Following the stone steps all the way to the top until they reached the archway of “Little Cloud Realm,” the group looked out and saw only a hazy, misty mountain forest. It was quite similar to the outside environment, and they could not detect any feeling of an immortal’s celestial abode. Looking back at the sky inside and outside the archway, they saw the same crescent moon and the same starry sky. There was no sense of any junction or transition.
The same high mountains, the same cold night, the same chilling desolation.
When the group arrived at the platform beneath the “Little Cloud Realm” archway, the advance scouts quickly entered first and dispersed to observe. After confirming there were no problems, they sent a signal to the people on the mountaintop below the steps. Tian Yu, Meng Po, and Xiang Lanxuan then swiftly flashed upward and landed beside Yu Qing and his two companions.
Behind them, the forces of the three factions began to pour in massively, directly passing through the mountain gate to enter.
Not all of the three factions’ personnel entered. Each left behind roughly one third.
The exact number of entrants had been negotiated among the three families. Otherwise, with no one wanting to be at a disadvantage, it would have become a contest of who had more people. After negotiation, each family was limited to five hundred entrants.
“The situation is unclear. We should wait until dawn.”
Meng Po spoke to Tian Yu and Xiang Lanxuan in a tone of seeking their opinion.
“Yes,” Tian Yu nodded.
Xiang Lanxuan had no objection either.
The personnel who entered in succession began to arrange themselves inside the mountain gate.
Seeing how highly alert this group was, Yu Qing could not help but feel curious. He tried asking, “It has been silent for several thousand years. Could there still be formations or mechanisms inside?”
Xiang Lanxuan smiled and explained, “The Sea Market back then was also an immortal’s celestial abode. After people found it, they were attacked by mountain guardian beasts. It took considerable effort to clear the place. Who can say for certain whether this Little Cloud Realm has mountain guardian beasts or similar things? You have met Yun Xi. Did Yun Xi not tell you anything?”
Yu Qing understood what they were worried about. He shook his head and said, “She did not say anything. We truly do not know.”
The three faction leaders neither confirmed nor denied his words. Mu Aotie’s mention of the moon had caused them to maintain a suspicious attitude toward the three senior brothers.
The three families’ personnel, numbering over a thousand, began to set up camp and prepare on the spot. The crescent moon in the sky was also becoming increasingly clear and bright.
Suddenly, faint thin mist began to emanate from the stone steps leading to this place. Mist also rose and permeated to the left and right of the steps, all the way to the dark end that could not be seen clearly.
Meng Po said in a deep voice, “The zi hour is about to pass!”
The group immediately understood the meaning of these words. The opening time of the cave dwelling entrance was limited. Judging by the look of things, it would last at most half a double-hour. Once the zi hour passed, the cave dwelling would close.
Tian Yu suddenly turned his head and looked around, shouting, “Long Xingyun, hurry up and get out of here!”
There was no response from the surroundings.
Tian Yu shouted loudly, “Long Xingyun!”
Shortly after, a member of the Thousand Streams Mountain personnel came to report, pointing in a direction. “Those three just went in that direction. I took people to check, but I do not know where they ran off to.”
Tian Yu’s face immediately darkened. In a place like this, his attention could not possibly remain on that fellow the entire time. In a moment of carelessness, a loophole had been exploited.
Meng Po chuckled. “The bastard spawn of that woman from Red Orchid Pavilion also got in?”
Tian Yu immediately turned back and warned, “Watch your filthy mouth!”
Meng Po scoffed. “With such a big green hat, only your Great Sage could endure it.”
Tian Yu immediately turned hostile. “Skull head, if you spout more nonsense and rumours, do you believe I will tear your mouth apart?”
Xiang Lanxuan, who had been stifling a laugh with her arms crossed before her chest, waited to watch the spectacle.
However, those two did not let her have her way. Meng Po stopped talking, and Tian Yu swallowed his anger and did not pursue the matter.
Yu Qing and his two senior brothers exchanged glances. They felt they had heard a great secret that they only partially understood.
