To prevent sand and dust from entering their noses, both of them covered half of their faces with face towels, and Qin Moyu's shouts sounded muffled no matter how loud they were.
"This way—"
After observing the sandstorms multiple times, Shen Yebai discovered that although they looked chaotic, they were actually sweeping in one direction in a regular pattern. So he pulled Qin Moyu to the left.
As soon as they started walking, Qin Moyu could clearly feel that the wind and sand were stronger here. The sand hitting his face felt very uncomfortable, but he believed that Shen Yebai would not be foolish enough to lead him on a difficult path.
Sure enough, after we got through that sandstorm and moved forward, the sandstorm subsided considerably and was no longer as suffocating as before; it was within a tolerable range. However, at the same time, the amount of fire also increased.
"Where are we?" Qin Moyu asked, frowning as she looked at the sand swirling around them.
"We should have reached the center." Shen Yebai brushed the sand off Qin Moyu's face and saw the red marks left by the sand. He regretted agreeing to take the path through the Abyss.
Qin Moyu nodded. He looked around and saw that there were an unusually large number of Yu Huo here, sprouting up from the ground like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.
"Let's rest here for a while." Although Qin Moyu was eager for revenge, he also knew his limits. The Abyss was dangerous, and he didn't know how long it would take to get out. He should take advantage of the time to rest.
“Okay.” Shen Yebai naturally had no objections.
Because the environment becomes increasingly harsh the further one goes into the Abyss, making it impossible to distinguish between day and night, he didn't know how many days he had been in the Abyss. However, Qin Moyu, who had never experienced such harsh conditions and arduous journeys, was visibly exhausted.
Qin Moyu then used the Red Lotus Karmic Fire to create a circle to prevent any Yu Fire from drifting between the two of them, and then quickly took some pills.
Logically speaking, there should be spiritual energy everywhere in this world, just in varying amounts. But strangely, the spiritual energy in the Abyss is so weak that it is almost non-existent, which is extremely abnormal.
Therefore, Qin Moyu, who could not replenish his spiritual energy from the outside, could only choose to take pills. Fortunately, he knew how to refine pills, and the pills in his storage bag could last for a long time.
Shen Yebai was used to traveling across the four continents, and although this was his first time crossing the Abyss, he adapted well to the harsh environment. So when Qin Moyu was resting, he still had the leisure to look around.
From Shen Mo's ambiguous words, Shen Yebai guessed that the Four Continents War must be related to Shen Mo's enemy. However, Shen Mo had never told Shen Yebai who that enemy was. This rare trip to the center of the Abyss might be an opportunity to find out who the enemy that Shen Mo feared was.
Perhaps not expecting anyone to overcome so many dangers to reach the center of the abyss, Shen Yebai actually noticed something was amiss.
He discovered that although Yu Huo seemed to emerge from the ground out of nowhere, Shen Yebai sensed that spiritual energy was seeping into the ground from the sandstorm before it emerged from a few fixed points.
"Mo Yu, can you use the Crimson Lotus Karmic Fire to clear away the Fiery Blaze in that area?" Shen Yebai asked, pointing in a direction.
"Sure." Qin Moyu was puzzled, but still drove the Red Lotus Karmic Fire over and discovered something was wrong.
The floating flames in the air melted immediately upon contact with the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, but that particular ball of flame was very stubborn, and Qin Moyu had to exert some effort to eliminate it.
After the fire was melted by the red lotus fire, the sand on it disappeared, slowly revealing a white skeleton.
This skeleton was unlike any we'd seen before. The palm-sized skeleton was crystal clear and exuded a sense of holiness, but it was covered with tiny black characters, like sesame seeds, making it incredibly eerie.
Shen Yebai looked at the skeleton and felt that the characters looked familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere before.
Before he could remember, he heard Qin Moyu exclaim in surprise.
"This is... a formation?!"
Shen Yebai turned around abruptly. It turned out that after the skeleton appeared, Qin Moyu used the Red Lotus Karmic Fire to tease the surrounding area in a small area. Although it consumed a lot of spiritual energy, it cleared away the surrounding fire and sand, revealing something that Qin Moyu never expected.
Within a ten-meter radius radiating outwards from Qin Moyu, countless interlocking small formations were revealed. The point where the small formations intersected was the bone fragment. Judging from the outward trend of the small formations extending outwards, what they saw was probably only the tip of the iceberg.
Shen Yebai suddenly remembered where he had seen the characters on the skeleton. His heart pounded like a drum. He squatted down and placed his palm on the small arrays, while simultaneously cutting the back of his hand with the blade.
Crimson blood immediately seeped from the wound, dripping down the back of his hand and finally landing on the array.
"Ye Bai, what are you doing?" Qin Moyu asked, puzzled.
"Shhh."
Shen Yebai shook his head and pointed to his bleeding hand, saying, "Look."
Qin Moyu looked down at the blood flowing from Shen Yebai's wound—the blood fell onto the formation and was instantly swallowed by it, emitting a faint glow. In just a moment, a cluster of fiery flames condensed on the bones, while sand continued to gather, obscuring the formation and the bones.
"This is..." Qin Moyu stared blankly at the scene, speechless with surprise.
"This is a spirit-gathering array, originally used to gather spiritual energy for cultivation—but it's obvious that someone has modified it, and now it's not just for absorbing spiritual energy."
Shen Yebai suppressed his astonishment and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air: "It is still sucking people's flesh and blood."
"The Four Continents War back then was indeed deliberately provoked by someone."
"The Abyss was a conspiracy set up by the array master from the very beginning, using arrays to absorb the flesh and blood of thousands of people."
People in this world are born with spiritual energy within their bodies. The higher their cultivation level, the more spiritual energy is contained in their flesh and blood. However, cultivation with flesh and blood is something that everyone despises. Whenever such a person appears, they are scorned and hunted down. In addition, people who cultivate with flesh and blood often lose their minds and fall into madness. Therefore, this cultivation method quickly declined and disappeared. Such a massive array is unheard of.
If this formation was for cultivation, then even an ordinary poultry could be stacked to reach the Tribulation Transcending stage. However, no Tribulation Transcending stage cultivators appeared after the Four Continents War. So where did the spiritual energy extracted from these flesh and blood go?
What exactly are the people who set up the formation trying to do?
Shen Yebai suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
Chapter Thirty-Six: Shen Yu, Shen Yebai of Versailles...
Shen Yebai finally remembered where he had seen this formation before—it was in Shen Mo's memories of the Extreme Cold Land. Shen Mo had tried his best to study the formation of the Extreme Cold Land, but he could not find the method. This left a deep impression on Shen Yebai, who was a split soul.
Moreover, Shen Yebai was certain that although the two formations were not exactly the same, they were definitely made by the same person.
And this person was Xiang Mei, who was already confirmed dead.
It seems that to understand the connection between the Abyss and the Frigid Land, we still need to find Xiang Mei's legacy.