Chapter 180

Chapter 180

They walked up to the shattered spatial barrier.

As they approached, the unsettling aura became more pronounced, emanating from this small space filled with strange rocks.

After the spatial barrier had collapsed, the powerful gust that burst forth was so intense that even a king-level demon cultivator could only avoid its force. It was unclear whether this was due to the spatial forces unleashed by the barrier's collapse or because of the Yin and Yang Spring within the space.

There was no doubt that the aura in this space posed a significant danger to them.

Lan Jinshang's expression turned grave.

She wanted to save her partner and was not afraid of any danger. However, she also worried that if she were to die here, she would be unable to bring back the water from the Yin and Yang Spring, which would still lead to Xuanlun's death. Moreover, her child was still very young, and she could not bear to leave him behind.

Lan Jinshang wanted to live.

The attack on the spatial barrier earlier was driven by sheer determination. Looking back, she wondered if she had been mad at the time, for how else could she have dared to attack the spatial barrier without considering the consequences?

Fortunately, although the spatial barrier had shattered, the space did not collapse, and they did not die there.

With a myriad of thoughts swirling in her mind, Lan Jinshang turned to Ning Yuzhou and asked, "Young Master Ning, is the Yin and Yang Spring here?"

Ning Yuzhou nodded, his eyes fixed on the small space inside.

At this moment, they stood at the edge of the space where the spatial barrier once stood. Now that the barrier had been broken, the two spaces had merged, and the aura from the small space was gradually spreading outward.

Wen Qiao's fingers twitched as she suppressed the unsettling feeling.

This small space made her feel extremely uncomfortable, causing her to instinctively want to transform into her demon form to avoid it. As a half-demon with strong self-control, Wen Qiao managed to resist the inexplicable urge and did not reveal her identity in front of others.

Wen Tutu and Wen Guangun, the two demon beasts, also became cautious. Even Wen Guangun, who usually thought only of eating, now clung quietly to Wen Qiao's shoulder like a black-and-white fur ball, snuggling against her neck.

Although she had already guessed, hearing Ning Yuzhou's confirmation still brought a look of surprise to Lan Jinshang's face.

She was about to step forward when she suddenly thought of something and turned to ask, "Young Master Ning, when should we go in?"

Wen Qiao glanced at her in surprise, then looked at the space inside, immediately understanding Lan Jinshang's thoughts.

If Lan Jinshang had previously harbored some distrust towards Ning Yuzhou—due to his low cultivation level, making it hard for a king-level demon cultivator to trust him—after all that had happened and seeing the small space beyond the shattered barrier, that distrust had vanished, and she no longer doubted Ning Yuzhou.

In fact, her attitude towards Ning Yuzhou had become respectful and reverent, completely disregarding his low cultivation level.

This respect and reverence placed him on an equal footing with her.

How many cultivators in this world could be respected and treated with such courtesy despite being merely at the Primordial Pulse realm? Likely only Ning Yuzhou.

Thus, Lan Jinshang now prioritized Ning Yuzhou's opinions and trusted him completely, wanting to hear his suggestions.

The aura emanating from this space was unsettling, making one instinctively want to stay away. But the Yin and Yang Spring was inside, so Lan Jinshang naturally could not leave, and she sought Ning Yuzhou's advice.

Ning Yuzhou looked into the space and said, "We should go in as soon as possible, retrieve the Yin and Yang Spring, and leave quickly."

"Why?"

Ning Yuzhou frowned slightly and said, "I'll explain later; let's go in first."

With that, he stepped forward, followed closely by Wen Qiao.

Seeing this, Lan Jinshang did not hesitate and strode in.

As they crossed the edge of the space and entered the cluster of strange rocks, a peculiar aura enveloped them. Despite the normal temperature, everyone shivered, and Wen Tutu bristled.

Wen Qiao gently stroked Wen Tutu's bristling fur and glanced at Wen Guangun, noticing that he looked confused.

Indeed, this little beast was slow to react, always lagging behind other demon beasts. She decided to wait until it noticed the danger.

Their gazes scanned the space.

This space was not large, at least much smaller than the outer space, allowing them to see the entire area at a glance.

However, the numerous strange rocks obstructed their vision and spiritual sense.

Suddenly, Wen Qiao placed her hand on a half-person-tall stone, sensing something unusual. She paused, realizing it was an unusual stone.

Unusual stones could nurture stone spirits, which were valuable for refining artifacts.

To Wen Qiao's surprise, as they ventured deeper into the space, they encountered more and more unusual stones.

This place seemed to be a birthplace of unusual stones.

It was rare to find so many unusual stones, and since they were not too large and easy to carry, Wen Qiao couldn't help but collect some and store them in her storage bag.

However, Wen Qiao did not act rashly. The priority was to find the Yin and Yang Spring hidden among these unusual stones.

