Chapter 1341: Thousands of Ghosts Running Rampant

He took out a talisman sword, a treasure used for communication.

He had stayed in the sword-scarred mountain for so long, yet the talisman sword had shown no reaction the entire time. It seemed they still had not found Old Devil Ye.

Most likely, the majority of the Spiritual Infant cultivators no longer had their attention focused on Old Devil Ye.

There were countless spiritual herbs in the herb garden. Ancient treasures filled the heavenly mountain. There were also those unexplored hidden realms. Every single one of them was just as tempting as Old Devil Ye.

The only reason everyone had still reached a consensus to deal with Old Devil Ye was because, first, those who had been schemed against and toyed with by him wanted revenge. Second, Old Devil Ye acted without restraint and was far too vicious. As long as he remained alive, nobody would be able to rest easy.

Then there was the devilish monster he had released. No one knew what kind of conspiracy they were plotting.

A thoughtful expression appeared on Qin Sang’s face. His objective had already been accomplished successfully. Next, it did not matter much where he went.

After leaving the sword-scarred mountain, Qin Sang planned to contact his senior sister and Bai first. If they did not need his help, he would head to the herb garden and try his luck there.

What he looked forward to the most was the Hanging Garden Palace.

Earlier, while observing the phenomenon from afar, Qin Sang had noticed flashes of treasure light beneath the divine tree within the Hanging Garden Palace. Since he had personally inherited Wandering Man’s teachings, his understanding of the Hanging Garden Palace far surpassed that of others. If fortune favored him, he might even find one or two celestial herbs.

If he could obtain a celestial plant on the level of the Ten Divine Woods, that would be even better.

As he traveled through the illusions, Qin Sang gradually began to sense something strange. He withdrew his thoughts, looked around, and after observing for a while, finally realized what differed from before.

The power of the ancient illusion array had not changed, but the illusions themselves had become increasingly chaotic.

"Something’s wrong!" Qin Sang’s expression turned grave as he accelerated.

Not long afterward, Qin Sang rushed out of the illusion array. Immediately afterward, he felt an immense force slam violently into his body.

Qin Sang had already been on guard. He summoned the ebony sword in advance. Realizing the situation was amiss, he hurriedly activated his sword art, surrounding himself with sword light that blocked the impact of the tremendous force.

He drifted far away like a willow catkin. Only after dispersing the impact did Qin Sang realize the force had actually been a gust of wind.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Wave after wave of violent wind swept toward him.

Qin Sang maneuvered through the storm on his flying sword and finally saw the state of this world. During the time he had entered the illusion array, heaven and earth had undergone another earth-shaking transformation.

Wild winds roared between heaven and earth, filling everything with dazzling colors. The reason was that the violent winds had fused with the five-colored auspicious clouds, transforming into five-colored celestial winds.

Ziwei Palace had become even more chaotic than before. The five-colored celestial wind swept in every direction, accompanied by constant thunderous rumbling. The distant scenery had become hazy and indistinct.

Qin Sang felt the talisman sword in his palm tremble. He loosened his hand, and the talisman sword spun in place before hovering in front of him. The sword tip pointed toward the outer palace!

Qin Sang’s expression changed slightly. It seemed like his senior sister and the others had already been trying to contact him.

Qin Sang glanced toward the sword-scarred mountain. Back then, the illusion array had not been capable of isolating perception between inside and outside. Now, however, the illusion array’s true power had fully manifested, and even the talisman sword’s connection had been severed!

"When did they send the message? Bai didn’t come looking for me. Either the situation is not urgent, or the circumstances are too dangerous for him to split his attention."

Qin Sang looked in the direction indicated by the sword tip, but all he could see was the sky-obscuring five-colored divine wind. He could not tell what was happening over there.

Unexpectedly, the upheaval seemed to have occurred in the outer palace.

When everyone had entered through the devilish hole, their attention had all been drawn to the phenomena within the inner palace. Naturally, they had assumed Old Devil Ye’s target was also one of the hidden realms inside the inner palace.

Very few people had paid attention to the outer palace. Qin Sang himself had only given it a cursory glance.

