When the veteran disciples showed up, many new disciples showed expressions of constrained fear.
They were similarly perfect Houtian, but the longer one immersed themselves, the st.u.r.dier their foundations and the greater their strength.
Some people didn't advance to Xiantian. It definitely wasn't because they weren't able to; rather, they polished their perfected realms a bit longer to make their chances of breaking through higher, as well as unleashing more of their potential. After breaking through, their strength would be even more formidable!
Otherwise, the strengths of a Xiantian talent and an ordinary Xiantian would be like the difference between heaven and earth!
Gongyi Tianheng looked over there, but it was only a glance.
He had six sets of bone pearls, and each set could compare to a perfect Houtian. And with his astounding perception, it went without saying that the foundations of each set wasn't any weaker than the average talent.
One could say that when he faced off against He Chengfeng at that time, the strength he used was only a drop in the ocean. Up until now, even though he went out adventuring with Gu Zuo and fought those peak grade four wild beasts, he wasn't forced to use all of his trump cards and they weren't able to make him experience any critical moments of life and death.
Perhaps it was because he was slow to find an opportunity to breakthrough to Xiantian. It was also possible that it was because he walked along an uncharted road or because his Tiandu Body was too special.
After Gongyi Tianheng took a glance, he could sense that neither these veteran disciples nor the new disciples who took precautions against their vigorous qi energy were his match.
Gu Zuo drew closer to Tianheng's side.
More and more people showed up. He couldn't get separated when they went in.
Suddenly, a voice shouted in front.
"West Mountain has opened!"
Immediately, everyone swept their eyes over and countless gazes all fell upon that enormous stone gate!
That stone gate originally had an extremely frightening prohibition talisman. Only when the talisman was opened would West Mountain permit their entry.
It was precisely at this moment!
Instantly, countless outer sect disciples and nominal disciples all set forth one after another straight into West Mountain!
Tianheng's gaze moved slightly. He reached out a hand and sandwiched Gu Zuo under his right arm: "Ah Zuo, hold on tight!"
Gu Zuo promptly said: "I will!"
Off to the side, Cang Yu suddenly opened his mouth: "Quickly go in!"
Duanmu Qingrong and the others didn't dare be careless.
In the blink of an eye, numerous martial artists turned into a raging torrent of water as they poured into the stone gate.
In the next blink, the torrent pa.s.sed through the gate and dispersed in all directions.
Tianheng didn't use his fastest speed. He only kept pace with Cang Yu as they traveled straight down some mountain path.
As Cang Yu ran quickly, he frowned and said: "Brother Tianheng, can you sense something?"
Tianheng said: "The qi energy is very strange."
It wasn't only them. Other martial artists all similarly found that there was something amiss.
Yes. That stone gate seemed to separate two worlds. When outside the stone gate, the ambient qi was rich, letting them cleanse their bodies and minds as they breathed it in and out. However, once they entered West Mountain, they discovered that after their pores opened to absorb the ambient qi, it went into their bodies and actually hindered the movement of their true qi — Although there was merely an almost imperceptible effect, they were all excellent martial artists. How couldn't they discover it while moving forward with all their effort?
Thus, almost the instant that it was discovered, everyone no longer circulated their true qi as hastily. Rather, doubts piled up, and they didn't dare advance prematurely.
Gongyi Tianheng said: "Halt."
The moment this word came out, Cang Yu took the lead in stopping his pace.
He currently carried Princess Yaomin on his back. An ominous premonition arose in his heart.
Sima Yuanyou wasn't as arrogant as before. Instead, he pressed his arrogance all the way down. Presently, he realized something, and said: "Is the ambient qi here…poisonous?"
Everyone's hearts shuddered.
That was right. If it wasn't poisonous, how could it obstruct the true qi after entering the body? It still wasn't a problem for short time, but if this continued, it would be detrimental in fights later on. Once there was a moment of carelessness, it could make them lose their lives!
Cang Yu calmly said: "Everyone, close your pores and stop breathing. Don't take in the ambient qi."
Tianheng also said: "Lock up all of your qi energy into your bodies. If you don't have enough true qi, just take medicinal pills. However, you absolutely mustn't mediate to transfer energy. You also can't utilize this place's ambient qi."
Duanmu Qingrong sighed: "This might be one of the difficulties of this one-time mission."
Sima Yuanyou frowned: "Why didn't the sect's Yellow Notice mention this to us?"
At this moment, the ever-neglected and solitary Helian Xingye spoke: "Perhaps… The sect's also using this as a pretext to test our reaction capabilities. If one didn't have enough preparations and adaptability, they might as well throw their lives away to West Mountain to avoid an even more miserable death in the future. If there weren't these places, the a.s.sessment points wouldn't be obtained so easily by us!"
These words indeed made sense.
While being carried under his dear big brother's armpit, Gu Zuo's expression was a little weird.
Poison, huh…
Just a moment ago, he actually absorbed a little bit. Yet, it was very strange. Unexpectedly, the poisoned ambient qi was directly wrapped up by his true qi and delivered into his Tianfu Acupoint. And after the system, which existed in the depths of his Tianfu Acupoint, started trembling, he immediately found his body becoming light. Then, he saw silk strands being peeled off the poisoned qi and carefully deposited into an empty region of his storage s.p.a.ce.
