Searching for a Golden Opportunity

Human-Faced Mushrooms were things that grew in places where yin gathered, and their conditions for formation were exceptionally harsh. Generally speaking, beneath a Human-Faced Mushroom lay at least several dozen corpses of those who had died unjustly.

Before death, they had failed to release their last breath of resentment, and after being buried in a place where yin gathered, various limitations kept them from turning directly into zombies. In the end, that breath of resentment hung neither up nor down, transforming over the passage of time into these bizarre mushrooms.

To Blood Corpse Peak, these things could be called treasures too hot to handle.

Human-Faced Mushrooms could slightly enhance a zombie's physical strength. For Gu, they were also important materials for refining Ten Thousand Souls Gu and Wandering Zombie Gu.

Bai Yu had not expected that merely testing the effects of his Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes would lead him to stumble upon such a thing.

He raised his head and examined the surroundings. This withered tree looked utterly ordinary, with stones encircling it and forming a basin-like area.

In addition, some of the nearby trees had already died, completely concealing these twelve Human-Faced Mushrooms.

The environment in which the Human-Faced Mushrooms grew had been entirely altered, and those who entered Ashen Sorrow Mountain were mostly menial disciples. Most of them did not even know the simplest qi-observing technique.

That was why no one had noticed this treasure hidden beneath the dead leaves.

Without hesitation, Bai Yu released Black Charcoal to keep watch over the surroundings. Then he took out a dagger and dug up the Human-Faced Mushrooms.

Human-Faced Mushrooms were inherently yin-evil objects. While digging, Bai Yu tore off a strip of cloth from his clothing and wrapped his hand in spiritual power throughout the process, preventing the yin-evil qi from entering his body.

He moved quickly. In less than five minutes, twelve fist-sized Human-Faced Mushrooms lay quietly atop the cloth. After wrapping them up, Bai Yu tossed them directly into his storage pouch.

After briefly tidying up the scene, Bai Yu let out a heavy breath.

"Judging by their size, these Human-Faced Mushrooms are at least ten years old. Even within the sect, they would count as quite a fine treasure."

The excitement of such a strong start made Bai Yu understand more deeply why scouring the mountains was so dangerous, yet so many cultivators still did it tirelessly.

That feeling of suddenly becoming rich could practically make a person addicted!

Just imagine it—given his status as a menial disciple, it had been impossible for him to come into contact with something like Human-Faced Mushrooms.

Even if he followed the proper path and became an ordinary disciple, obtaining ten-year-old Human-Faced Mushrooms would still cost him dearly.

But when scouring the mountains, as long as luck favored you, anything was possible!

Of course, that was not the only thing exciting Bai Yu. With the enhancement of his Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes, although he could currently only see the flow of "qi," the differently colored qi was also divided into ranks.

The nine ranks of gray, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, and gold represented the quality of the objects emitting them.

The Human-Faced Mushrooms had merely emitted gray qi.

Yet just now, he seemed to have seen a trace of golden light.

At that thought, Bai Yu's breathing grew heavy. There was definitely a supreme treasure within Ashen Sorrow Mountain, and he had just seen a clue to it!

Quickly calming himself, Bai Yu activated his Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes again. Soon, his vision changed once more. Although most of it remained a hazy gray, the scattered golden gleams beneath that color were especially dazzling.

With a light lift of his right hand, Black Charcoal turned into a streak of light and coiled around Bai Yu's right arm.

He only had three days in Ashen Sorrow Mountain this time. If he wanted to find that supreme treasure in such a short span, he had to make every moment count.

After judging the general direction of the golden light, Bai Yu shot forward at full speed!

"Eeek, eeek!"

Black Charcoal bit the Tiger-Striped Green Snake hidden in the grass to death, then let out a delighted sound after sucking it dry into a withered corpse.

These creatures were a specialty of Ashen Sorrow Mountain and could be encountered almost constantly. They were also the targets of menial disciples.

Generally speaking, these three days were a process of the menial disciples and the snakes outwitting each other.

But on Bai Yu's side, all those Tiger-Striped Green Snakes became Black Charcoal's food. In just half a day, he could clearly sense that the hard shell on Black Charcoal's body seemed to have mutated, sprouting streaks of dark green spots.

This strange transformation made the already rather unattractive Black Charcoal even uglier.

But though Black Charcoal had grown uglier, it had also become stronger!

So sometimes, looks truly were not important!

With a steamed bun in his mouth, Bai Yu looked at the map in his hand. Since he had traveled without obstruction, he seemed to have covered ground quickly. His current position was already in the middle region of Ashen Sorrow Mountain.

Bai Yu planned his retreat route. Within these three days, he had to find the supreme treasure, and he also had to leave within the limited time.

After simply marking his location, Bai Yu looked at the golden qi nearby, which had already condensed into threads.

The deeper he went, the more obvious the golden qi became. Yet judging from the terrain, it did not seem like a place where any supreme treasure could be found.

That left Bai Yu somewhat frustrated.

"This golden qi is flowing north. Looks like I still have to keep going."

After swiftly making up his mind, Bai Yu swallowed the steamed bun in two or three bites and prepared to set off again.

But a burst of clamor caught Bai Yu's attention.

The sounds drew closer from afar, clearly heading in his direction.

At that thought, Bai Yu looked around, took out ten Diamond Gu, and scattered them across the path. Then he climbed directly up a large tree beside him, hiding himself amid its crown as he observed everything around him.

Very soon, amid a series of rustling sounds, three men and one woman appeared. They wore blue-gray robes and all carried longswords. One of them also held an iron chain, its other end binding several people. Judging by their tattered clothes, they were clearly nearby commoners.

Seeing the emblem on their clothing, Bai Yu quickly recognized their identities.

Iron Sword Sect disciples?

The Iron Sword Sect was an affiliate of the Ten Thousand Sword Sect among the Three Mountains and Four Sects. It was not large in scale itself, but under the protection of the Ten Thousand Sword Sect, it controlled a small dynasty and could be said to bask in boundless glory.

But these four should not have appeared here!

Because all of their cultivation had reached the Qi Refining Stage.

Coming to Ashen Sorrow Mountain with such cultivation had already broken the rules!

"Senior Brother Zhang, the mountains really are refreshing! Those little devil brats we ran into just now—their blood was far more nourishing than commoners'. My Bloodthirsty Sword ate until it was stuffed!"

"No wonder your swords' tempering progress is so fast."

An Lingxiu held her longsword, her eyes brimming with smiles. Looking at the tall man beside her, even her voice had turned coy.

"Hehe, of course."

"Although those at the Body Forging Realm are merely menial disciples in the great sects, compared to ordinary people, they at least possess spiritual power. Tempering our Bloodthirsty Swords with their blood will naturally improve them greatly."

"Too bad these Qi-Concealing Pills are too expensive. With our financial means, we can only come two or three times a month at most."

Zhang Yunlong said with a smile. With their Qi Refining Stage strength, Ashen Sorrow Mountain was like wolves entering a flock of sheep. Everything here was prey for their hunt.

"Junior Sister, although this is your first time coming in, I feel your fortune is much deeper than ours."

"At most, we can temper our techniques a little. But the moment you entered, you encountered these half-demons and even obtained from them information about this mountain's great opportunity."

The fat man beside them looked at An Lingxiu, his tone brimming with excitement.