Brilliant light shot into the sky, illuminating the entire Lintai Hunting Valley. The cultivators within the valley immediately noticed this strange phenomenon.
When heavenly anomalies descend, rare treasures are sure to appear.
In an instant, everyone abandoned what they were doing and rushed toward the source of the radiant light.
At the front of the valley, the previously aloof middle-aged scholar finally showed a look of surprise on his calm, emotionless face. He hadn’t expected such a dazzling and resplendent brilliance to appear in a secret realm of this remote, backward land with its thin Yuan spiritual energy. Though the exact nature of the source was unknown, it was certain to be an extremely precious treasure.
Not only the middle-aged scholar, but Xu Jiuxiu had similar thoughts. He no longer cared about anything else.
He called back his dragon lizard, blocking Qian Shou’s attack, and quickly retreated to the middle-aged scholar’s side. Sneering, he said, “Ninth Master has something to do today, so I’ll spare you for now. If we meet again, I’ll feed your lives to my dragon lizard!”
With that, he waved his hand, retrieved the injured dragon lizard into a storage bag, and, along with the middle-aged scholar and the burly man, darted toward the source of the radiant light. Their speed was so swift that they vanished into the distance in moments.
Qian Shou took the opportunity to withdraw his sword, refraining from pursuing them, but his face was heavy with thought.
He walked to Ning Yuzhou’s side, bent slightly, and addressed him as “Your Highness.”
Ning Yuzhou, staring at the distant radiance, asked, “How strong are they?”
“Very strong. If it were just one of them, this subordinate could hold them off. But if all three joined forces, I’m afraid I would be powerless,” Qian Shou said solemnly.
Ning Yuzhou gave a quiet acknowledgment, his eyes narrowing slightly.
From the behavior of those individuals earlier, Ning Yuzhou had already deduced that many foreign cultivators had entered Lintai Hunting Valley this time. The corpses of the people killed earlier on the plains were also likely the work of these outsiders. Moreover, they weren’t aligned with Xu Jiuxiu. Based on Xu Jiuxiu’s attitude of feeding cultivators to his dragon lizard, it could be inferred that if he had been the one who killed them, there wouldn’t have been any corpses left—he would’ve fed them directly to the lizard.
Additionally, these foreign cultivators appeared to be quite wealthy. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have left behind the victims’ storage bags after killing them, likely because they didn’t think much of them.
Lintai Hunting Valley was a secret realm of the Dongling Kingdom, existing within its borders for an unknown number of years. Each time it opened, the royal family and noble clans of Dongling presided over the event, allowing only Dongling cultivators to participate. If foreign cultivators were interested, they could negotiate with the royal Ning clan beforehand to exchange benefits for entry quotas. However, there hadn’t been any news of foreign participants this time.
Thus, this group must have snuck in. What their purpose was or what they intended to do remained unclear.
Recalling the strength of those three individuals, Ning Yuzhou’s gaze darkened as he said, “Let’s go and take a look as well.”
The Qianlin Guards responded in unison. After regrouping, Qian Shou summoned a Gale Beast from his beast pouch. Naturally, this Gale Beast was for Ning Yuzhou and his wife to ride. The others, being cultivators, could fly short distances using their artifacts without issue.
Cultivators could only fly using artifacts after reaching the Yuan Bright Stage.
Wen Qiao, worried that the Gale Beast might run too fast for Ning Yuzhou to handle, climbed onto its back and sat behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist.
Ning Yuzhou: “…”
Turning to look at the young girl behind him, Ning Yuzhou met her gaze. Her clear and bright eyes reflected his image as if silently asking if there was something wrong.
Ning Yuzhou calmly turned away, saying there was nothing wrong. Internally, he resigned himself to the arrangement, thinking that there was nothing wrong with having the man in front and the woman behind.
Qian Shou couldn’t help but glance at the pair in their odd posture. Seeing that Ning Yuzhou had no objections, he gave the order to set off.
The Gale Beast was incredibly fast, and in less than half a day, they reached their destination.
Fortunately, they hadn’t been far from it to begin with.
Along the way, they encountered numerous cultivators rushing from all directions. No words were exchanged when they crossed paths, but everyone instinctively quickened their pace, fearing that if they were too slow, the treasures would fall into others’ hands.
After more than half a day, the radiance had mostly faded, leaving only a faint layer of light.
From afar, they saw an object embedded beneath a mountain wall, resembling a giant glowing egg. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a glowing door standing against the mountain wall. The brilliant light emanated from this door, creating the illusion of an egg-like glow from a distance.
The Qianlin Guards stopped, and Wen Qiao helped Ning Yuzhou leap off the Gale Beast’s back.
Since her time honing her combat skills in the territory of the Ice Tear Frog and breaking through to the Yuan Feather Stage, Wen Qiao had finally gained some ability to protect herself. She no longer gasped for breath after every step and began to show the demeanor of a cultivator. Jumping off the Gale Beast while holding someone was now effortless.
Wen Qiao had already come to see Ning Yuzhou as one of her own. Knowing her husband couldn’t cultivate, she naturally paid close attention to his needs and safety at all times.
After Ning Yuzhou landed, he glanced at Wen Qiao. Though her face was pale, she didn’t look strained, which made him smile faintly.
Wen Qiao didn’t notice his gaze and instead focused on the glowing door.
The door stood within a mountain wall about a hundred feet tall and reached over ten feet high. The brilliance spilling from it made it impossible to see what lay beyond.
