Bamboo Mound

Seeing that there were no negative effects, Ning Chang also increased the speed at which spiritual energy seeped in, but only slightly.

Finally, once the spiritual energy had completely covered both eyeballs, the feeling of comfort had already disappeared.

When I opened my eyes again, I felt a sudden clarity!

The clouds and mist that had previously enveloped the entire secret realm in the distance had completely disappeared!

It's easy to spot the figures of disciples from various sects who have already gone far away! And it's just that they're too far away to recognize them.

"How come I didn't discover this ability before...? Um... it seems like even if I had discovered it before, it wouldn't have been of much use..."

He pursed his lips and began to observe the surroundings of the secret realm, preparing to choose a direction to move forward, since he was already far behind.

He was now standing next to the entrance, and even though he had covered his eyes with spiritual power, he still couldn't see through the wisps of smoke at the entrance.

The surrounding area is a wide plain with few undulations.

Looking ahead, there is a forest in the distance, which almost covers the entire area from here!

There was no end in sight to the left or right, and opposite the forest, that is, behind it, sat a tall mountain at roughly the same distance.

The mountain was surrounded by flat land, yet it itself soared into the clouds... In Ning Chang's view, the entire Cloud and Mist Secret Realm was now cloudless.

In short, Ning Chang believed that the existence of this mountain was extremely unreasonable, as there was not even a small section of the mountain range connected to it, nor was there any trace of its existence.

On one side of the mountain are some relatively short columnar and slab-like structures, with some faint gaps at the corners.

And because of the distance, it was not very conspicuous. Ning looked at it several times before confirming that it was not the stem or leaf of some plant.

After looking around and not finding anything particularly obvious, I decided to walk towards the direction of the suspected building.

.....

Outside the secret realm, watching all the disciples of the three sects enter, Duan Kun still felt uneasy.

The fourth and fifth brothers who led the team back yesterday haven't sent him any messages yet.

The two communication talismans he used to communicate with the sect members also went unanswered.

He wanted to go back and see for himself, but the disciples in the Cloud Mist Secret Realm still needed the six of them to help them, so he couldn't leave at all.

Even after three days of studying the array plate brought back by their own disciple, the two elders of the Huayu Sect still couldn't figure it out.

There are currently six elders in the sect. The sect leader is in seclusion, he and the third elder are in the Cloud Mist Secret Realm, the second elder is also in seclusion, there's no news of the fourth and fifth elders, and the sixth elder has little combat power and isn't responding to telepathic messages...

Considering the Bloodthirsty Sect's apparent resurgence, it remains to be seen what they might do.

A multitude of events unfolded simultaneously, causing sorrow to almost cover his entire face.

Such a worried expression was hard to ignore, and soon the Third Elder, Xiang Liang, spoke up and asked:

"What's wrong, Lao Duan? Why are you looking like that? What are you thinking about?"

The sudden question interrupted his thoughts and also caused the other four elders to turn around and look.

"A little worried... no, nothing." He answered subconsciously, but before he could finish the sentence, he came to his senses and shook his head.

"What are you worried about? With your apprentice, how could he not run away when he's in danger?" Xiang Liang said jokingly.

"Besides, haven't we already given him the locator? He'll use it if he encounters danger."

"Haha..." I'm not worried about my disciples. Duan Kun shook his head with a wry smile, not saying the last sentence.

......

Ning Chang had been walking for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea in the secret realm. He hadn't seen a single creature along the way, but there were many exotic flowers and rare herbs.

The plant cycles here seem to be disrupted. Even when they are not too far apart, some grasses are just sprouting new shoots, while others are already flowering, producing seeds, or withering.

And most of them were plants he had never seen before. Even if some looked similar to grasses he knew, the details still didn't match.

Among these clumps of intertwined weeds, Ning Chang couldn't distinguish any medicinal herbs. After all, there were only about a dozen kinds, and none of them had any unusually tall stems or fruit, directly proclaiming themselves as medicinal plants.

After walking for about half a cup of tea's time, Ning Chang grew tired.

Everywhere was covered with similar weeds, and the distance between myself and the mountain in front of me seemed to have never changed.

Several disciples were also wandering aimlessly not far away, and Ning Chang couldn't help but shake his head.

If they continue wandering around like this, they probably won't have any results even after seven days.

Having made up his mind, Ning Chang swallowed a spirit stone and focused all his energy on the Azure Cloud Technique, using all the external spiritual energy he would absorb and the energy supplied by the spirit stone on the Azure Cloud Step.

As for the spiritual energy that fills his meridians, he plans to use it as little as possible in normal times, in order to prevent a lack of spiritual energy in case of sudden battle.

With his current proficiency in the Azure Cloud Step, each step he takes when moving forward at full speed can cover a distance of about two hundred meters!

And so, after who knows how many hours, Ning Chang finally stopped.

Looking at the somewhat magnified mountains and ruins in the distance, he estimated that he had already walked about halfway.

Fortunately, he didn't feel tired when running using the Azure Cloud Step, otherwise he would have been even slower!

Along the way, the spiritual power provided by just one spirit stone was not enough to offset the spiritual power consumed by the Azure Cloud Step, so I swallowed two more along the way.

Looking at the weeds around him, which were still not much different from the others, Ning Chang did not dare to linger.

The three spirit stones were still releasing spiritual energy with the Azure Cloud Technique. If he didn't use the Azure Cloud Step to consume it, it would cause a swelling sensation throughout his meridians, making him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

As I started again, the slight feeling of fullness immediately disappeared.

Although the three spirit stones provide spiritual energy at a faster rate than the Azure Cloud Step consumes, it is not much. Even if they remain in the meridians, they are easily compressed together with the existing spiritual energy, and cannot expand the scale of spiritual energy.

After an unknown amount of time, when the two spirit stones he had swallowed were about to run out, Ning Chang finally arrived at the foot of the mountain.

Standing at the foot of the mountain, and looking up, the mountain dominates the entire field of vision.

The mountain is rugged and rocky, with crevices filled with completely dried grass stalks, and the entire mountain is devoid of any sign of life!

The base of the mountain is also made of stone, directly connecting with the land below, with no transition between the two, as if the mountain had really been moved from somewhere else.

"Who is this person? They just cut a mountain and moved it over for no reason..."

Ning Chang thought to himself.

Having seen the bare, rocky mountain up close, Ning Chang lost all intention of climbing to the top for a closer look.

After all, there's probably nothing on it, just rocks.

Then, turning right, and taking advantage of the remaining two spirit stones, he used the Azure Cloud Step to run towards the ruins.

The ruins are not far from the side of the mountain, and from Ning Chang's distance, he can already see the general structure.

Finally, when the spirit stones were exhausted, Ning Chang also arrived in front of the ruins.