Chapter 192 - 187: Ghost Mist Forest
Li Yuan decided to make a trip to the Ghost Mist Forest.
The Evil Qi concentration in the Ghost Mist Forest was much higher than outside, making it the perfect place to cultivate.
He also wanted to see if he could run into a Tier One Middle Grade yin soul and fulfill the condition to make his Spirit-Refining Talisman permanent.
Before setting out, Li Yuan sorted a batch of his finished talismans and delivered them to the Purple Abyss Trading Company. He then visited Shen Yue to stock up on pills for the journey.
Early the next morning, Li Yuan packed his storage bag and left through the south gate of Yunyang Marketplace.
The Ghost Mist Forest was about eighty li southwest of Yunyang Marketplace, a journey of more than half a day along the main road.
Li Yuan activated his Divine Movement Step to travel, moving at nearly twice the speed of a normal person walking.
After traveling for about four hours, the main road split into two at a fork. The left path led toward the outskirts of the Yuanheng Mountain Range; the right veered southwest.
Just as Li Yuan was about to take the right fork, a familiar figure appeared on the road ahead.
He was dressed in a long, cyan robe, his face lean, with a neatly trimmed short beard. His stride was steady, his aura contained.
Wang De.
Wang De saw Li Yuan as well. He paused for a moment before walking over.
The two men stopped at the fork in the road.
"What are you doing here?" Wang De asked, glancing at Li Yuan.
"I’m heading to the Ghost Mist Forest."
"The Ghost Mist Forest?" Wang De’s gaze lingered on Li Yuan for a second longer, but he didn’t press for details.
Li Yuan didn’t offer an explanation either, asking in return, "And you?"
"I’m looking for Pill Refiner He."
Wang De tucked his hands into his sleeves, his tone unhurried.
"Pill Refiner He left the outskirts of the Secret Realm some time ago but has recently reappeared in this area. The family sent me to find him to concoct a Foundation Establishment Pill."
Li Yuan looked at him.
"The Wang family’s Foundation Establishment Pill?"
"Yes." Wang De didn’t hide it. "We’ve gathered all the materials; we just need someone to concoct the pill."
He paused.
"But it’s not just about the pill this time."
Wang De glanced east, toward Primordial Yang Mountain.
"The Primordial Yang Sect is about to hold its Immortal Gate Assembly."
"Immortal Gate Assembly?"
"They hold it once every few years." Wang De’s voice flattened slightly, as if he were discussing something that didn’t directly concern him. "The Primordial Yang Sect uses it as an opportunity to recruit disciples from the various families and loose cultivators. Those who pass the assessment can enter the Primordial Yang Sect to cultivate, enjoying the sect’s resources and guidance."
He pulled his hands from his sleeves and rubbed them together.
"The Wang family plans on sending some people as well. The ones with the highest cultivation among the younger generation are all preparing."
He glanced at Li Yuan.
"If you’re interested, you could give it a shot. But you’re a loose cultivator, so you’d have to go through the loose cultivator’s track. The assessment standards are different from those for disciples from the great families."
Li Yuan just nodded, not pursuing the topic.
’The Primordial Yang Sect’s Immortal Gate Assembly has little to do with me right now. My priority is reaching Foundation Establishment.’
’Joining a sect means being bound by its rules—it’s certainly not a simple contract like the one with the Wang family. Besides, I know almost nothing about the Primordial Yang Sect. It’s safer to focus on reaching Foundation Establishment here in the marketplace.’
"So when will the Foundation Establishment Pill be concocted?" Li Yuan asked, changing the subject.
"It’s still being negotiated." Wang De shook his head. "Pill Refiner He isn’t in a rush; he has other orders to fill. We’ll probably have to wait in line for a few days."
The two of them stood and chatted for a bit longer about recent happenings.
Wang De mentioned the situation at Qinghe Marketplace. He said the small-scale conflicts between the Wang and Li families were still going on, though they were less intense than before. Both sides had toned it down considerably since the Primordial Yang Sect had tightened its control over the area.
After they finished talking, the two parted ways at the fork in the road.
Wang De took the left path toward the Yuanheng Mountain Range, while Li Yuan turned onto the right fork, continuing on his way to the Ghost Mist Forest.
After walking for about another six hours, a gray, hazy silhouette appeared on the distant horizon.
It wasn’t mountains, nor was it clouds. It was mist.
The dense, grayish-white mist rose from the ground like a low wall stretched out before him, completely obscuring the forest behind it. The mist wasn’t high, only about three to four zhang, but it was so thick and dense that visibility dropped to zero beyond five zhang.
The Ghost Mist Forest.
Li Yuan stopped just outside the wall of mist.
There were more cultivators nearby than he had expected.
Seven or eight loose cultivators were scattered across the open ground outside the wall of mist. Some were squatting, organizing their equipment; others leaned against tree trunks, gnawing on dry rations; and a few were gathered in small groups, conversing in hushed tones. Their cultivation levels ranged from the third and fourth levels of Qi Refining up to the seventh.
There were also two small demon beast-hunting parties, each with four or five members. They were inspecting their magical artifacts and talismans, clearly preparing to go inside.
