Chapter 651: Revisiting an Old Haunt

"Everyone, don't let your guard down. Who knows what other nasty things we might run into later..."

As soon as Shi Chuankong finished speaking, a massive two-headed crocodile, covered in slimy mud, burst out of the nearby swamp. It opened a mouth large enough to swallow the entire flying boat and snapped at them from ground level.

"Brother Shi, isn't that a bit of a jinx?" Hu San asked with a smile.

Shi Chuankong ignored him. He formed a hand seal, and a thin silver light screen appeared, blocking one side of the flying boat.

With a dull thud,

the two-headed crocodile slammed into the silver light screen. It was as if it had been struck by a massive hammer weighing ten thousand tons. Both of its huge heads shattered simultaneously, jaws and teeth breaking apart into a bloody mess.

"Tsk, tsk. This creature doesn't seem very intelligent, but it's certainly strong," Re He Xian Zun remarked.

"There's a big one ahead..." Han Li suddenly warned.

As soon as he spoke, a green light flashed in his hand, and a Green Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword appeared. He leaped up, swung his arm, and slashed forward.

A streak of green sword light shot out, flashed into the swamp ahead, and exploded instantly.

"Roar..."

With a miserable howl, a large amount of blood bubbled up from the swamp like boiling oil.

Following that, a creature identical to the strange fish from before, but ten times larger, surfaced from the swamp. Its body was split in two, falling to either side.

Then, with a whoosh, the silver flying boat shot straight through the middle and vanished in a flash.

"Haha... With the two of you providing such protection, I can fly this spirit boat even faster without any worries. What a delight!" Hu San said with a laugh as he urged the silver flying boat forward.

They headed straight for the miasmic smoke, which also surged toward them.

Before long, the two met a thousand miles away from Youfu Island.

As soon as the silver flying boat entered the pink smoke, its speed immediately decreased.

Han Li and the others focused their minds and released their spiritual sense, sweeping it in all directions.

"Just as I thought... This miasmic illusion smoke greatly suppresses spiritual sense, making it impossible to probe far. At this rate, we can't even tell north from south," Hu San said.

"In that case, let's be even more cautious. Each of us will take responsibility for one direction," Shi Chuankong said gravely, glancing back.

Han Li frowned slightly, also somewhat surprised. Even with his powerful spiritual sense, he could only cover a range of several tens of miles in this mist.

"No matter. If any remnants of the mountain gate appear, I will sense them," Re He Xian Zun said.

As he spoke, he turned his palm over, revealing a pink pearl the size of a dragon's eye. It looked like an ordinary clam pearl, but it was surrounded by a ring of tiny golden inscriptions that flashed intermittently.

"What is that?" Shi Chuankong glanced at it and asked.

"This is called a 'True Word Pearl,' a magic treasure given to me by my sect's elders. Originally, it had no great use—my master gave it to me so I could move freely within the sect and use the teleportation arrays as I pleased. But after the sect was destroyed, this pearl might be the only one left in the outside world," Re He Xian Zun said slowly, a trace of reminiscence on his face.

"Fellow Daoist Re He, do you mean this True Word Pearl can help us find the ruins?" Han Li raised an eyebrow and asked.

"This pearl can connect with over three hundred teleportation arrays within the sect. Once a surviving teleportation array appears nearby, the pearl will sense it. However, due to the miasmic illusion smoke, I estimate its sensing range will be greatly compressed, at most no more than a hundred miles," Re He Xian Zun said noncommittally, without directly answering Han Li's question.

"That's already good enough. If we can find a complete teleportation array, we might be able to teleport directly into True Word Sect," Hu San nodded thoughtfully and said.

Listening to the others, Han Li's gaze fell into the distance. At the edge of his vision, a dark red corner of a roof eaves emerged from the mist.

Following that, a hundred-zhang-tall, three-story brick-and-stone archway appeared from the mist. Its red paint was mottled, bricks and stones broken, and eaves collapsed, looking as if it had weathered countless changes and was now dilapidated.

"This is... Wuliang Archway, one of the ten archways outside the merchant street in the sect," Re He Xian Zun said suddenly, seeing the faintly discernible large characters on the archway's plaque.

"Lucky us... Fellow Daoist Re He, this is truly a revisit to an old haunt," Hu San exclaimed with joy, and then steered the spirit boat toward it.

"Fellow Daoist Hu San, wait... That is merely an illusion," Han Li suddenly warned.

The silver flying boat came to an abrupt halt, hovering a hundred zhang away from the archway.

