Chapter 249: The Secret Deep within the Yunwu Mountain Range
Deep within the Yunwu Mountain Range.
The mist hidden among the towering ancient trees shimmered with a faint violet hue under the sunlight.
All around was deathly silent, as though life had completely vanished.
"What terrifying poison miasma. I'm afraid an average Golden Core cultivator could only exert sixty to seventy percent of their strength in this place, at best."
The deeper they ventured, the more Lin Changan found himself inwardly alarmed.
However, the Wind-Chirp Bird was different. As a natural nemesis of poisons and sinister spirits, it now stared excitedly into the depths of the miasma, as if sensing some delicacy.
The terrifying miasma had no effect on the Wind-Chirp Bird whatsoever, as a wisp of Golden Flame Divine Fire was nurtured within its body.
Any miasma it inhaled would be instantly refined by the divine flame within.
Even so, Lin Changan still infused the Wind-Chirp Bird with his own mana.
"Though you're not afraid of the miasma, my mana can still greatly aid in recovery and healing."
Only the Azure-Horned Bull wore a face full of grievance, gazing pleadingly at its master and the Wind-Chirp Bird perched atop its horn.
Too much bullying of a bull! By beastly instinct, it could sense some terrifying presence in the depths of the valley.
Seeing the Azure-Horned Bull's expression, Lin Changan couldn’t help but shake his head and say:
“Don’t embarrass yourself. Once we slaughter those two poisonous creatures, I’ll find you a demon core with the earth attribute. Then, there’s hope for you to advance to the third rank within ten years.”
Tempted by the promise of evolving to the third rank, the Azure-Horned Bull swallowed hard. Evolution was an instinct of all beings, especially for demon beasts whose bloodlines urged them onward.
No demon beast could resist the lure of evolution.
Just like no cultivator could resist the temptation of power.
The Talisman Treasure ‘Blood Fiend Sword’ was now held in Lin Changan’s grasp.
The sword was entirely blood-red, faintly emanating a baleful aura. Though not his life-bound artifact, Lin Changan had long refined it. Despite not being able to draw out its full power, as a sword cultivator, he found this mid-grade third-rank artifact far superior to ordinary low-grade third-rank ones.
Not to mention the blood fiend aura—it had the power to pierce armor and protective light alike.
“Two mid-third-rank poison insects. As expected, they haven’t evolved. One of them even seems to be at the peak of the mid-third-rank stage.”
Clutching the Blood Fiend Sword, Lin Changan closed his eyes. Through his powerful senses, he directly perceived the exact positions of the two poison insects hidden within the valley.
Although the miasma could block divine sense, it could not block his perception—nor his Spirit Eye.
The next moment, Lin Changan opened his eyes, a green light flashing through them. Through the layers of poisonous fog, he directly spotted the two poison insects hidden in the valley.
Both insects writhed with snowy-white bodies, covered in fluffy toxic bristles radiating deadly venom.
The instincts of the third-rank demon beasts seemed to detect danger. They instantly twisted around and glared in Lin Changan’s direction, then let out a sharp cry that was inaudible but struck directly at divine sense.
"Divine sense attack!"
Upon seeing this, Lin Changan instead revealed a smile.
“As expected, both are wood-attribute poison insects.”
Among five-element demon beasts, most wood-attribute ones were spirit insects.
In the next moment, the Wind-Chirp Bird let out a cry, carrying several formation flags and a formation plate in its beak.
Golden light flickered, and in a flash, formation flags had been planted all around the valley.
Holding the formation plate, Lin Changan formed a hand seal and shouted coldly. In an instant, a crimson formation barrier rose around the valley.
Formation · Blood Fiend Scarlet Sun Formation
“Now those two poison insects won’t be able to escape.”
With the appearance of the barrier, the two poison insects sensed the danger and roared in response, releasing a dense green poisonous mist around them.
However, what greeted them was a lightning-fast golden strike from the Wind-Chirp Bird, while Lin Changan simultaneously unleashed the divine ability—Avatar Technique.
A doppelgänger radiating the aura of the False Core Realm appeared. With a hand seal, two terrifying sword lights manifested, flanking Lin Changan on both sides as they soared forward.
"Without their venom and lacking armor or sharp appendages, these soft-bodied poison insects lose much of their power."
Lin Changan sneered, but he didn’t dare to be careless. After all, they were still two third-rank demon beasts.
Wielding the Blood Fiend Sword, he activated the divine ability Sword Shadow at Will.
With his early Golden Core cultivation, he had just begun to grasp this divine technique. Three golden sword lights shimmered, each emitting a power comparable to a low-grade third-rank artifact.
With his will as the guide, the three sword lights, along with two from the doppelgänger, made five in total, which slashed toward one of the poison insects.
“Pff!”
As green poison sprayed out, the mana-forged sword lights hissed from corrosion. Had it been an actual artifact, its spirit might have been severely damaged.
But the mana-formed sword lights pierced through the poison mist instantly. With Lin Changan’s Spirit Eye, the poison insects had no way to hide.
Puchi!
