Qiaoyue stopped talking as Jiang Man continued his trek upward. The mountain path grew steeper. Loose gravel tumbled beneath their feet, producing soft, crunching sounds.
Along the way, he encountered numerous Arrays and saw many bizarre plants. Some leaves glowed with a faint blue fluorescence, while the branches of others twisted at unnatural angles, as if wrung by some unseen force. Unable to determine their value, he asked Qiaoyue about some of them—mainly whether they were poisonous—and reached out to touch others. Touching them yielded a very simple answer: they were all worthless.
It wasn’t until they neared the mountain’s peak that Jiang Man finally touched a peculiar flower.
[A stream of power casually struck out by the maddened Ting Fengyin. A portion of it accidentally lodged within this flower. Crushing it will plunge the surroundings into chaos, causing a loss of direction and the collapse of the Heart Spirit.]
Jiang Man stared at the flower. Its overlapping petals were a color between deep red and purplish-black. The edges exuded a faint, unnatural luster, as if coated in a thin membrane of blood. Anything associated with the maddened Ting Fengyin was worth noting. He plucked the flower and stowed it away.
Since it targeted the Heart Spirit, it likely wouldn’t be of much use to him. However, anything involving Ting Fengyin was unpredictable. He decided to keep it for now.
"What kind of flower is that?" Qiaoyue asked curiously, her gaze falling on the hand he used to store it.
"A flower that makes people lose their sense of direction," Jiang Man replied truthfully.
Hearing this, Qiaoyue asked no more. She didn’t seem to believe him.
Jiang Man didn’t care. He simply continued his ascent. The mountain wind blew from behind, carrying thick mist. It wouldn’t be long before they set foot in the Forbidden Land.
Moreover, the curse on his body had deepened. Qiaoyue certainly wasn’t resting on her laurels. She couldn’t stand the sight of him breathing. She wanted nothing more than for him to die in this very place.
"Isn’t cursing me every single day taking it a bit too far?" Jiang Man asked, not breaking his stride.
Qiaoyue froze, pausing for a split second. She clearly hadn’t expected him to notice, let alone call her out on it so bluntly. For some reason, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the man before her was extremely troublesome. His actions constantly defied her expectations. His strength was one thing, but his Heart Spirit was equally formidable. And... he was slipping out of her control.
"What is the Immortal talking about?" Qiaoyue feigned ignorance, a look of bewilderment surfacing on her face.
Jiang Man felt rather helpless; this person was even better at acting than he was. Finally, he sighed, "Rein in your little tricks. They’re interfering with my Array Breaking. Do you still want to enter the Forbidden Land or not?"
Qiaoyue fell silent for a moment before replying, "I know a bit about curses. Would you like me to help the Immortal deal with them?"
Jiang Man entertained no such thoughts. Who knew if she had ulterior motives hidden up her sleeve? At present, this trivial curse couldn’t actually harm him, so there was no need to take unnecessary risks. A juvenile Unparalleled Celestial Pride wasn’t omnipotent, nor was she invincible. Besides, he had the Evil God’s Technique protecting him. Even if the current curse were to strengthen further, it still wouldn’t be able to do anything to him in the short term.
Soon, Jiang Man caught sight of the mountain peak. Then, Arrays appeared around them once again. As the Arrays materialized, Jiang Man sensed a new change. This time, the power fluctuations of Ting Fengyin were more active, though they no longer extended outwards. This meant this was the final residual energy on the surface. As long as he dealt with it, he could ascend to the summit, locate the Supreme Heart Hall, and enter it.
Jiang Man calculated the time. Fifteen days hadn’t passed yet, so even if the Wuyou Evil God had exerted some influence over this place, it wouldn’t be too strong. Given the power he had currently recovered, it shouldn’t pose much of a problem. Especially since this place restricted entry to Cultivators below the Returning Void realm. This was precisely his comfort zone. If he could kill the Bai Family Ancestor, who else with a Primordial Spirit couldn’t he kill? How many Primordial Spirit Level Wuyou Evil Gods would it take to slay the Primordial Spirit Bai Family Ancestor?
"Immortal, are we about to reach the summit?" Qiaoyue asked, her voice slightly scattered by the howling mountain wind.
Jiang Man gave a casual nod. "Yes."
"Are you confident in dealing with this final Array, Immortal?" she inquired further.
Jiang Man didn’t bother with idle chatter. Instead, he began manipulating the Array to wear down its power. Spiritual Power spilled from his fingertips, altering the Array’s operation before slowly colliding with and dissolving the residual energy within the stone pillars.
Two hours later.
The power dissipated. The Array slowly receded, its luminescent patterns sinking into the ground and silently vanishing like evaporating water stains. Immediately after, the thick mist began to fade, revealing the ruins of a palace. Broken stone pillars lay strewn across the ground, and faint, blurred patterns could still be seen in some places, suggesting engravings from a bygone era.
The mist had only receded from this specific area; it hadn’t entirely vanished. Jiang Man looked around and realized that the fog had condensed behind them, forming a barrier as thick as a solid wall. It completely sealed off any route of retreat, exposing only this patch of ruins.
"Looks like we’ve arrived," Jiang Man said slowly. He then turned to Qiaoyue. "What do you plan to do? Are you still going to follow me?"
"Since the Immortal is so on guard against me, why did you bring me here?" Qiaoyue asked, tilting her head to look at him.
Jiang Man met her gaze and replied calmly, "If I didn’t bring you along, you wouldn’t have given me the chance to enter."
Qiaoyue probed, "So the Immortal believes that I provided the opportunity. If that’s the case, aren’t you worried?"
"Worried about what?" Jiang Man asked casually.
"The fact that I gave you this opportunity means you are entirely within my control," Qiaoyue stated, her tone flat, as if merely reciting a fact.
Jiang Man shook his head slightly. "You’ll soon discover just how deeply you’ll regret giving me this opportunity."
With that, he walked forward. This area was still just a pile of ruins; the Supreme Heart Hall was likely still some distance away. However, he silently retrieved that peculiar flower. He needed time, and he needed a quiet environment.