Cultivation: Immunity to Negative Effects

"Senior Sister Tian? What are you talking about? Someone ganged up on me? My head hurts so much, I can’t remember anything..."

Seeing her senior sister, Junior Sister Wen finally felt a sense of security, but she was also even more confused.

After the two of them talked for a bit, Junior Sister Wen finally understood what had happened.

The situation was clear. She had entered the Secret Realm for Exploration, and to secure a greater harvest, she had split up from her close sect members to act alone.

As a result, she was later attacked by Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Cyan Cloud Sect. During the fight, she had secretly sent out a call for help.

That was why Senior Sister Tian had arrived just now.

But she couldn’t remember what had happened before that. Senior Sister Tian didn’t know either. Even this information was something she had pieced together based on Senior Sister Tian’s account.

"Look here. There are traces of blood and lingering Sword Qi. Someone else must have joined the battle."

"The other party likely took advantage of the situation to kill the Cyan Cloud Sect Cultivators and reap the rewards. But they didn’t want to expose their identity, so they knocked you out. Your memory loss is probably because they fed you a Forgetfulness Pill."

Then, Senior Sister Tian inspected the scene and quickly inferred some key information.

However, because Zhang Chi had tidied up the scene, the other party didn’t discover the Corpse Evil or Demonic Qi.

Zhang Chi had actually cleaned up the Sword Qi as well, but the other woman was an expert from the Divine Sword Sect and was extremely sensitive to Sword Qi, which was how she noticed it.

"You’re saying that person killed four Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivators from the Cyan Cloud Sect? They’re that strong? Also, why didn’t they kill me?" Junior Sister Wen’s eyes widened in astonishment.

They were all Foundation Establishment Cultivators from top Immortal Sects; killing someone of the Same Tier was actually very difficult. Otherwise, she would have died long ago when those four had ganged up on her.

But this mysterious expert had killed four Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivators. She couldn’t help but be amazed.

Because of this, she immediately revised her mental image of the person, imagining them as a Foundation Establishment Late Stage or even a Foundation Establishment Peak Sword Cultivator.

"Perhaps that person has a grudge against the Cyan Cloud Sect, or maybe they just have a soft spot for a pretty face. In any case, they’re definitely very strong. But I still need to confirm if my judgment is correct."

"Fortunately, our Divine Sword Sect is on good terms with the Cyan Cloud Sect on the surface. I just need to make some quiet inquiries to find out if any Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Cyan Cloud Sect have fallen. But if those four Cyan Cloud Sect cultivators are really dead, you must keep the matter of you being attacked a secret!"

"Otherwise, the Cyan Cloud Sect will definitely suspect you were the one who killed them. Even if they brought it on themselves, we wouldn’t be able to explain our way out of it. After all, their people are dead, and you’re perfectly fine."

"And if a mysterious expert really did save you, we can’t let anyone know they exist. First, that would be repaying kindness with enmity. Second, it could easily lead to retaliation!"

Senior Sister Tian nodded and immediately laid out her analysis.

"Okay, I understand, Senior Sister. Thank you for your guidance." Junior Sister Wen was immediately receptive.

Although she didn’t know what had truly happened, staying alive was the most important thing. Because of this, she was extremely grateful to the mysterious expert.

Of course, this was also because she didn’t know she had lost the Profound Light Grass. Otherwise, she definitely wouldn’t have been able to accept things so easily.

’She actually discovered my lingering Sword Qi. It seems my ability to clean up a scene still needs improvement. But with just that one clue, there’s no way she can find me. I don’t need to worry about the aftermath.’

’After all, in the eyes of others, I’m just a Qi Cultivation Cultivator. The mysterious expert she’s imagining should normally be at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, or even Foundation Establishment Peak!’

A hundred li away, Zhang Chi had heard every word from Junior Sister Wen and Senior Sister Tian through his Phantom Beetle, and only then did he truly feel at ease.

After that, he began to take stock of his spoils from the previous battle.

