275: Inner Demons

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the map, and said in a deep voice, "Therefore, in the entire trial grounds, there are only four people who have the qualifications and the strength to capture Jiang Shuwan and continue snatching other people's heaven ranking tickets—Zhang Bai, myself, Li Cheng, and that Mobei!"

"Because only the four of us brought large groups of helpers inside! Zhang Bai is currently rushing toward the Weak Water Pool, clearly having no interest in getting involved in this matter; Mobei's whereabouts remain unknown to this day, and his tracks are hard to find. Calculating it this way, the only one who can truly compete with me is Li Cheng!"

Thinking of this, a flash of cunning appeared in Zhao Peng's eyes, and he immediately ordered, "Pass on my command: the whole team is to quietly follow behind Li Cheng's team and wait and see how things develop! When necessary, we will play the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!"

"Yes!" Upon hearing this, his subordinate immediately acknowledged the order and retreated.

The Trial Grounds have Three Great Perilous Lands: Wangyue Spring, Yin Feng Valley, and the Weak Water Pool.

Among these three perilous lands, Wangyue Spring is the one that has been explored the most.

This is because the Weak Water Pool is recognized as a place without any Opportunity. There is only a stretch of Weak Water there; people standing on it will not sink, making it no different from a dead sea, but it has a fatal restriction: one cannot fly within its range and must rely on one's own feet to walk step by step.

As for Yin Feng Valley, it is the place where evil Cultivators fell. It is too dangerous and mysterious inside; for so many years, no one has known what is hidden within, and naturally, no one dares to step foot there easily.

Consequently, by comparison, only Wangyue Spring has had people daring enough to break in to search for Opportunity over the years, though it is a pity that very few people have managed to come out alive.

According to rumors, inside Wangyue Spring, one can see a huge, incomparable bright moon hanging high in the sky. Besides that, there is also a sky trench that cannot be seen to its end at a glance, stretching across the land.

As for the rest, no one knows.

At this moment, inside Wangyue Spring, Feng Ming was leading Hua Dieer on their journey.

After walking for about half an hour, they saw the legendary bright moon.

That moon was several times larger than what is seen in the outside world, and the bright moonlight spilled down, illuminating the earth completely.

It is likely that the name Wangyue Spring originated from this.

Feng Ming remembered deeply the words Wu Qingyue said at the time: "In the perilous land of Wangyue Spring, facing the moon is near, and turning one's back to the moon is far." He guessed that this should be the secret of Wangyue Spring.

Therefore, as soon as the two stepped into Wangyue Spring, they kept their eyes fixed on the bright moon in the sky, identified the direction, and approached it step by step. No matter how rugged the path beneath their feet was, their goal never changed.

As they continued to venture deeper, Feng Ming finally understood why Wangyue Spring could be called one of the Three Great Perilous Lands.

Not long after entering Wangyue Spring, rolling mountain ranges appeared on the ground, and many ancient city ruins were hidden between the mountains.

These ancient cities were built in unknown eras, and their walls were already dilapidated. They had an extremely bizarre characteristic: the roads within the cities were actually huge mazes.

If someone who was unaware rashly walked on the ground and stepped into these ancient city ruins, they would only end up going in circles, wasting time and energy in vain, and in the end, they might even be trapped inside forever.

But clearly, relying solely on these ancient city ruins was not enough to trap most Cultivators.

After all, those who could come to participate in the Trial all had some ability; basically, they could all fly, allowing them to completely avoid these mazes.

This was indeed the case. After the two had been traveling by air for a whole day, the scene before them changed abruptly, and a massive sky trench appeared in front of them.

It was an endless plain, but it had been cut in half by a huge fissure, forming a bottomless cliff. The cliff was nearly a hundred meters deep and extended to both sides, with no end in sight.

Below the cliff was pitch black, and even the earth presented a deathly black color, as if all vitality had been completely severed upon reaching this place. Within this sky trench, it was a barren land devoid of any life.

However, according to the Law of "facing the moon is near," if they wanted to approach the bright moon and find that Opportunity, they had to cross this sky trench.

Hua Dieer looked at the scene before her, her face turning slightly pale, and a flash of fear appeared in her eyes.

But under Feng Ming's insistence, she gritted her teeth, braced herself to follow, and stepped onto the path to cross the sky trench with him.

On the journey, Hua Dieer finally could not help but ask about the matter she had been thinking of: "Feng Ming, when exactly will you be willing to help me remove my Heart Demon?"

Upon hearing this, Feng Ming turned his head to look at her and answered earnestly, "After we find the Opportunity of Wangyue Spring."

"Haven't you noticed? Those who came in before us seem very familiar with this place. We have been traveling for so long, and we haven't even seen a shadow of them. Now we must seize the time; we must catch up to them!"

He paused and added, "As for your Heart Demon, rest assured, I have already thought of a method to break it along the way."

Hua Dieer's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly asked, "How do we break it?"

Feng Ming looked at her and said with a straight face, "Your Heart Demon arose because of me; it is nothing more than your Innate Charm Body being useless against me, causing you to harbor frustration, which formed the Heart Demon over time. Once we find the Opportunity, I will just serve as your target. You can experiment as much as you like; if once doesn't work, try twice, if twice doesn't work, try four times, until you can successfully charm me!"

"As long as you succeed once, the knot in your heart will be untied, and the Heart Demon will naturally be eliminated."

Upon hearing this, Hua Dieer pondered it carefully and felt that these words made a lot of sense.

A Heart Demon is born from an obsession in the heart. To break it, one must naturally untie that knot. Her knot was indeed the fact that her Innate Charm Body, which she was so proud of, had no effect on Feng Ming, which had been weighing on her mind for a long time.

Feng Ming's method was indeed the right medicine for the illness.

Having received Feng Ming's assurance, the heavy stone in Hua Dieer's heart finally fell to the ground. She said no more and silently followed behind him, quickening her pace.

Time flew by, and three days passed.

The two traveled day and night, but the sky trench beneath their feet seemed endless, with no horizon in sight.

What was even more alarming to them was that as they ventured deeper, the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi became terrifyingly thin.

Because of the travel these past three days, the Spiritual Qi they absorbed from the outside world was simply insufficient to make up for their own consumption.

In other words, they had been consuming their own spiritual power, forcibly supporting their journey.

Hua Dieer's face became paler and paler, and she finally could not help but speak, her voice filled with a trace of fatigue and worry, "This cannot continue! At most, we can walk for two more days; if we still cannot find the end of the sky trench, we must turn back! Otherwise, I fear our strength will not last until we return!"

She paused and added, "Even if we stop to rest now, it is useless; the Spiritual Qi in this place is too thin. By the time we recover our spiritual power and head out, I fear the Liangzhou Trial will have already ended!"