Chapter 75: Early Detection

After leaving the campsite, Nie Tian and Pan Tao randomly picked a direction and walked for a period of time before stopping.

Staring off into the distance, Pan Tao said, “If we want the food from the Mystic Mist Palace to last until the Secret Dimension Gate opens, everyone will have to go hungry in the following days. It’s partly our fault, too. We were just focused on getting here as quickly as possible, and tossed away a lot of food along the way.”

Smiling, Nie Tian said, “Well, actually it’s because of me. Before you guys showed up, Zheng Bin believed that their food supply was more than enough, so he let me have as much as I wanted. He never thought you’d be in such a sorry situation, and arrive empty-handed.”

Nie Tian didn’t have much of an opinion of Zheng Bin, either good or bad.

After spending a while with the trial takers from the Mystic Mist sect, he came to realize that the atmosphere among them was extremely harmonious under his leadership.

Moreover, Zheng Bin wasn’t a stingy man. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have accommodated Nie Tian’s request for such a large amount of food.

“Yep, although I haven’t worked with Zheng Bin before, I heard that his reputation was pretty good.” Pan Tao laughed. “Although, he clearly doesn’t think much of the two of us, considering that he agreed for us to leave the group.”

“Hahaha, it’s not that big a deal. As long as we can find things to eat and keep everyone from starving, it’ll count as us repaying his kindness.” With these words, Nie Tian gradually closed his eyes, and unleashed his powerful psychic awareness to detect the signs of life in the vicinity.

Pan Tao saw what Nie Tian was doing, and stopped talking.

A while later, Nie Tian opened his eyes and shook his head. “There aren’t any living beings nearby. Let’s switch to another location.”

“Okay.”

The two of them roamed in the vicinity of the Secret Dimension Gate. From time to time, Nie Tian would use his psychic power to scan the area for fluctuations of life.

Unfortunately, there seemed to be no spirit beasts in the vicinity.

They switched from place to place, searching for signs of life, but they still couldn’t find anything.

Once again, Nie Tian probed about with his psychic power, eyes closed. It was at this point that he suddenly detected unusual fluctuations of Qi and blood coming from the deepest parts of the earth.

He suddenly became enlivened, assuming that there was a spirit beast similar to the Lurker Lizard, hiding somewhere in the depths of the earth. He immediately gathered his psychic awareness and sent it underground to search for it.

As soon as he did, he found that there were countless blood streams slowly flowing deep under the ground they were standing on.

The strange thing was that he felt somehow familiar with those blood streams…

“They’re from Yu Tong!”

All of a sudden, his expression changed as he concentrated even harder to sense the movements in the earth.

He could clearly detect that there weren’t any soul fluctuations in the blood streams, yet they were extending slowly and furtively towards the place where Zheng Bin and the others were.

They interweaved with each other, forming a dense and enormous web that seemed to be able to trap all living beings.

His eyes snapped open as he turned to Pan Tao, who was glancing around to keep guard, and said, “Something’s wrong! There are countless blood streams flowing in the deepest parts of the earth! I believe that those blood streams were released by Yu Tong! And their target is Zheng Bin and the others!”

“Countless blood streams from Yu Tong?” Surprised by Nie Tian’s words, Pan Tao started to ponder as his brow slowly furrowed.

Moments later, Pan Tao’s expression flickered as he exclaimed, “The Earth Web! It’s the Blood sect’s forbidden technique: Earth Web! People from the Blood sect and Ghost sect can’t be far from us! They’ve already locked onto us with the Blood Searching Compass! Damn! Nie Tian, we have to go back, now!”

Confused, Nie Tian asked, “What’s an Earth Web?”

“There’s no time for that,” Pan Tao replied. “We have to get back as soon as possible!”

Nie Tian was affected by Pan Tao’s nervousness and said, “Don’t tell them that I sensed the abnormality underground. Please help me keep it a secret.”

Pan Tao nodded. “I understand.”

Even before they entered the Green Illusion dimension, Pan Tao had guessed that it was because of some hidden agenda that An Shiyi arranged for a child from the Nie clan to participate in the trial with them.

After An Ying repeatedly implied for him and Zheng Rui to test out Nie Tian, he became even more certain about that.

However, deep down, he had already considered Nie Tian as an indispensable battle companion. In order to not lose Nie Tian, he knew perfectly well what to do.

Before long, the two returned to the area where everyone was gathered.

“Any findings? Did you find any spirit beasts?” Seeing that they returned so early, Han Xin from the Mystic Mist sect prompted the question in a ridiculing tone, “I’ve told you already. There simply aren’t any spirit beasts in the area. Yet, you had to go and put yourselves and everyone in danger. Are you happy now?”

