Wind Source Cavern, First Glimpse of the Ghost Orchid

The team advanced through deathly silence, accompanied only by the crunch of footsteps on shattered stones and the increasingly sharp, mournful howls of the yin wind.

After the Yin Wind Wolves' attack, the guards wore even graver expressions. Their hands never left their weapons, true qi circulating at all times as they vigilantly swept their eyes over every inch of darkness. Su Lie followed several steps behind Lin Chen, his gaze constantly shifting between Lin Chen's back and their surroundings, not daring to let down his guard in the slightest.

They were proceeding along an even narrower passage that sloped downward. The black rock walls on either side seemed as though they had been dyed with ink. Their smooth surfaces reflected a cold, dim gleam, while their rougher sections were covered in deeper, denser marks carved by the wind. The frigid power in the air had nearly solidified into substance. The guards' true qi barriers were visibly draining faster in this environment; sweat had already formed on many foreheads, only to be swiftly frozen by the cold.

Lin Chen's pace remained steady.

The Myriad Dao Furnace slowly revolved within him, actively drawing in the pure yin wind energy around him. He could clearly sense that the deeper they went, the more condensed the yin wind energy became. Though it was still violent, it seemed to contain less of the chaotic impurities that had permeated the entire ravine passage before, and more of the purity of its source.

His spiritual perception spread outward, carefully sensing the flow of energy. The residual fluctuations from the energy cores of the Yin Wind Wolves he had slain were like faint beacons, guiding him in a general direction.

Not far ahead, the passage suddenly opened up into a relatively spacious underground cavern.

The cavern was not particularly large, spanning roughly a hundred zhang. More than a dozen holes and fissures of varying sizes were clearly visible in the surrounding rock walls, resembling a honeycomb. Dense, almost liquid black yin wind continuously poured from these openings, gathering at the center of the cavern to form a small black whirlwind before spreading outward through the passage.

This was clearly the nest where the Yin Wind Wolves lurked, as well as one source of the yin wind energy in the area.

Broken bones lay scattered across the cavern floor, grayish-white in color. Whether they had belonged to some demonic beast or humans who had wandered in by mistake, no one knew. They added another touch of real cruelty to this land of death.

At the sight, the guards involuntarily halted, staring tensely at those pitch-black holes, afraid that packs of Yin Wind Wolves would come rushing out again.

Su Lie's heart also tightened as he was about to warn Lin Chen to be careful.

But then he realized that Lin Chen's gaze had not lingered at all on the holes that were clearly wolf dens.

Lin Chen slightly raised his head, his gaze passing over those holes and settling on an inconspicuous recessed crack near one side of the cavern ceiling.

The light there was exceedingly dim, nearly blending into the surrounding shadows. The crack ran deep; from below, all that could be seen was utter blackness.

Yet within Lin Chen's spiritual perception, deep in that darkest patch, wrapped in an extremely concealed current of yin wind, was an entirely different energy fluctuation.

The fluctuation was extremely faint and carried an unusual rhythm of life, like a candle guttering in the wind, yet stubbornly enduring. It cleverly used the dense yin wind around it as cover. Had Lin Chen's senses not far surpassed those of ordinary people, and had the Myriad Dao Furnace not been exceptionally sensitive to all manner of energy fluctuations, it would have been nearly impossible to discover its existence.

Is that it?

Lin Chen's heart stirred. The Purple Cloud Mushroom he needed was said to grow in places of extreme yin, capable of absorbing yin baleful power. Its exterior was a deep violet, and when mature, it emitted a faint cloud-like aura. Though it was too far away to make out its exact appearance, that distinctive energy fluctuation—life force concealed amid freezing yin—made it highly likely.

He gestured for the team to remain where they were and not approach the center of the cavern.

Then he alone walked slowly toward the cavern.

The dense yin wind pouring from the holes was, just as before, drawn, broken down, and absorbed by an invisible force as he approached. As though entering uninhabited territory, he went straight to the spot beneath the rock crack.

He stopped and looked up at the dark recess.

The yin wind inside the cavern was even more violent, whipping his robes until they fluttered loudly, yet his body stood as steady as a boulder.

Su Lie and the others watched from behind, their hearts in their throats. They could not understand what this lord intended to do. Aside from rocks and stronger winds, there appeared to be nothing there.

Lin Chen did not go up immediately.

He could sense that whatever lay in the rock crack seemed to be protected by some natural restriction—or perhaps an energy field—which maintained a delicate balance with the surrounding yin wind. Recklessly disrupting it might trigger unforeseeable consequences, perhaps even destroy the target.

He raised his right hand, his five fingers slightly spread.

He cautiously guided out the power of the Myriad Dao Furnace—not to devour, but to imitate. He tried to mimic the frequency of the surrounding yin wind's energy fluctuations, then sent a thread of his own exceedingly faint, probing energy upward toward the rock crack, slowly and gently, like invisible feelers.

He first needed to confirm whether there truly was a Purple Cloud Mushroom inside.

That strand of energy Lin Chen had cautiously sent forth, mimicking the fluctuations of the yin wind, was like an invisible thread as it silently slipped into the deep rock crack at the cavern ceiling.

Almost the instant it touched the unusual area in the deepest part of the crack, a faint yet exceptionally clear sensation of rejection swiftly traveled back along the energy thread to Lin Chen's fingertips. The repelling force was not violent. Instead, it possessed a naturally formed resilience, like a plant's instinctive self-protection. Mixed within it was the clear, ethereal aura unique to vegetation, yet it had perfectly fused with the extreme cold and baleful yin wind energy of this place, creating a strange balance.

Lin Chen's fingertips paused almost imperceptibly.

That's it.

The unique energy structure fed back to him, along with the faint glimmer of deep violet light he had vaguely caught in his energy perception, hidden in the depths of the shadows, perfectly matched everything he knew about the Purple Cloud Mushroom. Its quality was even better than he had anticipated; the life force hidden within its icy yin was more condensed and pure.

His energy feelers attempted to probe a little deeper, seeking a clearer sense of the Purple Cloud Mushroom's quantity and exact condition.

However, at that moment, an abrupt change occurred.

It was neither a guardian demonic beast lunging out as expected, nor some earthshaking eruption of energy. Rather, the dense yin wind that had originally flowed freely around the crack's entrance suddenly froze without warning!

It was as if time itself had been frozen within that small area.

A transparent membrane, invisible to the naked eye and composed entirely of highly compressed frigid yin energy, instantly formed over the crack's entrance. Deeper black energy nodes faintly flickered across the membrane in silence, like some naturally formed rune restriction. It radiated bone-piercing cold and completely cut off Lin Chen's energy probe.

At the same time, behind that energy membrane, in the deepest part of the rock crack, beside the deep violet glow he had sensed earlier, a darker glimmer slowly gathered and lit up. It writhed, transforming into an exceptionally blurry, nearly translucent slender serpent silhouette formed entirely of frigid yin energy. The serpent shadow coiled there silently, its pair of "eyes" condensed from dim light coldly "watching" beyond the crack, emanating a pure guardian intent devoid of any emotion belonging to a living creature.

A natural restriction, and an accompanying energy guardian spirit.