In a dazed state, unsure how much time had passed, Yu Ci’s head made a “thump” sound, as if the little hammer had struck again, jolting him out of his confused state. When he opened his eyes, the daylight was already bright. The scene of traveling by moonlight and observing the vast sea of stars still seemed to be in front of him. However, the more he recalled, the more hazy and dreamlike it felt.
Closing his eyes to observe internally, his entire body felt clean and unblemished, with his organs flexible and strong. At a mere thought, true Qi surged like a tide, and with another thought, it transformed into a gentle flow, like a spring breeze.
There was no doubt that Yu Ci’s cultivation had progressed, his physical state was unprecedentedly good, and his control over true Qi was more effortless than ever before.
But, had he missed something?
In Yu Ci’s view, leaping to the Divine Connectivity realm should be a crucial step in his cultivation journey. It should represent unparalleled evolution from inside out, from body to spirit. Otherwise, how could one distinguish between a cultivator and an ordinary person?
Up to this point, aside from the differentiation of divine intent in his soul, Yu Ci hadn’t noticed the earth-shattering changes he had expected. Perhaps the divine wandering by moonlight last night counted, but it was too mysterious, making it feel unreal.
Moreover, there was a more serious problem ahead.
Cultivation in the Divine Connectivity realm was vastly different from the “Three Mortal Obstacles” of the mortal realm. He remembered Immortal Chiyin once saying that below the Divine Connectivity realm, all cultivation methods were acquired. To continue progressing in the Divine Connectivity realm, one must have a unique method to transition from acquired to innate methods, or abandon previous methods to directly cultivate innate ones.
The so-called innate methods were precisely the “Longevity Techniques” monopolized by cultivators. However, Yu Ci couldn’t find the legendary “Longevity Techniques,” nor did he know the key to transitioning the “Nine Palace Moonlight Returning True Method” from acquired to innate. He was completely lost about how to proceed next.
Of course, he wasn’t discouraged. Over the twelve years of solitary cultivation, he had encountered countless similar situations. As a rogue cultivator, without a teacher’s guidance or an expert’s direction, and naturally without theoretical concepts, he could only explore on his own until he hit a dead end and had to turn back.
He had grown accustomed to it.
Yu Ci pondered, wanting to continue his thoughts, but sounds were coming from the surrounding pine forest, growing louder.
Annoyed, he looked up. Suddenly, the ground shook, as if the entire mountain was trembling. From his position, he could see birds in the forest startled into flight. Not just in one area, but birds from half of the mountain forest rose, forming a black cloud overhead, their buzzing and chirping nearly bursting his eardrums.
What could cause such an effect?
Yu Ci gathered his thoughts, cautiously lowering his body and peering down from the edge of the hollow.
From this angle, he couldn’t see the details in the forest, but a gust of mountain wind carried a strange, fishy odor to him. It was unfamiliar because it didn’t match the usual scent of plants and animals in the forest. The pungent smell immediately made Yu Ci uneasy, sensing that whatever emitted this scent was unlikely to be benign.
The birds circling above the forest seemed to confirm this.
As he was thinking, a scream came from below, sharp enough to echo through the mountains and temporarily drown out the birds’ noise. Yu Ci sensed the intense fear and death in the scream, knowing someone below had met their end.
Perhaps the scream was too loud, for after it ended, an unusual silence fell over the forest. Of course, it could also be Yu Ci’s illusion. However, he also sensed that while the birds’ noise hadn’t ceased, it felt like everything in the forest had ended, and the creature emitting the fishy odor was moving away.
After nearly half a quarter-hour, the cloud of birds above the mountain forest finally descended. Yu Ci didn’t delay, flipping out of the hollow where he was hiding and leaping downward.
The mountain wind carried a faint scent of blood, mixed with a strong smell of burning. Guided by this, Yu Ci navigated through the branches and leaves, and soon arrived near the scene of the incident. To his surprise, there were already people there, numbering seven or eight.
However, these people were clearly distracted.
Yu Ci walked straight over, deliberately making his footsteps heavier, but he still didn’t attract their attention. It wasn’t until he lightly coughed that someone turned around and assumed a defensive posture. Subsequently, the group turned and became highly vigilant. Their reaction was somewhat excessive.
From the speed at which they mobilized their Qi and blood, it was clear that these people were, at most, at the Qi Breathing level, not very dangerous. They appeared to be ordinary herb gatherers.
Seeing Yu Ci was alone, with traces of fire damage on his body and looking somewhat disheveled, the herb gatherers’ vigilance naturally diminished. Yu Ci stepped forward, introducing himself as a rogue cultivator who came to gather herbs and was drawn by the noise.
“It’s a monster!”
This was the herb gatherers’ reply. As they spoke, they still seemed fearful, their eyes unconsciously glancing towards the depths of the forest, while trying to keep their distance.
A monster? Thinking about the pungent fishy smell, Yu Ci started to believe it.
