The four waited a few more days in Wanshang City.
On the afternoon of the fifth day, another person arrived.
A total of five people set off for the Barren Region through the teleportation array of Wanshang City.
Naturally, the teleportation array could not reach the Barren Region in one go, even though Wanshang City was already very close to the Barren Region.
But it wasn't a direct route.
The group was teleported to a small island called Haiyun Mountain, from where they could enter the Barren Region.
The so-called Barren Region is actually an area pervaded by turbid energy.
Its total area is several times larger than that of the Human and Demon races combined.
The Barren Region can be regarded as a whole continent, formed by the splitting of the Wandering Cloud Sea.
This place was originally where the Human and Demon races lived, and it still retains many of its original landforms.
The Barren Region is very large and has been divided into four major regions by the Human race: East, South, West, and North.
In addition, there are many scattered islands of various sizes.
The ancient ruins they were going to were located in a place in the Southern Barren Region.
Entering the Barren Region for the first time, Zhang Ling remained expressionless like the others, quietly observing his surroundings.
He didn't want other cultivators to know that it was his first time entering the Barren Region.
As Golden Core experts, everyone naturally possessed Heavenly Heart Stones, only differing in size.
With this treasure, they had nothing to worry about entering this place.
However, the Barren Region was full of dangers, and everyone became cautious.
There were many high-level desolate beasts in the Barren Region, and there had even been instances of desolate beasts comparable to Nascent Soul stage cultivators.
Entering the Barren Region for the first time, Zhang Ling found it quite novel.
Through his divine sense and his own senses, he also noticed that the surrounding environment was indeed different from other places, filled with a strange aura.
It couldn't be seen with the naked eye, but with a sweep of divine sense, he could observe a rather domineering aura constantly churning in the space.
Upon closer inspection, these strands of turbid energy also contained a lot of spiritual power.
It was just very mixed and couldn't be absorbed.
Fortunately, there was also uncorroded spiritual power in the Barren Region.
Meditating and cultivating here was naturally possible, but one had to be constantly careful not to absorb the turbid energy.
Once cultivators or demons absorbed too much of this turbid energy, they would lose their minds and become monsters that only knew how to kill.
That is, they would become desolate beasts.
Along the way, they only encountered some low-level desolate beasts, which everyone didn't take seriously and easily annihilated.
With Ding Ruozhao and Ye Zimei leading the way, their goal was clear, and as long as they didn't go to too dangerous places, the danger would be minimal.
In this way, they traveled for a full three months at the flying speed of Golden Core cultivators.
At noon on the fifth day of the fourth month, the group finally saw a gray-yellow valley.
The valley had a very large area, with a radius of thousands of miles.
It was surrounded by many high and inaccessible peaks, making the environment extremely dangerous.
Looking around, everything was gray-yellow, with a thin layer of mist floating, blending with the surrounding environment, seeming unremarkable.
"Is this the place?"
Zhang Ling stood in mid-air, overlooking the terrain, feeling doubtful.
He had already released his divine sense and carefully checked it.
The surrounding spiritual energy was extremely scarce.
Could this kind of place really be the Kunshan Sect's base?
Like this kind of ancient sect, it should at least be a middle-grade spiritual vein or above.
Although it had now become a Barren Region, spiritual energy and turbid energy could coexist.
The spiritual vein would naturally not disappear out of thin air.
"Everyone, we've arrived.
This valley is the ancient sect ruin that my sister and I discovered before."
"Hehe.
If it weren't for the two fairies leading the way, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to find such a good place."
A hoarse voice entered his ears.
The speaker was a gray-robed old man with only a few hairs on his head.
The old man held a jade fan in his hand, gently fanning it, creating a layer of dust in the air.
"Elder Long, we'll have to rely on you next."
"The restrictions of these ancient sects are mostly powerful, and this old man doesn't have complete certainty."
"The matter of breaking the formation is naturally up to Daoist Long.
We will have to rely on you, old man.
As long as we can enter this ancient land, no matter what treasures are inside, the Daoist can have priority in choosing one."
"Hehe, very good.
This old man will naturally work hard."
The old man squeezed out a smile on his wrinkled face, shaking the jade fan.
"Then let's go down."
Ding Ruozhao looked at the bottom, greeted everyone, and then her body flashed with spiritual light and quickly flew towards the valley.
The old man also chuckled, his body flashed with green light, dragging him to follow closely.
Zhang Ling fell behind, looking at the four people in front.
This old man was the formation master that the Ye Zimei sisters had invited, and he was also in the early stage of the Golden Core realm.
With the title of formation master, even Ding Ruozhao, who was in the middle stage of the Golden Core realm, was very polite to him.
Zhang Ling only knew that this old man's surname was Long, and everyone called him Elder Long.
……
Before long, the group landed in the valley and approached a mound.
As they approached the mound, Ding Ruozhao's escape speed suddenly decreased.
Seeing this, everyone also slowed down.
There was a little bit of green on the hillside in front, all made of yellow earth, which was a bit strange.
As soon as everyone arrived here, a gust of strange wind blew on the yellow earth slope.
The next moment, the surrounding sky was dim, and they could only see things within a zhang or two.
Ding Ruozhao said a few words to Elder Long, and then took the lead and landed towards the mound.
The cultivators like Zhang Ling all had Golden Core cultivation, and this bit of strong wind was nothing.
Each of them flashed with spiritual light, turned on their protective spiritual light, and steadily passed through this layer of yellow wind, landing on the mound.
As soon as they reached the mound, the surrounding strong wind gradually extinguished, and within a few breaths, the sky became clear for thousands of miles, which was a bit inexplicable.
"Elder Long, what do you think?" Ding Ruozhao turned to ask Elder Long.
"It seems to be an illusion formation."
"Hehe, Elder Long is right, it is indeed an illusion formation."
Then the woman spoke about the experience she and Ye Zimei had when they entered and exited this place once before.
"My sister Ye and I came to this place before, and we also accidentally discovered the strangeness of this place, so we went in to explore."
"The first few layers of illusion formations are nothing, but the later ones are a bit special.
There are other powerful formations inside.
We knew it was dangerous, so we retreated."
"However, after consulting ancient books, we also found some clues.
If I'm not mistaken, this is the base of the ancient Kunshan Sect.
It is rumored that the sect's mountain-protecting formation is called the Kunshan Covering Heaven Formation."
"Kunshan Covering Heaven Formation, this old man naturally knows something about it.
This formation is a large formation arranged with the help of the earth's veins, and it has the power to cover the sky."
"As for whether it is a real large formation, this old man has to try it out before he can make a decision, but according to what the two Daoists said before, if this is really the Kunshan Great Formation, this old man has some confidence to break open a gap and let us enter it."
"If that's the case, everything will be as Elder Long says."
Ding Ruozhao smiled immediately when she heard what the other party said.
The other people also looked at each other.
