Jax Jia and the others quickly noticed something odd about this independent space: everyone who entered appeared at a different location, and those outside had no idea what was happening inside. Even Bluebrow Daoist, the formation master, was clueless about the situation within.
Outside, the great figures, seeing that everyone who should enter had gone in, organized their sect disciples to surround the mountain hollow, ready to stop any rogue cultivators who might suddenly appear and try to escape.
“Bluebrow Daoist, are you sure you can only stay inside for three days?” One of the great figures walked up to Bluebrow Daoist and asked curiously.
“Yes, only three days. This space is very special—if anyone stays inside past three days, the space will automatically vanish, and those inside might disappear as well.” Bluebrow Daoist’s meaning was clear: anyone who didn’t come out after three days would vanish along with the space.
“Who could have left behind such a space? Even we can’t forcibly destroy it.” Another great figure walked over, frustrated.
“Some spaces have defensive formations around them. No matter how strong you are, you can’t break in by force. Even if you could, you might destroy everything inside—including the people.” Bluebrow Daoist frowned, hesitating.
“As far as I know, formations that last three days like this haven’t appeared in ages.” Another person walked up and said.
After entering the space, Evan Yang had no idea what these people were discussing outside. All he knew was that he was in a place completely devoid of people.
Mountains, rivers, scenery—all so real that, if Evan didn’t know he was inside a space, he would have thought he was just sightseeing somewhere.
“What kind of place is this?” Evan wandered for a while, completely lost, only to find himself right back where he started.
Jade Rabbit, unable to contain her curiosity, finally hopped out and asked Evan, "Big brother, where are we?"
Evan, who had always kept Jade Rabbit hidden in his cloth pouch, sighed and explained, "This is probably a pretty powerful independent space."
Hearing that it was a powerful space, Jade Rabbit hopped onto a rock, standing upright and twitching her nose in a very human-like way, as if she was sniffing for direction. Not knowing what Jade Rabbit was up to, Evan asked curiously, "Jade Rabbit, what are you doing?"
"I'm smelling things, trying to figure out which way to go." Jade Rabbit answered seriously, her childish little girl voice sounding unusually solemn.
"Smelling things?" Evan couldn't help but recall the last time in the Flame Forbidden Zone, and asked worriedly, "You’re not going to attract monsters again, are you?"
"Big brother, last time it was your fault. If you hadn’t absorbed that flame, those monsters wouldn’t have shown up." Jade Rabbit got angry as soon as Evan brought up the last incident. She’d finally found a bunch of herbs, only for Evan’s actions to attract swarms of monsters, forcing them to run for their lives.
Hearing Jade Rabbit’s angry tone, Evan chuckled, "Alright, I'll be careful next time."
Seeing Evan admit defeat, Jade Rabbit stopped pursuing the issue and kept twitching her pink little nose.
After a while, Evan couldn't sit still and muttered to himself, "Is it working or not?"
Just as he was thinking that, Jade Rabbit jumped off the rock and said to Evan, "Come on, I found something good!"
Without a word, Evan hurried after Jade Rabbit, following her lead. He had no idea what the good thing ahead was, but he stayed cautious, sticking close to Jade Rabbit, afraid that monsters might show up like last time.
Seeing Evan’s cautious behavior, Jade Rabbit teased, “Big brother, you’re such a coward.”
Being called a coward by a rabbit, Evan couldn’t take the insult and laughed, “Heh, I’m not a coward, I’m just careful.”
“Big brother, you’re good at making excuses.” Jade Rabbit laughed.
“It’s not an excuse. Look around—no matter how I walk, I always end up in the same place. If you’re right and this is a maze formation, we need to be extra careful. If we keep wandering in circles, we’re done for.” Evan knew maze formations were a type of array, and he’d heard stories of people being trapped for years, so he didn’t dare let his guard down.
Jade Rabbit agreed with Evan and didn’t argue further. She led him to a sea of flowers, and right in the center, a few shining stalks emitted a pink mist.
“What’s that?” As soon as Evan arrived, he spotted the eye-catching, unusual stalks in the flower sea.
“I don’t know. I just feel like whatever it’s releasing is really tempting.” Jade Rabbit stared at those stalks with wide eyes.
Not daring to be careless, Evan took out the Herbal Heart Codex and searched for records about these stalks.
Time passed bit by bit. Even Jade Rabbit was nearly overwhelmed by the temptation and wanted to rush out, but Evan firmly held her back. Only when Evan exclaimed, “Good thing you didn’t go!” did she stop.
"What’s wrong?" Seeing Evan’s sudden alarm, Jade Rabbit asked curiously.
"Those stalks are called Dragonbane Grass. The pink mist they release is recorded as being able to kill a dragon." Evan explained.
"A dragon? Are you serious?" Jade Rabbit, being a spiritual beast, naturally knew what dragons were—exalted beings she’d never actually seen. Evan hadn’t seen one either, only heard that dragons were extremely powerful, almost like immortals, mysterious and elusive.
Able to poison a dragon, which was equivalent to an immortal, Evan felt relieved they hadn’t gone near it.
