#2812 - Suspected ghost witch
The words of Elder Jinyun caused some of the disciples from influential families to lower their heads in shame.
However, some of them didn't feel as useless as the elder had described.
They had just faced a life-or-death situation. How many people could remain calm and composed in the face of death, without feeling fear?
Moreover, the environment here was quite peculiar, and they had encountered such bizarre circumstances.
Besides, they usually didn't need to experience such danger.
Even if they went on expeditions for resources, if they ventured into dangerous places, their families would naturally have strong experts secretly accompanying them.
After all, being able to rely on the support of their family's experts and having their protection was a sign of their family's strength.
With such a background and backing, why would they need to endure hardship and suffering to temper themselves?
What era was it? Were the elders still advocating the spirit of enduring hardship?
This thinking was far too outdated.
Even if the world was engulfed by a cataclysmic flood in the future, there would naturally be taller people to bear the brunt.
Wasn't the purpose of a family's growth and prosperity to provide future generations with a better life, a better cultivation environment, so they wouldn't have to endure hardship and could enjoy resources and protection that others couldn't?
The three elders were at such a high level that they were incredibly perceptive.
From the deeply hidden gazes of some disciples, they could see their thoughts.
They knew that some disciples were unconvinced and didn't agree with their words.
The three elders couldn't help but laugh in anger.
These fools truly had the minds of overgrown infants.
Did they think they could always rely on their families?
Did they expect their family's experts to protect them every time they went out?
Had they not considered that the cultivation world was full of hidden dangers, and it was impossible to completely eliminate the possibility of conflicts and dangers?
What would they do if they encountered such situations and their family's experts weren't around? Wait for death?
Forget it.
The elders didn't plan to educate them any further.
Their mindset was already fixed. It would be useless to talk, just a waste of breath.
Perhaps only death could make them repent.
Then let them experience death.
Anyway, such disciples wouldn't contribute much to the sect in the future. Their deaths wouldn't matter much.
In this special era, the sect didn't need such people.
To put it more bluntly, the sect didn't need such people in any era.
One could imagine that these people had never even accepted the tasks issued by the sect.
If they had frequently come into contact with evil beings, they wouldn't have been so frightened.
The sect issued tasks not only to create a win-win situation for the disciples and the sect and to solve the world's problems, but also to train the sect's disciples.
It was a pity that some people couldn't see such a good opportunity.
From birth until now, all their resources had been supplied by their families and the sect. They had never tried to obtain them through their own efforts.
If it were in an age of prosperity, if it were the short lifespan of mortals, lasting only a hundred or a few hundred years...
Perhaps they could live peacefully during that time.
But cultivators were different, with their long lifespans.
Since ancient times, what age of prosperity had ever been eternal?
They would always experience the changes of time, the evolution of civilizations, and the turmoil of the world.
"Are you still staying here?"
"No, we're not staying anymore. This place is too scary..."
Many disciples felt a chill run down their spines. They already had a psychological shadow of this temple.
The scenes from before still left them shaken. How could they continue to spend the night here?
At this moment, Jun Wuxie, Mo Qingli, and Deacon Li arrived.
When the three elders saw them, they said to the inner disciples here, "Go spend the night at the mansion where we were staying before. We'll stay here."
"Elder, if you're going to stay here, we can stay too..."
"Get out!"
The elders glared, angered.
When they were choosing a place to stay earlier, they chose the best one.
As a result, evil spirits appeared here, and they didn't dare to stay, saying they wanted to change places.
Now that they knew the elders were going to stay here, they immediately said they wanted to stay.
Those disciples trembled, not daring to speak, and hurriedly retreated.
"Elder, what happened here just now?"
Jun Wuxie came to the elders' side, surveying the empty temple.
All the disciples who had been staying here had already left. Now, only the two of them and the management were here.
"Evil spirits and ghosts. It's not yet clear exactly what's going on. We'll only know after taking a look."
As one of the elders spoke, he walked towards the Buddha hall.
Jun Wuxie and Mo Qingli followed him towards the Buddha hall.
Arriving inside the Buddha hall, the elder stretched out his hand and grabbed.
The tattered cloth doll on the Buddha statue's shoulder fell into his hand.
He examined it for a while, then gave the doll to the other elders beside him. "So that's how it is. It's residual evil power. There are still remnants of a formation inside. That power is similar to the power of curses, but it doesn't seem to be entirely so. It's very strange.
This reminds me of the creatures in the underground alien space world.
They seem to be quite good at this.
Could it be something they left behind?
However, when the experts who were stationed in this town retreated, they shouldn't have left behind magical artifacts with residual evil power.
However, it can be determined that this object was left behind a long time ago. The aura of time on it is very strong."
At this time, Jun Wuxie took the cloth doll from the elder's hand and looked at it.
His expression remained calm, but his heart was very restless.
