Yu Ci let out a soft “Oh,” as his expression grew serious.
Even when facing the old monster Tu, the Sinister Yin Demon Binding Curse Talisman Chain hadn’t been so fragile. This outcome didn’t imply that Dragon Fish was far stronger than Tu Du; there had to be another reason.
As the talisman’s power activated, Yu Ci felt it: the Sinister Yin Demon Binding Curse Talisman didn’t fail, but when it seized the spirit and began to pull, it couldn’t budge it!
This was a new phenomenon that Yu Ci had never encountered before.
Talismans each had their specialization. In the categorization of the Celestial Qi Gathering Secret Talisman Manual, the Sinister Yin Demon Binding Curse Talisman belonged to the the Demon Ghost Sealing Script system.
The Yin Demon-Binding Chain it released was formed entirely from Yin Qi and was particularly effective at restraining Yin spirits and demons. However, for living beings with spirits that hadn’t left their bodies, its effect was somewhat weakened. Especially for those with robust bodies and vigorous blood energy, the Sinister Yin Demon Binding Curse Talisman Chain might not even approach their bodies before evaporating entirely.
If Tu Du had first used his Sun Soul Banner as a protective layer, with double-layered defenses, Yu Ci would never have used this talisman, knowing it would be futile.
But Dragon Fish wasn’t like that.
The Sinister Yin Demon Binding Curse Talisman Chain easily penetrated Dragon Fish’s flesh, reaching its spirit. Yet, when it attempted to pull, the spirit and flesh seemed almost fused, inseparable. Capturing the spirit was equivalent to capturing the body itself, and the Sinister Yin Demon Binding Curse Talisman Chain, crafted from Yin Qi, naturally couldn’t move it and was instead broken by a sudden surge of Dragon Fish’s blood and Qi.
Reflecting on how the black poison-snake curse, which targeted spirits and ignited heart fire, had also failed, Yu Ci realized it was likely related to Dragon Fish’s peculiar condition.
This was troublesome.
While Yu Ci was troubled, Dragon Fish was as carefree as ever within the mist. After shattering the Sinister Yin Demon Binding Curse Talisman Chain, it swayed unbothered through the mist, showing no sense of crisis.
Yu Ci, exercising patience, refrained from further action for now, using the Divine Map to keep a close watch, waiting for the right moment.
After meandering for a while, Dragon Fish seemed to grow tired. It picked up its pace slightly, returning to its resting spot.
Yu Ci followed closely with the Divine Map.
It arrived at a dim area around two hundred zhang from the eaves, barely a hundred feet from the black Qi venomous snake’s “Spirit Devour Talisman” mark. Dragon Fish had initially surged forth from here, launching a series of attacks that eradicated the black Qi venomous snake.
Dragon Fish’s resting place was a half-withered, stunted tree. Although no daylight reached this dim region, the plant clung stubbornly to life, with iron-like branches still holding a few dark, narrow leaves.
The Dragon Fish coiled around a side branch, its seven-foot-long body resting in place, remaining utterly still.
Perhaps bare-handed capture would be more suitable?
Having witnessed Dragon Fish’s impressive speed, Yu Ci also noted its remarkably slow reaction, which gave him some confidence. He took out the jade medicinal hoe gifted by Ye Tu, carefully carving footholds along the sheer cliff as he gradually inched closer.
Maintaining silence and stealth was, of course, paramount. Once within about three zhang, he might have a chance… Yu Ci dug into the stone as he watched Dragon Fish and its surroundings intently. So far, he had managed to get within ten zhang, and Dragon Fish still hadn’t reacted. All signs pointed to a promising opportunity.
But then, Yu Ci stopped.
His eyes widened, and only one thought echoed in his mind: “What is going on today?”
With this question in mind, he scrutinized the small tree Dragon Fish was resting on through the Divine Map.
The entire tree was a deep black. It had sparse branches and leaves, no veins on the leaves, milky sap at broken branches with a sweet taste, long and straight roots with bulbous formations, thriving in areas of diminished Yang Qi and abundant Yin Qi, such as the depths of Sky Rift Valley…
A Nether-realm Tree?
This information popped into Yu Ci’s mind suddenly. To confirm, he retrieved the jade slip from Yu Zhou and checked the medicinal details recorded on it, finding they matched what he saw before him perfectly.
The jade slip Yu Zhou gave him contained descriptions of six medicinal materials: Sky Blue Fungus, Mist Dragon Silk, Seven-Noded Jewel Grass, Swallowtail Flower, Ghostly Image Flower, and finally, the root and stem of the Nether-realm Tree…
It had struck him as odd initially—within this dark realm, moss was the most common plant life, with a few unusual grasses here and there, rare as they were. Seeing even a half-dead, stunted tree here was the first of its kind Yu Ci had encountered over several days.
It proved that where abnormalities were large, the rewards were equally significant. Aside from breaking off a branch to confirm the sap’s color, Yu Ci had no reason to doubt his discovery.
The Divine Map revealed it clearly. The Nether-realm Tree’s roots penetrated deep into the cliff face, thin, resilient, extending about a zhang deep into the rock, then vertically down, stretching almost two miles. At the end of these roots, they clustered around an irregular, greenish tuber with a peculiar appearance.