Despite their corroded strength, the five sword lights still pierced into one of the poison insects.
The next moment, the creature writhed and shrieked in pain.
"Divine sense attack!"
Lin Changan and his doppelgänger didn’t recklessly approach. Divine sense attacks were the most insidious and hardest to defend against.
“Still, casting the sword-light divine ability once consumes a lot of mana. More importantly, it damages the meridians within my body.”
With a solemn expression, Lin Changan watched as the five sword lights, corroded by the poisonous blood, slowly collapsed and dissipated into glowing particles.
Yet he could feel the injuries in his meridians rapidly healing, thanks to his regenerative body.
Even his mana was recovering at an astonishing rate.
“This divine ability, even the Blood Fiend True Lord at the peak of the late Golden Core stage had to practice cautiously. But for me, with a regenerative body, it’s simply perfect.”
What other cultivators feared—backlash and damage—could be healed in mere moments for him. Even excessive mana consumption was within tolerable limits.
As for the doppelgänger, it was even more unrestrained, being formed from the Mysterious Sky Immortal Vine Leaf with equally strong regenerative power.
Lin Changan and his doppelgänger transformed into two streaks of light, circling the two third-rank poison insects while launching constant sword-light assaults.
Meanwhile, the Wind-Chirp Bird chirped in excitement, entirely unafraid of the sharp divine sense attacks. Against the poison insects, it possessed an absolute elemental suppression.
Lin Changan himself, already an early Golden Core cultivator, wielded the Blood Fiend Sword and divine techniques, with an added False Core Realm doppelgänger. His overall battle strength was exceedingly formidable.
Yet in the end, when it came to dealing with a single third-rank poison insect, his speed still couldn’t match that of the Wind-Chirp Bird.
The Wind-Chirp Bird was like a streak of golden lightning, instantly grabbing a poison insect and soaring into the sky.
In its panic, the poison insect spewed a terrifying green poisonous mist, but the Wind-Chirp Bird, flying at high speed, simply dragged a long green trail of poison mist behind it.
Under the sunlight in the sky, the Wind-Chirp Bird bathed in the poison mist, its feathers glistening and smooth, the damp mist having no effect at all.
Instead, it provoked the bird’s ferocity. Its sharp beak instantly pierced the body of the third-rank poison insect.
“Pff!”
A greenish-blue demon core was directly clutched in the Wind-Chirp Bird’s beak, and the massive soft-bodied poison insect beneath its claws had already lost all signs of life.
“So fast!”
Even Lin Changan was stunned by the scene, though on further thought, it made sense.
If it were a scorpion-type poison insect, it might still possess considerable combat power even without its venom. But for this soft-bodied type, its entire strength lay in its poison.
Once its venom became ineffective, even a late third-rank poison insect would see its combat power drastically reduced.
So it was only natural that the Wind-Chirp Bird could resolve the battle so quickly.
The world of cultivation was never lacking in counter-type battles—whether it be the natural suppression between demon beasts, or elemental restraining relationships.
Even among cultivators, there were extreme counterbalances—such as powerful demonic arts of yin and evil nature being restrained by lightning or yang-type techniques.
“As expected, coming to the Yunwu Mountain Range this time was the right choice.”
The battle ended swiftly, and the other poison insect was soon dispatched as well. The Wind-Chirp Bird returned with its demon core clenched in its beak.
Of course, the formation’s entrapment played a role. Otherwise, if the poison insect had burrowed underground, even the Wind-Chirp Bird wouldn’t have easily killed two mid-third-rank poison insects.
…
“Didn’t expect the battle to go so smoothly.”
Looking at the two green wood-attribute demon cores in his hand, Lin Changan couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction.
It was just a pity these poison insects held little other value.
“Their soft skins aren’t even good enough for talisman crafting.”
Shaking his head regretfully, Lin Changan thought to himself—apart from the demon cores and possibly their internal poison sacs, these soft-bodied poison insects were unworthy of the third-rank title.
This was precisely why most cultivators avoided hunting such poison insects.
High risk, but disproportionate returns.
Were it not for his immunity to same-rank poisons and the aid of the Wind-Chirp Bird, it would be easy to imagine how a Golden Core cultivator weakened by poison would have to remain constantly alert during battle.
Such combat would be extremely perilous.
“Master!”
The golden Wind-Chirp Bird landed and looked at the two poison insect corpses, its expression clearly full of greed.
Seeing this, Lin Changan chuckled and waved his hand. “Go ahead and eat. Anyway, these things are most valuable to you.”
Upon receiving permission, the Wind-Chirp Bird immediately grew excited and began devouring the white, soft-bodied poison insect carcass.
“Moo!”
At that moment, the Azure-Horned Bull walked over and looked on enviously.
A third-rank demon beast’s corpse was a tremendous supplement.
By the instinct of demon beasts—where strength reigned supreme—and since it was the Wind-Chirp Bird’s kill, the Azure-Horned Bull could only drool and watch.
Yet the highly intelligent Wind-Chirp Bird chirped a few times, and the Azure-Horned Bull let out a couple of excited moos.
