around herself, shutting out the unpleasant odor.

Shi Heming smelled the aroma, which drew his attention.

Behind the wall was a large space, with piles of white bones forming a mountain, and a bell floating on the mountaintop.

Perhaps this is the vengeful spirit bell that Sister Mei mentioned. It truly lives up to its name. Even from a great distance, Song Yin could hear the wails of the wronged spirits. They were all trapped in the vengeful spirit bell and became part of the evil cultivator's magical artifact.

After the Bell of Vengeful Spirits has drained them of their last bit of value, their souls become unconscious and then at the mercy of the artifact's owner.

After listening to the wails of the wronged spirits for less than a minute, Song Yin felt dizzy. She closed her eyes to calm herself down and clear her head.

It seems that the Vengeful Spirit Bell is used for mental attacks.

Seeing the mountain of bones, the elderly men finally couldn't hold on any longer.

"Please, please don't lock us up. We're willing to give our lives, just spare our souls and let us be reincarnated."

"Please, please." Another person knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly.

Song Yin didn't speak, but instead walked to the cage where Bi Jiangxue was.

The female cultivator, covered in scars, shielded Bi Jiangxue and the other children behind her, even though she was already at her last gasp.

Rumble!

A thunderous roar erupted.

Zhao Laoda looked up at the sky and said, "The weather really changes in an instant. Just a moment ago it was clear and the stars and moon were clearly visible, but now dark clouds have completely covered the moon. How can we cultivate now?"

As Sister Mei ate the monster meat she had roasted, she heard this and said, "Isn't it tiring to cultivate under the moon every day? You should know how to balance work and rest. Do you want to eat meat?"

Boss Zhao: "You're like someone who only works sporadically. I wonder when you'll ever reach the Nascent Soul stage."

"Look at what you're saying. With the things in the cave, of course I can cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage. The three of us are the least talented, and were once considered rotten wood by our master."

"But what's the truth? Right now, you're at the Nascent Soul stage, and my second brother and I are both at the Golden Core stage. In another hundred years, I should be able to reach the Nascent Soul stage as well."

Sister Mei laughed as she spoke, "Our cultivation speed is comparable to that of the genius disciples of major sects. I think if we changed our identities to independent cultivators, we could also participate in the Xuan Tian Assembly."

When Zhao Laoda heard Mei Sanjie praise him, he felt relieved. "Everyone says that cultivation depends on talent and comprehension. Back then, the three of us were scolded for having neither talent nor comprehension, but now we can still cultivate to a higher level than the old man. The old man was only at the Foundation Establishment stage until he died, hahaha."

Mei Sanjie swallowed a mouthful of meat, picked up the wine beside her and drank it all in one gulp. After finishing, she wiped her mouth and said, "That's right. If you don't have talent and comprehension, you can make up for it with good fortune. If you don't have enough good fortune, you can create your own."

Old Zhao reached out his hand: "Well said, where's the wine? Give me a sip too."

Mei Sanjie glanced at the small wine jar, then looked up and chuckled, "I just finished drinking it, hiccup."

Old Zhao laughed loudly, "Drink, drink, drink, how can you not drink yourself to death?"

Mei Sanjie said, "I'm a Golden Core cultivator, of course I won't drink myself to death, hiccup." She was a little drunk. "Boss, if you want to drink, I'll go to the nearest town to buy you some."

Boss Zhao: "Alright, what's the point of buying? Do you even have those spirit stones?"

Mei Sanjie patted the beast's fur. "Hiccup, I just removed the whole pelt. I can sell it as a refining material for spirit stones. Hiccup, boss, you wait."

After saying that, he picked up the monster's pelt and flew away.

"Sigh!" Zhao Laoda didn't have time to stop her. That was just Mei Sanjie's temper. He had no choice but to stand up and walk into the cave.

"Even without the moonlight for cultivation, one can still cultivate using the treasures inside..."

Meanwhile, on the other side...

