Chu Lingwei and Long Ziqian exchanged glances. They really hadn't noticed any prohibition here.
"Ask him if he's seen any other cultivators, or any traces of where other cultivators last disappeared."
Chu Lingwei was quite anxious. Everything here was too strange, and she wanted to find her parents as soon as possible.
"Fellow Daoist Song, do you have any methods to find the cultivators who entered here before?" Long Ziqian asked as instructed.
"I don't know. I haven't seen any cultivators these past few days. They should have left."
Song Qianshan felt this reason didn't make sense. He himself was still here, so it was impossible for those cultivators to have left. There was only one possibility: they might all have died.
"Weiwei, I can't detect any prohibition here."
Huan Mao's voice was full of guilt. Song Qianshan had already told them about a prohibition here, but he couldn't find it no matter what method he used.
It seemed his cultivation still needed improvement; he was truly too weak.
"It's okay, we'll go in and look later."
Chu Lingwei's artifact could detect her parents' auras, indicating they had definitely appeared here. Chu Lingwei had a feeling her parents were still here.
"Weiwei, don't worry, we'll accompany you to search." Feng Ming reached out and took Chu Lingwei's hand. Searching for people was his specialty.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Song."
Seeing that Song Qianshan had no information to offer, Long Ziqian could only thank him. It seemed that to find people here, they would have to rely on themselves.
However, the Song Qianshan before them was truly strange.
Long Ziqian glanced at Chu Lingwei, asking for her opinion.
"Let's go. Finding people is more important." Chu Lingwei had no mood to bother with Song Qianshan. He was a Tongtian Realm cultivator, and to be unaware of such events, Chu Lingwei was more concerned about her parents.
"Fellow Daoist Song, we are here to search for people. We'll take our leave."
Long Ziqian cupped his hands at Song Qianshan and was about to leave with Chu Lingwei.
Just as they were boarding their flying artifact, a surge of spiritual energy attacked them.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, ten years have passed, and you don't wish to acknowledge me?"
Song Qianshan's voice, filled with a sinister aura, entered Chu Lingwei's ears, causing a flicker of surprise in her heart. How had he recognized her?
Feng Ming saw him dare to harm Weiwei and immediately flew into the air, spitting a mouthful of Netherworld Fire at him.
Therefore, anyone who dared to harm Weiwei must die.
"How did you recognize me?" Chu Lingwei was confident that her disguise was so perfect that even a Supreme Realm cultivator couldn't detect her.
"Hmph, Chu Lingwei, it's all your fault for killing my cub."
Song Qianshan's body suddenly underwent a massive transformation, exuding malevolence. His cultivator's aura instantly vanished.
"Song Qianshan, you were also at the scene. The slaying of your spirit beast had nothing to do with Chu Lingwei." Long Ziqian's Spirit Gathering Spear had already been thrust towards Song Qianshan.
A bold conjecture had formed in his mind: none of the cultivators and spirit beasts who entered that lake could have survived.
"If it weren't for her, my cub wouldn't have died. Today, I will make Chu Lingwei pay with blood." Song Qianshan's eyes were filled with hatred. If Chu Lingwei hadn't destroyed that lake, his cub, even if controlled, would at least be alive now.
But now, it had already been slain by those sect members. All of this was caused by Chu Lingwei.
"Song Qianshan, how did you recognize me?" Chu Lingwei summoned her Ice Jade Frost Sword and engaged him in a fierce battle.
"You are my enemy. How could I not recognize you?"
Song Qianshan's moves were filled with killing intent, forcing Chu Lingwei to constantly dodge.
Hearing this, Chu Lingwei's heart sank. His words implied that he might have recognized her from the very beginning.
How was this possible?
"Fellow Daoist Chu, leave him to me."
Since he harbored killing intent, they wouldn't be blamed. Long Ziqian's killing intent surged, and together with Feng Ming, they encircled Song Qianshan.
"Weiwei, how did he recognize you?" Huan Mao set up a trapping formation, confining them within. This way, Song Qianshan would have no chance to escape.
"Perhaps, at the moment their spirit beasts had problems, they also fell victim."
Chu Lingwei inwardly chided herself for being careless. At that time, they had only focused on the spirit beasts and had completely overlooked their owners.
If all the owners of the problematic spirit beasts were like Song Qianshan, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Hmph, Tongtian Realm is nothing more than this."
Long Ziqian looked at Song Qianshan, who had died under his spear, a hint of sarcasm flashing in his eyes. A Tongtian Realm cultivator couldn't even withstand a hundred moves from his Rongtian Realm self.
"He's so weak."
Feng Ming pouted and returned to Chu Lingwei's side. "He was just putting on a show earlier."
Chu Lingwei squatted beside Song Qianshan's corpse and carefully examined his body. She discovered two types of spiritual energy within him: one was that of a cultivator, and the other was like the aura of a spirit beast, yet not quite.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, do you think they might share a single body with their spirit beasts?" When Long Ziqian was fighting Song Qianshan, many of his attacks were not direct uses of his techniques but rather attacks like those of a spirit beast.
"It's highly possible. Once we leave here, I will immediately report this to my master."
If this were true, the slain spirit beasts would surely harbor vengeful thoughts. People like Song Qianshan must not be allowed to live.
"Yes, let's find people first."
Long Ziqian nodded. The situation was grave, and he would also notify the Long Manor immediately, hoping they could make preparations.
Traveling in the dark was much more dangerous than during the day, with high-level spirit beasts appearing frequently.
Chu Lingwei took out her artifact for finding people. However, in the darkness, her artifact seemed to have malfunctioned, yielding no feedback.
Looking at the motionless artifact, Chu Lingwei fell into distress.
Song Qianshan could have appeared here, indicating that other cultivators must be present.
Chu Lingwei had a flash of inspiration. She infused Song Qianshan's aura into the artifact. The artifact, which had been silent moments ago, suddenly began to spin and flew forward rapidly.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, what is this..."
"Let's go see where Song Qianshan went?" If they couldn't find any trace of her parents, they could at least go and see what had happened to Song Qianshan here.
"This is a good idea."
Long Ziqian's eyes lit up. Song Qianshan had seen other cultivators. If they followed the path Song Qianshan had taken, they might indeed find clues about those cultivators.
"Weiwei, be careful, there's a phantom array ahead."
As they flew on their swords, Huan Mao returned from the front, telling them to stop.
"Phantom array? Isn't this what you're best at?"
Huan Mao was most skilled with phantom arrays, so Feng Ming happily moved forward.
"Feng Ming, come back! I can't open that phantom array at all." Huan Mao saw Feng Ming's movement and immediately stepped forward to stop him. "Weiwei, I can't break that phantom array."
"Even you can't break it?" Chu Lingwei's heart skipped a beat.