Pale Skin, Lovely Features, Pointed Ears? Blue Skin, Bronze Eyes, Big Head?

Once he started eating, he simply could not stop.

In just a short while.

A full three pounds of Blood Tooth Spirit Rice had gone into Zhu Yu's belly.

Digested by his gastric juices, which had been enhanced by the prescription, the Blood Tooth Spirit Rice swiftly took effect. Waves of warmth surged from his abdomen and spread throughout his body.

Zhu Yu felt as though he were soaking in a hot spring. The flesh and blood throughout his body gulped down the warm current like starving men, replenishing the losses caused by spiritual qi radiation.

The warmth lasted for the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

A sense of satisfaction rose in Zhu Yu's heart. Feeling his body had grown noticeably stronger, he willed out the panel.

[Attributes: Physique 3.5, Spirit 36.2]

His physique had directly increased by a whole point.

Zhu Yu inwardly praised it. Spirit Rice really is good...

Not only did it taste wonderful, delicious even without any dishes to accompany it, but its effects were also excellent. It was especially suited to people like him, who had only recently broken through to Qi Refining, helping their physiques transform faster.

But the moment he thought of the price of Spirit Rice, he immediately gave up on the idea of eating it every meal.

"I still need to earn more Spirit Stones..."

Zhu Yu stretched his limbs, carried the cloth sack containing Corpse Taro root seedlings out of the living room, and walked to the ridge of the Corpse Field.

Since the seedlings had already been cultivated, planting them was quite convenient. He only needed to dig a small hole and toss the root seedling inside. Nourished by Yin Baleful Spirit Qi, it would quickly sprout roots and take hold in the Corpse Field.

Zhu Yu looked around, measured the spacing between the seedlings, and stepped into the field. The instant he raised his arm, more than half of a strand of Spiritual Power coiled within the ring in his Divine Sea dispersed like mist.

As his arm swept down, dozens of slender streaks of spiritual light appeared out of thin air. Amid a series of muffled bangs, small pits exploded open across the glossy black-red Corpse Field.

Zhu Yu nodded in satisfaction.

He was cultivating immortality now; he had no intention of miserably digging holes by hand. He grabbed a handful of Corpse Taro root seedlings from the sack and flung them out. Each seedling landed precisely in a pit, and as a gale swept by, the Corpse Field became level once more.

Then he continued without pause—blasting holes, sowing seeds...

The time it took to drink a cup of tea passed.

Nearly three acres of Corpse Field had been planted with Corpse Taro root seedlings.

"Now all that remains is to wait for the harvest..."

Zhu Yu smiled, walked to the grave mound in the middle of the Corpse Field, briefly checked on the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed, then turned and returned to the wooden hut.

Not long afterward, he came out carrying a water vat sealed with mud. Without stopping, he headed straight down from the earthen hill.

Eight crescent moons cast down faint silver radiance, yet they could not pierce the heavy clouds blanketing the skies above the Underworld Grounds. Occasionally, dim beams of light slipped through cracks in the clouds and shone upon the ash-gray hills, making this stretch of rolling highlands seem all the more sinister.

Zhu Yu did not slow down, following the path he had taken before toward the main road.

Unlike the last few days, when he had hurried to his own Corpse Field, he slowed his pace somewhat this time and occasionally glanced toward the side of the road.

The Underworld Grounds were laid out much like the areas containing Spirit Fields and Beast Pens.

Corpse Fields lay upon earthen hills, separated from one another by four or five li. Resentful Soul Pools, meanwhile, were located in the depressions between two or several hills. Compared to Corpse Fields, which still received some light, Resentful Soul Pools were almost entirely shrouded in rolling black mist.

One Resentful Soul Pool was less than a hundred meters from the path.

Carrying the water vat in his arms, Zhu Yu approached and curiously glanced inside. Black mist churned, and he vaguely saw indistinct houses, along with one short figure and one tall figure locked in an embrace and rolling back and forth.

He froze for a moment, thinking to himself:

They're that open-minded?

Afraid of getting an eye infection, he did not look any longer. Just as Zhu Yu turned to leave, an anxious shout came from the mist.

