It is a fairly open and dangerous place.

But although there is no forbidden formation that explicitly prohibits practitioners from entering from all directions, the risks involved in different directions and different areas in the vast marginal areas are also completely different.

It is true that the danger level of this dangerous place increases as you go deeper from the edge.

But most of those who come here to explore are ordinary practitioners who can only operate on the margins and periphery, and their ability to resist risks is too low.

The dangers in some marginal areas are fatal to them, so the ways for them to enter the Ancient Mountain of Hades are actually very limited and they don’t have many choices.

After generations of practitioners explored the Mingu Sacred Mountain, they found several relatively safe paths into the mountain.

This will prevent practitioners from being killed on the spot by unexpected dangers as soon as they enter the mountains.

With the strength of Zhou Qing and his four companions, it would not be a problem for them to just find a direction to enter the mountain.

But this time, the location of the temple that is about to be unveiled is in the direction of a fixed path, and entering from there will be closer.

As the five people approached the Minggu Divine Mountain, the surroundings became more and more lively. There were pavilions and towers, and people coming and going, forming a small market.

"This is Baizu Market, named after the Baizu Road ahead."

Shi Yi said: "It is said that the person who first discovered this safe path was named Bai Zu, so this road was named after him to show gratitude."

To become famous through the ages is sometimes so simple and sudden that one is not at all prepared.

A genius cultivator will not be troubled by the location of the entrance to the mountain, but before a safe path is found, for a casual cultivator, the first step every time they explore the Ancient Mountain is an adventure.

So, exploring a safe path, no matter what his purpose was, is indeed worthy of praise considering how the result will help future generations.

"Brother Shi?"

Suddenly, someone walked up to them.

Zhou Qing looked over and saw that the person who was speaking was a young man in fancy clothes, with three other people beside him.

Zhou Qing didn't know this young man, but judging from Shi Yi's expression, he should be someone he knew.

Shi Yi nodded, "It turns out to be Brother Qing."

The young man surnamed Qing looked at Zhou Qing again and said:

"Hello, senior sisters and brothers."

Shi Yi introduced at the right time: "This is Qing Yang, a disciple of the Qing family in Chengwang County, who practices in the Northern Saint Sect."

Zhou Qing and the others nodded towards Qingyang.

The Northern Saint Sect is a first-rate force in Hanzhou, and its heritage is quite long.

Qingyang added: "Brother Shi, are you planning to enter the Dark Ancient Divine Mountain? Is it for the Dark Ancient Divine Temple that is about to be born?"

Shi Yi knew that a temple was about to be built, but of course he couldn't hide it from others. Since they knew each other, it was not strange to ask such a question.

The omen of the birth of the temple is no small matter.

“I really want to go and take a look.”

Upon hearing this, Qingyang couldn't help but smile helplessly.

"With all of you taking action, it seems that our trip to the Ancient Temple of Hades is destined to return empty-handed."

"Brother Qing is too modest."

"I won't bother you guys anymore, Brother Shi."

Qingyang and his men said goodbye and left. After they disappeared, Shi Yi further explained:

"The Qing family in Chengwang County is a family with several Huangquan Chedi Realm masters. The relationship between the Qing family and the Northern Saint Sect is very close. There was once a generation of Qing family patriarch who was a fellow apprentice of the Northern Saint Sect's sect leader. Until today, the two sides have always been together."

"Qingyang once came to Minggu County when the Shi family and the Ming family held a joint event. That's when I met him."

Shi Yi's background was not ordinary. He was a direct descendant of the Shi family, a local aristocratic family in Minggu County.

The reason why he was able to learn about the information about the Minggu Divine Mountain even though he was far away in Xuandu Temple was related to this.

Zhou Qing and the others have already understood this.

Lu Yuanyuan sighed, "There are quite a lot of people coming here for this Hades Ancient Temple."

"Temple like this that have signs before they appear are indeed more troublesome than those that appear suddenly. They will attract more people to come upon hearing the news and prepare in advance."

Once word gets out about a good thing, who wouldn’t want it?

Unlike those temples that suddenly appeared, most of the time by the time the news spread, the temple had disappeared because it had been explored completely.

