"Little junior sister, let's hurry out. This place is going to collapse soon."
Just as Chu Lingwei was about to step forward to investigate, Nangong Luo's voice sounded in her ear. Before she could react, he had already pulled her out of the secret chamber.
The moment the few of them left the secret chamber, it crumpled like paper before their eyes, and then vanished.
"This place is truly..." Nangong Luo had never seen such an unusual and perilous place.
"Let's go directly to the main hall."
They had a map to the main hall. They had already wasted so much time exploring just two places. If they were to walk to the main hall step by step, a month would not be enough.
"Okay, let's take the shortest route," Chu Lingwei agreed, finally understanding why Suo Ya had said that entering this place was akin to seeking death.
This Hall of Inheritance was indeed more dangerous than they had imagined.
Nangong Luo led the way, moving quickly towards the direction of the main hall.
This path was marked as dangerous by Suo Ya. They reached a checkpoint before the main hall with some peril but no actual harm.
To their surprise, they encountered Cheng Tianming here.
"Fellow Daoist Cheng, I didn't expect to meet again so soon," Nangong Luo said, slightly surprised to see Cheng Tianming. They were truly formidable to have reached this point so quickly.
"Second Senior Brother, be careful. Fellow Daoist Cheng seems a bit off."
Su Yan placed a hand on Nangong Luo's shoulder and whispered a reminder.
Chu Lingwei's heart also tightened. Ever since they arrived, Cheng Tianming had been standing there as if he hadn't seen them, his gaze fixed straight ahead.
If not for his lively eyes, she would have almost thought he was a dead man.
After two breaths, Cheng Tianming chuckled.
"Fellow Daoist Nangong, I didn't expect you to reach this point so quickly?"
Chu Lingwei was wary. For some reason, Cheng Tianming's tone was off, different from how he felt in the secret chamber.
"Yes, everyone is heading for the main hall, so we have to be quick." Nangong Luo opened his Warm Jade Haotian Fan, preparing for any potential battle. "Fellow Daoist Cheng, have you resolved the poison in your body? I still have a detoxification pill here."
"This is not poison at all; I expelled it long ago." Disdain flickered in Cheng Tianming's eyes. He pointed to a stone bridge before them. "This bridge is difficult to cross. Do you have a way?"
Nangong Luo's brow twitched. The person before him was likely not Cheng Tianming.
"What's different about this stone bridge?" Nangong Luo stepped forward and stood before the bridge. This was the same bridge they had seen in the illusion when they first entered the Hall of Inheritance.
On the real bridge, there were no spiritual springs or spiritual spring water; it was just a bridge on the verge of collapse.
"Not just anyone can step onto this bridge. If it doesn't recognize you, your spiritual power will vanish, and your bones will be annihilated." Cheng Tianming's eyes held a coldness and anger. "We must find a way to jump across."
Chu Lingwei walked up to Nangong Luo and sent a surge of spiritual power towards the bridge. The spiritual power slid gently across it.
"Even spiritual power cannot coexist on this bridge."
"We only have one option: to fly over the bridge." Cheng Tianming crossed his arms and looked at Chu Lingwei. His eyes widened slightly as they landed on her face.
Su Yan did not miss the way Cheng Tianming looked at his junior sister. He stepped in front of Cheng Tianming, blocking his gaze. "Fellow Daoist Cheng, how did you know the method to cross this stone bridge?"
"That's none of your concern. However, to cross this stone bridge, you can only fly." Cheng Tianming snorted. "Don't even think about using your sword flight. Ordinary flying artifacts will disappear as soon as they fly over the bridge."
Cheng Tianming's words stumped Chu Lingwei. Ordinary flying artifacts wouldn't work; it would either have to be a divine artifact or a bane to this stone bridge.
Chu Lingwei possessed a flying divine artifact, but now was not the time to reveal it.
"What kind of artifact can pass through?"
"Water of No Trace." Cheng Tianming stared at the stone bridge for a moment. "It's impossible to walk across here. Let's find another way to enter the main hall."
Water of No Trace.
Chu Lingwei had never heard of such a substance in the Profound Sky Continent.
"Do you want to come with me?" Cheng Tianming took a few steps forward. Seeing that no one followed, he looked at Chu Lingwei. "Without the Water of No Trace, you will never be able to cross this stone bridge."
"No, we'll think of something else."
Nangong Luo couldn't be sure of the purpose of the person impersonating Cheng Tianming.
"You don't believe me?" Cheng Tianming stopped and walked towards Nangong Luo. "You don't believe I am Cheng Tianming."
"Are you?" Nangong Luo's hand was already gathering spiritual power as he stared at Cheng Tianming, a mere puppet daring to question them.
"Of course, I am Cheng Tianming." Cheng Tianming's eyes slowly turned red, anger surging from them. "I am Cheng Tianming, I am the true Cheng Tianming."
Nangong Luo snorted, and the Warm Jade Haotian Fan flew out of his hand.
"Feng Ming." Chu Lingwei, along with Nangong Luo, attacked Cheng Tianming.
Feng Ming, hearing Chu Lingwei's voice, flew into the air and unleashed a large ball of Netherworld Fire at Cheng Tianming.
"Ah!"
Cheng Tianming was engulfed in flames. No matter what he tried, he couldn't extinguish the fire.
"Who exactly are you?"
Nangong Luo stared intently at the person before him. He still dared to claim to be Cheng Tianming, yet his spiritual power was less than half of Cheng Tianming's.
"It's the spiritual beast from the secret chamber." Su Yan had been observing Cheng Tianming for a long time and finally identified it. This was because the spiritual beast in his spirit beast pouch was only an empty shell remaining.
"I am Cheng Tianming." The fake Cheng Tianming writhed on the ground. Hearing Su Yan's words, he couldn't help but retort, "Hurry and extinguish the fire. I can tell you how to enter the main hall."
"If it's a spiritual beast, then wouldn't the real Cheng Tianming be dead?" Chu Lingwei looked at Cheng Tianming, whose current movements were very similar to the spiritual beast in the secret chamber.
"It must be."
Nangong Luo shivered. "It must be the poison within Cheng Tianming's body."
Or perhaps, what had entered Cheng Tianming's body was not poison at all, but that spiritual beast. It had entered Cheng Tianming's body simply to seize it.
"I will kill you."
After Nangong Luo figured this out, he knew that a spiritual beast that seized another's body could not be allowed to live.
Su Yan nodded and, along with Nangong Luo, launched an attack on Cheng Tianming.
"You dare to kill me!" The Netherworld Fire on Cheng Tianming's body was still unextinguished when he was attacked by two cultivators. The blows were all fatal. The body he had just acquired was not yet used flexibly, and soon he was on his last breath.
He never expected to be so unlucky, to be killed shortly after acquiring a body. With a vicious thought, he sent a surge of spiritual power towards the stone bridge.