Ye Tiancheng, wearing the Breath Concealing Talisman, passed through the barrier once more and immediately heard several hushed conversations.
The cave was pitch black, devoid of any light, so Ye Tiancheng could see nothing. However, the Breath Concealing Talisman worked well. The owners of the voices seemed not to have detected Ye Tiancheng's sudden appearance and were not disturbed at all.
"I distinctly smelled the scent of a living person just now, seeming to be around here. How can there be nothing? It's not outside either. Where did it go?"
"Exactly, the smell was quite strong. It should be a living person who has come over. How could they disappear?"
"Could they have gone inside? If a living person blundered in and accidentally entered that place, it's quite possible."
"Alas, if that's the case, then it's their good fortune. If we can find that living person, we can try to follow them secretly. When they come out, we can capture them and make them our nourishment!"
"If it weren't for that darn rule... the owner inside is too fierce, and we can't beat them. We also don't dare to break the rules and harm people inside. Why would we have to wait until they come out to find a way? If others discover them, they might not wait for us to follow. It's sparsely populated here, after all, and it's been a long time since a living person has intruded."
"Sigh, if that person weren't restraining us, by the time we found them, that living person would have turned to dust. How would we have a chance?"
"Don't say that. Even with that person restraining us, there are still those who dare to take risks. If someone can't hold back and acts inside, who knows what the scene will be like in the end."
"Forget it, forget it. Who told us we were a step too late? Let's see if there's another chance later. Don't dwell on it too much. We'll strive if we have a chance, and if not, so be it. Let's go in first."
Then, there was another rustling of agreement, and Ye Tiancheng heard the voices gradually move away.
Although Ye Tiancheng's eyes couldn't see clearly, his ears could still hear. He roughly judged the location of the entrance to that space based on his hearing.
The entrance was still some distance away from him, so Ye Tiancheng didn't have to worry about accidentally entering and not being able to get out.
With a general idea, Ye Tiancheng carefully identified his direction, trying his best not to approach the entrance. When he was listening to the conversation of those unknown beings, he didn't dare to move at all. It wasn't that he was afraid of alarming them, as Ye Tiancheng was wearing the Breath Concealing Talisman.
The main reason was that Ye Tiancheng couldn't see and didn't know where the entrance was, fearing he might accidentally stumble into it, which could be very bad.
Ye Tiancheng estimated the distance and cautiously circled around the cave. He occasionally heard several unknown beings passing by, also heading towards the entrance.
He also heard one of them say that they didn't know why they couldn't get out of the cave and wondered if those outside could still get in. It seemed that many of their companions hadn't discovered this matter yet, and they had to report the situation here to the owner inside.
When Ye Tiancheng heard them say that, his heart skipped a beat, and he almost wanted to take action to silence those beings.
That unknown space had an owner. Who knew what kind of person that owner was, righteous or evil? Although from what those beings said earlier, the owner of the unknown space did not allow these beings to harm people inside, they also didn't care if these beings blocked people outside and harmed them after they came out.
Therefore, based on these few words, it was impossible to determine whether the owner of the unknown space was good or bad.
Although Ye Tiancheng didn't particularly want these obviously non-human beings to discover the matter of the formation, their numbers were so large. At least the thousands who had been chasing Ye Tiancheng a few days ago must have sensed something unusual. If this wasn't too much to know, there would only be more inside the unknown space.
Over time, more and more of those beings would discover this fact. Even if Ye Tiancheng silenced them one by one, he couldn't keep up.
Ye Tiancheng thought to himself that he could only go back and ask Nuwa Stone to strengthen the defenses. At the very least, he had to ensure that the barriers of the illusion and the formation were reinforced, so that no existence could pass through the barrier and enter the illusion.
After wandering around the cave for two more turns, Ye Tiancheng estimated the time and found no further gains. Moreover, at this time, he did not intend to venture into that unknown space.
Ye Tiancheng also feared that those who went to report would be too fast, and the owner of the unknown space would come out too soon. Nuwa Stone might not understand the situation and underestimate the enemy, allowing some dangerous existence to break into the illusion. Therefore, he had to go back earlier and ask Nuwa Stone to prepare as soon as possible.
So, Ye Tiancheng followed his senses and retreated back into the barrier, returning to the illusion.
Nuwa Stone found that Ye Tiancheng had returned quite early and greeted him, saying, "Brother Ye, why did you come back so soon? Is there any new situation? Is there anything I can help with?"
Ye Tiancheng adjusted to the light, then let out a sigh of relief, removed the Breath Concealing Talisman he was wearing, and immediately said to Nuwa Stone, "Little Stone, quickly reinforce the barrier. Reinforce the barrier connecting the illusion and the formation. The stronger, the better. Absolutely no one must be allowed to break through!"
