In the dense forest.
"This magical treasure might be a high-grade ancient treasure left over from ancient times, or even primordial times. That human cultivator, who has some unknown relationship with Zhao Min, probably obtained it by chance.
I have never heard of such a treasure appearing on the Forsaken Continent. Could it have been brought by an outside cultivator?" the white-haired youth said.
"Senior Brother, I also can't recall any records of a similar magical treasure. It should be as you guessed. It must have been brought from another domain by this little cultivator's master.
Do you remember when Shanggong Changge said she would take Zhao Min as her disciple? She came from a declining sect with only a master and two disciples.
According to Zhao Min, her master had long since passed away, and she and her junior brother were ambushed by others while they were out. It was only then that she met Changge.
And now, the identity of that outside human cultivator that Dao Yu spoke of is obvious. It is highly likely that he is Zhao Min's junior brother.
This means that Zhao Min's master may have passed down a supreme treasure of the sect to her junior brother. Now, this human cultivator has finally found Zhao Min again.
This led to a renewed connection. It seems he wanted to hide Zhao Min in the spatial magical treasure and take her away?" the beautiful woman said, thinking quickly as she spoke.
People like them were as cunning as demons. From just a few simple clues, they had already figured out most of Li Yan and Zhao Min's conspiracy. The white-haired youth nodded in agreement upon hearing her words.
"This spatial magical treasure is not only exceptionally sturdy in its forging, but the restriction formation on it is also something I have never seen before.
Junior Sister, you also tried several methods just now and were completely unable to break it. It seems we can only forcefully refine it."
The white-haired youth and his companion were old monsters who had lived for an unknown length of time, and their methods were endless.
Just now, they had used several long-lost restriction-breaking arts on the Forsaken Continent, repeatedly trying to break the restriction on this speck of dust, but all had failed.
However, this effort was not in vain. Finally, when they used one of the restriction-breaking arts, a tyrannical force shattered their spell.
This made the white-haired youth and the beautiful woman overjoyed.
"Senior Brother, after this treasure is opened, could you lend it to me for some research? After all, I am relatively proficient in the art of artifact refining."
The beautiful woman said straightforwardly. She knew there was only one such treasure, and everyone wanted it. But in front of the white-haired youth, her cultivation was still slightly inferior.
Moreover, if the two of them really fell out over this treasure, it would be the day the White Demon Clan was annihilated.
Their mission in staying on the Forsaken Continent was to protect the White Demon Clan until another mid-stage Spirit Transformation expert appeared, at which point one of them would ascend and leave this place.
This was different from other continents. The Black Demon Clan's ambition was too great, and they had to abandon their plan of immediate ascension after reaching the Nascent Soul stage.
If the two of them really caused the decline of the White Demon Clan because of this treasure, it was estimated that when they ascended, the old guys of the White Demon Clan in the upper realm might directly kill them.
After weighing the pros and cons, the beautiful woman decided to adopt a compromise.
She could do without this magical treasure, but she had to borrow it for research. This could bring about a revolutionary change in her path of artifact refining and allow her Great Dao to advance once more.
"What are you saying, Junior Sister? I will definitely study this wondrous treasure with you!"
The white-haired youth agreed readily with a smile, which made the beautiful woman feel relieved.
Next, in the dense forest of the "Sacred Demon Palace," the white-haired youth began to set up a complicated formation, then placed the speck of dust within it.
Then, he sat cross-legged in front of the magical treasure, his hands fluttering like butterflies, casting one complex white rune after another.
As he chanted ancient and obscure incantations, these white runes tumbled and rolled, carrying an aura of ancient decay as they landed one by one on the "Earthen Patch."
They then wrapped it layer by layer. This continued for a full half-hour before the white-haired youth finally stopped his hand seals.
At this time, the "Earthen Patch" had long since disappeared. In the formation before the white-haired youth was a sphere the size of an egg, with white light constantly flowing around it.
With a low shout from the white-haired youth, a face covered in demonic markings appeared within the flowing light on the egg-sized white sphere.
And on the forehead of this demonic face was a blazing white eye with flowing gold. At this moment, in the center of the eye, a speck of yellowish-brown dust was being struck by streaks of white-gold light, ramming left and right, trying to "escape the socket."
Every time it tried to break through its confinement, a powerful suction force would emerge from the single eye, firmly holding it in place.
The hand seals of the white-haired youth had changed again. With each one he cast, the demonic face on the egg became clearer, and the white-gold light in the single eye grew more dazzling, making it impossible to look at directly...
The beautiful woman on the other side closed her eyes and sat quietly in meditation.
She knew that with her Senior Brother's ability, if even he couldn't break the restriction on this, then no one else on the Forsaken Continent could.
Even those top-tier brutes from the Black Demon Clan who called themselves "reincarnated demon gods" were only a bit more bloodthirsty and powerful in their path of attack.
Not long after she closed her eyes, one of her fair and beautiful ears twitched slightly. She then stretched out a wrist as fair as snow and beckoned lightly. A Voice Transmission Talisman appeared in her palm, which was as fair as a scallion.
She then sank her Divine Sense into it. In just a moment, she gently placed the Voice Transmission Talisman on the ground beside her. Her smooth, white face showed neither joy nor sorrow, only her phoenix eyes narrowed slightly.
"'Falling Star Valley's' Zhang Ming, a human sect, suddenly formed his Golden Core in 'Falling Star Valley' over sixty years ago, becoming a guest elder of that sect. Later, in 'Sacred Demon City,' he fought with the 'Ghost Flood Dragon Clan'..."
