Top-tier Unruly Master

"At that time, I didn't have my Divine Sense. If I hadn't saved you, I wouldn't have been able to escape either," Ding Fan said indifferently.

Gusu Qingwen's expression turned melancholic for a moment, but she quickly returned to normal. At this moment, she felt an inexplicable increase in her fondness for Ding Fan.

If Ding Fan had said something pleasant or had spoken heroically about risking his life for hers, Gusu Qingwen would have found him to be overly insincere.

But Ding Fan had instead spoken the plain truth.

Given the situation at the time, if Ding Fan had really ignored Gusu Qingwen, without the help of his Divine Sense, he would certainly have died there too.

Gusu Qingwen greatly admired Ding Fan's honesty.

"So, have you recovered your Divine Sense now?" Gusu Qingwen asked Ding Fan beside her.

If Ding Fan hadn't recovered his Divine Sense, it would have been impossible for him to bring Gusu Qingwen all this way here.

Ding Fan nodded. Now, there was no need for him to hide anything from Gusu Qingwen.

Gusu Qingwen pondered for a moment and then said indifferently, "Since you've recovered your Divine Sense, you could have left me behind and entered the Dire Straits Palace on your own. It's a place that the Immortal Realm has wanted to enter for hundreds of years. Countless disciples from the Immortal clan have perished here without finding the Dire Straits Palace, and now you have the chance. You could have gone in alone to search for treasures."

After listening to Gusu Qingwen's words, Ding Fan smiled indifferently. "Rest assured, I won't just abandon you like that."

Having said that, Ding Fan quickened his pace and soon arrived at the main entrance of the Dire Straits Palace.

Gusu Qingwen lay on Ding Fan's back, now silent, as if lost in thought.

The Dire Straits Palace was incredibly majestic. Standing beneath its grand entrance with Gusu Qingwen on his back, Ding Fan could only glimpse a corner of it.

Since this was the Dire Straits Palace, a place where the Ancient Demon Lord had stayed, Ding Fan naturally didn't dare act rashly. Those from the Demon Sect often acted unpredictably, and who knew if there were traps set up inside the palace.

Ding Fan's Divine Sense reached out to probe.

Ding Fan had originally thought that the palace would be filled with numerous prohibitions, rendering his Divine Sense unable to spy inside.

To Ding Fan's surprise, he could clearly sense the interior of the palace.

"This is the foundation of the Demon Sect. The place must be fraught with traps. Be very careful," Gusu Qingwen said cautiously, as she lay on Ding Fan's body.

Ding Fan nodded.

He approached the main door of the Dire Straits Palace. The door was forged of Mysterious Iron. Upon probing with his Divine Sense, Ding Fan discovered that the door was a full meter thick.

Fashioning a door this thick out of Mysterious Iron, the Demon Sect really did have grand ideas.

"Lend me your Immortal Sword," Ding Fan asked, turning to Gusu Qingwen behind him.

Gusu Qingwen hesitated for a moment before handing over her Longsword to Ding Fan.

Ding Fan unceremoniously accepted the Immortal Sword and thrust it into the Mysterious Iron gate.

Although the Mysterious Iron gate was heavy, the Immortal Sword was indeed a magical treasure of the Immortal clan. In front of the sword, the Mysterious Iron was nothing. Wielding the Immortal Sword, it cut through the gate as easily as slicing tofu, and in a short time, Ding Fan made a large hole in the gate.

Gusu Qingwen watched, stupefied.

Her Immortal Sword had a significant history; Heaven-Destroying, Immortal-Slaying was an exceedingly rare Magical Treasure. After lending it to Ding Fan, he used it like a knife to cut things open.

Gusu Qingwen felt a pang in her heart watching this, but considering the unique circumstances, she refrained from commenting.

For Ding Fan to use the Immortal Sword like this, it would be odd if the other person wasn't heartbroken. But Ding Fan didn't mind at all. After all, hadn't his Selfless Flying Sword been broken by Gusu Qingwen?

After using the Immortal Sword to create a hole, Ding Fan then carried Gusu Qingwen into the palace.

Inside, it was eerily quiet. While Ding Fan didn't notice anything unusual for the time being, he remained extremely vigilant, his Divine Sense fully activated.

As Ding Fan carried Gusu Qingwen into the grand hall, it proved to be remarkably magnificent, so much so that the palace he, Qu Waner, and Qin Min had visited later paled in comparison to this one.

Above, within the great hall, lay scattered Pure Gold Lampstands, their carved shapes all related to serpents.

Ding Fan paid little attention to these Pure Gold Lampstands.

With Ding Fan's current level of cultivation, gold and silver were already useless. The truly valuable things were Spirit Grass and Immortal Pills.

"Hmm? Something's not right here..."

As Ding Fan was surveying the surroundings, Gusu Qingwen urgently beckoned to him.

Ding Fan's spirit lifted, and he quickly swept the area with his Divine Sense. Several dark shadows were swiftly approaching along the corner of the walls.

Soul Bodies!

Ding Fan's eyes lit up.

Having encountered these Soul Bodies in ruins before, it wasn't his first time seeing them, so Ding Fan was far from surprised.

Just then, the Soul Bodies suddenly let out a piercing scream and charged toward Ding Fan.

Ding Fan frowned slightly. "Ignorant of death!"

He immediately released a Fireball, the Fireball Technique cutting through them, obliterating the Soul Bodies cleanly.

