Chapter 243: Chapter 242: Change of the Ruins (Congratulations to the Silver Alliance)_1
Cultivation knows no day nor night.
After sending Zhong Hongyu to deliver the message, Fang Xi spent several days drinking and making merry with Yan Ying and Xiahou Xin before sinking once again into an extended period of closed-door cultivation.
Time passed, but it was unknown for how long.
Inside the talisman-making room, with disheveled hair, Fang Xi gazed at the sheets of purple talisman paper in front of him.
While these papers were blank, their surfaces shone with spiritual radiance and emitted treasure light, clearly not ordinary in quality.
"After spoiling a few, I’ve finally refined a batch of third-rank talisman papers... It’s a pity that with my current proficiency as an upper second-rank Talisman Master, except for crafting Treasure Pattern Talismans, everything else feels like a waste..."
With his current level of cultivation, the failure rate was quite high when attempting to draw third-rank treasured talismans.
Yet, Fang Xi was not greedy; if even a single third-rank treasured talisman could be completed after all the blank sheets were used up, he would consider it a gain.
...
Several months later, he emerged from the talisman-making room somewhat frustrated, entered the closed-door cultivation room, and began meditating to recover his strength.
’Kuyong Skills’ circulated slowly, each iteration bringing forth fresh insights.
This was because ’Yi Wood Magic Body’ was also finely adjusting the circulation route of ’Kuyong Skills.’ However, compared to ’Green Wood Longevity Skills,’ the progress was much slower.
Luckily, Fang Xi was extremely patient and waited calmly.
He took out manuals containing the ’Kuyong Skills’ of the Nascent Soul Stage, delving into them daily.
The secret techniques contained within ’Kuyong Skills’ were mostly refined by him with ease, presenting no difficulty.
Except for the most profound ’Kuyong Mysterious Light,’ it was the case with all others.
Fang Xi’s gaze traveled down the section on secret skills, landing on Chapters like ’Yi Wood True Fire’ and ’Yi Wood Divine Thunder, which were also spells and divine skills that could be practiced.
’Actually... Even ’Yi Wood Divine Light’ should be attainable by Wooden Element cultivators... It just has higher requirements, probably necessitating a Core Formation cultivator proficient in top-tier Wooden Element cultivation skills to expend significant effort to possibly succeed. It is a legitimate third-rank method... Or maybe even a gifted Foundation Establishment cultivator could refine such divine light?’
Fang Xi stroked his chin.
Since achieving the ’Yi Wood Magic Body,’ his talents for all Wooden Element cultivation skills and secret techniques were certainly at the level of a once-in-a-generation prodigy.
When the daily contemplation of cultivation skills was over, he would routinely take out the prohibition jade slip previously returned by Ruan Xingling and start disentangling it as if solving a puzzle.
Array Masters promoted their understanding of Array Taoist arts and resolved prohibitions by relentlessly contemplating high-rank arrays and unlocking restrictions.
This time, while Fang Xi was attempting to analyze, a spark of inspiration flashed, and he finally unraveled a critical knot, revealing most of the prohibition.
What appeared before his eyes was a set of dim golden prohibitions interlocking, forming a faint ’swastika’ symbol.
"This is... the ’Four-Faces Eight-Arms Vajra Great Dharma Protector’ spiritual prohibition from the Buddhism Sect?!"
Fang Xi recalled his array skill inheritance, barely recognizing it, and his expression drastically changed, "This is bad... The main function of this prohibition is internal, used to seal various demonic and evil creatures! The situation behind this Nine Leaves Sect ruins... could be incredibly deep!"
With this thought, he immediately came out of seclusion, sent a message to the several Core Formation cultivators at Dragon Fish Island and urged them to withdraw quickly, especially to stop participating in breaking the core prohibition.
"Ah... I hope it’s not too late."
Gazing at the expanse of verdant green waves surrounding the island, Fang Xi sighed softly.
Even though the Demon Tree currently covered the sky and its roots pervaded the whole Dragon Fish Island, he still couldn’t leave the island by much.