The spirit grass and demon beast materials from the Ghost Mist Forest held considerable value. That, combined with recent news from the loose cultivator marketplaces that the Primordial Yang Sect had dispatched personnel to secure the area, had attracted numerous hunting parties.
Li Yuan habitually suppressed his aura.
His Aura Obfuscation and Aura Concealment traits activated simultaneously, suppressing his Qi Refining Ninth Level cultivation to that of the fifth or sixth level. He also dialed down his presence, making himself less conspicuous.
To any observer, he looked like a perfectly ordinary Mid-stage Qi Refining loose cultivator.
Without speaking to any of the other cultivators, Li Yuan walked straight toward the wall of mist.
The instant he stepped into the dense mist, his vision was completely enveloped in a swirl of gray and white.
The hard-packed earth beneath his feet gave way to a soft, silent layer of decaying leaves. The air grew damp and chilling, thick with the stench of rot and mold.
After he entered the dense mist, the range of his Spiritual Sense Amplification and Aura Imprint traits was drastically compressed.
Where he could normally sense spiritual fluctuations within a radius of two to three hundred zhang, his range had now shrunk to less than fifty. The ghost mist severely interfered with his perception, as if his Spiritual Sense had been wrapped in cotton, blurring everything.
Even his Malice Detection trait was affected, its sensitivity greatly reduced.
Li Yuan slowed his pace, adapting to the sensory deprivation of the mist as he walked.
The concentration of Spiritual Qi in the Ghost Mist Forest was nearly double that of the outside world, but it was tainted with a large amount of Evil Qi. The concentration of Evil Qi wasn’t exceptionally high—a bit lower than in the depths of the mines—but its advantage was its pervasiveness; it filled every corner of the forest.
His Evil Qi Affinity trait activated automatically, minimizing the negative effects of the Evil Qi that seeped into his body. Simultaneously, his Evil Qi Body Tempering trait began drawing the energy into his fascia and bones.
Simply by walking through the Ghost Mist Forest, he was passively undergoing Body Tempering.
Li Yuan walked deeper into the forest for about a quarter of an hour.
A faint, grayish-white point of light appeared in the mist ahead.
The point of light flickered erratically, like a lantern swaying in the wind.
A yin soul.
Li Yuan stopped and focused his perception.
’Tier One Low Grade. Its aura is weak, and its Spiritual Power fluctuations are extremely low. I almost missed it through the mist’s interference.’
The grayish-white point of light drifted toward Li Yuan.
As it drew closer, its form became clear. It was a fist-sized ball of grayish-white mist with the faint, blurry outline of a human face at its center. The features were distorted, its mouth stretched wide in a silent scream.
When the yin soul drifted within ten zhang, a chilling aura emanated from it, attempting to invade Li Yuan’s Divine Soul.
Thanks to the long-term reinforcement of his Divine Soul from the Soul Mirror’s refinement and his insights from alchemy, the spiritual assault was barely perceptible.
Li Yuan raised his hand. ’Fireball Technique.’
The fireball shot from his palm, its scorching crimson light starkly visible against the grayish-white mist.
The fireball struck the yin soul. The grayish-white mist evaporated instantly in the flames, and the twisted face flickered once before vanishing completely.
A single fireball was all it took to eliminate a Tier One Low Grade yin soul.
Li Yuan didn’t linger and continued deeper into the forest.
Over the next half hour, he encountered four more yin souls.
All of them were Tier One Low Grade.
Some floated among the treetops, others drifted along the ground, and a few hid inside decaying tree trunks. Li Yuan dispatched each one with ease, dissipating them with a single Fireball Technique or Fire Arrow Skill.
However, he hadn’t encountered a single Tier One Middle Grade yin soul.
Li Yuan made a wide loop through the deeper part of the forest, clearing out most of the yin souls within a several-hundred-zhang radius, but found none of Middle Grade or higher.
’The distribution and grade of the yin souls in the Ghost Mist Forest must be related to how deep one goes. The outer ring is all Tier One Low Grade, so the Middle Grade ones must be further in.’
’But the mist is even thicker in the deeper parts, which would compress my sensory range even further. Venturing deeper with my perception so heavily restricted would be too risky.’
Li Yuan didn’t push his luck.
’My main goal today is to gather Evil Qi. I can hunt for yin souls another time.’
He found an area with a high concentration of Evil Qi, sat cross-legged under a dead tree, and began to absorb the surrounding energy.
His Evil Qi Affinity made the absorption process incredibly smooth. The Evil Qi seeped into his body from all directions, drawn into his fascia and bones by his Evil Qi Body Tempering trait, while another portion was stored away.
After more than an hour, the Evil Qi stored in his body reached saturation.
The efficiency of gathering Evil Qi was higher than he had expected.
The permanent nature of his Evil Qi Affinity trait made the absorption process remarkably smooth.
After reaching saturation, Li Yuan didn’t leave right away. Instead, he activated the Iron Bull Skill, processing some of the stored Evil Qi to make room for more.
His Evil Qi Body Tempering and Iron Wall Body Refining Skill worked in tandem, the constant wash of Evil Qi steadily increasing the density of his muscles and bones.