As they ventured deeper, the unsettling aura grew stronger. Fortunately, everyone present was resolute, suppressing their discomfort despite the unsettling feeling.

Suddenly, Lan Jinshang's spiritual sense swept over a spot, and her expression brightened. "Found it."

Lan Jinshang quickly ran forward, leaping between the strange rocks, her wide blue sleeves fluttering as she disappeared among them.

Wen Qiao and Ning Yuzhou followed closely, stepping on the protruding rocks.

When they saw Lan Jinshang, she was standing on a silver-gray stone, looking down.

Seeing them approach, Lan Jinshang excitedly said, "Young Master Ning, Miss Wen, come take a look. Is this the Yin and Yang Spring?"

Wen Qiao and Ning Yuzhou moved closer, landing on two uneven stones nearby, and looked in the direction she indicated.

Amidst the unusual stones, they saw a spring. The water in the spring was half milky white and half pure black, with a clear boundary. The spring was silent, exuding an aura that sent chills down their spines.

The unsettling aura that had made their hearts race earlier emanated from this spring.

Amidst the fear, everyone felt an intense cold. It wasn't a physical chill but a spiritual one, so cold that their souls seemed to freeze, rendering them immobile.

However, it was merely an illusion.

When Ning Yuzhou fed a spirit pill to Wen Qiao, she blinked and turned to look at him, confused. "Husband?"

Ning Yuzhou looked at her with concern. "Chui, are you feeling better?"

Wen Qiao nodded, still shaken by what had just happened. She couldn't help but ask, "Was it because of the Yin and Yang Spring?"

Ning Yuzhou affirmed, "The Yin and Yang Spring is a place of extreme yin and yang, capable of bewitching cultivators' souls."

After understanding this, Wen Qiao grew even more wary. She then asked, "By the way, what kind of spirit pill was that? I don't think I've had it before."

She recalled the pill that dissolved in her mouth, confirming that she had never tasted it before.

"It's a Soul Nourishing Pill."

Recently, they had traded many items with sea beasts using spirit pills, obtaining numerous rare herbs and medicines unique to the deep sea. Ning Yuzhou combined these with the herbs in his space to refine several types of Earth-grade spirit pills.

This was one of Ning Yuzhou's habits: whenever he obtained new alchemy materials, he couldn't resist refining them into spirit pills, even if he didn't need them immediately. He would store them away, thinking they might come in handy someday.

The Soul Nourishing Pill was an Earth-grade spirit pill, an ancient and notoriously difficult pill to refine.

When Ning Yuzhou refined it, he poured a great deal of effort into it and only managed to produce one furnace, yielding only two pills. Compared to his usual success rate of producing a full furnace, getting only two pills was quite disheartening.

This demonstrated how challenging it was to refine the Soul Nourishing Pill. Even a Heaven-grade alchemist might not succeed.

Although people categorized spirit pills and alchemists into different levels, not every level of alchemist could refine any type of spirit pill. For those obscure and extremely complex pills, even a high-level alchemist might fail.

Just like the Soul Nourishing Pill, its effects were unquestionable—it nourished the soul. Although defined as an Earth-grade pill, even Heaven-grade alchemists might struggle to refine it.

The process required such precise handling of materials and a complex formula that even Heaven-grade alchemists found it daunting. Many had attempted to refine it with low success rates.

After swallowing the Soul Nourishing Pill, Wen Qiao felt much better, and the illusion of her soul freezing vanished instantly.

Noticing that Wen Tutu and Wen Guangun were not faring well, she realized they wouldn't benefit from staying here and asked Ning Yuzhou to bring them back into the space.

Then Wen Qiao turned to Lan Jinshang and saw her staring intently at the Yin and Yang Spring, her face cold and seemingly disconnected from the world. She couldn't help but call out, "Senior Lan?"

Lan Jinshang snapped back to reality, looking at Wen Qiao and then at the Yin and Yang Spring, her expression grim.

Earlier, she had almost believed her soul had frozen, trapped within her body, watching herself die. The sensation of death was so vivid that it sent chills down her spine.

If Wen Qiao hadn't woken her up, she might have truly believed her soul had frozen to death, with dire consequences.

Lan Jinshang was deeply unsettled and now regarded the Yin and Yang Spring with caution.

Seeing Wen Qiao and Ning Yuzhou unaffected, she wondered why they weren't influenced by the spring. Even she, a King-level beast cultivator, had nearly been entranced. There was no reason they should be immune.

"We took the Soul Nourishing Pill," Wen Qiao explained, adding, "But there were only two pills."

So it wasn't that they didn't want to share.

Lan Jinshang understood, once again confirming Ning Yuzhou's exceptional alchemy talent.

She turned to Ning Yuzhou and asked, "Young Master Ning, how can we take the water from the Yin and Yang Spring?"

