It was a night with a furious sandstorm in the middle of that desert. By day, it was scorching to the point of killing even a cultivator; at night, it was cold enough to freeze even the blood. Even if one managed to survive, sandstorms came without any warning and were like a rain of deadly blades for anyone.
Zane, Gael, and Mira walked slowly in that desert night. They were very close to the place. They had no information from within the secret world where the corrupt cultivators lived; any attempt to investigate resulted in triggering the detonation. Still, Gael was able to get a vague notion of where it should be after all those attempts.
In the midst of that deadly storm for weaker cultivators, Mira was firmly holding the hand of Zane and Gael. Around her, a dense layer of QI protected her body, but the sand collided with her defenses, causing sounds of cracking. It was a high-level QI control training for her.
She endured for quite a while and struggled to defend herself. After a few hours, when her body was close to collapsing, Zane intervened by putting his own QI into her and saving her.
She held and squeezed their hands in total safety, trusting them completely and would do anything they asked without hesitation. Since they left the clan, her life was full of training that could easily lead to death. And when she wasn't in such high-level training, she was serving them as a maid should, or training hand-to-hand combat techniques.
Zane and Gael couldn't teach her anything related to soul techniques, but she strangely also had a talent for armed combat. So, they taught her various methods and tactics of combat with all kinds of weapons. It was strange for them to imagine her future; a cultivator who uses soul power and at the same time fights hand-to-hand was very unusual. But maybe that's even good. It was unexpected enough to kill before the enemy thought about how to deal with it.
After a few hours of walking, they took a step forward, and suddenly, the whole world within the sandstorm disappeared. It was as if they had crossed a portal.
Mira stopped and observed the surroundings carefully, then Gael commented, "We crossed the first layer of the barrier. Normally, one wouldn't know that we crossed it. Otherwise, some ordinary cultivator would have noticed something wrong and alerted the sect. But since no one would risk walking inside the storm, they never found it. It's incredibly easier to find within it."
Zane took over, concluding, "A cultivator should never seek the easiest path; the greater the risk, the greater the reward."
Mira nodded in understanding; every day was filled with work and learning for her.
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Within the first layer, they walked straight for several hours. Everything was calm, but all around seemed the same. It was as if they were walking in endless circles.
Zane and Gael were focused and calm. From the moment they stepped on the desert sands, they felt a strange connection to that place. It wasn't a direct connection to them but to the body, more specifically to their bloodline.
After using the only drop of bloodline they had, it should take one or two months to naturally regenerate. They could also speed up the process by burning many resources. Their choice was to wait, but a few days after entering the desert, the drop had already regenerated completely.
Not only that but their connection and manipulation of the earth seemed to have been greatly amplified here. They could feel everything that touched the sand in a wide area at a much more acceptable cost of QI.
Finding the first barrier was almost impossible without taking risks. But even if someone luckily found it, a vast illusory formation would trap anyone in circles. Zane and Gael knew only vaguely, thanks to the man's memories, but the power of their bloodline was what helped the most now.
Finally, when the sunlight covered the entire sky, they stopped in an empty place that, at first glance, was identical to everything around it. Mira became anxious, looking at her master with closed eyes. When he opened them, a burst of concentrated QI shot out of his body into a single point, colliding with something invisible.
Suddenly, the sound of a breaking mirror resonated, and a small crack in space revealed itself. Zane and Gael pulled Mira, hastily jumping through the entrance.
They didn't follow the conventional entrance. They opened a path through the back doors. It was better to arrive silently and infiltrate without alarm. A few seconds later, the entrance closed naturally.
***
A faint light shone in the distance, unnoticed by the inhabitants. They had infiltrated the secret world of the Corrupt Path. Once inside, they could clearly sense a dark and cold aura in the air. There was no sun, moon, or stars. The sky was dark, with no distinction between day and night.
The place they were in was a common hill near a mountain. As they took their first steps, they came across a simple mountain village with only a few dozen families.
Skillfully concealing their presence, they walked in the shadows, observing with curiosity. By now, they got a lot more used to hide their fat body. They saw children playing and people working on farms. It was a peaceful scene, not much different from the outside world.
The only notable difference was the presence of a stone statue in the center of the village. The statue was dark as pitch and emitted a penetrating aura.
All the villagers, upon spotting the statue, would interrupt their agricultural activities to bow with devotion. Mira even managed to hear them praying before the imposing figure.
As they advanced through the inner world, more villages appeared, all similar to the ones they had already seen. The inhabitants seemed peaceful, worshiping the same statue. It wasn't as dark and bloody as Mira had initially imagined.
Zane and Gael focused on sensing the environment around them. This was a world created by a divine cultivator, spanning thousands of kilometers. This kind of world was essentially identical to the outside world but deeply hidden. If they didn't know the entrance, it would be practically impossible for others to perceive it.
After several hours of walking, they climbed a colossal mountain, allowing them a more comprehensive view ahead.
The first thing they saw was a tower that seemed larger than the mountain they were on. Near the tower, they saw other smaller ones. However, they quickly realized that the other towers weren't really smaller but were distributed in different positions instead.
There were seven black towers arranged in a circle with a diameter of a few tens of kilometers. All seven were visible, but in the center of the circle, only a dense gray mist was present. Nothing inside was visible.
Zane and Gael focused all the QI and perception they had in the air. Suddenly, their bodies trembled.
'Infernal Laws. Everything was coming from inside that place.' commented Zane, surprised.
Gael added, 'That's a gigantic abyss. It looks like a black hole. The closer the perception got, the stronger the attractive force and the more distorted the space within it became. The answer to the side quest is linked to that place.'