He traversed the four hundred kilometers in a blink of an eye.
The mountain range stretched out endlessly and the clouds swirled around the area. There was a group of Essence Souls that were scattered across the region.
Qin Yun instantly noticed that the Essence Souls were grouped into three factions. He could tell from their auras that one of the Essence Soul groups was suffusing fiendish auras. They were clearly fiendcelestials! And in another corner were Daoist cultivators. The final group were dragon experts. All three parties occupied a spot and remained wary of each other.
"This treasure aura surges straight to the clouds. Perhaps a superior-grade Numinous treasure is in there." Qin Yun felt a little excited. "If I'm lucky, I might be able to gather all the Numinous treasures needed to save Xiaoxiao."
The price of seeking Puqu Dragonlord's help was costly. Finding a superior-grade Numinous treasure was a huge burden on Qin Yun.
However, this was the only way for him to rescue his wife.
The other Golden Immortal or Buddha level figures probably would not even be bothered with him. After all, mighty figures at that level were immune to the rulings of the Heavenly Courts. Such mighty figures were esteemed guests of the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother. Qin Yun was already very happy that an Ancestral Dragon existence like Puqu Dragonlord was agreeable to helping him out.
"These Essence Souls are split into three sides. Daoists, fiendcelestials, and the dragons." Qin Yun observed. "There are nine fiendcelestials, two at the third Firmament, three at the second Firmament, and four at the first Firmament."
"There are also seven mortals…"
Qin Yun glanced a spot not far from him. The seven mortal Connate Golden Cores were looking on from a distance.
"I'll first land here to take a look." Qin Yun had quite a daredevil attitude.
"Sou!"
Locking onto the position of the treasure aura, Qin Yun suddenly plunged downwards in a bid to enter the mountains that were immersed in clouds.
At that moment—
"Oh?"
A gray-robed fiendcelestial with two curled horns and azure-scaled skin nearest to him glared coldly at Qin Yun, who was about to enter the mountains. "A mere mortal dares to lay sights on this treasure trove?"
He took a step and instantly traversed more than a thousand feet.
"Scram!" He bellowed furiously with his voice reverberating like rumbling thunder in the sky. With a wave of his hand, a gigantic palm phantom condensed in midair and swept towards the flying Qin Yun.
"Oh?" Qin Yun struck out gently when he saw that, conjuring Dharmic powers to protect himself.
Bam!
The gigantic palm swept across Qin Yun.
Qin Yun immediately flew backward towards the mountains in the periphery.
"Hmph, if not for the karmic calamities, such mortal ants should have long been squashed to death." The gray-robed fiendcelestial shot Qin Yun a cold glance. Following that, he turned and flew back to his original position and continued tending to the region he was responsible for.
Swoosh.
Qin Yun landed on the crown of a towering tree as he looked into the distance with a frown.
"From the looks of it, they are putting this place on total lockdown! They are completely preventing outsiders from entering. If I wish to enter, I will need to partake in a huge battle." Qin Yun carefully observed the three parties. People from all three parties were rather scattered, clearly intending to watch over as wide a region as possible.
"Fellow Daoist, you sure are brave. You charged straight in the moment you arrived." From the seven Connate Godfiends who were waiting by the periphery, a thin elder flew over on a cloud. He said with a smile, "Furthermore, you chose to head into a region guarded by the fiendcelestials."
"I was only giving it a try. Besides, so what if they are fiendcelestials? No matter how ferocious they are, they would not kill mortals like us, unless they have gone insane," said Qin Yun with a smile.
"Yes, although we mortals are weak, we are protected by the Heavenly Dao." The elder nodded. "Greetings fellow Daoist, I'm Lu You."
"Greetings Daoist Lu You, I'm Qin Yun." He returned the greeting. But he immediately followed up with a question out of curiosity. "Daoist Lu, what is happening here? Why are experts from three parties watching over it?"