He remembered that the outer palace did not display phenomena as frequently as the inner palace. The most eye-catching location there had been the Immortal Tomb. Ghost qi had surged endlessly within the Immortal Tomb, but that was most likely influenced by the inner palace.

Other than that, there had not seemed to be anything noteworthy. The outer palace and inner palace of Ziwei Palace did not appear to be a unified whole.

The inner palace resembled a celestial realm, while the outer palace contained the Immortal Tomb and the blood-colored sacrificial altar. Originally, the two areas had even been separated by a celestial array, though it had been damaged in recent years.

The outer palace held little attraction for Spiritual Infant grandmasters. What exactly could Old Devil Ye be doing there?

Thoughts raced through Qin Sang’s mind as he glanced once more toward the Hanging Garden Palace.

The heavenly phenomena within the inner palace had only grown more intense. First, the dormant celestial barriers had been activated. Then, the five-colored celestial wind had appeared. No one knew what might happen next.

For some reason, Qin Sang felt a trace of unease. If the phenomena continued, remaining in the inner palace could become dangerous.

At a time like this, rashly entering the herb garden and attempting to break through the ancient celestial barriers of the Hanging Garden Palace was hardly a wise choice. Even if the talisman sword had remained silent, Qin Sang would still have planned to leave the inner palace first and observe the situation before making further decisions.

Having thought this through, Qin Sang no longer hesitated. He activated his spiritual sword to protect himself and retraced his path toward the outer palace.

The five-colored celestial wind grew denser and denser, making the void resemble a canvas smeared wildly with paint.

His vision became heavily restricted. Qin Sang could not clearly see the hidden realms in the distance. He did not know how many people had already rushed toward the outer palace, nor how many had ignored the talisman sword entirely and continued searching for treasures.

Soon, Qin Sang arrived near the hall of the sword path. The scenery here had long since ceased resembling what Qin Sang remembered. It had become utterly unrecognizable and incomparably shocking!

Towering giant peaks had risen from the earth. Several hundred sky-piercing mountains surrounded the hall of the sword path. Every single peak was steep and perilous, forming what looked like a gigantic sword array composed entirely of mountains, radiating magnificent momentum.

Between the peaks, white light flickered. Celestial barriers formed platforms of light that seemed to be trial platforms used by disciples for sword practice. The hall lay at the very center.

Most of the giant peaks were no longer intact. Some had been severed in half, others had been reduced to nothing more than fragments of foundation, and some were still collapsing even now, broken peaks and enormous boulders crashing heavily onto the ground.

Celestial barriers shone atop the mountains. Vast clusters of ancient halls flickered in and out of view amidst the five-colored divine wind, including the mountain where the hall of the sword path stood.

These ancient halls emitted a desolate and ancient aura. Yet the overwhelming majority of them had collapsed into ruin, revealing the decline of the ancient celestial palace.

Qin Sang stared blankly toward the direction of the sword path hall. That divine peak still stood alone above the others. The cliff face still faced eastward and appeared unchanged.

But Qin Sang felt additional concern. He no longer had confidence that he could pass through the densely packed ancient barriers and climb to the summit again. However, this was clearly not the right time to test it. Qin Sang lowered his head and withdrew his gaze.

After passing through the mountain range, he arrived near the herb garden once more.

The treasure light emitted by the peerless celestial herbs had become even more dazzling.

Qin Sang also saw occasional flashes of astras within the herb garden itself. As expected, there were still people unwilling to leave, risking their lives in search of herbs. He shook his head and ignored them, never slowing down for even a moment.

During this stretch of travel alone, he could already sense the power of the five-colored celestial wind steadily increasing. If this continued, or if new phenomena emerged, it might soon become impossible to leave at all.

Finally, Qin Sang reached the edge of the inner palace.

This place had become utterly chaotic. The land fragments torn from the inner palace had begun collapsing from the outermost layer onward. The boundary between the outer palace and inner palace was crisscrossed with ravines, filled everywhere with scenes of collapse and severe destruction.

What was even more shocking was that the ghostly mist was no longer confined to the area of the Immortal Tomb. It had erupted completely, covering nearly the entire outer palace.

Evil spirits howled and thousands of ghosts ran rampant!