Following someone within the palace was one thing; after all, with disciples coming and going, someone appearing where Zhao Min had been would not attract attention.
But if she left the Sacred Demon Palace and someone was found tailing her, the matter could be blown up or downplayed, all depending on Zhao Min's decision.
She could choose to ignore it, or she could choose to report it to the Supreme Elders.
So when Dongli Qing rushed over after being notified, that disciple did not dare to follow Zhao Min all the way. Zhao Min had already disappeared, which made him even more suspicious and uneasy.
This "Senior Sister Zhao" had rarely gone outside the Sacred Demon Palace for decades. As far as he knew, it had only been twice, and on normal days, she didn't even associate with the other female cultivators.
It seemed she only had occasional contact with Shanggong Changge.
This was the first time she had gone out at night. Could it be a date with someone?
The thought of this sent waves of jealousy through Dongli Qing's heart. He hadn't even been able to get close to Zhao Min, so who was the person she was going to see?
Afterward, he quickly gave chase, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't find any trace of Zhao Min. This wasn't due to his lack of ability.
On the contrary, it was precisely because his cultivation was too high. This was the main camp of the White Demon Clan. A Nascent Soul cultivator's Divine Sense sweeping over a large area would be enough to startle those Spirit Transformation old ancestors.
At that time, he would have trouble explaining himself, and a misstep could lead to punishment.
After personally flying a lap around the city to search, occasionally sweeping gently with his Divine Sense over small areas, Dongli Qing ultimately failed to find any trace of Zhao Min.
He also didn't receive any communication that she had returned. After some thought, he decided to wait outside the restriction passage.
He waited for over an hour, his mood growing more and more agitated, and his heart filled with increasing anger. He wanted to know immediately who could make Zhao Min personally leave the palace.
Just as his thoughts were in a jumble, the beauty finally returned. But Zhao Min's cold attitude made Dongli Qing so angry he nearly wanted to grab her and search her soul.
This thought was just a thought. How could he dare to use force on Zhao Min? He could only try to get close to her through continuous contact and slowly make her accept him.
Perhaps a single sentence could move her heart. But Zhao Min wasn't willing to say even one extra word. With a "respectful" attitude, she turned and left, leaving him somewhat embarrassed.
Seeing her fly away immediately, although the surrounding Demon Guard Army soldiers didn't dare to look at him, Dongli Qing could feel the abnormality in their auras, which made him even more annoyed.
'Do you really think that just because you have the favor of the two Supreme Elders, you can command the wind and rain in the clan in the future? One day, I will press you under me and whip you mercilessly, making you beg and plead endlessly....'
Dongli Qing thought hatefully in his heart. However, he was also a clever person. He guessed that if Zhao Min had a rendezvous, she might go out again in the near future.
He needed to watch her more closely, even disregard her status and take more risks, and he might discover something.
...
In the years of cultivation, one barely feels the passage of time. Li Yan stayed in Sacred Demon City for another year.
In that year, he only met with Zhao Min once more. The rest of their communication was done simply through Zhao Min's special voice transmission talismans.
At the same time, on the surface, he was continuously getting closer to Cultivator Chu, making his own presence more reasonable.
On the other side, he also had Su Yuan and the others inquire about a non-existent Golden Core cultivator, so that Xing Ming would also confirm that he was using this opportunity to look for his Master.
Li Yan and Zhao Min also found out more information about the Black Demon Clan's "God's Road." It was confirmed that there were passages leading to at least three other realms.
Among them was a passage to the Desolate Moon Continent. The news Zhao Min had received last time was that this passage might have had a problem.
In the fifty-seventh year of the thirty-one hundred and eighty-third cycle of the Great Demon Calendar, during the month of Wuji, a violent turmoil occurred on the Black Demon Clan's "God's Road," causing a large amount of Demonic Qi to leak to the border of the White Demon Clan.
