Qinchuan examined the bronze fragment carefully once again.
The fragment's surface was blurred and damaged; time had left mottled traces on it, ancient, long-standing, sacred, and mysterious.
"This seems to be a piece that fell off from the ear of a great cauldron," Qinchuan murmured to himself.
When the blazing divine light in his Innate Pupils burst forth onto the fragment, his heart suddenly stirred, and that strange feeling emerged once again.
Initially when he entered the Spirit Martial Great Tomb, he felt that something within it was calling out to him.
However, as he ventured into the sinister mountain ranges, the great plains, and braved the lairs of gods and demons, a series of events followed, and that strange feeling had vanished.
Now, upon seeing the bronze fragment again, that wonderfully mysterious feeling surged back into his heart.
In the central area of this world, there existed something connected to this bronze fragment, calling out to him.
"Is this the bronze fragment you obtained from the Life Prohibition Zone?" Qinchuan put the bronze fragment away.
"Half a year ago, confident in our breakthroughs and significant rise in cultivation levels, my two brothers and I entered the Life Prohibition Zone in the central area. We reached the Demon Pool and saw it devouring martial artists. Below the Demon Pool, a demon god with a gaping mouth was swallowing the essence blood of the martial artists.
After discovering us, the Demon Pool also intended to devour us, but by sacrificing a large number of magical treasures, my brothers and I luckily escaped with our lives. This bronze fragment was found on the edge of the Demon Pool."
Gu Shi had already been terrified by Qinchuan's fierce methods and did not dare to hide anything, spilling the details of when and how he had obtained the fragment.
At this point, Gu Shi paused, his voice filled with sincere fright and trepidation, trembling, "Young master, everything I have said is the truth, you can let me go now, right?"
"I have one last question for you, and you must answer truthfully," Qinchuan said calmly, his True Qi surging as he ejected a stream of True Qi from his fingertips, revealing a portrait of a person in the void.
"Have you ever seen this person during your many years in the Spirit Martial Great Tomb?"
The figure that Qinchuan was drawing was none other than Qin Zhan, the former head of the Qin family who had braved the Spirit Martial Great Tomb to resolve a crisis for the Qin Family and whose fate had since been unknown, also Qinchuan's biological father in this life.
A few days ago, when Qinchuan spoke of going to the Spirit Martial Great Tomb, Qin Xiaoyu, knowing her father had never returned since entering the place, desperately pleaded with him not to go, to no avail.
However, Qinchuan had long since changed from the man he used to be, nor was he Qin Zhan; once he set his resolve to enter the Spirit Martial Great Tomb, no one could stop him.
Unable to deter him, Qin Xiaoyu then beseeched him to look for news of her father Qin Zhan after entering the tomb.
Indeed, even without the factor of karma, even if Xiaoyu hadn't tearfully begged him, owing to Qin Zhan alone, he would eventually make his way to the Spirit Martial Great Tomb.
"This is..." Seeing the portrait materializing in the void, Gu Shi looked stunned, then covertly glanced at it before a glimmer of excitement appeared on his face, "I've seen him, I've seen this man!"
"This senior appeared by the Spirit River half a month ago. I have a rather vivid memory of it." Gu Shi's face revealed a flattering smile, saying, "At the eastern end of this plain, there's a passage leading to the Spirit River, and I can take you there, young master!"
Qinchuan's gaze was piercing, his eyes twinkling with shifting light, his face breaking into a cold smile, he said indifferently, "No need, I know the location of the Spirit River."
Gu Shi was taken aback at his words and nodded, "Since the young master knows the location of the Spirit River, it seems redundant for me to mention it."
After he finished speaking, Gu Shi carefully added, "Young master, I have now answered your last question. May I have your permission to leave?"
Qinchuan nodded and said indifferently, "Alright, this young master will send you on your way!" As soon as he said this, he thrust his long spear forward, piercing Gu Shi's chest.
"Why... why?" Gu Shi's face was a picture of dumbfounded disbelief as he stared at Qinchuan, seemingly asking, "Didn't you say you would spare me?"
Qinchuan leaned in and whispered in his ear, "This young master said I'd forgive you for the sneak attack, but I never said I'd spare you for tampering with my Great Formation. If you dare to meddle with my formation, you should be prepared to die. Moreover, the most important reason, those who dare to deceive this young master, all must die!"
Having said that, Qinchuan drifted away.
As Gu Shi took his last breath, he still couldn't comprehend; how was it that they, three brothers who had failed to break the Great Formation after several months, and resorted to luring the Yin Spirit to forcibly break it, were connected to this teenager in any way?
Nor could he fathom why Qinchuan was so certain that Gu Shi had deceived him.
When Gu Shi saw the portrait of Qin Zhan earlier, his face showed a hint of doubt, clearly, he had never seen this man before.
However, upon taking a closer look at the portrait, he saw a resemblance between the man's facial features and those of Qinchuan, and he understood immediately.
"So Qinchuan entered the Spirit Martial Great Tomb to look for someone? Perhaps the person in the portrait is one of his senior family members or brothers."
At the very end, he pretended to recognize the man in the portrait, intending to trick Qinchuan and his group into heading towards a spatial turbulence.
What he did not know was that Qinchuan possessed Innate Pupils, and all of his actions were within Qinchuan's control.
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Without having found any news of Qin Zhan, Qinchuan was not in a hurry. Since there apparently was a Demon Pool in the Life Prohibition Zone designed to attract martial artists to that secret domain, once all the martial artists gathered in the Life Prohibition Zone, even without news of Qin Zhan, it would become much easier to gather information.
The group headed swiftly toward the central area of this small world. Ji Huo'er noticed that instead of heading east, they were actually moving south and asked curiously, "Aren't we going to the Spirit River?"
Qinchuan shook his head. "The Spirit River is on the other side of the world. Even if we proceed non-stop day and night from here, crossing the central area, it will take at least a year to get there."
"A year? So the old man earlier was lying when he said he saw it at the Spirit River half a month ago?" Ji Huo'er belatedly realized the deception and only then did she catch on.
"He said it was to the east of the grasslands, but in actuality, the eastern part of these grasslands is the edge of this world. Venturing there recklessly could very likely result in being caught in an endless spatial turbulence. Once trapped, the minor consequence would be exile, and one could not hope to return from the chaotic spatial flows for a thousand years; the severe consequence would be the spirit dispersing and the soul shattering without even a chance for the True Spirit to reincarnate."
After explaining, he cast a glance at Ji Huo'er and said blandly, "Are you interested in experiencing the chaos for yourself?"
"Dammit! The old man was actually trying to set us up!" Ji Huo'er jumped up and yelled indignantly, "Let me go back and stab him one more time, letting him die like that is too lenient."
As she said this and turned around, Ling Xian'er, quick as a flash, caught her and chided, "Huo'er, stop causing trouble," at which point she gave up.
An ancient and mysterious gate of light appeared, serving as a passage leading out of this grassland into another area. Stay updated via Freewebnovel
Qinchuan was the first to step forward, striding toward the gate of light. After stepping through and being enveloped in a mysterious glow, the group entered a new area.