He didn't explain the reason to Nuwa Stone immediately because Ye Tiancheng hadn't fully grasped the situation over there and didn't dare to delay even a moment.
Although Nuwa Stone didn't know anything and couldn't figure out the situation, since Ye Tiancheng said so, he immediately did as he was told.
After Nuwa Stone reinforced the barrier, Ye Tiancheng walked and spoke to Nuwa Stone about the situation with the formation, telling him all the information he had heard.
Nuwa Stone was also very surprised by the situation Ye Tiancheng described and couldn't immediately figure out where they had been teleported to this time.
However, one thing was undoubtedly clear: if they wanted to find the fragment of the Fuxi Qin here, Ye Tiancheng had to venture into that unknown space, and even confront the owner of that unknown space.
The owner of that space could accommodate so many monstrous beings that harmed people, entering and exiting the space under his control. Although he didn't allow those monsters to harm people in his space, it might be due to not wanting his space to be polluted. After all, he didn't care if the monsters blocked and killed people outside the space, so it was truly difficult to judge whether he was good or evil.
Regarding the owner of that unknown space, the only thing that could be determined was that if he had to fight him, that person would definitely be very troublesome.
After all, so many monsters, thousands of them, were not many, entering and exiting his space, and still under his control. Even if they were dissatisfied, there was nothing they could do. This was enough to show that the owner of this space must be very powerful.
Being able to control such a space and suppress so many monsters, Ye Tiancheng couldn't imagine how he managed to do it. At least, Ye Tiancheng, just by putting himself in the other's shoes, felt that he himself absolutely could not achieve this.
When those monsters were disobedient but had to abide by the rules, it could only mean that the owner of the unknown space was extremely, extremely powerful. He could directly suppress everything with force. Even if these monsters combined, they couldn't defeat him, nor would it cost him too much. Only such absolute suppression could ultimately lead to the outcome mentioned by those monsters, where they had to abide by the rules.
Ye Tiancheng almost felt discouraged, "The difficulty of each successive challenge is increasing geometrically. It's already this difficult for the third piece. If there are more to come, it will be the death of me."
Nuwa Stone also felt the same, "This shouldn't be. And where are there so many powerful existences? If it continues like this, how can we go on? My senses clearly didn't indicate this."
What Nuwa Stone said reminded Ye Tiancheng. Nuwa Stone's senses should not be wrong, and there were indeed not so many powerful existences in this world, otherwise, the world would have collapsed.
So, it could only mean that there was a high probability that his line of thinking was mistaken. Either this fragment of the Fuxi Qin here did not require him to fight the owner, or it was something else. In any case, the danger should not be so great. He shouldn't scare himself before collecting all the fragments.
After Ye Tiancheng figured this out, he was no longer so afraid, "Little Stone, your senses should not be wrong. For such an important matter, your senses cannot be so far off."
"Moreover, I thought about it. We are not encountering monsters in a game where the difficulty increases gradually. This should be random, just like how the places where the Fuxi Qin fragments exist, to which the formation teleports us, have no pattern."
Nuwa Stone thought for a moment and was convinced by Ye Tiancheng, "It seems to be the case. I was just scaring myself."
"Overall, at least this trip was not in vain. At least I know some general information, which is good for going back and preparing. And if I really have to venture into that unknown space, I also need to think carefully about how to arrange Mingzhu and Qingcheng." Ye Tiancheng sighed again. There were still quite a few things for him to worry about.
If it were not absolutely necessary, he definitely could not bring Hou Mingzhu and Ye Qingcheng into that spatial location. They had no self-protection ability. If they encountered any danger inside, and Ye Tiancheng was outnumbered, he feared he wouldn't be able to protect them.
If it were Ou Xiaoxue before, Ye Tiancheng would have let her consider it herself and told her that if she insisted on going, she would bear the consequences.
But when the object of concern became his wife and daughter, Ye Tiancheng could not have this attitude. He would never let Hou Mingzhu and Ye Qingcheng take risks, even if they actively wanted to go, unless there was no danger inside, or Ye Tiancheng was confident that he could protect them.
Or, if there was no other way and they had to bring people along, Ye Tiancheng would be willing to agree to bring them together.
Nuwa Stone also immediately thought of this and was quite worried. Hou Mingzhu, a young lady from a wealthy family, was spoiled in the past. Although she had taken over the family business now, there were still many things she couldn't handle. At least she couldn't cook for herself at home and take care of herself. Someone would definitely need to take care of her.
Not to mention that Hou Mingzhu and Ye Tiancheng's daughter, Ye Qingcheng, were also brought in. In this case, it would be absolutely impossible to leave only Hou Mingzhu and Ye Qingcheng in the old house. At least a little fox would have to be left behind.
In this case, Ye Tiancheng would have to venture alone. Although it was not impossible, the quality of life for Hou Mingzhu and Ye Qingcheng would clearly drop significantly.