"I am not mistaken, you are of the Phoenix Clan."
The figure walked in front of Chu Lingwei, reaching out as if to touch her face. Suddenly, his figure was split in two by a curved blade, instantly turning into smoke and disappearing into the heavens and earth.
"Fellow Daoist Wuming, you were too impulsive."
Chu Lingwei watched the figure that suddenly dissipated, a look of regret in her eyes. She hadn't had time to ask about the Phoenix Clan.
"Are you alright?"
Wuming walked in front of Chu Lingwei. Seeing that she was unharmed, he quietly let out a sigh of relief. "It's just a remnant soul. His words are not to be trusted."
"That's not necessarily true. Perhaps what he said is true?" Chu Lingwei did not dwell on her regret. In just a moment, they were surrounded by miasma again. "Fellow Daoist Wuming, quickly find a way, there is too much miasma."
Tens of thousands of years of cultivators' remnant souls. How long would it take to kill them all?
Wuming soared into the sky, bringing Chu Lingwei with him, and looked down at the area within a hundred miles, all enveloped in miasma.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" If she had known the miasma couldn't drift this high, she would have left on a flying artifact long ago.
"If we had continuously used spiritual power, we would never have reached the center. You wouldn't have seen what you wanted to see either." Wuming led Chu Lingwei towards where the tornadoes had appeared.
The spiritual energy in the air struck their faces like water, very refreshing.
"It's right there."
Suddenly, Chu Lingwei felt spiritual energy fluctuations ahead. Several small tornadoes were swirling below.
"This is not it." Wuming denied, still leading Chu Lingwei to the front of these small tornadoes.
Seeing Chu Lingwei and Wuming appear, these small tornadoes paused for a moment, then immediately tried to flee.
"They want to run?" How could Chu Lingwei let them escape? She cast a formation, watching them repeatedly crash against it.
"I didn't expect tornadoes to develop sentience and control spiritual energy." Chu Lingwei watched the tornadoes within the formation. They continuously erupted with lightning spiritual power, striking the formation.
"Do you intend to control them indefinitely?" Wuming's gaze tightened as he looked at the tornadoes. "If their ancestors find you, you won't be able to leave here safely."
Chu Lingwei ignored Wuming and approached the small tornadoes. "What exactly are they?"
"Just a demonic wind." Wuming looked at the curved blade in his hand, lowering his eyelids so Chu Lingwei could not see his emotions.
"Can I collect them?" They seemed to lack intelligence but possessed the agility of spiritual beasts. They must have developed sentience, but their cultivation was insufficient.
"Yes."
Wuming waved his hand, and the small tornadoes appeared inside a crystal bead. "Seven days from now, if you don't release them, they will die."
Chu Lingwei took the bead and watched the small tornadoes inside still struggling to break free. She directly threw it into her storage bag.
"Let's go. We'll head directly to its lair."
"You're really going?" Wuming asked again.
"Of course, I am. I came here precisely to understand why this place is so valued by those great powers." Chu Lingwei nodded. If she didn't understand the reason this time, she believed more cultivators would meet an early demise here in the future.
Wuming glanced at Chu Lingwei, then grasped her arm. With a turn of his body, they began to fall into darkness.
The sensation of weightlessness was very similar to when Wuming had taken her to the very center of the spiritual domain.
"Where are we going?" Chu Lingwei opened her mouth, only to find she couldn't make a sound.
"Don't make a sound here, or you'll be discovered," Wuming transmitted mentally.
"Tell me, where are we going now? Is it the center of the spiritual domain?" Chu Lingwei nodded, indicating she understood.
"Yes, that is its lair."
Wuming spoke no further, leading Chu Lingwei downward. Two hours later, they arrived above a sea of fire, with small tornadoes constantly circling above.
The sounds of whistling filled the air, making Chu Lingwei wish she could block out all external noise.
Wuming led Chu Lingwei across the sea of fire and into a grand hall. Chu Lingwei gazed at the opulent hall, adorned everywhere with spiritual beasts resembling dragons or qilin.
No matter where they were depicted, they were in a posture of kneeling worship.
"What is this place?"
This didn't seem like the lair of demonic winds, but rather like the hall of a prominent family, or the hall of a certain race.
Wuming remained silent, leading Chu Lingwei toward the hall. He looked at the spiritual beasts on the walls, a flicker of sarcasm in his eyes. "This is what you called that demonic wind."
"What?" Chu Lingwei was surprised.
"Its physical body was destroyed tens of thousands of years ago. Only a wisp of its life force remained, which transformed into a demonic wind, running rampant here." Wuming coldly stared at the spiritual beasts above, his curved blade already raised, ready to strike them.
"Fellow Daoist Wuming, what are you doing now?" It's just a depiction, does it need to be destroyed? This is clearly alerting the enemy.
Wuming's curved blade had already slashed towards the largest spiritual beast mural, striking it. The spiritual beast depicted in the mural actually began to bleed.
Chu Lingwei felt the wind around her ears intensifying. Blood trickled from her nose, and she spat out a mouthful of blood. Her head reeled, and she immediately lost consciousness.
Just as she lost consciousness, she saw Wuming still smashing the murals on the wall.
When Chu Lingwei next awoke, she found herself in a dilapidated palace. Traces of spiritual energy damage were everywhere, along with the aura of the demon race.
"Weiwei, this is a demon clan's cave dwelling," Illusion Cat finally saw Chu Lingwei wake up and quickly explained.
"Are you sure?"
Chu Lingwei rubbed her head and checked her soul. After confirming she was not injured, she relaxed.
"Certain. All the arrangements here are like those of the demon clan from ten thousand years ago," Illusion Cat stated with great certainty.
Ten thousand years ago.
Chu Lingwei murmured the words. A cave dwelling from ten thousand years ago, still preserved. No one had visited here for millennia.
"Where is Wuming?"
Chu Lingwei recalled Wuming's peculiar actions before she lost consciousness.
"I don't know. By the time we could contact the outside, you were already lying here, and I didn't see him." Illusion Cat emerged from the space and surveyed everything, sighing, "The demon clan of ten thousand years ago was far more powerful than the demons of today. The current demon clan has declined."
"Can we get out?" Chu Lingwei was currently in a very small room with no doors or passages for escape. She searched for a full circle but found nothing, not even a trace of a barrier.
"I haven't found anything," Illusion Cat said guiltily. He also hadn't found any formations or barriers here.