She quickly went through this information in her mind. With the methods of the white-haired youth and herself, investigating a cultivator, especially one living in "Sacred Demon City," would not take much effort at all.
From the time she gave the order to the time Li Yan's background was investigated, it didn't even take an hour.
In such a short time, Li Yan's past of so many years had been almost completely uncovered.
The beautiful woman quickly reviewed this information in her mind.
"Except for the period before he formed his Golden Core, where there isn't much information, Zhang Ming has been exceptionally low-key these years.
So low-key that his purpose for coming to 'Sacred Demon City' is now suspicious. He also repeatedly visited the palace to meet with a disciple surnamed Chu.
If he happens to be Zhao Min's junior brother, then all of this can be explained. He should have been trying to find out about Zhao Min.
And then there's that 'Ghost Flood Dragon Clan.' If I remember correctly, over forty years ago, Dongli Qing's death was related to this sect. Afterward, this sect was eradicated by Old Monster Dongli.
Everything Zhang Ming has shown also seems to indicate he understands the art of poison.
At that time, Dongli Qing was hoping for Zhao Min to become his Dao Companion. Connecting all of this, it seems Zhang Ming's shadow appears everywhere..."
After obtaining information on Li Yan, the beautiful woman quickly remembered the "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan." After all, it was a major event related to the fall of a "Sacred Demon Palace" Nascent Soul cultivator.
But in her heart, she still couldn't be sure that Dongli Qing was killed by Zhang Ming. She was more willing to believe that the previous investigation results were true—that the Black Demon Clan's shadow was behind the "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan."
Only in that situation could a sneak attack on Dongli Qing succeed.
For a Golden Core cultivator to ambush a Nascent Soul cultivator, the chances were infinitesimally small. The probability of being counter-killed was as high as ninety-nine percent.
If Zhang Ming could do that, then Dao Yu might not have just lost an eye earlier.
Dao Yu had never seen Zhang Ming use any poison arts from beginning to end. This was the main point of the beautiful woman's doubt.
At the same time, the information she received stated that Zhang Ming had used poison pills in his poison duel with the "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan," and he had only used them that one time.
'Zhang Ming may not truly understand the art of poison; he might just be relying on external objects.
In his life-and-death struggle with Dao Yu, he displayed the methods of a body cultivator lineage, with no poison arts at all. This is also extremely consistent with Zhao Min's proficiency in body refining arts before she entered the 'Sacred Demon Palace'!'
For a cultivator to hold back their trump cards when facing life and death, it was very difficult to explain. If it were her, she would have done everything possible to increase her chances of survival.
Other information indicated that Zhang Ming had fought in the great war against the four clans of the Wind-Rending Clan in "Falling Star Valley," and all he had displayed were the methods of a body cultivator.
The cave where Dongli Qing died was over forty li long. The poisons laid along the way were unheard of. The quantity and variety of such precious poisons were enough to make one's scalp tingle just thinking about it.
Only with the support of a powerful major sect would it be possible to purchase and gather them. Even the "Sacred Demon Palace" would find it very difficult to produce those potent poisons.
From these phenomena, the beautiful woman for a time negated the idea that Zhang Ming had killed Dongli Qing.
But she always felt that Zhang Ming's appearance was very strange.
'Well, when he and Zhao Min are captured from the space, a soul-search will reveal everything!'
Inside the "Earthen Patch" space, Zhao Min stared at the sky with a solemn expression. At this moment, Li Yan was still sitting with his eyes closed in meditation.
There was no alternation of day and night here, but she had learned from Zi Kun that the flow of time here was the same as in the outside world. So, Zhao Min had been silently calculating the time in her heart.
By now, she roughly knew that about four days had passed for her here.
Originally, she was quietly waiting for Li Yan's injuries to recover before making their next move.
But just a short while ago, the entire space had trembled slightly. To the shock of Zhao Min and the two demons, the whole space returned to normal.
That was when the white-haired youth used a restriction-breaking art and felt the force rebound.
This strange change made even the calm Zhao Min feel a sense of panic. She roughly guessed that this space might have been found by someone.
What did this mean? She immediately thought of the old monsters of the White Demon Clan.
This meant there was a powerful expert outside trying to break the restriction to get in. She knew that this space had not felt anything at all, even when it was squeezed by the power of the two-realm barrier.
She didn't know who was breaking the restriction outside, but in her heart, she preferred it to be just Dao Yu himself. After all, if that person entered this space, she and Li Yan, working together, still had a ten percent chance of escaping.
This was Li Yan's space to begin with. He could use the environment here to deal with enemies, and he also had the help of Zi Kun, a third-rank demonic beast.
As her thoughts ran wild, several extremely thin white lines suddenly appeared in the sapphire-blue sky, like very fine white clouds, faint and indistinct, as if they would dissipate at any moment.
At first, Zhao Min didn't pay much attention, but Qian Ji immediately cried out.
"There's an anomaly in the sky!"
He had lived here the longest and was too familiar with the environment. Except for when Li Yan changed things with his will, everything here repeated day after day without change.
So, he was the first to notice the difference in the sky, and his Divine Sense immediately locked onto it.
Initially, it was just a very faint thin line of a white cloud. In the blink of an eye, more and more appeared, becoming clearer and clearer.
It was as if someone was drawing in the sky stroke by stroke with a white brush. And the earth-attribute spiritual energy in the "Earthen Patch" felt more and more lively, as if it had been stimulated.