After spending four months around Sky Rift Valley, he had learned that the fraudster Xuan Qing’s words weren’t entirely unreliable. He often heard rumors of fierce creatures living in the deep, misty layers of Sky Rift Valley. These creatures formed their own world, each one cruel and murderous, though they rarely ventured into the upper parts of Sky Rift Valley. However, if someone provoked them, these fierce beasts would relentlessly pursue until they killed their target.
However, rather than calling them monsters, Yu Ci preferred to refer to them as fierce beasts, which matched his understanding better.
Yu Ci also asked about the appearance of these fierce beasts, but the herb gatherers were vague. They all said the beasts were too fast to see clearly. They only knew the beasts were huge, could ride the clouds and mist, and control lightning and fire, appearing very demonic.
Riding the clouds and mist? Controlling lightning and fire? Yu Ci found it hard to understand, but he saw that behind the herb gatherers lay a corpse. Glancing through the human wall, he saw the person had died horribly, likely at the hands of the “monster.”
“Was he your companion?”
To this sudden question, some nodded, others shook their heads.
Yu Ci smiled. He had noticed earlier that two herb gatherers had just stood up from beside the corpse, stuffing something into their clothes. That was probably the reason.
He had no intention of taking from the dead, nor did he care what the herb gatherers thought. He said “Excuse me,” and stepped forward to observe. Among the herb gatherers, some moved aside, some were reluctant, and one even harbored murderous intent.
At that moment, Yu Ci glanced at the person with murderous intent.
He accurately captured the target because at that moment, a light lit up above his forehead.
For Yu Ci, the sensation was very strange. With a thought, his forehead suddenly heated up, and it seemed a light rose, igniting a small flame atop his head. It looked as if it would blow out with a gust of wind, yet it illuminated the void. The light seemed to have a mind of its own, shining on the target, and his Qi adjusted to a state ready for action. Once moved, it would be a powerful strike.
Everyone’s expressions changed.
The herb gatherers’ faces changed not because of Yu Ci’s sudden shift in demeanor, but because they suddenly felt that the delicate-looking young man in front of them seemed to grow taller and broader in an instant. His refined face turned somewhat ferocious, and he appeared to look down on them from above.
However, upon closer inspection, the person was still the same. He hadn’t grown taller or bigger, and his face showed no ferocity, but the aura he emitted was incomparably intimidating.
Among the herb gatherers, one man’s legs suddenly went weak, causing him to sit down hard on the ground.
This was the very man who had harbored malicious intent. He was short and stout, known for his bravery and ruthlessness. He had taken advantage of the chaos to grab some benefits but feared that the pale-faced Daoist might spread word after leaving, bringing trouble upon them. Therefore, he had secretly drawn a knife, intending to call his companions to finish off the Daoist.
But before he could act, the Daoist suddenly turned, his gaze pinning him down like a knife, cutting into his heart and emptying his chest! He almost couldn’t catch his breath and nearly passed out.
Seeing their companion collapse, the other herb gatherers were all shocked. Their reactions varied: some drew their weapons, while others stepped back. The seven or eight of them each had different responses, causing the forest’s atmosphere to tense and descend into chaos. Of course, this was only from the herb gatherers’ perspective.
Yu Ci couldn’t help but laugh at the chaotic reaction of this motley crew.
He was in a good mood. That piercing gaze was not intentional but rather a spontaneous reaction of his spirit. The recently ignited “lamp,” something he hadn’t experienced in his previous cultivation, seemed to be a unique change related to his spirit after achieving Divine Connectivity. He would need to study it further in the future.
Keeping this in mind, he decided to address the immediate issue. Without saying another word, and with the intimidation of having just scared one person into paralysis, he strode towards the corpse, squatted down, and began examining it.
None of the herb gatherers dared to make a move.
Seeing the condition of the corpse up close, even Yu Ci, who considered himself quite courageous, felt a chill run down his neck. The man’s face had been completely smashed, and not just his faceāthere wasn’t a single intact bone from his head to his upper body. A slight touch made his flesh and skin feel mushy, clearly the result of immense external force.
From the posture of the corpse, Yu Ci deduced that the person had been struck with great force. He quickly identified the direction from which the body had been hurled.
Looking from his position, he saw a pine tree nearby that had been snapped in half, only held up by neighboring trees. Through the gap left by the broken tree, he could imagine how the fierce beast had struck the person, sending him crashing into the pine tree before falling to his death here.
This also solved an earlier puzzle. No wonder he hadn’t found signs of a fierce battle and felt that the beast’s scent was too faint here. This wasn’t the primary battlefieldāthe real fight had occurred deeper in the forest.
Yu Ci noted the location and then looked back at the body. What caught his attention was that, despite the fighting and the herb gatherers’ rummaging, the man’s clothing, though disheveled, felt both soft and tough when he pinched the fabric. It seemed quite valuable.
Such a person didn’t seem like an herb gatherer!