When he entered this temple, he had already sensed a strange yet familiar aura.
Now, holding the cloth doll in his hand, although the residual power inside had been erased by the elder and the inner formation had collapsed,
he could still feel that trace of aura on it.
In addition, the means by which this cloth doll had previously transformed into a ghostly, evil being, and the elders' mention of the creatures in the underground alien space world being skilled in such methods...
All the clues pointed to the Ghost Witch Clan.
The Ghost Witch Clan's specialty, Ghost Witch Arts, included curse techniques.
Apart from curse techniques, all their Ghost Witch Arts carried the shadow of curses to some extent, but they were not pure curse techniques.
This was exactly why the elders had felt surprised just now.
Seemingly a curse but not a curse. Basically, no creature used such methods.
They didn't usually see it, so they were surprised. And because of this, they thought of those creatures in the underground alien space world.
In that case, could the creatures in the underground alien space be members of the Ghost Witch Clan?
Or had the alien space connected to the Land of Forgotten been controlled by the Ghost Witch Clan long ago, and the creatures inside had been subdued by the Ghost Witch Clan, becoming their claws and teeth?
Jun Wuxie didn't look for long. He only pretended to be curious, taking a few glances before confirming that it was the aura of the Ghost Witch and returning the cloth doll to the elder.
Without saying a word, the elder conjured a flame in his palm and burned the cloth doll to ashes.
Afterward, they erased the Yin煞 energy remaining in the temple due to the ghost-yin doll from before.
"Rest. It's very late. Seize the time to recuperate.
Tomorrow, you will enter the Land of Forgotten. What you face may be similar to things like this ghost-yin doll."
The elders said to the disciples who had come here.
Upon hearing this, the disciples couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts.
What happened in this temple tonight was truly somewhat terrifying.
So many fellow disciples joining forces had almost suffered a calamity.
Even the elders had spent some time resolving it.
If they encountered such a thing, wouldn't it be certain death?
Thinking of this, the disciples' hearts sank.
This wasn't training at all. Once they encountered this thing, it would be like going to their deaths.
"You must not be afraid. Having fear in your hearts is not the mindset that top Dao lineage disciples should have.
This elder is only saying similar to this ghost-yin doll's methods. I didn't say that you would encounter something of this level.
This place is special. A mysterious field has formed a special space that temporarily blocked us.
That cloth doll was a ghost-yin magical artifact left behind by an ancient evil expert.
You should not encounter opponents of this level when you enter the Land of Forgotten tomorrow.
Even if you unfortunately encounter one, just run back. The true disciples will solve it for you."
Hearing what the elder said, the disciples secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
They all entered their respective rooms to rest.
Jun Wuxie and Mo Qingli stayed in the Buddha hall with the elders.
Fortunately, there were several prayer mats in the Buddha hall, which had already been cleaned by the previous inner disciples.
"Yuan Chu, Qingqian, you have both seen it. What appeared tonight is what you might encounter.
When you arrive in the Land of Forgotten, you must be careful.
The methods of those creatures are always quite strange. They can create great psychological pressure and cause people to feel fear.
Once there is fear in your heart, you may lose your composure and find it difficult to perform normally.
Therefore, the two of you must remain calm. No matter what you encounter, you must deal with it calmly."
"Elders, rest assured. We will not be afraid because of this.
When Qingqian and I were training, we encountered things that were even stranger and more terrifying than this. We are used to it, there is nothing to be afraid of."
The elders were stunned, looking at the two of them, their lips trembling a few times, but they couldn't say anything.
What kind of experiences had Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian had?
They had actually experienced things that were even stranger than this. One could imagine how dangerous it was at the time.
But they eventually turned danger into safety.
Indeed, it was necessary to have special experiences, to be a rogue cultivator who had endured enough hardship.
Only such rogue cultivators could possess such a steadfast Dao heart at such a young age.
"Rest."
The elders didn't say anything more.
Jun Wuxie nodded, looking meaningfully at Deacon Li nearby.
Deacon Li understood his gaze and nodded imperceptibly.
He knew that Yuan Chu was reminding him for the second time not to reveal that he had helped the elders break the field.
“Lord Divine King, have you already recognized the origin of that rag doll?”
After Jun Wuxie and Mo Qingli closed their eyes to adjust their breathing, seemingly entering a meditative state, Mo Qingli was actually communicating with him secretly through their divine senses.
“It's a method of the Ghost Witch Clan, something they left behind.
Therefore, the creatures that appeared in large numbers here in ancient times were very likely members of the Ghost Witch Clan.
There should also be a large number of Ghost Witch Clan members in that underground alien space world.”
“It's actually the Ghost Witch Clan…”
Mo Qingli was very surprised.
She had heard Lord Divine King mention the Ghost Witch Clan before.
