Chapter 110: The Ominous Blackstone Mountain and Strange Discoveries

After several hours of travel, the flying ship finally arrived at its destination. Yu Liang and the others disembarked one after another, landing at the transportation platform near the outer edge of the region.

Yu Liang glanced around before preparing to leave.

"Senior Brother Yu!"

He turned around to see Ling Tao and the others approaching.

"Thank you again, Senior Brother Yu. We really appreciate it."

The others also nodded gratefully.

Yu Liang merely smiled and waved his hand. To him, the amount he had spent was hardly worth mentioning. With the wealth he currently possess, those few thousand Low Grade Spiritual Stones were no different from spending a couple of bronze coins in the mortal world.

"There’s no need to be so formal. It’s nothing."

He was about to leave when Lin Tao suddenly spoke again.

"Wait... Senior Brother Yu, what mission are you heading toward?"

"Blackstone Mountain."

The group immediately exchanged glances.

"Blackstone Mountain?"

Lin Tao took out his mission jade slip. "That’s our mission too."

Yu Liang raised an eyebrow.

It turned out that they had accepted the exact same mission.

Lin Tao quickly said, "Since we’re heading to the same place, why don’t we travel together? There might be quite a few Passion Sect disciples hiding there, so having more people should make things easier."

Yu Liang thought about it for a moment.

Originally, he had planned to complete the mission alone, but there was no real reason to refuse. If they were heading to the same place anyway, traveling together would save him the trouble of finding the location himself.

"Alright. Let’s go together."

The group immediately set off toward Blackstone Mountain.

Yu Liang walked at the front as he followed the directions recorded on the mission jade slip.

None of them noticed the faint smile that appeared at the corner of his lips.

After all, he had come here to complete the mission.

If he could finish it without wasting any unnecessary time then why not?

After some time of travel, they finally arrived at the outskirts of Blackstone Mountain.

The moment they stepped into the region, Yu Liang could sense that something was different.

The atmosphere grew increasingly unsettling the deeper they went. The surrounding mountains stretched far into the distance, with dense forests covering the slopes and large patches of rocky terrain scattered throughout. There were no signs of activity nearby, yet the area was strangely quiet.

Yu Liang glanced around.

The area was far too vast to search efficiently if they stayed together.

"Let’s split up," he said.

Lin Tao and the others looked at him.

"Split up?"

Yu Liang nodded. "There are five of us. If we search together, we’ll waste too much time covering the same area."

He pointed toward one side of the mountain range.

"You four can search that direction. I’ll take the other side."

Lin Tao frowned slightly. "Senior Brother Yu, this place isn’t as simple as it looks. We don’t know how many Passion Sect disciples are hiding here or what kind of cultivation they may have."

"I know."

Yu Liang’s expression remained calm.

"That’s why we should keep the emergency signal ready. If any of you encounter something you can’t handle, send the signal immediately. I’ll come over."

The others exchanged glances.

It was only then that they realized what Yu Liang was implying.

He wasn’t splitting up because he underestimated the danger.

He simply had enough confidence in his own strength to search an entire side of Blackstone Mountain alone.

Lin Tao couldn’t help but feel a little stunned.

Even though they had already witnessed Yu Liang’s strength and generosity, they still found his confidence surprising.

"Alright," Lin Tao finally agreed. "We’ll be careful."

Yu Liang nodded. "Good. Let’s meet back here after we’re done searching."

With that, the group split into two.

Lin Tao and the others headed toward one side of the mountain, while Yu Liang turned and walked toward the opposite direction.

Soon, the distance between them gradually increased, and their figures disappeared into the vast mountain range.

Lin Tao and the others continued deeper into the mountain.

At first, everything seemed normal.

But after traveling for some distance, they began noticing things that made them increasingly uneasy.

The first thing they found some large trees with their trunk split open from the middle. The strange part was that there were no signs of fire, impact or any battle nearby. The wood around the split had turned completely black, as if something had drained all its vitality.

Not far from it, they discovered many deep claw marks on a massive boulder.

The marks were several inches deep, yet there were no footprints or traces around the stone.

As they continued forward, they found the remains of a few Spirit Beasts scattered throughout the area beneath the trees. Their bodies were completely intact, with no visible wounds but all the blood inside of them seemed to have sucked dry.

"What happened here?" Chen Rui muttered.

Yet no one responded.

A little farther ahead, they discovered another strange sight.

Several trees were growing in an almost perfect circle, their branches, all pointing toward the same empty patch of the ground.

Yet same again, there was nothing there.

When Gao Feng stepped closer, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

"Did you feel that?"

The others immediately became alert.

Lin Tao carefully looked around before shaking his head.

"No. But something definitely feels wrong."

They stood there for a moment, discussing whether they should continue or not.

The strange discoveries had already made them cautious, but none of them wanted to return without properly investigating the area. After all, the mission specifically stated that Passion Sect disciples might be hiding somewhere in Blackstone Mountain.

Perhaps these strange signs might be connected to them.

"We should go a little deeper," Lin Tao finally said. "But stay closer, If we find anything unusual, we retreat immediately."

The others nodded and continued forward.

However, as they went deeper, the surroundings gradually became stranger.

The temperature suddenly dropped.

The wind that had been blowing through the forest also stopped, leaving the surroundings eerily quiet. Yet, strangely, the leaves on some of the trees continued to sway gently.

Even more strange thing happening with them was they occasionally felt as though they had passed the same large rocks and trees before.

But whenever they looked back, everything appeared normal.

None of them noticed the faint spiritual fluctuations spreading beneath the ground.

They also failed to notice that several seemingly ordinary stones around the mountain were positioned at precise intervals.

Meanwhile, hidden deep within the shadows of the mountain, a figure silently watched their every movement.

A sinister smile slowly spread across his face.

"They came."

His voice was barely more than a whisper.

His eyes followed Lin Tao and the others as they ventured deeper into the mountain.

"New prey has entered the pot."

.

.

.

Meanwhile, Yu Liang had traveled quite far on his side of the mountain when he suddenly noticed several pieces of torn cloth caught on the ground.

He stopped and walked over.

The cloth was unmistakably from the uniform of the Cloudwater Sect.

A few steps away, there were clear signs of a fight. Several trees had been damaged, the ground was covered with shallow cuts, and one of the nearby rocks had been shattered.

But there were no bodies, bloodstains or other traces left behind.

Yu Liang crouched down and picked up one of the torn pieces of cloth, his expression became slightly serious.

"Looks like the disciples who came before us had a fight here."

He looked around the surroundings once again.

For a moment, he wondered if this had something to do with the Passion Sect or any other Demonic Sects operating in the area.

Then he thought of Lin Tao and the others.

’I hope they’re safe.’

With that Yu Liang put the piece of cloth away and continued deeper into the mountain.

A pair of eyes watching his every movement.