Ning Yuzhou replied, "Use a jade bottle. But make sure Senior Xuan drinks it soon; otherwise, the water will turn into essence gas, which will accelerate the depletion of his vitality given his existing injuries."

Upon hearing this, Lan Jinshang suddenly remembered something, her expression changing. "No wonder when Xuanlun and I came here to check the space before, his vitality always declined faster after returning."

For a severely injured person, inhaling the pink essence gas would worsen their condition until their life force was depleted.

But for those without injuries, it posed no threat.

At this moment, Ning Yuzhou added, "Since you were injured earlier, it's best to drink some."

Lan Jinshang's expression tightened, almost forgetting about it. She took out a jade ladle and filled it with Yin and Yang water.

The Yin and Yang water remained black and white in the ladle, clearly separated, as if forever maintaining the dual colors without blending into gray.

Without hesitation, she drank it all.

"Senior Lan, what does it taste like?" Wen Qiao asked curiously.

"There's no taste," Lan Jinshang replied truthfully, then took out another jade bottle and filled it with Yin and Yang water.

After filling the bottle, Lan Jinshang glanced at Ning Yuzhou, knowing he had come here for the Yin and Yang Spring. However, given its peculiar characteristics and the fact that it couldn't be kept for long, she wondered what use he had for it.

Ning Yuzhou didn't explain, instead turning to Wen Qiao. "Chui, look around here for any unusual stones and collect some."

Wen Qiao agreed and turned to Lan Jinshang. "Senior Lan, would you help me find some?"

Only Wen Qiao would dare ask a King-level beast cultivator to help her find unusual stones.

But she did it so naturally that even Lan Jinshang didn't notice anything amiss until they left together. Then she realized Ning Yuzhou was intentionally sending her away.

She didn't mind, as she already had the Yin and Yang Spring water, and the rest held no interest for her. Thus, she didn't bother investigating their secrets.

After Wen Qiao and Lan Jinshang left, Ning Yuzhou squatted beside the Yin and Yang Spring.

He extended his sleeve and reached out with his slender hand, slowly approaching the spring. As his fingertips touched the water, the water level visibly dropped.

In the space, the big fluff ball Wen Jiji was sleeping among the Zhusen Linghua flowers. Two yellow crystal ants rested on the Ant Fragrance Tree, while Wen Guangun climbed a Purple Jade Ling Bamboo, munching on the leaves. Wen Tutu sat on the Stone Golden Python Vine, gazing upward, wondering when Brother Ning would release them.

Suddenly, black and white spring water descended from above.

The creatures in the space were all startled, looking up at the descending black and white spring water.

The black and white spring water fell from the sky, landing in the center of the space where the puppet A Qing had dug a well. The sound of rushing water continued without pause, mesmerizing all the beasts in the space.

The big fluff ball scrambled to its feet, its gaze falling on the well filled with black and white spring water. Suddenly, it let out a chirping protest.

Brother Ning had actually let the puppet quietly dig a well here, occupying the best location in the space and taking up an entire spiritual field. Its flower field wasn't even as large as this well.

As for the spirit herbs originally planted in the area where the well now stood, they had been relocated elsewhere.

The black and white spring water flowed for a long time before disappearing. Although the well appeared small, it contained a significant amount of water. The black and white spring water was tranquil and cold, emitting a chilling aura that made one's heart race.

Wen Tuantuan fluffed up again.

Wen Guangun also rolled off the purple jade bamboo.

Both beasts recalled the terrifying sensation of their primordial spirits being frozen when they were outside, a feeling even the dull food-eating beast couldn't withstand.

Fortunately, just as they were fluffing up, A Qing, the puppet, placed several array disks around the well, isolating the aura of the Yin and Yang Spring from the outside world. The beasts then calmed down.

***

Ning Yuzhou stood up and walked towards Wen Qiao, who was collecting stones nearby, saying, "Senior Lan, Chui, we can leave now."

The two approached, and Lan Jinshang glanced at the Yin and Yang Spring. She suddenly noticed that the water level seemed to have dropped significantly, surprising her. There was no doubt that Ning Yuzhou was responsible for this drop. Why did he take so much Yin and Yang Spring water? Could there be some unknown use for it?

Lan Jinshang couldn't figure it out.

Although she didn't understand, she wisely chose not to ask and pretended not to notice, leaving the space with the others.

After leaving the space containing the Yin and Yang Spring, the three clearly felt a change in the surrounding area.

Previously, the space was merely filled with pink essence qi, but now, due to the broken spatial barrier, the aura of the Yin and Yang Spring had spilled out, adding a chilling presence that threatened to spread throughout the entire space.

Lan Jinshang's expression changed slightly.

At this rate, the aura of the Yin and Yang Spring would soon overwhelm the entire space. At that point... Lan Jinshang suddenly understood Ning Yuzhou's earlier words: they needed to leave this space as soon as possible.

Because the space would collapse.