"The valley is filled with miasma. You need to circulate the Spirit Armor Art to protect yourself. Follow this path for an hour. Behind a green boulder three zhang tall, there's a Purple Spirit Grass. Bring it back to me..."
Before a mist-shrouded valley, Zhu Fang patted Chen Changming on the shoulder and gave him his instructions with a serious expression.
Chen Changming looked toward the valley.
The white mist around its outskirts was fairly thin, though it wasn't pure white. Threads of green ran through it.
That green gas was miasma. The deeper one went into the valley, the thicker it became, and the more terrifying its corrosive effects.
Chen Changming's talisman had been removed, and he was free again.
Even so, he didn't dare make the slightest move out of line.
He was still a novice in cultivation and knew only the Spirit Armor Art. He had no means of attack, while the man before him was a sly old hand. Even with only the first level of Qi Refining, Zhu Fang was far beyond Chen Changming's strength.
At this point, all he could do was put his hopes in the valley's miasma.
He only needed to circulate the Spirit Armor Art one more time to reach a thousand. If the warm current and the voice appeared again, the art's power would increase several times over. The principle was just like when his blade technique had broken through.
"Rest assured, Immortal Master. I'll do as you command."
After taking a deep breath, Chen Changming walked toward the valley. His steps were calm and resolute, inspiring confidence.
Zhu Fang nodded in satisfaction.
But in the next moment, his expression changed. His gaze turned sinister as he warned Chen Changming in a harsh voice, "Don't think about escaping through the other side of the valley. The deeper you go, the thicker the poisonous miasma gets. You'll only have a chance to live if you come back and see me!"
"Understood."
Chen Changming turned around and bowed to Zhu Fang, his manner exceedingly respectful.
"Go on! And come back soon!"
Seeing that the boy knew how to behave, Zhu Fang waved him off and watched as his figure vanished into the mist.
"Damn it, what rotten luck! I've been guarding that Purple Spirit Grass for ten years. It was only three months from ripening, and now this deadly miasma has drifted out of the mountains. What a disaster!"
Sitting on a rock, Zhu Fang grumbled.
Fortunately, he had managed to find a child with a spiritual root. After a mix of threats and inducements, he had successfully helped the boy break through to the peak of the Xiantian realm, so he could retrieve the Purple Spirit Grass for him.
Even after retrieving the Purple Spirit Grass, he would be close to bankrupt.
But if he could break through to the second level of Qi Refining, he would have a chance to live a few more years. And if he was lucky enough to reach the third level, he would be an impressive cultivator even in the remote border city where he lived.
He could join a powerful lineage as an attendant and live a life of luxury.
As for Chen Changming, the moment he entered the mist, he activated the Spirit Armor Art. A faint, translucent layer of spiritual armor appeared around him, shielding him from the miasma.
After going only a few dozen meters, once Zhu Fang was completely out of sight, the boy abruptly turned and ducked into a patch of woods. He sat cross-legged and began to circulate the Spirit Armor Art, his expression tense.
It took the Spirit Armor Art the time it took an incense stick to burn to complete one full cycle. Chen Changming believed Zhu Fang wouldn't grow suspicious or enter the mist to check on him in so short a time.
Only if Chen Changming took too long to return might Zhu Fang dare to enter the mist along the valley's edge and search for him.
After the time it took an incense stick to burn.
The anomaly appeared again.
A warm current surged from his feet and spread through his entire body, and the thunderous voice rang out once more.
"One thousand times!"
A mysterious sensation flooded his mind. In that moment, Chen Changming clearly sensed that his Spirit Armor Art seemed to have grown several times stronger. The translucent armor around him had also taken on a faint golden hue.
"It worked."
Chen Changming was thrilled. He walked out of the woods and followed the mountain path deeper into the mist.
As he went farther, the green miasma thickened. It seemed alive, surging toward him as soon as it sensed him and striking the translucent, pale-golden armor with a sizzling, corrosive hiss.
The armor remained unharmed.
That gave the boy a little more confidence.
An hour later, the valley was almost entirely filled with green miasma, and Chen Changming had finally reached the place where the Purple Spirit Grass grew.
The miasma wasn't especially thick, but it covered a wide area. Now, he could see less than three meters ahead.
Chen Changming rounded the boulder and saw a half-meter-tall Purple Spirit Grass with nine leaves, glowing with a lustrous purple light and giving off an exceptionally extraordinary aura.
"Purple Spirit Grass!"
Chen Changming walked over in delight. Just as he was about to pluck it, his gaze shifted, and he spotted a severely shrunken green skeleton just over a meter behind the plant.
No one knew when the person had died. Their clothes and flesh had been corroded away, and even the bones that remained had been badly eaten through.
The once-thick thigh bones were now no wider than a thumb.
"Hm? What's this?"
A silver-white, square stone lay flat in the skeleton's rib cage, giving off a faint glow.
Chen Changming was extremely curious.
The miasma was corrosive enough to eat through everything, yet the Silver Stone had come through unharmed. It had to be something extraordinary.
He proceeded cautiously. Slowly approaching, he suddenly kicked the skeleton and the Silver Stone away.
Thud!
The Silver Stone traced an arc through the air, hit the ground, rolled a few times, and came to a stop.
Seeing that the Silver Stone didn't seem dangerous, Chen Changming grew bolder. He walked over and picked it up.
It felt heavy in his hand, with a satisfying heft.
"This is a good thing..."
As he held the Silver Stone, a faint spiritual energy curled around his hand, filling Chen Changming with surprise.
The Silver Stone actually contained spiritual energy!
Though it differed from the spiritual energy in his mud, he could still absorb it into his body.
Chen Changming tucked the Silver Stone into his clothes, picked the Purple Spirit Grass, then crossed the boulder and headed straight toward the depths of the valley.
He wanted to investigate the miasma and test how far his strengthened Spirit Armor could take him.
If he could find a new way out in the depths of the valley and escape, avoiding Zhu Fang in the process, that would be ideal.
"Little brother, come... come here..."
Chen Changming hadn't walked for even half an incense stick when a strange woman's voice suddenly came from deep within the mist.
The woman's voice was heavenly, brimming with magic. Before he knew it, Chen Changming had quickened his pace.