A month passed in the blink of an eye.
It was time to proceed to the inner domain of Great Void as agreed.
Under the watchful eyes of Gui Luo the Demon Lord, Hu Shan, and others, the weakest among them, Su Bing'er and the Heavenly Corpse Old Demon, were the first to step onto the rainbow bridge and were teleported into the Heavenly Extinction Demon Palace.
Next, Wei Tu, Che Gongwei, and Bao Siyan followed.
"Wei Tu, this time you won't escape again!" Bao Siyan fixed her gaze on the green light formed when Wei Tu was teleported through the rainbow bridge.
A flicker of hatred passed in her eyes as she muttered "Know Heaven Crossing" before swiftly following Wei Tu's path into the Heavenly Extinction Demon Palace.
The Divine Wood Origin Technique, the life's cultivation method Wei Tu practiced, was the same one that Bao Siyan had passed down to him.
Because the technique was of the same lineage, it was easier for her to track Wei Tu compared to other cultivators.
...
The colorful rainbow bridge was a teleportation array that connected the outer and inner domains of Great Void.
Once a cultivator stepped onto the bridge, they would automatically be transported to a random location inside the Heavenly Extinction Demon Palace.
In the blink of an eye, Wei Tu appeared in a corner of the Heavenly Extinction Demon Palace.
It was an old, worn-out attic, resembling an ordinary high-floor building. The structure was no taller than about one zhang and two or three zhang wide. The floor was covered with white bones and dried corpses, with only the skin remaining in some places.
The bones and corpses were covered with a thick layer of dust, indicating that no one had been there for a long time.
"Disciples of the Stone Demon Sect from back then?" Wei Tu glanced at the bones and corpses, recognizing their origins.
When the Stone Demon Sect was destroyed, in order to preserve their sect's heritage and foundations, they had poisoned the inner domain of Great Void with the Seven-Star Begonia Poison, sealing the secret realm beneath the Southern Wilderness.
The Stone Demon Sect was infamous as a demonic sect. Besides the core disciples, the remaining disciples guarding Great Void were sacrificed by the sect's higher-ups.
The bones and corpses Wei Tu saw were those of the lower-tier disciples sacrificed for the greater cause.
Wei Tu had no interest in these remains.
They were just low-tier Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators and held little value.
After ten thousand years, unless these individuals had storage rings or similar sealed spaces, the pills and magical tools on their bodies would have long decayed and could not have survived this long.
"This is Tian Fang Pavilion. The Stone Demon Tower is still several miles away," Wei Tu took out the Crimson Mirror and cross-referenced it with the inner domain map Bai Zhi had given him. He thought to himself.
— The Heavenly Maiden Sect was a major force in the destruction of the Stone Demon Sect ten thousand years ago. Back then, Wei Tai and others, under the command of Gui Luo the Demon Lord, were searching for Great Void, and Bai Zhi had a part to play in this.
In fact, over fifty years ago, Gui Luo the Demon Lord, Bai Zhi, and the Elder Ning Yan had entered Great Void, and this was all part of Bai Zhi's plan.
Unfortunately for Bai Zhi, she had bad luck and did not realize that the Gui Luo the Demon Lord she sought was actually an incarnation of the Old Demon Jiuchuan, leading to her failure and forced retreat from the inner domain.
Naturally, Bai Zhi had a rough map of both the outer and inner domains of Great Void.
However, this map was not as detailed as the Crimson Mirror. It lacked the markings of "Ling" and the passages between buildings noted by the Crimson Mirror.
"I'll head to the location marked with 'Ling'. If there's a spiritual object there, I won't need to fight for the Stone Demon Tower anymore."
Wei Tu made up his mind.
He flew past the skeletons in front of him, heading to the northwest corner of the Heavenly Extinction Demon Palace, where the "Ling" marking was located on the Crimson Mirror's map.
Thanks to the map from the Crimson Mirror, Wei Tu didn't face much resistance on his way.
The only problem was the pervasive spiritual poison in the inner domain.
Fortunately, Bai Zhi's demon ghost was strong enough. In a few breaths, it easily removed the lingering spiritual poison from him.
"The difference between Nascent Soul cultivators is just too great," Wei Tu sighed inwardly.
Shentu Venerable Master, a Nascent Soul loose cultivator, lacked the backing of a major sect. When he encountered the Seven-Star Begonia Poison, he was immediately helpless and could only wait to die.
But Gui Luo the Demon Lord was different. With a single gesture, he could bring out the Demonic Ghost Poison Summoning Technique, allowing even a Golden Core cultivator like Wei Tu to deal with the spiritual poison.
Without speaking, Wei Tu followed the map, winding his way into a small garden.
