Lost Soul Cave, Life-Claiming Wind

About three days later, Rong Ling came again.

This time, she brought her own lotus-leaf bundle. Inside were the two hundred low-grade spirit stones she had promised Xu Yuan earlier, along with a mission token for Lost Soul Cave.

After shoving everything into Xu Yuan's hands in one go, she also told him some good news. Zhu Yan was in seclusion as well, while Zhu Zihua's uncle had business outside the sect, which was why no one had come looking for him these past three days.

And once Xu Yuan entered Lost Soul Cave, a sect stronghold of that sort could not be entered without a mission. If he stayed inside, he would not have to worry about Zhu Yan bothering him.

As for what came after, once she, Rong Ling, emerged from seclusion, everything would be easy to settle.

When she said this, the black crow Rong Ling's tone was lofty and disdainful. Clearly, she did not take the other party seriously at all.

Xu Yuan had no idea what Rong Ling's cultivation level truly was, but judging from her reputation and that arrogant manner, she was probably at least at the eighth level of Qi Refinement. And after this seclusion, could she perhaps reach the ninth level of Qi Refinement?

Just as Xu Yuan's thoughts began to wander, he heard her say again:

"Oh, right. Take this too. Consider it a reward."

With that, the black crow Rong Ling extended her divine sense into the lotus-leaf bundle and took out another secret manual.

Heart Sutra of Building a Cottage by the Plain Moon River. Looking at the large black characters on its cover, Xu Yuan turned to the black crow. The latter answered casually.

"The environment in Lost Soul Cave is rather harsh. With your cultivation, training there may prove quite difficult. If you have time inside, you can study this cultivation method. It will do you some good in the future."

"Thank you, Senior Rong Ling." Xu Yuan bowed. Cultivation methods were not passed around freely unless the price was high. Within the Hidden Moon Sect, any random method cost over twenty spirit stones. Since she was willing to gift him a heart method, he naturally had to thank her properly.

"It's nothing, it's nothing."

Waving her wings, the black crow gave a few dry chuckles before leaving on her own.

After putting away the spirit stones, Xu Yuan did not rush to purchase the Five Elements spirit materials. He planned to buy them all together after returning from Lost Soul Cave.

He then stuffed enough dried meat into his storage pouch. Without wasting any more time, Xu Yuan took the token and headed northwest of Biyou Market.

He walked westward for half an hour before a mountain pass appeared ahead. Once he passed through it, the temperature in the air plummeted. The lush green peaks on either side had turned bare and desolate, with only dead branches and strange rocks remaining.

A land of death was a place where all life had been cut off. This time, Xu Yuan gained a little understanding of what that meant.

As he continued inward, the chill in the air grew harsher. Everything around him was ash-gray, as if covered in wood ash. Even the rocks and dead branches disappeared, while mournful gusts of wind began to howl.

At that point, a cave appeared before him.

There was a restriction at the entrance, leaving the interior pitch-black and impossible to see. Xu Yuan held the mission token up to the restriction, and only then did a light gate appear, just wide enough for one person to pass through.

"As expected of a sect forbidden ground."

Xu Yuan nodded and stepped inside. It was still dim within, but at least he could now make out the road ahead.

Underfoot was a narrow path about half a zhang wide. It stretched continuously downward, and at a depth of roughly a hundred zhang, Xu Yuan saw several stone houses.

Knowing those were the residences left for the guarding disciples, Xu Yuan intended to get a feel for the place first, so he followed the path all the way down.

Once inside, the wind grew louder. At first, that did not seem like much, but Xu Yuan soon "delightfully" discovered that whenever a gust blew past, a thread of the qi, blood, and spiritual energy within his body seemed to be drawn away and melt into the sound of the wind.

He grew somewhat more cautious, though he was not particularly afraid. With the Martial Dao Sacred Embryo's enhancement, his qi and blood were incomparably abundant. Let the wind blow as it pleased—one breath was enough for him to recover it all.

After a while, he reached the platform where the stone houses stood. Just as he was looking around, movement suddenly came from the stone house on the left. A disheveled-looking man then crawled out.

The man wore a dharma robe nearly identical to Xu Yuan's, but it had long since become tattered. His beard had evidently gone untended for far too long and was all matted together, with flour, meat scraps, and other bits hanging from it.

His limbs were thin and withered, his eyes dull and lifeless... no, that was not quite right. His eyes had lit up when he heard movement outside and came out, but the moment he saw Xu Yuan, they dimmed again.

"Boundless Amitabha-whatever Buddha, why's it a guy with a dick?"

After grumbling a curse, he turned to crawl back into the stone house. But now that Xu Yuan had found someone here, how could he let the man slip away so easily?

"Fellow Daoist, wait." Xu Yuan called out. The other man gave him an impatient glance, but once he saw the two low-grade spirit stones in Xu Yuan's hand, that irritation slowly faded.

"Tsk. Ask whatever you want. We were both punished and sent to this godforsaken place, so you and I are fellow sufferers."

The withered man sat down right on the doorstep and looked at Xu Yuan before him. A month ago, he too had been this devastatingly handsome. Now, all that was left was devastating.

"Punished?" Xu Yuan sensed that something was off. Hadn't Senior Rong Ling said this place was highly sought after, and that only because he needed it had she given it to—

Motherfucker. This is the Hidden Moon Sect. Why did I actually trust someone so easily?

"Huh?" The withered man gave Xu Yuan a strange look, unable to understand why his expression had changed again and again. Then he said, "Yeah. Didn't I just build a house at the edge of Biyou Market? Was that really worth making such a huge fuss over? They acted as if I'd betrayed the sect—fines, the Punishment Hall, Cliff of Knowing Sin, and now Lost Soul Cave. Sigh."

The man wore an expression as though he could not bear to look back on it. By now, Xu Yuan's face had become extremely unnatural. He cautiously asked, "Fellow Daoist, do you know whether the sect has a mission to guard Lost Soul Cave?"

"Why are you asking that?" The man gave Xu Yuan a strange look, but did not hide anything. "There is such an unlucky mission. The Merit Hall reward is two hundred and fifty, and it requires three months."

"But Lost Soul Cave is truly deadly. An ordinary mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator will be reduced to a withered husk after staying inside for one month. Stay for three months, and they'll have broken down long ago. So no one has ever taken that mission."

"Later, the Merit Hall simply stopped issuing it. Instead, every three months, they draw one unlucky mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator to come here. But every person sent here only stays for one month. Once they complete the minimum requirement, they forcibly terminate the mission and leave, not even wanting the merit points.

"Some who have substantial means, after being selected, even spend spirit stones to hand the mission token over to someone else."

By the time the withered man finished speaking, Xu Yuan's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. In his heart, he had cursed Rong Ling that bastard countless times.

He took back what he had said. There were no good people in the Hidden Moon Sect!

Sigh!

With a long sigh in his heart, Xu Yuan could only accept that it had already happened. At the same time, his desire to become an inner sect disciple and truly stand on his own grew even stronger.

"Just now, you said Lost Soul Cave is so terrifying. But from what I can feel, it seems to be nothing more than some cold wind."

He asked another question. The withered man rolled his eyes at him, now certain that this was yet another unlucky bastard who had been punished and sent here.

"This is when the winds are calm. The winds of Lost Soul Cave haven't risen yet."