As they arrived, other cultivators were also arriving one after another. They observed for a while before stepping through the glowing door. Seeing this, the later arrivals hesitated briefly but couldn’t suppress their greed and followed suit without hesitation.
Perhaps they had arrived later than most, as the majority of cultivators ahead had already entered. Now, there were only a few people arriving, leaving only Ning Yuzhou and the Qianlin Guards at the end.
The Qianlin Guards stood by, awaiting orders. Until their master spoke, they showed no sign of acting rashly, demonstrating a remarkable level of discipline and control.
Qian Shou approached the glowing door, stopping about one zhang (3.3 meters) away. After observing for a moment, he returned to report, “Your Highness, this glowing door is peculiar. Within one zhang of it, there’s a faint suction force pulling people inside. Whatever lies beyond the door is unclear, and even spiritual sense cannot penetrate it.”
Hearing this, Ning Yuzhou walked toward the glowing door.
Wen Qiao, holding her sword, followed by his side. Her expression was cold and guarded, like a bodyguard.
Ning Yuzhou stopped one zhang away and studied the glowing door thoughtfully. “There should be a teleportation array here.”
Wen Qiao glanced at the door but couldn’t spot any signs of a teleportation array, which made her look at Ning Yuzhou in surprise.
Qian Shou didn’t doubt Ning Yuzhou’s judgment and immediately asked, “Shall we go in?”
“Yes!” Ning Yuzhou said. “Leave twenty people to guard the entrance. The rest will come with me.”
Qian Shou left twenty guards behind, instructing them to stay alert and adapt to any changes. He then turned to Ning Yuzhou and Wen Qiao.
Ning Yuzhou held Wen Qiao’s hand and said to her, “I don’t know what kind of teleportation array lies beyond this glowing door. If it’s a random teleportation array and we get separated, you must prioritize your safety above all else.”
Wen Qiao nodded in agreement, glancing at him briefly before deciding she would hold onto him tightly later.
Ning Yuzhou then reminded the Qianlin Guards to prioritize safety. After giving his instructions, he held Wen Qiao’s hand and led her toward the glowing door, with Qian Shou and the other Qianlin Guards following closely.
As they stepped through the glowing door, the suction force of the teleportation array pulled their bodies inward. What followed was a spinning sensation, and the force of the teleportation squeezed against their bodies.
Wen Qiao clutched Ning Yuzhou’s hand tightly. When the force finally subsided and she regained her footing, she found Ning Yuzhou still by her side, letting out a breath of relief.
However, in the next moment, she realized that apart from herself and Ning Yuzhou, none of the Qianlin Guards were present—they had clearly been separated. =口=
Could it be because she was holding hands with Ning Yuzhou, and the guards weren’t holding hands with anyone else?
Ning Yuzhou, however, remained calm and smiled, saying, “It seems it’s just the two of us from here on.”
Wen Qiao responded with a hum, tightening her grip on his hand. She resolved that without the Qianlin Guards, she must protect him and act with even greater caution.
They began to observe their surroundings.
Ahead of them was a passage paved with large square stones, each one zhang (about 3.3 meters) in both width and height. The surfaces were smooth, as if crafted by human hands.
“What is this place?” Wen Qiao leaned forward for a better look and instinctively asked her widely knowledgeable husband.
Ning Yuzhou speculated, “Perhaps it’s the cave dwelling of a powerful cultivator.”
Recalling the teleportation array they had encountered at the glowing door, Wen Qiao found his guess quite plausible. Only a cultivator would set up such elaborate mechanisms at an entrance. The radiant light from earlier was likely the anomaly signaling the cave dwelling’s emergence—just a rather spectacular one.
With such a grand phenomenon, one could only wonder what treasures this cave dwelling might hold.
Wen Qiao glanced back and discovered that the way they had come from was now blocked by a solid wall. There was no path of retreat, nor any teleportation array—they could only move forward.
Thus, they set off. Since Ning Yuzhou was not a cultivator, their pace was slow, advancing at a particularly deliberate speed.
After half an hour, they encountered a fork in the passage. Ning Yuzhou examined it and instructed Wen Qiao to mark the area before they proceeded. Not long after, they came across another fork. Once again, they marked the spot and chose a path.
This process repeated for several hours. When they eventually stumbled upon one of their previous markers, Wen Qiao fell silent.
“So, it’s a maze,” Ning Yuzhou said in his usual composed manner. Turning to look at the young girl beside him, he asked, “Ah Qiao, what should we do now that we’re lost?”
Wen Qiao stared at him wordlessly. “Are you tired? I’ll carry you.”
Ning Yuzhou: “…No, I’m not tired.”
She let out a quiet “oh” and slowly asked, “Are you hungry?”
Internally, she started to worry. They hadn’t brought much food with them. If they ended up wandering the maze for ten days or half a month, they might go hungry. As a cultivator, she could absorb the surrounding Yuan spiritual energy to barely sustain herself, but Ning Yuzhou was a mortal—going without food or water for long periods would be detrimental.
Although Ning Yuzhou didn’t know what she was thinking, he could guess a bit from her troubled expression. He found it amusing and thought to himself how adorably earnest his little wife was.
“I’m not hungry for now,” Ning Yuzhou said with a reassuring smile. “If I do get hungry, we still have Fasting Pills.”
Wen Qiao glanced down at the storage pouch hanging at her waist. It was the one Ning Yuzhou had given her before they set out, but she hadn’t yet checked what was inside. Hearing his words, she immediately wanted to open it and take a look.