Your Spell Version is Too Low!

The strong prey on the weak. This was the fundamental principle of Heaven and Earth.

It was an "honor" for these ants to contribute to his, Wu Yushan’s, recovery.

At this moment, inside the cave.

Wu Yushan slowly opened his palm. In its center, a faint but pure wisp of blood-red Essence Qi was slowly spinning.

This was the last bit of essence he had refined from those villagers.

He opened his mouth and inhaled it.

A faint warm current spread through him, temporarily suppressing the bone-gnawing pain in his meridians.

The vast "emptiness" in his Purple Mansion seemed to have been filled by a negligible sliver.

But it was a drop in the ocean.

This was merely drinking poison to quench his thirst.

The blood qi of mortals was messy and impure, far less nourishing than a Cultivator’s Primordial Yang or essence soul.

Moreover, this primitive and brutal method of plunder would worsen his own karma and Heart Demons.

It was extremely detrimental to his long-term cultivation.

But right now, he couldn’t afford to care about that.

’I must... find more... Cultivator blood essence... soon...’ Wu Yushan panted, his eyes glinting with malice as he schemed.

’Perhaps I could risk going after smaller, nearby Cultivation Families or lone Loose Cultivators...’

Just as his Heart and Spirit relaxed slightly and he focused on the faint recovery within his body...

An extremely subtle, yet sharply perceptive fluctuation of Divine Sense swept past the crude Blinding Skill he had deployed like a gentle, unnoticed breeze.

Although the Divine Sense retracted the instant it made contact, so quickly it could have been mistaken for an illusion.

But Wu Yushan was a Great Perfection Qi Refining Cultivator, after all.

Even heavily injured, his perception was still far beyond that of an ordinary Cultivator!

His entire body stiffened as if doused with ice water, and all his thoughts froze in an instant.

’Someone’s here!’

’And their Divine Sense is condensed and powerful. This is no ordinary passerby!’

’An enemy?’

’Or a friend?’

He forcibly suppressed his roiling qi and blood, concealing his aura to the absolute limit until he was like a weathered rock or deadwood, his heartbeat nearly ceasing.

’Who is it?’

’Did Situ Huaji catch up to me?’

’Or... is it some passing Loose Cultivator?’

...

On the cliff above, Qi Yun retracted his probing strand of Divine Sense, a playful smirk slowly forming on his lips.

’It really is you, Wu Yushan... A walking treasure trove.’

’A Great Perfection Qi Refining Cultivator!’

’Never mind the secret treasures and accumulated wealth of the Yellow Springs Netherworld that must be hidden in his Storage Magical Artifact.’

’Just his Cultivation Foundation at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining alone...’

’If the White Bone Skeleton’s Devouring Essence divine ability could completely devour it...’

’The benefits would be immeasurable.’

’Not to mention, as a Steward of the Ghost Wail Collection, I might be able to torture secrets out of him about the Yellow Springs Netherworld and that "Foundation Establishment Object".’

The immense temptation coiled around Qi Yun’s heart like a venomous snake.

But his reason immediately suppressed this greed.

An emaciated camel is still bigger than a horse.

For Wu Yushan to be considered an opponent by Situ Huaji, his methods and cunning were certainly not to be underestimated.

Even injured as he was, who could guarantee that a Great Perfection Qi Refining Cultivator didn’t have a trump card for a desperate, final, mutually destructive strike?

’I just broke through to the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining, and my Realm hasn’t fully stabilized yet.’

’Rashly confronting an old monster like him is extremely risky.’

With one misstep, the roles of hunter and prey could be reversed in an instant.

’A direct confrontation is the worst strategy...’ Qi Yun’s eyes flickered, his mind racing.

’I have to use others’ strength to strike. Let someone else test the waters first.’

In this Northwest Territory, there was no shortage of factions that either hated the Yellow Springs Netherworld to the bone or simply coveted its wealth.

At this thought, Qi Yun’s figure flickered, and he silently departed from the cliff.

He didn’t head directly for Black Wind Ravine, but in the opposite direction.

He sped toward an area where he had previously detected possible signs of Cultivator activity with his Thousand Crane Talisman.

「Several hours later」

Outside a desolate valley filled with the faint smell of sulfur, Qi Yun concealed his presence, his gaze locking onto a small team of Cultivators preparing to enter the valley to gather Earth Fire Stones.