Although forces like the Northern Saint Sect are not as strong as the Xuandu Temple, their disciples are also very strong and can be considered rivals.

If you look down on the talented disciples of these first-rate forces because of their background, you will suffer a great loss.

When passing by this small market of Baizu, one can meet a group of people who are also preparing to explore the temple. These are only the ones they know. There must be many more people they don’t know or have not met.

Just a glimpse of the whole picture shows how fierce the competition will be when we reach the Ancient Temple of the Underworld.

Zhou Qing nodded and said, "There are so many experts here. There will definitely be fierce competition."

Then he looked at his team and smiled again, "Fortunately, my partners are also masters. Each of them is a true dragon or a divine tiger."

Several people laughed. Murong Yanran and Shi Yi didn't know Zhou Qing very well, and now they thought he was a humorous person.

The five of them had no need to resupply in the Baizu market, so after passing through the episode in Qingyang of the Beisheng Sect, they went straight through the market and entered Baizu Road.

During this process, some people tried to talk to them, even people of unknown origin. This is a wide area between two high mountains, winding forward and finally disappearing between the mountains.

At a certain point, there is a clear dividing line, which is caused by the dark clouds above.

Behind a crooked line, the sun was shining and everything was normal. In front of the line, it suddenly became dark and not a single drop of sunlight could be seen.

Dark clouds have always covered the sacred mountain and have never dispersed. Over the long years, all the sunlight in the sacred mountain area has been swallowed up by the dark clouds.

When Zhou Qing crossed that line, he felt chilly.

This is not a coldness in terms of temperature, but more like a gloomy feeling that the atmosphere of this place brings to people's hearts.

Zhou Qing frowned slightly and looked at the area in front of him where there was no light at all.

Ao Xuanwei was beside him and noticed his abnormality. She tilted her head and asked:

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know why, but this Mingu Divine Mountain always gives me an uncomfortable feeling."

Zhou Qing replied: "Last time I went to Hanyun Villa, I came here on purpose to observe from afar when I returned to Xuandu Temple, and I had a similar feeling."

“Now that I’m here, this feeling of discomfort is even stronger.”

Murong Yanran and the others looked at each other, and then Lu Yuanyuan said: "I've been here a few times, but I don't have the same feeling as you. It's just a little darker, and there's no other impact."

"Junior Brother Zhou, is this feeling serious? Why don't we leave first and see?"

Zhou Qing thought about it, shook his head and said, "No need to leave."

"My condition has not been affected, but I feel uncomfortable psychologically. It seems that... I don't like it here very much."

Shi Yi said:

"It's gloomy here, and normal people definitely won't like it."

Zhou Qing smiled and said, "That shows that I am still a normal person."

Ao Xuanwei looked at Zhou Qing, "If there is anything wrong, you must speak up in time. Don't underestimate such feelings."

The other three also nodded.

They did not ignore Zhou Qing's feelings, and did not think that Zhou Qing was weird or looking for trouble.

Because everyone is a practitioner with a high level of cultivation, the inexplicable feeling that arises after arriving at such a dangerous place is more likely to represent a kind of inspiration or a manifestation of intuition.

No one would ignore the intuitive reaction of a genius like Zhou Qing. Sometimes the intuition of a practitioner is the most accurate and goes straight to the essence.

It may be useless if it is not used, but once it is useful, it may be the key.

Zhou Qing suddenly had this feeling, and although he couldn't explain it clearly, it made Murong Yanran and the others subconsciously alert.

In a way, this isn't a bad thing.

As we went along, the road began to narrow.

Zhou Qing was relatively silent, thinking about his special feeling.

This feeling appeared twice, and he didn't think it was an illusion, so it must be that he really didn't like this place.

Zhou Qing carefully sensed, checked, and searched, trying to find the source of this feeling, and finally he found...

This feeling of discomfort and displeasure seems to be related to the great energy?

Zhou Qing looked up at the sky. It was covered with dark clouds, no sunlight was visible, and it looked gloomy and depressing.

Such a place can easily breed evil spirits, which may conflict with the righteous spirit. It is not impossible.

After thinking for a while and failing to make any other discoveries, Zhou Qing put these things deep in his heart.