Afterward, the two Supreme Elders of the White Demon Clan personally investigated but found nothing. However, it could be inferred that a mutation had occurred on the "God's Road."
It was highly likely that when the Black Demon Clan was opening a passage to a certain realm, the passage collapsed and shattered, or that an expert from another realm descended upon the "God's Road."
Li Yan and Zhao Min attached great importance to this piece of news because after they calculated the time, they found that the mutation on the "God's Road" coincided with the time they had descended upon the Forsaken Continent, which was twenty-six years ago.
It should have been around the time the "Devil's Cliff Crevice" was detonated and blocked by Wei Zhongran. What shocked them even more was the sentence in it.
"The two Supreme Elders of the White Demon Clan personally investigated, but found nothing!"
This pointed to a major problem: Li Yan and Zhao Min's cultivation level was simply not enough to set foot on the "God's Road." Of course, the two of them would not give up, and Zhao Min was still making final confirmations.
On this day, Li Yan was sitting cross-legged in meditation. His cultivation had long been firmly stabilized at the Initial-stage Golden Core, and with day and night cultivation, he had made some slight progress.
It was just that for the past year, his mind had been focused on inquiring about the cross-realm passage, so he had not started refining the essence blood of the "Undead Nether Phoenix." That required a long period of quiet, bitter cultivation.
However, his Qiongqi Purgatory Art and True Scripture of Gui Water were still improving daily.
Li Yan suddenly opened his eyes. With a flick of his sleeve, the door to the room opened, and then a white figure flashed in. The door then closed again without a sound.
Zhao Min's figure flickered and she sat down at the table by the window.
It was currently noon, and people were coming and going outside, but no one in the shop in front noticed her arrival. It was an easy matter for a Golden Core cultivator to avoid the eyes and ears of Su Yuan and the others.
"What's wrong with you?"
Li Yan saw that Zhao Min's face was grave and something was not right. He quickly asked, while some bad results came to mind.
'Could it be that Senior Sister's frequent investigation of the cross-realm passage has been discovered?'
His heart tightened. If that were the case, their future actions would be fraught with difficulties. Attracting the attention of a Spirit Transformation old monster was something no one wanted.
Zhao Min let out a light breath.
"First, let's talk about the 'God's Road.' During this time, through Shanggong Changge, the female Nascent Soul cultivator who took me as a disciple, I finally confirmed the authenticity of the information I gathered last time. The guards on the Black Demon Clan's 'God's Road' are not just strict; their level even surpasses that of the Sacred Demon Palace. Even she is completely unable to get close. Back then, the two Supreme Elders were discovered by the other side's Spirit Transformation cultivators as soon as they got close. So this path should be blocked..."
Zhao Min carefully explained the information she had obtained. She had also gone to great lengths to get this information during this period.
She couldn't ask a Spirit Transformation cultivator about such things. It was unrelated to cultivation, so naturally, she couldn't casually bring up questions that had nothing to do with her.
But her cheap master, Shanggong Changge, was different. Shanggong Changge wanted to maintain a good relationship with this disciple.
So occasionally, when she learned that Zhao Min was not in seclusion, she would also have Zhao Min go back to reminisce, or she would come over directly to "guide" her cultivation.
The topics between the two of them were much more casual. Shanggong Changge knew that Zhao Min came from a remote sect, so she didn't find it strange that Zhao Min inquired about matters outside of cultivation. On the contrary, she would smile and tell her about them.
Of course, Zhao Min would not ask directly, but would only ask a few "inadvertent" questions when she saw an opportunity, and then she would change the subject.
Later, she would find another opportunity and ask a few more questions. In this way, after a full nine months, she finally found out some things clearly. This time, she came personally to discuss the next step with Li Yan.
Li Yan noticed the double meaning in Zhao Min's words. Her hesitation had other hidden reasons, but he didn't press her.
After hearing the news brought by Zhao Min, Li Yan pondered for a while.
