The Boundless Barrier, using the Abyss Hell as its protective array—if one passes through the Abyss Hell, the barrier is breached. And this hell was just like the Abyss Hell Qin Liuxi had seen in the Underworld: mountains of blades, seas of fire, where souls suffered the most brutal punishments, with ghostly wails echoing throughout, yin energy and evil spirits spread like thick black fog, stirring the most hidden sins within people, filling them with pain and self-blame, leading them into despair.

And once despair arises, the soul immediately falls into this boundless hell, unable to extricate itself.

At the moment Qin Liuxi’s Primordial Spirit touched the barrier, she activated the power of the Buddha Bone, merging her Primordial Spirit’s aura with the barrier. When facing the Abyss Hell constructed with Mana and arranged with Sanskrit and Daoist Skill, she didn’t act recklessly at once.

Hei Sha transformed himself into a misty spiritual body, yet despite this, he was still drawn by this Hell Array into a state of violence. In an instant, the fiercest and most wicked souls of the hell surged forth, clamoring to drag him down and ravage him.

At the crucial moment, the soul bead moved, whisking him away.

Other than the Abyss Hell in the Underworld, all the others were fakes.

The words of King Pingdeng echoed in Qin Liuxi’s mind. She, together with Hei Sha, ignored the blazing flames before her and walked straight in.

Elsewhere, Si Luo seemed to sense something, slightly moving his brow.

A spiritual object had broken into the barrier—was it by accident or deliberate intention?

Just as he was about to move, his chest suddenly contracted fiercely, his Primordial Spirit trembled, and his Divine Soul felt a piercing pain.

"You really are relentless," he muttered, pressing on his spiritual platform, trying to suppress that rebellious force. Yet, this resistance only restrained him further.

Si Luo’s expression grew cold.

In this world, why protect and preserve something with such effort when it clearly isn’t as good as one thinks, and even at the cost of self-destruction?

...

Paying no heed to the blazing flames, Qin Liuxi walked through them with closed eyes. When she opened them again, she was already floating beside the oasis where she had once picked the Purple Gold Tao Fruit.

"What’s this? Where’s the lake, that land? What is this thing?" Hei Sha couldn’t believe his eyes, rubbing them hard, even glancing back.

Behind him, the desert surged, dunes rolling like waves, hiding countless dangers, yet this was just the surface. If one retreated backwards, it led to the Abyss Hell.

Hei Sha only took one look before returning his gaze ahead, utterly bewildered.

The previously calm desert surface had disappeared, replaced by a huge deep pit, within which mountain hills undulated. Viewed from above, it resembled a giant dragon about to soar, or a Tai Chi Bagua Mountain, with glaciers and rivers inside, flowing waterways, and mist rising like celestial vapors surrounding the great mountain, seemingly unreal.

Qin Liuxi’s Primordial Spirit floated high in the sky, entirely focused on the giant mountain hidden in the deep pit, her hands continually calculating positions and committing the mountain’s shape to memory.

The dragon yearned to fly but couldn’t move without veins, and beneath the dragon were rising White Jade Pillars carved with flying dragons.

Not just one White Jade Pillar, but five, standing in the northwest and central positions, each pillar hosting an array, and within each, another, divided into nine, making eighty-one small arrays in total.

Qin Liuxi’s eyes fixed on the giant mountain, continuously sketching the mountain’s terrain and layout in her mind, gradually forming an Array Map. Her Spiritual Power dissipated rapidly, causing her Primordial Spirit to feel a bit weak.

Feng Xiu, guarding her physical body, distinctly noted her pallid complexion, almost corpse-like, and couldn’t help but frown.

What was she doing inside?

She mustn’t damage her Primordial Spirit; once it becomes unstable, even if her physical body remains, she cannot return.

Qin Liuxi was unaware of Feng Xiu’s concerns. Etching the Array Map in her mind with Spiritual Power, something suddenly flashed across her mind. She descended, feeling the Spiritual Energy grow abundant the closer she got to the giant mountain. She pondered a moment, drawing the Spiritual Energy to nourish her Primordial Spirit.

After all, why not take advantage of the Spiritual Energy?

Landing before a White Jade Pillar around which a White Tiger coiled, she gazed at the pillar, the gold and red Vicious Energy of Qi Fortune roaring like a White Tiger, glaring at her.

She recognized this Qi Fortune; it was once near the Xie Family’s ancestral tomb. Now it had been moved here, utilized beneath the White Jade Pillar.

She looked at the nine small arrays here; each bearing eight Divine Beasts, bowing to the white tiger Divine Beast at the pillar. But what of this array—is there no Array Eye?

Qin Liuxi ran to another Vermilion Bird Jade Pillar; this was the Feng Family’s Qi Fortune. The small arrays here also lacked an Array Eye.

Was this a mistake?

This was evidently the setup for a Sacrificial Altar. But why were there no Array Eyes in the small arrays?

Damn it, how could Si Luo’s brain function like this?

Qin Liuxi felt frustrated, wishing Si Luo would possess her, enabling her to understand his thoughts.

Her eyes turned red; if she couldn’t probe, she’d destroy it, and see how he’d use this altar then!

Qin Liuxi climbed the Vermilion Bird Pillar, placing her hand on the Divine Beast. With a thought, just as she infused Spiritual Power, a Buddhist chant seemed to come from the sky, as a cool Spiritual Spring doused all her Vicious Energy.

She quickly retracted her Spiritual Power, her Primordial Spirit aching.

Outside the barrier, Feng Xiu held Qin Liuxi’s collapsing physical body with a somber face, witnessing sudden changes in the sky and clouds, the sky darkened as if about to fall, while the person in his arms was as cold as a snow sculpture, devoid of any warmth.

Fan Kong tapped the wooden fish steadily, lips moving: "It cannot be destroyed."

Feng Xiu also transmitted his voice inside: "Little Xi, do not act recklessly, come out quickly."

Qin Liuxi heard the urgency, her brow furrowed.

"Get out quickly, I can feel that guy coming." Hei Sha approached her.

"And you?"

"I am the Mountain Spirit of this Secret Realm; I belong here." Hei Sha pointed to the mountain in the deep pit: "I remember everything now. I was born here; later, it sank into the earth’s depths, leaving me rootless, dwelling in this Black Desert, existing like a Demon. No time to explain; you must go."

"Hei Sha, will you protect all living things and save the people?"

"Of course, it’s my honor!"

Qin Liuxi pointed at the altar and said: "There’s a sliver of my Soul Power in you. I don’t care how you do it, but one of the White Jade Pillars, even if you can’t destroy it, don’t let it stand as Si Luo intended."

If even one pillar changes, his altar won’t stand.

"Alright."

Feng Xiu and the others kept urging her to return.

Qin Liuxi looked deeply at Hei Sha, saying: "Take care."

Hei Sha nodded with a smile. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Qin Liuxi glanced once more at the mountain below, committing it deeply to memory before turning to leave.

"Thank you, for showing old Hei a more wonderful world." Hei Sha shouted behind her.

Qin Liuxi paused slightly yet didn’t turn back. Once out of the barrier, without waiting for her Primordial Spirit to settle, Feng Xiu performed a spatial fold, swiftly leaving that place.

At the same time they departed, Si Luo appeared within the barrier, standing above the giant pit, gazing at a part of the mountain, and laughing: "The Mountain Spirit has returned, indeed."