This clan is very mysterious, skilled in using various evil and strange methods, making them hard to defend against.
No wonder this place is so gloomy.
“Interesting, I didn't expect the Ghost Witch Clan to have appeared in the Mixed Yuan Great World long ago, and even engaged in great battles with many strong individuals here.
All along, I only knew about the Ghost Witch Clan and understood some information about them, but I had never seen them before.
This time is a good opportunity to see just how many strange techniques the Ghost Witch Clan people possess.
The things they did to Lan'er back then, I'll start by collecting some interest from the Ghost Witch Clan creatures here!”
Jun Wuxie thought, this time he would definitely capture a few Ghost Witch Clan creatures and use soul-searching techniques to extract information from their memories.
Regarding the Ghost Witch Clan, whose name he had only heard, Jun Wuxie's understanding still remained at the analysis of the clues they had left behind and certain things they had done.
It was time to learn more about them.
Only by understanding more could he analyze what the Ghost Witch Clan's purpose was.
…
The second half of the night was very quiet, and no more strange things happened.
It wasn't until dawn, when a ray of light appeared in the east.
The disciples of the various top-tier Dao lineages woke up from their meditation one after another.
Arriving at the open space outside, an elder from each Dao lineage, along with several protectors and deacons, offered up their immortal boats, carrying their respective disciples towards the entrance to the Land of Forgotten.
The remaining two elders, protectors, and deacons stayed in the town.
The immortal boats set sail, riding the wind and breaking through the clouds.
In just a moment, the immortal boats arrived at their destination.
Ahead was a huge mountain range, towering into the clouds. The mountain's body was steep and straight, dark black in color, without vegetation, barren, like black iron stone, looking very strange and oppressive.
A huge abyss in front of them separated them from the black mountain range.
Looking down, the abyss crack was bottomless. The abyss cliffs had many strange rocks, uneven, all of them were a dark black color without exception.
At a height of about several thousand meters below the abyss, there were many gray-black mists lingering, vast and boundless.
No one knew what the scene was inside the abyss under the cover of the mist.
Here, even pupil techniques could not see the situation inside clearly.
Not only the disciples, but even strong individuals like the elders of the top-tier Dao lineages were the same.
Not because of anything else, but because there were fields of energy permeating the abyss.
These fields of energy did not pose a threat to people, nor were they aggressive, but they could block divine sense perception and pupil technique spying.
On the edge of the abyss cliff, not far from the people of the various top-tier Dao lineages, there was a large bluestone, standing upright, like a sword inserted into the ground.
The mottled marks of time on the bluestone seemed to be telling the world the vicissitudes it had experienced.
There were several ancient characters on the bluestone, written with strokes as strong as iron hooks – Land of Forgotten!
It was eerily quiet here, with no sound at all, not even the sound of wind.
However, from the abyss below, from within the mist, there were faint, strange sounds.
The sound gave people a feeling of vastness and desolation.
The disciples couldn't help but shiver.
“Don't be afraid, this is the natural sound from the Forgotten Abyss, formed by the airflow under the abyss and the abyss cliffs.
Remember the rules of this competition, but when you get inside, don't disregard everything else for the sake of points.
Sometimes, one wrong step can lead to eternal doom.
Alright, you can start going down now.”
However, for a moment, no one moved.
“Only by overcoming fear and your own weaknesses can you have the qualifications to become a strong individual in the future.
As disciples of the top-tier Dao lineages, you are afraid to even go down an abyss!
What are you afraid of!
You go ahead, and later, senior brothers and sisters of the true lineage will follow behind to support you!”
“Let's go first.”
Jun Wuxie and Mo Qingli took a few steps forward, stopping at the edge of the cliff.
Instantly, countless eyes were focused on them.
“Yuan Chu, Qingqian.”
The elders hesitated, wanting to give instructions, but thinking of what they had just said, they could only swallow the words of advice back.
“We will wait for you to return in the town.”
Deacon Li said.
Jun Wuxie nodded and said nothing, grabbing Mo Qingli and leaping down.
Their bodies fell rapidly.
This was not free fall.
They deliberately controlled their speed, making the falling speed extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, they plunged into the mist and disappeared.
Immediately afterwards, the disciples of the various Dao lineages jumped into the abyss one after another.
Someone had already gone down, and they couldn't continue to stand still.
One after another, a large number of figures fell towards the abyss, densely packed.
“Let's go, let's go back to town.”
The elder of Jinyun deeply stared at the Forgotten Abyss, and then flew away like a stream of light.
The other people of Jinyun Immortal Sect followed and left.
The people of the other top-tier Dao lineages were the same, all returning to the town.
Staying in front of the abyss, there was no way to know the situation of the disciples.
But returning to the town was different, they could use the formation to understand part of the disciples' situation through the Dao imprints in their bodies.
