Not long after, he arrived at the mountaintop and saw a scene of ruins.
The mountaintop contained a massive sinkhole several hundred zhang in size. He scanned it with his divine sense and found it was fifty to sixty zhang deep.
The inside was dusty and pitch black, but a large portion of ancient buildings had collapsed onto the ground.
Finding no teleportation array on the summit, Zhang Ling pondered for a moment and decided to descend and investigate, hoping to find one.
The space below was vast, and his divine sense couldn't cover it all at once, as thick tree roots grew everywhere, burying most of the ruins.
On these thick roots grew thumb-sized, blue, translucent fruits, emitting a faint fragrance.
Zhang Ling immediately recognized them as Nether Orchid Fruits, a type of Rank 3 spirit fruit. This fruit could be used to refine Nether Fragrance Pills, Joyful Union Powder, and several other aphrodisiac elixirs.
Joyful Union Powder was a well-known aphrodisiac spiritual medicine, used by many cultivators.
Nether Fragrance Pills were used by high-level female cultivators, functioning similarly to rouge and powder in the secular world.
Seeing the vines covered in Nether Orchid Fruits, Zhang Ling smiled. He flicked his fingers, sending out a dozen yellow rays of light, instantly collecting over a hundred of the fruits.
This spirit fruit also had another use: when dried and ground into powder, it possessed strong hallucinogenic properties.
It could also be used against formations.
Zhang Ling searched for the teleportation array while collecting the Nether Orchid Fruits along the way.
Before long, he had explored the entire sinkhole. He didn't find a teleportation array but discovered countless deep underground fissures of varying sizes in the surrounding rock walls.
From these fissures, he could hear whistling sounds, and gusts of icy wind blew out continuously.
The stone mountain he was on was still within the Lava Canyon, and the underground area should be a magma zone. The cold wind in this sinkhole must be unusual, and the place was quite cold and gloomy, so it was worth investigating.
Zhang Ling then took the Twin-Tailed Cat and entered a fissure about ten zhang wide. It was filled with countless vines, with hardly any path to walk on.
With a wave of his hand, a black light flashed, and a soldier-armor puppet was released.
This was a humanoid puppet about the size of a normal person, clad in black armor, with an expressionless, iron-black face, and wielding a black iron greatsword.
It was a Rank 1 puppet recorded in the Celestial Puppet Art, with strength equivalent to a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.
He had refined many of these Rank 1 puppets when practicing puppet techniques, and they were perfect for clearing the way.
With a thought, some white light lit up on the iron face of the soldier-armor puppet. A pair of lemon-yellow eyes instantly opened. With a wave of the greatsword, it cut off a patch of vines blocking the way, instantly clearing a space in front.
The soldier-armor puppet continued to advance and clear the way, with Zhang Ling following behind. Finally, the Twin-Tailed Cat meowed a few times, then with a sway, it lay on the shoulder of the soldier-armor puppet.
It seemed to be treating the puppet as a mount.
Seeing this, Zhang Ling didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and cursed inwardly at the lazy creature.
Although his spirit beast was already a Rank 5 spirit beast, it was inherently lazy, spending its days eating and sleeping.
However, he had nurtured this spirit beast for a hundred years. In such a long and monotonous cultivation period, he cultivated alone, and this beast was his only companion.
He smiled and stopped bothering with it.
As they continued to explore deeper into the underground fissures, the space inside was vast.
It was much larger than he had imagined, as if the entire mountain was hollowed out.
Soon, after turning a corner, the surrounding tree roots decreased, and a fissure five to six zhang wide appeared ahead.
Gusts of Yin wind blew from within, indicating that this fissure led to an even larger space.
Suddenly, Zhang Ling heard a rustling sound. He scanned forward with his divine sense and discovered a group of flying snakes rushing toward him.
These were a group of two-winged flying snakes, only the thickness of fingers, hissing as they flew.
He didn't bother to dodge. With a flash of his flying sword, he instantly killed the group of flying snakes.
These wild beasts only had strength in the mid-to-late stages of Rank 1, posing no threat to him.
Zhang Ling didn't stop and entered the wide fissure, continuing to explore forward.
Soon after, he arrived at an even larger space.
Zhang Ling looked down at his feet. The ground was covered with flat, cyan-black boulders, clearly signs of artificial construction.
He was delighted. This might be the remains of an ancient cultivator's site, and he might find some treasures.
His divine sense instantly swept through the space. The space was a regular circle, about a hundred zhang in size.
In the center was a giant strange tree. The tree was red-black in color, growing from the ground and reaching straight up to the top of the cave above, a hundred zhang high.
The trunk was thick, over twenty zhang wide, with faint dark red light emanating from it. Vines fell from above, covering most of the space.
Many vines broke out of the ground, extending directly into the fissures.
It seemed that the tree roots he had just passed through might have originated from this strange tree.
He scanned the strange tree with his divine sense, and the tree seemed to sense something, slowly twisting. The thick vines swayed around like giant snakes.
"Could it have become a spirit?"
Zhang Ling was shocked, sensing powerful spiritual energy gathering on the strange tree. He realized that this might be a tree demon.
In the world of cultivation, besides humans and beasts, some strange flowers, trees, and even rocks could become spirits and cultivate. However, these types of mountain spirits and tree demons were extremely rare compared to human cultivators and demon beasts.
It was said that once these things became spirits, their strength was very powerful. For a moment, Zhang Ling didn't dare to act rashly.
He retreated a distance, and the strange tree gradually calmed down.
Afterward, Zhang Ling stood beside it, carefully examining the strange tree.
Once this type of monster becomes a spirit, it would have at least the strength of the Golden Core stage. The spiritual pressure on this tree also proved this point.
Looking at the strange tree in front of him, Zhang Ling remembered that these types of spirits often gave birth to some magical treasures. With his mind racing, he decided to test whether this tree had really become a spirit.
If the strange tree had no strength, he would kill it, and he might obtain some precious spiritual wood materials.
If this tree truly had powerful strength, he would turn around and leave.
No sooner said than done, the flying sword in Zhang Ling's hand flashed, and he instantly slashed out several sword lights.
At the same time, he gave the Twin-Tailed Cat an order. The beast also condensed its aura and spat out several fireballs to attack.
The sword light struck the main body of the strange tree, making a muffled sound, leaving sword marks on it. The Twin-Tailed Cat's fireballs instantly burned a large area of vines.
Seeing this, Zhang Ling frowned slightly. This tree demon didn't seem as powerful as he had imagined. Could it be that he had guessed wrong? This tree was not a tree demon that had become a spirit but some kind of spiritual tree.