“Shut up!” Pan Tao let out a cold shout.

Han Xin instantly exploded with anger. “Who are you talking to? We provided you with food and water. And now you’re yelling at me?!”

Many other trial takers from the Mystic Mist sect also sprung to their feet, glowering at Pan Tao, as if they were ready to fight the moment the situation worsened.

Zheng Bin’s expression turned grim. “Pan Tao, what are you doing? You should apologize to Han Xin!”

“If apologizing can solve the problem, then I’ll apologize!” With a dour expression, Pan Tao didn’t bother to look at Zheng Bin, but rather turned to An Ying and Jiang Lingzhu, and said, “We’re in big trouble. Not only are the Blood sect and Ghost sect nearby, they’ve also used the Blood sect’s forbidden technique, Earth Web!”

“What?!” Jiang Linghzu blurted in astonishment. “The Earth Web!?”

“How could that be possible?!” An Ying exclaimed. “Yu Tong just entered the Lesser Heaven stage. She doesn’t have enough strength to use the Earth Web yet.”

Zheng Bin’s expression changed drastically, and he stopped speaking out for Han Xin. “The Blood sect’s forbidden technique, Earth Web?! Are you sure that it’s the Earth Web? How did you discover it?”

At that time, Nie Tian, who came back with Pan Tao, secretly grew worried.

As group leaders, Jiang Lingzhu, An Ying, and Zheng Bin were core disciples of the Cloudsoaring sect, Spiritual Treasure sect and Mystic Mist sect.

They had all learned about the Ghost sect and Blood sect’s forbidden techniques from their respective sect elders.

Obviously, they knew what the Earth Web meant for them.

Upon hearing that the Earth Web had been set up by the Blood Sect, their expressions all changed drastically. This was sufficient proof of how terrifying the Earth Web was.

“Pan Tao, are you sure that it’s the Earth Web?” An Ying asked with a straight face.

By this point, everyone, including Han Xin, who previously bickered with him, glanced over towards Pan Tao, faces pale with anxiety and terror.

Pan Tao glanced at Nie Tian. Seeing that Nie Tian’s face was calm as usual, without the slightest doubt, he nodded vigorously. “I’ll use my head to vouch for it!”

Once these words were uttered, An Ying’s doubts vanished. She immediately said, “We need to locate people from the Ghost sect and Blood sect before the Earth Web forms! We can’t just sit and wait for death!”

“That’s the only option!” Jiang Lingzhu agreed.

Soon, Zheng Bin also realized how dangerous the situation was, and nodded. “Everyone spread out and search for the traces of the Blood sect and Ghost sect. Once you have an idea of where they are, immediately shout out to inform the others. Since Yu Tong has only entered the Lesser Heaven stage recently, even with the help of a powerful spiritual tool, the coverage of her Earth Web won’t be very large!

“She’s definitely not far from us! As long as we can locate her and attack her, and stop her from fully forming the Earth Web, then we’ll be able to avoid being held down by it!”

An Ying said decisively, “Let’s spread out and find them!”

“Nie Tian!” Pan Tao said. “You go with me. I’ve got a special tool that can detect the movements of the Earth Web! We have the highest chance of finding them!” With that, he suddenly bolted away, not wishing to waste even one second.

He knew very well that he had to separate Nie Tian from the others, so that Nie Tian wouldn’t expose his magical sensing ability.

“Alright!” Nie Tian rushed out after him.

In a moment, the two of them were the first ones to run off into the distance.

“He’s got a special tool…” Zheng Bin’s expression flickered as an idea struck him. Then he called out, “Since he can locate them, there’s no need for us to split up! Let’s just follow them!”

“Let’s go!”

As of this moment, trial takers from the three sects had all discarded their former differences, and stopped bothering about Pan Tao’s unkind words. Like arrows, they shot towards the direction that Pan Tao and Nie Tian had left in.

It only took a while for Nie Tian to catch up with Pan Tao. Every once in awhile, he would release his psychic awareness to determine the source of the blood streams.

Pan Tao, on the other hand, kept calling out to the trial takers behind them, “Keep your distance from us! Your fleshy aura will disrupt my searching device!”

Upon hearing his words, the trial takers, who had been gaining on them, gradually slowed down their pace to keep a sizable distance from them.

After that, Nie Tian no longer worried about being discovered by the others. Using his psychic awareness to follow the blood streams, they gradually closed in on the source: Yu Tong.