"Even a Nascent Soul cultivator can't get close, and the two
Supreme Elders were discovered by the other side. Doesn't this mean this path is truly sealed, and the only option left is to use the super cross-realm teleportation formation to the Verdant Continent?"
They had been inquiring for so long, only to get such a frustrating and unacceptable result.
Back then, when he heard the name "God's Road," he had also thought that the guards would be strict, but after advancing to the Golden Core realm, he was still quite confident.
He thought that if he put Zhao Min into the "Earthen Patch" and relied on his current "Stealthy Night Art" and the mysterious effects of the "Heaven-Stealing Kerchief," he could even deceive some Nascent Soul cultivators.
Of course, it was just a possibility, so he had to be fully prepared. But this was already a great hope. Unexpectedly, the result was on a completely different level from what he had imagined.
"Yes, this is the important reason why I must come and discuss this with you personally. For the only remaining cross-realm teleportation grand formation, we haven't even seen a supreme-grade Spirit Stone, and they almost never appear in the market. That's out of the question. We also can't gather the required massive amount of high-grade Spirit Stones in a short period of time. At the same time, we still need to prepare a defensive magical treasure equivalent to the level of a Nascent Soul cultivator. As for the last condition, maybe I can request it from the Supreme Elder, but that's just a possibility, with less than a ten percent chance of success, and it could easily expose our purpose. After all, without a valid reason, no one would easily give out a defensive magical treasure equivalent to the Nascent Soul level. Therefore, escaping from the Forsaken Continent is temporarily... temporarily not something the two of us can accomplish."
As Zhao Min said this, although her face was still as cold as ice, her eyes had dimmed considerably.
It took her twenty-five years to meet Li Yan again, and another year just to inquire about and confirm a piece of news about the "God's Road." The joy of their reunion and the hope of returning home that had surged at that time could only turn into a long sigh in the end.
"Perhaps now, we can only cultivate bitterly and wait until one of us reaches the Nascent Soul stage before we can solve these tricky problems."
Once one of them successfully reached the Nascent Soul stage, whether it was using the cross-realm teleportation grand formation or risking an exploration of the Black Demon Clan's "God's Road," they would have a certain foundation and possibility.
This was also the only solution Zhao Min could think of at the moment.
Zhao Min's rosy lips parted slightly as she stated her thoughts. It was just that they didn't know what year or month they would reach the Nascent Soul stage—a hundred years, three hundred years, five hundred years, or even longer.
Ever since Zhao Min started cultivating the "Heavenly Demon White Jade Plate," according to the two Supreme Elders of the Sacred Demon Palace, her chances of reaching the Nascent Soul stage were as high as forty percent.
No one in the cultivation world dared to claim such a probability. The success rate was terrifyingly high, but all of this required the accumulation of time and long years of dedicated, bitter cultivation.
In such a long period of time, no one could know what problems she and Li Yan would encounter.
Li Yan remained silent, carefully listening to the news and plans brought by Zhao Min. After a long while, Zhao Min could not see any disappointment on his face; it was still as calm as ever.
"Senior Sister, when the cart gets to the mountain, there will be a way! It's not necessarily that the information we've gathered now is the final result. The Forsaken Continent is different from the Desolate Moon Continent. There are many races here. Did they all come through that teleportation grand formation? We've been here for too short a time, and we just haven't found the right direction for many things. I think if we inquire more from the outside world, we will definitely gain something. By the way, you should have more than just this one thing on your mind. It's not that your actions have been discovered, is it?"
After hearing Li Yan's words, Zhao Min thought about it and felt that it was indeed the case. Her perception was truly biased. The gray thoughts in her heart dissipated a lot for a moment.
And at this time, Li Yan was still constantly thinking in his heart. He thought that since the Black Demon Clan had a "God's Road" that could open passages to other realms, it meant that this continent was somewhat special.
Perhaps due to the laws of heaven and earth, it was easier for the Forsaken Continent to find adjacent barrier points with other realms.