I walked for days on end, and the feeling of being watched still persisted.
Chen Lin's mood became increasingly heavy. It seemed that once he was targeted, he would not be able to escape. The most important thing was that he didn't know when the target would make a move, so he had to remain on high alert the entire time, which was extremely difficult.
He made many guesses along the way, but still couldn't get to the point, so in the end he could only let things take their course.
The swamp was far away and it would take a long time to get there without flying. Since he couldn't avoid being watched, Chen Lin repaired his balloon and took off again.
The speed of the balloon is not fast, but it is better than walking on the snow, and it is less tiring.
We flew like this for another two days.
One day, Chen Lin was on guard and controlling the direction of the balloon when he suddenly noticed three black spots appearing in front of him.
He was startled and thought that the Tianluo people were coming to kill him. He immediately opened the deflation device of the balloon and flew into the snow.
Hold the black knife horizontally in front of you and prepare for battle.
But they soon discovered that the people who came were not Tianluo people, but cultivators.
There were two men and one woman, all emitting fluctuations of magical power and looking panic-stricken.
The three of them moved incredibly fast and arrived in the distance in a flash.
Chen Lin did not let his guard down.
For a cultivator to use his magic power outside, he must be in a life-and-death crisis, or he is being targeted by the Tianluo people, or there are other compelling reasons.
"Fellow Daoist, run quickly! The Tianluo people are catching up with us!"
The three of them passed over, and the female cultivator among them shouted to Chen Lin.
Chen Lin didn't move.
The Tianluo people always hunt down monks based on their own reasons and only target those who use magic powers.
He has been flying in balloons all the way and will not be affected. On the contrary, he will become a target of attack if he uses spells to escape with them.
The other party is suspected of diverting trouble to others.
But he immediately realized that he was wrong. As soon as the three figures left, a dozen black spots appeared in the distance, and then more and more, until there were more than a hundred people, all of them monks who were fleeing frantically!
In the blink of an eye, a flash of a knife would appear and take the life of a monk.
Most of the monks had no ability to resist and fell to the ground like dumplings.
Some monks holding pseudo-divine weapons can still resist for a while, but they can only resist for a while and cannot change the fate of being killed.
There was only one Tianluo man chasing them. He appeared and disappeared, and looked like a sturdy young man.
Chen Lin did not try to be brave, but hid his body in the snow.
Although he has the means to kill the Tianluo people, he doesn't dare to do it at will. The more he kills, the stronger the sense of being watched will be. Once he breaks through the critical point and attracts the unknown existence, he will also die.
Just as he was thinking about it, Chen Lin saw two bodies falling from the sky and landed right next to him.
One of them had lost his head and was deader than dead, but the other one was intact. Although he was motionless, his chest was slightly rising and falling, and he was obviously pretending to be dead.
Chen Lin moved his body backwards to avoid being affected.
This kind of pretending to be dead cannot escape the detection of the Tianluo people. As long as you have been targeted after using magic, all other methods will be useless unless you hide in an underground cave.
But what surprised him was that the Tianluo people actually ignored the other party, but chased the rest of the monks and slaughtered them, slowly going away.
After a while, Chen Lin stood up from the snow, glanced at the other person, and was about to leave.
"Fellow Daoist, help me!"
The monk pretending to be dead noticed Chen Lin's actions and immediately struggled to get up, begging to speak.
Chen Lin paused, pondered for a moment, and asked, "How did you resolve the Tianluo people's induction?"
This ability is very important here. If you can obtain it, you can use spells to a certain extent, which is very useful whether you are traveling or exploring the terrain.
He pretended to leave, just waiting for the other party to speak.
The monk pretending to be dead wiped the stains on his face, revealing a simple and honest face, and said with a defensive look: "If you can swear to take me with you, then I will tell you."
"Forget it. I don't have the habit of swearing."
Chen Lin raised his eyebrows, walked to the headless corpse, and pulled down the other's package.
This package contained intact balloons and tanks; his were damaged.
However, this person did not have a storage bag, so there were some scattered items in the package. He took out the balloon, opened it, and inflated it.
"Okay, I'll tell you, fellow Taoist!"
When the monk who was pretending to be dead saw that Chen Lin was really going to leave, he immediately became anxious. He no longer asked Chen Lin to swear, but directly took out a gray stone the size of a fist.
"It's the Heaven Covering Stone, but it's a stone essence that has a miraculous concealing effect, which can prevent the Tianluo people from sensing it."
Then he added: "But as long as you use mana or other means, the concealing effect will be ineffective, so even if you have this item, you still can't use mana at will."
"Heaven covers the stone?"
Chen Lin was stunned.
The so-called sky-covering stone is what the monks here call the building materials used in the gathering place. However, that kind of stone can only play an isolating effect if it completely seals the surrounding space, but this stone spirit only needs to be held.
The gap between the two is too big.
"Show it to me."
Chen Lin cautiously took the thing from the other party and was stunned.
