Contrary to Lu Shenzhi's expectations, there were no offensive formations in this underground palace.

Shi Xuan and Lin Daozi found an inconspicuous place, set up a soundproof barrier, and then opened a passage that had not yet collapsed to enter the underground palace.

To Shi Xuan's surprise, there was no danger in the underground palace. On the contrary, the spiritual energy was abundant. Being inside, the spiritual energy around him was much more active than outside. Even the ever-stable and passively operating myriad things were more excited than usual.

Shi Xuan and Lin Daozi exchanged a glance; they both sensed it.

“The spiritual energy underground is more concentrated than that above ground, which doesn’t make sense,” Shi Xuan said.

Lin Daozi: "It should be enhanced by an array, such as a spirit-gathering array."

"Then why not concentrate the formation on top and hide it underground? Is it so that the disciples can all cultivate underground?"

"Let's go in and take a look."

Shi Xuan took out the luminous pearl, and the two walked along the passage into the interior.

This underground palace is somewhat similar to the black market secret passage the two entered last time, but it is much more elaborately constructed. The walls on both sides of the passage are made of stone, and at intervals, there are eye patterns carved on them.

The underground palace was completely silent. After walking for about half an hour, apart from a few empty rooms, there were no other discoveries.

After walking a little further, Lin Daozi suddenly pulled Shi Xuan behind him. Someone was there!

Shi Xuan put away the luminous pearl and went into a state of alert behind Lin Daozi.

The people opposite them were unknown—whether they were originally from the underground palace or had come in from the outside to explore like them—and their strength was also unknown. They needed to be cautious. Lin Daozi prepared to attack, in case of a sudden attack.

But the person opposite them walked straight towards them, and after turning the corner, they bumped into each other.

"Sect Master Lei?"

"Fellow Daoist Lin?"

Two voices rang out almost simultaneously. Shi Xuan took out the Night-Shining Pearl again, and the person opposite him was Lei Zhi, the sect master of the Hidden Sect.

Upon meeting, there was no need for explanations; they both understood each other perfectly. Lin Daozi and Shi Xuan had stated their intention to investigate the Eye Gang from the moment they arrived at Luoyin Sect, while Lei Zhi had likely noticed the underground palace during the day when he saw Shi Xuan's experiment, or even earlier.

Lin Daozi laughed heartily, easing the tension, and asked, "Sect Leader Lei, have you made any discoveries?"

Lei Zhi replied with a smile, "No."

"Shall we go in together?" Lin Daozi invited.

“Haha,” Lei Zhi laughed, “Since we’ve met, we should travel together.”

The exploration team has grown from two to three people.

The three continued walking in, and after about a hundred steps, they finally saw that one of the rooms was not empty.

It was a room that resembled a living room, with a bed and luggage spread out on it. Next to the bed was a table with writing implements and a teacup on it.

There was a bookshelf in front of the table, with some books and notes stacked on it.

Shi Xuan stepped forward and opened the books and notes on the shelf, flipping through them one by one. Most of them were books on formations, including records of several soul-separating and soul-transferring formations she had seen before.

Continuing to read his notes, in addition to his insights on formations, he also recorded some of his feelings and thoughts.

It's almost there; it's being achieved step by step.

Apostles cannot have their own thoughts.

[Damn it, we lost two! It'll take a lot of effort to get them back.]

...

Therefore, they are plotting something big and are moving forward step by step. The two who were lost should be No. 26 and No. 28. As for the apostles, they should be those fanatical followers, such as the Cangyu Peak disciples with the eye symbol, who are willing to die for the organization at any time and can only live for the organization. It is unknown how they were brainwashed so successfully.

Shi Xuan continued reading, and the second notebook turned out to be a description of ghost cultivators.

“Master, look,” Shi Xuan said, “it is described here that if the Soul Separation Array fails, there is a certain possibility that the person cast on it will become a ghost cultivator.”

Lin Daozi stepped forward and examined the scene with Shi Xuan. "So, the ghost cultivators we've discovered these past few times were all victims of their failed attempts to separate their souls using the Soul Separation Array?"

Shi Xuan thought about the situations he had encountered several times and nodded, saying, "That should be right. Apart from the time with Dong Jingwei, all the other ghost cultivators were found in places with formations. They are all related. Speaking of which, I remember that after Dong Jingwei was attacked last time, he mentioned that a friend from the Luoyin Sect came to visit him. He said he would ask him if that friend was also from Cangyu Peak when he got back."

Because of the previous incident, Dong Jingwei did not come to participate in the Six Sects Competition this time and remained in his sect.

Lin Daozi said, "Tomorrow, you can ask the elders who are staying behind by telepathy."

During this brief moment, Lu Shenzhi declared, "There are no traces of an array here, but I can still sense a huge energy fluctuation from an array."

Shi Xuan asked, "If you can't sense the formation but there are fluctuations from it, what circumstances would give you this feeling?"

"Perhaps it's a huge, high-level formation with a very large coverage area. In that case, it wouldn't be able to form a formation in a small area. And a huge, high-level formation must require a huge amount of spiritual power. It's normal to feel something when you're inside the formation," Lu Shenzhi said with some concern.

But now that they are inside, they have no choice but to explore this underground palace, and they will not retreat even knowing that there are formations.

Shi Xuan continued flipping through her notes, trying to find a list or something similar. Unfortunately, she didn't find much useful information.

After searching the entire room and finding nothing more, Shi Xuan, with Lei Zhi's permission, put away the books and notes.

The three continued onward, passing several places that appeared to be alchemy and weapon-refining rooms, but everything inside had been taken away, leaving only some traces that could be vaguely identified.

As they went deeper, the passageway gradually narrowed, and what used to be a passageway to some rooms became just a passageway.

The passage seemed to have an endless length, as if it would never end. They walked inside for a long time, but still did not reach the end.

For so long, the passageways had been exactly the same, and the walls on either side were almost identical, leading Shi Xuan to believe that they had entered a kind of maze-like formation.

She carved a mark on the wall with her sword, and then, as she continued on her way, she kept observing the wall, but she never saw the mark again.

"Sect Leader Lei, is there some kind of formation trapping us here?" Shi Xuan asked.

Lei Zhi, who had been observing carefully, shook his head when Shi Xuan asked him, saying, "My feeling is that it's within a formation, but I haven't been able to find any formation."

Lin Daozi was quite optimistic: "Since we're already here, let's walk around a bit more. Going back the way we came will take quite a while."

The three continued onward. This time, after a short while, the passage narrowed again. After another quarter of an hour, the space suddenly opened up, and they entered a huge space from the narrow passage.