If something happened to those under his command and to Ruan Xingling, he might not be able to rush over in time to intervene...
...
At the same time Fang Xi sent the letter, outside the ruins of Jade Island.
The green-robed female cultivator whom Fang Xi had once met was all smiles as she mingled among the crowd of Core Formation cultivators, listening to their animated discussions.
"This time at the Jade Island ruins, even Elder Zhang from Mysterious Heaven Sect and Elder Bai Feng from Fairy City have shown up..."
"Indeed, I heard that these two have each chosen one of the core prohibitions and have been attacking them for several months. It seems that the day of breaking the prohibition is not far off..."
"Alas... It’s a pity that even if there are Core Formation spiritual objects, they are out of reach for us individual cultivators."
"That’s not necessarily true; there’s always opportunity for us. Maybe the divine objects remain hidden, and even the Core Formation elders may fail to find them... Such things have happened before in the Cultivation World."
"You have a point, let’s go together, together..."
...
The green-robed woman looked on with a smile, occasionally chiming in.
However, inside, she sneered repeatedly, "Mysterious Heaven Sect... You owe the Situ Family so many lives, and you forced them into becoming your weapons... It’s time to repay that debt..."
As she thought this, her expression turned resolute, and she flew into the heart of Jade Island...
...
Several days later.
Huge rumbles resounded above Jade Island, and a streak of light fled in disarray, the figure turning out to be Elder Bai Feng!
He glanced back at Jade Island almost fearfully, his face revealing both relief and apprehension.
At this time, for some unknown reason, a grey mist began to permeate above Jade Island.
This mist differed entirely from the fog of Great Dream Marsh; it was of a cold and yin nature, and it carried with it strands of... ghostly energy!
"Who would have thought... that within the core prohibition of the Nine Leaves Sect, such great terror would be sealed away..."
Elder Bai Feng muttered to himself, his face suddenly flushing an unnatural red.
He quickly circulated his cultivation, causing his Golden Core to spin rapidly, a flash of radiance crossed his face, and he felt much better. He hastily consumed a pill, suppressing his injuries.
At this time, the ghost mist on Jade Island grew thicker, and from within, faint shouts and some kind of howling could be heard.
Elder Bai Feng’s scalp tingled, and he turned into a streak of light, leaving without looking back.
After his departure from the island, multicolored Foundation Establishment Escape Lights could be seen fleeing the island hurriedly, as if escaping for their lives...
...
Several days later.
Fang Xi, upon seeing Yan Dongqing return to report once more, his expression changed drastically: "What did you say? Say it again!"
"Yes, reporting to Island Master... a sudden change occurred on Jade Island. It’s said that Core Formation stage ghost cultivators appeared, inflicting countless casualties on cultivators, even Core Formation elders sustained severe injuries... Now on Ling Kong Island, cultivators are panicking, many directly fleeing Thousand Island Lake... The once thriving markets can be seen deserted..."
Yan Dongqing gave a wry smile.
"Ghost cultivators? Core Formation stage ghost cultivators..."
Fang Xi murmured to himself.
Of course, he understood that so-called ’ghost cultivators’ were actually cultivators who, by some coincidence, had their souls linger on after death and merge with an Underworld Earth Vein, thereby giving birth to a peculiar form of life.
In terms of memory, personality, and so on, they had already become completely different from the cultivators they were before death and could be seen as a brand-new life form.
Moreover, ghost cultivators often couldn’t stray too far or for too long from the Underworld Earth Vein they were tied to, and even their spiritual wisdom was somewhat lower.
But these disadvantages didn’t negate the advantages of ghost cultivators, which was... they lived long!
As long as they could continuously absorb the Yin Qi and ghostly energy emitted by the Underworld Earth Vein, the lifespan of ghost cultivators was exceedingly long.