Reality soon pulled their emotions back.
The mist grew increasingly thick. In the end, the outside scenery appeared only as faint, indistinct shadows. The stone steps leading back down to the mountaintop also became hazy and blurred. It was the feeling of being enveloped by dense fog.
Once this situation formed, there were no further changes.
They waited for about a double-hour, but it remained the same.
Seeing the faintly discernible mountain forest outside, and the faintly discernible path they had come from, Xiang Lanxuan proposed, “Shall we each send someone back to try?”
The other two had no objection.
The three families immediately summoned one person each. They did not tell the three subordinates the situation. Then they found three ropes and tied them around the subordinates’ waists, instructing them to follow the stone steps back. If they made contact with the outside, they should return by following the ropes.
The three men knew nothing. Thus, pulling the ropes, they charged straight into the mist at the bottom of the steps.
The three figures quickly disappeared into the mist. This made the people watching beneath the archway feel something was wrong. They could still vaguely see the mountaintop below. How could figures who had just entered suddenly vanish after walking only a short distance?
The ropes being pulled on the stone steps had been let out less than two zhang. They had been taut, but suddenly went limp and soft, falling to the ground.
“Pull them back quickly,” Meng Po shouted.
The three ropes were rapidly pulled back. The people tied to them had already vanished. The ropes were broken, their ends frayed and scattered.
Tian Yu immediately shouted toward the mist, “Respond if you hear me. Do you hear me? Respond if you hear me!”
There was no sound, only faintly drifting mist.
Yu Qing blinked his eyes forcefully. Even at such close range, his Observation Technique could not comprehend what was happening. Some of the strange, unpredictable changes in the mist exceeded his understanding.
The three people sent out had vanished silently and without a trace. It seemed a long and endlessly extending wall of mist had been erected outside the archway.
Xiang Lanxuan said in a deep voice, “It seems this is the same condition as the barrier surrounding the Sea Market. The exit should already be sealed. Our prediction was correct. I am afraid we will have to wait until the new moon night of next year if we wish to leave again.”
Meng Po and Tian Yu made no sound, tacitly acknowledging this.
The three senior brothers exchanged glances. Did they really have to spend a year confined in Little Cloud Realm?
Next, the entire group waited on the spot.
Fortunately, it was already very late when they entered this place. They did not need to endure too long until dawn. After about two double-hours, the dawn light arrived.
After daybreak, the area outside the archway was still a vast expanse of fog.
The place where the crowd stood was a bare mountaintop. It was also atop a high mountain, presenting a scene of desolation. On the ground were scattered fragments of broken stone warrior statues.
The three factions each left ten people as guards at the entrance. The remainder followed the three leaders to the edge of the mountain to gaze out at the new world.
Strange mountains and beautiful waters reflected the morning sun. Peaks rose in overlapping layers, and flying waterfalls resembled bolts of silk.
A long flight of stone steps led down to the valley below. Three people could be vaguely seen wandering on the steps. Upon closer inspection, they were precisely Long Xingyun and his two companions.
Tian Yu’s face instantly darkened. With a flash, he flew down.
Afterward, the people on the mountain vaguely saw Tian Yu give Long Xingyun a slap, though they could not tell what he was scolding.
The group also descended the mountain and began to travel through the mountain ranges along stone steps covered in vines and wild grass. Some people in the front wielded swords and blades to chop a path.
The state of the road made it clear at a glance that this place had been uninhabited for a long time.
As the procession turned and passed between two steep cliffs, someone pointed at the mountain walls on both sides and said, “Look, there are many large and small holes in the cliff faces.”
The words had barely fallen when a “dee dee dee” clanging chirp suddenly came from Yu Qing’s sleeve.
Yu Qing was startled. Immediately after, his arm was seized by Meng Po, and his sleeve was flipped up, exposing Big Head clinging inside the sleeve.
Big Head immediately flashed and flew to the top of Yu Qing’s head, burrowing into his ponytail.