"There's no path ahead! The 'Ling' mark is still in the northwest corner, according to the Crimson Mirror," Wei Tu stroked his chin, deep in thought.
Wei Tu thought for a moment before taking out the Crimson Mirror and infusing it with a few bursts of spiritual energy.
The next moment, the Crimson Mirror spun around in the air for a while before suddenly turning its reflective surface towards the high wall in the northwest corner of the garden.
A phoenix cry echoed, and the mirror surface shone brightly, shooting out a red mist.
The red mist landed on the high wall, and the gray wall suddenly revealed mysterious symbols, forming a hole about half a person's height.
Inside was pitch dark.
After passing through the hole, the Crimson Mirror seemed to be drawn by something inside and swiftly flew into it.
Seeing this, Wei Tu didn't stop it. Holding a golden talisman in his hand, he followed the Crimson Mirror into the hole.
Inside the hole, there was an entirely different world.
It looked similar to the small garden outside, but not only was there no spiritual poison, but the spiritual energy was also abundant, surpassing the fourth-tier spiritual land, second only to the Falling Sun Spring Wei Tu had visited before.
"There's a trace of spiritual energy from a spiritual object here. Looks like this place really is the hidden treasure of the Stone Demon Sect, where they kept their spiritual objects," Bai Zhi said, crawling out from Wei Tu's sleeve. She scanned the surroundings with her spiritual sense and made her judgment.
Hearing about the spiritual object, Wei Tu didn't rush to search. He looked at Bai Zhi's current state and praised, "Bai Daoist, your transition into the Ghost Dao has already yielded great results. Congratulations."
Having not been nourished by a physical body for more than fifty years, Bai Zhi's soul had always been in a weakened state. The fact that she could now freely use her spiritual sense like this was clearly the result of her transition to the Ghost Dao.
"This is thanks to Wei Daoist's Rakshasa Yin Art. This technique is quite suitable for female cultivators. So, in such a short time, I have made such progress," Bai Zhi replied with a faint smile.
To this, Wei Tu didn't give a direct opinion.
Bai Zhi's successful transition into the Ghost Dao wasn't only due to the Rakshasa Yin Art technique. Wei Tu believed that the main reason was Bai Zhi herself.
After all, Bai Zhi had once been a proud disciple of the Heavenly Maiden Sect, cultivating both her physical and spiritual body. Her aptitude in soul cultivation, even if a bit weaker, was far above that of ordinary cultivators.
After their brief exchange, they began searching for the hidden spiritual objects in this secret realm.
Spiritual objects, as the name suggests, are heavenly and earthly spiritual beings that have gained intelligence.
These objects are similar to "spirit souls" of spiritual treasures.
However, compared to spirit souls, spiritual objects naturally developed intelligence, and they stored "clear spiritual energy," which could greatly benefit a cultivator's Nascent Soul.
Over time, spiritual objects became regarded as treasures that could help break through to the next realm in the eyes of Golden Core cultivators.
— Ninety-nine percent of false Nascent Souls and true Nascent Souls differ only because of this breath of clear spiritual energy.
With this clear spiritual energy, a false Nascent Soul could be awakened and become a true Nascent Soul.
...
Before Wei Tu could search for methods to find the spiritual objects in the secret realm, the Crimson Mirror, which had just flown into the secret realm, shot out another red mist and locked onto a purple iris flower on the ground.
Once the flower was locked, it instantly transformed into a yellow sparrow, trying to fly out of the red mist's range.
As the yellow sparrow struggled fiercely, the red mist around it began to loosen. It seemed that the sparrow would break free in the next moment.
Wei Tu wouldn't give the spiritual object a chance. He took out a trident magical tool, spoke the word "Haste," and the trident instantly shot out countless blue crystal threads, trapping the yellow sparrow tightly.
Once the yellow sparrow was completely trapped, it returned to its previous form as a purple iris flower.
"Although it's just an ordinary spiritual object, it's still decent," Bai Zhi said, appearing beside him. She stroked the purple iris flower a few times, her expression slightly complex.
More than fifty years ago, she had come to the inner domain of Great Void just for this purple iris flower.
Now, it was in her hands, but she had become a prisoner and transitioned to the Ghost Dao.
"If the Stone Demon Sect had higher-tier spiritual objects, would they leave them for future generations?" Wei Tu shook his head, unconcerned.
Just like cultivators, spiritual objects also had ranks and levels of strength.
There were four ranks: Mortal, Spiritual, Immortal, and Saint.
Among these, Mortal was the weakest, and Saint was the strongest.
Mortal rank, like the purple iris flower in his hand, was born as an ordinary object but was lucky enough to gain spiritual intelligence, transforming into a spiritual object.
Spiritual rank was the next step up, followed by Immortal and Saint ranks, where the spiritual object evolved into an immortal or sainted being.