The elder nodded and said with a smile, "They found a huge treasure trove of course! Such treasures were probably left behind from the Ancient Augury World's wars hundreds of thousands of years ago. As it's too dangerous to go in blindly, the experts from the three sides are being very careful… They even captured a few Essence Souls from before and made the weaker Essence Souls probe the area first. They then followed behind them."
"Capturing Essence Souls to scout the area first?" Qin Yun was alarmed.
"Yes, the lucky ones immediately triggered their Transference Token and escaped. Although it means their end of the trial, they can at least remain alive and keep the treasures they carry," said the elder with a sigh. "As for the unlucky ones, they weren't even able to trigger their Transference Tokens. They were immediately restrained and robbed of their treasures, including the Transference Tokens. They were then forced to scout the area first."
Qin Yun sighed emotively to himself.
He had heard such stories before coming to the Ancient Augury World. Some would be robbed and killed before they could react in time. Just having a Transference Token was useless! As for those that were captured alive, they would be used to scout the most dangerous areas.
"However, they will only capture Essence Souls. They would not dare to force us mortals into going on such suicide missions," said the elder with a smile. "We are all at the Connate Golden Core. Killing any one of us results in karma ten times greater than mortals who do not cultivate! They are all afraid of the tribulations. Forcing us to our deaths will not bode well for them."
Qin Yun nodded.
That was the advantage of being mortal but mortals also had many weaknesses!
They had short lifespans and were lacking in strength! Even Qin Yun's greatest weakness was his Dharmic powers. As a figure who had cultivated a purplish-gold Golden Core and had an extremely high Dao realm, if he were to cultivate to the third Firmament Essence Soul, the purity of his Essence Soul Dharmic powers… would probably approach that of a Skyimmortal. Furthermore, a sword immortal's Intrinsic Flying Sword's prowess was perfectly capable of holding off a Skyimmortal or Skygod.
After all, sword immortals were known for their extremely powerful offensive measures. In addition, there was the might of the Intrinsic Flying Sword! Typically, they could fight someone a level higher than them.
However, despite Qin Yun's extremely high Dao realm, his strength was only considered great among peaked third Firmament Essence Souls. This was how much his Dharmic powers were holding him back!
This was compared with third Firmament Essence Souls. If he was compared with Skyimmortals, the gap that stemmed from the difference in Dharmic powers would only increase. Skyimmortals had nine Firmaments… The gap in Dharmic powers would only become harder to bridge.
"Boom!" A loud blast suddenly happened amid the mountains.
A figure shot upwards.
Qin Yun turned to take a look and, with a glance, he recognized the figure… It was none other than Lu Fan, one of the three Scenic Jade Palace's Essence Souls he had encountered not long ago. Lu Fan was also the strongest among the three. And now, his aura was clearly a lot stronger. He had already entered the second Firmament Essence Soul realm.
"Brother Lu Fan?" Qin Yun was alarmed.
"He sure is a man of emotion." The elder shook his head as he sighed. "His woman was one of the weak Essence Souls that were captured alive! They forced her to scout the area but that kid has quite some tricks up his sleeves. Not only did he evade their pursuit, he even charged into the dangerous depths in a bid to save his woman."
"His woman?" Qin Yun thought to himself. "Is it that junior sister he was with previously?"
Lu Fan was already on the brink of insanity.
The three of them had suffered an ambush. Junior Sister Yan'er had been captured alive and his junior brother had narrowly escaped by triggering his Transference Token. As he was the strongest, he did not trigger the Transference Token immediately when ambushed. He even managed to use his life preservation item to escape despite being pursued by peak third Firmament fiendcelestials. His realm was already enough for him to enter the second Firmament Essence Soul. He had only wanted to ensure a robust foundation while cultivating his Dharmic powers to the perfect 'First Firmament Mystic Ice' which is why he chose to remain at the first Firmament all this while. After he escaped, he ignored all of that and made a hasty breakthrough to the second Firmament Essence Soul realm.
