An unnamed mountain peak, which looked ordinary to the point of having no name.
Dusk was approaching and nightfall was imminent.
Pei Xuanjing, Taoist Qingxu, and Bai Xiaosheng each stood atop a huge boulder, quietly waiting for nightfall.
Yes, this unnamed peak was the entrance to the secret realm controlled by the Shenxiao Sect.
To act covertly, they brought no one else along, only the three of them arrived here.
The setting sun gradually descended, presenting a unique ambiance when viewed from the mountaintop.
However, none of the three men's attention was on this spectacle, they were merely waiting.
The Golden Crow sinks in the west while the Jade Rabbit rises in the east.
When the bright moon hanged high in the sky, Taoist Qingxu said calmly, "It'S about time, we can start."
Pei Xuanjing and Bai Xiaosheng nodded simultaneously, "Alright!"
Bai Xiaosheng waved his arm, threw several specially crafted array flags onto the mountain peak, which formed a mysterious array.
Pei Xuanjing operated the skill written on the jade book of the Shenxiao Sword, released his true qi that swept towards those array flags. Every flag was bathed in true qi, emitting a humming sound as they began to connect with each other.
A misty atmosphere permeated the area, and countless white fog enveloped the mountain peak.
Taoist Qingxu formed seals with both hands, true qi gathered on it, struck the white fog with a talisman, and in an instant, a bright light erupted. The white fog resembling a floodgate, diffused in all directions.
Taoist Qingxu took a step forward, leading the way into the swirling fog:
"Follow me."
Bai Xiaosheng and Pei Xuanjing nodded, then followed closely, stepping into it.
Whoosh…
The moment they stepped into the white fog, Pei Xuanjing felt light as a feather, as though he had stepped into a cloud. He heightened his alertness to sense his surroundings, but all he could perceive was an infinite expanse of white, as if a boundless chaos where nothing existed.
Whoosh!
All this happened in the blink of an eve. The white fog disappeared suddenly, revealing a completely different world before his eyes.
Pei Xuanjing stealthily surveyed his environment. They were now in a forest, all that could be seen was lush vegetation extending without end.
"Is this the secret realm of the Shenxiao Sect?" Bai Xiaosheng asked indifferently.
"Indeed!" Taoist Qingxu nodded agreeably.
Pei Xuanjing asked, "So where are we going next?"
Bai Xiaosheng folded his fan, reached into his sleeves and took out an unknown beast skin map, saying, "This is the map that was left behind, we just need to follow it."
Pei Xuanjing was about to respond when he suddenly sensed something, saying gravely, "Something is approaching."
Both of them were martial arts masters, upon Pei Xuanjing's alert, their expressions changed as they too sensed it.
Boom!
The ground beneath them began to subtly shake, and the tremors were getting closer…
"There!" Taoist Qingxu pinpointed the direction and pointed towards it.
Pei Xuanjing rested his hand on his Shenxiao Sword at his waist, casting his gaze towards it, a massive creature appeared roughly a hundred feet away, charging towards them.
"Is that a tiger?" He asked with a furrowed brow.
Bai Xiaosheng's expression became serious too, "Do tigers get this big?"
Most tigers are less than ten feet long and not more than three feet tall.
However, the far-off creature resembling a tiger was almost as tall as a grown man, about twenty feet long, with a huge head the size of a grindstone. Its gaping mouth was covered in blood, issuing a deafening roar.
Roar!
The thunderous roar resonated, like a startling thunderclap echoing through the woods, causing all the birds and beasts to scatter.
"This roar is almost comparable to the Lion's Roar skill!" said Taoist Qingxu.
The deafening roar reached the ears of the trio, fortunately, they were all top-notch martial artists, it didn't affect them at all.
"Regardless of what that thing is, it seems to be aiming for us. We need to take care of it." said Pei Xuanjing coldly.
This beast – if it could be loosely termed a tiger – let out its deafening roar, glaring at them with its bell-sized eyes, its gaping mouth dripping with blood, charging straight towards the three of them.
It could leap several feet in one bound, and was rapidly closing in.
Pei Xuanjing was about to strike, but Taoist Qingxu chuckled lightly, saying, "If that's the case, allow me to limber up."
Hearing this, Pei Xuanjing didn't express any desire to rush ahead; with a knowing look, he and Bai Xiaosheng took a step back, giving Taoist Qingxu the chance to act.