"How could something like this exist here?" Evan stared at the Dragonbane Grass, muttering to himself in wonder.
"Maybe there’s a treasure nearby." Jade Rabbit guessed. She’d often found herbs that hinted at the presence of a magical artifact, since the stronger the artifact, the more spiritual power it contained, and the more spiritual creatures it attracted—just like spiritual beasts guarding rare herbs.
That made sense to Evan. Now he faced two choices: pretend he hadn’t seen it and leave, or go take a look without touching the Dragonbane Grass. But could he really get close to grass that could poison a dragon? Evan wondered to himself.
He’d come to this space to find treasures and rare herbs, and now they were right in front of him. Evan really didn’t want to let this opportunity slip away.
"Big brother, are you really going to try?" Jade Rabbit asked worriedly.
Evan didn’t know if it was just his curiosity or something to do with the Heaven-Cold Seed inside him, but he felt compelled to walk forward. No matter how Jade Rabbit called out to him, he seemed to abandon all distractions and walked straight toward the Dragonbane Grass.
Jade Rabbit, terrified Evan might get hurt, followed closely behind, calling his name but getting no response.
When Evan got within three or four steps of the Dragonbane Grass, he finally stopped, stretched out his right hand, and pointed at it. Jade Rabbit was curious what he was doing, when a faint pink gas drifted from the grass toward Evan’s index finger.
“Big brother, you’re crazy!” Jade Rabbit shouted, not knowing what else to do.
Evan only felt a new kind of qi rush into his body and slowly flow toward the Heaven-Cold Seed. His whole body felt incredibly comfortable, and as the gas from the Dragonbane Grass faded, the grass itself withered.
Seeing this strange change, Jade Rabbit didn’t know what to do. In desperation, she bit Evan hard on the calf, finally snapping him out of it.
“What happened?” Evan was startled to find himself standing right in front of the Dragonbane Grass, which was now withered.
After Jade Rabbit explained what had just happened, Evan exclaimed, “Could it be the Heaven-Cold Seed made me lose myself?”
It was the first time such a strange thing had happened, and Evan’s heart raced as he quickly checked his internal state.
“Three leaves now?” To his amazement, he found the seed had grown three leaves. Strictly speaking, it was no longer just a seed—it had become a tripod of three leaf-blades, with a Colorless Flame dancing nearby that didn’t touch it.
The three leaves were different from ordinary ones. Each was a foot long and etched with patterns. No matter how Evan examined them, he couldn’t find anything wrong, so he reluctantly exited his inner vision and looked at the stunned Jade Rabbit.
“By absorbing the essence of the Dragonbane Grass, the seed instantly evolved into three leaves. It really isn’t an ordinary item.” Evan muttered as he approached the Dragonbane Grass.
Thinking Evan might be entranced by the Dragonbane Grass again, Jade Rabbit shouted, “Big brother, what’s wrong?”
“Uh, I’m fine now. Thanks.” Evan smiled, then grabbed Jade Rabbit and stuffed her back into the cloth pouch, ignoring her protests as she pressed her tiny paws against him.
Seeing this, Evan didn’t react—he needed to collect the withered Dragonbane Grass and didn’t want Jade Rabbit to touch it. Even though it was withered, who knew how poisonous it still was? Carefully, he moved over, found a hard stone, dug up the roots, and put them in his bag.
After finishing, Evan wiped the sweat from his brow. He’d been afraid something unexpected might happen while handling the Dragonbane Grass.
Just then, the soil where the Dragonbane Grass had grown began to ooze a foul-smelling gas. Evan jumped back a few steps, startled. “What’s that?” He watched as a dark gray gas drifted up from underground.
The Dragonbane Grass was already a dangerous herb, and after digging it up, the sudden change underground made Evan wary. He waited until the gas stopped, then cautiously approached and found a small hole where the roots had been. Curious, he grabbed a hard stone and struck the hole to see what was inside.
Unexpectedly, with a bang, the hole collapsed and Evan fell right in. “Ow!” Pain shot through his leg, but fortunately, his cultivated body was tough and he didn’t get smashed to pieces. He stood up and moved his leg, looking up at the hole above. “Wow, that’s high.” He estimated it to be over ten zhang and felt lucky not to be seriously injured.
Once the pain subsided, Evan used the light from the hole above to check his surroundings. “An underground cave?” he wondered. Just then, he stepped on something with a crisp crack—“snap!”
“What’s this?” Evan looked down and saw something terrifying—a skeleton that must have been dead for ages, so brittle it would crumble at a touch.
Evan squatted down to examine the skeleton and muttered, “Did someone come here before?”
Seeing the ancient skeleton, Evan sighed and was about to leave when he noticed something in its right hand—a piece of hide, like cow leather.
Curious, Evan reached out and took the hide from the skeleton. “What could this be?”
When Evan picked up the hide, he was amazed to find it completely free of dust, even though the skeleton and the surrounding floor were covered in it. This made his heart pound as he stared at the strange cowhide in his hand.