The once verdant trees suddenly took on a hint of withered yellow.
The ethereal feeling of clouds and mist also vanished.
Before Zilin Ling appeared a small path, three feet wide.
On either side of the path, thorns grew in abundance, and the grass was lush.
"Entered the mountain?!" Zilin Ling exclaimed in surprise.
A trace of excitement flickered in her eyes, and the last bit of her inner vexation vanished like smoke.
Old Du nodded and said, "The road ahead is the most dangerous. On this path, there are no less than a thousand formations, big and small. You must calculate carefully and deduce precisely.
Of course, to help you quickly grasp the essence of various formations, these formations all require you to break them yourself. Unless you are in mortal danger, I will not intervene. Are you ready?"
Zilin Ling looked at the winding path ascending, a gleam appearing in her eyes.
She said, eager to try, "I am ready!"
A flicker of anticipation appeared in Old Du's eyes. He nodded, "Then let us begin!"
Zilin Ling eagerly took the first step. Nothing changed in her surroundings.
Then came the second step, the third step...
She carefully remembered Old Du's words, each step taken cautiously, as if treading on thin ice.
Seven steps, eight steps, nine steps... everything was normal.
But when Zilin Ling took the tenth step, the scenery around her changed.
A thick tree branch lay horizontally before her, blocking her path.
This change was not abrupt at all, nor did it feel out of place, as if the branch had always been there.
However, Zilin Ling was no longer the novice who knew nothing about formations and relied entirely on Old Du's guidance.
Therefore, the moment she took the tenth step, she understood that she had entered an illusion formation.
Zilin Ling did not panic. Instead, she smiled charmingly at the tree branch and said confidently, "The formation's core is right here. If not now, then when to break the illusion formation?"
A cluster of spiritual energy flames appeared in her hand.
With a flick of her finger, the spiritual energy flames landed on the weeds beneath the tree branch.
The weeds instantly ignited, quickly turning into ashes, revealing a palm-sized stone.
Zilin Ling kicked it, and the stone rolled to the side.
The illusion formation was broken. The tree branch that had blocked her path seemed to have never existed.
Before Zilin Ling's eyes, the small path reappeared.
The surrounding scenery also returned to its previous state, with the verdant trees showing a hint of withered yellow.
"Not bad!" Old Du praised without reservation.
It took Zilin Ling about ten breaths from entering the formation to breaking it.
These ten breaths were naturally a bit long for a formation master like Old Du.
But for a novice like Zilin Ling, who was just beginning to glimpse the art of formations, it was quite short.
Zilin Ling smiled humbly and flattered a little, "It's all thanks to your excellent teaching, Old Du!"
Old Du chuckled, "Alright, enough flattery. Let's get moving!"
"Yes!"
Zilin Ling nodded and took another step.
This time, after ten steps, she fell into a maze formation.
Before her eyes, a cute little rabbit was squatting.
The rabbit was not afraid of her. Its small, crimson eyes blinked at her, full of curiosity.
Zilin Ling walked up and picked up the little rabbit, stroking its fur. She said, "The people of the Hehuan Sect are truly beasts. How could they bear to use such a cute little thing as a formation core?"
She sighed and said to the rabbit, "I didn't want to kill you, but if I don't kill you, I can't get out of this maze. If I can't get out of this maze, who knows how many people will be harmed by these beasts of the Hehuan Sect!
So, little rabbit, I'm sorry, but I can only send you on your way!"
As she spoke, a surgical knife appeared in her hand. The knife gently sliced across the rabbit's neck.
Blood dripped, and the light in the rabbit's eyes quickly dimmed.
"Little rabbit, rest in peace! I will transform you into energy and seek retribution from those beasts of the Hehuan Sect!"
The rabbit stopped breathing, and the maze before Zilin Ling vanished.
The verdant trees, still with a hint of withered yellow, the winding path ascending.
The only difference was that there was a pool of blood on the small path beneath her feet, and a lifeless rabbit was now in Zilin Ling's hand.
"Good, used one breath less!"
Old Du's voice of praise sounded again.
Zilin Ling smiled and said, "The people of the Hehuan Sect knew I was hungry, so they sent a rabbit. To not disappoint their kind intentions, I should eat my fill before leaving."
As she spoke, her surgical knife moved again, and the rabbit's fur separated from its flesh.
She cleaned the rabbit's innards and found a stick, skewering the cleaned rabbit on it. Then, she condensed a flame and began to roast the rabbit meat.
Old Du sneered, "You just said you wanted to help the little rabbit seek retribution from the beasts of the Hehuan Sect, but in the blink of an eye, you're roasting it."
Zilin Ling laughed, "Aren't I hungry? Besides, I promised it I would seek retribution from the Hehuan Sect, but only after transforming it into energy!"
Old Du was stunned for a moment and said exasperatedly, "You're too... shameless?"
Zilin Ling carefully controlled the flames in her hand and said, "There's no such thing as shameless or not. This is called making good use of one's body."
As she spoke, the rabbit meat in Zilin Ling's hand was already roasted.
Don't ask her why it was roasted so quickly!
If people knew she used the precious Phoenix True Fire to roast meat, she would be drowned in spit.
Zilin Ling extinguished the flames, took a large bite of the rabbit meat, and said, "Delicious! Old Du, would you like a bite?"
Old Du said exasperatedly, "Are you trying to tease me?"
Hmph! He knew perfectly well that as a soul body, he couldn't eat meat, yet she deliberately showed off in front of him!
This was unbearable. If he had a physical body, he would surely give this hateful girl a good spanking.
But that was only if.
At this moment, he could only say resentfully, "If you don't want to be stuck here for months, hurry up and get moving!"
Zilin Ling took another bite of the rabbit meat and said, "Don't rush. Even the King of Hell can't rush a starving ghost, right?"
Although she said this, her feet did not stop.
After another ten steps, she fell into another formation, this time a confinement formation.
Zilin Ling sighed, sat leisurely in the confinement formation, and ate the rabbit meat with large bites.
Soon, the rabbit was completely gone.
She then took out a pot of wine from her Nine Spirits Ring and drank it slowly until she was full.
Old Du said exasperatedly, "Alright, alright! You've eaten your fill, time to get to work!"