Taoist Qingxu didn't resort to using the treasured sword on his back, he moved in the mystic Seven Stars manner, stepping launches him several feet to meet the challenge.
The giant beast seemed to be oppressive and uncontested in this forest. Seeing that his prey didn't flee upon seeing him, but instead went to meet him, further infuriated the beast.
It leapt several feet high, swung its gigantic paw, causing a strong gust of wind, aiming to kill Qingxu.
Unexpectedly, Qingxu swerved, and with a simple body feint, easily evaded the attack.
"Tiyun Vertical, this old fellow's movement technique has truly developed its own unique style." Bai Xiaosheng commented nonchalantly beside Pei Xuanjing.
Tiyun Vertical, a top-level martial arts skill of the True Martial Sect, is known for its agility. There are only a few movement techniques in the world of martial arts that can surpass it.
"Indeed impressive." Pei Xuanjing didn't hold back his praise.
The agility of movement techniques was his shortcoming, he couldn't execute fluid movements like Qingxu.
Moreover, due to his preference for raw power, Pei Xuanjing wasn't fond of this fighting style.
In his view, raw power could overcome myriad techniques. As long as he possessed mighty strength, he could face any number of schemes.By punching or slashing them to death, it was a form of violent beauty.
Boom!
The giant paw came crashing down, raising dust all around.
With Qingxu's light footwork of Tiyun Vertical, despite the creature's boundless power, it was unable to hit its target.
Roar!
The giant beast let out a deafening roar. It was truly enraged. Its long and thick tail, resembling a steel whip, swung around, causing a sonorous sound as it tried to strike Qingxu. However, it was still futile, just like a force hitting a soft cushion, it didn't cause any harm.
"Elder, don't waste time," Bai Xiaosheng urged.
Through their brief encounter, he and Pei Xuanjing understood that while the giant beast had enormous strength, it lacked intelligence and was no match for them.
Consequently, Bai Xiaosheng didn't wish to waste any time, directly urged Qingxu to finish the creature so they could leave together.
"Alright!" The voice of Qingxu came out, it was extremely calm, it seemed as if the ongoing fight had nothing to do with him, he didn't seem to be affected at all.
Taoist Qingxu leapt up and deftly landed on the beast's back.
The beast was furiously trying to toss him off with its swinging tail, oblivious to Qingxu's greater speed..
Taoist Qingxu gathered his fingers and turned his hand into a palm, which slowly fell.
Two-in-One Palm!
One of Zhenwu Town Mountain Secret Skills, it advocates the internal top martial studies of resisting the rigid with the soft and defeating the enemy with the mind.
This palm stroke seems slow, without any force, but its power is extraordinary, with a shocking killing and damaging feature.
The Two-in-one Palm of Taoist Qingxu fell at the neck of the giant beast. The continuous palm force spread along the beast's fur, throughout its entire body.
Only the constant snapping sounds could be heard from the giant beast's body, and then the fierce and astonishing giant beast suddenly slowed its movements, seemed like a collapsing mountain, lost its support, directly fell to the ground, and stirred up dust everywhere.
Taoist Qingxu jumped out in one step and landed in front of the giant beast, bowed to Pei Xuanjing and said, "Taoist Friends, thanks for your long waiting."
"Thanks to the Taoist Priest." Pei Xuanjing nodded with a smile.
"Go up and see what kind of creature this is." Bai Xiaosheng gestured to Pei Xuanjing.
The two of them stepped forward and came to the front of the dead giant beast.
The three men walked around the giant beast and observed for a long time. Finally, they concluded that it was a tiger.
They just didn't know why it grew so huge, almost several times the size of a normal tiger.
"Perhaps it's because of this blessed land?" Taoist Qingxu guessed. "It should be," Pei Xuanjing nodded.
He also suspected that it might be due to the Shenxiao Sect's methods.
Since the blessed land belongs to the Shenxiao Sect, it is unknown whether they conducted some experiments in this blessed land.
If the Shenxiao Sect can initiate the Longevity Plan and almost create an immortal god, then it should be no problem to create a tiger that is several times larger.
Moreover, Pei Xuanjing thought that if humans could cultivate, then in the lush environment of Heaven and Earth Essence Qi, whether the wild beasts would also open their wisdom as the myths and legends mentioned the Demon Race and embark on the path of cultivation.
After all, in the myths and legends, not all immortals and gods are humans. Among all the creatures of Heaven and Earth, besides humans, there are birds and beasts, plants, and insects. So, one day, when Heaven and Earth recovers, will these non -human creatures rise?
