Yin Souls, Poison Bees, Bone Lions (Seeking Votes)

This discussion lasted nearly three months, not far off Wang Yu's estimated time. The Bone Ship was actually faster than a Qi Refining Cultivator, but after leaving the sect, Gu Zheng Shun had stopped using Spirit Stones to charge it.

Instead, he had the many disciples under his command take turns. Wang Yu also got to experience controlling the Bone Ship. It was not much different from riding a boat in his previous life—except this one sailed through the sky.

Once outside the sect, there was no need to puff himself up to save face. He, too, felt the pinch of Spirit Stone expenses; there was no need to waste them on traveling.

Thus, at the end of March in the third year of Wang Yu's Outer Sect life, the group finally reached [Profound Bone Mountain]. Its terrain was completely different from what Wang Yu had imagined.

These were three enormous mountains shaped like giant atriums. They had undergone extensive artificial carving and were hollow in the middle, at least several thousand meters tall. Every level was designed with openwork gaps, supported by only a few dozen pillars.

From afar, they resembled towering stone pagodas.

White Bone Wood grew between the levels. The tallest stood only six meters high, while each floor was around ten meters tall. Each atrium mountain had roughly three hundred floors.

This was a deliberately altered cultivation method created after remodeling.

Crude Stone Houses and wooden houses were distributed evenly across every floor. Several stone halls stood on both the lowest and highest levels, with the Blood Demon Banners of the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect erected upon them, proclaiming its sovereignty.

Between the three Profound Bone Mountains was a large-scale camp capable of housing a thousand people. The terrain was almost devoid of vegetation, the land barren and desolate. Numerous low hills with exposed rock encircled the area.

A faint stench of corpses hung in the air~

"We're finally here!"

Gu Zheng Shun spoke with some excitement.

Their group from [Heavenly Corpse Peak] was still the last to arrive, even though they had not stopped at either the main city of Night Jade Province or the main city of Feng Province along the way.

The other two Mountain Masters had already chosen their mountains and were directing their subordinates to take over the old formations and set up new ones.

Of the three Profound Bone Mountains, the one remaining was the mountain on the far right.

This cylindrical, atrium-style mountain had the fewest Profound Bone Woods planted upon it. They stood sparse and scattered, clearly unable to amount to much. Gu Zheng Shun did not mind in the slightest. He immediately controlled the Bone Ship to land at the bottom and commanded, "Go count how many Profound Bone Woods there are. You, and you, inspect the [Gathering Yin Formation], [Soul Absorption Formation], and [Bone Wood Spirit Nurturing Formation].

"You, set up the Formation Flags I brought and bury the corpses."

As orders were issued one after another, everyone quickly busied themselves. Though demonic cultivators were skilled at murder and arson, that was merely one of their traits.

Their supposed refusal to engage in production did not mean they completely neglected resource output. When they were not at war with the righteous path, they produced resources as well. They simply were not as skilled at managing them as the righteous path.

Most of these Profound Bone Woods were First Tier Yin Wood, though a small number had reached the Second Tier. They were greatly beneficial to Armor Corpses, Sha Corpses, and Yin Souls alike.

Thus, it was perfectly normal for both Heavenly Corpse Peak and Five Yin Peak to come here.

As for Poison Gu Peak, it had come for something else.

With nothing to do, Wang Yu basically wandered aimlessly through the layers of Bone Wood Forest, mainly checking whether white Bone Sacs protruded from the tops of the Bone Woods.

Some Bone Woods that had reached the right age would grow Profound Essence Flowers.

They could Purify Spiritual Power, helping Qi Refining Cultivators cross bottlenecks and swiftly complete their second and third Spirit Refining.

Second Tier Profound Essence Flowers could even offer some assistance in breaking through to Foundation Establishment. If one could seize several more plants, passing the True Essence Barrier, one of the three Foundation Establishment trials, would pose no difficulty at all.

This was Gu Zheng Shun's true reason for coming here.

Breaking through to the Qi Refining Late Stage, even condensing spiritual power into a Semi-liquid state that could be converted into True Essence at any time—he had come for this alone, spending five years pursuing it!

Situ Hong was likely after much the same thing.

