"We split up and search. Lei Tao and the others might be underground."
Chu Lingwei activated her spiritual power and struck the ground again, but this time, there was no response.
Meanwhile, underground, Lei Tao felt the ground shake. He knew the people above had noticed something was wrong. He wanted to respond, but he had no strength left. Moreover, he only had one Void Talisman.
"Brother Lei, will the people above come to rescue us?" Shi Tou looked up with expectant eyes, praying silently in his heart that the cultivators above would find Brother Lei's talisman and save them.
Chu Lingwei did not give up searching just because there was no response. A lack of response could also mean that the people underground were trapped and unable to reply.
She sent out wave after wave of spiritual energy to probe, and finally, she found a very ordinary tree.
"So, it was hidden here." Huan Mao felt his authority challenged. He had not noticed anything unusual about this tree at first.
"Wei Wei, this is not a formation set up by cultivators. It looks more like a trapping formation of the demon race."
Huan Mao pondered for a long time before slowly confirming.
"Is there a way to open it?"
Chu Lingwei saw a demon, Su Xianrou's Scarlet Flame, whom she had already killed.
"Let me think of a way." Huan Mao nodded and cast many incantations at the tree. As the tree dissolved like smoke, a giant pit appeared where it had stood.
"Let's go down and see."
Chu Lingwei stepped onto her flying sword and plunged down. Just as she was halfway down, her sword suddenly lost power, and both the sword and Chu Lingwei fell freely.
"Ah!"
It wasn't just Chu Lingwei and the others; Huan Mao, in his human form, also began to fall rapidly.
Chu Lingwei reacted quickly, catching them both and pulling them into her embrace. Using her spatial power, she landed steadily on the ground.
Here, her spiritual power vanished, but she could still use her spatial power.
"This place is so strange. Even my spiritual power is gone." Feng Ming, a small figure, was held in Huan Mao's human-like form. He tried to activate the spiritual power within his body, but it was useless.
"Don't move. Spiritual power has suddenly stopped working here, and I can't use it either." Huan Mao felt fortunate that he had transformed into human form above, or he would have been held by Wei Wei too.
Chu Lingwei stood in a tunnel that was only about her height. Water was constantly seeping from above, making the entire tunnel damp, with sticky mucus everywhere.
"Let's go in and see. I believe they should be inside." Chu Lingwei had already sensed human presence inside, not far from them.
"Wei Wei, we need to be careful. The fact that it disables our spiritual power suggests there might be a demon here." Feng Ming tried to jump into Chu Lingwei's arms, but Huan Mao held him back firmly. "Don't disturb Wei Wei, or none of us will get out."
Feng Ming let out a soft hum but truly fell silent.
"I don't sense any demonic energy here." Chu Lingwei was extremely cautious with every step. Within a fifty-mile radius, there were only cultivators, no spiritual beasts, and not the slightest trace of demonic energy.
"But why does this place restrict our spiritual power?" Huan Mao couldn't understand. He was a spiritual beast, how could a demon so easily restrict his spiritual power?
With such an ability, they could do whatever they pleased.
"We'll only know once we go inside." Chu Lingwei quickened her pace. Gradually, the path behind them became wider. Initially, the tunnel could only accommodate Chu Lingwei to move forward. Later, two people could walk side by side. Now, it could accommodate four people walking side by side.
Chu Lingwei looked at the walls, where sticky mucus was constantly flowing down. She touched it with her hand, and a foul, fishy smell emanated.
A swamp?
"This smell is very much like a swamp." Chu Lingwei continued forward and finally saw Lei Tao and the others lying on the ground.
"Lei Tao, can you hear me?"
Lei Tao heard someone enter. He kept trying to move his body so his eyes could see the direction of the footsteps. Before he could succeed, he heard a familiar voice.
"Fellow Daoist Chu?"
"It's good that you're alive." Chu Lingwei quickly walked to Lei Tao's side. Not only him but also the other cultivators next to him were alive, just unable to move. "What happened to you all?"
"We can't get out of here. The longer we stay here, the more our spiritual power and strength disappear." Lei Tao gave a bitter smile. They had fallen in here while trying to escape swamp snakes and had been unable to get out since.
Chu Lingwei took out a Spirit Nourishing Pill from her spatial dimension and fed it to him. "Try this."
Lei Tao opened his mouth and clearly felt a surge of spiritual power enter his body. But before he could feel happy for a moment, the spiritual power vanished completely.
"It's no use, there's no spiritual power at all." Disappointment filled Lei Tao's eyes. Without spiritual power, even a first-tier spiritual beast could easily crush him.
"Eat this." Chu Lingwei took out a Vitality Replenishing Pill from her spatial dimension and handed it to Lei Tao.
The Vitality Replenishing Pill was a very common type of pill, generally not needed by disciples who had reached the Spirit Movement stage. It was used by those in the Sensing stage, or by sect laborers, to supplement their strength.
Lei Tao swallowed the Vitality Replenishing Pill and slowly felt his body gain some strength. He sat up directly.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Chu. The Vitality Replenishing Pill is useful for us."
"Give these to them." It was useful, that was good. Chu Lingwei stood up, waiting for Lei Tao and the others to recover their strength while observing the terrain and environment.
Lei Tao took the Vitality Replenishing Pills and fed them to his teammates one by one. Seeing that they had recovered their strength, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. They should be saved.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Chu, for saving us."
Lei Tao bowed gratefully to Chu Lingwei. He remembered Chu Lingwei saying she didn't want to come to the North Ming Mountain Valley. Her accurate appearance here suggested she had received his transmission talisman.
The fact that she had come all this way to save them made Lei Tao extremely grateful.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Chu." Lei Tao's companions also bowed and thanked Chu Lingwei.
"You're welcome. How did you fall in here?" The immediate priority was to figure out how they could get out.
Lei Tao sighed and began to recount their ordeal.
"We thought that as long as we entered the North Ming Mountain Valley, we wouldn't encounter swamp snakes. Unexpectedly, as soon as we reached the North Ming Insect territory, dozens of swamp snakes attacked us. We were no match for them, so we decided to find a place to hide."
"We found a cave and just finished setting up a formation when we fell in here."
Chu Lingwei didn't know what to say upon hearing Lei Tao's words. Their luck was truly...