Chapter Twenty-One: A Fortuitous Encounter
Fang Li sat cross-legged, seemingly closing her eyes to regulate her breathing, but her mind had already wandered far away.
Su Wanqing's vicious schemes, Shen Yunzhou's inexplicable attacks, Xie Chen's seemingly harmless but actually calculating guidance, Ji Qianqiu's extremely destructive battle maniac behavior... all of these made her deeply vigilant.
This secret realm was far more dangerous than she remembered.
It's not just about monsters and natural formations, but also about the human heart.
She must improve her strength more quickly and acquire more resources to rely on.
Just as she was concentrating and consciously extending her senses to perceive her surroundings, an unusually familiar fluctuation gently touched her mind.
The fluctuation carried a pure wood elemental aura, subtly resonating with her cultivation technique.
Fang Li's heart skipped a beat; this was an opportunity she had never had before!
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; we must seize it!
But it would be even more dangerous there. Taking a small team with them would not only make them too conspicuous and easy to expose, but would also put them in a dangerous situation that they could not handle.
In a flash, Fang Li made her decision.
She opened her eyes, looked at the three people who were meditating, and said calmly, "When I was meditating just now, I vaguely sensed an unusual fluctuation of spiritual energy in the southeast direction, which may be related to the previous disturbance of the maze. I plan to go and investigate. The journey is not far, and I will be right back. You can rest here and do not wander around unnecessarily."
Xiao Tao asked with some concern, "Senior Sister Fang, are you going alone? Won't it be dangerous?"
"This is just a preliminary investigation. If anything seems amiss, I will retreat immediately." Fang Li stood up, her expression calm. "Junior Brother Sun's warning talisman has a considerable range. If anything happens, I will send a signal. You all guard this place and wait for my return."
Zhao Tie nodded: "Don't worry, Senior Sister Fang, we'll stay here. Please be careful."
Fang Li nodded, said no more, and with a flash, she silently disappeared into the thick fog, heading straight for the source of the fluctuation.
The deeper they went, the thicker the fog became, severely obstructing their vision, allowing them to see only a few feet in front of them.
The spiritual energy in the air became chaotic, and the oppressive force gradually increased, making it difficult for people to breathe.
Beneath our feet were jagged, angular rocks, and craggy, withered branches of trees stretched out from the mist like ghostly claws, occasionally catching our clothes.
The sounds of roaring and fighting could be faintly heard from afar. Fang Li pushed her divine sense to its limit and proceeded cautiously.
The hazy fragments of her past life corroborated her current environment, helping her avoid a hidden quicksand pit and several clusters of demonic plants emitting hallucinogenic pollen.
Suddenly, her heart skipped a beat, and she abruptly stopped in her tracks.
The seemingly flat, gravelly ground ahead was actually interwoven with several strands of spiritual energy in her divine sense.
Once touched, it could immediately trigger a series of traps or a terrifying killing formation.
She held her breath, carefully observing the pattern of the interwoven spiritual threads. With a light twist of her waist, sometimes turning to the side, sometimes bending low, she narrowly escaped this invisible killing zone.
A cold sweat broke out on my back; the danger here far exceeded that of the surrounding area.
But the aura she sensed became increasingly clear.
Continuing onward, Fang Li narrowly avoided several more waves of wandering demonic beasts with strength comparable to the eighth or ninth level of Qi Refining. She even caught a glimpse of a disciple's corpse, torn to pieces, in the distance. Fang Li's heart grew heavier.
Finally, after passing through an area full of sharp stalagmites, she stopped in front of a seemingly inconspicuous mountain wall.
Fang Li squatted on the ground, her fingertips twirling a bit of damp moss, her brows furrowed, her sharp gaze sweeping over the seemingly unremarkable stone wall in front of her.
"System, try scanning?" she asked silently to herself.
[Buzz...Buzz...Analyzing...weak energy fluctuations...suspected...illusion array...interference...signal...poor...analysis failed...host...good luck...]
The system's intermittent electronic voice had a smug, dismissive quality, and finally it went completely silent.
Fang Li: "..." (￣_￣|||)
Very well, this broken system is truly demonstrating its traditional skill of failing at crucial moments.
We can't rely on it; we have to rely on our own reborn brain.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
In her past life, she seemed to have heard a disciple from the outer sect who was skilled in formations boast after drinking that there was an ancient illusion formation hidden in a stone wall deep in the clouds and mist, and that there were good things behind it.
The key to breaking it... isn't brute force... it seems to be...
Fang Li closed her eyes, trying to search through the nooks and crannies of her memory.
The disciple was drunk and rambled on, saying things like, "The Gate of Life is in the Kan position... no... it seems to be the Dui position... try injecting water elemental power? Or wood elemental power?... hiccup..."
Kan position? Dui position? Fang Li opened her eyes, her gaze falling on a slightly darker area in the lower left corner of the stone wall.
Is this the place? She wasn't quite sure of the exact location of the formation, but her intuition told her that the aura in that area was a little different.
"Let's try anything, even if it's a dead end!" Fang Li gritted her teeth and sat down cross-legged.
As her spiritual energy circulated within her body, she carefully separated a wisp of pure wood-attribute spiritual energy.
That faint wisp of emerald green spiritual energy, like a cautious green snake exploring its way, slowly touched the dark area in the lower left corner of the stone wall.
Buzz!
The moment the spiritual energy touched the stone wall, the previously silent stone wall suddenly trembled!
The scene before me was like water with a stone thrown in it, beginning to distort and blur.
"There's hope!" Fang Li was overjoyed, but dared not be careless. She focused intently on maintaining the output of that wisp of wood spirit power, while concentrating her mind to sense the subtle changes in the energy of the illusion array.
This illusion array has fallen into disrepair over the years and its power has been greatly reduced, but its remaining deceptive properties should not be underestimated.
Fang Li felt the light and shadows changing before her eyes. One moment Ji Qianqiu was pulling her to spar with him, his eyes shining brightly.
One moment it's Shen Yunzhou's smug, expressionless face.
A moment later, his smile turned into Xie Chen's fox-like grin, which annoyed her.
"Break!" Fang Li shouted, suddenly increasing her spiritual power output. At the same time, she bit her tongue hard, and the sharp pain allowed her to instantly get rid of those messy illusions. Her mental power locked onto that life gate node!
Click...
A soft, crisp sound, as if something had shattered.
The distorted light and shadow before my eyes receded like the tide, revealing the true face of the stone wall.
It's done!
Fang Li let out a long sigh of relief, her forehead already beaded with sweat.
Don't be fooled by her small movements just now; the intense mental focus and precise control of that tiny bit of wood elemental energy consumed a considerable amount of her mental and spiritual energy.
She quickly took out a Qi-restoring pill and put it in her mouth, feeling her parched meridians being filled again by warm spiritual energy.
The cave entrance was deep and dark, with a soft glow emanating from within, carrying a refreshing and invigorating atmosphere.
Radiant light! Dazzling brilliance! (☆▽☆)
Fang Li's eyes lit up instantly! That drunkard from her past life hadn't lied!
She suppressed her excitement and didn't rush in immediately.
She was especially careful in this situation. She first took out a piece of fluorite for lighting from her storage bag and threw it in. She carefully observed the entrance and a short section of the path inside by the light to confirm that there were no traps or mechanisms.
Then, holding his breath and concentrating, he carefully sensed the atmosphere inside the cave. Apart from the alluring fragrance of the spiritual herbs, there was no other living creature or dangerous aura.
"Safe!" Fang Li then crouched down and carefully crawled inside.
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