Their attire belonged neither to the Yellow Springs Netherworld nor the Holy Sect.

Instead, they were from a small Cultivation Family affiliated with one of the Heterodox Sects.

He waited patiently until a scout from the team separated from the main group to relieve himself in a secluded spot—

WHOOSH!

An extremely fine, almost imperceptible strand of Nanming Demon Fire Sword Qi, wrapped around a wisp of soil taken from outside Wu Yushan’s hiding place that carried his unique Yin Evil Qi...

...shot like a phantom toward the rock next to the scout.

PFFT! With a soft sound, a small hole was bored through the rock, and the wisp of Wu Yushan’s Yin Evil Qi instantly spread out.

The scout jumped in fright, nearly collapsing to the ground. He hastily pulled up his pants and looked around warily, but discovered nothing.

However, he keenly sensed the residual, pure, and chilling Evil Qi in the air.

"This... This is..." The scout’s expression changed.

Though his Cultivation was not high, he was still knowledgeable.

This aura was not something an ordinary Ghost Cultivator could possess. It carried a heart-pounding sense of majesty, yet it also seemed...

’...somewhat weak and unstable?’

His eyes darted around. Not daring to delay, he quickly ran back to his team to report to the family Elder leading them.

Qi Yun repeated the process.

Over the next day, he moved like a phantom, roaming the area within a hundred-li radius centered on Wu Yushan’s hiding place.

Sometimes he would "accidentally" let a trace of Wu Yushan’s aura mix with the bursting blood qi of a Low Tier Demon Beast he had slain.

Other times, he would disguise himself as a panicked Loose Cultivator and, as if "letting it slip while drunk," mention sensing the fluctuations of a powerful, injured Yin Soul in some remote mountain hollow...

At times, he even used Abyssal Iron Sand to leave crude traces in inconspicuous places, mimicking the Arrays that High Tier Cultivators of the Yellow Springs Netherworld might set up while healing...

His methods were masterful and meticulous.

Every "leak" of information seemed accidental, yet was perfectly plausible.

It would never make anyone suspect they were being intentionally guided.

After a few days, he had successfully packaged Wu Yushan’s existence into that of a "fat sheep"—a heavily injured target carrying great treasures, trying to recover his Primordial Qi in secret.

The news, like a stone tossed into a still lake, began to spread in silent ripples.

The first to catch the scent were several nearby minor factions who held long-standing grudges against the Yellow Springs Netherworld, as well as some Loose Cultivator gangs that specialized in murder and robbery.

Even just the remnant aura of Wu Yushan’s Great Perfection Qi Refining Cultivation foundation was enough for these people to judge the target’s "value."

Greed soon overcame caution.

Not to mention that many among them were desperadoes who lived with their heads on the line.

「Several days later」

The remote mountain hollow where Wu Yushan was hiding began to grow "lively."

Figures, some hidden and some in the open, gathered silently from all directions like hyenas drawn to the smell of rotting flesh.

They were wary and guarded against one another, yet they all tacitly fixed their gazes on the cave concealed by the crude Blinding Skill.

Inside the cave, Wu Yushan’s expression grew uglier by the day. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

He could clearly sense that the probing Divine Senses around his hiding place were growing more numerous and more brazen.

’Damn it! How was I exposed?!’ He was both shocked and furious, a strong sense of unease welling up inside him.

’I was sure I’d hidden myself carefully enough.’

’Unless a Cultivator of the same Realm was searching for me personally, I should have been impossible to find.’

’Was it a coincidence?’

’Or... did someone set this up intentionally?’

There was no time to think it through!

BOOM!

The first probing attack landed violently.

A blazing Fire Talisman bombarded the Blinding Skill at the cave’s entrance.

It triggered a violent ripple.

"Friend inside, what kind of hero hides away? Come out and see us!" a coarse voice boomed from outside, laced with undisguised greed.

Wu Yushan’s eyes instantly turned venomous.

Trouble had come knocking.

Meanwhile, dozens of li away on a cloud-wreathed mountain peak, Qi Yun sat cross-legged at his leisure.

Dozens of Thousand Crane Talismans were already densely scattered around the mountain hollow, transmitting the clearest real-time images.

A serene smile played on his lips, like an angler sitting calmly by a pond.

’Go on, fight... Let me see just how many trump cards this Great Perfection Qi Refining Cultivator has left to play.’

...