According to the jade slip, this tuber absorbed Yin Qi, channeling it through the roots to the Nether-realm Tree above. The tree then converted it within its trunk, producing a unique secretion on its branches, which aided in refining impurities from living beings’ bodies. This often attracted the strongest local beings to linger nearby, frequently licking the secretion and exchanging Yang Qi to communicate with it, substituting for sunlight and forming a mutual benefit.
Now, it seemed that this Nether-realm Tree attracted Dragon Fish.
“Fortune, fortune!”
Yu Ci hadn’t expected that the two rare treasures he had been tirelessly searching for over the past days would appear before him in such a dramatic way, almost dream-like in its unreality.
But he certainly wouldn’t let such a treasure slip by like a mere dream.
He paused his work. Originally, he hadn’t factored in this tree; it was easy to imagine that if the Dragon Fish lunged forward, it might directly snap the tree in half. Heaven knows what kind of impact that would have on the tree’s roots.
After all, he had been entrusted with this responsibility, and Yu Ci didn’t want any mishaps at the last moment.
He glanced at the Dragon Fish again. It was still coiled around the tree branches, seemingly fast asleep. Without further hesitation, Yu Ci, relying on the Divine Map, slid down two li, locating the Nether-realm Tree’s root.
The process went smoothly; no one came to disturb him. He used a medicinal hoe to split the cliffside and employed the root-cutting technique from the jade slip to gather the Yin Qi from the tubers. He successfully harvested them and placed them in a prepared silk pouch.
With the roots securely in hand, Yu Ci let out a long breath. It was only then, after descending another two li, that he noticed the Yin Qi in Sky Rift Valley had grown denser. Apart from the green light radiating from the Divine Map, he couldn’t see his hand in front of him. The wind that blew carried mist, forming different shapes with countless black threads interwoven within. Except for the occasional insect calls, the place was eerily silent, as though it were a ghostly realm.
However, the local demons and monsters were conspicuously scarce. Having grown accustomed to scenes of night-walking demons, the eerie tranquility made Yu Ci feel slightly uneasy.
Breathing warm air, Yu Ci placed the silk pouch into his Storage Ring. By now, he had already secured the Ghostly Image Flower and two of the six medicinal ingredients recorded on the jade slip. The progress was promising. He clenched his fists silently in a gesture of celebration.
Without truly seeking these ingredients himself, one could hardly imagine the difficulties of the process. Although the jade slip described each ingredient’s properties, possible locations, surrounding environment, and any guarding venomous creatures or monsters in great detail, Sky Rift Valley was vast. Even places that matched the description had thousands of potential sites, not to mention certain extremely dangerous areas he couldn’t yet access.
He had always doubted Yu Zhou’s reason for entrusting him with this task, but he was more than willing to repay the favor in this way, and he felt that way to this day.
At this moment, he looked at the Divine Map again and paused slightly. Above, on the branches of the Nether-realm Tree, the Dragon Fish seemed to sense something, lifting half of its coiled body to survey its surroundings before springing from the branch and turning downward.
“Did it notice right after I dug up the roots?”
Yu Ci speculated that the Dragon Fish might be highly sensitive to the “food” it needed most. Whether it was the Yin Spirit of the suspected black Qi venomous snake or the Nether-realm Tree’s roots he just harvested, the Dragon Fish always reacted swiftly, in stark contrast to its usual sluggish demeanor.
However, if the Dragon Fish was diving down, wouldn’t that align with his intentions?
As this thought crossed his mind, the Dragon Fish’s body broke through the mist, diving straight down.
He smiled slightly and had already raised the Pure Yang Talisman Sword, but instead of igniting its flame blade, he met the Dragon Fish’s charge with the wooden sword body.
With a muffled “thud,” the Dragon Fish rebounded, hovering two zhang away, shaking its head as if disoriented. The impact reverberated up Yu Ci’s arm, all the way to his shoulder, leaving his entire arm slightly numb. Given the Dragon Fish’s size, its impact force was considerable, though it was not intimidating.
To be cautious, Yu Ci kept the Heart-Binding Horn in his mouth, which should guard against the Dragon Fish’s apparent spirit-absorbing technique.
He was prepared for a second counterattack, but surprisingly, the Dragon Fish, upon realizing it couldn’t win, turned to flee. Yu Ci reacted quickly, pouncing forward, but his speed was no match for the Dragon Fish. As he moved, the Dragon Fish’s long body slipped into a narrow fissure in the cliff wall, a hundred zhang away, disappearing from sight.
Yu Ci wasn’t in a hurry. He climbed slowly, observing the Divine Map, which showed it was a dead end inside, only about five zhang deep and ten or so zhang high. The Dragon Fish was still there, swaying gently. But…
What was that place next to it?
In the Divine Map, he saw the Dragon Fish wriggling a few times, slipping through a tiny gap in the fissure to reach a suddenly expanded space beside it. How large was this expanded area?
As large as the main hall in the Inner Courtyard of the Heart Prohibition Temple, where the Three Pure Ones were enshrined!
This space was almost pitch dark. Even in the Divine Map, the light was dim, and it lacked clear contrast.
Yu Ci hadn’t noticed it before, but there was a vast area behind the cliff wall.
The Dragon Fish, with its apparent limited intelligence, seemed to forget the threat behind it upon finding this spacious area, joyfully swaying its head and tail as it frolicked inside.
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