Jiang Liu walked along the mountain range and soon saw a river. He wondered if this was the upper reaches of the river he had encountered before. He still felt lingering fear when he thought of the small island he had met earlier.
Jiang Liu followed the river downstream, and after walking only a mile or two, a huge deep pool appeared before him. In the pool, there were two eighth-rank Exotic Beast, the Heavenly Crocodiles, fighting.
Jiang Liu leisurely stopped by the pool, watching with great interest as the two crocodiles, after fighting for a short while, stopped and charged straight at Jiang Liu.
Jiang Liu calmly drew a Ninth Rank Greatsword from each hand, waiting, ready to chop them down with a single blow.
After thinking for a moment, he put the knife back in. With his hands behind his back, he spread his consciousness, and a mental pressure rushed straight towards the two celestial crocodiles.
Before the two crocodiles even got close to the Jiang Liu, they froze on the spot, letting out mournful howls as they lay there.
Jiang Liu followed up with Annihilation by Thought. The two celestial crocodiles immediately widened their eyes and stared intently at Jiang Liu. Jiang Liu sensed them briefly and realized they were both dead! The celestial crocodiles' mental defenses were truly pathetic!
This time I finally tested the true power of "Annihilation by Thought." Those people before were too low-level; I didn't even feel a thing. Using my mental pressure, judging from the reactions of those two crocodiles, my mental strength is definitely superior to a ninth-rank cultivator! Jiang Liu thought to himself. This Soul Technique is truly an excellent cultivation method! I've only been practicing for a short time, and my mental strength has changed so much!
In fact Jiang Liu overestimated the mental strength of ordinary martial artists. Generally, Eighth Rank Martial Practitioner's mental strength is considered very powerful if their consciousness range is around 150 meters, and Rank 9 Martial Practitioner's range definitely won't exceed 200 meters. How could someone like Jiang Liu, only an eighth-rank martial artist, have a consciousness range of 300 meters?
In fact, the Soul Technique is difficult to learn, even more difficult to cultivate, and the accompanying Annihilation by Thought is even more difficult to learn. This is why there are so few disciples in Soul Valley, and even those who do emerge are mostly of low strength, which is why they have no reputation.
This is why Soul Valley has always seemed so mysterious. In fact, they also want to become famous, but their strength doesn't allow it! As for the legend that Soul Valley's base is in the Ten Thousand Mountains, that's an outdated idea, because only an environment like the Ten Thousand Mountains can provide the most suitable place to Soul Refining techniques.
If Soul Valley had a base, it would have been seized long ago. Those few in number are just a name without substance. If it weren't for a Soul Technique, they probably wouldn't even have a name anymore.
As a sect with a top- Heaven Grade, Peak Rank cultivation technique, their situation is truly miserable. But what can you do when this technique is so demanding, requiring exceptional talent? Without it, even getting started is difficult, let alone cultivating it.
Jiang Liu collected the beast cores from the two celestial crocodiles and continued towards the Celestial Crocodile Pool, wanting to see if there were any more crocodiles. After all, it's not easy to encounter eighth-grade Exotic Beast these days. If he had the chance to find a whole nest of them, he would definitely catch them all!
Jiang Liu spread his consciousness outwards, heading straight for the Heavenly Crocodile Pool. Any unusual activity was instantly Annihilation by Thought. By the time he reached the pool's edge, he had already unearthed two Seventh Grade and three Rank 6 beast cores.
Did they wipe out the entire Crocodile Pool? Jiang Liu looked at the seven blue beast cores in his hand. Well, that's enough for today! Too lazy to go into the water.
Not long after Jiang Liu left the Heavenly Crocodile Pool, another giant crocodile surfaced, its enormous eyes fixed intently on Jiang Liu's departing figure. Judging from its aura, it was at least at the eighth rank.
The Jiang Liu flowed downstream, and when it encountered Exotic Beast, it discarded the low-level ones and mined the cores of the mid-level and above ones.
There was no way around it; he was poor! The thought of a top-grade Treasure Blade costing over 100,000 taels of silver made Jiang Liu feel suffocated. And that was just his estimate; the actual price was likely even higher.
Furthermore, future cultivation will require more resources, and we'll also need to find secret manuals. The only relatively reliable source is the Ascension Tower. Although it's quite expensive, the quality is guaranteed! It would be even better if we could get them for free.
Lost in thought and killing Exotic Beast along the way, I finally saw those Red-Beaked White Cranes leisurely drinking water again.
This time, Jiang Liu dared not get close and flew down from a distance away from the waterfall.
We went straight into the cave we'd been in before. Tonight, I'm going to take a nice bath and relax. In a couple of days, I'll be able to get out of the mountains.
Not long after entering the cave, a noise came from outside, and Jiang Liu quickly dispersed his consciousness to the outside.
"Tianming, are you sure you want to continue to obstruct me? Don't think that just because you're from the Haotian Sect, I'm afraid of you."
"Ghost Lord, you've broken a taboo! Do whatever you want outside, but don't even think about targeting Forget-Worry Island!"
"Tianming, you know perfectly well that the Life-Extending Grass I need is on this Forget-Worry Island. Are you sure you want to fight me to the death?"
"Ghost Lord, I don't care what you're looking for, but you absolutely cannot go to Forget-Worry Island. If you're going to fight to the death now, I'm ready to fight you anytime. Are you sure? Aren't you afraid that if you die, your Sun Moon Sect will be destroyed because of you?"
"Anyway, I won't live much longer if I don't find the Life-Extending Grass. If you try to stop me, we'll have to fight to the death today. As for what happens after I'm gone, who cares about the deluge!"
After saying this, Ghost Lord stopped talking and struck out with his palm. Instantly, the vital energy in this space was drained and condensed into a ghost general holding a large sword, which slashed at Tianming.
Tianming took out a book, opened it, and a golden light shot out, condensing into a scholar with a feather fan and a turban. The scholar closed the fan, and instantly a golden aura of righteousness blocked the ghost general's greatsword. The two Illusory Transformation then began to fight, while Tianming and the Ghost Lord watched from the sidelines.
Jiang Liu was startled when he discerned the fighting style of the two; this was at least the strength of Grandmaster. While he himself could perform some simple forms of Qi transformation after reaching the Seventh Grade, it was limited to things like Qi hand movements.
With Jiang Liu's current strength, let alone fighting, just being able to Illusory Transformation a human form would be considered a sign of profound spiritual energy.
Even Minor Grandmaster couldn't last long in such a battle, and judging from the Illusory Transformation, only Grandmaster or higher could possess such strength!
Jiang Liu watched this scene speechlessly. Is this place just bad luck for me? Every time I come here to rest, something always happens.
By the way, the Forget-Worry Island they mentioned! Is it that little island up there?
That's quite possible. Otherwise, why would there be such terrifying white cranes guarding the lakeside? And why didn't they go elsewhere to fight? Why did they specifically come here?
The answer is obvious: the Ghost Lord came here to steal things, Tianming came to stop him.
"If they fight outside and accidentally get caught in the crossfire, I'm done for!" Jiang Liu thought to himself and desperately shrank back into the cave. He had been so excited just moments before, eager to see what was happening outside.
Jiang Liu suddenly felt that the world was full of malice towards him. All he wanted was to take a bath, and he'd run into Grandmaster fighting. Don't think this is a good thing; just being near them, just touching them, would be fatal.
Jiang Liu had no choice but to retreat, but unfortunately, there was no way back in this cave.