Shi Heming transmitted his voice to Song Yin: "I have figured out the formation. This formation is a conversion formation. The life and spiritual energy of the people who are imprisoned will eventually be transformed into another kind of energy and then supplied to the other side of the formation."

Song Yin transmitted her voice: "The other side?"

Shi Heming transmitted his voice: "That's right, and judging from the energy flow, the other end of the formation is the cave behind Boss Zhao."

Song Yin looked at the mountain of white bones and transmitted her voice: "So there really is something in the cave behind him, but what exactly is it that would make him use so many lives to fill it?"

These are bones that have accumulated over decades, no, even longer.

Lin Fengshan...

Song Yin transmitted her voice: "Do you still remember what the shopkeeper said about how many cultivators have perished in Linfeng Mountain over the past few hundred years?"

Shi Heming instantly understood her meaning and transmitted his voice: "You mean the remains of those fallen cultivators are among this pile of bones?"

Song Yin transmitted her voice: "There is a one-way teleportation array hidden in Linfeng Mountain. If any cultivator who enters is killed inside, just say that they encountered an accident and their body was never found. Everyone will believe it."

"Just like us back then, if we hadn't accidentally tracked them down here, we would have believed this rumor too, let alone a rumor that has been circulating for hundreds of years?"

Song Yin walked into the space inside and pulled out a special piece of bone from the pile of bones.

She transmitted her voice: "Look, the remains of the high-level Thunder Sun Bird are here too. No wonder the battle between Yu Lao Er and the others didn't attract any high-level demonic beasts. I'm afraid all the high-level demonic beasts in Lin Feng Mountain have already been killed."

"The more they arrest people, the more they confirm the rumors that the forest closure is dangerous, and they don't have to be hunted down. Tsk tsk tsk, what a clever scheme."

Shi Heming asked, "So what do you plan to do with these people who are imprisoned?"

Song Yin crossed her arms, tapped her fingers lightly, and considered various options in her mind before finally choosing the first one.

She transmitted her voice: "We still have to kill the evil cultivators, otherwise it will be difficult to escape with a group of people. If we rashly rescue them, we will alert them and let the evil cultivators escape and hide in another place to continue capturing people. At that time, it will be very difficult to capture the evil cultivators again."

The people in the cage were either unconscious, weak, or terrified.

Song Yin sighed, her conscience bothering her; saving one person was one thing, saving a group was another.

"Can you stop the formation?" Song Yin asked telepathically.

Shi Heming transmitted his voice: "Stopping it will definitely attract attention, but slowing down the formation will make them feel better."

Song Yin transmitted her voice: "Let's do it your way."

Those who were conscious in the cages didn't understand why the men in black hadn't thrown them into the pile of bones.

The man opened the space behind the wall, then closed it again, and finally left the underground cell without doing anything else.

The taller man in black buried a few things near the cage and left, watching helplessly as the entrance to the steps closed again.

But the female cultivator, covered in wounds, brightened up and stared at the closed entrance for a very long time.

Song Yin and Shi Heming returned to the location where Zhao Laoda was, hiding in a blind spot in his line of sight.

Not seeing Boss Zhao, they had to change their angle again.

Finally, Song Yin saw Boss Zhao.

She guessed that it might be because the weather was changing and it was going to rain, so Zhao Laoda went into the cave.

Zhao Laoda was waiting for Mei Sanjie to return with the wine, so the entrance to the cave was not hidden or sealed.

Taking this opportunity, Song Yin got a clear look at the thing in the cave that was as tall as a person.

She was breathing rapidly, unable to believe her eyes, and instinctively gripped Shi Heming's arm tightly, staring intently at what was inside the cave.

"That's...!!"

-----------------------

Author's Note: Shi Heming looked at his arm, which was being gripped tightly: Yinyin, be gentle, your arm is going to break [poor face]

Song Yin: It's okay if it's broken, I'll put your [sunglasses] back on.

Shi Heming: [Fearful]

-

Collect them, collect them from all directions [empty bowl]