As soon as the bluestone was in hand, the feeling of being watched in the dark was suddenly weakened.
He was overjoyed and immediately asked, "Where did you get this and how much is it?"
Since it is a stone essence, there cannot be only one. There are so many ancient caves here, and the amount of sky-covering stones used is astronomical. There must have been stone mines in the past.
However, he has not seen any information about this item in the past few years in Sanwang Cave, so it should be very rare and precious.
The monk pretending to be dead changed his expression and gritted his teeth and said, "To be honest, I got it in an ancient cave. There are two pieces in total. If you need it, I will give it to you. But can you take me to a safe place? This place is too close to the Tianluo village. I was injured when I fell just now, and I dare not use my magic power, so I can't leave by myself."
Seeing Chen Lin remained silent, he quickly stretched out his hand and swore, "If I, Du Dahai, tell even a lie, I will be punished by God!"
"Du Dahai?"
Chen Lin looked at the other person deeply, then nodded.
This name does not sound fake. Since the cultivators here can only come into contact with snow throughout their lives, they yearn for the mountains and seas described in the ancient cultivation texts, so the names of their cultivators are mainly based on mountains, rivers, lakes and seas.
"Okay, then I'll take you with me. Tell me about the situation of that ancient cultivator's cave."
Chen Lin agreed to the other party's request.
According to his feeling, two pieces of stone essence could not completely block the feeling of being watched, at least five pieces would be needed, so it would be useless even if he snatched the other party's piece.
Having been delayed for so long, Chen Lin stopped talking and put Du Dahai on the net bag. He stood by and pointed at the other party with a black knife to prevent him from suddenly attacking.
After flying for a while and making sure he was far away from the Tianluo village, he took out a soul contract and asked Du Dahai to sign it.
Du Dahai looked unhappy, but he did not dare to disobey and left his soul mark.
After the contract was completed, Chen Lin immediately urged the balloon to leave the spot to prevent the Tianluo people from finding him following the energy fluctuations.
After flying for nearly half an hour, no Tianluo people appeared. Chen Lin began to believe what Du Dahai said. The stone essence really had the effect of concealing the Tianluo people's perception.
He was immediately excited, and under the other party's guidance, he flew towards the direction of the ancient cultivator's cave.
"Which cave are you from? Why are you being hunted by the Tianluo people?"
After feeling a little more relaxed, Chen Lin began to ask about the other party's background.
Du Dahai smiled bitterly and said, "I'm from Xuanmu Cave. I was sent out to check on the Tianluo people. I guess I was treated as an abandoned person. There were more than 800 people in total, and in the end only the ones that Fellow Daoist Chen saw before were left. It's not certain whether any of them are still alive now."
After hearing what the other party said, Chen Lin became more certain of his idea. It turned out that it was not just Sanwang Cave. It was estimated that the top leaders of various gathering places had already reached a consensus and sacrificed pawns to save the king.
"Can you determine the direction of that cave?"
After flying for a while, Chen Lin looked at the vast snow and asked in a deep voice.
The Soul-Destroying Finger can restrain the Tianluo people, but it may not be able to restrain the monsters in the swamp. As long as the mysterious gaze can be cut off, it will be safer here, so the ancient cultivator's cave must be found.
Du Dahai looked around and said, "There are no obvious features there, and I may not be able to find the exact location, but the general direction is correct. Just walk towards the swamp. Maybe you will have an impression of it when you get close to it."
Chen Lin nodded and increased the speed of the balloon.
A few days later.
"Are you sure it's around here?"
Chen Lin looked at Du Dahai with a frown on his face, and a strange look appeared in his eyes.
"It's hard to say. It happened a long time ago. I was brought here by other monks at that time. But the distance between the two highlands over there is somewhat similar."
Du Dahai nodded, then shook his head, not daring to say anything too definitive.
Then he continued, "But even if I remember correctly, this is not where the cave is. We need to walk another hundred miles to get there. I can't remember the exact direction."
Chen Lin didn't say anything, but took out Xiao Tiancheng's map scroll.
After unfolding it, he pointed his hand at a certain position and said to Du Dahai: "Look, is it here?"
Du Dahai looked over in confusion, and after a while of identification, he was immediately surprised and said, "It really is here. This map seems to record that cave, and it also contains the part inside the cave."
He pointed to the three lines in the center of the map and said, "The shapes of these three lines are exactly the same as the structure inside the cave. It can't be such a coincidence."
Then, he pointed to another location and said, "This is where I got the stone essence. It was in a stone chamber. There were originally five of them, but the other three were broken."
Chen Lin looked at the excited Du Dahai and felt a little excited too, but he immediately suppressed his emotions and analyzed the situation calmly.
Bound by the soul contract, Du Dahai will not lie to him, and he can sense it as long as there is something abnormal on the other party.
And Xiao Tiancheng must also want to come here, so there should be no danger in the cave.
"Then let's go and take a look!"
After saying this, Chen Lin followed the instructions on the map and flew towards the ancient cultivator's cave.