The other three were startled. They turned to look at Han Li and saw a deep purple light flickering in his eyes, looking very strange and peculiar.

"Eh, could this be... the Netherworld Demon Eyes? Fellow Daoist Li, why do you possess our demon race's spiritual eye technique?" Shi Chuankong frowned and asked.

"I am a rogue cultivator with a mixed bag of skills. Please forgive my presumption," Han Li said with a laugh, not offering much explanation.

Shi Chuankong showed a hint of doubt but didn't press further. Re He Xian Zun, on the other hand, glanced at Han Li with flickering eyes, finding this Fellow Daoist Li Han increasingly unfathomable.

"Haha, it seems inviting Fellow Daoist Li was a real stroke of luck," Hu San said with a hearty laugh.

With that, he raised his sleeve and waved it sharply. A beam of light shot out from before him and struck the archway.

The moment the light hit the archway, a silver light suddenly flared up, forming a huge silver vortex a hundred zhang in radius. A terrifying spatial force emanated from it, twisting the entire archway into a distorted mass before swallowing it.

In the end, only a fist-sized black hole remained, tearing at the surrounding space until it slowly closed.

Hu San's smile froze instantly.

"Good thing Fellow Daoist Li warned us. If we had charged in blindly, we would have been pulled into a spatial rift by now," Shi Chuankong said with lingering fear.

As soon as he finished speaking, a melodious celestial music sounded from all directions, and an intoxicating fragrance spread. When they looked around, they saw a large expanse of palace buildings appearing in the smoke.

Their silver flying boat was no longer traveling over the swamp but was squeezing through a dense sea of flowers, scattering countless petals.

Around the sea of flowers stood carved bridges and rows of pavilions and towers, all interconnected with the various palaces in the distance.

On the bridges were beautiful celestial maidens in colorful robes, some holding immortal fruits and spiritual vegetables, some carrying jade bottles of fine wine, and some holding palace lanterns. They moved gracefully toward the towers.

Inside the towers, many immortals sat facing each other, some drinking, some reciting poetry loudly, and some playing chess—a harmonious and joyful banquet scene.

Hu San quickly stopped the flying boat with a spell and dared not proceed rashly. He asked, "Brother Shi, it seems your Spirit God Pill isn't working very well. Why is the illusion getting stronger?"

"Fellow Daoist Hu San, you're blaming Brother Shi unfairly. This illusion is truly formidable. If we hadn't taken the Spirit God Pill, our minds would have been trapped in the illusion by now, unaware that we were even in one," Han Li explained on Shi Chuankong's behalf.

He hadn't taken the Spirit God Pill, so he knew better how powerful the illusion was. If he hadn't already activated his Soul Tempering Art to protect his sea of consciousness, even he might have fallen for it.

"Fellow Daoist Li, can your spiritual eye technique break this illusion?" Re He Xian Zun asked.

"My spiritual eyes can only help us avoid danger, not break the illusion. However, if Fellow Daoist Shi uses his spatial law power, he might be able to repel the nearby miasmic illusion smoke and dispel part of the illusion," Han Li shook his head and shifted the topic.

"That method is theoretically feasible, but the consumption is too great, and it can only clear a small area of the illusion. It's a drop in the bucket for our situation," Shi Chuankong said with a troubled expression.

"How about this? Let Fellow Daoist Li use his spiritual eye technique to help us avoid danger, Fellow Daoist Re He use the True Word Pearl to sense the teleportation array, and when we find something, let Brother Shi try to break the illusion. As for me, I'll just be the boatman," Hu San suggested after thinking it over.

"That works," Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged glances and nodded simultaneously.

"Good, let's do that," Re He Xian Zun agreed.

Having settled the plan, they set off again, flying slowly forward.

"After we exit the flower patch ahead, don't go straight. Turn left," Han Li directed, his eyes flickering with purple light.

"Straight into that bridge?" Hu San hesitated.

"Trust me," Han Li said.

Hu Li grinned and said no more, controlling the flying boat to move slowly.

The silver flying boat emerged from a flower patch, turned left, and crashed straight into a bridge.

The white jade railings on the bridge seemed as fragile as paper, tearing apart instantly. Han Li and the others' bodies passed right through the celestial maidens on the bridge.

"After we exit, go forward about seventy zhang, then turn right..." Under Han Li's guidance, the silver flying boat passed through layers of illusions and pressed inward.

About half an hour later, as the silver flying boat passed through an illusionary lotus pond, Re He Xian Zun suddenly exclaimed in surprise:

"Found it!"