He discovered that these Cyan Cloud Sect disciples were all quite wealthy and had collected a good amount of Spirit Medicine.

Furthermore, it was clearly not their first time robbing and killing other Cultivators. Inside their Storage Bags were many blood-stained items.

But now, all of it belonged to him.

’Hm? Is this a Demon Companion Flower? Excellent! These Cyan Cloud Sect cultivators are truly little gods of wealth!’

Moreover, Zhang Chi soon discovered a Spirit Medicine that was no less precious than the Profound Light Grass.

This Spirit Medicine was a small black flower emitting a faint Demonic Qi. It was also a Core Formation Spiritual Object, and it was precisely another one of the main ingredients for refining the Dust Condensing Pill.

There were dozens of materials for refining the Dust Condensing Pill, but only three were considered main ingredients and were the most difficult to find.

Zhang Chi had now obtained two of them, leaving only the last and most important one: the Element Condensing Fruit.

However, there was still a long time before the Exploration of the Secret Realm ended, so Zhang Chi was very confident he would find the Element Condensing Fruit.

WHOOSH...

After a quick inventory, Zhang Chi immediately destroyed their Storage Bags and other useless items.

He then burned the cultivators’ corpses to ash. Before that, he had extracted a Blood Spirit Pill, drawn out their Divine Souls, and casually fed them to his Spirit Snake and the Tier Two Beast Souls.

It was worth mentioning that he now had over a dozen Tier Two Beast Souls in his Beast Soul Banner. These were all extracted from the Demon Beasts he had killed along the way.

’This should be the right direction.’

During his flight, Zhang Chi would periodically take out the Beast Hide to look at it, completely unconcerned about getting the direction wrong.

That’s right. He wasn’t just heading toward the center of the Secret Realm; he had an extremely clear objective: the Ancient Cultivator’s Cave Mansion.

The only regret was that the map on the Beast Hide primarily depicted the Ancient Cultivator’s Cave Mansion. Its information about the Secret Realm was very brief and lacked any special markers.

But he didn’t mind, as he believed the best treasures in the Secret Realm were definitely inside the Ancient Cultivator’s Cave Mansion.

"Hm?"

Another three days passed in the blink of an eye. Zhang Chi had harvested a lot more Spirit Medicine and Demon Beast Materials. Although he hadn’t found any more Core Formation Spiritual Objects, it could still be considered a bountiful harvest.

At the same time, he finally approached the true central region of the Secret Realm, but he was forced to halt his steps.

Because, right in front of him, there was a black, semi-transparent Array Light Curtain, directly splitting the true central region of the Secret Realm from the outer area.

This Array Light Curtain looked like a thin layer, but runes flowed across its surface. Drawing on his attainments in arrays, Zhang Chi examined it closely and immediately identified it as a Tier Three Large Array.

BOOM!

Zhang Chi launched a Perfect Level Fire Snake Technique from a distance. The huge, searing fire snake bared its fangs and brandished its claws, violently slamming into the Array Light Curtain. Not only did it fail to break through, but it also triggered a black arc of lightning.

With a single flash, the black arc of lightning completely shattered the fire snake.

In that instant, even though Zhang Chi was several hundred zhang away, he couldn’t help but feel his blood run cold.

’It’s a good thing I didn’t attack with my Flying Sword, or it definitely would have been damaged, or even shattered.’

Zhang Chi felt a little relieved.

At the same time, he was also troubled, because the light curtain extended all the way up into the mist high in the sky, making it obviously impossible to fly over.

But he didn’t give up. Instead, he began to follow the light curtain, searching for a weakness while also gathering Spirit Medicine and killing Demon Beasts along the way.

In less than a day, he discovered a large group of Cultivators gathered at a location up ahead.

And there, on the Array Light Curtain, was a passage about thirty zhang wide.

But none of the Cultivators were entering, because standing in the middle of the passage were three one-zhang-tall black metal Puppets.

These Puppets emanated a powerful pressure comparable to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage. They were three Tier Two Upper Grade Puppets, and they would attack in unison if any Cultivator got close.