There were actually many treasures that could assist in passing the "True Essence Barrier." The High-grade Foundation Establishment Pill possessed this effect as well.

Therefore, the resources of Profound Bone Mountain were chicken ribs to True Disciples—tasteless to eat, yet a pity to discard. Some Inner Disciples with deep backgrounds did not think much of them either.

But to Inner Disciples like Situ Hong and Gu Zheng Shun, neither high nor low, they were exceptionally alluring.

Profound Essence Flowers bloomed once every three years. It was now the end of December, and the flowering season had long passed. They would have to wait until late spring or early summer next year for the next blooming season.

Bone Woods that had already flowered needed three years to settle and accumulate the foundation needed to bloom again. Wang Yu's recording of the plants with Bone Sacs was not without purpose.

He was laying the groundwork for future harvests.

The higher one climbed this Profound Bone Pagoda Mountain, the colder and more yin-laden it became. Even the wind seemed to have turned black, and shadows occasionally flashed through the sparse Bone Wood Forest.

Those were the proper "farmers" of this place.

According to the intelligence, these things were Earthbound Spirits, existing in a symbiotic relationship with the Bone Woods. They could protect the Bone Woods within a certain range from all kinds of harm.

It was said that they had once been the original clan of Profound Bone Mountain. After the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect slaughtered their entire family, they had then been refined into "Yin Soul Farmers." This was the production method of the Demonic Path.

Bloody, cruel, utterly devoid of humanity!

Situ Hong of Five Yin Peak had come here not only for the Profound Essence Flowers, but also for the environment suited to Yin Soul cultivation. Letting the Ghost Slaves he raised coexist with Bone Woods for five years was about as effective as cultivating them himself—the main point being that it cost no Spirit Stones.

If they could coexist with Second Tier Bone Wood, the effect would far exceed ordinary cultivation investments. It would yield twice the result with half the effort, and they might even master a special technique.

As for Liu Jin Xian of Poison Gu Peak, there was a High probability that she had come for one of Profound Bone Mountain's natural disasters!

When Wang Yu reached the two-hundredth floor, a dense buzzing suddenly filled his ears.

Focusing his gaze, he saw a vast, flat beehive resembling a cluster of lingzhi hanging from a towering Second Tier Bone Wood surrounded by the Bone Wood Forest.

Huge bees with gray bodies, bone-like patterns, and heads resembling avian skulls prowled about it. These were one of Profound Bone Mountain's disasters—the [Rotting Poison Bee Swarm]!

In their natural state, they counted as First Tier Peak Stage strange insects. Once they formed a swarm, even Foundation Establishment Cultivators did not dare test their edge. They were also natural materials for refining Gu insects.

The rotting poison they secreted had a corrosive effect that restrained all kinds of spirit metals. It was an excellent weapon against cultivators' Magical Artifacts, enough to serve as a Qi Refining Cultivator's trump card and remain useful even after Foundation Establishment.

Its practicality was extremely high. A trip here for the Rotting Poison Bees and Profound Essence Flowers was absolutely worth it.

After investigating it, Wang Yu merely marked its location. He controlled the Flying Magical Artifact Black Silk to circle around it from the outside and continued upward.

The Rotting Poison Bee Swarm fed on Bone Wood sap and adored the nectar of Profound Essence Flowers, but it was only one of Profound Bone Mountain's troubles.

The second disaster was a Demon Beast.

Named—the [Ferocious Bone Lion]!

These Demon Beasts generally lived alone. They treated Second Tier Bone Woods as their territories, digging caves beneath them for nests and feeding on the Bone Woods. This Yin Wood strengthened their bodies and increased the length of the bone spines on their backs.

It was said to benefit propagation, attracting the favor of female Ferocious Bone Lions.

There were basically none on the lower floors, but above the two-hundredth floor, every level had two or three. Nearly all possessed First Tier Peak Stage strength, making them difficult to handle.

After making his way through the mountain,

this Profound Bone Mountain not only had the fewest Bone Woods, but also the greatest number of Ferocious Bone Lions entrenched within it. It was a hard bone to chew—no wonder it had been tossed to Gu Zheng Shun.