Liu Piaopiao, who was not far away, looked slightly alarmed upon seeing this. She recognized Big Head and had witnessed its function before. She swiftly became vigilant of the cliffs on both sides.
Qin Jue and Cui You, who had also turned to look upon hearing the sound, exchanged a glance. They were clearly somewhat astonished.
“What is this insect?” Meng Po pressed.
Yu Qing said awkwardly, “A pet I raised.”
“It is a fire cricket.” Qin Jue from among the demon group answered. Seeing everyone look over, he added, “It is that ‘fire cricket’ which the Underworld Cliff issued a mission to capture.”
So it was a fire cricket. Everyone understood.
The three senior brothers were already secretly thinking that things had turned bad. Sure enough, Qin Jue indeed would not let the matter rest. He immediately pressed further, “A Shiheng, I spent six million five hundred thousand taels to buy a fire cricket from you, but it ran away without a trace. I never expected it would run back into your hands. You certainly made a profitable deal.”
At this moment, Yu Qing showed no fear. He immediately retorted, “Bullshit. I still want to ask you. Right after I sold the fire cricket to you, as soon as I left Underworld Horn Port, how did a group of robbers happen to ambush us specifically? They even knew I had six million five hundred thousand taels of banknotes on me. Do you dare say you did not instigate it?”
In truth, the robbers had never mentioned how much silver he was carrying.
Everyone took a look and realized these were old acquaintances with a prior grudge.
Qin Jue said, “Do not casually throw dirty water without evidence.”
“All of you shut up!” Tian Yu suddenly roared. “Whatever private grievances you have, settle them after you get out. This is not the place for you to settle accounts. Whoever chatters again, I will knock out his teeth.”
Qin Jue subconsciously pursed the corners of his mouth.
The procession continued forward. They suddenly encountered a pile of scattered rocks blocking the path. Someone pointed above and said, “This should have collapsed from above. There should originally have been a stone bridge here.”
The scattered rocks were nothing. Later, they also saw the skeletal remains of fallen giants one after another. The bones were blackened and had not decayed after a thousand years.
Passing through the obstructing bones, when someone pulled aside a blocking vine branch, he suddenly said, “Pay attention. The veins of the plant leaves here all seem to be black.”
Reminded by this, everyone reached out to pull some leaves into their hands to examine. They discovered this was indeed the case.
Someone who had applied Blue Enchantress to his eyelids suddenly shouted a loud warning, “Be careful. They contain evil miasma within.”
Hearing these words, everyone successively looked at the broken ends of the leaves to observe.
Yu Qing and his two companions were no exception. They quickly took out Blue Enchantress and applied it. Then they stared at the broken ends of the leaves to examine carefully. Only then did they discover that there was faint, almost invisible evil miasma slowly emanating out.
The quantity was not large. To a group of cultivators, it was not much of an effect.
“The vegetation in this place should have all been soaked in evil miasma. Pass through this area quickly.”
Meng Po shouted.
Everyone immediately quickened their pace to pass through.
Yu Qing and his two senior brothers were on high alert in all directions. They all knew Big Head would not chirp randomly. That alarm-like chirp had caused the three to secretly raise their guard.
When the group passed through to an open area, or more precisely a basin, they all froze in unison.
Before their eyes was actually a large orchard.
Some fruit trees were as tall as ten zhang. Their canopies covered an area of roughly ten zhang as well. The branches were blackish brown and iron-like, shaped like coiling dragons. The leaves were emerald green like gems. The important point was that many peaches the size of vegetable plates hung from the branches. Each one grew pink and enticing.
The crowd had never seen peach trees this large, nor peaches this large. One look told them these were no ordinary items.
“Immortal peaches!”
Suddenly someone shouted in pleasant surprise.
The personnel of the three factions instantly lost all order. Without restraint, they madly charged toward the peach orchard before them.
Meng Po did not lose his reason. Seeing one of his subordinates jump onto a tree, pick a peach, and try to bite it, he immediately shouted, “Do not be careless. Be careful that these peaches have been soaked in evil miasma!”