For example, when you first see someone, you may not like him/her very much, but his/her presence will not have much impact on you.

After coming back to his senses, Zhou Qing joined Lu Yuanyuan and the others in their conversation.

Although they were not letting their guard down, the Dark Ancient Mountain in this area posed no threat to them and they could be more relaxed.

As they went deeper into Baizu Road, some practitioners did not continue forward, but chose to move to the sides, eventually going into the mountains and forests and disappearing.

In this ancient mountain, every place can be explored. As for whether there will be any gains, it depends on luck.

"In the Dark Ancient Mountain, the most common type of monster is the Dark Spirit."

Shi Yi said: "These are special creatures that only exist in the Minggu Divine Mountain. They are like ghosts, but they are not ghosts in essence. They are a special kind of spirit that wanders in the Minggu Divine Mountain, eager to devour life."

"After killing this ghost spirit, you will obtain a treasure called a ghost crystal. This treasure contains a relatively unique and pure Yin attribute power. It has many uses. There are forces in various small cities outside that are purchasing it."

Dark Spirits and Dark Crystals are exactly the goals of most practitioners who enter the Ancient Dark Mountain.

Please...collect 6_9_book_bar (Six//Nine//Book//bar)

To independent cultivators, this is a valuable resource that can be exchanged for something useful to them.

"In addition to the spirits of the underworld, there are also many ghosts, zombies, wild beasts and other living creatures in the Underworld Ancient Divine Mountain."

Shi Yi continued, "Not only the beasts, but also the plants here are dangerous, and there are also puppets!"

"There are puppets hiding in many places in the Dark Ancient Divine Mountain. They cannot be found at first because they are hidden by restrictions. But once someone passes by them, the puppets will seem to be activated and will directly appear and attack the passers-by."

Zhou Qing listened quietly and kept it in mind.

Shi Yi mainly introduced it to him.

"In fact, these things are not the most dangerous things in the Dark Ancient Divine Mountain. The most dangerous thing here is the environment here."

"The restricted formations and some special areas are the most bizarre and dangerous."

"Yes." Murong Yanran nodded.

"Be sure to be careful of the Dark Ancient Divine Forbidden Areas and the environment here. If you touch some of the Forbidden Areas, you will immediately explode with irresistible power and strangle people to death."

Some of the edge areas are blocked from passage, and it is impossible to enter the sacred mountain's death zone from there, precisely because of the existence of formation restrictions.

That is the most terrifying danger of the Mingu Divine Mountain.

Living enemies can be dealt with, but those restrictions are too unpredictable and difficult to understand, and one must be extremely careful.

In ancient times, before safe paths like Baizu Road were explored, no one knew whether entering the sacred mountain from a certain place would trigger a restriction as soon as they took a step.

A safe path does not mean that there are fewer monsters on this road, but that there are no fatal restrictions or dangerous special environments.

Ao Xuanwei looked around and whispered, "The restrictions here are very mysterious. Even if an expert who is proficient in this way breaks them this time, they will gradually recover in the future."

"So as long as there are formation restrictions, it will never be safe. Even some places that originally had no restrictions will develop new restrictions as time goes by."

"In this Dark Ancient Divine Mountain, even if you have a map, you still have to be careful when walking according to the map."

During the conversation, Zhou Qing and his friends had already walked a long way, then changed direction and climbed up a mountain.

The thorns here are dense and extremely sharp, but fortunately there is a vague path opened up by our predecessors.

The five people used their true essence or soul power to protect their bodies and passed through the thorns. When they reached this position, they could not see any human beings around.

When you first set out on the Baizu Road, there will be people traveling with you, but as you go deeper, you need to be wary of people you meet on the road.

However, Zhou Qing and the other four people walking here in their current identities should actually be wary of others.

Two of the top ten true disciples of Xuandu, one of the Dragon Palace Hermit who is comparable to this level, and two of the top twenty true disciples...

Even the evil cultivator who hated Xuandu Temple to the core would be frightened and avoid it when seeing such a lineup.

"Is this the ancient restriction?"

Zhou Qing stopped and looked at a place about ten meters away on the right.

There, thorns were tangled together, with glowing lines on them, interconnected and coordinated, operating according to the rules of the formation.