"Yes... it is said that when the Core Formation ancestor broke through the core area’s prohibition, a cold wind arose and wails of ghosts filled the sky, then several Core Formation stage ghost cultivators emerged, instantly killing many good hands of the Mysterious Heaven Sect and Baize Immortal City who were at the Foundation Establishment stage..."
Yan Dongqing’s face showed a look of distress: "Immediately after, those ghost cultivators also manipulated the ghost mist, trapping two Core Formation elders... At the critical moment, Elder Bai Feng abandoned Elder Zhang of the Mysterious Heaven Sect, breaking out alone successfully, leading to Elder Zhang being attacked by several Core Formation ghost cultivators, nearly falling right there and then. Afterwards, he managed to use some kind of life-saving secret skill and barely broke through the siege, hurrying back to Mysterious Heaven Sect without looking back..."
"You’re well-informed..."
Fang Xi looked at Yan Dongqing with some surprise.
Yan Dongqing just gave a wry smile and said, "There were too many Foundation Establishment cultivators who witnessed it, and subsequently, many managed to escape from Jade Island successfully. It’s already well-known throughout the entire Thousand Island Lake by now..."
"It seems that the decline of the Nine Leaves Sect was not unrelated to the ghost cultivators, and the main purpose of the Four-Faces Eight-Arms Vajra Great Dharma Protector prohibition established by this sect in the core area was to seal away that stretch of Underworld Earth Vein and numerous Golden Core ghost creatures, wasn’t it?"
Fang Xi mumbled to himself: "Luckily, ghost cultivators can’t stray from the shackles of the Underworld Earth Vein... They won’t sweep across Thousand Island Lake, but it seems unavoidable that occasionally a few ghost creatures will emerge and cause a massacre... Thousand Island Lake will have more troubles now."
"Isn’t that the truth?"
Yan Dongqing lamented: "Those cultivators from other lands can just dust off and leave, but we of Thousand Island Lake will have to continue cultivating here in the future..."
"Those foreign cultivators didn’t gain any benefits either. I’m afraid many have already suffered heavily during the Jade Island incident."
Fang Xi sighed and said: "With that being said... the exploration of the ruins on Jade Island has now come to a complete halt."
"Of course, unless several Core Formation ancestors join forces and set up an array... or go to Yuan Country to invite a Nascent Soul old monster, no one dares to go to Jade Island anymore."
"But at this moment, Jade Island truly has no appeal whatsoever; the spiritual objects have all been contaminated by the ghostly energy. There’s no benefit to conquering it."
Yan Dongqing answered with a bitter smile.
"In that case... go back and preside over Ling Kong Market, and have Liu Sanqi go immediately to assist Zhong Hongyu and Ruan Xingling..."
Fang Xi thought for a moment and gave the order.
Now that Yan Dongqing also joined his ranks, the defense of Ling Kong Market seemed much easier.
"When you preside over Ling Kong Island, be careful of the chaos to follow... But as long as you withstand this wave, there should be no trouble."
Fang Xi gave a few words of advice, didn’t even offer Yan Dongqing a cup of tea, and sent him away in a hurry.
"Ghost cultivators and Underworld Earth Veins, truly didn’t see that coming..."
Watching his departing figure, Fang Xi turned to look in the direction of Jade Island to the north and muttered to himself.
In the Cultivation World, there’s little that can be done about ghost cultivators, apart from cultivators who practice Demon Path techniques to drive Monster and Demon or Righteous Path cultivators who specialize in Thunder skills, most people tend to avoid ghost cultivators at all costs.
Elder Zhang of Mysterious Heaven Sect, as a Jia Dan cultivator, was able to escape alive from the siege of several Core Formation stage ghost cultivators, which was thanks to his own nature as a Thunder Spiritual Root!
Fortunately, these ghost cultivators also have the characteristic of stationing in one place and generally only need to be sealed, which is a set of effective measures forged through bitter experiences.
But in this way, if the seal is not strict, those who will suffer are the cultivators of Thousand Island Lake.
And judging by the current state of decline in the Cultivation World of the Three Kingdoms, there’s probably no one left who can handle this situation properly...