Following that, he immediately infiltrated the area. As he chased up to them, he saw his junior sister and others being forced into the land of peril. He had also risked his life to follow them in.
"He sure is a slippery one! If you have the guts, keep coming. You might be able to escape once or twice but I do not believe you can do so ten times! You will be dead if you fail to escape even once," bellowed a fiendcelestial angrily as he charged out from the clouds' deep depths.
Sou!
Yet, Lu Fan continued to dodge. He drew out a trajectory as he entered the land of peril once again through another cave. His eyes were filled with frenzy. "Yan'er, I will definitely save you."
"Don't bother with him. Let's continue probing," shouted another fiendcelestial.
Soon, the two fiendcelestials plunged right back into the clouds.
Lu Fan entered the cave and rapidly tore through it.
"Brother Lu." His transmission treasure was being connected to someone.
"Oh?" Lu Fan flipped his hand and held the transmission treasure. As he proceeded forward, he diverted some attention to send a voice transmission. "Brother Qin Yun, what's the matter?"
"I'm also in the vicinity of the mountains. I just saw you being pursued," said Qin Yun through the voice transmission.
"You saw that? The three of us were sneak attacked. Junior Brother managed to barely escape using his Transference Token but Junior Sister Yan'er was captured alive." Lu Fan was extremely depressed.
"Is no one from the Scenic Jade Palace coming to save her?" asked Qin Yun. "What about Senior Sister Redjade?"
"I have asked for help several times! But Senior Sister Redjade is currently stuck in another land of peril. She will not be able to come anytime soon," replied Lu Fan. "Senior Sister Redjade once defeated a Skyfiend. She is probably one of the best third Firmament Essence Souls in the Ancient Augury World. If she were here, would these fiendcelestials even mean much? She alone would be able to wipe them all out."
Qin Yun was enlightened. "How strong are the two third Firmament fiendcelestials outside?"
"They are rather strong but they aren't at the Skyfiend level," replied Lu Fan.
Qin Yun heaved a sigh of relief.
That was good.
He was afraid that he would encounter a third Firmament fiendcelestial that had the ability to match a Skyfiend in strength.
But in fact, matching a Skyfiend was extremely difficult!
Firstly, the difference in realm was extremely huge! Skyfiends had to survive the Heavenly Tribulation, and the Effulgent Great World's Heavenly Tribulation was especially exacting. One had to have a Dao domain of fifty kilometers to endure the Heavenly Tribulation.
Secondly, the difference in Dharmic powers and Dharma treasures was huge.
The combined differences made it difficult to overcome.
For instance, Immortal Zhenru, who had ranked third on the treasure rankings for hundreds of thousands of years in the Ancient Augury World had once slain a Skyfiend at the third Firmament Essence Soul realm. But he was one of the most illustrious figures of the Great World they were in for hundreds of thousands of years. He had now become Temple Lord of the Nine Truths Temple. Trial candidates in the Ancient Augury World typically were no match for Skyimmortals or Skyfiends even if they were peak third Firmament Essence Souls. Those that could match Skyimmortals or Skyfiends were mostly disciples from top sects that only appeared very rarely.
"Brother Lu, I'll be infiltrating the area in a while. If I have the chance, I will try to save her," said Qin Yun with a voice transmission.
Lu Fan, who was proceeding carefully, was alarmed.
"Brother Qin, I appreciate your kind intentions. I, Lu Fan, am very grateful but it's not worth it to throw away your life for our sakes," replied Lu Fan immediately. Although he tried his best to save his junior sister, he believed that a mortal Connate Godfiend would only be sending himself to his death upon entry… even if his Dao domain had reached fifteen kilometers. "Besides, there are nine fiendcelestials outside. There's no way you can charge in. Do not commit such a folly or I would feel guilty about it."
"Sure, I understand." Qin Yun did not elaborate further.
While still in the peripheral regions, Qin Yun severed the transmission and put away his transmission token.