It's not impossible.
However, without concrete evidence, Pei Xuanjing did not mention it.
Of course, he didn't think that the two people couldn't have thought of this with their wisdom.
"Ah, it's a pity that this tiger is a female. What a pity." Bai Xiaosheng sighed suddenly. Taoist Qingxu was stunned and asked, "What's wrong with the female tiger?" Bai Xiaosheng said mysteriously: "If it's a male, it can supplement you."
"Hehe." Pei Xuanjing quickly understood and showed a smile on his face.
Teased by Bai Xiaosheng, even the always calm Taoist Qingxu couldn't help but blush, " I am a Taoist, you need a supplement."
Bai Xiaosheng didn't enjoy himself, just snorted disdainfully and didn't say much.
Originally this kind of tiger, regardless of its flesh and skin, is all valuable. Even if it'S traded, it can be exchanged for a lot of money.
But the three of them have other important things to do and do not have the ability to take it with them, so they can only break open the body, take some of the high-quality bones and meat as food on the way, and the rest can only be discarded.
But among the three, Taoist Qingxu is the chief of True Martial Sect, Bai Xiaosheng has a wealthy family, and even Pei Xuanjing has a considerable wealth, although these things are valuable. Still, they are not pathetic.
So, the three of them set off again, advancing according to the route on the animal skin map.
The Forbidden Place is not huge, but it is not small. The three of them are all powerful individuals.
Along the way, they also encountered several similar giant beasts such as giant bears and giant crocodiles, all of which were easily killed by the three of them.
At the moment, the three came to an ancient palace.
Looking at the closed palace door, Taoist Qingxu said to Pei Xuanjing, "Next, it depends on you, Taoist Friend."
According to the information left by the Shenxiao Sect, only the descendants of the Shenxiao who cultivated in the Shenxiao Jade Book could open the mechanism of this palace.
Seeing that the two had cast their gazes on him, Pei Xuanjing naturally would not decline and nodded, "It's agreed, I'll do it."
Taking a few steps forward, he went up the steps and came to the front of the palace.
However, Pei Xuanjing did not rush to do it, but carefully observed the palace.
The palace, unlike other palaces glittering with gold, is instead full of simple and profound air.
A statue of Qilin, a mythical beast carved from black jade, was placed on both sides of the entrance to the palace. The Qilin looked up at the sky with its front hooves raised as if it was about to ascend to heaven.
A pair of doors, about ten meters tall and several-zhang-width, were closed tightly. Etched onto the doors were decorative thunder patterns. In the centerzone of each of their circles, there were two protruding Qilin heads with a ring in their mouths.
Pei Xuanjing knew the method to open it. He operated the Shenxiao True Qi into his hands and then slowly grabbed the two circles.
Vroom!
The Shenxiao True Qi was transmitted from Pei Xuanjing's palm to the ring, the ring began to slowly emit a purple-blue light, and then quickly covered the entire ring and spread out in all directions.
The thunder patterns carved on the palace door were also stimulated by the Shenxiao True Qi, starting to emit a warm luster until all the thunder patterns on the entire door were lit.
Whoosh, whoosh…
No doubt, it is quite tough.
With Pei Xuanjing's current accumulation of True Qi, he also felt a bit tired.
But after all the thunder patterns were lit, the entire palace door began to make a series of "ka-ching" sounds.
Soon, the two doors started to move backward slowly , revealing a small gap.
Dang!
The palace doors were fully opened, revealing a dark open corridor in front of the three, not knowing where it led.
Taoist Qingxu and Bai Xiaosheng also went up the steps and stood shoulder by shoulder with Pei Xuanjing.
The three looked at each other, each holding their own weapon, and stepped into the unknown palace.
Dang!
As the three stepped in, the two palace doors closed again. The outside of the palace returned to tranquility, as if the three had never appeared.
When the palace doors closed, the three were completely immersed in darkness.
Even with the keen senses of the three of them, they found that in this palace, they could only feel the surroundings within one zhang. Their keen senses were dramatically suppressed. Just when the three didn't know what to do, there was a sudden "puk" sound.
Puk, puk, puk…
Continuous sounds passed, and one by one, the candles in the darkness suddenly lit up, illuminating the spacious hall.
"Shenxiao Great Emperor!"
Pei Xuanjing exclaimed.
In front of them was a colossal statue, which was the ancestor of thunder worshipped by the Shenxiao
Sect..