The Ye Dai and Bei Wen grunted in pain and spit out blood. Their expression fell and their faces turned white.

They had just fallen from the late stage of the core condensation realm to the mid stage of the core condensation realm. 

Shirong saw this and was silent, but soon blood started dripping out of his lips as well. He too had fallen from the peak stage of the core condensation realm to the late stage. A bitter taste was left in his mouth not just because of the blood due to the backlash but because of the great price that he had to pay right now.

But Shirong did not regret it, no he did not regret it even one bit. He knew what the cost of using a pseudo immortal tool could be and even if it was more than he had expected, he was fine with it. For it was that very thing that had saved his life today.

"DAMMIT!" Shirong cursed, unable to hold his frustration in.

Ye Dai and Bei Wen were not doing that good either, and they cursed in their mind as well. It was not easy for them to reach their current level, and they were definitely not happy about it happening.

Finally, the absorption of the spirit qi slowed down and a few minutes later stopped.

"Enough, let's go back. We've already lost far too much." Shirong himself said it this time.

He was now angry that he had to go back without fully completing the mission given to him by his ancestor, but he knew that his ancestor will still be happy with what he had achieved. Any clan or sect would be incredibly happy with acquiring a pseudo immortal weapon.

"Yes, Young master. We should return." Bei Wen said with a relieved tone.

"Hehehe, not so fast! I'm only halfway through my plan," Lin Wu said in his mind.

Suddenly Shirong found himself unable to handle the green crystal spear. It was as if it was moving on its own. 

"Now what!" He shouted in frustration.

Shirong had already depleted a majority of his spirit qi and had even fallen an entire stage, thus he did not have enough strength to hold the spear back. 

"GAH!" Shirong yelped in pain as his wrist twisted.

The spear shifted downwards which made his wrist twist forcefully. Due to the pain, he filched and let go of the spear. It fell out of his ground and broke through the barrier. 

At first Shirong's heart fell and he thought that he had now lost his last saving grace. Bei Wen and Ye Dai also thought that they may now die as the spear had left Shirong's hands. But surprisingly, it didn't happen. Everything was the same, and the invisible pressure didn't return.

Shirong then saw the spear actually stop in the water and glow calmly. He then felt something in his mind and knew what it meant.

"It… it wants us to follow it," Shirong said.

~Gulp~

Ye Dai and Bei Wen were hesitant about it, but knew that they had no choice in their matter. Their lives hanged in balance and the thing holding it was none other than the green crystal spear.

"Alright," They said in unison.

The three men started to descend down and followed the spear. The spear also started moving and seemed to be changing its directions too.

"It is leading us to something?" Shirong muttered.

'Nice, keep on following me and you shall be rewarded.' Lin Wu thought in his mind.

The three men realized that the water seemed to have trained tame and was not corrosive anymore. Whatever was causing the water to be corrosive was no longer there, or was perhaps suppressed by the green crystal spear.

Suddenly the speed of the spear increased and the three could barely keep up with it. But it was still in the range of their spirit sense. The three men were able to gain control of their spirit sense and could observe an area of about ten meters now.

Because of this, they were not as apprehensive and their confidence was building. For most cultivators, their spirit sense was an important part of their body. Without it, they would feel as if they were missing one of their organs or a limb, perhaps.

The speed of the spear got faster and faster until it was no longer within the range of their spirit sense.

"Quick speed up, we can't lose it!" Shirong urged.

Currently, the barrier was collectively maintained by the three of them thus they needed cooperation to do anything otherwise the barrier may collapse. The spirit swords they were flying on were also barely holding on as their spirit qi stores were at a low point.

Eventually, Lin Wu had reached a greater speed and disappeared from their sight. 

"Dammit!" All three of them cursed.

But they then saw the green glow in the distance and took a breath of relief

~Phew~

"It's still calling me," Shirong said as he looked at the glow.

The three of them reached the spear and saw that they were now at the very bottom of the underground lake. They saw the spear stuck on the floor and right beside it they saw another object.

"Young Master look!" Ye Dai said while pointing at the object, "it's some kind of a rock?" 

"Is that perhaps what we came here for? Is that the precious treasure of the forbidden zone?" Bei Wen wondered in a hopeful tone.

After all that they had gone through and the losses that they had made, they were finally seeing hope. They wondered if they will finally succeed in their mission.

"What're you two waiting for? Let's get it," Shirong ordered.

The bubble like barrier got closer and engulfed the spear as well as the rock that was lying beside the spear. Shirong picked up the spear first of all and looked at it closely, ensuring that everything was fine. Only then he looked at the object for which they had sacrificed so much for.

"Huh? It's really a rock!"