Then, it stepped forward to share in the half-consumed poison insect carcass left behind by the Wind-Chirp Bird.
Seeing this, Lin Changan nodded with a smile. The Wind-Chirp Bird’s intelligence was indeed a boon.
Ordinary spirit pets wouldn’t easily share their prey.
He never tried to interfere either—raising spirit pets didn’t mean you could command them without restraint.
Otherwise, the more powerful the pet, the more its intelligence would evolve. If treated poorly, there was a real risk it would betray its master when danger struck.
Cultivation history had no shortage of such betrayals, where mistreated spirit pets turned on their injured or weakened masters.
“You really dare eat that? Be careful you don’t poison yourself.”
Lin Changan chuckled and shook his head, but still stepped forward to infuse the Azure-Horned Bull with his mana.
These poison insects were toxic all over. Though the bull was unlikely to die from eating it, Lin Changan didn’t want to take the risk.
After the battle, Lin Changan carefully searched the surrounding area for spirit plants. Around the territory of third-rank demon beasts—especially poison insects—rare spirit herbs could often be found.
Although he only found a few Poisonous Flowers aged around three hundred years, it at least added some value to the hunt.
…
“Too bad. The demon beasts in the Yunwu Mountain Range are different from those in the Sea Abyss of Beasts. Third-rank demon beasts aren’t easy to find here.”
After clearing the battlefield and putting away the formation, Lin Changan looked deeper into the Yunwu Mountain Range and sighed inwardly.
This time, it was only thanks to the fragmented memories of the Blood Fiend True Lord that he was able to locate this third-rank beast den.
Otherwise, with their high intelligence, third-rank demon beasts would go to great lengths to conceal their lairs.
That’s why the dens of high-rank beasts were extremely valuable leads among cultivators. Information on such dens was often sold for spirit stones.
“With these two mid-grade third-rank demon cores, I’m now only three short of refining the Spirit-Mending Pill.”
Staring at the two wood-attribute demon cores in hand, Lin Changan nodded to himself.
Among the five-element demon cores, the values were roughly equal. Only exotic cores—like ice, lightning, wind, yin, or yang—had higher worth than others of the same rank.
So it wouldn’t be hard to trade one of his for a different type.
“A low-grade third-rank demon core is worth about fifty to sixty thousand mid-grade spirit stones. But a mid-grade third-rank core can shoot up to a hundred and fifty thousand.”
“In fact, they're often bartered instead of sold for stones.”
Lin Changan’s eyes gleamed as he pondered the Spirit-Mending Pill ingredients.
If relying on spirit stones alone, he didn’t have nearly enough. If he chose to continue hunting, he would have to head back to the Fog Sea of Tongtian to search for those Sinister Spirit Beast Kings.
After all, thanks to the Wind-Chirp Bird’s perfect suppression in terms of both attribute and species, aside from poison insects, those Sinister Spirit Beast Kings were the safest targets.
“Still, in the fragmented memories of the Blood Fiend True Lord, aside from the first secret realm of the Sea Abyss of Beasts, what left the strongest impression was this Yunwu Mountain Range.”
Frowning, Lin Changan recalled those fragmented memories.
The secrets hidden deep within the Yunwu Mountain Range seemed far greater than he had imagined.
The Blood Fiend True Lord died there, and even True Lord Lu formed his Nascent Soul thanks to some opportunity within.
Even the previous sect master of the Mystic Yin Sect—a mighty Nascent Soul cultivator—fell in that place.
Not to mention the ancient cultivator’s secret realm, which was said to contain even the legendary Fusang Divine Tree.
“What on earth is hidden deep in the Yunwu Mountain Range that even Nascent Soul cultivators perished inside?”
Relying on the fragmented memories of the Blood Fiend True Lord, Lin Changan looked up toward the mountain depths.
The Blood Fiend True Lord once encountered a terrifying existence there and had to flee. That place was beyond his current capability, no matter how tempting the chance to form a Nascent Soul might be.
“Unless I reach the late stage of the Golden Core Realm, I must not enter under any circumstances.”
Even the Blood Fiend True Lord, at his peak in the late Golden Core stage, died there. Lin Changan had just entered the Golden Core Realm—he couldn’t afford such risk.
Not even with his immunity to same-rank poisons.
“However, there was another location in those fragmented memories—a place inhabited by a swarm of venomous bees, with poison miasma more savage than what I’ve seen.”
Yet there, a spiritual spring lay tainted by the miasma.
Back then, the Blood Fiend True Lord was wholly focused on seeking Nascent Soul opportunities. Though the polluted spring was extremely precious, it wasn’t enough to tempt him.
“Perhaps the Blood Fiend True Lord ultimately served as a stepping stone for True Lord Lu.”
Lin Changan shook his head. No wonder the Blood Fiend True Lord had such deep resentment before death.
But to him, that spiritual spring held immense allure.
After all, his life-bound spirit plant needed it.
And as for the miasma’s pollution—his life-bound spirit plant didn’t fear such things at all.