Chapter 1200: The Stone House

This stone wall appeared completely ordinary to the naked eye.

If the Sky-Eyed Butterfly had not alerted him, Qin Sang would have overlooked it entirely on his own. Even if cultivators from Nanyin Mountain Range had stumbled in, they would never have discovered the secret hidden here.

Qin Sang and the Sky-Eyed Butterfly observed it carefully for a long time before finally confirming that the barrier within the stone wall was extremely unusual. It contained traces of divine patterns, clearly originating from the witch race.

If this had been in the Canglang Sea, Qin Sang would not have found it strange. Before the emergence of Seven-Kill Hall and the rise of the Four Saints of the human race, which drove the witch race to the Witch God Continent, the witch race had once ruled Canglang Sea.

But in Small Cold Domain, whether from what Qin Sang had personally seen or from various accounts, there had never been any sign of the witch race. There were not even similar legends across the entire Beichen Realm.

Yet deep within Heavenly Scar, there actually existed a witch race barrier!

Could this place be connected to the Heavenly Corpse Sect? Could it be that the Heavenly Corpse Talisman was a secret technique of the witch race, and that the method to solve its mysteries had to begin with the witch race?

If that were the case, it would truly have been like entering a treasure mountain only to leave empty-handed!

Back in Canglang Sea, Qin Sang had once witnessed the witch race’s corpse refinement methods. They had been very similar to the human race's corpse refinement methods, yet entirely different from Heavenly Corpse Sect.

Unless the witch race’s corpse refinement inheritance in Canglang Sea had been lost and somehow ended up here.

No matter what, encountering a witch race barrier here meant he had to investigate.

Qin Sang did not act recklessly. Working together with the Sky-Eyed Butterfly, they activated the Sky Eyes divine ability and examined the barrier within the stone wall carefully, searching for a method to break it.

Gradually, Qin Sang began to gain some understanding.

"The barrier’s power isn’t actually that strong, but the one who set it up was extremely ingenious. It’s exceptionally complex and divided into multiple layers. The outer layer is not only for concealment but also contains a destructive intent. If someone forcefully breaks through, it will immediately self-destruct. The inner layers seem to include illusion, defense, and even traces of spatial shifting, likely allowing those inside to escape..." Qin Sang analyzed patiently, then looked at the stone wall with some doubt. "Why does it feel like this was meant to protect a cave dwelling? The barrier’s strength also doesn’t resemble the terrifying ancient barriers I’ve seen before. Did some immortal cultivator obtain a witch race inheritance and establish a cave dwelling here?"

Qin Sang’s understanding of the witch race was superficial, so he could not confirm his guess, but something felt off.

After some thought, he chose not to act rashly. He withdrew from the area and, as was his habit, made preparations outside before attempting to trigger the barrier on the stone wall.

It was equivalent to sending in a signal requesting a visit.

He waited patiently for a long time. After several attempts without any response, he decided not to wait any longer.

On the butterfly’s wings, the Sky Eyes opened wide. They were real eyes, not mere patterns. Their gaze was unfathomably deep, the pupils filled with chaos. The Sky-Eyed Butterfly’s stare seemed almost tangible, carrying faint strands of lightning. The Sky Eyes fixed on the stone wall.

Qin Sang planted the twelve devilish banners beside him and sat cross-legged before the wall. He activated the Golden Sinking Sword and began unraveling the barrier bit by bit, like drawing silk from a cocoon. Every movement was extremely subtle and cautious. This method was slow, but it avoided any backlash during the process.

The reason he could do this so smoothly was partly due to his high cultivation level, and partly because he had seen witch race divine patterns before and possessed some understanding of them.

Of course, the most important factor was the Sky-Eyed Butterfly.

Layer by layer, the barrier was dismantled, gradually revealing the true form of the stone wall. As expected, it connected to a hidden realm.

Even after the barrier had been completely broken, there was still no reaction from within.

Qin Sang waited for a moment. After confirming that there was nothing unusual inside, he left the fat chicken outside to stand guard. Then, raising the twelve devilish banners, he flashed inside. He felt a shift in space, and in the next instant, he appeared atop a mountain.

"How desolate!" This was the first impression the hidden realm gave Qin Sang.

There were no flowers, no grass, no trees, no pavilions or structures. The ground was a monotonous gray, stretching endlessly to the horizon.

At first glance, the place seemed empty. But upon closer inspection, the ground was actually covered in a layer of fine dust, as if it had been repeatedly ravaged by storms. Everything had been crushed into fragments. Even calling it ruins was insufficient to describe its desolation.

Qin Sang thought of the fluctuation that had erupted a hundred years ago. Has this place been devastated by that impact? Or was this the source itself?

He flew through the air toward the depths of the hidden realm.

The scenery along the way remained uniformly desolate. After traveling some distance and nearing the boundary of the hidden realm, Qin Sang finally saw something different. It was a stone house!

The house stood within a depression in the ground. The terrain around it rose slightly, but like everything else, it was in a state of ruin.

Qin Sang’s gaze sharpened as his spiritual consciousness swept outward. The surroundings of the stone house were completely silent. He detected no presence of others.

After a moment’s thought, Qin Sang descended and landed in front of the house. He easily broke the barrier on it and pushed the door open. When he saw the interior, he could not help but pause in slight surprise.

The stone house was small and fully visible at a glance. On the left side, there was a meditation cushion and a jade table.

On the right, most of the space was empty, except for a Mystic Ice Array that was still operating. However, the spirit stones within it had already turned pale, their spiritual power long exhausted. It could only barely sustain itself by absorbing ambient spiritual qi.

It was clear that the owner of the house had been gone for a long time.

Threads of cold qi seeped out from the Mystic Ice Array. At its center, the cold qi had condensed into an elongated ice platform, about knee height. The platform was empty.

The moment Qin Sang saw it, he immediately thought of something. Back then, he had given Tan Hao a crystal coffin to hold Tan Jie’s body. The dimensions were nearly identical. This place seemed perfectly designed to store that coffin.

"Is the owner of this stone house Tan Hao?" Qin Sang felt a surge of surprise.

The platform and array appeared to have been meant to work together with the crystal coffin, preserving Tan Jie’s body.

This greatly exceeded Qin Sang’s expectations. He had considered many possibilities, but none had led him to Tan Hao.

When has Tan Hao learned the witch race’s divine patterns, and to such a high level? A barrier of this caliber likely cannot even be arranged by the witch race in Canglang Sea. Qin Sang thought.

"Judging by the arrangement of the stone house, Tan Hao must have lived here for a long time before leaving for some unknown reason..." Qin Sang inferred from the clues.

But what puzzled him was whether the witch race barrier outside had already existed, meaning Tan Hao had broken in just like him, or whether Tan Hao had set it up himself.

What did he discover here, and why did he choose to stay? With these thoughts in mind, Qin Sang walked over to the meditation cushion.

Aside from the Mystic Ice Array, there was nothing else of significance in the house. It did not look like Tan Hao had been forced to flee in haste by an enemy, nor had he left behind any useful information.

After leaving here, where did Tan Hao go? He even set up a Mystic Ice Array to store the crystal coffin. Could it be that he never found Heavenly Corpse Sect’s inheritance, or that even Heavenly Corpse Sect had no way to unravel the Heavenly Corpse Talisman? If so, why didn’t he return to Small Cold Domain to see Tan Yi’en? Or did something happen afterward? Numerous questions arose in Qin Sang’s mind.

These discoveries cast a shadow over his thoughts. If even Heavenly Corpse Sect could not unravel the Heavenly Corpse Talisman, then the only hope of awakening the Mute Girl could be placed entirely on Bai.

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