The four of them exchanged glances, then checked their belongings once more before stepping into the dense white mist.
As Yunxi entered the mist, she swiftly transferred Li Li back into the spirit beast pouch from her storage space and sent a sound transmission:
"Li Li, I've reached the center of the Misty Snow Domain. This is a land devoid of spiritual energy. I'll be facing strong enemies here, and when I can't discern their identities, I'll need you to use your skills."
Li Li blinked her large, grape-like black eyes and replied, "Don't worry, 'Soul Sight' is my innate ability. It doesn't require spiritual power to activate, though I can't use it too often."
"I understand. I won't have you use it frequently. I'll only call on you when I'm unsure."
"Alright."
Their exchange had barely ended when a man in a gray robe suddenly appeared three steps in front of Yunxi. Because the white mist blocked divine sense, both of them were startled when they saw each other.
The man instantly lunged at Yunxi. She noticed the flash of ruthlessness in his eyes and instinctively activated the Mystic Frost Needle, striking straight at the man's brow and sea of consciousness, while simultaneously piercing his dantian.
Yunxi froze for a brief moment after that. Wasn't this supposed to be a place where all spiritual energy was sealed? How had she managed to activate the needle from her dantian?
As the man collapsed to the ground, he pointed at her in shock. "Why... why aren't... aren't you sealed?"
Yunxi answered with complete indifference, "Because I'm prettier than you."
Then she stepped forward and slammed her fist into his chest, finishing him off. She stripped his storage ring and was about to inspect it when she realized her divine sense was no longer accessible.
The spiritual power within her body seemed to have frozen as well. She couldn't even send the Mystic Frost Needle back into her dantian.
With no other choice, Yunxi placed the needle into her storage pendant. After glancing at the corpse, she took out a fire talisman, ripped it in half, and tossed it onto the body. Only when it was reduced to ashes did she continue forward.
Li Li's curious voice came from the spirit beast pouch: "If this place seals all spiritual energy, how were you able to use your natal artifact?"
"I only used it instinctively just now. But now, my spiritual power has completely stopped circulating. It's locked in my meridians and dantian.
From what I can tell, this 'land without spiritual energy' doesn't seal you the moment you enter. There's a delay. That poor guy was unlucky to encounter me before the seal fully took hold.
I was able to kill him before my power was entirely sealed. Looks like my luck isn't bad."
Li Li poked her head out of the pouch, whiskers twitching as she looked around. She whispered,"Could it be that the spirit of this realm sent him to you on purpose?"
Yunxi paused mid-step, a small smile tugging at her lips. "That would be ideal. Saves me the trouble of hunting them down one by one."
At the same time, Han Lian, Xun Kun, and Yun Chen each encountered their first opponent in the central area. Like Yunxi, they didn't believe the seal could truly suppress them and tried to activate their spiritual power, demonic energy, or Buddhist power. All three managed to kill their opponents before the seal fully immobilized them.
The four of them continued toward the very heart of the area. The closer they got, the tighter the seal pressed down on them. About half an hour later, all of their energy was completely restrained, and they could no longer use their divine senses. They were nothing more than physically strong mortals now.
Yunxi gripped the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff tightly. Even without spiritual reinforcement, the staff was a deadly weapon capable of smashing any evil cultivator's skull with ease.
As she entered a particularly dense patch of mist that obscured everything ahead, a second cultivator appeared.
This time, it was a masked man. He attacked the moment he saw Yunxi, lunging with a jet-black dagger aimed straight for her heart. Like her, he was stripped of his spiritual power, so his assault was purely physical.
Li Li took one glance at him and growled softly twice. Yunxi translated the meaning easily: He's an evil cultivator. His soul is pitch black. Kill him.
Curling her lips, Yunxi swung her staff to block the dagger's thrust.
The man's eyes gleamed as he glanced at her staff. In his mind, treasures from the lower realm were nothing but trash, incomparable to his dagger "Mo Lan." Yet this dark staff had effortlessly stopped his strike.
Unwilling to accept this, he darted forward again, this time aiming a cunning strike at her dantian.
"Pathetic. Despicable." Yunxi muttered under her breath as she flicked her staff upward to intercept. Then she thrust the other end of her staff forward, aiming directly between his legs.
The man's eyes brightened with arrogance. He didn't dodge, intending to pin her staff beneath his foot. But in that instant, Yunxi stepped forward using her Thousand Shadows Riding the Wind movement technique, grasped one end of her staff, and pushed downward with all her strength. The other end shot upward like a lever, striking his most vulnerable spot.
"Ugh!" He groaned in pain and staggered back into the mist.
Yunxi twirled her staff with a flick, muttering to herself,"Tsk, even upper realm cultivators have the same weak spot."
Inside the beast pouch, Li Li twitched her whiskers. She was starting to feel her boss was... a little indecent.
The man's expression darkened. Stung by her taunting remark, he flashed back into view. "How do you know I'm from the upper realm?"
Seeing that he wasn't attacking immediately but fishing for information instead, Yunxi smiled innocently and spouted nonsense, "Why, because upper realm cultivators tipped us off, of course. Otherwise, how could you all be trapped here?"
"Impossible! We destroyed all the communication channels between the upper and lower realms."
"Are you certain you destroyed every single one of them?"
The man faltered, unable to answer with confidence. Perhaps the Dao cultivators had found another way to contact the lower realm. If so, their mission was in jeopardy.
Yunxi arched a brow, pressing further, "You want to claim the Misty Snow Domain and build your exclusive passageway to ferry reinforcements from the Weiyu Realm, but that depends on whether cultivators from this realm agree.
I don't know how you snuck into this place ahead of us, but haven't you noticed? Since you entered the heart of the realm spirit's territory, you've been blocked at every turn. You can't even leave. Want to know why?"
The man glared at her. Her smug expression was infuriating, but her words confirmed that something had gone terribly wrong with their plan. He ground his teeth. "Why?"
Yunxi chuckled coldly. "Because we made a deal with the realm spirit first. We set a trap specifically for upper realm cultivators like you. The moment you stepped into this secret realm, the spirit took control of you. All we had to do was come in afterward and finish you off."
"Impossible!"
Yunxi slammed the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff against the ground with a resounding thud, her face cold. "What's the matter? You thought you could scheme against the Weiyu Realm, but we aren't allowed to fight back?"