"Are there any other passages besides this one?"
Shi Xue shook her head.
"The Demon God Mountain is heavily guarded. Having one secret passage like this is already quite good. How could there be many?"
In fact, Xiao Fei's intelligence network had been investigating for a long time and had not found any way to infiltrate the Demon God Mountain.
"Let's go. We'll go to the exit location below. Ji Wudi, you'll be responsible for keeping watch outside."
As Xiao Fei spoke, he and Shi Xue dived into the Black Water Pool.
The water in the Black Water Pool was as black as ink and bone-chillingly cold. As Xiao Fei dove to the bottom, he felt waves of coldness drilling into his very bones.
At the bottom of the pool, there was a spring. Although it was sealed by a formation, black spring water was still gushing out.
"This spring is the exit, connected to an underground dark river. Following this dark river, you can reach the heart of the Demon God Mountain."
As Shi Xue introduced it to Xiao Fei, she couldn't help but recall her past experiences.
Xiao Fei had already crouched down, carefully examining the formation sealing the spring.
In fact, for him, as long as it wasn't a Dao formation set up by the Great Dao, no other formation was unsolvable.
He had so much time in his spatial dimension, and several clones.
Besides cultivation, he had also delved deeply into the arts of alchemy, artifact crafting, formations, and talismans in the Immortal Realm.
In these aspects, he never felt he was weaker than anyone else in the entire Immortal Realm.
Although the formations set up by the demon race were different from those of the human and demon races, their fundamental principles were the same.
After examining it with his spiritual sense for a while, Xiao Fei had already seen some clues.
The demon race was not as skilled in formations as the human race, and this formation was not particularly exquisite.
"Then try inputting demonic energy into this point."
Xiao Fei drew a thumb-sized circle on the formation.
This small circle was precisely the most vulnerable point of the formation, yet it was also located at a node.
Shi Xue followed his instructions and input demonic energy into it.
As her demonic energy was input, the formation slowly began to change.
Tiny cracks appeared starting from this point, spreading outwards, becoming more and more numerous and larger.
"Bang!"
With a crisp sound, the formation sealing the exit instantly shattered and dissipated.
"It was broken so easily?"
Shi Xue looked at the broken formation with some surprise. She felt that she had only just input a little demonic energy, and the formation had already completely broken.
In her memory, breaking a formation usually required a long time of brute force attack and a significant commotion.
"Nothing in this world is perfect. No matter how profound a formation is, it will have its weak points.
As long as you find the weak point, it can be broken quite easily."
Xiao Fei smiled slightly, appearing very confident.
"Let's go. Let's take a look inside and see if this path can lead us further in."
This black water spring was not very large, only enough for one person to pass through.
Shi Xue led the way, with Xiao Fei following behind. The two of them then squeezed into the black water spring.
Swimming against the black water for about a mile, the area ahead gradually widened, eventually merging into a black water river.
With a splash, two heads emerged from the black water river.
Xiao Fei followed Shi Xue onto the riverbank and looked around. This was a very wide cave, with a black water river flowing through the center.
The demonic energy in the cave was extremely dense. On both sides of the black water river grew a large number of demonic plants, many of which possessed high medicinal value.
Xiao Fei casually turned over a patch of weeds, revealing a black and red mushroom named Black Flower Mushroom.
Despite its ordinary name, it was actually quite hallucinogenic.
It could be refined into a medicinal incense that, upon inhalation, could plunge a person into an illusion.
Xiao Fei casually picked the Black Flower Mushroom, intending to transplant it into his spatial dimension to cultivate upon their return.
After all, his spatial dimension was very accommodating. Even demonic plants that could only absorb demonic energy would obediently absorb spiritual or immortal energy to grow in his spatial dimension.
As the two of them walked further along this underground cave, they felt the demonic energy becoming increasingly dense.
"Is there a demonic vein ahead?"
Xiao Fei asked casually.
"I'm not sure. There's a type of demonic plant growing in the cave ahead that is very difficult to deal with. We'll have to turn soon if we go any further."
"What kind of demonic plant is it? Is it so powerful that even a Golden Immortal fears it?"
The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was attentive. Xiao Fei quickly pressed for details.
"I don't know the exact species. This demonic plant won't kill a Golden Immortal, but it produces a toxin that causes unbearable itching, which even a Golden Immortal cannot withstand."
Shi Xue shuddered as she spoke, recalling her past experience of being poisoned.
It was an itch that penetrated deep into the soul, an itch that clawed at the heart and liver, an itch that burrowed into the marrow of the bones.
She remembered scratching all the flesh off her body, exposing the white bones, yet the itching persisted.
Then she used a blade to scrape at her bones, tearing and shattering all the flesh and bones of her body, yet the itching remained. She then dug out her internal organs, her heart, liver, spleen, and lungs, and tore them to shreds...
The sensation of itching was more unbearable than any torture.
Therefore, even if she had to fight and be killed, she would never again be exposed to this toxin.
When the two of them reached the front, Xiao Fei indeed saw a patch of thorns ahead, with many bright red flowers blooming on them.
"Are these thorns the poisonous things you mentioned?"
Xiao Fei curiously observed the thorns ahead, eager to get closer.
"Precisely! I advise you not to go near them, or you'll wish you were dead!"
Shi Xue saw Xiao Fei's intention and quickly warned him.
"Alright, we need to focus on the task at hand."
Xiao Fei reluctantly followed Shi Xue, turning into a side path.
After they had both left, a green fruit suddenly appeared on the ground where Xiao Fei had been standing.
A clone of Xiao Fei materialized, picked up the fruit from the ground, and tucked it into his chest.
Before leaving this time, to prevent his identity from being exposed, he did not intend to use his spatial dimension too frequently.
Therefore, he had moved several clones and some potentially useful items into the small world immortal artifact.
This clone of Xiao Fei took a deep breath, having prepared himself for certain death.
At worst, it would be death. He now had nine clones, nine lives.
As he slowly walked forward, getting closer to the patch of thorns, he began to feel an itching sensation on his body.
The initial feeling was like countless tiny needles gently pricking his skin, or like several spiders slowly crawling on his face.
Then, this itching sensation gradually penetrated deeper, reaching the deeper layers of his skin. Waves of numb itching felt like countless caterpillars burrowing beneath his skin.
Xiao Fei involuntarily began to scratch himself. The more he scratched, the itchier it became, and the itchier it became, the more he scratched.
His skin was scratched to shreds, revealing the raw, bloody flesh beneath, yet he did not relent, continuing to scratch.
Several fingernails had already dug into his bones, scraping back and forth across them, making a grating, piercing sound.