Poisoned qi was purplish black and medicinal qi was white. Juxtaposing them together really gave one a feeling of bringing out the other's radiance.
However, was this indicating that poisoned qi was useless to him?
Or, was it like this for all pharmacists?
Gu Zuo furtively looked at Princess Yaomin.
He found that her once blushing cheeks had become deathly pale.
Evidently, poisoned qi had an impact on her.
In that case…
Gu Zuo composed himself.
Him being able to safely absorb the ambient qi must've been thanks to his practice of the Divine Medicine Cultivation Method.
He couldn't let others find out!
With his heart thinking as such, Gu Zuo gave Tianheng a transmission.
Tianheng slightly shook. After that, Tianheng put Gu Zuo down and had him climb onto his back. He carried Gu Zuo just like how Cang Yu carried Princess Yaomin.
Upon Cang Yu and the others seeing this, they all had different expressions. However, deep down, they realized that Gu Zuo's position in Gongyi Tianheng's heart was especially different.
How important was one's back?
One mustn't a.s.sume it was that they were both pharmacists. Cang Yu carried Princess Yaomin on his back, but that was because she was his biological little sister. As for Gu Zuo, if he was merely a pharmacist raised by the clan, wouldn't Dragon One or Dragon Two also have come over? Originally, making them carry him would've already been sufficient. There was basically no need for Tianheng to do the job himself.
But he still carried him personally.
This was enough to prove something.
Gu Zuo clutched at Tianheng's shoulders and buried his head into Tianheng's back. He looked like he couldn't stand it.
In actuality, he was working hard to use the Divine Medicine Cultivation Method as he quickly extracted the poison from the ambient qi.
Just then, Gu Zuo also found that once he used the cultivation method to deliver the poisoned qi into his storage s.p.a.ce, there was a pin-p.r.i.c.k of pain between his eyebrows.
Under this kind of stinging, while he used the Divine Medicine Cultivation Method, not only did his body's innumerable pores open up to continuously absorb ambient qi, the psychic power between his eyebrows buzzed as it collected even more poisoned qi — Yes, dismissing the normal ambient qi, and only getting the poisoned qi. All of it pa.s.sed through this place and into his storage s.p.a.ce to be stockpiled.
Gu Zuo could control this psychic power, but he still wanted to draw support from this opportunity to store up as much poisoned qi as possible.
Because he recalled the Paradox Pills' Poison Pills — Did the system give him the item book because West Mountain's state of affairs was like so? To let him seize the opportunity to obtain the medicinal ingredients for refining the Paradox Pills?
And who could say that the condensation of the smoky poisoned qi wasn't that medicinal ingredient?
Of course, Gu Zuo had transmitted everything to Tianheng long ago.
Naturally, Gongyi Tianheng vigorously supported him, so there was a necessary switch in positions…in order to avoid letting others see that Gu Zuo's face wasn't as deathly pale like Princess Yaomin. Instead, he looked very satisfied, which was anything but rea.s.suring.
After everyone closed their pores and stopped breathing, what supported these martial artists' operations was only the true qi within their bodies.
Cang Yu and the others didn't dare madly rush like before. Rather, they set a slow pace as they walked ahead.
Everyone said that this West Mountain had Earth Ghosts. As for the appearances of these Earth Ghosts, and how they emerged…
"Ahhh!"
There was suddenly the sound of a scream!
Somewhere in the northwest direction, there was a martial artist's scream!
Immediately after, perhaps it was misperception or the actual truth, but everyone felt like they could smell the faint stench of blood — Undoubtedly, someone had died.
After entering West Mountain, someone perished before the time it'd take to burn an incense stick!
Duanmu Qingrong and the others were even more cautious.
Cang Yu said: "Keep your guards up."
All the martial artists didn't dare neglect anything.
Gu Zuo paused a bit.
He stopped storing the poisoned qi. Instead, he sent out his psychic power.
One meter, two meters… Ten meters…
Gu Zuo suddenly transmitted: Ten meters to the northeast. Big brother, be careful!
Gongyi Tianheng reflexively acted. A dreadful force burst forth and almost changed into the shape of a python as it directly struck out!
Crash!
It was like something being smashed, and interspersed was a guttural howl.
A dead body suddenly fell down.
The martial artists reacted, and mentally shivered.
They faced that direction and walked over very carefully, getting a clear look at the dead body's appearance.
Sure enough, it was a creature that was like a human and not, like a monkey and not. Its skin was black and slick without a single hair. Its shape was very nauseating. At this moment, its head was shattered, producing a loathsome odor.
It would cause a person to feel sick.
It wasn't only Princess Yaomin, the sole woman here, whose expression was unsightly. There were still several other martial artists who had pallid complexions. They all felt it was very hard to endure.
On the contrary, Cang Yu and Gongyi Tianheng only wrinkled their eyebrows and didn't show any change in their looks.
At the same time, Tianheng raised a finger and slashed at the corpse's belly —
Squelch! Lots of the stomach, intestines, and other viscera slipped out. In the middle of its abdomen, a thumb-sized crystal rolled out.
Because it was Tianheng's kill, Gu Zuo jumped off Tianheng's back, and walked over.
At this moment, his complexion was also deathly pale — Just now, he was forced out of using his cultivation method.
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