"This place is..." Qin Sang muttered.

As they descended the stone steps, Ning Wuhui waved his hand.

Qin Sang suddenly felt a strange, chilling force surge toward him, so cold it seeped into his bones. He shivered involuntarily and quickly circulated his true essence to dispel the cold. With his current cultivation, it was rare for him to feel such a sensation.

Rounding the bend of a cliff wall, Qin Sang’s eyes flickered with surprise. They now stood on a broad earthen platform at the cliff’s edge, overlooking a deep, shadowed valley.

Above, celestial radiance from the celestial barrier filled the sky. The valley was completely sealed within its bounds.

It stretched long and narrow, so sharply cut it did not seem formed by nature. As a sword cultivator, Qin Sang suspected it might have been carved by a single sword strike.

That realization alone was chilling. Yitian Peak clearly held immense secrets, perhaps once a forbidden ground of ancient cultivators. Who would dare split a mountain here with a single strike?

The valley had no visible bottom. Dense black mist filled it entirely, and the bone-piercing chill Qin Sang had felt earlier came precisely from that mist.

"What kind of qi is this, so cold and eerie?" He realized that if he allowed it to enter his body unchecked, it could corrode his flesh.

"This place is called Nether Valley," said Ning Wuhui, his gaze fixed on the valley’s depths.

"Nether Valley? Could it be the legendary netherworld qi..." Qin Sang’s eyes lit with realization.

The netherworld qi was one of the strange qi said in ancient texts to be born from heaven and earth itself. It had nothing to do with the Netherworld Scripture he had cultivated during his Qi Refining Realm days.

"So Senior Qingzhu’s order was for you to come here?" Qin Sang asked.

"To retrieve something from this place, then wait for him elsewhere..." Ning Wuhui answered.

Ning Wuhui glanced at the stone walls on both sides, then sat cross-legged at the platform’s edge. He quickly laid down a protective array, and from the crown of his head, his External Spiritual Infant flew out, holding a crimson-gold spiritual sword in its arms.

"Be careful, Daoist. I sense something unusual deep in the valley. There may be ancient barriers hidden within..." Qin Sang couldn’t help but caution him.

No wonder Senior Qingzhu had instructed Ning Wuhui to cultivate an External Spiritual Infant.

Even standing here, Qin Sang could sense that this valley was anything but ordinary. It radiated peril, and even with his strength, he dared not recklessly enter.

Ning Wuhui’s Spiritual Infant nodded to him, then shot down into the valley with a sharp whistle.

The netherworld qi churned violently, faint ghostly shapes flickering within it. They were strange, eerie, and deeply unsettling.

Ning Wuhui sat motionless, fully channeling his External Spiritual Infant.

"There must be some treasure here that can help Senior Qingzhu suppress the devilish soul..." Qin Sang began to guess Qingzhu’s intent.

If Ning Wuhui could retrieve the treasure, Senior Qingzhu might be able to recover his strength, and the ancient teleportation array could finally be restored.

The netherworld qi surged and rolled endlessly. Even with the Sky Eyes, Qin Sang could not see through it. He had no idea what Ning Wuhui would encounter within, nor what he might bring back. Unable to help, he simply stood aside and waited patiently.

Suddenly, Ning Wuhui’s body trembled, a line of blood slipping from the corner of his mouth. The protective array around him flickered.

Qin Sang’s heart jumped. Confirming that Ning Wuhui’s physical body remained intact, he eased slightly, though anxiety still clutched his chest.

Ning Wuhui’s success or failure would affect not only Qingzhu but also Qin Sang’s own hope of returning to Small Cold Domain.

At that moment, the netherworld qi erupted violently. Gales howled through the narrow valley as waves of black mist surged outward, sweeping toward the platform where they stood.

Qin Sang immediately stepped in front of Ning Wuhui’s body, unleashing his true essence to shield him. Every bit of help mattered.

A deep rumble echoed through the valley, booming like rolling thunder. The entire valley trembled, though the celestial barrier above remained utterly unmoved.

"If this were outside the mountain, such commotion would have already drawn the attention of Spiritual Infant grandmasters. Fortunately, we’re within the barrier. Still, I wonder if this will disturb those below..."

Qin Sang thought grimly, realizing that the turmoil came from Ning Wuhui’s External Spiritual Infant trying to break through the barrier within the valley.

The chaos lasted for the time it took an incense stick to burn before it finally subsided. The valley returned to silence, but Ning Wuhui’s External Spiritual Infant still hadn’t reappeared. His body remained motionless.

Qin Sang frowned slightly.

Whoosh! Suddenly, a gust burst from the valley’s depths, and a streak of evasion light shot out from the netherworld qi, flying up to hover above the platform. It was Ning Wuhui’s External Spiritual Infant.

No one knew what it had experienced inside. Its aura was greatly diminished, much weaker than before.

The crimson-gold spiritual sword circled around it sluggishly, its glow dimmed, its movement hindered. Even the life-bound sword had suffered damage.

"Daoist, you..." Qin Sang began to speak, but stopped when he noticed the Spiritual Infant holding something tightly in its tiny hands.

It floated to the top of Ning Wuhui’s head, placed the object into his physical hands, then merged back into his body.

Ning Wuhui slowly opened his eyes. Beneath the exhaustion in his gaze flickered unmistakable excitement.

Qin Sang finally saw what he held. To his surprise, it wasn’t a treasure at all but an irregular piece of metal, a fragment of something once whole. One of its edges gleamed coldly, sharp as a sword’s edge.

Who knew how long it had lain here, untouched by decay. On its surface was an incomplete ancient character.

"This is..." Qin Sang peered closer and recognized it. "It’s part of the character ‘Kill’!"

"Nether Valley truly is perilous. Fortunately, I have the External Spiritual Infant. My strength is nearly spent, so I must recover for a while. Please wait a moment, Daoist." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Ning Wuhui quickly swallowed a few spirit pills. Just as he was about to put the fragment away and begin refining the medicine, he noticed Qin Sang still staring intently at the shard.

"Daoist, do you recognize this object?" Ning Wuhui asked in surprise.

Qin Sang shook his head, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "This ‘Kill’ character looks somewhat familiar. Would you allow me to touch it briefly? Its surface reveals nothing, but direct contact might help me sense something..."

Ning Wuhui readily agreed, though he didn’t hand the fragment over directly.

Holding the fragment delicately between his fingers, he let Qin Sang extend his hand. Qin Sang guided a thread of true essence and gently brushed the shard, then immediately withdrew his hand, frowning in thought before shaking his head helplessly.

"It’s not the divine sword I’ve seen recorded in ancient texts," Qin Sang said.

Ning Wuhui took no notice of anything unusual, stored the fragment away, and closed his eyes to meditate.

He had no idea that within Qin Sang’s heart, waves of shock were surging violently.

When the External Spiritual Infant had flown over with the fragment earlier, the gray qi that had long been hidden deep within his dantian had suddenly trembled!

Ever since awakening on Witch God Continent, Qin Sang had discovered that mysterious gray qi within his dantian, yet had never managed to uncover its origin.

Even as his cultivation advanced through multiple breakthroughs, the gray qi remained utterly still, and he had never been able to expel it from his body.

Helpless to deal with it, Qin Sang eventually ignored it after confirming it caused him no harm, assuming it might change only after he reached the Spiritual Infant Realm.

But this was the first time it had ever reacted, and it was in response to the fragment!

When he touched it just now, the gray qi had seemed to feel an overwhelming pull, as though it wanted to merge into the shard.

Qin Sang had immediately pulled his hand back, narrowly keeping his expression calm and betraying no sign of what had happened.