Shen Qing and Li Xian frowned tightly. After exchanging a glance, they quickly rushed in the direction from which the sound came.
When they arrived, they saw a group of female cultivators in sect disciple robes crouching on the ground or holding onto trees while vomiting.
These cultivators looked deathly pale, and the fear in their eyes had not yet faded. The ground was littered with all sorts of filthy things.
Most cultivators had already stopped eating ordinary food. They would never have done such a thing unless they had encountered something extremely disgusting.
After exchanging another glance, Shen Qing and Li Xian took out spiritual fruit candies from their storage pouches and distributed them to a young - looking female cultivator.
"Fellow Daoist, I'm Shen Qing from the Azure Cloud Sword Sect. May I ask what happened here?"
The female cultivator was still in a state of fear. Suddenly hearing a very pleasant voice, with the panic in her eyes still not gone, she looked up and saw a very beautiful face.
Then hearing that this female cultivator in front of her claimed to be Shen Qing from the Azure Cloud Sword Sect, she immediately remembered the much - talked - about matter of the marriage alliance between the Main Divine Hall and the two major sects some time ago.
"You... You're Shen Qing from the Azure Cloud Sword Sect, the newly - emerged genius?"
Shen Qing and Li Xian didn't hide their appearances, and they had changed back into the disciple robes of the Five - Element Daoist Sect and the Azure Cloud Sword Sect.
"Then this fellow Daoist must be Li Xian from the Five - Element Daoist Sect."
The two nodded, confirming their identities.
On Shen Qing and Li Xian's waists hung the disciple jade pendants of the Azure Cloud Sword Sect and the Five - Element Daoist Sect respectively. These jade pendants had the totems of each sect and could not be easily forged.
So this female cultivator quickly believed their identities.
"Are you... going to enter the Spiritual Spring Secret Realm?"
"I advise you... ugh... not to go in."
This female cultivator seemed to recall something painful. She closed her eyes and leaned against the tree trunk, retching.
Just as Shen Qing was about to ask something, an older - looking female cultivator staggered over. She bowed shakily to Shen Qing and Li Xian.
"Fellow Daoist Shen, Fellow Daoist Li, we are all disciples of the Clear Sound Valley... We were ordered by our sect master to come to the secret realm to look for the spiritual spring."
As this female cultivator was speaking, she covered her mouth again, and her throat made a retching sound.
Shen Qing didn't care about anything else. She quickly took out the spiritual fruit candies and put them into the female cultivator's hand.
"These are spiritual fruit candies I made myself. Seeing how uncomfortable you are, eat some to suppress the nausea."
This female cultivator inspected the candies with her spiritual power. Seeing that there was nothing wrong with them, she gratefully thanked Shen Qing and distributed the candies to the other girls.
"One has to be cautious when traveling... "
This female cultivator explained apologetically. Shen Qing nodded to show her understanding. If she were to accept something from a stranger, she would also carefully inspect it.
"Of course."
Shen Qing showed her understanding. Seeing that the female cultivators had eaten the candies and looked better, she slowly asked.
"May I ask... what exactly happened in this secret realm? Why are you all... "
After eating the candies, this group of female cultivators got more familiar with Shen Qing. Seeing that there were only female cultivators here, Li Xian consciously walked a bit further away and set up a boundary stone.
The leading female cultivator introduced herself to Shen Qing: "I'm the eldest disciple of the Clear Sound Valley. My name is He Xianyin, and these are all my junior sisters."
He Xianyin had a cold and aloof appearance, and her temperament was somewhat similar to that of Elder Yaoyue.
However, Elder Yaoyue was actually quite carefree in private, while He Xianyin exuded a sense of reserve and elegance in every gesture.
The female cultivators of the Clear Sound Valley were all very beautiful. Even though they had just made some unseemly actions, now that they had recovered, their manners had returned to normal.
But their faces were still very pale, and their lips were tightly pursed, as if they were very reluctant to recall what they had just seen.
"Fellow Daoist He, I'm Shen Qing. May I ask if you have already entered the secret realm just now?"
He Xianyin nodded, but fear and after - shock slowly emerged in her eyes.
"Fellow Daoist Shen, if you're also here to look for the spiritual spring, you're probably going to return empty - handed. The spiritual spring inside has dried up."
Hearing this, Shen Qing was greatly shocked.
The spiritual spring in the Spiritual Spring Secret Realm was nurtured by a branch of the dragon vein. The spiritual spring and the several hot springs beside it would continuously gush out from the underground dragon vein branch.
The Spiritual Spring Secret Realm had existed for millions of years. Any cultivator in the cultivation world who needed to remove demonic energy or use it as medicine would come to the Spiritual Spring Secret Realm to fetch a jar of spiritual spring water.
Once, a cultivator coveted the spiritual spring and took out a special magic treasure, trying to suck the spiritual spring dry.
But in the end, he drowned in the hot spring beside the spiritual spring.
Over these millions of years, there had been many cultivators who wanted to take the spiritual spring for themselves, but none of them had ever succeeded.
So Shen Qing was so surprised when she heard that the spiritual spring had dried up.
"Could it be that the spiritual vein below has stopped nurturing the spiritual spring, so the spiritual spring has dried up?"
Shen Qing guessed like this, but He Xianyin still shook her head pale - faced.
"I don't know how to explain it to you, Fellow Daoist Shen... But the Spiritual Spring Secret Realm is filled with corpses and severed limbs. The source of the spiritual spring has also been damaged by someone. If you believe me, Fellow Daoist Shen, don't go in anymore. The scene inside is really... tragic..."
Shen Qing frowned tightly and said in disbelief, "Filled with corpses and severed limbs... Why is this? I remember that there are only some low - level spiritual beasts in the Spiritual Spring Secret Realm. Could these be the corpses of these spiritual beasts?"
He Xianyin nodded: "I don't know who it is, but they didn't even spare these spiritual beasts."
Shen Qing then asked He Xianyin and the other female cultivators in detail about what had happened inside the secret realm, and then took out many more candies and gave them to them.
After He Xianyin and her junior sisters took a break, they set off to return to the Clear Sound Valley to report this matter.
After Shen Qing told Li Xian about this, both of them thought this matter was a bit strange, and they still decided to go in and investigate.
After making up their minds, Shen Qing and Li Xian found the entrance to the secret realm and flew in.
But even though they had mentally prepared themselves, Shen Qing and Li Xian were still shocked by the scene in front of them.
Before they even opened their eyes, Shen Qing and Li Xian smelled a strong smell of blood.
After opening their eyes, all they could see was a sky full of blood. The spiritual beasts were in pieces, and countless severed limbs were scattered on the ground or hanging on the trees.
Some of the spiritual beasts' corpses were still hanging high up, looking beyond recognition, as if they had been bitten by something.
The eyes dug out from the spiritual beasts were neatly arranged in a row on the stones.
The heads of the spiritual beast cubs had been maliciously sewn together, forming a strange monster.
Some spiritual beasts had been skinned alive and were lying on the ground, blood - smeared and with their eyes wide open in death.
"What on earth happened here!"
Shen Qing covered her mouth, trying hard to hold back the nausea welling up inside her, and tears couldn't help but fall.
Li Xian's face also turned pale, and his breathing almost stopped.
They had just entered the secret realm and hadn't even walked deeper into it.
If the scene at the entrance was already so terrifying, one could only imagine what it would be like deeper in the secret realm...