Gusu Qingwen pondered for a moment before asking, "Are all the creatures that appeared around us Soul Bodies?"

Ding Fan was taken aback; after all, with Gusu Qingwen's high cultivation, he had noticed the Soul Bodies, so there was no reason she wouldn't have as well.

However, Ding Fan soon understood that Gusu Qingwen now had no telekinesis, and her soul body had turned intangible. Indeed, it would be quite difficult to capture without telekinesis.

"It's a soul body," Ding Fan said to Gusu Qingwen.

After Ding Fan's reply, Gusu Qingwen stopped talking.

At this moment, Ding Fan actually began to admire Gusu Qingwen.

Even without any telekinesis, she was still able to sense danger through changes in her surroundings. Just like a moment ago, she had sensed the soul body before him, despite his own divine sense having failed to detect it.

Having dealt with those soul bodies, Ding Fan continued on his way, carrying Gusu Qingwen.

Inside the great hall, apart from scattered pure gold lampstands, there was nothing else, so Ding Fan went straight towards the rear hall.

There was a long corridor leading from the front hall to the back hall.

And on both sides of the corridor, there were rooms.

These small rooms had prohibitions in place; even Ding Fan's divine sense couldn't probe inside them.

But Ding Fan was no longer concerned. The presence of prohibitions meant treasures inside these small rooms, but if there had been no prohibitions, then Ding Fan would have really started to worry.

Now that he was here, there was no problem entering these rooms. The only trouble was he had to search them one by one.

Ding Fan, carrying Gusu Qingwen, arrived at the first room's door, and with several swift strikes of her immortal sword, he cut open the door.

As the door opened, a musty smell rushed out to greet them.

Ding Fan went into the room with Gusu Qingwen on his back. Inside, the floor was covered with flakes of what used to be paper...

"This is the Scripture Pavilion," Gusu Qingwen pointed at the characters on the wall and said to Ding Fan.

Ding Fan nodded.

It seemed that the Scripture Pavilion had not been visited for many years; its bookshelves and scriptures had all turned into paper flakes...

"It appears this place once contained all of the Ancient Demon Lord's knowledge. What a pity, the Martial Arts legacy of a Martial Saint is just gone like this!" Looking at the ground covered in paper flakes, Gusu Qingwen sincerely sighed.

Ding Fan felt a similar sigh within him.

This cultivation knowledge came from the lifelong learning of predecessors. If later generations could obtain it, they could avoid many detours. It was because of this that many people had fortuitous encounters. After receiving an ancestor's legacy, they would rapidly advance several grades in cultivation.

"Let's check the other rooms," Ding Fan suggested.

Since it was all gone, there was no use lingering in regret. Consequently, Ding Fan carried Gusu Qingwen and continued to check the other rooms.

Ding Fan cut through the second door with two swift slashes of the sword.

In the same position in the room, there was a character carved. 'Poison'...

"It seems this was the place where the Ancient Demon Lord stored his poisons..." Gusu Qingwen remarked.

Ding Fan looked inside the room, which was relatively well-preserved. Jars were neatly arranged on the floor, presumably all containing poisons.

In this room, there was also an altar, and atop it rested a jade slip.

Ding Fan picked up the jade slip and scanned it with his divine sense.

It turned out the jade slip contained information on refining and neutralizing poisons. Although Ding Fan wasn't particularly interested in poison refinement, the slip was indeed the work of the Ancient Demon Lord, so he stored it away without further ado.

"Master... there are so many treasures here..." At this moment, Duorou, seeing the treasures, could hardly restrain itself.

Ding Fan had a moment of realization.

No matter how simple-minded Duorou seemed ordinarily, it was the most poisonous spiritual pet, and its favorite things were these very poisons. Now in a den of toxins, how could Duorou resist?

However, once Duorou left Ding Fan's head, his disguise could no longer be maintained.

"You actually look better when you're not disguised," Gusu Qingwen said to Ding Fan, rather indifferently.

Ding Fan was taken aback. "Did you know from the start that I was disguised?"

As he asked, he felt his question was superfluous. She was a disciple of the Immortal Sect, after all; how could she not realize he was in disguise?

"I knew from the first time we met," Gusu Qingwen said calmly. "These poisons are relics from the Ancestor of Myriad Poison Sect. They will be greatly beneficial for your spiritual pet."

Ding Fan nodded. Since Gusu Qingwen had known his disguised state from the beginning, there was no point in keeping up the pretense. He turned to Duorou and said, "You can enjoy it."

"Thank you, Master!" Duorou cried joyfully, glancing at Gusu Qingwen, "Master, is she your new master that you've found?"

Upon hearing Duorou's words, Gusu Qingwen's face immediately flushed with embarrassment.

All this time being carried by Ding Fan, a girl her age would already feel somewhat vulnerable, and with Duorou's words, she felt her cheeks could almost bleed with heat...

Ding Fan was also speechless. "If you don't want to enjoy these poisons, I can simply burn this place to the ground..."

Seeing Ding Fan threaten to burn the poisons, Duorou panicked. "Master, Duorou was wrong, I won't speak out of turn anymore..."

After saying this, the simple and plump Duorou jumped down from Ding Fan's shoulder and went straight for the jars of poisons.

"Let's go..." Ding Fan coughed awkwardly, then said to Gusu Qingwen, "Okay..."