"Which senior brother is passing by? I am Qi Yuanwu. The ghostly creature I kept has turned on me. If Senior Brother is willing to lend a hand, I will surely offer a lavish gift afterward."

"Hm? It turned on its master?"

Zhu Yu was stunned for an instant. Then, without a second thought, he hurried away. No matter how the person behind him shouted, he never looked back.

What a joke. If a ghostly creature turned on its master, then either its cultivation was extraordinarily high, it had awakened some incredible innate art, or the cultivator who kept it had not cultivated the Soul Control Art.

No matter which of those possibilities it was, it was not something a cultivator like him—one who had just entered Qi Refining and whose physique had not yet fully transformed—could handle.

Not long after he left.

"Ah..."

A shrill scream rang out in every direction. Before long, the rolling black mist churned and swiftly swallowed the houses.

"Trash..."

"Was that the fool who overestimated himself? Did he die?"

"Good if he died. Who knows what he was thinking? He hadn't mastered the Soul Control Art, yet he used a Soul Control Talisman to keep a ghostly creature. He even kept boasting about how effective it was. Didn't he stop to think? If it were truly that useful, would it have been his turn to discover it?"

"Better that someone whose wits are so impaired dies. Otherwise, who knows what huge trouble he might stir up later..."

The screams woke the cultivators on the surrounding hills. Looking at the Resentful Soul Pool swallowed by black mist, they either wore scornful expressions or cursed that he deserved it.

Zhu Yu knew nothing of this. After stepping onto the main road, he slowed somewhat and made his way toward the Starry Wood Corridor at an unhurried pace.

Cultivators occasionally passed by, but most were alone, or accompanied by Living Corpses that did not resemble humans, or hazy, indistinct resentful souls. It was rare to see several people traveling together.

Once he entered the core area at the edge of the Spirit Fields and Beast Pens.

Cultivators who drove Living Corpses and resentful souls gradually became fewer. In their place were cultivators riding imposing demon beasts or traveling in huge carriages. When they encountered acquaintances on the road, they would exchange greetings, unlike the Underworld Grounds cultivators, who appeared so cold and solitary.

"Is it because of the influence of baleful qi, or something else..."

The thought flashed through Zhu Yu's mind, then he cast it aside. No matter how others were affected, according to the True Sight Eye, baleful qi brought him nothing but benefits and no harm.

After walking for roughly half a day.

A stretch of gentle, non-glaring starlight appeared ahead.

Zhu Yu quickened his pace. Before long, he entered the Starry Wood Corridor. Since Mu Ruo had warned him last time that keeping Divine Sense in communion with Divine Radiance for too long would turn him into an idiot, he did not extend his Divine Sense to make contact. Carrying the water vat, he slowly walked deeper inside.

When he reached a stretch of road with no one before or behind him, he darted beneath a robust Starry Tree that nearly required five people to encircle it. He used Spiritual Power to swiftly dig a deep pit, placed the water vat inside, buried it, then stirred up a gust of wind to conceal the traces.

After examining it carefully and seeing no difference from the surrounding ground, Zhu Yu returned to the corridor. As he walked toward the area for newly admitted disciples, he thought about the Moon Sprite Mu Ruo had mentioned earlier.

He was no stranger to the word elf.

What made him curious was what kind of "elf" this elf was.

Pale skin, lovely features, pointed ears? Blue skin, bronze eyes, a big head? Or something else?

And there was the special spiritual qi Divine Radiance that Mu Ruo had mentioned, which was slowly formed from the life aura emitted by a second-order Moon Sprite.

Leaving aside the fact that its life aura could taint and alter spiritual qi...

One had to know that second-order beings were comparable to Foundation Establishment True Persons. If what he had said was true, did that not mean a Foundation Establishment True Person was buried beneath the Starry Corridor?

"Hiss..."

Thinking this, Zhu Yu suddenly felt uneasy. With his current Early Qi Refining cultivation, that sort of existence could kill him with a mere sneeze.

Unconsciously quickening his steps, he paused just as he was about to leave the Starry Corridor. He reached out, plucked a handful of Starry Wood Leaves, grabbed a handful of dirt, and then hurried away.