"Forget it. I'm already fortunate enough to have had one of my cores rejuvenated; it's even better than before," he thought to himself, stimulating his Devil Core. A powerful wave of energy expanded from him as a result across the forest.
The death creatures on the ground suddenly struck their spears against the earth when the energy from Mo Lingtian's Devil Core reached them, releasing a loud, terrifying sound like that of a marching army across the entire death zone.
"The death energy only resonated with my Devil Core. That means only my Devil Core can communicate with the death energy. Why didn't I think of that?" Mo Lingtian said to himself as his eyes widened in sudden realization.
Then, with a deliberately slow and steady wave of his arm, he dispersed his energy into thousands of pale white sparks, manipulating them as they spanned throughout the entire forest.
The noise from the spears the death creatures had struck together in unison resounded far beyond the death zone. Most of the cultivators had left their caves and were now gathered outside the entrance to the fog.
"I thought I was just hearing things," a cultivator said as he watched the mist-covered expanse of the mountain.
"How could that commotion be mistaken?" another added, observing the dark borders of the zone. None of them dared to step inside.
"That sound definitely came from the treasures inside," a cultivator said, clutching his sword sheath.
The scores of cultivators who had also arrived upon hearing the bang murmured in agreement; a supreme treasure must have surfaced inside that place.
"So what? Do any of you dare to go in? We had better wait for the Dao experts to arrive if you don't want to be corroded to death," another cultivator snapped, his harsh tone annoying mostly everyone. But alas, he spoke nothing but the truth. The death zone was a famous burial ground; countless Dao Realm practitioners had lost their lives in there in a matter of minutes.
While they still talked among themselves, a slight shift in the wind current enveloped the area of the sky they occupied. They all turned, looking back to trace the source of the disturbance.
Behind them hovered five Dao Realm experts, with one of them being Tu Xin. They were all in the middle, late, or perfection stages of the Dao Realm. Only Tu Xin stood at the absolute precipice, having reached the Great Perfection stage.
All the cultivators gave way as the five of them flew closer to the death zone, examining the gray, misty fog as if trying to pierce its veil. They, too, had heard the sound from their caves.
"There's no difference even if they come. Only a cultivator who has stepped onto the immortal pathway can force open a way for us," a young cultivator scoffed, rubbing his forehead in frustration.
"You are right. All under the immortal pathway are ants," Tu Xin said with a smile as he looked at the cultivator who had just scoffed at them.
The cultivator immediately stopped rubbing his forehead, composing himself as he stood rigidly in the air. He was visibly shaking as fear and dread crept deep into his bones. For a moment, he had forgotten the cruel reality of the realm, a place where the strong preyed relentlessly on the weak.
The cultivators around him instinctively flew away, putting distance between themselves and the boy as they watched Tu Xin's intense gaze. The elder's smile was just as sinister as it was creepy.
This silent standoff went on for several excruciating seconds before Tu Xin suddenly laughed, shifting his gaze from the terrified young cultivator back to the mist-shrouded death zone. The boy immediately caught his breath as the crushing tension on his chest relaxed. In that moment, his untamed and wagging tongue had almost cost him his life.
Tu Xin, along with the other four cultivators, flew closer to the boundary, trying to peer through it with their spiritual senses, but it proved utterly futile.
"Senior, you are an elder from the Lunar Region. Don't you have a way to cut through this mist?" one of the four Dao practitioners asked Tu Xin. Everyone nodded in agreement; Tu Xin was the only figure present closest to the immortal pathway.
"I have," Tu Xin said, making everyone's face light up in sudden excitement.
"But this method can only allow me to go in, and it would cost me far too much. Also, I'm not completely sure if it would be worth it. For all we know, there could be no treasure in there," Tu Xin added, stroking his chin, much to the bitter disappointment of everyone present.
"Senior, wasn't that commotion enough reason to convince you that there are treasures in there?" another Dao Realm practitioner pressed, to which Tu Xin gave no reply.
"Could it be... that dragon beast? Or that boy?" Tu Xin thought to himself, shaking his head in quiet frustration. Long life and greed do not walk on the same path, so he ultimately decided he couldn't use his method.
Inside the forest, Mo Lingtian continued to disperse his energy into pale white sparks. With repeated, precise hand movements, he intricately formed an energy seal, directly imitating the seal drawn on one of the pages of his book.
He lifted his right hand to the sky. The seal he had woven with his energy levitated a few meters above his palm, ascending toward the mist-shrouded sky of the death zone and expanding in size the higher it went.
"Converge!" Mo Lingtian's voice echoed. Immediately, the massive seal covering a large portion of the sky began to forcibly recollect all the pale white sparks Mo Lingtian had condensed from his Devil Core back into its center.
When Mo Lingtian realized the death energy only reacted to his Devil Core, he deliberately released his energy all throughout the forest to intertwine with the dense Yin. Using the Devil Converging Seal as a collecting formation, he was now carefully reeling in his devil energy from across the forest, dragging the highly concentrated death energy oscillating around the sparks along with it.
"It's time to look for them," Mo Lingtian said as the Devil Converging Seal quickly decreased in size, descending to float steadily right above his palm. Looking up, he could see the commanding faction of the death army still hovering in the dark sky.
Among the foremost triad in the sky, the one positioned at the absolute center emitted a strange, domineering aura Mo Lingtian had never encountered before. Unfortunately, the death army didn't follow the traditional cultivation or energy ladder of the four realms. They had no clear distinction for their power levels, making it impossible to gauge their exact stage. Yet, that central figure effortlessly commanded absolute fear, respect, and dread from him, exuding the heavy presence of a cosmic powerhouse.
"You..." Mo Lingtian started, turning around with the Devil Converging Seal floating securely above his palm.
"I'm leaving. Goodbye," Mo Lingtian finished abruptly, gently levitating as he pressed the condensed seal into his chest.
"Since we gained consciousness, you're the only person who has successfully stayed alive within this death zone," said one of the leaders suspended in the sky.
Mo Lingtian immediately halted his flight upon hearing the voice. He had been fighting hard not to accept the grim possibility that his companions were already corroded by the sheer lethality of the death zone.
"Your friends are probably already dead," the commander stated bluntly, slowly descending from the sky. As his armored boots landed on the ground, a fraction of the thousands of death soldiers behind him saluted by striking the base of their spears against the earth.