"Master, should I go take a look?" Li Ban offered again.
Qiao Zhen'er glanced where the wet trail disappeared. After a moment of hesitation, she shook her head.
"That thing gives me a bad feeling. Let's not cause any extra trouble."
Li Ban didn't mind. He simply raised his hand and released a speck of silver light.
With his current strength, he could release the Silver Kingfisher right in front of them and they wouldn't notice a thing.
The rest of the group seemed anxious to reach their destination and harvest resources, equally uninterested in discovering what lay at the end of the trail.
Li Ban glanced at them and continued to lead the way.
A moment later, they reached the swamp vines.
In the end, Li Ban had chosen to tell Qiao Zhen'er directly that he wanted to check this area.
Unfortunately, there was still no trace of Xiao Suo's aura nearby.
Li Ban took a look and prepared to leave.
Qiao Zhen'er, Jia Tao, and the others cast a few extra glances at the vines, unable to conceal the desire in their eyes.
However, they quickly suppressed it.
Not long after they set out again, the Silver Kingfisher returned, bringing back the scenes it had witnessed.
Enhanced by Li Ban's Spirit Attachment Art, the Silver Kingfisher still couldn't communicate like a normal human, but it could record a great deal of information in its mind.
Li Ban then used a telepathy art to read it, instantly seeing the writhing figure in the bird's memory.
Li Ban was taken aback. The figure wasn't a physical entity at all, but a dripping wet raw soul.
She looked just like a water ghost from a folktale.
She had no legs and could only crawl along the ground using her arms. A disheveled mop of white hair cascaded down her back, covering the wounds on her lower half.
Water continuously dripped from her body, as if she had ultimately died by drowning.
When the Silver Kingfisher circled to her front and caught sight of her face, Li Ban first found her familiar, then dug through his memories and identified her.
"Lady Kui?"
This female ghost's spirit form actually belonged to Lady Kui, whom Li Ban had once met at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
For the sake of the little tree-folk child Miaomiao she had been raising at the time, Lady Kui had traded the method for cultivating Cyan Silk Algae to Li Ban.
That Cyan Silk Algae had later proven incredibly useful, even serving as the catalyst for Little Cat's advancement to Level 6.
Li Ban had actually wanted to find time to go back and thank Lady Kui. Lending a helping hand to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion would have settled their past karma.
Unfortunately, the Hundred Flowers Pavilion had become involved with Xiao Suo and ultimately perished because of him.
Li Ban didn't know the exact details; he had only heard Priest Zhu Yao mention it in passing.
The deceased were gone.
He had abandoned the thought of going out of his way to visit.
He never expected to see Lady Kui's raw soul beside the River of Helplessness today.
"It's very difficult for an ordinary person's raw soul to leave the River of Helplessness, let alone in this soaking wet state. She obviously harbors a massive obsession."
Li Ban opened his hand and released the Silver Kingfisher once more.
"Go follow Lady Kui's raw soul. Once I've finished things here, I'll go check on her."
Since he had run into her, Li Ban was willing to help Lady Kui resolve her obsession and find peace.
Watching the Silver Kingfisher fly into the mist, Li Ban continued to lead the way for the others.
This time, they moved much faster, arriving at the Eternal Trading Association's storehouse.
Once again, the group had to split up.
Jia Tao, as the extra person, would lead two Level 2 Spirit Cultivator disciples.
However, just as Lu Jiu consciously prepared to go guard the entrance, Qiao Zhen'er spoke up, "Ah De, you guard the door this time."
Both Lu Jiu and Li Ban were startled.
However, Li Ban quickly agreed.
Qiao Zhen'er had likely brought Zhao De along last time, so she wanted to bring Lu Jiu this time.
After all, those responsible for searching could take a larger cut.
They could even secretly pocket a few small items while searching.
Qiao Zhen'er had grown up in a martial hall, so naturally, she didn't care about such trivial matters.
However, Lu Jiu, who was expected to happily agree, refused.
"Master, it's better to let Ah De go searching with you. I'm clumsy, so I should just keep watch at the main gate."
Li Ban looked left and right, remaining silent.
Qiao Zhen'er frowned and said firmly, "If I tell you to follow, you follow. If you're clumsy, learn."
Lu Jiu gave a simple, honest smile and finally followed Qiao Zhen'er.
And so, Li Ban stayed at the main gate to keep watch.
As Spirit Cultivator Shen entered the storehouse, he gave Li Ban a deep look.
Li Ban calmly met his gaze.
The man said nothing and turned away.
The moment everyone entered the storehouse, Li Ban disappeared.
However, in the spot where he had been standing, a figure identical to Ah De immediately appeared.
The figure could even look left and right, putting on the appearance of patrolling diligently.
Meanwhile, the real Li Ban had already arrived behind the storehouse, at the exact spot where he had found the Fluffy Dandelion.
In the clearing where he had dug up the Fluffy Dandelion last time, new shoots had unexpectedly sprouted.
"It really is like a true dandelion, sprouting flowers overnight."
Li Ban flew high into the air and looked down.
Due to the obscuring mist, he could only faintly make out the distribution of the dandelions below.
"These Fluffy Dandelions appear to grow randomly, but there seems to be a boundary line blocking them behind the storehouse. Not a single one has crossed the line."
Normally, dandelions relied on the wind to spread their seeds, drifting wherever the wind blew. How could they drift in a way that formed a boundary line?
Li Ban landed back on the ground.
He turned and walked deeper into the area.
After walking for about two or three hundred meters, he finally spotted writhing humanoid figures in the distance.
As he walked further, he realized that his spiritual rhinoceros had become somewhat sluggish.
"Hmm? Is it impossible to use spiritual rhinoceros deep within the Nihility State?"
He released a tiny cluster of flames from his fingertips.
The moment the flame appeared, it exploded with a sharp bang.
This contradicted the sluggishness of his spiritual rhinoceros.
"Spiritual rhinoceros is sluggish, yet spells become violent. The rules here are chaotic indeed."
It was fortunate that Qiao Zhen'er and the others had never strayed too far from the banks of the River of Helplessness. If they had ventured any deeper, they might not have made it back alive.
Li Ban naturally had nothing to fear, but he didn't use spells so casually anymore, afraid of causing too much of a commotion.
He stepped forward, finally arriving about ten meters away from the writhing figures.
Once he got a clear look at them, Li Ban narrowed his eyes.
Those writhing humanoid figures were actually clumps of mud walking upright.
Their outlines were very similar to a human's, just a bit more swollen.
As they walked, globs of mud fell to the ground, causing their bodies to gradually shrink until they finally collapsed back into puddles of mud.
However, it didn't take long for the mud to slowly pool together due to the uneven terrain. Eventually, new humanoid figures stood up from those puddles.
These figures continued to walk.
They moved in a daze, with no apparent destination.
Li Ban observed for a moment and noticed that these mud creatures seemed to be walking in circles around a central point.
He strode forward, drew his Iron-Eating Sword, walked up to a mud figure, and casually swung.
The mud was cleaved in two.
He had thought the monster was made of nothing but mud, yet a massive amount of red liquid suddenly sprayed out.
It looked exactly like fresh blood.