"Be careful."
Chu Lingwei saw Cheng Tianming's final strike and wanted to stop him, but it was too late.
Cheng Tianming died under the artifact of the third senior brother, and at the same time, the stone bridge began to shake.
"We can't stay here long, let's go quickly."
Su Yan cried out that something was wrong. Suddenly, countless incantations appeared in the air above the stone bridge, incantations they could not understand.
Chu Lingwei looked back and saw the magical formations on the stone bridge like a large net, pouncing towards them. No matter how fast they ran, they were immediately caught in it.
"Little junior sister."
Nangong Luo reached out to pull Chu Lingwei but could barely protect himself. They were all caught in the net, and the three were pulled in different directions.
"Take care of yourselves." Chu Lingwei wanted to help them, but her vision went black, and she instantly knew nothing.
She didn't even have time to pull Huan Mao and the others into her spatial artifact.
When she opened her eyes again, Chu Lingwei was in a place of darkness.
"Second senior brother?"
"Third senior brother?"
Chu Lingwei stood up and took out a luminous pearl from her spatial artifact. The place she was in instantly became bright. In front of her stood a colossal medicinal furnace.
"Where is this place?" Chu Lingwei circled the medicinal furnace. It was an ancient, abandoned furnace, covered in rust and grime, its carvings no longer discernible.
Chu Lingwei quickly took out the map drawn for her by Suo Yashe. This place was not on it.
Suo Ya must not have been here.
"Is anyone there?" Chu Lingwei held the luminous pearl and threw it into the air. The place she was in was bathed in light, with nothing but this medicinal furnace.
It was pitch black everywhere, and even though she was a cultivator, she could not see more than a few steps ahead.
Where exactly was this place?
Chu Lingwei frowned, took two steps, then returned to the medicinal furnace. Since she had encountered this furnace, she decided to simply collect it into her spatial artifact.
The medicinal furnace disappeared, and suddenly a hurricane swept towards her. Chu Lingwei thrust her Ice Jade Cold Frost Sword into the ground to prevent herself from being blown away.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?"
At this moment, a voice faintly emerged from the wind.
"Please show yourself, senior." Chu Lingwei's face lit up upon hearing someone and she said loudly.
The voice seemed to disappear suddenly, and the hurricane intensified, battering Chu Lingwei.
Chu Lingwei used her spatial power to anchor herself in place.
After a full half an hour, the hurricane subsided, and a man appeared before her. He stood in front of Chu Lingwei, but she could not discern his appearance.
"Rongtian Realm, to be able to endure in this hurricane for so long?"
"This disciple greets you, senior." Chu Lingwei took a deep breath, her strength utterly depleted.
If not for the spatial power within her body helping her against the hurricane, she would have been blown to some unknown corner long ago.
"Hmm, how did you get in here?"
The man nodded slightly and appraised Chu Lingwei. "Having just broken through, you are already in the middle stage of the Rongtian Realm. You are very talented."
"I was brought here by the incantations on the stone bridge as I crossed it." Chu Lingwei secretly guessed the man's identity, wondering if he was a divine soul fragment of a powerful cultivator who had broken through to the Sovereign Realm in the Cheng Tian Great Hall.
Only a master would ask why someone appeared there.
"So that's how it is." The man nodded slightly. "There is nothing here, you can leave."
Chu Lingwei, "..."
"Senior, please tell this disciple how to leave." Chu Lingwei was stunned for a moment, then respectfully asked.
"You're not even going to try?" The man chuckled. Did she really believe him when he said there was nothing here?
"I..." Chu Lingwei's face darkened. What did he want her to try? "Then, may I ask, senior, are there any opportunities here?"
"No, there are no opportunities here. If you are looking for opportunities here, you are gravely mistaken," the man shook his head, a trace of sadness in his eyes. "Everyone who enters here will have their souls annihilated."
"Senior, did you also enter here by accident?" Chu Lingwei asked uncertainly. This person was no longer a cultivator, merely a remnant soul.
"I don't know."
The man shook his head. He no longer remembered how he entered this place, nor did he remember anything else.
"Do you want to leave?"
"Yes."
Since there was nothing here, Chu Lingwei wisely replied, "May I ask, senior, do you know where the two people who were transported here with me are?"
She had been transported here, and she didn't know where her second and third senior brothers had been sent.
"They... should be dead by now."
The man pondered. No one who entered this place had ever left alive.
Chu Lingwei's heart sank. Impossible, she refused to believe they were dead.
"Senior, please tell me, how can I find them?" Chu Lingwei's heart had plummeted to the abyss. This was the Cheng Tian Great Hall; very few people who entered here ever left.
Even if they had a map of this place, they might not be able to leave intact.
"I don't know." The man shook his head and then thought, "Since you have entered here, we are fated to meet. How about you stay and keep me company?"
Chu Lingwei, "..." This person was so unpredictable.
"Senior, I have friends outside, and I want to go find them."
Chu Lingwei turned around, intending to find an exit here.
"Do you truly wish to leave?" There was no fluctuation of emotion in the man's eyes, as if he were not the one being rejected.
"Yes, I want to know if my friends are safe." And Huan Mao and the others. She didn't know where those two had been sent. They were spirit beasts, so they shouldn't encounter any great danger.
The man sighed, turned, and walked forward. "Then follow me."
Chu Lingwei quickly followed. After a few steps, the surroundings gradually brightened. "Do you see that tower ahead?"
"I do."
Chu Lingwei looked up and saw a white, seven-story pagoda appearing before her.
"There are seven trials within. If you can pass them successfully, you can leave," the man said slowly, his eyes filled with infinite disappointment. "I only managed to pass the first two layers. I hope you can get through."
Chu Lingwei turned abruptly. The man had vanished. So, he too was a cultivator who had accidentally entered this place.
"Senior?"
Chu Lingwei called out softly. The man did not appear.
"Senior, is there anything you wish for me to convey outside?" Chu Lingwei walked to the front of the white pagoda and spoke to the empty space behind her.
She knew the man was still there.
"No. If you wish to leave, step inside." Chu Lingwei nodded and strode into the pagoda.
As soon as she entered the pagoda, Chu Lingwei's heart ached intensely, almost causing her to fall to the ground.
"Weiwei."
In another part of the Cangshan Secret Realm, a person dressed in dark robes suddenly opened their eyes.