Only part of those array patterns existed. They stopped abruptly at a certain position and broke directly, and were not complete.

But it is indeed powerful, with unknown effects.

"Yes, this kind of restriction is relatively easy to deal with because it is conspicuous. You just need to be careful to avoid it."

Shi Yi nodded, "And some restrictions are very secretive."

“Swish!”

As they were talking, something suddenly rushed over, silently, making only a noise when it got close to Zhou Qing and the others.

But in a moment, the thing that rushed over was frozen and couldn't move in the air.

Zhou Qing turned around and saw that the thing that attacked them was a few thorns.

The sharp points on their bodies were wriggling, and there were eye-like features on the ends of their heads, just like a few thorny poisonous snakes.

The person who subdued them was Ao Xuanwei, who was closest to them.

Zhou Qing looked at the thorns and asked, "This should be considered a monster, right?"

Zhou Qing raised his hand and a stream of true energy shot out, extremely sharp, directly cutting through the thorns and bringing them back.

"This kind of thorn itself can be considered a kind of refining material, but the quality is not very high."

Lu Yuanyuan smiled and said, "For most practitioners, this is also a gain."

This is the significance of exploring dangerous places like the Ancient Mountain.

Resources that require a lot of effort and running around to obtain outside can now be obtained quickly by taking risks in dangerous areas, and at the same time, you can hone yourself, which is like killing two birds with one stone.

This Thorn Mountain is full of dangers. The thorns on the mountain look like dead things, and from time to time a few evil thorns will pop out to attack you.

But... Zhou Qing really wants them to stop coming.

Aren't you just giving away your lives?

Unfortunately, it’s hard to persuade the damn ghost with kind words.

After crossing the Thorn Mountain, the road behind became a little smoother. It was paved with neatly arranged stone slabs. This was definitely not natural, but must have been man-made.

In fact, there are many such human traces in the Mingu Divine Mountain, and many people therefore suspect that there should have been human habitation here in ancient times.

There are statues on both sides of this stone road.

Some of these statues have green faces and fangs, holding tridents in their hands; some are strange-looking beasts, such as three-headed dogs and thousand-eyed snakes; there are also human-shaped statues whose bodies are covered in armor, and their appearance cannot be seen clearly, with only a pair of eyes showing.

They stared at the middle of the road, as if watching everyone who passed by.

“Click!”

When Zhou Qing and his companions were halfway there, they suddenly heard the sound of stone breaking, and then saw the stone skins of the five stone statues fall off, revealing black bodies that seemed to be made of some unknown stone.

The five stone statues turned their heads and looked at Zhou Qing and the others, with a faint light flashing in their eyes.

Shi Yi frowned, "When passing through this area, sometimes these stone statues would riot, and sometimes not. No one knows the reason behind it. I didn't expect that we would encounter them."

"I'm lucky."

Some of these stone statues that came to life were in human form, and some were in animal form. They left their original positions and rushed directly towards them, the air whistling and their strength as strong as knives.

However, Zhou Qing did not feel threatened by them. At most, they were at the ordinary Marrow Cleansing Realm level. Such strength was really average in front of Zhou Qing and his group.

"Bang!"

Zhou Qing and Shi Yi just took action, and after a few breaths, the heads of the five stone statues were blown to pieces.

But what is strange is that even though their heads are gone, these stone statues can still move.

So Zhou Qing and the other man had to be even more brutal and smash their entire bodies to pieces.

It's quiet now.

"This kind of stone is pretty good. There are people buying it in the small market outside."

Zhou Qing sighed, "It seems that the Minggu Divine Mountain is really full of treasures. Whether it is moving or not, it may have value and is a good thing."

"Um?"

At this moment, Zhou Qing felt a sense of being watched, and the others felt the same, and their eyes shifted to the right.

On the shoulder of a human-shaped stone statue there, a face without facial features appeared at some point.

Although it had no facial features, everyone knew clearly that the strange creature was "looking" at them.

The next second, a breeze blew and the faceless creature disappeared.

But Zhou Qing only felt a chill behind him, and he turned his head...

That face without facial features is right before my eyes! (End of this chapter)